Chapter Twelve
"I'll head down and look for Ianto." Owen offered.
"I'll come with you. If there's a loose cable or something like Ianto says, I can secure it." I said joining Owen.
"You all right with that?" Owen asked Jack, to make sure he was okay with two members of the team going down to the basement after Ianto.
"Keep your coms open at all times. Any doubt, shoot first. Priority is to find Ianto." Jack nodded his assent. Over the last couple of weeks, he had started putting more trust in my ability to look after myself since I had been explaining more about my life and showing my ability in the field (and in the hub).
Together Owen and I headed down to the basement with our weapons out. Since Owen was more experienced, he took the lead while I covered him.
"Progress report." Jack asked over the coms as we cleared the first basement level below the archives and moved to the second level. These rooms were designed to eventually become either cells or storage rooms depending on the need but were currently empty and unlocked.
The eastern corridor wasn't walked very often because Jack hadn't found anything interesting to store down them like his deep-sea creature aquarium. When Owen motioned to the lack of dust on the floor, I tightened my grip on my gun and nodded. These levels were all dry, secured and covered in dust (fortunately some alien artefacts meant that spiders never entered the base) even the area to the aquarium had dust along the foot path because it was rarely visited by any member of the team. The lack of dust meant that someone had been down this corridor a lot and for quite some time.
"Signs of activity at the eastern end of the main corridor. Second sub." Owen responded quietly, not wanting to alert the intruder to our position.
"We're losing your coms signals." Jack informed them, concern coming across in his voice.
Owen and I exchanged looks as we approached a door at the end of the corridor where a red light was being admitted. From the sounds of it, a machine was using a lot of power. At Owen's nod I reported to Jack.
"We're going in to have a look." I told him, hoping that it got through the static feedback. When he didn't respond I sent a concerned look to Owen.
"Jack? Tosh?" Owen asked, hoping it had just been my com.
"No coms." I told him when there was only static on the other end of the line.
"We're on our own, then." Owen muttered.
I reached for the door while Owen readied his gun. Looking back at him I counted from three before yanking the door open. Owen entered the room first, and I followed only for the both of us to stop and stare in horror at the metal table that was sparking with electricity.
"No. No, no, no, no." Owen muttered in horror.
"How the hell did it get here?" I demanded, moving forward to the controls and hitting the red button to turn it off.
"Raven, Owen, can you hear me?" Jack's angry voice came over the line.
"Jack." I responded, my voice waveringly slightly in fear.
"What's wrong? Have you found Ianto?" Jack asked.
"No. But we have found parts of a Cyber conversion unit. Fully powered up and working." Owen said.
"This is no time to be kidding around, Owen." Jack said seriously, praying that he had been wrong.
"I'm deadly serious. I don't know why it's here, or how it got here, but that's what's draining our power. Jack, you there?" Owen responded.
"I want you two back up here immediately." Jack ordered.
"We still haven't found…" Owen started too protested but was cut off as he was thrown across the room. I span around to find a woman covered in parts of a cyber-suit. From the flesh visible, she had probably been taken for upgrading near the end of the battle and the conversion never complete.
"Jack, code zero incursion. Repeat. Code zero incursion. We're under attack." I told Jack, praying he would make it down to the basement before I was killed.
The cyber-woman was too close for me to fire my gun. If I missed and hit the metal then the bullet could ricochet and hit either me or Owen. The cyber-women made to hit me, but I ducked the blow and tried getting out of its way. However, it was faster than I had anticipated and caught my arm. It grabbed my neck with its other hand and disarmed me.
"Get off." I gasped out, struggling in the metal grip, trying to get perches with my feet.
"Do not struggle. You will be like me." The cyber-women said. The voice was mostly still human, with only an underline hint at the synthetic voice box. She forced me onto the conversion unit and strapped me in before turning it on.
"JACK!" I shouted at the top of my voice, praying he would make it before I was converted.
"Throw down any weapons, put your hands up and turn and face me." Jack's voice was the most welcome thing I had ever heard at that moment. The electricity was flowing around the conversation unit and into me while the blades were getting closer.
"You're a woman." I heard Jack said in disbelief.
"Jack!" I cry out again, trying to get him to focus. I couldn't see what was happening but it sounded like Jack was fighting with someone. The noise of the machine was starting to drown out the rest of my senses.
The power to the machine was cut with the blade inches from my face and I let out a breath of relief.
"Jack, please get me out of this?" I begged of him. From the corner of my eye I saw him type something into the vortex manipulator before he was suddenly pulling me out of the conversion unit and into his arms. "Thanks." I muttered weakly, my form shaking and my legs barely taking my weight.
"You okay? Are you hurt?" Jack demanded, pulling back and grabbing my forearms tightly in support.
"Scared. But I don't think I'm hurt too bad." I responded tightly, trying to get my muscles to co-operate now the electricity had stopped. I used Jack's arms as support to take my own weight, suppressing the pain and locking my joins. I looked to Jack's eyes which were burning with concern and anger. I needed his support right now to deal with the shock and fear, the last time I had dealt with the Cybermen was during the Canary Warf incident and that hadn't been a good time for me.
Jack must have seen something in my eyes, because his gripped tightened slightly. "We're going to be okay." He promised in a quiet, yet forceful voice.
"The Cyber-women got Owen. Threw him against the wall." I quickly scanned the room, finding Owen slumped against the wall.
"Stand guard by the door." Jack ordered Ianto who I had just realised was the one stood by the controls, while I was checking on Owen.
Okay, so the pain was making me miss things I wouldn't normally. I'm going to have to work on my situational awareness to non-dangerous things, when I'm in pain. I could notice something if it was a threat to me, but otherwise I wouldn't notice. And that thing I overlooked could be important.
"I'm sorry. I'm really sorry." Ianto muttered but did as he was told.
"Jack, Owen's out cold. He's hit his head pretty hard, but I think he'll be alright." I looked up at him, awaiting instructions.
"Alright, grab your gun." Jack ordered before lifting Owen over his shoulder. Supporting him with one arm so that he still had a hand free to carry his gun.
"Clear?" Jack asked Ianto, approaching the door.
"Clear." Ianto responded.
They had barely stepped out of the room when the cyber-women appeared at the end of the corridor. Jack and I immediately levelled our guns but she disappeared before either of us could get a clear line of sight.
"We need to get back to Tosh." I said softly.
"You're right." Jack confirmed before doing something I never expected him to do, pointing his gun at the back of Ianto's head. "Get us back to the Hub." He ordered coldly.
"Jack, what are you doing? What did Ianto do?" I asked confused feeling like I had missed something big while I had been strapped to the conversion unit.
"I'm resisting the urge to shoot." Jack responded but didn't fill me in as to why.
"Tosh, get everything from the weapons room, fast as you can." Jack ordered as they entered the main part of the hub.
"It's locked down. There's no manual override." Tosh responded, looking at Jack with wide eyes.
"Just open the store." Jack responded, placing Owen on the sofa. "On your knees. Hands above your head."
Ianto was smart enough to obey Jack while he was this angry.
"Did you know that thing was down there?" Jack demanded, walking around Ianto so he could see his face.
"I put her there." Ianto responded.
"You hid a Cyber-man within Torchwood, and you didn't tell us? What else are you keeping from us?" Jack asked horrified.
"Like you care. I clear up your shit. No questions asked and that's the way you like it. When did you last ask me anything about my life? Her name's Lisa. She's my soul-mark." Ianto looked up so he was meeting Jack's eyes.
"Ianto, why didn't you say anything?" I asked, feeling like someone had punch me in the gut. I knew something had happened to Ianto's soul mark, but I just thought she had died and that Ianto was grieving. I didn't think she had been one of those taken to be converted. And I defiantly didn't anticipate that Ianto had been the one to find her and then try so desperately to help her. The Doctor had gone through Torchwood tower, dismantling conversion units and the few cyber-men who remained since they had only earth metal on them, so that the humans couldn't retrospectively use their technology to build weapons. He thought he had gotten everything before he left.
"Torchwood exists to destroy alien threats. Why would I tell you about her?" Ianto spat.
"A little loyalty, perhaps?" Owen asked, pulling himself to his feet while gently probing the back of his head.
"My loyalty's to her." Ianto shook his head. "She worked for Torchwood. She was caught up in the battle. I owe it to Lisa, we owe it to her, to find a cure."
"Ianto, you have to believe me, there is no cure." Jack lowered his gun, trying to get Ianto to see past his pain and recognise the truth of the matter. "There never will be. Those who are converted stay that way. Your girlfriend will not be the exception."
"You can't know that for sure." Ianto denied.
"Look, you need to know what's happening here. Because this is where these things start. Small decisions that become mass slaughter. These creatures regain a foothold by exploiting human weakness. Then they take a base, rebuild their forces, and before you know it, the Cyber race is spreading out across the universe, erasing worlds, assimilating populations, all because of the tiny beginnings here. We need to stop her together."
"You're not listening to me. The conversion was never completed." Ianto shouted angrily.
"Ianto, please." I begged softly, blinking back tears. "The cyber-men have killed millions. During the battle one of the first things they took - during the conversion process - was humanity so that they could get the process done quicker. I know you think Lisa is still there, but she isn't Ianto. She's been lost from the moment she was first placed on that table. That cyber-unit is using her memories to try and manipulate you, but it isn't her. Not anymore." I tried getting through to him. The cyber-women would try and make her way up here soon, they didn't have time.
"I'm not giving up on her. I love her. Can you understand that? Haven't you ever loved anyone?" Ianto demanded, refusing to think about what they were saying and the consequences.
"You need to figure out whose side you're on here, because if you don't know, you're not going to make it out of this alive." Jack snapped.
"There's no way this weapons store's gonna open." Owen said, returning to the small group with Gwen and Tosh.
"It's going to take six hours for the power to come back online." Tosh reported.
"Let me talk to her. I can still save her, save all of us. She's not a monster." Ianto pleaded as Lisa entered the room.
"Ianto." Gwen tried to step forward but I grabbed her arm.
"Lisa. It's me." Ianto said, getting within a foot of the cyber-women.
"You can't just let him go." Gwen said trying to get out of my grip.
"Shush." Jack ordered, willing to give Ianto this one chance to convince Lisa to recognise her humanity. But he didn't think it would work, Raven had been right about how the conversions worked. And he really needed to talk with her about what exactly happened that day. The knowledge she had of the cybermen was more in depth than just a bystander.
"The army will be rebuilt from here. This building is suitable." The cyber-women said looking around at the equipment and space available.
"Who are you?" Jack asked, making sure that his gun was trained on her. As the only other armed member of the team, my gun was also aimed at Lisa – unfortunately, my hands were trembling slightly still from the electricity which meant I couldn't trust my aim to be true (and my aim hadn't been perfect before then – with an 86% accuracy rate). Owen had lost his gun down in the basement, Gwen and Tosh were unarmed since their weapons were either in the armorary or the safe. The safe which needed electricity to open and the lockdown prevented them from accessing. It was a fault in their defences which I made a mental note to bring up with Jack if we managed to get out of this alive.
"Human point two." The cyber-women responded.
"No. Lisa." Ianto despaired.
"So how come you look like human point one?" Jack taunted.
"I do not understand." The cyber-women questioned.
"Look at yourself. Go ahead." Jack motioned to the mirrored screen behind her.
"Remember, Lisa. Remember who you are." Ianto pleaded.
"The upgrade is incomplete." The cyber-women realised, noticing pieces of flesh.
"You're still human." Ianto told her.
"I am disgusting. I have... I am wrong." The cyber-women said, trying to compute what she was seeing.
"We can help you." Ianto offered, trying once again to get through to his soul-mark.
"I must start again. Upgrade properly." The cyber-women said.
"For God's sake, have you heard yourself? Lisa, please. I brought you here to heal you, so we could be together." Ianto shouted.
"Together. Yes. Transplant my brain into your body. The two of us together, fused. We'll be one complete person. Isn't that what love is?"
"No." Ianto whispered in horror.
"Then we are not compatible." Before me or Jack could react, she grabbed Ianto and threw him across the hub. Both Jack and I fired but she shot energy through Jack's bracer's making him drop the gun. The energy she sent at me wasn't deflected by bracers leaving me with a nasty burn.
"ARGH!" me and Jack shouted together as our guns clattered to the ground.
"Code Nine manoeuvres, go!" Jack ordered, and we all moved. Unfortunately, Gwen was frozen in fear, something that Jack and the cyber-women noticed. "Gwen. Gwen! Get out of there."
"Lisa!" Owen shouted, catching the cyber-women's attention. "What you waiting for? Quick." Owen ordered Gwen who followed me up into the conference room.
"She's coming after us." Gwen said, shutting the door behind Owen.
"There's a surprise." Owen muttered sarcastically.
"Could you be any less helpful?" Gwen snapped.
"Oi, I just helped you escape." Owen responded, offended.
"Shut up, both of you." Jack ordered, leaning his palms on the table as he thought. "Okay. Now, this is a fight to the death. We do whatever is necessary to destroy her. Forget what Ianto said. That thing is not human. Clear?" he asked, looking around the group.
We nodded.
"What's this?!" Tosh asked as Jack passed her something from the draw that was being used as halfway storage for some of his little projects before they went to their permanent home.
"Something Suzie scavenged last year. She claimed that it could open any lock in forty-five seconds. I want you out the exit gates, up the emergency stairs to reception." Jack explained as I went over to my bag and rummaged through it for the spare gun I kept there.
"She'll never open that door without power. It weighs a ton." Owen said with a frown.
"Anyway, I'm not leaving you here." Tosh argued.
"Just do as I say, all of you." Jack snapped. "Once in reception, panel next to the desk. Pull it out. Take circuit three five seven from the main system. Patch it to these." He passed her a pair of ultraviolet batteries that he had been trying to meddle with the other day. He was trying to increase their battery life, if I remember correctly. "There should be enough power in there for what we need. Once the main circuit goes live, get out. Meet us by the Water Tower. Go!"
Tosh ran from the room.
"You two." Jack said addressing Gwen and Owen. "Find anything that even resembles a weapon."
"Autopsy room. There should be some lethal equipment in there." Owen suggested.
"Raven, you're the only one with a gun. Watch their backs."
I nodded my acceptance of my role.
"What are you gonna do?" Gwen questioned.
"Buy you some more time. Go!" Jack ordered.
Gwen and Owen ran out first, and I followed them. As we got to the main part of the base, I made sure to stand between the exit were Tosh was struggling with the doors and autopsy where Gwen and Owen were headed.
"This building belongs to me now. You will all be deleted." The cyber-women said as she followed Jack into the main hub.
"I'm sorry for what they did to you, but this ends here." Jack informed her.
In response to that the cyber-women grabbed Jack's shoulders and electrocuted him.
"Jack!" Gwen screamed. Luckily Owen grabbed her before she could get herself killed. By this point Tosh had gotten through the gates and was trying to get the cogged door open.
"How did he survive that?" Owen breathed in shock as Jack got back to his feet.
"Owen." I snapped in an undertone making him pull Gwen into the lab. Tosh had also stopped and was staring at the scene playing out before her. "Tosh. Get going. Don't look back." I order her. Tosh looked at me with wide eyes for a moment before doing as I said.
"Is that all you got? I'm not so easily deleted." Jack taunted Lisa, drawing her attention back away from me. Lisa electrocuted him again and Jack fell to the ground.
Since he didn't show signs of getting up, I stepped forward slightly. Hopping to buy enough time for Tosh to get to the other side of the cog doors.
"Lisa." I addressed her directly, aiming my gun at the parts of flesh exposed on her stomach. My aim wasn't good enough to risk aiming for her head without it possibly hitting the metal and the bullet rebounding and I was now stood to close to want to risk it and Ianto was lying not too far from her feet. "Do you remember your last thoughts as a human?" I asked her.
"I…remember…pain." She responded after a long moment.
"And Lisa's memories. You still have those don't you?" I asked, glade that she had paused allowing me to buy the time Tosh needed to get out, Jack needed to be revived and Gwen and Owen needed to arm themselves.
"Yes."
"Then you remember the love and the happiness Lisa had for Ianto?"
"Yes, I remember her weakness." The cyber-women said.
"But it wasn't a weakness. Look at all Ianto did because of the love he had for Lisa. Look at all those memories Lisa has for Ianto. All those times they laughed. All those times they made love. All those times they felt more like one then two. Is that not better? Does that not make them stronger?"
"No." Lisa said, before advancing.
To buy myself some time to get back to Gwen and Owen I fired making Lisa cry out in pain and grab her stomach. Turning I ran to the med-bay.
"Hide." I ordered them in a hiss.
"Get in." Owen ordered Gwen, opening the cooler for storage 5 and 6.
"No way." Gwen said.
"Lie on top of me and it'll take us both." Owen said, being practical as I opened the door next to Owen, ready to get in the moment Gwen stopped arguing.
"I'm not laying on top of you." Gwen shook her head. Her tendency for arguing with the orders she was giving was going to get her, or the team, injured or possible killed one day – hopefully today was not that day.
"Gwen, stop arguing." I snapped softly. Hopping not to draw the attention of the cyber-women. With a glare Gwen finally did as she was told. Closing the door behind them, I climbed into my own cooler, aiming my gun at the door just encase the cyber-women decided to check inside.
From inside the fridge I could hear the cyber-woman walking around the autopsy bay. Suddenly the silence was broken by the ringing of a phone. I hissed in anger and when Gwen didn't shut the phone off immediately, I kicked open the door to my storage space and quickly climbed out. The cyber-women paused before dismissing me as a threat since only her metal covered skin was exposed to me, and opening the door to where Gwen and Owen could be heard fumbling around. I shifted so I had a clearer shot at Lisa's flesh and opened fire once again, causing Lisa to scream and collapse.
"Owen, Gwen." I snapped, making the both of them climb out into the autopsy bay. I pulled them both behind me and kept my gun trained on the cyber-women, hopping that she was finally down for good.
"What the hell was that?" Gwen hissed at Owen.
"What?" he replied, not really paying attention as he was observing the cyber-women.
"Snogging me." Gwen responded tightly.
"Last kiss for the condemned man. Clearly embarrassing given we haven't been killed. What? It's not like I fancy you or anything."
"I was on top of you. I could feel your hard on." Gwen responded.
"That's enough." I snapped at them, just as Ianto came running down the stairs. "It was kill or be killed, I'm sorry, Ianto but I couldn't let her hurt anyone else." I told him softly while he stared at the shell of his soul mate in despair. Suddenly she started to rise again, I grabbed Ianto and pushed him up the stairs after Owen and Gwen.
"MOVE!" I shouted at them.
