Here's the next part about the android. Hope you enjoy. Please R&R!

Anja

Killer Droid 2

The University had been back for about two weeks now, Astra walked towards the car park, on her way home

The University had been back for about two weeks now, Astra walked towards the car park, on her way home. She was done with pretty much all her classes for the year. She had all the credits she needed to pass without attending another class or doing another assignment until exams, but she came anyway. It helped ease away the boredom of her days and it gave her an excuse to not work full time at her new job. She loved the library, but it was mundane, boring... Normal. She hadn't been content with her job at the Pizza Shop after her encounter with Torchwood and after leaving Jack her watch, she'd quit.

"I'll see you guys later," She said to her friends as they headed on to their next class.

"Bye Astra," Zoe called back. Keely waved as they parted ways.

She kept on walking, not really looking in front of her. So when she stopped at her bike, she didn't notice Jack Harkness leaning against it until she was there. She sighed as she looked up at him, "Hi..."

Jack gave her one of his witty smiles, "Hi to you too. We've missed you."

"I've been busy."

He looked at her doubtfully, "Really?" He asked, "You've got all your credits for the rest of the year. You don't need to be here and you work at the library now."

Astra pushed passed him and opened the carry box on her bike. She took out her helmet and stuck her book bag in, "So?"

"So, you were supposed to hang around, be annoying. But instead, Ianto walks in and gives me this," Jack said, holding up the alien watch she'd given Ianto, "Then we never see you again,"

"Well, you obviously knew where to find me Jack," She commented, somewhat harshly.

He looked at her, shocked, "What's going on?"

"Nothing."

"Bull shit and you know it."

Astra sighed, "What do you want from me Jack?" She asked, "You want me to say that I can't get the events of what happened in Southerndown out of my head? That I thought I could deliver pizza to Ianto like everything was normal? That when I'd gotten there, all I could think about was what you guys really did and that I'd only ever be the pizza girl? Is that what you want Jack?"

He was taken aback again by her rant. He knew experiencing Torchwood was hard, but she'd kept her head together during the whole thing, "Yes," Was his reply though, "Be at the hub in an hour. Don't be late and don't try to get out of it." And with that, he walked off to the Torchwood SUV which she'd managed to totally miss. She watched as he drove away, then leaned against her bike, wondering what the hell Jack Harkness could want from her. She glanced down at her helmet, which was dangling from her hand. She sighed, "Damn it..." She rambled off a few choice words as she put her helmet on. She started the engine on her bike and drove away from the University.

She drove around Cardiff, trying to think of excuses for not meeting Jack. Reasons to just drive around and forget that he'd ordered her to come. Inevitably though, she found herself outside the Millennium Center. Astra cursed under her breath as she stared at the building. She found a place to park her bike. Taking off her helmet, she walked towards the information center. She reached the door and paused. She really didn't want to go in. Which left her wondering why the hell she'd actually come.

Noticing the shadow outside the window, Ianto came out from behind the desk and opened the door, "Jack's waiting for you," He said. Astra gasped in surprise, "Sorry..." He said.

She shook her head, "It's Ok Ianto."

Ianto moved behind the desk again as she followed him in. He pressed the button behind the desk and motioned towards the now revealed doorway, "Take the elevator, not the stairs."

Astra nodded and was about to walk in when he took her helmet, "I'll just keep it back here," He said putting her helmet on the desk, with that, Astra went on into the Hub.

-T-O-R-C-H-W-O-O-D-

Jack waited. He was used to waiting, it was a part of life. Especially long lives. She would come. He knew she would. She was drawn to them, so much so that she'd run away from them. He hated the fact that he needed her now. He hadn't found anyone as good as Tosh to take her place.

He heard the cog door open. It was now or never. At least with her working for him he could keep an eye on her. She was an anomaly, even for him. Human, wise as, well, several centuries, knowledge of aliens and time travel. He'd pulled her school records, History, Science and Technology were her strengths. Who knew, maybe she was holding back on other things?

Walking to the main entrance he watched her enter. She'd only been there once before. She looked around, taking everything in. Gwen's messy desk, Toshiko's now empty desk, the empty autopsy room and Owen's empty desk. Ianto's immaculately clean desk. Myfawny, flying overhead.

She spotted him and walked over to him, "I knew you'd come," He said.

She shrugged, "I didn't want to."

"Yes you did."

"It's different here," She said, looking around again.

He knew what she meant, but he couldn't say that, so he asked, "How so?"

"I don't know, there's..." She paused, "There's a sense of life and joy missing..."

He nodded, "Yeah..."

She looked at him, he looked stressed. Jack never looked stressed, "What's going on?"

He motioned for her to follow him to his office, after she sat, he did too, "Astra, last week. You heard about the explosions right?"

She nodded, "Yes. There was one near the library."

He sighed, "Things were bad, Owen was at Turnmill..."

Her eyes went wide, "But... There..."

"Was a meltdown."

"He was in there?"

Jack nodded.

"Oh my god..."

"It gets worse," She nodded, for him to continue, "We had an intruder in the hub. He shot Toshiko. We couldn't get to her in time."

Tears formed in Astra's eyes. She hadn't known them long, but she knew Ianto and these were his friends. She'd liked Tosh. Tosh was helping her with an extra credit assignment, not that she needed any more extra credit.

"Why... Why are you telling me this?" She asked, furiously wiping her eyes.

"I'm trying to put my team back together. I can't find anyone as good as Tosh to do the work she did. Gwen suggested we ask you, at least till we find someone to fully take her place. I mean, you're a student.You already know what we do. I don't need to lie to you, I don't need to trick you or play games."

She nodded, shocked, "Jack... I... Just because I know doesn't mean I can work for Torchwood. I mean... Like you said, I'm a student."

"And a brilliant one at that, you think I just ask anyone nilly willy. I checked your records. You're twenty, in your third year of Mechanical and Software Engineering. It's just temporary, till we get back on our feet. We're getting our asses kicked in the field because we don't have anyone running surveillance."

"I want to help you Jack. I do, but I'm here on a student Visa. I can't get more than part time jobs."

He shrugged, "We're outside the government. I have one rule, you keep your school work up."

She nodded, "I'm finished for the year. I have all my credits to pass."

He got up, "Come on then, I'll show you around."

He showed her around the hub, not all, but most. Somewhere along the way, Gwen and Ianto had appeared at their desks. It wasn't the same. The energy and the happiness she'd felt with them last time, despite the exhaustion, it had defined them. Now it was like thee lost people trying to keep themselves together and each other.

He finished up standing next to Toshiko's desk. Astra suddenly felt unsure. she didn't want to step in where she wasn't wanted. She didn't want to intrude. The others were watching them. Neither looked happy. She was intruding on their friend's turf. They would look up and they'd call 'Tosh' then apologise for a mistake she knew they wouldn't be able to help.

She looked at Jack, "Thank you."

"I actually already have a job for you," He said. She put her bag down beside the desk and followed Jack again, "It's this way, we picked it up a few days ago. At first we thought it was an alien that had come through the rift but after fighting it, which was no small feat I might add, it's an Android. It's technology is nowhere on record. What I need is for you to inspect it and document it, maybe even figure out how it works if you can."

She nodded, "Uh huh... Does every body get treated like this on their first day?"

"Gwen released a sex crazed gaseous alien on her first day," Ianto said.

"I am never going to live that down am I?" She asked.

Jack looked at her grinning, "Nope!"

Astra smiled, for a brief moment that energy that had drawn her to them before was there, but just like that it was gone, "Ok, we've all got work to do. Ianto, set Astra up access to the system, Gwen monitor the Rift, Astra, ask us if you need anything."

Jack, Ianto and Gwen left Astra to inspect the Droid. Jack pulled Ianto aside, "It's only temporary, just access to what she needs. No need to induct her as a Torchwood Officer."

Ianto nodded, "Yes sir."

Jack went to his office as Gwen and Ianto went to work. He switched on the CCTV in the room where Astra was working. She had a note pad out and was writing things down as she walked around the android. She seemed in awe of the technology before her. He closed his eyes and imagined it was Toshiko working there. It didn't work. He opened his eyes and Astra was still there. Tosh was gone. Owen was gone. He pulled out the file on Taye Rikes. He needed to know if this was the right man to take Owen's place. Owen had been a medical genius. This man was disciplined, well trained, but was he what they needed?

-T-O-R-C-H-W-O-O-D-

Evening fell over Cardiff, but inside the hub, Jack and his team were still working. Ianto was handing out Coffee to everyone. Gwen was writing up a report, Jack was walking around, his steaming coffee in his hand and Astra was seated at Tosh's desk, looking over the notes she'd taken on the android. Jack stood behind her and read over her shoulder. She looked up at him, "Yes?"

"Just looking..."

She nodded, "Ok..." Then picked up the coffee that had been left on the desk, drank some and continued reading.

Jack didn't move, "What do you think?"

She shrugged, "I have no idea. I've never seen anything like it in my life. I know you said your database didn't have this exact technology in it, but I'm cross referencing for similarities. I'll let you know when I have something."

Jack nodded, getting the hint. He walked over to Gwen, "Don't even try it," she said before he could speak, "I'm not done yet."

Jack sighed, "But I'm bored..."

"Don't you have some work you can do?" Gwen asked, "Like hiring us some new people?"

Jack sighed, "Yeah..." with that, he turned and walked towards his office.

Gwen sighed and looked at Ianto, "Was I a little rough on him there?"

Ianto nodded, "I guess..." He put his hand on her shoulder and gave her a light squeeze, "He'll be ok."

She nodded, "Ok..."

Astra watched them out of the corner of her eye. She felt a tear start to form, but quickly wiped it away before it could run it's way down her cheek. She looked back at the computer screen and continued what she was doing.

A few hours later, Ianto announced that there was Chinese food waiting for them in the Board Room. They made their way upstairs. Gwen, Jack and Ianto took their regular seats. Astra hovered over the tray of Chinese boxes, trying to decide which one to take, but Jack caught on to why she wasn't sitting. There were five chairs at the table and generally they'd all sat at the same chair every time they met there. They'd all taken their regular seats, but the other two chairs were Toshiko's and Owen's. Jack got up and rounded the table to stand next to her, "What looks good?" He asked casually.

"It all looks good," She replied, picking up one of the boxes. He handed her chopsticks. She grinned and took them, "Thank you."

Jack handed the boxes out to everyone else, then pulled out a chair for Astra. She nodded and finally sat. Jack reclaimed his chair at the head of the table, "So, anyone got anything interesting?" Jack asked, picking some chow mien from his box.

Gwen shook her head, "Nope." Ianto's answer was much along the same lines.

Astra picked at her food for a little then nodded, "I might," she paused and Jack motioned for her to continue, she pulled the notepad she'd brought with her closer, so she could read it over her noodle box, "You were right about the Torchwood Database not having that exact technology listed, but I ran it through all your Data base's, not just your Technology listings and I came up with a hit."

Ianto raised an eyebrow at this, "Yeah?" He asked, "What did it say?"

"Well, I found a reference to an alien race, currently listed as Unknown-Race-Eighty-Three. There wasn't much in the file, except for some instructions from a UNIT officer, dictated to a Torchwood Officer. Anyway, that's why you couldn't find any listing of the technology, because it's actually an alien."

Gwen stabbed her chopsticks into her own noodle box, "Really?"

Jack thought about it for a moment, "Yeah... Martha had said there was something organic about it... You said there were instructions?"

She nodded, "Yeah, concerning storage, apparently these guys have a habbit of repairing themselves, so any damage doesn't keep them down for long."

"That explains the other night then..." Ianto muttered.

Gwen tried to restrain her smile as Ianto blushed. Jack grinned himself, "It was fun. So, how do we store this thing?"

Astra pulled up a file on the plasma screen in the Boardroom for them all to read and talked them through it. It went through the procedure to properly contain this being. Besides an Electromagnetic Pulse, chryostorage seemed to be the only other option.

"Well, we can't release an EMP in the middle of the Hub..." Jack said.

Astra laughed, "I wasn't suggesting doing that, you'd knock out half of Cardiff... If not all of it..."

Gwen leaned back in her chair and after eating some of her noodles, spoke, "Ok, so we stick it in storage, then what?"

"We document it thoroughly for future teams and then we forget about it," Ianto suggested.

Jack nodded, "You can take care of the documentation?" He asked Astra.

She nodded, "I've already entered my notes into the system."

"Well then, I guess it's time to pack it away after we've eaten," Jack said.