Chapter Twelve
Owen' War
"We have to leave now" Jack said
"And do what? You have no structure, no plan" Ryan said
"Sometimes the best plan is to have no plan at all" The 11th Doctor said
"While his kind is blown apart?! You think they asked for that!That was just one of thousands of cities, the only warning they'll have is a news report fed through seconds before they're blown apart too. They've never had that kind of onslaught, this is the first time they've ever seen a plane or ever seen a bomb" Ryan snapped
"What?" Owen said in question, stunned by what he was hearing,
"Pole has always kept most of the technology the planet has for the running of the palace and the government, you're born in one city, you grow old in one city and you die in one city. Remember what we said? At the end of each era they just build a new one on top of you. They call it the tunnel of archives, you are the archives" Jack said
"Humankind went backwards, that' what you're telling be" Owen said
"Pretty much, yeah, only the structure and the atmospheric shell means you can just keep building, ground level will always remain ground level" Brendan said
"Then we mingle, they know who you are but they also know what you look like, Pole doesn't,
If you act like one of them they're not gonna react. We go back and use the safety procedures of the Second World War" Adrian said
Everyone looked at Adrian as though they all thought themselves thick for not thinking the same thing until he said it.
"You go, I'll keep shop" Brendan said
The next day Brendan had a shock waiting for him. Chrissie' reaction to the news for a start,
"So Torchwood goes to War and Adrian just had to go with them didn't he"
"Not to add flames to the fire here Chrissie but you know T5H was ours" He said
"Once! Not anymore!" She snapped
"There's a mist over the technicality, maybe this has nothing to do with duty and everything to do with being there for a friend" Brendan said trying to be fair, Chrissie took a cup and smashed it off the wall,
"Because that helps"
Chrissie took a broken chip out of the hole now in the wall and Brendan eyeballed it,
"Pole was listening"
"How the fuck did he even get in here?! A Time Lord and a TARDIS!"
"We've had repair men for different things this year, he could have had anyone plant it" Chrissie said
Jack, Jasmine, Adrian, Owen, 11th Doctor and Ryan were stood around the secondary console. The engines had stopped and they were scanning the area for living entities.
"OK...we're alone for now. First things first how do we get a message across each boarder without being detected? I've scanned the structure, the government has several bases underground but you probably knew that already" The Doctor said
"We can't arrest everyone, who has a cough" Owen said
"The plans for the building work are the same throughout the planet, I need one blue print, walking TARDIS, I can get through boarders" Ryan said
"No offence but, who would listen to you Uncle Ryan?" Owen said
"I'll go, I'm the Emperor...even if I don't have my TARDIS right now" Adrian said
"He can't get you through brick walls" Jack said
"I have legs" Owen scoffed at this, "Why can't I walk through the door?"
"You go out there and draw attention to yourself Pole will know we're here. The Emperor isn't likely to be working in favour of him now is he?" Ryan said
"How do we know who to trust?" The Doctor asked
"Then we set the cat amongst the pigeons. It shouldn't be that difficult to create a lie detector. We find a civilian who can persuade the loyalists they're one of them, just convincing enough to be let through the boarders; we give them the device and they employ more double agents who relay the information back to each other and then back to us. If the loyalists think they're one of them they're not gonna bat an eyelid and no one is any the wiser" Adrian said
"Excellent but I still need a blueprint of some kind" The Doctor said
"Record and filing system, the offices are above the postal service. It's all the way across town" Ryan said
"I'll find it" He replied and with that he left.
Meanwhile at UNIT Martha walked into Pole' office while he was in a meeting with a viscious looking alien,
"Don't mind her" Pole said to him,
"You wanted to see me?" Martha said ignoring the alien
"I did" Pole said and he activated a ring on her finger, "Thank you, now that I have your full attention this is what I would like you to do. Burn Torchwood to the ground and then take the TARDIS soul!"
"Right away sir" Martha said and she turned and left
The Doctor got off a wind up bus. A big key in the back had to be turned by the conductor every time it stopped. As backwards as this place was he found this to be quite the coo,
"A wind-up bus! No fuels, people have time to get out of the way...I've got to get one of these" The Doctor said
"You're not from round here" The conductor said
"No...I'm a Time Lord"
"Shit...it worked, he's here isn't he?" The conductor said
"Don't know what you're talking about" He smiled and with that he ventured into the postal service. However, after following the signs to the room he needed he found that the corridors were littered with papers, "Oh dear, someone got here first"
The Doctor found himself knocked out cold.
"Oh dear" Ryan said suddenly, Jack, Jasmine, Owen and Adrian looked at him, "The Doctor is out for the count"
"What?" Jack said
"He's being dragged into a side office as we speak...no blueprint. Oh well, I guess I'll have to just use the TARDIS to create one by scanning the underground tunnels" Ryan said
"What part of team don't you get!? You put mine and Jas' husband in danger for no reason at all! We can't show our face so how're we gonna get him out!?"
"The Doctor can get himself out, the remaining team are in danger. I'd start making phone calls if I were you" Ryan said
Brendan unwittingly let Martha in as he was heading out to do something for the Wayfort base. He paid her no attention what so ever. Martha then overpowered Chris, Morgan and Pitch, tied them up, searched for something flamable and spelt UNIT on the floor of the lower central hub, with Pitch and Morgan in the U part and Chris in the N, she then went around, dowsing everything as the phones rang before setting the whole place on fire.
Brendan was stuck in traffic when Chrissie rang him, he answered vis speaker,
"Torchwood' on fire, she's coming for me now" She said
Brendan sighed,
"Martha! Chrissie as TARDIS I deem this a situation that requires your inner Time Lord radiation so by any means take this bitch down!" With that he forced the cars behind back and then turned around to help, calling for back up on the way, "I need you to track the TARDIS"
"Which one?" Michael said sarcastically
"The one with two legs!" He snapped, "And blonde hair! North American accent! God!"
Chrissie smiled as Martha arrived at the apartment and allowed her to overpower her,
"What do you want with me?"
"I...I don't know but you're coming with me!" Martha snapped
"Hm I see well OK" She said patronisingly
The Doctor woke up in a small box room to find a scraggy, unkempt T5H staring at him with unnaturally big eyes. They both jumped,
"Did you knock me out?!" The Doctor asked
"No…I wouldn't…I couldn't do something like that…I have a nervous…nervous disposition,
I stutter…stutter when I'm nervous so it makes it…impossible…to…to make threats of any kind…any kind sir" The T5H said
The Doctor smiled,
"No, I suppose it does, I'm not going to hurt you. Do you know who attacked me?"
"Loyalists sir…looking…looking for…for…Kings…they have…no more…standbys…all dead…all dead they are" The T5H stammered
"Did they try to recruit you?" The Doctor asked
"Didn't…didn't have a chance…sir…much better to…pretend…pretend to be…dumb and def sir…you can't…do as…your told by…government…if they…they think…you can't understand sir" The Doctor laughed at this, "Did I do a bad thing?" The T5H asked
"Quite the oppiste, what's your name?" The Doctor asked
"I was adopted as a child…on this…planet…adopted…children don't…don't get named…sir" The T5H told him
"That's sad...come on, let's get out of here" The Doctor replied
With that he go the door open and together with the T5H hopped in and out of different side rooms and up and down fligths of stairs to avoid the loyalists.
Meanwhile Brendan had just been notified that there were three alive but one unconscious and two dead in the fire at the hub. The cave man and the fugitive. Morgan was unsconscious and was being wheeled out as Brendan updated Owen.
"Uh, you better let Adrian know Martha took Chrissie hostage, SLSC are on it" He added
Owen looked at Adrian, Jack, Jasmine and Ryan,
"Torchwood went up in flames to the word; UNIT" He told them, "It was Martha Jones. Pole had her in a trance and we have no idea where she's gone, meanwhile Pitch, Chris and Morgan are in hospital, Morgan seems to have inhaled the most amount of smoke though, he's still slipping in and out of consciousness" Then he looked at Adrian, "Chrissie' been taken hostage, Martha' still in a trance"
"I leave her alone for five minutes..." Adrian said, failing to hide his concern, "How'd you get someone out of it?"
"You'd need a sonic, it's the only thing powerful enough to block out the signal" Ryan said
"Brendan" Jasmine said
"I'm on it" Owen replied,
"I suppose we should go out now huh mum? We have the device we need now and we can direct" Adrian said
Jasmine nodded and they left as the Doctor came in with the T5H,
"I know you're amazed right?" The Doctor said
"Not really, you've told me it's bigger than the outside the wole way here but I don't see an outside, I see a wall and bamb! Big room" The T5H said
"Hey, no stammer" The Doctor grinned, then he lost his grin and looked sad, "That's disappointing"
"You mean my reaction don't you" He grinned
"Yeah...sorry I think without speaking sometimes" The Doctor said, then he pointed, "Pack it in Ryan"
Ryan just laughed,
"I cured your friend" He said once he'd finished
While Adrian and Jasmine were teasing out the people they needed and sending them different routes to the meeting and the TARDIS for a health check, Chrissie mastifally escaped Martha, confused her and then punched her in the face but then just as Brendan and SLSC arrived Martha shot Chrissie in the ribs.
Brendan used the sonic wand to snap Martha out of her trance and she stood in shock at what she had done to Chrissie. To her Blood poured but to everyone else she was blinding them with light,
"Well that was stupid now wasn't it?" She said and with that she passed out
When Adrian and Jasmine arrived back from meeting volunteer spies for Owen, Owen was waiting with the news about Chrissie.
"How do you mend a hole in the TARDIS soul?" He asked Ryan before Adrian came in
"She needs her owner" Ryan said
"What's going on?" Adrian asked
"Martha has been detained but Chrissie took a bullet to the ribs" Owen told him, "You need to go to her"
"But you need me...this is about Lydia" Adrian said
"No, this is about a girl, who's I love with you, scared out of her mind, she's not like you. Go to her, comfort her" Ryan said, taking Jack completely by surprise
"This is my war and I appreciate the help mate really…in my draw back at my apartment there is a drug called; Alisamphotic, it's stronger than human antibiotics" Owen told him
"I'll come back" Adrian said
"No you won't" Owen smiled, then to the Doctor he added, "Step on it"
Liam was altered into puppy form and told his task, then as he left his older self came in. They had one order for him,
"Keep Adrian on Earth"
Liam, now Whisky, barked, jumped through a vortex and ran from the Blue Dragon railway to Adrian' appartment where he sat outside and waited. He was even fed by Owen' neighbour but she left him alone when she realised he wouldn't be moved from Adrian' door.
Then he sighed on hearing Adrian' voice,
"I treated her...she'll be OK, I was dozing off though and she told me to go home for a bit so...I don't know, it seemed like the sensible...sorry I have to go, Whisky' here!"
He rushed over to him and played with his ears affectionately,
"Adrian, listen to me, if you go back to that place Owen will fail and everyone will die but stay here and they'll have a chance" Whisky told him
"What do I have to do?" Adrian asked as he let him into the appartment
Once inside Whisky had Adrian load a program on his laptop that showed him footage of the damp tunnels beneath the ruins of the palace of the T5H and the he explained,
"Within the smoke are particles that contain perceptive abilities. They're hiding circuits that operate a mechanism but what it's for we don't know yet, if we can break down the codes we can lead the others to the mechanism"
"How long do you think this is going to take?" Adrian asked him
"Hard to say" Whisky replied
Two months later: Adrian hadn't left the appartment four eight weeks, Chrissie was discharged and came and went several times, froze the apartment, set fire to the apartment, electrified the walls, turned the floors int partial larva pits and not once did Adrian' focus drift.
"Damn" She said
"Finally!" Adrian said suddenly, making her jump and giving her just three seconds to change everything back to normal before she forgot, who she was
The first thing he did was send the coordinates to the TARDIS, which was ironic given that she was next to him. The 12th Doctor being the only one, who understood sent them on to the 11th and Jack and Jasmine went on a hunt.
Here they found a wall sized remote,
"A remote for what?"
Above ground a jet crashed, without a pilot. Ryan appeared in a black cloud and scared everyone,
"Where is the pilot?" He asked
"There isn't one" A nervous T5H put forward
"Have they all been pilotless?" He asked and without waiting for an answer he ported out and at the same moment as Jack and Jasmine walked through the TARDIS doors said, "Remote controlled planes!"
"I'm sorry what?" Owen asked
"If the controls can be reversed we can destroy the base" Adrian said over speaker
"No palace, no base, no planes, no computers left to target, no War" The Doctor said
Adrian might not have pushed the button but she was upset by the lack of empathy for those under Pole' control, now dying in a pile of rubble and twisted metal. Nothing Adrian could say would calm her.
Whisky told him to go after her but he refused. In his eyes a rift was her doing.
One month later: Owen and Adrian walked side by side in the park centre,
"I made a rousing speech I did Adrian, you should have seen it" Owen grinned, "I leave you with the reasurance that the T5H will never be at War again...and yes I stand down but I leave your planet in the capable hands of...ready for it? Uncle Ryan" Adrian laughed, "The profanities were drowned out the cheering crowds, it was awesome!" Owen added
At that moment they met Chrissie, she was with a waiter from the cafe, on a date,
"Owen...I'm glad T5H is safe now but undestand my point of view, the ones that died weren't always under Pole' control and I'm saddened by the fact that this hasn't been aknowledged" She said
"It will be Chrissie" Owen said, "Adrian was with you"
"In the end...it shouldn't have taken a bullet" She said fairly and with that she left
"Look, I don't know what went on between you, but she's safe with me" The waiter said
Adrian blinked the tears from his eyes and then cried out in frustration, head on Owen' shoulder.
"In other news...Jack' pregnant" Owen said
Adrian looked at him
The End