Author's Note: Okay, I've spent ages on this chapter and it totally doesn't show. For some reason I just can't get it right and now I've given up and decided just to post it. So if you don't like it, I'm sorry but I think I'm suffering from the beginings on a block, or at least a little one is just passing through :p Let me know what you think, improvements etc. x


11

Hidden Weaponry

'Look, I'm not giving her another sedative.' Martha said angrily. 'She's had two pretty high doses already. Three if you count you knocking her out on the street corner.'

Jack shook his head vigorously. 'We need to know what he was going to say. What if we use the wrong thing and end up blowing up the planet? What then?'

Martha crossed her arms over her chest stubbornly. 'Then at least we won't be having this argument anymore. I'm not giving her another sedative, Jack. End of story.'

Jack sighed heavily and rubbed his face with both hands. 'Fine. Fine. Well at least we have an idea of where he is. At least we can get started.'

Veronica appeared in the doorway of the office. 'I'd really appreciate it if you didn't drug me again.' She said.

Jack and Martha looked at her in surprise. Jack narrowed his eyes briefly and then moved towards her. 'You know what? I'd like to thank you for your help but I think we've pretty much got this covered now…' He reached out to take her elbow but she batted him away.

'You!' she hissed, pointing a finger in his face. 'Don't you dare dismiss me like I'm… I…' She paused to search for a word, and failed. 'Like I'm someone unimportant. You forced me to get involved with all this crap. You forced me to remember things that I never wanted to remember. I'm staying here until this is sorted out, okay?' She breathed out and shuddered. 'Even though I still think it's all ridiculous.'

Jack blinked at her, and then laughed. 'You know what, I nearly forgot how much I like you. Course you can stay. Actually, are you looking for a job at the minute?'

'Uh… eh?' Veronica replied in confusion.

'We'll talk later.' He told her, patting her shoulders. 'Well seeing as you've made yourself a member of Team Torchwood, albeit perhaps temporarily, I imagine you'd like to sit in on our team meeting.'

Veronica remained where she was and ended up being ushered along by Martha when she found herself slightly rooted to the spot in complete confusion. Ahead of her, Jack was clapping his hands and calling for everyone to get upstairs, pronto.

'You know, if Jo could see me now I think she might just have a heart attack.' Veronica sighed, glancing to Martha. 'I am going to wake up any minute and have to worry about Christmas presents again, aren't I?'

Martha just patted her on her shoulder. 'I could have been worse. You could have been transported to the moon.'

Veronica just gawped at her as she moved past and went up the stairs. After gathering herself for about the millionth time that night, she followed.


The meeting had just been confusing. All of the team just seemed to know what everyone else was talking about, and they moved on so quickly. It was over before Veronica was even sure it had begun. They finished each other's sentences, cracked jokes that made no sense, seemed to understand the plan before it even left Jack's mouth.

Now everyone was getting up and moving for the door. Veronica wasn't sure what to do.

'Well are you coming?' Jack asked, pausing beside her.

'Well yeah.' She replied, rising. 'What's going on?'

He frowned, amused. 'Weren't you listening?'

'Well I uh…'

'Come on. I'll explain properly on the way.'

She grabbed his arm before he had a chance to leave. 'You're not going to drug me again, are you?'

Jack only winked. 'Only if you're into that sort of thing.'

He turned and left the room and she screwed her face up. However she couldn't prevent the colour that flushed her cheeks.


'So here's the deal,' Jack announced as they hurtled down the dark streets of Cardiff in a large black car. 'We knock out one of those bugs and the Doctor will come hurtling down to us.'

'Won't that kind of uh… make him crash?' Martha replied, crushed in the backseat between Ianto, Mickey and Veronica.

'Not if we control his landing.' Mickey replied with a grin. 'Something I brought back with me from parallel Torchwood.' He pulled a round clear ball from his pocket and held it out for the others to see.

'It's a bouncy ball.' Veronica said flatly.

Mickey frowned defensively. 'It's not a bouncy ball. It's a security net. We found it in a crash site just off the west coast of Ireland. You can program it to latch onto something coming through the atmosphere and it locks on, drawing the object towards it and at the last minute it stretches out and catches it.' He tossed it up and grabbed it again, grinning. 'Like a safety net.'

'You found it in a crash you say?' Gwen half smiled, looking over her shoulder at him.

'Yeah.' Mickey grinned.

'Well it sure didn't work well for them, did it?' she smirked, turning back to the window and causing Mickey's smile to fade.

'I'm sorry if I come across as ignorant or whatever,' Veronica sighed, shaking her head. 'But I still don't really get what you're going to do. Okay, Mickey's got a magic bouncy ball that's apparently going to catch a spaceship but you haven't really said how you're going to take out the bug. I mean, the Doctor was going to say something really important about what not to use so don't you think that maybe you should spend a bit more time studying the bug? You know, just in case it all goes to pot and you blow us up?'

There was silence in the car for a few awkward moments.

'Don't worry.' Jack replied. 'If it goes wrong, I'll be okay.'

Gwen turned and frowned at him. 'We'll be okay.' She corrected. 'If it goes wrong, we'll be okay.'

Jack only turned and winked at her. Before anyone had a chance to say anything else, he stopped the car and pushed open the door. 'We're here.' He announced.

Everyone climbed out into the night and immediately got busy. Veronica though, who was still absolutely clueless to what was going on, just stood by the car and watched them all. They were at a flat car park that was unusually void of any other vehicles apart from the one they had arrived in. Jack was off to one side, messing around with a parking ticket machine, while the others were pulling equipment out the back of the car and running to the centre of the car park.

'What are you doing?' Veronica shouted, hugging herself from the cold. 'I don't think we really have to worry about parking tickets. It's Christmas day tomorrow. The traffic wardens will probably be off.'

She was ignored. Gwen, Mickey, Martha and Ianto were huddled around something on the ground. Jack apparently had the front of the ticket dispenser off and was fiddling with the wires. Veronica ran her fingers through her hair, getting increasingly agitated. This whole thing was getting beyond ridiculous. Why was she still here? She immediately told herself she was still in shock. Well of course she would be in shock. She was kidnapped. That was it - she was kidnapped! They had been drugging her and filling her full of this spiel about aliens and now they had dragged her to a car park in the middle of Cardiff probably ready to do God knows what to her.

Maybe they were the aliens!

Too many panicked thoughts were running through her mind and she scrambled back into the car, pulling the back door shut. She sat there, breathing heavily, and watched what was going on out of the window.

Jack was jogging across the tarmac to join the rest of them. They all remained there for a few moments, looking down at something on the ground, and then they all began to back away. Veronica watched in awe as the tarmac slid away and something began to rise out of the ground.

'You have got to be kidding me…' she muttered, shaking her head.

It looked like a missile. A missile was coming out of the middle of a car park in Cardiff. A moment later and they group were running back to the car. And they weren't just running, they were sprinting. They all dived back in their seats, breathing heavily.

'What the hell is that?' Veronica cried. 'You have a bloody missile?'

'You never know when you'll need a missile.' Jack replied. He turned to Ianto. 'Did you set the coordinates?'

'Yes sir.' Ianto nodded.

'Okay then.' Jack glanced around at them all. They looked back at him expectantly. 'Here we go.' He pushed a big red button on a handheld remote and suddenly the ground began to rumble beneath them. They all watched the missile apprehensively as it began to glow orange, and then suddenly shoot off into the sky. It left a trail of thick black smoke behind it that trailed after it and into the equally black sky. Veronica heard the doors opening around her.

'What are you doing?' she demanded. Running on nothing but adrenaline and fear, she hauled open her own door and stumbled out, instantly choking on the fumes from the missile.

'Mickey get ready!' Jack yelled from somewhere in the fog.

'I'm always ready!' Came the reply.

Veronica waved her hand in front of her face and looked up at the sky. The fog was clearing. She could see the fiery torpedo shooting up towards a small cluster of three bright stars. She watched with her breath caught in her throat. The others stood in a similar pose, watching apprehensively. There was a bright glow of yellow light as the missile collided with one of the small bright stars.

'Bull's eye!' Jack yelled, punching the air. 'You better be ready, Mickey-boy!'

'Get off my back man. I told you I'm ready.'

'Oh… uh, Jack?' Gwen shielded her eyes and squinted. 'Is that supposed to be happening?'

They all watched as the small star doubled in size and turned a fiery red. It streaked across the sky like a meteor. At the same time, another light was plunging towards the Earth, and fast.

'That is not going to hit what I think it's going to hit.' Martha shook her head, watching the red light. It was heading straight for the moon.

'Mickey, he's coming!' Jack yelled.

'I know!' Mickey yelled in irritation. He watched the blue light, which was growing larger and larger, and then hurled the clear ball up at the sky. It did nothing. It came back down and bounced away across the tarmac. Everyone watched it, and then looked at him in disbelief.

'Oh sod this!' Veronica blurted, turning and running back for the car.

Jack looked up. He pointed across the car park and yelled, 'Everyone run!'

Not needing to be told twice, everyone sprinted away. Jack turned and ran after Veronica, who was tugging on the door of the car frantically. He grabbed her and lifted her clean off her feet and raced after the others. By now there was a loud noise from overhead and a warm wind was whipping up around them. Jack and Veronica were only barely clear of the car when something smashed into it, crushing it down into a crater. The object that had just fallen from the sky burrowed through about a hundred yards of tarmac before coming to a smoking halt. Still hunkered down to protect themselves from impact, the group watched in awe.

The door of the Tardis flew open and the Doctor staggered out, his hair askew and suit dusty. He gasped for breath, looked around in bewilderment, and then finally saw them. He climbed out of the crater and dusted himself off. Jack rose, grinning, and was just about to speak when the Doctor yelled at him.

'You bloody idiots!' he cried, pointing up at the sky. 'I told you no missiles!'

Dumbfounded, Jack and the others looked up just in time to witness the fiery red meteor collide with the moon. There was a flash of red and a rumble. In shock, they all looked back to the Doctor.

'You just took a chunk out of the moon!' he yelled angrily.

They all stared at him silently. Finally, Jack shrugged his shoulders. 'At least you're here.'

The Doctor grimaced and flattened down his suit. He nodded to Veronica. 'Nice to see you again Victoria.'

Veronica couldn't bring herself to correct him. She just squeaked.

'Right.' He sighed. 'Shall we get started on saving the planet then?'