Chapter Eleven
Owen' Promise
Owen, Jack and Ryan stared at each other for a good minute, in utter silence as Adrian and Jasmine looked on,
"You're going to try and save them" Ryan said eventually, "You have a plan...no? But you're going to "Try" and save them. Noble, as a noble King should be but how exactly did any of you think you were going to get anywhere without me?"
"You transported over 300 bodies across the universe by giving our people the power of thought travel with weightless probes. If that's not enough you frame The Doctor. Before that you tie his son up and knock a child in Owen' guardianship unconscious before going on to attack me with a black force field and you expect me to believe I can trust you not to kill us all?" Jack said outraged
"The Darlek' don't control me anymore. Maybe I don't want to care, but I do so deal with it!" Ryan snapped
Jack was still afraid of him, Owen could see it in his eyes. It didn't exactly instill much confidence in him,
"What changed?" Owen asked
"Time" Ryan said, "The Posturmite fuel was just an underlining there's something else going on"
"You know this how?" Adrian asked
"Follow me" Ryan said and he led them to the basement and the body of the stand-in,
"Mopalsa" Owen said
"The stand-in?" Jack asked reaching out to him
"Don't touch the body" Ryan said, stopping him with a sword that had a TARDIS on the handle,
"Clearly you did" Jack retorted
"He was dead before I could reach him" Ryan replied honestly, "If I can get this body back to the hub can you do tests on it without touching the skin? It's especially important. The chemicals on his body burns and it can't be washed off, once it sinks into the skin that's it you're a gonner"
"How could you know that?" Owen asked
"Have you learnt nothing about my new form? I can get into any structure and access top secret files, corrupt experiments and no one would bat an eyelid. The main ingredients are earthbound and found in the ocean and who should I find working for UNIT in the underwater alien creatures warehouse as governor of the entire operation? Martha Jones" Ryan said smugly
"So we know how you got the gun but she'd never divulge information like that, she wouldn't even be aware of a Royal of the T5H because she never set foot on the planet nor would she know of the effects of the concoction she was brewing. He knew of the importance of the real plot remaining a secret from us let alone his staff, same as before with the time device in his attempt to retrieve Shyer' Shield, they were given instructions, not an explanation; they'd have been given the ingredients and that's it" Adrian realised
Ryan looked at Adrian,
"Not bad Emperor" He said before clicking his fingers, "Sit" Adrian sat, much to everyone' shock, "Read Owen' soul, tell me what he's hiding"
"Ryan...stop!" Jack warned
Adrian stared into Owen' eyes and Owen was still,
"I know I should trust him but I don't" Adrian said
"Ryan!" Jack snapped
"Now, now nephew say your sorry and you won't have to hear anything you mightn't want to" Ryan said enjoying himsef
"If anyone should apologise to anyone it's you, to me!"
"How far back do you want me to go?" Ryan asked, Jack looked him in the eyes, "Fine, he can stop"
Owen grabbed his head in pain,
Adrain seemed unaffected,
"You kill with mind control" He said
"Mind control, you can thank the TARDIS for that. The human brain can only take so much, ET energy is usually, by and large, incompatible with humans, so the second I started asking questions he cracked like an egg" Ryan said, Adrian shook his head, "Martha saw it. She said she recognised something similar, by then I knew who my devious rescuer was and I told her, she trusted me all because I could describe to her the interior of the TARDIS as it was when she travelled with him. I can see the whole of time and space"
"You lied to her" Jasmine said
"No, I used my resources to get you the best result and it worked. I think the sword could be significant too" Ryan replied, picking up the gold sword and passing it to Owen,
Owen frowned and broke the sword in half. To the shock of Adrian, Jasmine and Jack the Mopalsa woke up as the two pieces of sword clattered on the floor.
Owen put Mopalsa through the MRI scanner after Owen sedated him. Here he found a chip in his brain,
"Ryan?" Owen called
Ryan entered the room and Owen pointed,
"It's not mine...I'll remove it and while I'm at it Adrian can run some tests on the sword, see if the two connect somehow"
Meanwhile, Liam was about to enter an electified maze when Mo appeared,
"Mo, what're you doing?" He asked as he switched his attire to non conductive materials
"I need to warn you, you're about to go back to Earth for a time" Mo said
"Great" Liam said
"As an amimal" Mo said
Liam looked at him,
"When I return to Adrian' side, how much older than him will I be?"
"At the least 11 years"
"Am I to have a charge?" Liam asked, "As this animal"
"Yes" Mo smiled "Adrian"
"Oh...no, I'm his dog!" Liam exclaimed
"You're to be a second generation Time Lord, you'll be able to morph into a different animal depending on your abilities as chosen by each regenerative form upon your staring into the Time Vortex at head of Hysophidane" Mo told him
"May I have an update please?" Liam asked
"Owen is alive and about to go to War" Mo told him
Adrian observed the chip Owen placed before him on entering his lab. The broken gold sword lay beside him. Owen have it an uneasy look,
"What Ryan said about the sword was true. It's a computer essentially and it's connected to a receiver, IE a chip like that one there. Its how Pole really controlled the Royal stand-in, you see, the Posturmite fuel made them more attentive. The computers read every thought pattern and knew who to target in terms of their friends and relations. Who they themselves thought were a hindrance to the course" Adrian told him,
"I'm guessing these computers only work for so long before they start to realise the horror of what they're doing to their own people" Owen said
"That doesn't help us defeat them" Adrian replied
"No" Owen agreed,
"I took the liberty of doing the blood tests myself and comparing them with the fluid taken from the bodies that were transported from T5H. In three of them I found traces of Posturmite, Chlorine and a virus. They had Tuberculosis" Adrian told Owen
"The Royal Standby has Tuberculosis. They weren't picked at random, they already worked for him. Those who have a loyalty have been chipped and that's why they fear what'll happen to them"
"So, we know there's a brainwave that dissipates when outside a particular radius"
"We also know their base is beneath and at depth to be damp enough to cause respiratory problems so it has to be below the palace of the T5H" Owen replied and with that he went downstairs and shot Mopalsa dead, "He was one of them" He said I response to Jack' stunned expression,
At that moment and angry Ryan came into the room,
"Where is the body of the World War 5 pilot?"
"I took the bullet out" Owen said
"It wasn't a scare tactic, he's escaped from the building! We have to find him!" Ryan snapped
Owen looked at him in shock.
Ryan glared at Jack as he drove them God knows where in the new Torchwood car. Even Owen had no clue how this was going to help,
"We have no tracker on him, where are we even going to start looking?" Owen said
"Thak you, someone with sense!" Ryan said
"How many Captians do you think are wallking around 1950's Bay Walk Wales or Cardiff present itself in World War 5 clothing!? We will find him. I have a number of questions actually, firstly, why in God' name does the captain come back from the dead whenever you take a bullet out of him!?" Jack responded
"It's part of a defence mechanism. I'm not the one, who's after him, I'm the one, who's trying to save him. He got caught up in an own War, the deader he is the safer he is because it means he doesn't emit any type of signal to the enemy. We have to find him for a number of reasons. Firstly because I can't be certain the enemy didn't follow us through and without the captain the only way we'll be able to track it is if..." Ryan was saying until a thump nearly turned them over, "We find a body"
Jack bit his lip and they all got out of the car,
Jack and Owen found blue bristles on the kneck of the body before them,
"You really are trying to help him...but why did you head out to the Fifth World War of a planet like this?"
"Becasue he's a Corevilite" Ryan told him
Jack looked at Owen,
"He's our problem" He told him
Back at the hub Adrian took the bristles to do research on them and then joined Owen in asking Ryan about their purpose,
"This weapon was in the blueprint stages when we were there" Jasmine said.
"They made it possible by stealing the blood of the opposite boarder. Corevilite' were very peaceful people but very powerful too. However, if you were to inject that blood into a human then if injured fatally the body goes into hibernation. Everything shuts down and preserves itself. Should the wound be mended or the bullet removed they'd seemingly come back to life and they can do that ten times,
The government beyond enemy lines developed a solution and implanted a device undetectable until activated by the presence of the enemy. It had its floors but it is from where I left becoming very affective indeed" Ryan told them calmly,
"The ultimate weapon of mass distruction" Owen sighed
"Abstract the elements Adrian, it'll come in very useful in the hunt for him. By the way, Pole is upping his game with Earth weaponry so be very weary of any ammunition being fired your way by UNIT the bullets can cause septicaemia" Ryan said
"And we're going to win the War?" Owen said
"You're scepticism scares me" Ryan said
Owen stuck his finger up at him.
"Oh my God! He's in a new area but he has no idea it's another time zone, this captain. He'll find alternative aircraft and take out buildings that look similar to the ones of his original assignment" Adrian realised with horror,
"God you lot are slow" Ryan sneered, "Wayfort! He's gone to Wayfort!"
"Why didn't you tell us before now!" Jack snapped as they all head off,
"You're team not mine" He said
"I am going to slap you in a minute!" Jack yelled
"You and, who's army?" He replied
A very angry Brendan awaited Jack, Owen, Adrian and Ryan when they arrived at Wayfort. His officers were locked in combat on ground and up in the air with the World War 5 pilot,
"We have two dead officers. One of them is on the jet with an English man, who has blue stripes on his face. I can't get a clear enough shot, my pilots are fighting each other right now thanks to him; can you really fly a plane?" He asked Jack
"You think this is fancy dress? Yes I can fly a fucking plane!" Jack snapped offended
Adrian was already in the cockpit of a nearby jet, as Jack was sprouting off and was nearly taking off without him. Once up in the air Jack and Adrian assessed the situation and got the other pilots in formation so they could force the one the captain was in to crash into a hay bale. Ryan was minutely impressed by this,
"What're you going to do with him?" He asked Jack as Owen helped Adrain pull the captain out,
"Wipe his memory"
"Why didn't I think of that?" Ryan pondered,
"You're not me" Jack smiled, "Tuth hurts doesn't it Uncle Ryan"
"God you're arrogant"
"I got it from my mother" He sneered
Owen raised his eyebrows.
Just as they all got into the Torchwood car a report came through on the system,
"There's been a mass murder at a Working Men's club in town. They were all ex RAF pilots" Owen said, "We don't have the solution"
"I'll get it and meet you there" Ryan said, vanishing
Jack shivered as the trunk opened. He and Owen got out to realise Ryan had taken the captain with him.
"That man...I swear to God"
Jack and Owen were shocked to find the working mens club littered with bodies, each with blue bristles. Distracted, both were nearly decapitated but Ryan turned up and saved them both before reigning in the attacker.
"Thanks" Owen said genuinely as he and Jack got up
"Hmm" Ryan replied, he then showed them the blue spatters under a blue light he had in his hand, "I used the solution on a UV, they all killed each other, he just set the wheels in motion, I see it in you. The tactic of a war yet to happen…we weren't there when it started, you can't warn anyone about it,
What if you give the enemy instructions rather than the allies a heads up?"
"You're right" Owen nodded
Meanwhile Liam had found his way out of the electrified maze, along with a nuber of coloured stones that he placed in order on a mural on the floor. From the centre appeared a man in a long grey coat and tails. He alarmed Liam a little at first until Liam realised he was just a hologram.
A door appeared behind the man now,
"To gain entry to a portal that will take you to your starting point in Adrian' life as a dog you will have to answer correctly the following questions, the answers will have a code hidden within to unlock a segment of this door behind me" He told Liam, "Do you understand?"
"Yes" Liam said
"Question one..."
The 11th Doctor looked up from the console as Owen entered the space,
"You wanted to see me regarding the fugitive now in my care at the hub?" Owen said, "The one, who was after the captian"
"Yes. Your fugitive, he's a human of sorts but he's not from World War Five Earth he's from World War Five T5H. He comes from a family of well known assassins. The Silver Assassins; set up initially to wipe out all those in line with the Corevilite before the war and then the Time Lords and allies of such after the war. Captain Carter has been trying to bring down Pole' government for near enough a century now and was pretty close to finding out his weaknesses but he was found out and got himself a one way ticket to the far future but it was a trap on Pole' part and as a source of revenge they both got caught up in the fifth world war. Using a pose structure stolen from the palace he could send messages to Pole and struck up a deal, his guarantied safety for Captain Carter' body" The 11th Doctor told him
"What do you think I should do with him?" Owen asked
"You're his King Owen, it's your call" The Doctor replied
Owen nodded, returned to the hub and took a syring with a live virus,
"Uh Owen...what're you doing with that?" Jack asked
Jack then followed Owen down to the fugitive and watched him inject the virus into him.
"He was going to get us killed!" The fugitive snapped
" You're decision to stay quiet has killed far more in the long run. In this syringe is a live virus,
Humans call it Tuberculosis, now, I'm assuming as time goes on and we vacate to other planets in search of habitable civilisations we'll have developed our immunities stronger. But how could I possibly know that if I haven't anyone to test that theory, someone from a civilisation like that…but oh wait I have you. It won't work on me mate I'm immortal. If you survive then I'll let you go, I'll even rehabilitate you but if not…well, there's nothing left to say is there"
Ryan laughed as he passed by,
"There's more of me in him than you" Ryan said to Jack
"That place is swamped with Postrurmite fuel, the second they know you're there you're finished!" The Fugitive spat,
Owen gave him a look,
"Yes, thank you Captain Obvious"
The 11th Doctor walked into the control room of the 12th Doctor, Honour in arms,
"Would you be up for a spot of babysitting?" He asked him
The 12th Doctor smiled and took Honour from him,
"How long for?" The 12th asked
"How long is a piece of string? Rule number 1 of being a superhero" The 11th said
"Never leave the baby unattended, you're going to T5H with your secondary TARDIS, I remember" The 12th said
"So you'll do it" The 11th asked
"Take as long as you need" The 12th said honestly, "I needed this today...thank you"
The 11th Doctor grinned and nodded before tickling Honour' chin. He could sense a sadness in 12,
"Hey what do you mean you preferr him to me?" He lied with a wink, "He's gonna be trouble this one"
The 12th looked at Honour as 11 left,
"You're going to be the best companion Adrian ever had, you're already mine and next to K9 that's saying something" Honour made a noise, "Oh I could tell you some stories...oh you want one?" He sat down with him, "OK well first there was the time..."
The 11th Doctor arrived at Adrian' apartment as he was making tea for himself,
"You want one?" Adrian asked unfazed
"Lovely...and a Jammy Dodger if you have one" He said, "So" He said reading Adrian, "You took Chrissie away this weekend" Adrian dropped his cup, "Ha! What changed?"
"Who knows?" Adrian said raised eyebrows, "But I ended up on another plane entirely"
The 11th Doctor grinned,
"Been there...with Jack, don't let this blow up in your face...I'm going with you by the way"
"Dad you're a genius"
"Well" He blushed
"What you said just now!" Adrian said
"Uh...Ok" He said
Within minutes Adrian had organised a meeting in the boardroom with 11, Brendan, Jack, Jasmine, Owen and Ryan,
"We're gonna blow up the palace of the T5H" Brendan said with a raised eyebrow
"We're gonna blow up the palace of the T5H" Adrian said
"How? We can't get into the palace, it's swamped with Posturmite fuel and God only knows how many trip wires" Jack said
"We can't but Uncle Ryan can" 11 said,
They all turned to look at him, and so with much protestation Ryan ported to the palace, ripped out wires, raised thermoses and turned on fans, he ported from room to room, screwing up as many wires as he could and then lit a match so the whole palace blew out. Residents gathered to exclaim and talk as one and then silence fell as the sky became blue and the air became breathable for the first time in years. They then hugged each other and cried with happiness.
However this was short lived.
Pole was out for blood,
"Release our secret weapon! Smoke him out!" He said down the phone to his rep beneath the now burning palace.
70 jets took to the air and bombed everything in sight.
Owen, Brendan, Adrian, Jack, Ryan, Jasmine and 11 looked on in horror as the readings came in from Pole himself,
"Game, set and match to me bitches!" He laughed
"They had no warning…one city of how many, death toll so far 4,000"
Owen grabbed a chair and smashed the screens with it,
"Now it's personal!"