A/N: For those who watched Torchwood, Adam here is not quite the same Adam and this is not a canon episode of Torchwood either. It's a shorter chapter than usual. This chapter… is extremely difficult to write for reasons I do not understand. Sorry if its not up to my usual standard, although seeing how few reviews I get… :( I suppose I don't have much standard.
Thanks for the favourites, follows and reviews!
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'Bleeding stars!' was the first thing that Koschei thought of when he woke up. His second thoughts were replaying what had happened prior to him blacking out which consequently led him to worrying about the girl that the Doctor had entrusted him with. Not even four hours, going by his internal body clock, had the Doctor trusted him that he had broken it already.
Koschei was glad that he had not moved a muscle since rousing. His senses were picking up metallic smells and some even chemical smells, none of which brought at good news to him. It didn't have a linger antiseptic after smell that med bays or hospitals smelled to stew in, so he was definitely not in one. He couldn't smell the girl. She would have a distinct smell after coming out of the medi-gel and that smell was absent. So she was either separated from him. The floor was hard and cold beneath him and felt wet but not the sort of liquid wet. It felt like the kind of porous rock wet. No smell of sunlight. He was definitely underground.
Satisfied with the possibilities of the surroundings, Koschei began mentally checking his body before deciding on how to deal with retrieving the girl. He was unharmed apart from the throbbing cheek and eye. He wasn't even bound. Something that greatly surprised him.
He gingerly opened his eyes, taking in his surroundings. He had been right on most counts, except there was a glass wall dividing the hallway to what was his cell. A man stood outside his cell. Blonde with almost luminous green eyes. No. Brunette. Koschei clutched his throbbing eye, trying to get a proper visual of the man. Oh, he was seeing the man all fine. The man simply didn't have a fixed look.
"Hello." Koschei stood up and inspected him. "Who are you? Where am I?"
The man turned to his right. Probably the end of the hallway judging by the air currents, Koschei deduced. He smirked slightly before replying Koschei, "They know you're awake."
"But that doesn't answer my question." Koschei quirked an eyebrow at him.
"Yes it doesn't," he admitted with a small smile on his face.
"Adam? What are you doing here?" a low tenor voice asked. Koschei could hear heavy footsteps echo down the hallway before seeing Jack move into his vision. Jack glanced at Koschei, quickly noticing how Koschei winced and turned away. "Still early I guess," Jack muttered.
Koschei frowned at Jack. How did humans handle these kind of things? He opened his mouth then closed it, rethinking what he should say in such situations. What does one say to the person that they killed repeatedly over a year? Koschei was saved the trouble of saving anything by a piercing scream.
Jack whipped around and half-jogged down the hallway before running back to his cell and flinging it open. Jack said nothing. There was no time for either of them to say anything when the scream was followed by the sound of gun firing. Koschei ran down the hallway, his time lord physique pushing him faster than the humans. He would deal with 'Adam' when he had the time to. For now, he didn't seem to pose a threat.
The black haired female was sprawled on the floor. Her body shook from the pain. Her hands were clawing the black haired man that crouched over her. He pressed his hand over her bleeding thigh. Blood poured through his hands and pooled onto the floor.
"Hold on Gwen." The man whirled his head around, noticing him. "Koschei, the med kit, first cupboard, first shelf."
Koschei pursed his lips. "Where's the girl that came with me?" His first priority was to secure the girl that the Doctor had entrusted him. Not some human.
"She's fine. Now the med kit. Hurry." The man replied urgently.
Jack shoved Koschei aside, passing the man med kit in his hands. "Owen, what happened?"
The man, Owen, began pulling things out of the med kit. "Tell them, Gwen. Jack talk to her, she's going into shock." He pushed his fingers into her wound, pulling out bullets.
"T-they took her," the woman, Gwen replied. "Tosh…"
"Who took her?" Jack pressed. Koschei, still paying half attention to the useless conversation, turned to the computer. Typing furiously onto the keyboard, he hacked into the system, pulling up video feeds. He searched frantically for the ginger-haired girl. There was no sign of her.
He spun around to Jack, worried and anxious about his charge. "What did you do to her?" He got up, pulling Jack by the collar. "Tell me what you did with her?"
Jack pushed him away. Casually smoothing his collar down, he replied, "Safe. Now, if you excuse me, I have to rescue Tosh. Ianto." He checked his gun and slipped it into his hostler, nodding to Ianto who mimicked the same thing.
"Tell me she's safe isn't enough. I need to get her and go back to the Tardis." If there was an alien here, then the only way she'd be safe is back on the Tardis. An alien. Koschei turned around to 'Adam'. "He's gone. Should have realized it. Bleeding stars."
Koschei stood between them and the exit. "Listen to me," Koschei said. He gritted his teeth, forcing the words that flowed from his mouth to appear in some form of belying calm. "The girl that was with me is far more important. I need to know where she is. You have an alien amidst you and now both him and this Tosh is missing. I have every reason to suspect that this is not a coincidence. Where is the girl?"
"No Koschei. It's you who don't understand. But that's okay. You're still early in your timestream. Sorley is safe because her program is still running. Tosh on the other hand would not be for long."
Koschei stared at them puzzled, processing the best he could with what Jack had said. Koschei's voice was quiet in an utterly incredulous tone when he replied, "Program?"
"Yes. Future stuff. Can't explain. You told me not to. Now, we need to save Tosh. It'd be faster if you're coming." Jack handed him a gun.
Koschei sighed loudly. "Don't need one." He waved it off.
"Better take it. Judging from your relationship with Sorley, I don't think the Doctor fixed you yet. Can't risk you using your energy bolts."
Koschei frowned at him. "Speaking of which, the Girl's name is Sorley," Jack said with a knowing smile.
Koschei snatched the gun his hand. "How primitive this gun is," he mumbled. "Let's go then."
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Sorley couldn't remember what was the last thing she did. She had awoken in that strange dark room once again. The dark room that seemed to stretch out beyond her. It was her second time here. The last time she had been here, she had been in The Library. It was same silence that filled the room. The deafening silence.
"Hello?" She called out. "I'm Sorley Morin." She said, remembering how it went the last time.
Sorley Morin, Identification Number 5733-40-13 15 18 9 14-9-200, Code Name . Age 840. Please confirm or deny.
The voice appeared in her mind just as it did the previous time. "Confirm."
Please input password and passcode.
Sorley finally realized it. It wasn't a room at all. This… was her mind wasn't it? It made sense when the voice seemed to just… 'appear'. But why was it her mind? The wall? Sorley tried to theorize.
Please input password and passcode. Disconnection in 5 microspans.
"Oh." She frowned, trying to remember how she had answered it the last time. "Danger will follow me, everywhere I go. Angels will call on me and take me to my home. This tired mind just wants to be led home."
Password and passcode accepted. Level 1 access granted.
"Great." The darkness cleared and Sorley found herself in that same room she had seen the previous time. "Still the same room." She commented, pottering around the room, picking up and placing down random things.
"Who are you? Where am I?" Sorley was determined to get to the bottom of this… room.
This is the matrix. This is your room.
"What is a matrix? How is this, my room?"
A matrix is a super-computer, a rectangular array of numbers, symbols or expressions. A virtual-reality data space fed by sensors and knowledge. This is your room because you imagine it to be.
Sorley looked around the room, her mind trying to think of the room she had on the Tardis. The room around her faded into the room she had on the Tardis.
"Am I in my mind?"
Negative.
"Where am I then?"
This is your room.
Sorley growled in frustration. It almost was as frustrating at talking to Siri. She paused in mid-thought.
"Are you a program?"
Affirmative. This is the matrix.
"Is Matrix a code name for your program?"
Negative.
"Explain." Sorley wondered if there was a better way of extracting the information.
Negative. Insufficient permissions.
She flopped onto the bed, looking up into the ceiling. "I am not 840 years old… I'm 26."
Affirmative. Correct age is impossible to calculate. 840 is an estimation since second activation. Correct age would be 10,021. Calculation is not accurate due to lapse of activation.
"I'm 26, not… 10,021 or 840. 26," Sorley emphasised on the 26. If it was bloody computer it should be able to get a simple thing correct.
Negative.
Sorley heaved a sigh. "How do I leave?"
Exit is impossible. Physical body is not stable. Hibernation is required to stabilize the energy in the body.
Sorley sat up at the reply. "What do you mean I can't exit? What about Exit Program?"
Exit prohibited.
Sorley ran to the door and tugged at it. It was fake or was refusing to pull open. She wasn't on the Tardis. There was no sound. Just her and whatever was in the room. She slid down the door.
"Someone get me out of here. Anyone…"
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The Other wasn't doing very well by herself. The reading and talking from her Thief had helped the Other through her hibernation. The time for the end of her hibernation was not far now. An intruder would bring a forceful awakening to her hibernation.
Oh, it was not going to be very pleasant. The Wrong One would have to die. The poor wrong one.
The Other would be very sad. There was nothing she could do. The Wrong One have to die so that the Other may live. The Wrong One knows. He loves her, he will love her. Even though he knows that the Other will never be able to return it.
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"GO!" Koschei yelled at Jack. He fired rapidly into the opposite direction, bringing the rear up. As he had suspected, Tosh had been a decoy the whole time. There were a hundred things he wanted to furiously tell the human, but that would be after he had managed to secure Sorley.
They burst out of the dingy basement, and into the cold miserable rain. It was raining, the sort of rain with the large drops that drenched you in seconds. Koschei had a dislike for Jack, mostly due to the weird nauseating feeling he got when looking at Jack. Koschei wasn't really bothered about the man Owen who just talked to much. He probably liked Ianto the best among everything he had seen and met since he woke up. Ianto was quiet, never offered the annoying mindless drivel that Owen seemed to. But it was the rain that made Koschei dislike Cardiff tremendously. It rarely rained on Gallifrey. Rain there was warm and cool to the face, not cold and miserable.
Koschei pulled himself into the van beside Owen. The three men and woman took one look at the gloomy expression on Koschei's face and burst out laughing.
"He always gets the same look when it rains. Ianto, you should have passed him the umbrella that he keeps her just now."
"If you remember, we were busy saving Tosh."
Koschei rolled his eyes at the mindless bantering. "So where is Sorley?" he asked, interrupting them. Not that they were saying anything important.
"In the Time lock room. Nothing can get in unless you have the code and power the device down."
Koschei stared sharply at Jack's words, his eyes sliding to Tosh then back to Jack. Jack swore, realizing how bad it was. "Ianto, as fast as possible. Sorley's in danger."
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Her thigh felt like it was on fire when Gwen came to. Her head pounded viciously. It felt like something heavy had rolled over her. She realized she wasn't very far from the truth when she climbed to her knees. The metal stool with a noticeable bent lay near her. Her arm felt limp.
"I made a mistake." Adam intoned, pulling her up to her feet. "You're going to show me where Sorley is being kept."
He smiled widely as he watched her tremble. He palmed her gun. "I don't really need to use the gun."
Gwen could feel his breath on her hair. It wasn't warm and it didn't stink. It was cool and smelt sort of like peppermint. "I d-don't know where So-Sorley is…" She gasped as he jerked her head upwards, placing the cool metal on the side of her cheek.
"I d-don't know!" He clicked the safety off.
"Last chance."
Owen popped his head in. "Found her. Mistress sent new orders."
Adam froze at his words, his eyes going blank. "New orders received." He threw Gwen to the side and nodded to Owen, following Owen to another door much further in. It was the cogdoor.
Gwen knew she had to stop them. Everyone else was out saving Tosh. Gwen struggled to her feet. The world swirled around her. Black dots flittering across her vision. With great determination, she forced herself to walk towards them, her hands automatically reaching for the secret stash of weapons that Tosh had found.
"Step away from the door." She said with as much determination and intimidation she could in her voice.
They turned around. "What are you going to do? Shoot me?" Adam asked.
Gwen didn't bother responding, she simply pressed the trigger. With some incredible luck, it hit bulleye into Owen's head.
"OWEN!" Gwen staggered forward, trying to catch Owen as he collapsed to the floor.
"Gwen, get away from him." Jack pulled her up and away.
"I d-didn't mean to. I killed Owen!" Gwen wailed, batting the torch.
"Look at me Gwen." Gwen blinked frantically, pulling the owner of the voice to her face.
"Owen? You're alive? How? I- I killed you…"
"It's an alien that steals faces-" Jack begun, Gwen could see he wasn't really paying attention to the conversation. He was distracted by something. His eyes glanced to his right, towards Koschei.
"No!" Jack half-reached for Koschei, grabbing only air.
Koschei had already leapt forward. An animalistic roar echoed in the hub, his hand glowing with white energy. The cog door was already opening as Koschei lunged forward. He tackled the first one closest to the door. His hand had already wrapped around the fake Owen's throat by the time he slammed the fake Owen onto the floor. His charge was still there. Koschei hesitated upon sensing the vortex lurking beneath the alien's skin. He wasn't just any alien. He was a time lord.
The fake Owen snarled, his canine teeth bared and were abnormally large and long. He was a time lord, but he wasn't one anymore. Koschei pushed the fake Owen back to the ground, this time causing the fake Owen to snap his head hard onto the ground. With the energy that Koschei had charged in his hand, he tugged the vortex out from beneath the skin. The fake Owen made a loud keening sound. The lambent light overwhelmed him, swallowing him before imploding to nothing.
Koschei swore and stormed through the opened cog door. Jack was already dealing with Adam, as much as he could to an alien that couldn't die.
"I'm getting the irony here!" Jack shouted. He hurled himself into Adam's chest, emptying his almost empty gun into his chest. Adam fell to the ground, dead. "Good we have a minute or two before he comes back to life. How did you kill the other?"
"Unravelled him." Koschei slung Sorley over his shoulder.
"Unravelled? You could do that?"
Koschei pulled Jack in front of him but it was too late.