Chapter Four

It was about five in the morning when Ianto and the Doctor walked down an abandoned street, trying to figure out what to do. They knew that they were on the run, and that they had no Idea where anybody was. The timelord finally couldn't stand the silence. He put on a large grin and, trying to be cool, gave Ianto a friendly punch in the shoulder.

"So, how are things going with you." Ianto didn't look back at him and kept his deadpan face throughout.

"Not much, have you heard about all the children?" The Doctor stopped dead in his tracks. Ianto noticed this, and stopped a few feet in front of the Doctor. For an awkward second the only things that could be heard were the sounds of filthy water percolating out of barely working gutters and distant emergency sirens. The Doctor stood up straight and his face intensified.

Slowly and carefully the young man asked, "Is something wrong with the children?" To this Ianto looked around the littered street. His face showed satisfaction as he walked over to a relatively dry bin, and pulled something out of it. The coffee boy tossed it to the Doctor, trying to figure out what this man was thinking. Jack had spoken so highly of him, and Ianto was curious as to why. The Doctor poured over the front page of this morning's newspaper. The Doctor crumpled the piece of paper and ripped it apart. He then started pacing and shouting at nobody in particular.

"I can be merciful to many things, and forgive many evils, but someone, or something is taking control of human children, and using them like... puppets!" The last word was practically spit more than spoken. He turned back to Ianto and gritted his teeth trying to get control of himself. He straightened his tweed jacket and this time addressed Ianto, who couldn't really see more than his silhouette. "Whatever this is, I haven't met it yet and it has already gotten on my bad side." He slowly stepped back into the light. "I am the Doctor, and I'm gonna protect the children of the earth of it takes every regeneration I've got left."

He walked past Ianto, who was moved and thrilled by the speech and all, but, "Regenerations?"

"Oh never mind." All of a sudden a black car appeared swinging around the bend. It's dim yellow headlights barely cut through the thick fog and it seemed more like a living hulk of a creature than a cold hard machine. The revving of its engines were similar to the growl of a frothing wolf that has just found it's prey. Knowing that they were wanted, Ianto did the logical thing and turned around, putting his hands in his pockets, looking down at his feet and trying to be as inconspicuous as possible.

This worked for a whole of five seconds. The doctor went over to, what basically looked like more than a hummer, but not quite a tank, and waved to the driver who was barely a silhouette in this lighting. This wasn't so bad. The Doctor wasn't really one of the UK's most wanted yet, but then he ruined it. Ianto felt a strong arm pulling on his shoulder and he found himself in the center of the car's headlights. The first thing he saw after his blindness subsided were the front grills of the car. They looked uncomfortably like teeth, and Ianto flinched slightly.

The doctor now had a large grin on his face. This was where he shined and he knew it. With emphasis on the names the Doctor shouted, "Hello, I'm the Doctor and this is my good friend, IANTO JONES! I think you might have heard of us?" A man in a leather black suit opened right door and immediately pointed a gun at them.

"Freeze!"

"Alright, no need to shout. Come on Ianto" Ianto was about ready to believe this guy was actually working for the government, but something told him that this wasn't the case, so he didn't argue. The two were handcuffed and stuck in the back seats of the truck. Just after the soldier turned on the car, the doctor interjected.

"Um, I left my newspaper over there on the ground, could you maybe grab it so I can read it for the trip?" This was an odd request, but the doors were closed from the outside, and there didn't seem to be any harm. Then he remembered these were the top public enemies and thought better of it. Ianto though, had heard enough of Jack's stories, and played along.

"Please just grab the paper, otherwise he will never shut up." He rolled his eyes, and the Doctor started spewing techno-babble sentences helpfully. The soldier gave in, and begrudgingly stomped out of the car.

The Doctor took advantage of this moment to use his sonic screwdriver to undo the handcuffs and hopped into the driver seat. The car was already halfway around the corner when they heard gunshots and shouting from the unfortunate officer. With an insane smile and a whooping of laughter the Doctor shouted, "What next?"