Chapter 8
"Gwen, just take the coat and come on!" Jack exclaimed, through gritted teeth. Gwen was taking too long and Jack was eager to get going. Everyone else was ready yet Gwen was being exasperatingly slow, as much as he loved Gwen, Jack was getting prepared to leave her in the hotel when she finally came out of the door, slinging her coat over her shoulders.
"Right, let's get going." Gwen said purposely to annoy the already annoyed Jack.
Jack tried to ignore that comment and led the way down the flights of stairs and into the reception area.
Everyone but Jack stopped, they knew that they had to sign out before leaving and usually this was Jack's job. But seeing that Jack was going straight out the door, Ianto stepped up and took the pen, signing them all out.
"Thank-you, not got your little girl with you today then?" the receptionist said, receiving the sign-out book from Ianto.
Ianto heard the door slam behind him, taking a brief look behind him, his thoughts were proved right; Jack had stormed out.
"No, just going to pick her up." Ianto smiled at the receptionist and then looked back at the team.
"Get Jack." He hissed, at them. The team looked at each other, Tosh nodded at Gwen. She was the fittest and the fastest runner out of them all. Getting the hint Gwen rushed out the door in pursuit of Jack.
Ianto turned back to the receptionist putting on the smile again and thanked her.
Gwen sprinted up the pavement and caught Jack up with in seconds. She quickly thought about her plan of action and took the two strides that rendered herself in front of Jack, stopping him by grabbing him by the shoulders.
"Jack…" Gwen began.
"I've got to find Tegana." Jack said trying to shake Gwen's hands away from him but Gwen only replaced them back into the same position.
"Wait for the others, we'll find her together." Gwen said in a tone that meant Jack couldn't answer back. Gwen looked over Jack's shoulder to see how far the rest of the team were and saw that they were about halfway.
"We all love Tegana and we all don't want anything to happen to her but it is much safer and easier to attempt to rescue her in a group rather than just one person." Gwen reassured him.
Jack smiled; Gwen had taken his own advice and used it against him. Never try to go it alone.
"Oh come here." Gwen said giving Jack a big hug. He was glad, he had needed a hug something to just let go of all his worries for just one brief second.
"You alright?" Owen asked nodding towards Jack. Gwen nodded on behalf of Jack.
"So we off then?" was Owen's next question.
"Yes." Gwen added. Getting into gear the five of them carried on down the street back into the centre of London.
Tegana wanted to curl up in a corner and cry but the voice and the fact she was physically chained to the wall wouldn't let her. The questions kept coming and the chains felt heavy and tighter each time.
"How did you get here, hybrid?" The voice boomed.
Nathan had noticed the tears rolling down Tegana's face; she clearly didn't have a clue.
"Leave her alone, she doesn't know the answer, she didn't know what she was until a few minutes ago so she obviously isn't go to know anything else, is she!" Nathan hollered in the general direction he had thought the voice was coming from.
"The human who resisted…how? Answer me how?" The voice echoed in Nathan's ears. The spotlight had turned on him and he knew it was his turn to be questioned.
"He's older then you think." Tegana interrupted.
"You're saying that this human is not in his teenage years?" the voice sounded less demanding and more confused.
"Yes that's what I'm saying. He's twenty. He's passed the age you can control him." Tegana replied liking the fact she was getting the better of the voice that had reduced her to tears only moments before.
"How could this be, we have a system, we should've been able to determine this!" the voice was now almost a cry.
"Your system obviously had a hitch." Nathan said thinking it only right that he should join in the conversation as it was about him.
"This shouldn't happen; mistakes cannot be made in order to succeed! We are left with no choice but to release this human." The voice was near to hysterical.
There was a click and the metal chains were released and Nathan slipped down onto the ground. He rubbed his wrists which were now raw from the extent of the height he had been held at by just his wrists in the metal chains. He looked up at Tegana. She was looking calmer and more collected then she had been a few minutes ago.
"Let Tegana go too." Nathan commanded. The voice seemed to ignore him.
"Technology can make errors; you shouldn't beat yourself up about it. It's just one mistake out of a thousand correct ones." Tegana shouted trying to keep the voice happy as she didn't want to know what it could do if it got too mad.
The voice didn't answer. The stoplight was switched off and the chains fell off Tegana's wrists and ankles and she slipped to the ground.
Nathan caught her as she lost her balance. The sound of footsteps coming closers stopped them from going anywhere. The voice was emerging into its body.
The team found themselves back in the heart of the city of London, only this time there was no one around and if they hadn't know better they would have thought this was a deserted place maybe far into the future. Broken bits and piece lay on the ground, some of which they could remember being actual objects before they were dragged out of the shops and smashed to smithereens by some possessed teenagers.
"It's devastating really." Gwen said absentmindedly.
"Think of all those livelihoods gone, all those people without shops or houses." Tosh commented.
"And don't forget the money, what's it going to cost to rebuild it all?" Owen added.
"Um guys we've lost Jack again." Ianto pointed out.
Jack was wandering further away from his team. He held the watch out in front of him tracking the one that was on Tegana's wrist. He hadn't thought about the rest of the team, he had assumed they were following him, so he didn't think about looking back and checking that they were still there. The signal was weak but he had managed to find it and wasn't going to waste time trying to follow it.
"JACK!" Gwen, Tosh, Owen and Ianto shouted. Jack stopped he looked back and saw them running towards him. He confused him at first but then he realized he had left them behind.
"Stop running off, you!" Gwen reprimanded him. Jack didn't apologize, he just went back to what he was doing, making them follow him and just let him get on with it.
Jack stopped. Gwen stopped right behind him. Tosh stopped next to Gwen, Ianto next to Jack. Owen had been preoccupied by the view of the Thames through the skyscrapers and hadn't noticed that they had stopped. He walked straight into Tosh.
"Och!" Tosh exclaimed.
"Sorry." Owen said quickly moving away from her.
"Here." Jack said taking no notice what Owen had just done. He had stopped on a manhole.
"Help me with this would you." Jack directed at Ianto, moving off the manhole and bending down to trying to lift it. Ianto came to help immediately, provoking Gwen and Owen to help too by the time Tosh thought about helping they were already lifting it up and so she wasn't needed. Instead she was the first one to get a peek down the manhole. It wasn't pitch black as she had expected, there was a faint glow coming from the very bottom of the hole.
Jack went down the manhole first, followed by Ianto, Gwen, Tosh and Owen.
Nathan held his breath. He didn't know what to expect. He had a feeling that it was going to be something extraordinary. Tegana didn't flinch. She waited for it to come into view, not the least bit concerned at what it could be.
Nathan stifled a gasp as the creature (it was the only way to describe it) came into view.
The creature had blue skin and its eyes where jet black. It had antennae instead of ears, yet it had the stance of a human being. It looked rather magnificent, which surprised Nathan as he thought all aliens were ugly mutations like in the films.
"You have shown superior intelligence, come with me," the creature said, his voice not so booming and foreboding now that he was close up. He took Tegana's wrist, eager to show them, his skin felt leathery and tough against her smooth, soft skin. He took Nathan's wrist in his other hand and Nathan recoiled back unsure of the alien's intentions. Tegana leaned over to Nathan, trying to gesture that it was ok; she felt her wrist pull as the creature kept hold of it but she didn't see what slipped off her wrist and landed silently on the metal grates –her tracking watch.
Another chapter and you know what I'm going to say…Reviews please! I just want to know if I'm doing a good job or if I need to improve.
