Woah, definitely didn't mean this kind of gap in updates! I've been busy with stuff for university, work, and of course rehearsing for my production of RENT! Man, it's gonna be so good – we're on in just under a month; everyone's so exited. So, yeah, that's my excuse…

Oh, and there's a Jack spoiler in this chapter. If you've seen Torchwood, no worries (Oh my god, we might be getting it in NZ!!!!!!) but if you haven't then I'm really sorry. It was so big that I couldn't really ignore it, you know?

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"Extermin–"

"Much better…" The Doctor grinned, before turning to Jack. "Time for twenty questions, Captain…by the way, you've got no ship, so you're not a captain, are you? Ah, demoted, so sorry…anyway, your sudden and completely unforeseen appearance is, without a doubt, suspicious. What are you doing here?"

"No idea."

"How did you get here?"

"Not a clue."

"What do you last remember?"

"Going to sleep, on Earth."

"How did you survive?"

Jack paused for a second before answering, thrown off by the different line of questioning. "Uh, just…woke up. One minute I had two Daleks facing me, then I was opening my eyes, dust in front of me. Don't ask me what really happened."

"What were you doing in the Labyrinth? How many questions is that?" The Doctor added to Rose in an undertone.

"Five. Six if you count the one directed at me." She muttered in response.

"I was in it, literally. I fell into an oubliette…" Jack's face went ever so slightly red. "Wasn't…uh…watching where I was going."

"Heard that before," grinned Rose, shrugging.

The Doctor shrugged too, in an indifferent way. Rose could see something was up even though he wasn't saying anything. Jack, on the other hand, had finally taken a decent look at where they were, and was now examining a rack of guns at the other end of the room. Rose put them out of her mind for the moment, taking the chance to talk to the Doctor.

"What's up?"

"I can't work out why the Toymaker would bring him here. Or, if it really is him, for that matter. I know, I know," he said, cutting Rose off as she began to speak, "Jack's solidity proved him in the maze. But how can we be sure?"

"It feels like Jack. Hollywood, yeah, I know," said Rose, rolling her eyes at how clichéd it sounded. "But it does." She paused as the Doctor scratched the back of his neck, a sure sign he was uncomfortable. "There's something else?"

"Just the maze, bringing back memories. I saw Reinette."

Rose put her hand gently on his arm. "Yeah. I saw Mickey. I thought you were a bit distracted when you met us. You didn't seen to find Jack's appearance unordinary until we came through to here."

"I was momentarily distracted; lost in thought." He glanced over at where Jack was closely inspecting one of the guns. "I want to know why he's here. And why him, but not anyone else? Mickey, Jackie – I met your mother, too, I don't wanna go there again – or any number of people we've met. It's just weird…maybe to throw us off, maybe there's something else sinister ahead. I know what you mean about him though, there's a certain Jack-ness about him…is that a plasma rifle?" He called across to Jack, face suddenly lighting up in a curious grin. Rose rolled her eyes as he went over to Jack. The short attention span strikes again.

Jack handed the gun over. "Sure is. Nice make, too. Got any idea why we've been left weapons?"

Rose remembered about her computer at that point. For something that provided so much information, it was surprisingly light and easy to forget. She glanced down, noticing the words were already on the screen – it must have beeped when she had been talking to the Doctor, her mind occupied by other things.

Round six: Armaments. Select a weapon and make your way to the exit door at the opposing end of the research base. Search for keycards and authorisation, dispose of obstacles and retain your health.

"Hang on, 'dispose of obstacles'?" said Jack, looking up from his own wrist.

"I'm more worried about 'retain your health'," Rose replied, pulling a face. "I think we've got things to fight…"

"I think you'd be right," said the Doctor, who had put the plasma rifle down and was investigating another gun. "What do you want, Jack?"

"Ah, plasma rifle for me. Outta all these, that's the one."

"I thought you didn't like guns," Rose said to the Doctor.

"I don't," he said meaningfully. "But that doesn't mean I don't know about them and how to use them. There have been times when I have had to use them." He avoided her eyes as he picked up another gun, testing its weight in his hand. Rose's first thought was of the Time War, but it easily could have been something different.

The Doctor put down the gun he was holding, running his hand lightly over the collection before picking one up; a smallish firearm that could be held with one or two hands, black in colour. He passed it across to Rose, who took it carefully, holding it gently so as not to be trigger-happy.

Jack had put down his coveted plasma rifle, and came up behind her, showing her how to hold it, how to steady her hands when aiming, and generally, how to use it. It produced laser bolts, and didn't have much recoil. Rose felt that the weight was strange yet comforting in her hands. She put the safety on like Jack had taught her and put it back on the edge of the table.

The Doctor had chosen his own firearm, along the same lines as Rose's but slightly bigger and more old-school-science-fiction looking than hers. He saw her watching and pulled a face. "I don't like them. But, when we're here, at the mercy of someone like the Toymaker, I won't complain when a weapon is on offer."

Jack was standing by the door, like an impatient child waiting to go on an outing. Rose joined him, gun now back in her hand, and flicked her eyes down – by chance – to the computer. And so she was the one who first saw the small coloured bar that was stretched across the screen. Health. A health meter. Oh, this day was just getting better and better…

"Doctor, check this out…" She showed him the meter as he walked over, and he looked at his own. "We've got health measures. That can't be good…"

Jack had one too. The three of them looked warily at one another, Jack's hand on the access panel of the door. "Shall we, then?"

The door hissed open, a definite change from its elegant and plain counterparts. Those doors were usually silent. Quietness was beyond the door, eerie and unnerving. A dark corridor, grilling on the floor and lit with pale emergency lights. The Doctor murmured something about a sanctuary base, and Rose reminded him that the computer had said it was a research base or something. He had nodded at this, pointing to the end of the corridor where a sign gave directions on how to get to the different facilities.

There was nothing but the hiss of steam and the drip of water. The corridor before them was deserted, and Jack, in complete military style, ran ahead and carefully looked around the corner. He ducked back round after a quick moment, whispering back to the Doctor and Rose. "There's a body there. Looks like it's been ripped apart."

Rose swallowed hard. This was not going to be pretty. When she got to the corner, the Doctor slightly behind her, she peeked around the edge of the corner, drawing back hastily with a gasp. The man – at least, what was left of him – was leaning against a wall, sickly pale. His legs were gone, blood spread across the floor and splattered on the walls. Rose swallowed and looked back around, trying to be logical. The blood was dark, so, not fresh. "What the hell could have done that?" she asked, feeling her voice shake and being annoyed at herself.

"No idea," said the Doctor after he had looked. "But whatever it is, it's got claws."

Tense now, the three of them edged past the remnants of the body, trying not to imagine the sort of creature that ripped its victims apart. The base, or whatever it was, was quiet, but not absolutely silent. There was definitely a presence of some kind lurking in the walls. For some reason, this was even worse than it being completely silent.

Rose could feel the claustrophobic fear from the concealment game beginning to return. This time, though, they could fight. It wasn't purely a cat and mouse, this time they could fight back. And besides, this place was better lit. There were still numerous shadows that could conceal any amount of things, but she could see. And having both the Doctor and Jack with her made it all the better.

Both of the aforementioned males, Jack especially, were cautiously glaring into the shadows ahead as they crept along. There was growling coming from somewhere near them, a low, scratchy croak. Rose's hands tightened on her gun, being careful not to touch the trigger. Jack, who was in front, brought his gun up and sprang around a corner.

There was a roar and the sound of the plasma rifle, then the sound of a body hitting the metal grating on the floor. Jack reappeared, the barrel of his gun smoking, his hand wiping flecks of blood – not his own – from his face. "All clear."

The Doctor and Rose approached him, their guns lowered. Around the corner was a body, a hole in its chest illustrating exactly what damage Jack had done. It was humanoid, but clearly an alien or demon of some kind. The hands were three fingered, the fingers themselves talon-like blades. The skin of the creature was an unholy grey colour, and

its face was a mess of evil. Rose shuddered as she passed it, the open eyes lifeless but still seemingly watching.

"You think that was what killed the guy we saw before?" She asked in a whisper, surprised at how stable and calm her voice sounded.

"I think so. And I'm guessing there are a lot more of them…" The Doctor trailed off, peeking into a dimly lit side-room. He withdrew, horror and disgust on his face. "And I'm so sorry for anyone that worked here…there are three more bodies in there."

Rose resisted the horrifying yet curiously strange urge to look in, walking past and forward to Jack, who was up by a security door. His head was leaning against it – he was listening. "There's something moving around in there," he whispered to Rose when she was close. "I think I can hear growling, too. The door's so thick I could be mistaken, though…"

The Doctor looked at Jack as the ex-time agent raised his gun. "When you're ready, Doc. Rose, stay back."

The Doctor placed his hand onto the access panel and the door hissed open. Jack, gun raised and testosterone almost coming out his ears, sprang through. Rose, scared as hell but determined not to be a damsel in distress who only needed saving, followed, the Doctor behind her.

There was a dead body just beyond the doorway, then the room widened. Rose could see columns – god knows what was being concealed behind those. There was a growl. A creature, like the one Jack had shot before, ran at them, followed by three more. Jack was the first to open fire, Rose spurned into action by fear and surprise.

A distinct surprise was that one of the creatures (with no elongated caws) launched a kind if fireball at them. Jack dodged it aside, but another one caught his arm and he yelled in pain and anger. It seemed only one of the four could do it, but when the four creatures lay dead (as far as she could tell later, Jack had killed two, herself and the Doctor one apiece), Jack was the only one injured. Leaning over his shoulder, Rose saw his health meter had dropped down ten percent. She was wondering what to do when the Doctor (always resourceful) appeared with a small box. Opening it next to Jack, the three travellers watched a small swam of familiar golden dots heal Jack's arm and vanish.

"Were they nanogens?" asked Rose as Jack inspected his newly healed arm.

"Apparently. And as Jack's health measure is now back to full and his burn is gone, I'd say that they are the way to stop death," was the Doctor's reply.

The door at the other end of the room refused to open. It required a keycard, which they didn't have. As Rose and the Doctor searched the current room they were in (not hard, as there were only a few pillars, no furnishings or anything. They did find another health pack, though) Jack elected to retrace their steps; but came back empty-handed. Rose was getting irritated – the key had to be somewhere…

Firing her gun at a wall in exasperation (making, she noted with a private smile, both the Doctor and Jack jump), she laughed aloud as part of the wall fell away – revealing a hidden chamber beyond. And within, she found and triumphantly returned with a health pack, a gun – and the needed keycard.

Jack shook his head at the newly discovered gun, and the health pack wouldn't open, as all of them were fine. But the keycard did exactly as was needed, and the door slid open, revealing the room beyond. And those waiting within.

Caught by surprise, Jack went down, a fireball hitting him squarely in the chest. There was no scream, no yell, he was caught completely off guard and he was on the ground before Rose could move. She was on her knees next to him, checking him, calling him, but there was no response - Jack's chest was a mass of blood and burns. Gunfire went on above her as the Doctor took care of the monsters, but soon silence descended. Jack wasn't showing any signs of life; his health meter had fallen to twenty as soon as he was hit, and fell rapidly to zero as Rose watched.

Rose was crying – he had only just met back up with them! He couldn't be dead, no way…more nanogens, found by the silent Doctor, did nothing.

He could hear growling – more creatures were coming, and neither him nor Rose was in a state to fight. "Rose," he whispered to her, "Rose, we have to go."

"We can't just leave him!"

"Rose," he pulled her up gently, "I don't want to leave him either – but there's something coming. We have to get out of here." She came with him as they ran, even though he wished that it hadn't happened. They had to get out of here alive…

Down another corridor, to a security door. The growls had faded now, and the Doctor thought they could let down their guard safely. He pulled Rose into a hug (granted, a little awkward carrying firearms) and she cried softly in his arms. The Doctor himself felt almost indifferent – he had been the witness to so much death, so much destruction, that death's effect was muted to him. It still hurt, but in a dull aching kind of way, not the sharpness or shock that Rose was going through.

When she pulled away from him, her eyes were dry. She opened the door and shot both the creatures inside before any damage could be made, to the Doctor's surprise and amazement. She was using her grief as a shield. Strong, yes – but dangerous.

The room was a narrow path through a green liquid of some kind.

"Toxic, I think. It usually is," said the Doctor in response to Rose's unasked question as they walked through to another keycard door. A roar behind them (but, above them?) made them turn. The culprit was on a balcony of sorts, in the corner. It was a clawed one, not capable of attacking from a distance, luckily. Rose shot in its direction and it fell from view.

"What do we do now? We only found the one card…"

The Doctor wasn't listening; he was looking up at the balcony. "Can you see a passage there?" And with that, he ran off, back the way they had come, through the security door and to the passageway. Lifting his gun, he fired in a horizontal line, grinning as one shot passed through the wall altogether. "Secret passage!"

The wall didn't break like it had last time, it was merely a hologram stretched over the opening. Through it, they found a passage with another dead body, but then some stair, which led to the balcony – and up there, hidden in the shadows, a new gun and a keycard.

The next room contained a clawed creature and a fireball spitter. After a frenzied moment of shooting (this room was almost pitch black, the only light coming from the staircase which led off it), Rose and the Doctor carried on. The fireball creature had been dealt with early, illuminating himself by throwing his weapons. The clawed one had been quieter, and had snuck up on them – Rose bore the marks of it's attack, long but shallow claw marks on her back.

As a painful and long climb up the stairs ended, the Doctor found himself and Rose trapped between two creatures of the clawed variety. Not good – the stairs had caused both of them to become tired, and the claw marks on Rose meant she wasn't in good shape. At least there were no fireballs. True, they managed to shoot both creatures, but not without both of them getting hurt a little. The Doctor found Rose a health pack in the corner, and she sighed in relief as the scratch marks on her back healed up and she returned to full health.

There was another through the next door, one that the Doctor had his sights on for himself, but it was guarded. As he went to pick it up from its position on the path between two pits of toxic waste, he saw a flicker of movement and a fireball flew at him, making him jump back. There was a hidden alcove with a fireball-spitting creature there. Oh great.

He shot at it, continuously avoiding the deadly missiles, and couldn't help but smile grimly as it fell, dead. True, killing things was generally against his morals where it could be helped – but these things, these creations of the Toymaker's, hardly counted. They weren't alive, they had no history, and they were only pawns in a game.

He started as Rose flew past him, jumping into the toxic waste…no not in, over. She went into the alcove, picking up a keycard.

"We might need this, I think."

The Doctor helped her jump back across; pulling her to him so she couldn't fall. Her closeness in that one moment made him feel at ease. No matter what was through this next door, they would get through it – they had to. And she sure as hell wasn't going to die here.

He took the keycard from her, putting it in the slot the door had for it. "I can't help but think we've been lucky. There is so much more that could be done with this sort of thing, but it's been relatively easy." He caught her eyes and added in a softer voice, "Jack was caught unprepared. We all were."

She nodded, eyes clear and hard. "So, what do you mean?"

"I think that beyond this door is going to be something massive." He kissed her briefly, just in case. "Shall we?"

She nodded, raising her gun. "Do it."

The door opened onto a corridor, but a larger room was evidently at the end of it. Yet another ripped apart scientist body, and another creature…and another…the room opened up into a room the size of a football field. Small, meter high walls dissected it in wedges and provided cover, but apart from that, the room was open. Rose counted seven creatures as she and the Doctor ducked back round into the passageway, of both the clawed and fireball varieties. That wasn't the problem though – what was the problem was the fact that in the centre of the room was a very tall, very dangerous looking demon of some kind, holding a large gun.

The Doctor and Rose shared a glance. The room was full of growls and noise, so the first creature was taken out with no trouble at all. That gave the Doctor and Rose a chance to shelter behind the first wall. Five of the other creatures were taken out with little trouble (by using the wall as a barricade and firing over the top – mind you, one was a lucky stray shot, as the creature was in the opposite corner). One was causing a bit of trouble by being positioned on top of a tower, but there was nothing that could be done – as the major demon had noticed them shooting its allies.

They split up, running, shooting, ducking. The demon shot after both of them, roaring in anger. One of the shots caught the Doctor on the leg, almost sending him into a pool of green toxic waste, and he fell with a Gallifreyian curse (coincidentally and luckily next to a med pack. Still, it meant the demon's focus was Rose for a few moments). She had managed to get herself into the cover of a far wall while the demon was trying to kill the Doctor, but had the added annoyance of ducking from fireballs to add to the difficulty.

The Doctor was trying to kill the creature, most of his shots hitting home, but he needed her help. It was going to take a lot of firepower to get this guy down. Rose wanted to help, needed to, but the fireballs were distracting her somewhat, so she started to concentrate her fire at the fireball-flinging creature above her. She was shaking so much most of her shots missed, but after hearing more roaring and Gallifreyian (and human) cursing, fired off a last volley and laughed aloud as the creature was struck and fell from the tower.

She turned her gun onto the demon, but her ammunition was low. By the look the Doctor gave her, he was too. The demon was bleeding, but showed no other signs of dying. The Doctor bolted over to Rose, firing his last shots as he went. He smiled at her as the cowered from the demon, together. They kissed, waiting for the bright light and noise of the demon's gun.

It wasn't the demon's gun they heard, but another. Heavy, powerful shots rang out, and the demon roared – screamed – and fell, shaking the floor. The Doctor was the first to tentatively peek over the top of the wall they were sheltering behind.

"Jack?!"

For Jack it was, standing beside the bloody corpse of the demon, a gun, bigger than the original plasma rifle, in his hand. He was grinning at them, as real – and alive – as ever.

"You died…" Rose said, an incredulous tone in her voice.

"Oh, yeah - did I neglect to mention I'm immortal?" He grinned at them.

The Doctor was now smiling in disbelieving confusion. "You? Immortal? How the hell did you manage that?"

"It was after…whatever happened on the Gamestation. Don't ask me, I don't know. But now, I can't die…and don't get any ideas, you two," he added, seeing the two of them share a glance. "Every time I die, I black out for an unknowable amount of time. And I still feel the pain. Hurts like hell."

Rose could only smile and hug him. After all, it's not like people come back from the dead everyday. The Doctor excluded, of course.

"Immortal? Honestly, it would be you…" said the Doctor as they walked towards a security door, they key for which Jack had produced with a typical flourish.

"Curse and gift. Truth be told I was trying to find you before this," Jack motioned at the walls, "so you could, you know, help me with it and the like. Don't age, either. But anyway, I'm okay now, found myself a nice new gun and a bonus keycard." He held up his gun, grinning like a schoolboy.

Jack had passed they keycard to Rose, who activated the door. Jack was through the door, whooping and yelling, as soon as he could be. Rose couldn't help but laugh at him as he quickly – and accurately disposed of the four creatures, all clawed, who appeared from alcoves in the walls. Rose dropped her gun, the Doctor following suit, as ahead of them was the familiar white door.

"Place you bets, what are we playing next?"

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Well, there we go. Sorry if I've got any of the immortality stuff wrong, I read what I could find on Wikipedia and used that. Hope this chapter was okay!