From the moment that device went off, it was non-stop bedlam. There was rift alert, after rift alert, around the clock. In fact, none of them could remember it ever being this bad. Even Jack. They all scarcely slept and ate when they could, often testing the limits of how long food should be left at room temperature and still be safe to consume. By the end of the first day, they were all exhausted and running on empty. By the second, Jack started a sleep rota and he and Fish had developed a makeshift priority system for the rift alerts so they were only seeing to the ones most likely to have dropped something through. It was now the third day and Jack had promised all of them that if it didn't calm down by the morning, he would call in UNIT to help.

It was nearly half three in the morning when Fish and Henry arrived at the scene or their fourth rift alert in the past two hours. Even though they had strict orders to never go on field calls alone together, when things got this bad the rules became more like guidelines. Fish rubbed at his eyes. He desperately needed a power nap. He was ready to drop though so was everyone else. I'm getting too old for this…

He pulled into the car park beneath a large high rise. He tapped out a text as quickly as possible to let Jack know where he and Henry were. He reached over and shook his husband's shoulder.

"Henry?"

The immortal man woke with a start. He rubbed at his eyes, blinking around at the sodium lights. He almost immediately started to drop off again but Fish shook him again.

"Sorry. We're here," he said, reaching into his pocket for his PDA.

Henry rubbed at his eyes, hard and said, "I will drive for the next one so you may rest."

Fish nodded and got out of the car, yawning. He kept telling himself that all he had to do was make it to morning, when his and Henry's sleep shift began. You can make it a few more hours… he told himself. And then Jack would be ringing UNIT and the cavalry would be here. It wounded Jack's pride but at this point, none of that gave a shit, including Jack. They were all too tired and too worn out and there seemed to be no light at the end of the tunnel... or if it was it's an oncoming train.

He and Henry began searching the area, wandering up and down between the rows of parked cars with their scanners in hand. They narrowed the area to one of the parked cars. He and Henry began searching, looking around and underneath the car but found nothing but oil stains. Fish cupped his hands, looking into the windows as he squinted his eyes. He didn't see anything but he needed to be thorough.

"Do you want me to retrieve your tools?" Henry asked.

"Please," he answered. Cat nap… He walked over to the wall, leaned against it and closed his eyes.

He must have dozed off a little because the next thing he felt was Henry's hand on his arm. He wasn't surprised it had felt as if Henry hadn't been gone at all. All day, he'd been having little snips of time loss like that every time he closed his eyes. Probably shouldn't be driving…

He pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a shiver. He hadn't been this sleep deprived in a long time. Usually, mild sleep deprivation gave him a slight headache. But he was at the point where the headache had given way to queasiness and an odd chill in his bones.

Henry handed him his tools with a smile on his face. Though his eyes looked a little bloodshot, there was no trace of the dark circles Fish had underneath his. He wasn't sure if the lack of dark circles was a factor of Henry's immortality or his physical youth. His husband just looked much more lucid. But Henry was physically seventeen years old, not middle aged like Fish was. When Fish had been Henry's physical age, he'd been doing his undergraduate work at MIT. He remembered, not without a little bit of awe in his current state, how his final exams had required every moment of this attention. He'd easily pulled all nighters - sometimes two in a row - and still had been able to lucid enough to take all of his exams.

"Thanks," he said, groggily. He patted his back pocket, ensuring his Torchwood credentials were there. It wouldn't do to be arrested for attempted auto theft. When he got back to the car, he shoved the plastic wedge into the door and used the heel of his hand to drive it in. He slid the long tool in past the weather stripping and lifted the lock.

"Where did you learn that, Joe? Is there some history of juvenile delinquency of which you have kept me ignorant?" Henry asked, genuinely curious. He flashed Fish a tired version of the bemused expression that he loved so much.

As tired as Fish was, that expression warmed him the way it always did. He let out a tired laugh and said, "I didn't used to nick cars, if that's what you're asking."

Henry let out a laugh of his own that was just as tired.

"Perhaps you shall educate me," he said.

"You should ask Ianto. He taught me. Don't tell him I said, but I think he used to nick cars," Fish said.

He opened the door and the car's alarm immediately began to blare. He leaned in, his head beneath the steering column. He removed a few wires and spliced others together and the alarm stopped. "Actually, I did nick a car once."

"Oh?" Henry asked, with keen interest.

"You know how parking in Boston isn't exactly easy."

Henry nodded.

"Well, one time I visited this mate of mine who had an off campus flat. I bloody got towed." While he spoke, he searched the interior around the driver's seat. He didn't see anything out of place. The car was a bit of a mess but that was all. He opened the glove box. "These tow companies would charge you a lot to get your car back. I didn't have the money and the longer you left your car with them, the more they charged you. So… I stole my own car back but I don't think that counts as actually nicking a car. Don't think you can actually nick your own bloody car."

At that, Henry laughed. He leaned down to peer under the passenger seat. "I like that story better than a history of juvenile auto theft."

"I never got into any trouble when I was a kid. Now that I'm staring down the barrel at fifty, I kind of wish I had," he said, sighing. "I'm a prime candidate for a mid-life crisis if I had the bloody time for one. That's what Anna asked me when I told her about you. Like going bender was my version of a posh sports car."

Henry barked out a laugh at his sister-in-law's ridiculous sense of humour.

"Bugger," he said, jamming his finger into his mouth. He cut it on the track for the seat when he reached underneath it. After shaking out his hand, he said, "I got lucky the company that had my car didn't keep very good records. I was on edge for weeks afterwards thinking they'd send the police after me."

Fish pushed the driver seat forward and began searching the back. That was when he saw what they were looking for.

"Jackpot," he said.

It was a small flat piece of metal with symbols imprinted on the front. The symbols were in no language Fish had even seen. He scanned it. It was bursting with rift energy.

"Perhaps you should step back, Joe," Henry said as he put on the protective gloves. He reached out for the item but couldn't lift it. He tried to get his fingers under it but that small bit of metal was fucking heavy! "What the devil…"

"What's wrong?"

"It is absurdly heavy for something so small," Henry said, frowning. He got out of the car and pushed the passenger seat forward to slip into the back. "Get the containment box ready, Joe. If you wouldn't mind putting it as close as possible? I do not know how long I will be able to hold it."

Fish opened the empty box and set it on the floor of the car on top of some papers and random strewn napkins. It took Henry a few minutes but he managed to get his fingers underneath it. The thing was no bigger than a playing card but Henry had to lift it out with both hands. He dumped it into the small containment box with a grunt and sharp metallic bang. The whole car dipped when it hit the bottom.

"Good Lord," Henry said, with a sigh. He flexed his fingers.

Fish tried to lift the containment box by its handles. Normally the boxes were light but with the metal inside of it, it felt like it weighed a tonne.

"Holy shit!" he said, trying to get the box out of the car. There was no way he'd be able to get this thing out by himself. "Come round and give me a hand, Henry. Bloody ridiculous…"

While they lugged the box back to Fish's car, they found themselves having to stop… several times. The handles of the box were digging into their hands and the thing was just plain fucking heavy. Fish opened the box so he could look at the symbols while they caught their breath. If he weren't so tired, he would've found the whole thing comical. "Interesting symbols. They look familiar."

"They're like nothing I have ever seen before," Henry said, peering over. He was flexing his hands to rid them of their soreness.

"It reminds me of bullion," Fish said.

Henry raised his eyebrows, standing up. He stood up and arched his back, stretching. "A distinct possibility. It would explain-"

Instead of completing his sentence, Henry let out a rush of air. Fish looked up to see what the gasp was about and he let out a startled shout at the sight. Henry was arched up, a knife point poking out from his chest. There was a hand fisted in his hair. With a gurgled cry, Henry's arms flailed backwards. He tried to shout for Fish to flee but couldn't. Fish felt his heart convulse as the light left Henry's eyes. There was nothing he could do. He turned and bolted, abandoning his husband. He ducked between two cars and took out his mobile. He activated the GPS and sent a text to Jack telling him Henry was dead and that he needed immediate assistance.

His first thought was that Henry had been ambushed by a challenger but his attacker had caught him completely off guard, in mid-sentence. If the assailant had been an immortal of the Game, he or she would never have been able to sneak up on him. Now that he was getting a good look, whoever had stabbed his husband certainly wasn't from anywhere around here. She looked human from the waist up. From the waist down was a different story. She had a long tail and strange, backwards legs. They were like those of an ostrich with the same odd feet. There was also something odd about how she carried herself. Her clothes didn't help. She was dressed in a kind of one piece suit with long bell sleeves and flared trouser legs. While the sleeves and legs were billowy, the part around her torso was tight fitting. She was about his height and very thin.

He had no idea why but something about the alien said female to him even though she lacked the normal things a human would use to identify a female. There were no curves on her torso at all - no widening of the hips or narrowing of the waist, nor were there any breasts. It was almost as if someone had elongated a child. Her neck was ridiculously long but her head was small. Fish guessed it was the extremely gracile and lithe figure as well as the long neck.

He watched as she peered into the containment box, then shut it, uninterested in its contents. She rolled Henry's corpse, digging through his pockets. She tossed aside his wallet and sword as well as the mobile and PDA. The whole thing seemed to bore her. She looked around and let out a low whistle. At least, Fish thought it was a whistle. It was a peculiar warbling sound that was harsh to his ears.

He knew she had no idea where he was so he backed up and slowly made his way over a few more cars. He might be able to make it all the way to the exit undetected. He crouched down, slowly and quietly making his way around the cars. He felt guilty for abandoning his husband but the alien wouldn't know she hadn't killed him. Henry would revive and would be fine. What would truly kill Henry was if Fish were hurt or killed while he was incapacitated. So he did what he needed to do to protect himself.

Moving so slowly between the parked cars was rough on his knee. It wasn't long before the offended joint was screaming at him. But he kept moving as slowly and silently as possible. He looked around constantly for the alien, peeking through windows and glancing at the reflections in the shiny cars' paint. A few times, he ducked low to peek underneath the cars, looking for the odd bird-like feet. He heard the whistling again and he nearly gasped in surprise. Fuck! That was close!

He stopped, backing himself into a concrete corner. He sat back on his heels, trying to make himself as small as possible. Maybe he could hide here and wait her out. He closed his eyes and tried to slow his breathing and calm his pounding heart.

"I thought you'd be taller," a high pitched voice said.

Fish snapped his head up and the last thing he saw before blacking out was a stinger at the end of the alien's tail coming straight for him.