Chapter Nine
The Shield
Morgan looked less than impressed as Owen secured a wire to his chest and a mini cam. They were stood in the old dockyard, waiting for two members of UNIT to arrive.
"Why're we doing this again?" He asked him
Last night: Two UNIT members hid behind a tree as a caveman climbed out from a crater in the growned,
"We know it works then" The first said
"Not necessarily" The second said with a cough, "Let's get out of here"
"What about the caveman? We can't leave it there, it's going to kill someone" The first said
"Of course it is but it's not going to be us, shift yourself" The second said and they ran off just as the caveman picked up an unsuspecting runner and then dropped him with a hidious crack.
Now: Morgan looked at Owen and snatched his gun,
"Oi!" Owen said, trying to snatch it back from him
"You're mad if you think I'm going in there unarmed after what you just told me" Morgan replied, "And why're there no reports out about the caveman?"
"If we did that UNIT would know we're on to them" Owen replied
"They're after something, an artefact, what it does I don't know but it was buried somewhere here in that era and then dug up" Jack said, leaving his post
"They can't go backwards or forwards in time so they've created this device that allows them to merge the past with the present, before the artefact was found,
They haven't located it yet but the device works and that's all they care about,
What we need you to do is get hold of the plans, find out why they need this artefact and if possible the device itself" Owen told him
"They're here" Jasmine called from her position on the roof of a nearby wearhouse
Owen and Jack left Morgan alone and Jasmine hid.
They watched an exchanged and Morgan was aloud into the back of the van but blind folded. However in this one move they realised Owen was wired up and they knocked him out cold,
"He's wired!" The woman, who'd knocked him out said
"No, really!? Search him! Find out who he's working for and kill them" The driver yelled from the front
"If this virus takes hold then we won't have to kill anyone it'll do it for us in less than half the time" The woman said nervously
"Wiley still alive?" The driver asked
"Just, he's in isolation"
While Owen, Jack and Jasmine were trying to fix the last point of the wire to get the liscence plate of the UNIT van so they could follow on Andy called Owen. Owen answered and put him on speaker.
"My officers were called out to a body in the park in South Cardiff three hours ago; no one has seen them since"
Jamsine tapped at the computer in front of her and then pointed for Owen and Jack so see, eyebrows raised,
"According to this they're still there, they're completely motionless and losing body heat fast, I'm picking up on a huge amount of alien energy and it's seeping into the soil...we're on route" Owen said
Jack reved the engine and sped out of the dockyard, alarm on his face.
Once on site Jack, Jasmine and Owen crossed the corden to three unconsious police officers and a member of UNIT. Jack scanned the body but his wrist strap told him the energy was unknown so he kicked one of the bodies over and there he found white spots all over the exposed skin,
"What the hell is that?" He said in question
Adrian was staring at the computer in the hub as Pitch went through some paperwork,
"She swiped your gun to prove a point?" Pith said shaking his head, "Bet Vera loved that"
"What's it go to do with her?" Adrian asked
"Nothing...I was thinking of something else at the same time" Pitch said kicking himself
Adrian bought it,
"I'm getting concerned about this alien energy in the park" He said
"Jack and your mother went over there with Owen after they planted Morgan with UNIT" Pitch told him
"I'm sorry what?" Adrian replied
"They've been using an alien device to bring the past into the present and retrieve an artefact. They were looking for a medic to join them on a project so we sent him undercover, could the alien energy be coming from that?"
"No there is a history of alien activity in the last 24 hours separate to that but it's been shut off for the last 12" Adrian told a now concerned Pitch, "Will you call mum please? I'll see if I can find Morgan using the footage from the pickup"
Over at the secure lab Jack owned Owen was about to get flashbacks of his entrapment in a nuclear plant,
"What's stopping you from getting this...whatever this is?" Jasmine asked
Jack shook his head unknowing until Owen got the results,
"Oh you bastards what've you done?" He said, "It's alien and radioactive"
He, Jack and Jasmine backed up,
Jack then grabbed the phone and called Michael,
"Radioactive alien attack ongoing!" Was all he said,
Within miutes alarms were blaring and people were being yelled at to get inside their nearest building and to lock all doors and windows.
People crowded the cafe by the bay and talked together as one, fearfull and confused, some tried to ring relatives to see where they were. People called for someone to turn on the TV,
"There won't be anything up yet" One called
"You don't know that! Turn it on!" Another called back
So they did,
"I've already called dad" Chrissie said, "He's going to see what he can do from where he is, there's a protocal in place"
"How'd you know?" A man in a long blue coat asked
"He's in the Army" Chrissie told him, "Anything changes we'll know before anyone else"
By now there was a confrence within a local school with Andy and a few others,
"Please stay indoors, but if you're out and can't find shelter then get to your nearest bio tent located outside each hospital. Plans are being put in place as we speak and white treated tunnels to all underground shelters, we're going to be evacuating the hospitals first and will be working our way through the city throughout the night" Andy said calmy, he was asked about ninety questions at once there after, "We're safe for now, those caught outside will be treated accordingly. We were made aware of a radiation attack after the autopsies of three of my officers earlier this evening"
"Something' off about this" Chrissie whispered
"In what way?" Sal asked
"We aren't under attack, something else is in play, it's the protection of an artefact" She said reaching for her diary,
"Who's been wiping your memory?" Sal asked
"The Doctor" Chrissie said
"Well how is knowing what this is going to help Torchwood, we can't leave this building"
"I'll port if I have to" Chrissie said
"No you won't" The Doctor said appearing from out of the staffroom, "You don't have permission without Brendan, leave it with me"
Morgan, now awake but sore, was lead by the woman, who'd punched him, towards the room her co-worker Wiley was being kept,
"Why did you knock me out? Who I work for is irrelavent now unless I can treat the virus this man has" He said
"It's connected to the ripple device I know it" She said, taking a set of keys to the room out of her overcoat with shaking hands,
"The thing that brought the caveman here?"
"It located something else" She said
They then took a breath as they realised Wirely was now dead before both being locked in by Pole. They both screamed and ripped the room apart in an attempt to find a way out.
Adrian and Pitch were in the lower central hub, talking to Jack over speaker,
"Daisy and Chris are in the South of France, they're fine. It's just the Bay but they're not taking any chances, the rest of Wales and England are being put on red alert" Pitch said
"I've found Morgan, 25 miles south west, an abandoned nuclear air raid shelter. They have the DNA profiling of everyone working for them, Morgan is trapped in the medical department with two bodies,
Both have been exposed to this virus but Morgan remains, for now, unaffected" Adrian said
"Oh thank God!" Owen exclaimed, "What about the device?"
"It's there but ineffective right now. Pitch managed to get onto the scheduling for this mission; they're gonna reset it. Going by UNIT' main sight they've located an ancient artefact, its identity is being kept from the staff, there's nothing to tell me what it is, what Pole wants it for or what it does. I do have some good news, I've been looking at this energy and effects can be reversed using a chemical called B12 Capleson, two parts ZX4 and Silver Web whatever that is" Adrian said
"Get yourself over here" Jack said
"How?"
"Use the disused waterpipe it'll take you straight here, we're on the lower 15th" Jack said
Jack looked at Jasmine and Owen,
"We can use it as a vaccine for anyone not affected but at risk. There are no side affects because they're all natural chemicals any human who travels in space with the Doctor or those with a time slip device would consume anyway without even knowing it" Jack said, then to Owen he added, "Go and wait for Adrian, it shouldn't take him too long to get here and he should arrive on the lower 20th floor, it's not numbered anymore, the sign fell off"
Owen left the lab with a nod.
As he did the TARDIS materialised and the 11th Doctor stepped out,
"Liam has the device you need...UNIT have found the Shield. I'm sorry Jack"
"No Doctor, I can't do this to him now he's too fragile" Jack said
"Listen very carefully to me. You have exactly fifteen minutes to get to the Bay, the water is draining from it, that's where the Sheild is now. Owen is the only one who can stop this Virus and you know it"
"No, he'll know what he is. They'll know" Jack protested
"Jack, the TARDIS gave me this information, you can question me but don't ever make the mistake of questioning her. You get Owen prepared, I'll retrieve the device from Liam" The Doctor said
At that moment, Adrian and Owen arrived,
"What's going on?" Owen asked
"Uh..." Jack stammered
"This is about the thing UNIT are after" The Doctor said
"It's a shield of dark matter, one of two, but it only reacts to particular alien forms. Not humans. It has a defence mechanism that releases a virus into the air, the Corpse Virus, and its main ingredient is an alien radioactive element called; Tisophate 5H a mixture of Time Lord radiation and a natural radiation found in the sun that heats up the planet T5H. Its original wearer was a Time Lord, Mo. He was my father; it was stolen by Emperor, from Shyer and struck with blue lightening so that it'd be forced to work for us instead" Jack revealed
"How do we stop it?" Owen asked
"You have to stand before it and if it recognises a good intent within a blood form it sees as alien then its defences will be shut down and everything will be put back in order" Jack said
"Sounds simple enough, what am I doing?" Adrian asked
"You're going to deliver the antidote and vaccine to the army, I've made sure the team distributed to the Bay area took Chrissie to her father at Wayfort" Jack told him
Adrian nodded,
"After that, we need you to get Morgan out of UNIT' temp base" Jasmine said
Chrissie sighed with relief as Brendan brought Adrian into the bunker she was waiting in with other people from the area,
"Look, who I found" Brendan said, "He's brought the vaccines for this base"
"What's going on out there?" She asked as he gave her, her injection,
"An alien device. It can be reversed with that vaccine I gave you, and Owen can shut it down but right now Morgan is trapped in a room with two dead bodies, on a base being used by UNIT and I have to go and rescue him...I'll come back" Adrian said, noting the look of concern on Chrissie' face
Brendan left them to it,
"How do I know you'll come back?" She asked
Adrian gave Chrissie his sonic device,
"Now I have to come back" He said, "You're infuriating and you're a mystery but...it's a turn on, I don't know why I didn't notice you before"
He turned to leave as Chrissie grinned,
"I can't take your sonic...but I will take your gun, my Doctor doesn't need them" She said
Adrian winked at her and gave her his gun before leaving,
Over at the bay Jack, Jasmine and Owen arrived to find the last of the water being drained and two UNIT members started digging,
"Jack?" Owen said in question,
"Not yet" Jack said with a shake of the head, There was a flash and the two UNIT members were thrown from the sheild now visible in the wet sand. They had white marks all over them. Owen went quiet and then climbed over the bars and floated down to the seabed, "Oh shit, he's in knight mode. He's more powerful than me now, I can't help him"
"As long as human kind exists I will stand. As long as evil persists in it's pursuit against Time Lord and Human Five or Corevilite I will fight. I am the Guardian of the Emperor, I am your ruler by obligation now hear me. Shut down your defences and repair the damage you caused" Owen said, eyes aglow
There was a flash of light, the water returned to the bay and Owen floated to the surface.
"Owen!" Jack screamed, then to the sheild he pleaded, "Bring him back!"
"He's reenergising. He has a connection to Faith, and Faith' double, created by Shyer Folding had control of the element of water. With Ocean in Orphisvile she loses her power, were she to escape then this power would be returned to her but until then Owen can breathe underwater...it is time!" Came the voice of the sheild,
"He's not ready! He doesn't know what he's doing!" Jack screamed
"He knows enough to do this!" Came the voice of the shield
Owen opened his eyes,
"The crown no longer withholds the power to track those who have failed in their reign, their fight for freedom and peace; it shall be destroyed this night"
Gold ligh left Jack' body and became the crown, Owen then appeared before it, held out his hand and destroyed it before passing out on the ground with a shudder as the sheild and Owen became one.
Adrain used as little force as possible in finding a map and a route to where Morgan was trapped. He followed each corridor with his finger until he had a passable route, he then used a map of the vents and wire to feed seditive gas through and to different areas of the base before setting them off and using the only route free of the gas to get to Morgan,
As the UNIT members were human they paid him no attention,
Adrian used the sonic to get the door to the room Morgan was trapped in open and pulled him up onto his feet.
"You've had a crappy night huh?" He said
"As long as they pay me" Morgan said, Adrian laughed, then as the two victims of the virus woke up he and Morgan punched their lights out, "Fancy a nightcap? I don't want to drink alone"
"You asking me out?" Adrian asked
"God no!" Morgan said
The 11th Doctor handed Jack the device Liam had obtained from the caves as he watched Owen' unsconscious body in his lab,
"The device as promissed" The Doctor said
"I can't use it on him until he stablises" Jack said nervously
"He will...Pole force our hand Jack" He said
"I know...but if he doesn't get a handle on his regenerated radiaton he could destroy the planet now screaming at him to save"