Chapter 14: They Keep Killing Suzie, part 3

Hi guys! So my Brother is legally an adult, and also a graduate of High School! So that's good. Congratulations to my big brother, love you! My mouth hurts quite badly because I got my wisdom teeth out and ouchie. So yeah. I'm reaaaaallly sorry this took so long! But hopefully it's good so you will all forgive me! Anyway onwards!

They weaved their way through the throngs of people, the heavy metal music screeching loudly. Dim, colored lights gave the bar a dark atmosphere which had drawn crowds of people like moths to a very crowded, loud, light. Jack ordered them to spread out and cover the exits, and they scanned the crowds for Max. Gwen groaned and clutched her head.

"Oh great," she grunted as another song featuring very loud, heavy guitar started. "As if I didn't already have a banging headache."

"It's the glove," Suzie commented from her position near the monitors of the computer, a scarf hiding her wounds. "It gets inside your mind."

Gwen rolled her eyes. "Yeah, alright Suzie, stop creeping me out. Any sign of Max or this Lucy Mackenzie?" She peered around, her camera giving a live feed to those back at the hub. Rose patted her back and gave her a soft smile. She didn't particularly like Suzie either.

"Nothing yet," they heard the not-dead woman's voice in their comms. "keep moving round,"

Back at the hub, the air was tense. Tosh and the Doctor had stayed behind to man the computers. They were each very talented with them, and together they were the technological dream team. However, they were not alone. Suzie sat to the side of the Doctor, who was radiating anger and unease. Not only did he not like the woman, she went against his Time Lord instincts, and she made him extremely uncomfortable.

"All right, enough with the dirty looks." The woman causing this tenseness spoke. "I get it. God, you already brought me back, what more do you want."

The Doctor stiffened. "You think that's enough?" He laughed with no humor. "You killed my very best friend. In my eyes, you'll never even begin to reconcile yourself." Suzie stared at him for a moment before turning to Tosh, who still avoided her gaze, and continued studying her monitor.

"Can't even look at me can you?" Suzie asked the Japanese woman. "It's not like you to be so judgmental,"

"Not like you to go on a murder spree. All right, so it drives us mad, this job. God knows, I've done some stupid stuff. But now, I've got to keep on working, every day, in a job that's got a bit less honour, because of you." With this, Tosh turned back to her computer, and the hub again fell silent.

Rose felt uneasy in this bar. For one, it was the Bad Wolf. She did not particularly enjoy her encounters with the Bad Wolf. "Keep alert people," She heard Jack remind them. "To repeat, Max is described as forty, six three or six four, stocky, short dark hair, tattoo down his left arm."

Owen groaned as he looked around. Almost every person he could see had a tattoo down the left arm. Except for most of the girls, of course. "That narrows it down," He muttered. He felt like he was in a pit filled to the brim with teenage rebellion and middle aged crisis. As he searched the crowd, his eyes found a match. "Wait, I've got a match on our guy," He spoke to his team.

"Where is he?" he heard his boss' voice.

"Over by the Northwest bar,"

"Show me Owen, get closer," Suzie urged him, and he pushed through the crowd.

"Wait," he said as the man began to move "He's going for the- I've got a match on our girl, Lucy Mackenzie, the student," He shifted so those at the Hub could see her.

"That's her, that's definitely her," Suzie confirmed.

Owen saw the man approaching the young student. "It's too late he's going over," He pushed roughly through the crowd and quickly had the man on the floor. The man struggled but Owen kept him pinned, an arm pulled around his back. The man turned his face to try and see his assailant, and Suzie paused.

"That's not him," she breathed, confused. Owen's head tilted, and he released his grip of the man. The rest of his team was gathered around him. He heard Suzie shout in his comm and Gwen turned as she heard the scream. She stepped out of the way as Jack quickly disarmed and stunned the man. As he fell to the ground beside her, she regained her breathing. She pressed a hand to her comms.

"You saved my life," She spoke to Suzie.

"Maybe I came back for a reason," Rose frowned at this. Suzie was not to be trusted. So if she had no problem killing her team members before, why should now be any different.

OOO

Max sat in his cell, staring blankly ahead. He didn't seem to notice the three men standing on the other side of the glass.

Owen began to speak. "Okay, so your name is Max Tresillian. Can you confirm that?" No response. "You live at 106 Endeavour Terrace, is that right?" Again, there was no sign he had heard. "Parents, Sandra and Dave, yeah? You're inside the Torchwood facility." Finally, there was a reaction, as Max turned furious within a second, his face contorted with rage, pounding on the door over and over. "And five, six. Keep watching. Soon as we reach ten-" Max's face returned to it's emotionless mask, and he sat back down. "Just stops dead. If this is a drug-induced psychosis, it's a very specific one."

"Fascinating," breathed the Doctor, putting on his 'brainy specs'.

"Like he reacts to the word Torchwood." Jack added, triggering Max again.

"Thanks, Jack." Owen griped.

The man in question grinned. "Sorry. But if that's caused by Retcon, then we've got a million more problems on the way. Let me know what the scan says." He began to turn and leave, but Owen stopped him.

"But what about Suzie? What are you gonna do with her?"

"No idea. What do you think?" It was a sincere question.

"You're the boss." Owen answered.

"Torchwood." Jack muttered as he left, and chuckled as he heard the pounding of fists against glass behind him.

The Doctor stalked out after Jack. "Jack, she can't stay." He did not appear to be ready to give up the Suzie conversation. "she killed Rose, she's a danger to all of us!"

Jack sighed. "I know." He turned to the Doctor. "I don't know what to do, Doc."

The Doctor paused, then smiled ruefully. "Neither do I. And it's not often I say that." This made Jack chuckle, and the two walked on in companionable silence.

OOO

Rose found the Doctor clutching a cold cup of tea and staring distractedly into space. She plopped down into the seat next to him and chuckled when he started, nearly spilling his tea. "You alright, old man?" The Doctor rolled his eyes and smiled at her. "Something bothering you?" She asked, although she already knew the answer.

"Yes." He conceded, and she cocked her head to the side, waiting for him to continue. "I don't trust her. At all. She isn't natural. She shouldn't be here."

She grinned at him. "Are your Time Lord senses tingling?" She teased but he only gave a small smile.

"It isn't just that." He sounded uneasy. "Rose... she killed you. She took the most precious thing to me. You were just laying there, dead, and she never had to pay for it. I don't think I will ever not see a killer when I look at her. And that's all I see." He tried to explain to her, and she nodded.

"I get it Doctor. I do. You lost me. But I'm back now. Trust me, I get it. I don't like her, and I definitely don't trust her. But, she can't kill me, because I can't die. Don't worry about me, okay? Help me keep our team safe, Doctor." she urged him, and waited until he nodded before smiling brightly. "Good, now throw away that disgustingly cold tea and let's get back to it," He grinned at her and nodded.

OOO

Owen had gathered them in the autopsy room. Jack and Tosh leaned on the bench, the Doctor was standing with his arms crossed. Owen was anxiously explaining what he had found. "I was going over Suzie and Gwen's medical records. I ran them through the philemon filter. Watch the footage." He played said footage, and they watched a streak of energy on the screen flow from Gwen to Mark Brisco, through the glove. "This is the moment when Gwen brought back Mark Brisco, the husband. See? Now look at his death. See? The energy flow stops just as he's about to die. But, have a look at Gwen with Suzie." He switched the video and this time the energy looked like a lighting bolt, flowing directly from Gwen to the knife, not through the glove this time.

"Whoa." Jack gaped at the screen and the Doctor pulled out his glasses, propping them on his nose as he leaned forward to study the screen.

"What is that?" Tosh asked.

"Energy." The Doctor answered grimly. "Life."

"But with Suzie, it's a permanent connection and she is getting stronger." Owen continued. "It's still going right now. She is draining the life out of Gwen."

Jack's face hardened. "There's always a price," He muttered. "The wearer of the glove can bring somebody back, but loses their own life in return."

"So how do we stop it?" Tosh turned to Jack. He had a haunted look in his eyes.

"We have to kill her. Suzie has to die." His face was serious and dark.

"Again?" Tosh asked, incredulous.

There was silence for a beat, them Owen spoke. "Who's going to do it?"

"Like you said," Jack grimaced. "I'm the boss." He pulled out his gun, and clicked the safety off. He and took off for the interrogation room, only to find it empty. "Toshiko?" He spoke into his comms. "Where the hell's Suzie? And where's Gwen?"

Tosh paused to answer, "Interrogation room,"

"No, they're not," Jack said, getting irritated.

"Wait, didn't Rose go to check on them earlier?" The Doctor asked, rushing over to the computers.

"Find them." Jack barked. "Fast."

Tosh started typing furiously at the computer, scanning the hub for the three missing people. "I can't see them... hold on, scanning. Hold on, there's one! It's Rose, she's in one of the holding cells?" Tosh's surprise was evident in her voice, and the Doctor took off down the hall to the holding cells.

"But what about Gwen and Suzie? Where've they gone?" Owen asked.

"Just keep looking," Jack ordered. "Bring up the SUV."

The Doctor reached the holding cells and found Rose sitting on the ground in an empty cell.

"Oh finally! Doctor, Gwen left with Suzie, I tried to stop her, and she threw me in a cell." Rose was fuming. She didn't blame Gwen, she knew it was Suzie. Whatever Suzie had done, she was desperate to see her father. Suzie had never mentioned her father before, she had to be up to something. She explained this to the Doctor, who told pulled his comms out of his pocket, where he had put it earlier, stuck it in his ear, and called out to Jack on it.

"Jack! Jack, Gwen took her, they're going to find Suzie's... dad..." the Doctor trailed off as Max started chanting in the next cell.

"Because I could not stop for death/he kindly stopped for me/the carriage held but just ourselves/and immortality," Max started to rock back and forth, and Rose and the Doctor stared at him.

"Is that-?"

"Emily Dickinson, yeah," The Doctor finished for her, looking confused. Max kept chanting over and over, and Rose crouched in front of the cell.

"Max? Max! Can you hear me? Doctor, why is he doing this?" Rose was looking a bit panicked, and he put a hand on her shoulder, giving it a calming squeeze.

"Jack, Max is acting weird. He keeps chanting Emily Dickinson."

Just as he finished his sentence, the lights went out. The hub was plunged into darkness, and they heard the doors lock tight. "What the- Ianto! Ianto!" Jack shouted, surprised when he found him a few feet away.

"Captain?" Ianto greeted.

"What happened?"

Ianto looked confused. "But, I thought you must have done it." He caught the Captain's confused face. "We've gone into lockdown."

Jack looked exasperated. "Then reverse it."

"I can't," Ianto explained. "It's a hundred percent. The doors are sealed. We're locked in,"

Rose stormed into the room, dragging the Doctor behind her. "Alright what the hell. We've gone into lock down, Suzie and Gwen left, and Max is sitting down in his cell chanting over and over again."

"That's it!" Exclaimed Tosh excitedly. "It's a verbal trigger! Max repeats it enough times and it triggers a lock down!"

"But if that's a part of the system, Suzie must've installed a vocal command program way back," Owen noted.

"Back when she was alive. Yeah." Jack confirmed. "Max is just a Trojan Horse. Suzie planned this right from the start." He leaned over on the desk. "Do you see?" He asked them. "Max, the Retcon, everything. It's all been a hoax to get us to resurrect Suzie."

"She must have given Max a whole complex of commands set up in his subconscious," The Doctor mused.

"So she dies, Max becomes a time bomb. He doesn't hear from her for three months, and wham, the orders kick in." Tosh continued.

"And Max starts killing." Rose finished. She looked furious. "She used us. Damn it, she planned this all along! And then she escaped. I should have stopped them." She cast her eyes down, and the Doctor grabbed one of her hands, squeezing it comfortingly. She looked up at him, and he could see the anger in her eyes.

"You couldn't have known Rose. And there has to be a way to reverse it. We'll save her, okay?" She looked into his eyes and nodded, a bit of the edge leaving her eyes.

Ianto tapped Jack on the shoulder. "I've got reception, sir,"

Jack grabbed the phone, grinning. "How did you do that? We're sealed off?"

"Just used the Water Tower as a relay." Ianto said casually as the team grinned at him.

"Nice work, Ianto," Jack said, then paused, the grin slipping off his face. "but who do we phone?"

OOO

"Parting is all we know of heaven and all we need of hell?" Jack paused, then continued when nothing happened. "No, try another."

Over the phone, Rose could hear detective Swanson. "Success is counted sweetest by those who ne'er succeed. Christ, she was a bundle of laughs." Rose gave a small laugh at that, and Jack repeated the phrase.

"Nope," He said with a sigh, but Tosh perked up.

"Wait a minute, just had a thought! If words cause the lock down, maybe numbers reverse it! Try the ISBN, every book's got a different number," Tosh explained, and Jack confirmed with Detective Swanson. "Read it out," Tosh requested.

"But the keyboards aren't working," Jack reminded Tosh.

"But the membrane underneath might just recognize the code," She reasoned. Jack shrugged as Swanson read him the digits. Rose sent up a prayer to whatever gods might exist that this would work as Tosh typed in the number. As soon as she typed in the last digit, the lights flickered back in, the power auto-resuming.

"That's it! Everybody, move, move! Kathy, thank you!" Jack shouted hurriedly into the phone before hanging up.

"I've got the tracker on Gwen's car. It's a hospital, giving you the coordinates now," Tosh told Jack as he and Owen piled into the SUV.

"On the way. How long's she got?" He directed the last question at Owen.

"It's only a guess, but I'd give Gwen about forty minutes." Jack stepped on the gas, and Kathy gave them priority. When they arrived they saw Gwen's car still parked out front, and raced inside. They raced up to the staff, demanding to be let in. Back at base, the Doctor jumped up, a spark in his eye.

"OH! Oh that's it!" Rose looked up at him expectantly, used to his brilliant outbursts. "The glove!"

"What?" Tosh asked, confused. "What about it?"

OOO

"Suzie!" Jack yelled as they burst into the room. Gwen was slumped in a corner, grasping at her head, crying out in pain. Suzie stood by her father's bedside, and turned to look at Jack. Owen crouched down and gathered Gwen up into his arms, checking her pulse. It was weak but there.

"Jack hurry." Owen urged him, and Jack pointed his gun at Suzie.

OOO

"Oh, think, think, think!" The Doctor exclaimed, and Rose grabbed his hands urgently.

"Doctor, what? What is it?"

"The Glove! Get the glove, it's still connecting them! It's a piece of the connection, if we destroy it, the connection is broken!" Tosh ran and yelled for Ianto, who ran to retrieve the glove.

OOO

"If I kill you, Gwen lives." Jack glared at Suzie coldly, who had an insane glint in her eye.

"But could you? When part of her is in me?" He gestured to Gwen.

OOO

Tosh grabbed the glove, running back up to Rose and the Doctor.

OOO

"Can't you see it though? In me? Just the smallest bit of her? Could you really kill that?" Suzie had a small, cruel smile on her face.

Jack didn't even flinch. "Not the slightest bit." There was a bang as he squeezed the trigger. Suzie Costello jerked as the bullet ripped through her gut. She dropped to the ground and twitched. Jack looked to Gwen, who was still in bad shape. There was no change. He ran up to Suzie as she opened her eyes and laughed.

OOO

Tosh set the glove on the table and ran for cover as Rose pulled out her gun and clicked the safety off.

OOO

"I can't die!" Suzie laughed, gasping through the pain. Jack shot again, and Suzie jerked, blood splattering across the sterile white floor.

OOO

Rose took a deep breath and aimed. Praying she wasn't too late, she squeezed the trigger.

OOO

Jack jumped back as Suzie jerked one final time, a painful sounding gasp ripped from her throat as she flopped back onto the linoleum floor, and moved no more.

OOO

Rose let out a deep breath. She and the Doctor were sitting on the couch, neither of them ready to go to sleep quite yet after their busy day. Jack had sent them all home early, so the Doctor and Rose had ordered a pizza and turned on East Enders, neither of them really watching it. Rose curled up against the Doctor, the two snuggling as they often had on the TARDIS. She heaved a deep breath before speaking. "You were brilliant today, you know." She turned slightly so she could see the smile that graced his face. "You've been a little off since... well..." She didn't need to finish her sentence, instead gesturing to their situation. The domestic life they were living. Rose had been worried, he wasn't quite as genius as he had been, he had seemed careless and distracted. She was glad her old Time Lord was adjusting. "I know this is hard for you, you know. Being stuck. Knowing what's out there and having to stay put."

"Rose, it's really not that bad-"

She looked at him incredulously. "Doctor, you hate domestics."

"Yeah, but domestics with you," He raised an eyebrow at her and gave a disarming smile. "S'not so bad," Rose beamed up at him and snuggled back into his chest. The Doctor decided right then and there that when it came to Rose, he sort of liked being domestic.

So there's your fluff! I really hope this was good it took me hours to write and my mouth hurts, so make me happy and review! Please! I hope you guys don't hate me for literally not updating for months. Ugh I'm sorry :( Please forgive! Thank you to all the people who reviewed, followed, and favorited, it makes me really reeeaaaallly happy! Xoxo, Roxy