Tanwyn and Jack followed Holly out to the parking lot, where she unlocked the back doors of a large black Van. Jack shook his head.
"Are you a college kid or serial killer. "
Holly giggled. She swung open the back doors to reveal a massive bank of computers and monitors on one side of the van, with a fold down mattress on the other side.
Tanwyn let out a long low whistle.
"This is quite a setup."
She climbed into the van.
Jack nodded.
"How can you afford this?"
Holly tapped the side of her nose and winked.
"A lady never reveals her secrets. "
Tanwyn leaned over to Jack.
"coin."
"Ah."
Holly climbed up to the front and started the Van. She popped her head into the back.
"Which of you want's to drive?"
Tanwyn dashed for the front , But Jack clambered over her, pulling himself sideways into the driver's seat.
Holly laughed.
"Fine. I guess Jack drives. "
Holly pulled down the bed in the back and perched on the edge of it. She started her computers, the combined whirr of the various fans and electronics coming to life drowned out the rev of the engine.
Tanwyn cracked open the passenger door.
"Where are you going?"
Tanwyn hopped down.
"I have to get my purse Jack."
Jack shook his head.
Tanwyn hopped out and shut the door.
Holly keyed into her computer and sat her device on the desktop.
Jack stretched in his seat.
Holly activated the cameras around the van. She watched Jack closely. she saw how he rubbed the makeup lines from his forehead with his sleeve. She watched his eyes drifted over his own reflection in the mirror. She saw the age in his eyes. The dogged tiredness belated by his boyish features.
Holly opened a data portal and added his name to a list of various names and locations. Several data files popped up. She kept an eye on him while she opened file after file, some from Her Majesty's armed forces. Some from UNIT. Some from conspiracy websites and blogs. There were pictures of him from the Blitz. Pictures of him from the seventies. A photo of him naked at Woodstock. A file listed him as immortal, another, an alien. A third, had him as an ancient reptilian in a human suit.
Holly glanced over at the camera screen again. She didn't see him.
"Huh. I haven't seen that photo."
Holly jumped in her seat. Jack smiled.
"Doing your research. I'm impressed."
Holly blushed.
"I'm not going to just drive off with some random strangers without reading up on you first."
Jack chuckled.
"I'm already in your van."
Holly reached her hand up and pressed a button on the ceiling. A sheet of ballistic glass thunked between her and Jack.
Jack nodded, impressed.
"The doors in the front are sealed shut, and the van functions on remote. I am completely secure and in control. "
Jack laughed.
"Holly, I like you. You remind me of an old friend of mine."
Holly keyed Tanwyn's name into the same list.
"Oh really?"
"Yea. She was a computer wizard. A brilliant scientist. An exobiologist at one point. I could hand her any piece of alien tech and we would have a schematic on it in twenty minutes flat.
Holly rekeyed in Tanwyn's name.
Nothing.
"Jack?"
"Yea?"
SHe tried once more. Found nothing.
"How long have you been working with Tanwyn?"
Jack shrugged.
"Twenty four hours. "
Holly guffawed.
"And you trust her?"
Jack nodded.
"I do. Something tells me we have history."
Holly pointed at her screen.
"According to every agency in every industrial nation I can access says she has no history."
Jack smiled.
"Maybe you should try some interstellar ones."
Holly rolled her eyes.
A flash of bright white light filled the cabin of the van. Blood pooled on the front of Jack's hoodie. He groaned and collapsed to the floor.
Holly screamed.
Standing over Jack's Corpse was a Tanwyn. Except, it wasn't.
This being had the same face as Tanwyn. It had her strange wrist device. Her hair was shaved close. She wore all black. A scar ran deep across the side of her head.
She pulled the knife from Jack's corpse and slammed into the ballistic glass. It made a more. The glass cracked and bowed inward.
Holly pulled a gun from a panel in her desk she held it up shakily.
A third blow. The glass broke through.
The entity pushed her fist through the hole in the glass, unflinching as the glass tore through her skin
She pulled out some chunks of the destroyed glass.
Another flash of white light.
The being that was not Tanwyn spun around. Before Holly would react, the being's head cracked against the glass, leaving a trail of blood on the glass as she fell to the floor.
Tanwyn stood atop Jack's body, blood trickling from her jaw and drying on her hoodie. She tossed her purse into the passenger seat.
"You okay?"
