Bilis's Get Away
The Torchwood team were busy working away; trying desperately to find anything they could on Bilis Manger. With no hub to act as a base, they'd moved all their mobile, surviving equipment from the SUV to Owen's penthouse flat - as his residence was the most spacious. It was a very open plan, modern sort of place, with a killer view of the bay and lots of glass to see it with.
Although, in some cases, Torchwood were forced to make do and use their own personal belongings for the search, meaning; slow laptops, an ever-breaking printer the Gwen found in her cupboard, extension cords acting as trip hazards across the floor, slow wi-fi, and, most upsetting of all for the team, instant coffee instead of the freshly brewed, organic heaven that they were used to Ianto serving them each morning.
All the information they'd found was scattered around as each of the team worked from make-do stations consisting of; sofas, a coffee table, a foot stool, and borrowed barstools from the kitchen. They'd made a makeshift information board using pushpins and a white wall near the open kitchen - that Owen insisted he'd get Jack to pay for the repairs for later -filled with information and articles they'd found.
"Gwen got anything else on that shop of Bilis's?" Owen asked, flicking through some papers on a clipboard near the information board.
"Yeah - " Gwen trailed off as the scraping metallic sound of the Tardis filled the room.
The whole team stopped. They'd heard it before, they knew what it meant;
Jack and Tosh were coming back… hopefully.
Magazines, research papers, old articles; anything likely to get caught in the updraft was suddenly swept to the edges of the room. Ianto frantically tried to save some of the papers around him, but he'd reacted too slowly and lost most of it.
A few seconds later, in the centre of Owen's open plan living area, the ghost image of the Tardis appeared and reappeared on a cycle, and, with a final plunge, it materialised.
Torchwood waited in bated breath, praying, hoping, that this 'Doctor' was as true to his word as Rose said he was. All of their shoulders slumped when the doors swung open with a squeak and Tosh rushed out.
"Tosh!" Gwen and Ianto cried, Gwen pushing forward for a hug, while Owen looked up to the ceiling as though to give silent thanks to the heavens.
Tosh returned Gwen's hug, but her focus was elsewhere, too busy getting over the fact that she had actually travelled in time, in an actual time machine for that matter, gazing around Owen's flat, like it was some alien world.
Seconds later Jack stepped out. "What'd we miss?" he asked with a cheeky grin.
Torchwood smirked at him, unable not to, even with the tenseness from their earlier meeting still fresh in their memories.
Their attention quickly turned back to Tosh, however, who'd pulled out of Gwen's hug and had moved back to the Tardis, running her hand around the outside, studying it intently. "Fascinating, no evidence of a temperature fluctuation, I thought there'd at least be some sort of change."
At the same time, the Doctor, Mickey and Rose stepped out, dodging Tosh as she circled around the wooden box, and moved to empty spaces in the, now, quite full apartment. They treaded carefully as not to trip over anything, the Doctor and Rose remaining close together.
Once he was settled the Doctor looked back to Tosh and smiled. "The centre of the time vortex is temperature-less." he explained. "The eye of the storm. It's the outskirts you have to watch out for."
Tosh beamed as she stroked the corner of the Tardis's exterior as though she'd never seen anything wooden before. "And to use this in tandem with Transdimensional technology. It's breath-taking." she gasped, still inspecting the patterns and swirls under the blue paint, wanting to take in every detail.
The Doctor instantly basked in the glowing praise, swooning at the chance to feed his ego, as Torchwood shared glances amongst themselves, wishing for someone to translate Tosh's techno babble. At the same time, Rose, Jack and Mickey, all smiled smugly at each other, simply enjoying the moment.
"Of course she is, finest ship in the whole universe I'll have you know. Driven by the most dashingly brilliant pilot there ever was." the Doctor flexed, completely over the moon to be able to do so.
Mickey rolled his eyes as Rose nudged the Doctor with her elbow but his manic grin only grew.
Jack chuckled, studying the rest of Torchwood. "You need to work on your poker faces." he commented, as he observed his team straining their necks in an attempt to peek at the interior of the ship. He turned to the Doctor. "What'd ya say, Doctor? Let them have a look around?"
The Doctor seemed conflicted at first. "Weelllll, I don't know." Only to cave instantly. "Oh, go on then." He motioned them inside, but his voice became sterner, a thought crossing his mind. "But don't touch the controls."
The rest of Torchwood were hesitant at first, but gradually entered the Tardis.
Team Tardis watched in smug delight as Torchwood's jaws unhinged at the sight, all of them gaping at the interior, some feeling around the outside, unable to comprehend such a machine, - even with all their experience. Some gazing at the coral pillars, and some moving forward inside the console room, thinking they'd hit a mirror or Owen's flat wall if they kept going, but, of course, they didn't.
"It really is bigger on the inside."
"Bloody hell."
"Fuck sake, I owe you fifty quid Smith."
"I just can't believe this sort of technology can exist outside of mathematical theory."
"So…" the Doctor began, rocking on the balls of his feet after a few minutes had past and Torchwood seemed to remember how to close their mouths. "This Bilis Manger, have you found him yet?"
The team stumbled a bit, like when a teacher asks a misbehaving group to see their progress, and the group just glances at one another, hoping for one member to make something up. But, after a few moments of looking at each other, Ianto opened his mouth.
"We haven't found him, but we've got some addresses." he explained, motioning an arm towards the Tardis doors, politely guiding everyone back to Owen's living room.
"Ah, well, better than nothing, eh?" replied the Doctor in a chipper voice, not really bothered one way of the other, patting Ianto on the back as he exited the Tardis. "Come on then." he called. "Let's see what you've got."
Torchwood filtered out, heading back to their respective makeshift work stations, while team Tardis and Tosh looked on.
Owen searched around for the clipboard he'd put down before he entered the Tardis, and walked towards the information board on the wall. "Right, so, one month ago, Bilis Manger put in a bid to the local council to rejuvenate Tretarri." he explained, the others listening. He tapped a section of the board with his knuckles close to a collection of photos and articles showing old stone cottages. "A street on the out-"
"Wait… Tretarri?!" Jack blanched, silencing Owen and shifting everyone's attention to him.
"You know it?" asked the Doctor, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah," Jack scoffed, as if the answer was obvious. "Hard not to, every time I even go near the place, I check out."
"Sorry?" the Doctor asked, a level of fear rising in his voice.
Jack fumbled a little as he thought of what to say on the spot. "I get sick, throw up, feel dizzy, and it doesn't stop once I leave, it lingers, sometimes I'm out of it for days. I've tried to go in, to figure out what's causing it. But I can't even get to the front door. It's like there's a barrier, but it's just for me."
"And you didn't think to let us know about this?" Owen complained.
"It was a personal problem at the time." Jack retorted. "It's been happening for years." He looked to the Doctor. "Since I got here."
The Doctor thought for a brief moment. "Right, well, in that case, -."
"But, hold on," Rose put a hand on the Doctor's arm, silencing him. "Wot is Tretarri?"
"We did a recon of the area." Owen explained, waving a finger around the information board. "Tretarri is basically a ghost street on the edge of town, been abandoned for years, the council keeps trying to turn it into something, but the plans always fall through."
"And why's that?" Mickey asked.
"Unexplained deaths." said Ianto, causing everyone to turn to look at him. He was sitting on the edge of Owen's sofa, a laptop and papers spread around the coffee table in front of him. He rummaged through some of the papers, collecting them into a pile, before getting up and striding over to the information board. "Different reports going back since the cottages were built, homeless people going missing, students dying after being last seen around the area, even the owner's." Ianto pointed to an old black and white photograph of a man on the board. "Body disappeared from its grave after the houses were complete."
"And what he'd build them for?" the Doctor asked.
"They were originally meant to be housing for his workers." Ianto replied.
"Right." the Doctor replied distractedly, thinking away.
"It sounds like the dance hall." Rose told the Doctor quietly. "Maybe Bilis is taking people from there too."
"Maybe, but that doesn't explain why Jack can't enter." He looked towards Owen. "And you didn't find anything out of place, something that could've been alien tech of some sort?"
Owen shook his head. "No, nothing, and we turned the place inside out."
The Doctor seemed a little dejected. "Right."
"It did sort of give me the creeps though." Gwen added.
"And if there is any sort of technology, Bilis might be hiding it like he is with the shop." Ianto added, causing Owen to huff in frustration.
"Shop?" Jack asked, confused, scanning the three's faces.
Gwen explained it to them. "We also found a shop lease in Bilis's name. A tailors called; A Stitch in Time."
The Doctor scoffed. "Well that's original."
"And why can't you locate it?" Tosh asked.
"I mean, we went there, me and Ianto, twice, the buildings there, but the actual shop itself isn't." Owen explained, clearly frustrated with himself.
"Maybe he just packed up already?" Rose suggested.
Owen gritted his teeth as he smiled patronisingly at her. "Yeah, thanks for that Tyler." he said flatly. "We checked and the locals all say it's there, point out the exact same place, but every time we went back there-" Owen flopped his arms down to his sides in exasperation. "-we can't see it."
Jack and the Doctor glanced knowingly at each other.
"Perception filter?" Jack asked aloud.
"Most likely, a strong one at that."
Gwen's face scrunched up. "Perception filter, but isn't that…"
"The thing that stops people noticing the trap door in the hub." Ianto finished.
"Yeah but that's residual." Jack stated. "This is stronger."
"Residual?" The Doctor tilted his head to the side. "From what?"
Jack stared at him and waited.
It took the Doctor a second. "Oh, me! From the Tardis last time. Right, got ya."
"So, the perception filter Bilis is using is stronger. But it's the same concept? It skews our focus, so we don't notice it?" Tosh asked, looking between Jack and the Doctor for an answer.
"Basically." stated Jack.
"And, lucky for you lot." the Doctor announced, strolling back towards the Tardis as he spoke. Rose stayed put, unsure whether to follow or not. "I have a couple of universal perception filter disablers, knocking about somewhere." He stepped into the Tardis. "Rose, come give me a hand." he called, already halfway to the time rotor.
"Yeah, okay." she called, moving to join him.
The rest of the group watched Rose jog after the Doctor. He lifted one of the grating panels off the Tardis floor and slid down under the Time Rotor.
"Right, so, once the Doctor finds the tech." Jack turned to Owen. "Owen." Then to Ianto. "Ianto, you head back to the shop again, you should be able to find it now."
They both nodded.
"The rest of us will go to Tretarri. It's a large area if memory serves, so while the Doctor and me try to work out what the hell the barrier is; Gwen and Tosh, Rose and Mickey Mouse, you search the houses and surrounding area, if Bilis is using a perception filter then there might be something that you missed last time." Jack turned and yelled into the Tardis. "DID YOU GET THAT DOCTOR?"
The console room looked empty, as both Rose and the Doctor had descended below the grating. A few seconds later, Rose gave a thumbs up from the gap and started to climb out of the hole, beckoning everyone to come back into the Tardis.
The grating rattled as Torchwood, including; Mickey, Tosh and Jack re-entered the Tardis, standing around the gap in the floor. Rose was sitting on the edge of the hole, her legs swinging over the side. All that was visible of the Doctor was the top of his head as he passed Rose some bulky plastic box with a screen on it, looking like a cross between a portable DVD player and a PS2 console.
"See, I told you I had some." the Doctor announced proudly, poking his head out the hole, carrying two similar DVD cross PS2 devices under his arm. But they were mismatched, as though they were from different brands or models.
Rose went to get up of the edge, and Jack moved to help her, pulling her up under her arm. "Thanks."
Rose passed the perception – whatever it was - device to Jack, crouching back down to relieve the Doctor of one of the devices he was holding and passing it on to the next person closest to her, which happened to be Ianto. She planted her feet, readying herself for the Doctor's weight as she offered him a hand out of the hole in the grating.
Graceful the Doctor was not, and in the end needed to rely on Ianto's and Jack's help to hoist him up and out of the hole as well as Rose's, the last device still under his arm. He carried on like it was nothing. "There, three perception filter disablers, as promised." He gave the disabler he was holding to Mickey, before taking the one Jack was holding, deciding to give it to Gwen instead. As he passed the device to her, the Doctor's face suddenly screwed up in concentration; like someone had messily written on Gwen's face and he was trying to read what it said. "Gwen, I'm sorry but I've got to ask, it's been driving me around the bend this whole time. Are you from an old Cardiff family by any chance?"
Gwen jerked her head around as she scanned the other's faces, wondering if she was the only one thrown by such a strange question. "Yes, all the way back to the eighteen hundreds." she replied , still baffled.
The Doctor smiled and turned to Rose, wiggling a finger up and down his own face. "Ah, thought so. Spatial genetic multiplicity."
The others looked on as Rose's face lit up, the only person that seemed to understand what the hell he was on about. "Oh yeah, I was wondering about that."
"Sorry –" Gwen began hesitantly, watching as the Doctor whizzed around the console, flicking switches and turning dials. "But what's that got to do with Bilis?"
"Oh, nothing. Just someone we met a while back who looks like you." the Doctor replied, cranking a lever. "But come on allons-y, hold on tight, and all the rest of it." He danced around again, checking something on the screen. "Next stop; A Stitch In Time tailors."
The Tardis materialised in the middle of a narrow road, one street over from Tretarri itself. The road was worn and had tuffs of grass sticking out of deep cracks in the asphalt. The houses themselves were old, stone cottages, the kind that's usually found covered in flowers and ivy in a quaint little village somewhere. But here they were dreary, soulless and eerily empty, not a person in sight. The only plants visible were either long since dead, or weeds and long grass.
The team exited the Tardis, Owen and Ianto having already been dropped off. Gwen was first, gaping in awe at her change in surroundings as she stumbled further down the road, the portable DVD player like device under her arm. She smiled madly to herself, looking at the road under her feet like she'd never seen asphalt before, her mind trying to comprehend how impossible it was that a mere three minutes ago the floor under her feet was the fluffy rug in Owen's apartment.
"Brilliant, isn't it?" Rose asked with a huge smiled on her face, as she, Tosh, and Mickey keenly followed her reaction.
"Bloody marvellous." she breathed, looking back at the group, only the Doctor yet to exit the Tardis.
"Gwen, time and a place." Jack called.
She recovered, closing her mouth and moving to join the rest of the group closer to the Tardis, just as the Doctor stepped out, closing the squeaky door behind him.
The Doctor gazed out to the stone cottages of Tretarri in front of him, instantly taking a sharp intake of breath, catching everyone's attention. "Blimey." He nodded his head towards the street. "Take it that's it then?"
"Yeah?" Jack said, a hint of worry in his eyes.
"Don't need the Tardis, that." He pointed to the street, a look of astonishment mixed with a bit of annoyance on his face. "That is one hell of an area of suspended fixed-time, if I ever did see one."
"That's possible?" Jack gasped.
"Suspended fixed-time? Wots that?" Mickey asked the Doctor, also carrying a perception filter disruptor under his arm.
The Doctor let out a tired sigh. "Oh, how to explain the mechanics of the finite structural temporal fixed state?" He looked around, as if hoping the answer would be written on a wall somewhere in the distance.
"Basically, this area is meant to be in a state of flux, aka, a normal time-travel friendly zone, but instead, somehow, it's a no-go, a fixed point. And that's what's making everything out of whack." Jack explained quickly; keen to avoid a lengthy explanation that only he and Tosh would likely understand. He paused to think a little. "And that's why I can't enter right?" he asked the Doctor.
The Doctor was a bit taken back by Jack's interjection but recovered quickly. "Yes, two impossible fixed points in time meeting. Like magnets repelling each other."
"Okay, so then, can you go in too? I mean, with you being a Time Lord and everything?" Mickey asked.
"Yes, it'll give me a headache but I can still go in. But, it's more important I work out a way to 'unstick' this area and change it back into a state of flux. It can cause a lot of problems otherwise, and we need to stop whatever Bilis was planning to do with this place."
"Right." agreed Mickey. "So, we'll stick to the plan then, yeah?" He lifted the device he was holding. "Use these, see if we find any sign of Bilis, or some tech, or something?"
"Yes." the Doctor said a tad dejectedly. He glanced around at all of them but lingered on Rose. "And please, be careful."
"Yeah." Rose nodded.
"And keep you're coms open." Jack stated. "So we can hear what's going on."
The others nodded before breaking off into pairs. Mickey and Rose on one team, and Tosh and Gwen in the other. The two pairs moved towards different cottages further down the road, Mickey and Gwen periodically checking the readouts on the devices they were holding, keen not to miss any potential clues.
The Doctor watched Rose as she disappeared from his line of sight, climbing through a broken window of one of the stone cottages.
Jack let out an obvious sigh. "She'll be okay, Doctor." he said with certainty. "I told you I only work with the best."
The Doctor smiled a little at that, but he kept his gaze fixed on the spot he'd last seen Rose only mere moments ago.
He stayed like that for a few seconds, before forcing air out his nose, his shoulders slumping. "I hope so." he said, before turning around to walk back to the Tardis. He put a hand on Jack's shoulder. "Come on. Let's see what this suspended fixed-point is all about."
Bilis huffed as he hid behind a partially destroyed wall inside one of the stone cottages, waiting as Rose and Mickey stepped over a smashed table on the floor in the next room over.
The interior of the houses were as dilapidated as an abandon mental hospital; graffiti on the walls, destroyed, dated furniture, light poking through the dampness made holes in the roof and upper floor, the stone walls thick with moss, and the damp almost touchable.
Of all the places, the confounded girl was here too!
How was he able to 'pack up and leave' if Rose Tyler and the other members of Torchwood were prying around in his personal business. And worst of all, if Rose Tyler was here, then the Doctor was too, which meant he couldn't shift at all. Well, unless he wanted a repeat performance of last time, another brush with death, another close call with eternal damnation.
No, he rather avoid that if he could.
He couldn't risk having to rely on the other girl for a deal again, not after he'd already given up so much.
He just needed the damn box. He was supposed to use it once Jack defeated Abaddon the first time around, so he could transport his consciousness for the final phase. He'd left it here for safe keeping, but the area clearly wasn't safe anymore, and now he needed it back. The box was irreplaceable, the only thing capable of holding such power. And if, only if, his plan was ever able to come in to fruition in the, now, very, very distant future, it was important to keep it on his person.
There was a rattle from behind him, he turned slowly around.
It was the other girl, grinning annoyingly smugly at him, shaking the wooden box with one hand.
He sighed. "Checking I'll follow through on our deal?" he asked.
"Yes, can't have you backing out now can we?" the other girl teased, holding the box out for him to take.
He bowed politely, even though Bilis didn't think she deserved it, and took the box.
The other girl stared at him.
"Yes?" he asked.
"I'm waiting for you to leave." she said.
"Well I'm afraid I can't, I'm rather keen to avoid a repeat of last time."
"Exactly, it'll be fun, watching you run from them with your tail between your legs." she said bluntly, folding her arms and leaning on the side of the stone wall.
Bilis huffed, mulling everything over. "Was that the point in all this then? I was merely something amusing for you to toy with."
The other girl scoffed. "Oh, no Bilis. I wasn't lying, when I said I wanted revenge." She sighed dishearteningly. "But, thanks to you, that chance has come and gone."
"Your chance for revenge on Rose Tyler, I assume? Since it is her form you use."
The other girl smiled patronisingly. "No, Bilis, not Rose Tyler, not the Doctor, but his meddling ship who thought she could cheat her way to victory by showing them a step by step guide. Revenge could've made this so much more fun, but you had to go and ruin it with your ego." Her anger flared towards the end, but the other girl took a long breath and calmed herself. "Complete lack of showmanship if you ask me."
Bilis studied the strange being in front of him, scanning her up and down. This was the first time she'd shown even a hint of agitation.
"Well what are you looking at Bilis, chop chop." she snapped.
Bilis said nothing but carefully moved through to the next room on foot, weaselling his way out of the cottage via the back door and ungracefully heaving himself over a tall, jagged stone fence, much to the other girls delight. It was degrading, but worth enduring to avoid the Doctor and Rose Tyler.
Several minutes later, his suit torn and dirtied from the thick brambles he'd trawled through, Bilis managed to make it to the nearest bus stop - which was five miles away - without being seen. He adjusted his posture just as the bus pulled up in front of him, the other girl giggling behind him, unseen by the bus's passengers.
He turned to face her, to confront her, to tell her how lacking in manners she was, but when he looked back she was gone.
He quickly scanned the area before stepping on the bus, letting out a defeated sigh when he found no trace of her. While he might deal with demons and ancient beings on a daily basis, he was no match for whatever Rose Tyler and the Doctor had gotten themselves into with this all powerful being. He wouldn't wish her presence on anyone. Good luck to them in fact...
They were going to need it.
A/N:
Next Chapter: Found Family (or something along those lines)
When: Weds/Thurs
Other Notes: This chapter was going to be the last, but I ended up splitting it last minute, so the next one is the last one (and it's a mushy one at that awww)