Torchwood_10th July Friday, 23:34 pm
'I was expecting a better welcome to Torchwood type of thing,' the man said.
He was rather odd, but familiar to Adam's eyes. Spiky brown hair, big brown eyes, brown coat, dark blue suit, tall and slim, and a loneliness masked behind that big friendly grin of his.
'How did you get in?' asked Gwen immediately.
'And how come the alarm didn't go off?' Rhys continued.
'Have you fixed it Ianto?' Adam turned to Ianto.
'Sorry,' this one replied. 'I forgot. I have lots to do in the kiosk.'
'It's an information centre, you idiot!' exclaimed Rhys.
Adam waved a hand to calm them down and then turned back to the man.
'Can we help you, sir?' Adam asked.
'Well, yes. I was looking for something to do while I was walking around - well, more like flying around. And then I thought I'd come 'round this way and have a tiny visit to an old friend of mine. Yeah, well. Found your entrance and I have to say: brilliant idea with the brick moving down and chameleon circuit and stuff...'
'Stop mumbling, mate and just get to the point!' Everyone turned to Gwen, who didn't quite look in the mood that night.
'Right, right. Sorry.' The man took a deep breath, making everyone nervous. 'I was just around to see Cap'n Jack Harkness.'
Everyone looked around to see the astonished Jack.
'You know him?' Gwen asked.
He mouthed 'no idea'. They all turned back to see the stranger. He just beamed.
'I don't think our friend here knows you,' Adam said.
The man scratched the back of his head.
'Well, how come I do know you all,' he pointed at Gwen. 'I remember you from the end of the world - Gwen, right? Nice to finally see you personally.' He pointed at Ianto. 'And you were with her, just behind. You are Jack Harkness.' he looked right into Jack. 'You and I travelled together. Remember? Rose Tyler was with us. And when you discovered you couldn't die! There was Martha with me. Yeah! Remember all the winkles I had then? Yeah, we were in the end of the world together too. Two. No! Three times already! And you!' The man pointed at Rhys, and paused for a moment. 'Who are you?'
'He's my husband!' Gwen exclaimed. 'Something wrong with that?'
'No, no, no, no, no! That's brilliant!' the man exclaimed excitedly.
'And how come you know so much about us?' Jack finally got into the conversation.
'He didn't say anything about me, did he?' Adam said.
'No, I haven't, as a matter of fact.' the man moved one step closer to them. 'So, who are you?'
Adam grinned malevolently and stepped forward, nearly touching the man's nose. 'I'm Adam.' He revealed his green gaze and the man's grin disappeared and was replaced by despair. 'And you must be the Doctor.'
The Doctor stepped back. 'How do you know?'
Adam followed the Doctor's steps. 'The only Time Lord left in the universe,' Adam could see him trying to get his gaze away, 'travelling in his TARDIS. Why? Why even bother travelling all by your self? They've all gone. Everything's gone.'
'There's no one that can understand.' The Doctor turned to see a flash of green in Jack's eyes.
'You've got nowhere to go, so what's the point of keep on travelling?' Gwen's eyes turned green. 'Why travel if you will just always run away from everything?'
'You travel a long way,' continued Rhys, 'a very long way always dragging someone with you, always leaving them behind leaving them to die.'
'Or you're just left alone,' the Doctor looked at Ianto, his eyes starting to fill with tears. 'Why travel if you are not loved?' The tears didn't roll down his cheeks.
'You know everything we're saying is true.' Adam stepped forward, his mouth near the Doctor's ear now. 'I can help you.' The Doctor's eyes widened. 'All that suffering, everything lost and the loneliness you feel. We can help you.'
'You can help me,' the Doctor murmured.
'Yes. We can if you join with us. There won't be anymore trouble. No more just you. No more alone.' Adam paused for a moment, feeling the Doctor's relief. 'And then you can help us.' The Doctor's relief was gone. 'With a brain like yours we could… change the world. This stinking little planet needs help. You know that. And you know you are the only one that can change it.'
Flash of green. The Doctor shook it away. Adam stepped back to get a good look at the Doctor.
'Join us.' Flash of green gleamed intensively, 'and no more alone.'
The Doctor couldn't really resist that temptation. No more alone. That phrase kept on echoing in his mind. He would never ever be alone. No more leaving behind. No more deaths. No more left by him self. But then… there wouldn't be Rose Tyler.
And he felt all his memories and knowledge flowing away, as the green eyes filled his vision, trying to take his memories away.
'No.'
Adam pursed his lips. He tried harder to get his stare into the Doctor, but the Doctor easily resisted.
'I said no!' the Doctor yelled.
Adam screamed and fell to his knees as if a strong wind had pushed him. He looked up at the Doctor weakened.
'How…' his voice trailed away. 'How can you…? Why can't I…?'
'Get into my mind?' the Doctor continued what Adam couldn't. 'Well, I have this kind of firewalls in my head that stop telepathy from breaking into my mind. It's Time Lord stuff, you wouldn't understand.' Adam groaned. He was getting his strength back. 'Who are you?' No answer. 'What are you? Where are you from? Who sent you here? And what are your intentions?'
Adam smiled. 'I'm just a memory.' The Doctor frowned. 'A distant memory kept behind the back of their heads,' Adam nodded in the direction of the rest of the Torchwood team, 'a memory that'd been forgotten until this moment.'
'Who remembered?' the Doctor demanded. 'I command you to tell me who created you back!'
'You.'
Adam said just one single word but it didn't explain anything. Adam laughed.
'Is it so hard to believe?' The Doctor stared at Adam as he said this. 'You created me back. I have no doubts.' And Adam stood back up and a flash of green crossed his mind again. And the Doctor understood.
'No doubts,' he repeated.
'Feeling ashamed, aren't you?' laughed Adam.
The Doctor looked back at the people behind Adam. 'Ashamed of letting this people fall for you.' He saw the motionless face of Jack, looking straight at him, a flash of green ran through his eyes. 'So, tell me something: a memory. Just behind their heads. Can you explain yourself?'
Adam hesitated seeing no danger for words. 'I was no danger. I just wanted to fit into the world. Change people for what they wanted to be. This place was perfect for someone like me. I changed them. I made them happier. Jack had recovered two years of his memory back. And all I got back was that pill for them all to take and forget everything. I was gone and their memory with me. And I've been waiting long to be back.'
'Feeling lonely, weren't you? Or just revenge?' The Doctor said with a hint of anger.
'Feeling lonely… yes,' Adam stared at his feet. 'Revenge… I'm not sure of that.'
'What else would bring you back than that feeling?' The Doctor spit. 'Fury. Rage. Anger. What else would it be? Revenge brings most people to do things they shouldn't.'
'It sounds like you fell for the same feeling too.' Adam laughed. The Doctor closed his mouth. 'That shows it, then. We have the same feelings. We have the same thoughts. We are very alike.'
'We are not alike and will never be.'
'Oh. And I was hoping we would get along so well.' Adam added a tone of sadness.
The Doctor faltered. 'I was hoping that too.' He looked around to the desk in front of him, where Adam had been sitting before and took an odd object on top of it and got a pen out of his pocket. 'This?'
'That's broken; I was trying to fix it.' Adam watched the Doctor as he ran the pen over the object.
'Well, good effort for you,' the Doctor put his pen back in his pocket. 'I think I've fixed it.'
The Doctor pressed the object with his fingers and Adam fell to his knees again. Jack and the rest shook their heads and looked around themselves.
'Feeling weak, uh?' the Doctor was passing the object from one hand to another. 'Well, this isn't anything like a weapon against foes to get their strength and recover your self – even though I would like that. This is a control remote, like in DVD's, but not really like them. This kind of stuff just rewinds ones doings to whichever moment without having to relive the day again. Brilliant, isn't it?'
'Doctor?' An American accentuated voice interrupted the Doctor, and excitement made his gaze rise where Jack Harkness stood. 'What are you doing here?'
'I'll take it you don't want me 'round 'ere,' the Doctor said, walking around Adam and towards Jack. ''Course, 'because you have everything under control. No memory at the back of your head has taken all your memories and made you another person and taken control over you. Ah, with a green flashing light.'
Jack frowned, but walked towards his old friend and gave him a hug. He parted.
'Can you repeat that again?' Jack asked.
'Who's this guy?' Gwen asked, confused.
'Oh, I'm sorry.' Jack turned around to his mate placing an arm around the Doctor's shoulder. 'This is the Doctor, an old friend of mine. He was in the 'end of the world', remember?'
'I know; I do know him. I was talking about the ginger head.'
Everyone turned to see Adam.
'Oh, just a past memory,' the Doctor waved a hand in front of them in a 'don't-mind-him' way. 'And don't try to remember…'
'He seems very familiar,' Gwen said.
Adam looked up at Gwen.
'I said, don't remember…' but the Doctor was interrupted again.
'Of course, Gwen,' Adam stood up, staggering as he tried to get closer to her. 'You do know me. We used to play basketball.'
'You played basketball?' asked Rhys baffled.
'I never played basketball in my life,' she walked closer to her husband.
'Oh, yes we did,' Adam was getting better balance. 'I showed how to throw better and so much more.' He was about to touch Gwen in the shoulder when the Doctor intervened.
'Don't touch her!' he yelled. Adam just smiled.
'Those green eyes,' Rhys whispered, frightened.
'Alright.' And he touched the Doctor instead. But he didn't get the Doctor, because Rhys had stood between the Doctor and Adam and had saved the Doctor from a blast of green light.
Gwen shrieked at the sight of this and reached for Rhys. But Jack grabbed hold of her and the Doctor and ran back to the rolling door, Ianto following them.
Gwen fought to get back for her husband, but Jack and Ianto carried her on their shoulders towards the Tourism and Information Centre. The exit out of the place was locked.
'Ianto, the key' Jack shouted from the other side of Gwen's kicking legs.
Ianto reached for his pockets but found nothing.
'It must have fallen off as we ran.'
'Move please!' the Doctor pushed through them all getting his sonic screwdriver out of his coat pocket.
A blue light and buzz and a click let everyone know the door was open, and they all were out at once.
Rhys' immobile body fell onto the ground, making an echoing sound around the Hub as he touched the metal floor. Adam felt so much alive, and got stronger and stronger as he walked around the room. But he needed more energy, more knowledge.
He ran to Toshiko's stationary, and punched one of the screens on the desk. Blue electricity drained inside of him, going up his arm and into his eyes. And the blue lighting became green, and then it stopped. He withdrew his fist of the broken glass of the screen and ran this time to Owen's workstation. With the same choreography he hit one of the screens, consuming the energy living inside the computer and then an explosion of green light, then it stopped.
He felt so good, so full of power, so alive and angry. But there was something telling him there wasn't enough. He needed more. He needed something big full of great vigour. And he turned around to see the base of the Water Tower, standing in front of him, tall and might: the Rift Manipulator. The Rift Manipulator had huge, enormous power; power used to control the ripple between time and space, and protect the Earth from any harm of this one.
Adam smirked, a smirk that showed he was up to no good. He reached for the column, opening an aperture just about the same height. He watched as red light went up and down the insides of it. He could make out another mini column standing, and a gap on it just in front of him. He placed his fist into the gap, inhaled a deep breath, closed his eyes and ripped the whole column apart, red lighting filling the room, slowly turning into green.