6
Martha is hauling out the last of five bags as Jax talks to the guard, holding his gun at him "Leg's good, it'll bleed plenty and we avoid any necessary organs..."
"I was thinking more of a graze.." the guard whimpers.
"Well you don't want it to look like you just gave up..." Jax was arguing.
"JAX!" Rhys hollers from above.
Jax mutters to himself "Every heist, he's gotta start yelling my name"
"Jax! Munchers! The wee fella's pitchin' a fit. They're here or they're comin' soon." Rhys is shouting. He is already loading up with bags as Jax thinks quickly.
"Get on the mule." Jax orders, then turns to the guard and points to the vault door, "Does that open from the inside?"
"Whah -ah- yes..."
"You get everyone upstairs in there and you seal it. Long as you got air you don't open up, you understand?" Jax tells the guard.
"I - Buh I –"
Jax is in his face, dark and huge "GET THEM INSIDE THE VAULT."
The doors burst open, Rhys and Martha coming out first, Jax behind with Ianto in hand. He is freaked, in his own space. Rhys and Martha throw the bags in and Jax speaks as calmly as possible, "Martha take the wheel"
"You see 'em? Anybody see 'em?" Rhy demands as he looks about wildly.
Jax is scanning the area as he hands Ianto up to Rhys' care. As the craft powers up, slowly moving, the young man Martha kept from trying to pull his weapon bursts out of the station, grabbing the back of the mule.
"Take me with you!" he pleads.
"Get in the vault with the others" Jax calls out.
"I can't stay here! Please!" the man pleads desperately.
"It's too many. Drive, Martha." Jax yells as he looked up.
A Muncher craft ROARS over their heads. It's nearly the size of Torchwood. Torn apart, belching smoke - a welded mess and cacophony of ruined ships, painted for war. Predator, pure. It disappears over the rooftops.
"Oh Gods, Please!" the man cries.
"Drive!" Jax screams as he crouches low over Ianto.
Martha's face is set with unhappy determination as she floors it, shooting out and leaving the young man in the dust.
As they move from him, four Munchers jump out of the shadows and grab the young man. Jax unhesitatingly draws his gun. He nudges a lever with his thumb and a cartridge pops back.
Jax fires twice. The young man takes both bullets in the chest, slumps down dead.
As the mule shoots past the last building, skiff shoots out from behind the buildings of the adjacent street, right abreast of our gang.
We see the church as the first ship and an even larger one comes to hover over it, Munchers dropping down on cable lines to swarm into it.
The mule and the skiff are booking through the rocky terrain.
The skiff swings closer, but Rhys peppers it with automatic fire and it swings away. There is sporadic return fire.
"How come they ain't blowing us out of the air?" Rhys calls out to Jax with confusion.
"They wanna run us down. The up-close kill." Jax yells back as he looks down at Ianto who is squashed down on his back, being very small.
"They want us alive when they eat us." Ianto explained as one would a small child. Jax grinned at him softly.
"Boy, sure would be nice if we had some grenades, don't chya think?" Rhys asks but Jax says nothing, keeps firing.
"Mickey, baby can you hear me?" Martha calls down the coms as she grits her teeth and manoeuvres around the large boulders.
Back at the Torchwood Mickey is in a frenzy of switch flipping, prepping for take-off. "We're moments from air. You got somebody behind you?"
"Munchers." Martha pants with wide eyes as she throttles up again.
Mickey makes a rude noise as he struggles to get the big bitch airborne.
"We're not gonna reach you in time." Martha yells.
"Just keep moving, honey. We're coming to you." Mickey answers as a flash behind him tells him Tosh was listening as Torchwood lifts off and starts heading toward the others.
Martha gets the mule in front but a harpoon flies through the air from the skiff and it goes through Rhys' leg.. The harpoon grips the leg and pulls.
Rhys goes flying off the back of the Mule, Jax just grabbing him as the harpoon line reels slowly tighter.
"Grab on!" Jax yells and Rhys grabs the Mule, legs dangling, pulled out between the two vessels as Jax slams a new cartridge into his pistol.
"I won't get eaten!" Rhys begs, "You shoot me if they take me!"
Jax steadies himself and takes aim, seemingly at Rhys "Well don't shoot me first!"
Jax fires.
Again.
Steadies himself for one more...
The line holding the harpoon is split by Jax's third shot.
The mule surges forward as Rhys drags on the ground. Jax hauls him in as Ianto bounds into the front to make room.
"Rutting pigs! Where's…" Rhys snarls and Ianto is holding out his weapon before he can ask for it.
Torchwood rushes across the desert floor, not much higher off it than the smaller crafts.
"Get some distance on 'em. You come to the flats, I want you to swing round. Gonna try a Barn Swallow." Mickey hits the com. "Owen! Open the loading dock!"
Owen moves next to the huge sliding doors at the front, hits a couple of buttons. The doors pull open, as the huge ramp beyond them opens down, letting in a rush of wind and light.
The mule reaches the flats, away from the rocks.
Okay, baby, we've talked this through..." Mickey is crooning in Martha's ear and she smiles.
"Talkin' ain't doin'." She laughs as she throws the wheel and the mule comes hard about, fishtailing slightly as it faces the oncoming skiff.
"Don't slow down!" Mickey roars ad he growls, wrestling his controls.
As it heads for the skiff - and Torchwood swoops down out of the sky, bay doors open, and comes right up behind it – The Mule swallowed by the bigger ship - And only its forward momentum keeps it from being squashed as it flies backwards into the bay, narrowly missing Owen and smashing back into the staircase, sparks and people flying -Torchwood tries to get altitude - but slams right into the oncoming skiff, tearing it apart – A flaming portion of the top flies in, skids to the floor as small fires erupt from the mule as well - Owen pulls a lever and jets of C02 shoot out of the floor.
Owen hits the button to start the outer ramp closing, then runs to the mule. The C02 stops and he finds Ianto sitting in his seat, completely unharmed.
Martha is climbing painfully out of the other seat, Jax and Rhys both having been thrown clear.
"Ianto?" Owen whispers as he stares at his motionless brother, sitting there like a mannequin.
Slowly Ianto's head turns to stare at him.
"I swallowed a bug."