Note: Oooh, that took a long time to update this story...

Blame my head.

It suddenly boiled up one of many fanfiction ideas, but this particular idea refused to grow silver wings and fly away and I may have (temporarily) neglected this story to make a start on my next fanfiction project. Ah, but I'll never stray from this story.

Oh, and blame school work, too. The nasty little buggers...

Chapter 21 - Proven Wrong

John stood scarily still, staring hard at the piece of paper in his hands…

Want to save your girlfriend?

The British Library

Cloakroom, Locker 63

You have 3 days.

His heart sank deeper than ever before and he didn't even realize the phone line to Ted was still active.

"John? John, are you there?"

John frowned and studied the paper for what felt like the fiftieth time.

He realised it was written in the exact same fashion as the message he found in the bomb that was supposedly meant to set off in his locker a week ago from now, if he still recalled right.

A week ago…

John's heart skipped a beat and he tore his attention to Ted on the phone.

"Ted, when was the last reported disappearance related to Case 132?" he demanded, starting to jog through the hallway. He nearly tripped on something purple on the floor and noticed Rose's jacket on his shoe. John gritted his teeth and bolted into the bedroom where he opened his wardrobe. He pulled out his jeans and a black trench coat that -sadly- wasn't as long as his favourite brown coat, much to his disappointment.

"That would be nearly four weeks ago," Ted replied over the phone.

"Four weeks?" John answered back, eyes wide. He suddenly halted, leaving a brief pause between the line. Surely it felt so soon ago… "What month is it?"

"Blimey, John. Did you hit your head on something? That wouldn't be good since we'll be needing you here tomorrow-"

John hung up and whipped his jacket from the bed and sprinted out of the apartment without bothering to make an effort to make himself look good in front of the mirror.

The second murder: four months after the first. The third murder: three months after the second. The fourth murder: two months after the third. The fifth murder: one month after the fourth. Four weeks…

John's pace quickened as he was back by his motorbike's side in no time. Without even mentally ticking off the safety checks before he drove off on into the road, John revved and he zoomed off towards the British Library.

…

Adam and Ianto stared aimlessly at the shoebox they found not too long ago. Adam brought a hand upon the cardboard and felt it, before slowly lifting the lid open. Ianto hesitated.

"Wait."

Adam's hand halted in mid action and he looked back at the Welsh man in bewilderment.

"There's something I haven't told you," Ianto admitted, nodding at the shoebox. He watched Adam's hand distance from the box. "I've got one of those boxes."

"What?" exclaimed Adam.

"It's not like I couldn't tell anyone about it," Ianto insisted. He exhaled and lowered his voice. "I got it a day after Lisa's disappearance."

"… I'm sorry," Adam began solemnly. He glanced back up at Ianto. "Are you still willing to tell me where it is?"

Ianto bit his lip before standing up and beckoning his friend to come with him. "It's in my apartment."

…

"Hello, Sir. How can I help you?"

The librarian by the reception gave John a warm smile and the part Time Lord couldn't help but force a smile back.

"No, I'm fine," he lied, sauntering past the desk and following the direction of the sign hung up the wall behind the receptionist that said "Locker Room". His heart pounded the closer he got to his destination and all he imagined was the sight of Rose's body laying strewn in a field…

John shook his head, setting a hard expression on his face as his eyes scanned the various aisles. The sound of his lonely footsteps echoed throughout the vast locker room, but John had the eerie feeling that he was being watched... He quickened his pace, clutching his motorbike helmet tighter than ever until he stopped. He glared at the number "63" on an innocent-looking locker and patted his pockets. He produced the key he found along with the note and stared at the locker, before hesitating and eventually shoving it into the lock. John looked in both directions, deciding to proceed when he felt sure no one was lurking around.

To his surprise, he found a white shoebox nested inside the locker. He reached in and took it out, realizing the box was fairly light. John raised a brow as he lifted open the lid and peered inside – before slamming it back shut. He blinked, frowning in confusion. He steadied his erratic breathing and looked around for the second time before spinning on his heel and hurrying out.

…

Pete stood outside Canary Wharf, fumbling with the cigarette in his hand. He watched as a TARDIS blue motorbike pulled up a few meters away and the driver hopped off the vehicle, all in one swift motion.

John tore his motorbike helmet from his head and Pete noticed a hard expression on the part Time Lord's face. The part Time Lord had already stormed into the building before Pete could even get to him…

John didn't seem phased by passing operatives who smiled and greeted him as he walked out of the elevator. He walked straight forwards along the white corridor, taking a sharp right turn into a darker hallway where a heavy-looking metal door stood in his way. He stared hard at the door before taking his sonic screwdriver out of his inner pocket and tossing it in the air before buzzing the door. There was a hiss of hydraulics and clunking before the door slid open. John marched into the cell room, still clutching onto his sonic screwdriver and made his way to the last cell where Quon'sa sat there staring at a bowl of what honestly looked like gooey purple porridge. The Reptilian looked up at John.

"What?" it hissed. Perhaps he didn't mean for it to sound rude, but it seemed to pull a string in John and the part Time Lord growled, throwing his arm out to sonic the force field separating him from the alien and activating the sonic screwdriver. The force field generator sizzled and the transparent blue haze lowered, leaving the Reptilian open. John stormed into the alien's cell and yanked him by the collar of it's makeshift clothes. He brought the alien closer to his face.

"You tell me where Rose is," he snarled. "I know you're up to something. Your lot sent me that letter, didn't you?"

"I… don't know what you're talking about," Quon'sa muttered, squirming under John's grip. "I told you. I'm the last of the Triple Threats…"

"Oh, don't play games with me!" said John, his voice raising. He shoved the Reptilian back into his cell. "Your lot. You're still kidnapping people," he shouted, taking the piece of paper out of his trouser pocket, "I got your bloody letter. This is not a game. Toying with lives is not a game!"

Quon'sa stared in bewilderment as John began to pace around in the cell, running his hands through his hair and muttering incoherent sentences under his breath. The Reptilian was suddenly swept away as John looked back at him with desperation in his eyes. He perched in front of the alien.

"Please, Quon'sa," he begged, inwardly cursing his emotions. "Rose hasn't done anything to deserve this."

Compelled to sooth the part Time Lord, Quon'sa relaxed his expression to a more reassuring look. "John, I can tell you now that we never did anything to Rose."

…

Pete walked into the CCTV room where a guard looked back at him with a nervous expression. He let out a winding sigh.

"Just tell me what's wrong," Pete demanded.

"It's John Smith, Sir," the guard summarized, pointing at one of the CCTV screens. "He's broken into the Cell Room."

…

John stepped back at a loss for words. He shook his head petulantly. "You're lying," he snarled. Quon'sa lamely shook his head.

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry?!" he shrieked, "Rose is gonna end up like one of those dead women you've helped kill and left to rot in one of London's barren lands!"

Quon'sa looked confused. "We never discarded their bodies back on Earth…"

"Oh, stop lying."

"No, I'm serious," Quon'sa insisted, wincing at his criminal activies. "Once we sell the human females, their whole forms are taken away and if they stop producing the desired hormones, we…" he trailed off, eyeing John. "Well, human female bodies are seen as a delicacy-"

"Just stop," John ordered, frowning. "What, you're saying there's another killer going about and discarding dead bodies whilst you lot were kidnapping your own batch of humans?" he scoffed, forcing a bitter laugh. Then he stopped and fell into a momentary pause. "You're coming with me."

"What?" Quon'sa blurted, feeling John grab his shoulder and being pushed out of his cell.

"You're gonna help me find Rose," John declared, putting an arm out in front of the Reptilian to stop him. He peered around the corner and proceeded, dragging Quon'sa with him. "Reptilians," he began. "Your lot are good with tracking, you're even hired as bounty hunters. You're gonna help me find Rose and prove to me that I'm wrong." John halted, smiling. "I've never been proved wrong."

Quon'sa looked up at him. "I could easily knock you out and run away, or poison you again so you'd die this time. I've got nothing to lose if you kill me. Why would I want to help you?" John fixed a hard gaze on the Reptilian.

"I told you. I want to see if you'd prove me wrong unless you're just lying this whole time."

"I'm not lying..." Quon'sa grated, resulting in John to shrug.

"Well, there you have it," he said with a wary smile.

Annoyingly, Quon'sa was keen on proving him wrong…

The two darted through the corridors, halting and hiding behind doors, as Torchwood operatives would walk past them. They were leaning behind a wall and John studied the area for a way out. Behind him, Quon'sa felt more and more wary the further they walked away from his cell. He glanced at the burns on his hands, remembering the horrors of that Jack Harkness… He felt a slight nudge on his shoulder. It was John.

"We'll have to take the stairs," he began with a sympathetic tone. "I hope fifty flights of stairs won't bother you. We can't risk people seeing you…"

Quon'sa frowned at that. "You dare undermine the fitness of my people?" The Reptilian picked himself up. John laughed and propped himself back up onto both feet.

"Hardly." He gestured at the direction of the stairs before bumping into Pete Tyler. "Ah…"

"John," Pete began, staring at Quon'sa before looking back at John for help. "What are you doing?"

Plucking an excuse from his mind, John pointed at the alien. "Toshiko asked me to take the Reptilian to the labs so she can install some upgrades to the Universal Translator."

"Oh, okay."

John inwardly sighed at that. He made for a move before hesitating. "I… I can take the alien to the labs, right?"

Pete nodded. "Sure, sure!" he insisted, scratching his head. "Just thought you were… up to something."

"Me? Up to something? Ha!" John pursed his lips as he pulled Quon'sa by the sleeve away from Pete.

"Oh, and have you seen Rose?" Pete began. John gritted his teeth. "Jackie's been callin' her but she's not picking up her mobile…"

The part Time Lord fell into silence before turning his back away from Pete. "No, I've been looking for her, too…" he replied all too truthfully.

Pete watched as John ushered the alien through the corridor. A guard who had been listening in on the conversation came out of his hiding spot about a meter away from Pete.

"Sir, you do know that Toshiko Sato is absent today?" the guard began. Pete slowly nodded, narrowing his eyes. "Forgive me for pointing out the obvious, but how could John claim that she asked him to take the alien to the labs?"

"Follow John," Pete pressed on. "If he decides to leave this building, stop him. Get someone to guard his bike." The next bit came out more serious. "And try not to raise too much attention."

The guard nodded, pulling out his walkie-talkie and muttering a round of orders.

…

John was running now. The Reptilian hobbled behind him, ignoring the confused looks it got from passing agents. They stormed into the stairwell, jumping down the steps with such speed. Quon'sa peered over the edge of the banisters and his jaw dropped at the continuous flights of stairs that reached the bottom.

"I didn't see that coming," it hissed.

"Now's not the time to regret," John muttered, quickening his pace down the steps. "Pete must've suspected us already. He's a smart man."

As if on cue, the door where they came from burst open and John heard a series of footsteps. The part Time Lord and Reptilian exchanged glances before starting at a sprint down the stairs.

"I should have refused to help you," Quon'sa panted. John rolled his eyes as he shoved the Reptilian to encourage him to move faster.

"John Smith, this is an order from Pete: you are requested to stand down," a voiced boomed. John peered upwards at the towering stairs above him.

"Is it possible to stand down?" he asked innocently. "How can you stand down? Do you mean sit down?"

He instantly ducked as an air gun bullet was shot and the plastic pellet zoomed past his head and ricocheted against the concrete wall in front of him.

"How dare you?!" John gasped, urging Quon'sa to speed up and beginning to skip two steps at a time to get down even quicker.

"You humans have a warped sense of humour," the Reptilian surmised, staring at John in bemusement.

"Yeah, they do," John agreed, sighing. Quon'sa became confused at that response. "Plastic bullets and air guns," John began. "Looks like they want us alive and kicking..."

They approached the fifteenth floor when John heard the door to the stairwell slam open from the floors below them and upon sheer instinct, he yanked Quon'sa by the sleeve and dragged him through the fourteenth floor door.

"We're dead meat," Quon'sa breathed, watching as Torchwood operatives cried out in horror at a humanoid and a green alien zipping past them. "Jack's gonna rip me to shreds and feed them to your stupid Torchwood agents…"

"Who, Jack Harkness?" John thought out loud. He shook his head. "I'll make sure that doesn't happen."

Quon'sa noticed a smile tug around the part Time Lord's lips. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?" he exclaimed. John just laughed as he veered right and headed out of the office block and into one of Torchwood's many white corridors. Frankly, John wasn't surprised to hear someone shout, Stop them!" and that was his cue to dash towards the direction of the AT labs.

…

Ianto and Adam silently entered the apartment and didn't bother to dry themselves from the rain. Instead, they kept their soaked jackets on. Adam followed Ianto deep in the apartment, settling into the furthest room from the front – the bedroom.

Ianto produced a white shoebox from beneath his bed and passed it to Adam. The latter silently took the box and sauntered towards the study desk by the corner of the room, cautiously placing the box on the table. He looked back at Ianto and suddenly broke the ongoing silence.

"Have you opened the box before?"

"…" Ianto hesitated, watching Adam lift the lid. "Yes. But I still haven't come to terms with it."

Seeing where Ianto was going, Adam quietly stared at the various items in the box: a piece of folded paper – perhaps with some instructions written in it, a mobile phone, and SIM card. But what no one would expect to see nestled inside was a gun.

…

"What in the name of the Reptilian race are you doing?!"

Quon'sa gaped at John, fumbling and bringing that slim, silver device he used before to his head.

"If I could set the sonic so that it's waves resonate at a particular frequency to literally disable weapons, I could possibly stop us from getting killed-"

A plastic pellet whizzed right past John resulting in the Reptilian to shriek.

"You're not, by any chance, prophesizing doom along the way?!" Quon'sa shrieked.

"In a minute!" John yelled, hitting his sonic against his palm and cursing under his breath. He stormed through the double doors leading into the AT labs and suddenly felt a surge of reassurance – like the feeling he'd get if he were to enter the TARDIS.

"Sorry to break the news," Quon'sa began, "but a minute's gone!"

Daring to look back at the throng of armoured men chasing them, John nodded in the direction of the nearest lab and they took a sharp turn into the room. The whirring of the sonic screwdriver caught Quon'sa off guard as John pointed the device at the door blocking them from the Torchwood agents. There were a series of clunking noises from within the door and John let out a hum of approval. "That should keep them at bay for a while," the part Time Lord murmured.

"Please tell me you have a plan," the Reptilian demanded, watching John continue to fiddle with his sonic screwdriver. He looked at the Reptilian with a face that suggested that Quon'sa was a simpleton.

"This is the plan."

"… What?"

They were both cut off at the banging sound outside the door.

John rolled his eyes and waved his arms around. "The plan was to take cover in here."

"And get killed?!" Quon'sa finished off flippantly. Another bang interrupted them.

"And then I'll think of another plan after that," John corrected.

"Oh, well in your own time," said the Reptilian, too calmly to be sane. He watched as John paced around the room, examining various items available in the room. This time, they ignored the constant banging noise outside in silence.

"Teleporter!"

Quon'sa jumped a meter in the air upon John's sudden cry. "What?"

He almost regretted asking when John unleashed a string of words. "We found a portable teleporter of Mondas origin – but that doesn't matter. With enough power, I can jumpstart the teleporter. Fortunately for us, we have both parts of the teleporter so we can have a guaranteed materialization and landing. No worrying of co-ordinates and all, just a direct path..."

John picked up two circular devices from a cupboard beneath the worktop in both hands and dashed to the nearest window, opening it wide. He licked a finger and placed it out of the window and below, studying for a brief moment. Another bang came from the door, but John didn't seem phased by it as he tossed one of the teleportation devices out of the window.

"Let's hope we actually land on the ground and not in the air…"

"Whatever you are doing, I don't think you'll be able to do it in time…" Quon'sa sighed, defeated. He was surprised John didn't reply, but found the part Time Lord standing there in deep thought, his face scrunched in concentration.

John mumbled a string of calculations and technobabble under his breath, before the door shuddered and blasted out of its hinges. The part Time Lord snapped out of thought and jumped upon instinct, out of the way of the explosion and falling face first onto the floor. He looked up, groaning at a throbbing pain in his head and saw Jake Simmonds walk towards him with a look of confusion.

"John, what are you doing?" he began. "Pete suddenly ordered us to stop you." He looked at the Reptilian cowering on the spot under three guns trained on him. "Is it true? You're aiding a break out?"

John bit his lip. "I'm sorry." It pained him to see one of his acquaintances, who looked up to him, suddenly feel disappointment in him. His eye caught the blue teleporter by his right foot.

"You know," Jake began with regret. "I'm gonna have to arrest you…"

"I'm sorry Jake, but I won't let that happen." John picked himself up, feeling more confidence surge in him as Jake suddenly aimed his gun at the part Time Lord.

"John, don't make me do it. Please…"

John stared at Jake in solemn silence – then suddenly ducked to pick up the teleporter in one swift motion.

BANG!

The part Time Lord screamed as pain coursed through his thigh.

"I'm sorry, John," Jake croaked. "It's just an air gun pellet would, nothing as worse as a metal bullet, I had to do it..."

"Of course," John gasped through gritted teeth. He scrunched his eyes, clutching his leg even harder as he felt a searing pain shoot all over his whole left leg. "Looks like I'll be hopping for my life..."

Jake looked in the direction of Quon'sa and sighed, nodding towards the exit. "Take the alien back to the cells."

"NO!" screamed John, staggering forwards. He refused to see his only chance of finding Rose just slip away from his hands... He left a trail of blood in his wake, clutching onto the blue device.

"Stand down, John," Jake warned. He nodded to the other agents and they edged closer to the Reptilian.

Quon'sa yelped. "No..." he whimpered, memories of Jack beating him flooding his mind. "No, I won't go through the torture!"

"We won't hurt you, I promise," Jake began, feeling sympathetic. "Just listen to us and no one gets hurt. I can't deal with anymore of this..."

The Reptilian's eyes darted around until he saw it. The sonic screwdriver strewn on the floor just an arm's length from him. No one seemed to notice its existence in that moment in time. He heard the snap of the safety release mechanism of the guns pointed at him and in blinding speed, grabbed the sonic screwdriver and activated it. Eyes screwed shut, the sonic screwdriver unleashed a low-pitched whine and all the guns in the lab suddenly juddered and disassembled themselves.

"What the hell?..." Jake stared at his own gun miraculously vibrate and disassemble in his own hands. He didn't notice John lunge out with a blue circular device in his hand and fall onto Quon'sa, slamming the device with his palm. The part Time Lord and Reptilian were enveloped in a blue light and suddenly disappeared from the room.