A/N: Oh. My goodness, people. It's the beginning of the end for this story. We've finally made it! I can't believe it. I love it being summertime and being able to update for you guys regularly.

Gamers

"Whoa, whoa!" the Wolf yelled as she stumbled out of a cupboard, head spinning.

"Oh, my God!" a young woman said, helping her up. "I don't believe it! Why'd they put you in there? They never said you were coming."

The Wolf rubbed her head, trying to focus, but she was having trouble remembering anything besides her name. "What happened?" she asked, her voice slurring a little. "I was -"

"Careful now. Oh! Oh, mind yourself," the girl said, gripping the Wolf's arm as she stumbled again. "Oh, that's the transmat," she said sympathetically. "It scrambles your head. I was sick for days." She looked in the Wolf's eyes, which were just about on level with hers. "All right? So, what's your name then, sweetheart?" she asked kindly.

The Wolf staggered a bit before finding her balance. "The Wolf, I think, er – I don't know. What happened? How am I -"

The girl smiled. "You got chosen."

"Chosen for what?" the Wolf asked.

"You're a housemate. You're in the house. Isn't that brilliant?" she said excitedly. She gestured over to two other young people, who immediately started complaining about the validity of new housemates, while the Wolf just stared at them bewilderedly, trying to figure out what was going on.

"Would the Wolf please come to the Diary Room?" a voice asked over the loudspeaker.

"Guess that's me," the Wolf shrugged.

John. The thought hit her remembered John. He was important. Where was he? "What and where is the Diary Room?" she asked the more polite girl who had helped her. She needed to concentrate on getting out of – wherever she was, and find John.

The girl pointed. "It's just down that hall, first door on your right."

The Wolf nodded. "Thanks." She cautiously opened the door, ready for anything, but was greeted by a darkened room with just a chair inside. She went and sat down, and saw a camera pointed straight at her face.

"You are live on channel forty-four thousand," the same disembodied voice told her. "Please do not swear."

The Wolf stared into the camera in disbelief and borrowed one of John's favorite lines. "You have got to be kidding me," she muttered, unamused.

John woke up on a cold floor and was quickly picked up and shoved behind a podium by a dark skinned man named Roderick before he could really remember who he was. The podium had his name on it, which seemed potentially troublesome, but John couldn't figure out why. He held onto the booth to try and steady his feet. "But I was traveling, with the Wolf and Jack. The Wolf wouldn't leave me. I need to find her," he tried to tell Roderick. "We're not supposed to be here."

"Well, it says John on the podium," Roderick pointed out.

John stared in a mixture of amusement and horror as the robot Anne Droid came onto the stage and announced the beginning of The Weakest Link. "Oh, my God," he muttered. "You've got to be kidding me."

Jack leapt from an examination table as two droids leaned over him. "Sorry, nice to meet you ladies, but where exactly am I?" he asked, looking around.

"We're giving you a brand new image," one droid said.

"Oh. Hold on. I was with the Wolf and -" he started, but got distracted. "Is there something wrong with what I'm wearing?" he asked.

"It's all very twentieth century. Where did you get that denim?" the second droid asked.

Jack looked down at himself. "A little place in Cardiff. It was called the Top Shop," he shrugged.

Jack stared as the two droids set up a menacing instrument they called the Defabricator. "What's a defabricator?" he asked just a little bit nervously. He braced himself as a beam shot out of the end, but found himself unharmed when it turned back off.

Until he looked down at himself.

"Okay. Defabricator," he mused. "Does exactly what it says on the tin." The Defabricator had disintegrated every shred of clothing Jack had had on. He looked up at the two droids with a sly glint in his eyes. "Am I naked in front of millions of viewers?" he asked, grinning.

"Absolutely!" the droids chorused, excited.

Jack checked himself out, then winked at the cameras. "Ladies, your viewing figures just went up."

Once the camera had finished explaining to the Wolf where she was, that she was on Big Brother, and kicked her back into the house, she inspected her surroundings with the help of her sonic screwdriver. The girl from before followed her around, chatting, as the Wolf tried to open the door. "Why can't I open it?" the Wolf growled, jerking at the doorknob.

"It's got a deadlock seal, ever since Big Brother five hundred and four when they all walked out," the girl explained. "You must remember that."

"Well, what about this?" the Wolf asked, tapping an alcove.

"Oh, that's exoglass. You'd need a nuclear bomb to get through."

"Don't tempt me," the Wolf muttered. "I need to get to John."

"Who's John?" the girl asked. When the Wolf didn't answer, just kept prowling around, searching for weaknesses in the house, she continued. "I know you're not supposed to talk about the outside world, but you must've been watching," she said nervously. "Do people like me? Lynda. Lynda with a Y, not Linda with an I," Lynda clarified. "She got forcibly evicted because she damaged a camera. Am I popular?"

The Wolf stopped and looked at the girl. Lynda was young, early twenties. She looked a little frightened, which didn't make much sense, since they were just in a stupid game show, but the Wolf felt for her. Instead of just blowing her off, like she had been planning on, the Wolf tried to reassure her. "You're, you're nice," she tried. "You're sweet. Everybody thinks you're sweet."

Lynda smiled happily. "Oh, is that right? Is that what I am? Oh, no one's ever told me that before. Am I sweet? Really?" she asked.

The Wolf smiled back. "Yeah. Dead sweet."

"Thank you!"

Strangely enough, it was talking about gardens with Lynda that helped the Wolf remember what had happened. How could she have forgotten the TARDIS? "We'd just been to Kyoto. That's right," she remembered, "Japan in 1336, and we'd only just escaped. We were together, we were laughing, and then there was this light. This light coming through the walls, and then I woke up here."

Lynda nodded. "Yeah, that's the transmat beam. That's how they pick the housemates."

The Wolf shook her head, because that wasn't how it worked. "Oh, Lynda with a Y. Sweet little Lynda," she said regretfully. "It's worse than that." Because it was. "No stupid little transmat gets inside my ship. That beam was fifteen million times more powerful, which means this isn't just a game. There's something else going on." Someone had planned this. Someone with a lot of power. The Wolf marched over to one of the cameras in the house, speaking directly to whoever had thought it was a good idea to kidnap her and her companions. "Well, here's the latest update from the Big Brother house," she snarled. "I'm getting out. I'm going to find my friends, and then I'm going to find you," she promised.

John stumbled through the first round of questions, some being ridiculously easy, others impossible. Sometimes all he could do was stare at the Anne Droid, wanting to laugh at the absurdity of what was happening to him, but holding back, because he was getting edgy seeing how nervous all the other players were. Whatever he didn't know, he took a wild guess at, trying to avoid saying he didn't have a clue, not wanting to look stupid and get voted out of the game.

At the end of the first round, John watched in horror as the woman he'd voted for was blasted into oblivion by a laser shooting from the Anne Droid's mouth. "What's that?" he asked Roderick urgently in a low voice. "What just happened?"

Roderick stared at him like he was a lackwit. "She was the weakest link, she gets disintegrated. Blasted into atoms," he explained slowly.

"You mean they killed her? This is a game, and they killed her over it? This is sick," John protested, just as a young man, Broff, began to freak out, drowning out John's argumentative words.

"I"m not playing! I can't do it. I'm not. Please, somebody let me out of here." Broff ran for the doors, screaming. The Anne Droid quickly dispatched him as well, leaving nothing but a pile of ashes.

Roderick leaned over. "Don't try to escape. It's play or die," he whispered.

The Wolf was pacing behind the couch, trying to figure out a way to get out of the stupid house and get to John and Jack, but Lynda interrupted. "Wolf, they said all the housemates must gather on the sofa. You've got to," she said hesitantly.

"I'm busy getting out, or voted out, thanks," the Wolf replied.

"But if you don't obey, then all the housemates get punished," Lynda told her.

The Wolf sighed and went over to slump in a chair.

The same camera voice came back on, this time over the television. "Big Brother house, this is Davina Droid," Davina said robotically. "Crosbie, Lynda, and Strood, you have all been nominated for eviction." The three housemates all gripped hands. "And the eighth person evicted from the Big Brother house is...Crosbie!" The Wolf groaned and rolled her eyes, bored, but looked over when Crosbie squealed in fear. The other two apologized over and over as Crosbie held back tears. "Crosbie, please leave the Big Brother house," Davina ordered.

A door leading to a white corridor opened, and Crosbie walked through into it. Lynda and Strood rushed back to the couch to watch Crosbie in the hall. "I don't believe it. Crosbie," Lynda whispered.

The Wolf stared at them. "I don't get it," she said, confused. "It's just a game, right? She'll be fine. What's with the terrified look?"

Strood looked over at her. "Are you dense? Watch," he pointed at the television.

The Wolf did as she was told, and her eyes widened in surprise as a beam came down from the ceiling and hit Crosbie. Crosbie's mouth opened in a scream before she vanished in a puff of smoke a few moments later. "Whoa!" the Wolf cried, leaping up from the couch. "What was that?"

"Disintegrator beam," Strood told her.

"She's been evicted. From life," Lynda said sadly.

The Wolf began pacing anew, mind whirling. "Are you insane?" she yelled at the two. "You just step right into the disintegrator? Why do you do it?" Something else was going on here, and it wasn't about getting their faces on telly.

"You're talking like we have a choice," Lynda snapped.

The Wolf halted, suddenly unsure. "You don't?" she asked.

"Don't be stupid," Strood muttered.

"You get chosen whether you like it or not. Everyone on Earth is a potential contestant," Lynda explained. "The transmat beam picks you out at random. And it's non-stop. There are sixty Big Brother houses running all at once."

"How many?" the Wolf asked incredulously. "Sixty?" She listened in disbelief as Lynda explained that the winners were rewarded by being allowed to live. "What, that's it?"

"Well, isn't that enough?" Lynda asked, getting frustrated.

The Wolf shook her head. "John is out there. He got caught in the transmat. He's a contestant. Time I got out," she decided. "That other contestant," she asked Lynda, "er, Linda with an I. She was forcibly evicted for what?"

"Damage to property," Lynda answered promptly.

The Wolf raised her eyebrows. "What like this?" she asked, aiming her sonic screwdriver back at a camera over her shoulder, blowing it to oblivion.

Jack watched the robots warily as one started up a chainsaw, pronouncing he was due for a literal "face-off".

"I think you'd look good with a dog's head," the other droid said, hauling a large pair of scissors up.

"Or maybe no head at all," Chainsaw contemplated with glee. "That would be so outrageous!"

"And we could stitch your legs to the middle of your chest."

Jack raised his eyebrows.

"Nothing is too extreme. It's to die for."

"Now, hold on, ladies," Jack stalled, holding out his hands in supplication. "I don't want to have to shoot either one of you."

"But you're unarmed!"

"You're naked!"

Jack smirked and drew a small hand gun out from somewhere behind his back.

"But that's a Compact Laser Deluxe!" Scissor-Hands exclaimed.

"Where were you hiding that?" Chainsaw asked.

"You really don't want to know," Jack said.

"Give me that accessory," Chainsaw tried to say just as Jack shot her head off, following up with Scissor-Hands' head.

"I warned you," Jack told them as he made his way over to the Defabricator.

The Weakest Link went to break as yet another competitor was atomized. "Why'd you vote for Colleen?" John asked Roderick. "She was smart."

"Because I want to keep you in. You don't know anything about anything!" Roderick said with a bit of disgust. "You don't even know the Princess Vossaheen's surname."

"I'm not from here," John tried to tell him, frustrated at having to explain himself once again.

Roderick shrugged. "I don't care. When it comes to the final, I want to be up against you, so that you get disintegrated and I get a stack load of credits courtesy of the Wolf Storm Corporation," he said, his eyes practically sparkling at the thought of all that money.

John looked at Roderick sharply. Wolf Storm … he had meant to ask the Wolf about that. But she had distracted him. Perhaps on purpose. All the times he had seen those words, he couldn't believe he'd forgotten to talk to the Wolf. And now, here they were again. John got the bad feeling that that bad omen had been leading him here. "Why are they called the Wolf Storm Corporation?" he asked Roderick.

"I don't know," Roderick replied, confused. "It's just a name. It's an old legend sort of thing. What does it matter?"

John shook his head. "I keep hearing those words everywhere we go. Wolf Storm," he mused. "Different times, different places, like it's written all over the universe."

"What're you going on about?" Roderick asked.

"If the Wolf Storm is in charge of this quiz, then maybe I'm not here by mistake. Someone's been planning this," John said, dread filling a pit in his stomach.

The Wolf grinned as the robot voice ordered her evicted for breaking the House Rules and commanded her to leave the house. She ran into the white corridor gleefully. "Come on then," she told the cameras, "disintegrate me! Come on, what're you waiting for?" She watched as the laser powered up, but then shut down without warning. "Ah, ha!" she crowed in triumph. "I knew it! You see, someone brought me into this game," the Wolf said, not caring who was listening. "If they'd wanted me dead, they could've transmatted me into a volcano."

The Wolf looked over at the white door. "Maybe security isn't as tight this end. Are you following this?" she asked whoever was monitoring her. "I'm getting out!" She got the white door open just as Lynda opened the other door. She looked back. "Come with me," she offered Lynda.

"We're not allowed!" Strood yelled.

"Stay in there, you've got a fifty-fifty chance of disintegration. Stay with me, and I promise that I will do my best to get you out alive. Come on!" she urged.

Lynda shook her head, frightened. "No, I can't. I can't!"

The Wolf went back over to her. "Lynda, you're sweet," she said kindly. "From what I've seen of your world, do you think anyone votes for sweet?" She held out her hand, and this time Lynda took it. The two of them ran out of the game, and straight into a bay that the Wolf instantly recognized.

"Hold on," she said, stopping. "I've been here before. This is Satellite Five." She looked around. "No guards. That makes a change. You'd think a big business like Satellite Five would be armed to the teeth."

"No one's called it Satellite Five in ages," Lynda explained. "It's the Game Station now. Hasn't been Satellite Five in about a hundred years."

"A hundred years exactly," the Wolf said in surprise. "It's the year two zero zero one zero zero. I was here before. Floor one three nine. The Satellite was broadcasting news channels back then. Had a bit of trouble upstairs. Nothing too serious." She grinned. "Easy. Gave them a hand, home in time for tea."

"A hundred years ago? What, you were here a hundred years ago?" Lynda asked in disbelief.

"Yep!"

Lynda seemed impressed. "You're looking good for it."

The Wolf shot her a sly grin. "I moisturize," she said conspiratorially. "Funny sort of readings. All kinds of energy. The place is humming. It's weird." She glanced at her screwdriver. "This goes way beyond normal transmissions. What would they need all that power for?"

Lynda shrugged. "I don't know. I think we're the first ever contestants to get outside."

"I had two friends traveling with me. They must've gotten caught in the same transmat. Where would they be? I need to find them," the Wolf said, worried.

"I don't know. They could've been allocated anywhere. There's a hundred different games," Lynda told her apologetically.

"Like what?" the Wolf asked curiously.

She listened in growing horror as Lynda explained all the games and their results, always varying forms of mutilation or death. "And you watch this stuff?"

"Everyone does. How come you don't?"

The Wolf shrugged. "Never paid for my license."

Lynda's mouth dropped open. "Oh, my God! You get executed for that."

"Let them try," the Wolf growled.

Lynda shook her head. "You keep saying things that don't make sense. Who are you though, Wolf, really?"

"It doesn't matter," the Wolf dismissed.

"Well, it does to me. I've just put my life in your hands," Lynda said emphatically.

"I'm just a traveler, wandering past. Believe it or not, all I'm after is a quiet life," the Wolf insisted.

"So if we get out of here, what're you going to do? Just wander off again?" Lynda guessed.

"Fast as I can."

"So, could I come with you?" the girl asked hopefully.

The Wolf looked her up and down, assessing her. "Wouldn't mind if you did. Neither would the boys. Besides, gets lonesome being the only girl around. Not a bad idea, Lynda with a Y," she complimented. "But first of all, we've got to concentrate on the getting out part. And to do that," she went on, "you've got to know your enemy. Who's controlling it? Who's in charge of the satellite now?"

Lynda thought for a moment. "Hold on." She spotted a light breaker and ran over to turn it on. A sign lit up, revealing the words: Wolf Storm Corporation. "Your lords and masters," she said drily.

Jack finished making a weapon out of the Defabricator, muttering to himself, and grinned. "Lock and load. Well, ladies, the pleasure was all mine," he said cheerfully to the still smoking robots. "Which is the only thing that matters in the end." He ran out and called the nearest lift, checking his burnt out Vortex Manipulator as he did. He tapped it triumphantly. "Two hearts, that's her. Which floor?"

The Wolf watched Lynda look at planet Earth for the very first time, contemplating what was going on. "But it's all gone wrong. I mean, history's gone wrong again," she muttered to herself. "This should be the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire. I don't understand. Last time I was here I put it right."

Lynda looked at her strangely. "No, but that's when it first went wrong," she corrected the Wolf. "A hundred years ago, like you said. All the news channels, they just shut down overnight."

"But that was me. I did that."

"There was nothing left in their place. No information. The whole planet just froze. The government, the economy, they collapsed. That was the start of it. One hundred years of hell," Lynda explained.

The Wolf's heart dropped as Lynda's words sank in. "I made this world," she whispered in disbelief.

Jack's voice interrupted her dark thoughts. "Hey, beautiful. Good to see you! Any sign of John?"

"Can't you track him down?" the Wolf asked, smiling at the sight of her friend.

Jack shook his head. "He must still be inside the games. All the rooms are shielded."

The Wolf went over to the computer console she remembered from their visit one hundred years ago. She resisted the urge to pound it after a few minutes when it wouldn't let her in. "If I can just get inside this computer – he's got to be here somewhere," she said, frustrated.

"Well, you'd better hurry up," Jack prodded. "These games don't have a happy ending."

"Do you think I don't know that?" the Wolf snarled at him.

Jack held his hands up in surrender, before handing over his Vortex Manipulator. "There you go, patch that in. It's programmed to find him."

"Thanks," the Wolf said gratefully.

Before Jack could reply, he caught sight of the new girl. "Hey, there," he greeted, smiling.

"Hello," Lynda said shyly.

"Captain Jack Harkness." He held out his hand, coming on to her.

Lynda gripped it, blushing. "Lynda Moss."

Jack's smile morphed into a grin. "Nice to meet you Lynda Moss," he flirted.

The Wolf looked at them out of the corner of her eye. "Do you mind flirting outside?" she reprimanded Jack.

"I was just saying hello!" he replied defensively.

"For you, that's flirting," she said drily.

"I'm not complaining," Lynda said, flustered.

Jack grinned. "Muchas gracias," he said, kissing the back of her hand.

The Wolf growled, throwing the Manipulator back to Jack. "It's not compatible. This stupid system doesn't make sense!" she yelled, kicking the console. Jack bent down to take off the front plate. "This place should be a basic broadcaster, but the systems are twice as complicated. It's more than just television. This station's transmitting something else."

"Like what?" Jack asked, inspecting the computer for himself.

"I don't know. This whole Wolf Storm thing's tied up with me. Someone's manipulated my entire life. It's some sort of trap and John is stuck in it!" She kicked the console once more for good measure.

Finally, with her and Jack working together, the Wolf managed to hack into the computer. "Found him!" she said excitedly. "Floor four oh seven."

Lynda gasped. "Oh, my God. He's with the Anne Droid. You've got to get him out of there."

A/N: Dun dun dun!