The Mission Part 2: "Run!"

The elevator was old fashioned, with a concertina gate that had to be drawn across the lift. It rattled and creaked as they went below ground. Rose glanced at James who was standing beside her. She smirked and he grinned back. Here they were, two field agents of the most top secret organization on the planet and they were standing in an elevator!

The lift slowed and with one final clunk they reached the basement. Guns aimed at anything that could be a threat, the waked in military precision out of the elevator. Hiding in the shadows, Rose pulled out the GPS navigator, they were close. She signalled to James: "Lead on, to the left."

The hallway was dank and dark; a pipe running along the roof had sprung a leak and was steadily dripping water onto the concrete floor. Rose noticed everything, every movement that could become a threat, every object that could be used to their advantage.

James approached a door and turned to Rose, eyebrows raised. Rose nodded, if Robert was right, the larger spaceship would be right through that door.

Click

The door opened with relative ease, James slip through and Rose followed after. Rose's breath caught in her throat when she saw what lay before them.

The level they were on was supposed to be the bottom, but the Chula had been busy. The door opened onto a rocky ledge that dropped away to reveal a massive cavern that had been literally dug out of the rock. The walls were covered a maze of thin walkways, tunnels that led to anywhere dotted the paths. It must have been three stories deep, probably more, and in the centre standing proudly was the Chula mother ship. If Jacks ship had looked mean, then this ship was rage. Gunmetal black, it was built for speed, its nose was sharply pointed, and its aerodynamic shape provided the ultimate manoeuvrability in the air. Even though it was stationary, it still buzzed like an angry hornet. Around the mothership, the rest of the Chula were rushing about, carrying objects and organizing them in a pile. These Chula were different to the one guarding the stairwell, these were dressed in dark blue overalls and carried no weapon. They wore a silver breathing apparatus and the tubes running down to their belt were painted with spiralling black. Three of them where dressed in black though, identical to the one now lying unconscious upstairs, armed too.

'What are they doing?' Rose asked in confusion.

James stared at the sight below, 'Their building something, that ship must be designed for transporting weapons in a war.'

'They're building weapons?'

'If they are, it's going to be massive. Hold on.' James snuck a little bit closer to the edge; Rose joined him, being careful to stay hidden. Something was not right.

Rose gasped and put her hand to her chest.

'What is it? What's wrong?' demanded James.

Without a word, she traced her neck, bringing out a fine chain, attached to it was a small Yale type key. Her most prized possession.

She held it out in front of her then dropped her hand away. It stayed there, hovering in midair like an arrow pointing toward the ship. James looked at it in confusion.

'Why do you…' He trailed off, realising that this was neither the time nor the place. He turned to the Chula ship. 'That must be a giant magnet down there… Oh, no, this is not good.'

'What?' Rose asked, tucking the precious metal under her shirt again.

James took a deep breath. 'You know that gun the guard was carrying? It was able to generate a massive amount of electricity in a small amount of space and time, granted, it has to discharge the build up immediately, but, the thing is, it could aim it at something; stop the electricity jumping to the nearest thing and get it to hit the desired target. I thought that was amazing, but this…'

'What?' Rose repeated.

'They chose an electronics factory, why would they do that?'

'Well, I don't know, it was empty?' Rose guessed.

'No, because it was packed full of things that store electricity, batteries, electronics…' James turned again to look at the Chula. 'They are planning on generating a huge amount of energy, absolutely massive, enough to wipe out the entire human race.'

'But how would they do that?' Rose stared at the operation going on below, the operation that could spell the end of her planet.

'Electricity can jump though the air; lightning and the likes.' He explained. 'If they send down the electricity when they are in orbit, they can spread it across the entire planet, aim it at the people, they'd all be wiped out.'

Rose stared for a moment. 'So, not a peaceful people then?'

'Not today, no.' James answered.

Without hesitation, Rose strode to the edge of the rocky outcropping they were standing on, into direct view of the Chula below.

'Rose, what are you doing?' hissed James, furiously.

Rose shrugged, 'Giving them a chance.'

She raised her gun above her head and fired a stream of bullets into the rocky roof. All the Chula stopped and stared at her. She dropped her gun to the ground and held out her hands, showing she was no longer armed.

'Warriors of the Chula!' Rose shouted, her voice carrying through the huge cavern. 'I am Rose Tyler, senior member and field agent of the Torchwood institute, representing this planet and its people. On their behalf I order you to leave this planet.' She paused for a moment, and then continued on. 'We are not the backward civilization we appear, we are armed. If you choose to ignore this warning and attack us, then beware, for we can defend ourselves.'

The Chula turned to each other, a whirring and clicking sound indicated they were talking.

'I don't think they're buying it.' James muttered.

One of the guards nodded to another and with that, they began to move. All three charged at the wall, for a moment, Rose thought they were going to run into it, but at the last second, they leapt at the wall, jumping at least three meters up the rock, gripping the surface with their large hands. With apelike agility, they began scaling the wall.

Rose did the maths, she gave them ten seconds.

'Alright, let's go.' Rose smiled at James as one only can under the threat of impending death.

Just as James turned to the door, one of the Chula still on the ground pointed at the still open door. It snapped shut in his face.

'Uh, little problem here!' James called to Rose.

'Damn it!' Rose swore. 'Alright, what do we do?'

James shook his head in helplessness. Rose quickly considered her options.

Stay here and fight it out, almost certain death, they wouldn't last long against those weapons.

Stay here and surrender, again, almost certain death, the Chula wouldn't want little messengers running off to warn others.

Get out and run for it, Rose didn't know what would happen there, nor did she know how to do it.

But it was too late, the Chula were already here. They climbed up on the rocky outcropping, crushing Rose's gun underfoot. James raised his gun and opened fire on the approaching enemy. The Chula he hit stumbled backward slightly, they can't ignore physics, but were otherwise unaffected by the bullets.

They marched slowly forward, driving the pair of them backwards against the wall. Rose heard a snap and a low buzz. James hurled something at the nearest Chula. It wasn't until it made contact with the breathing apparatus that Rose saw what it was. A Moore grenade, an electromagnetic bomb named after its inventor. The Chula stumbled backwards, a noise like wheezing and coughing erupting from the breathing apparatus. For a moment, Rose felt the exhilaration of victor, until another Chula turned and fired at it. A glorious stream of electricity shot from the weapon and into the breathing apparatus. The Chula went stiff as it was engulfed in energy. The mechanics crackled to life, the low hum showed it was working.

"Okay, maybe not so prefect, but good try, James." Rose thought.

The Chula were closing in on them, nothing else could be done, nothing. Backed up against the closed door, Rose suddenly felt so weak, so helpless. Beside her, James's eyes were still darting around, he wasn't giving up hope. Rose squeezed her eyes shut, if she was going to die, the last thing she sees isn't going to be her murderer.

She heard the high pitched wire of the gun charging up. She waited for the end.

She felt a strong hand hold her tight.

She jerked her head around at them.

They said one word.

'Run!'

Then he pulled her along beside him. Rose snapped back to reality. James charged to the left, away from the Chula. He reached the edge of the outcropping and jumped down, pulling Rose behind him, landing squarely on the narrow ridge, Rose almost landed on top of him. Together they ran across the ridge then veered off into a tunnel that gradually sloped upwards.

"You're loosing it, girl." Rose thought to herself. "You've thought about it so much, you just think it's the same. Anyway, he's holding your hand wrong."

Automatically, she shifted her fingers in his so they fit just right.

She dismissed the thought of the obvious similarities, what else do you do when you experience something you can't explain?

But she couldn't help but notice, as they flew through the tunnel, that when he said "Run", for a moment, just one moment, he had a northern accent.

Dun dun dahhhh! That was one of the first things I thought of when I was planning this story... ah...

Right, so, thankyou for all your wonderful support through this story, you guys have been great, and probably pigging out on the virtual treats I've been giving you for reviewing.

Please review, even if it is seven pages old, I love to hear your responses! If you review, I'll give you a really thick slice of chocolate mud cake...mmmm...

Next chapter might take a while, but hopefully it will be up soon. Thanks for reviewing!