A/N - Short chapter but lots of action!
9
Deserted warehouses. If there was one thing Cardiff had, it was empty warehouses, what with the economy in the tank.
With Rhys back at the SUV, Jack, the Doctor, Gwen and Ianto crept inside. The Doctor frowned when they drew their guns but said nothing. Hopefully he could avert any need to use them, but this being Nostrovites, he had his doubts. It wasn't that they weren't sentient creatures; they were. The problem was that they just didn't care.
He crept along at Jack's elbow, Ianto and Gwen flanking both himself and Jack. They spotted a body sprawled on the filthy concrete. The Doctor examined it. A detective. Andy's partner, Gwen said, her pretty mouth a grim line.
"I'm sorry," the Doctor said. "Nothing I can do. He's been dead for hours. And this is a trap. I can smell it!"
"Andy?" Gwen called softly. They heard a soft moan. Following the sound with their torches, the sight they saw chilled them all to the bone. There were three of them, two males and a female. The female had Andy by the scruff of his neck. They grinned when they saw the team.
"And here they are!" the female hissed. "Our little plan worked. Now we will have justice!"
"Justice? What do you mean by that?" The Doctor snapped. "Oh, I know who you are and what you do. Justice? You're here because your kin had to stopped. You lot don't care about justice. This…this…blood quest, so called. It's just an excuse! What do you really want?"
"Revenge," growled one of the males. "On her," he pointed to Gwen. "And on him, and him." He pointed at Jack and Ianto.
"Didn't know my sister brought me along last time, did you?" asked the second male, smaller and scrawnier than the other. "You killed the baby. You killed my sister and her mate. Now you will die, and we will spread our kind on this world. But you! You are not human. Though you stink of your human mate. That one!" He indicated Jack.
"We will deal with you," hissed the female, "And then we will find the one who is mate to that bitch!" She pointed at Gwen. "I will mate with my sons and we will cover this planet with our kind. This mother will have her revenge!" She shook Andy. "This bait is finished. We need him no longer."
At that point, several things seemed to happen almost at once. The female threw Andy hard against a nearby brick wall. The Doctor bounded forward to see if he was hurt. Gwen fired on the female but she didn't go down. They began to struggle for control of the weapon. The large male went after Ianto, taking four bullets from Jack and Ianto before grabbing Ianto and throwing him head first against the corner of a set of metal stairs. Jack fired on him. As with Gwen and the female, a struggle ensued.
The Doctor, finding Andy unconscious but relatively sound after scanning him with the sonic, turned to the smaller male, shouting. "What is wrong with you? Why can't you stay on your own world?" He now hovered over Ianto, examining Ianto's pupils. He scanned Ianto with his sonic. Ianto bled heavily from a head wound. "He'd better not die," growled the Doctor. "If any of you survive this, you'll deal with me if he dies!" He quickly pulled out the cerebral regenerator out, placing it over Ianto's eyes. He no more than flicked the switch to turn it on before the smaller male had pounced.
Gwen managed to get the muzzle of her gun under the female's chin and pulled the trigger. Black blood and blue brain matter sprayed the floor behind her. She ran to help Jack. The small male grabbed the Doctor. Jack's Webly shattered the air as he emptied it into the large male's skull.
The Doctor screamed in pain as the smaller male sank his teeth into the Time Lord's neck, ripping into arteries. His mouth began to smoke as the Doctor's orange-tinged blood gushed in a freshet over the both of them. Wherever the blood touched the Nostrovite, his livid flesh smoked. He dropped the Doctor, but it was too late. He grasped his throat. "Poison!" he croaked. "Time Lord poison! But you're all extinct!" He crumpled, dead before his legs gave out, his stinking corpse smoking as it toppled, falling over the Doctor's body.
"Doctor!" Jack yelled. He strode over and shoved the dead Nostrovite away. The Time Lord's eyes were closed. Blood continued to gush. He was paper-white.
The Time Lord's eyes fluttered open. "Jack," he said weakly. "'M bleeding out."
"What happened? How did that happen to that thing?"
"Time Lords and Nostrovites are allergic to each other. My blood is also like acid to them. I'm going to be very sick, Jack. And Nostrovite saliva inhibits my ability to regenerate. Jack!"
"You're all right, sweethearts, you're going to be all right, you have to be. Do it for me. Do it for your Jack. Hold on. You hold on."
"Jack, I'm going blind!" The Doctor panted in panic.
"Stay calm, stay calm, you'll just bleed out more quickly. Deep breaths."
"I'm going to go into respiratory bypass, I think." He swallowed hard, his eyes glazed in fear and pain. "Maybe a healing coma. Jack, I'm scared, I'm scared, I'm so scared!"
Gwen went to Ianto, calling Rhys. "Shift your arse in here, sweetheart! We need you now! Ianto and the Doctor are down!" She pulled off her jacket and used it to staunch the flow of blood from Ianto's head. "Bring the first aid kit! The Doctor and Ianto are bleeding badly, we need clotting powder!"
Ianto moaned. His hand went to the cerebral regenerator and pulled it away. He groaned. "I'm all right," he half-moaned. "Where is everyone?" He sat up, holding Gwen's jacket against the deep gash in his skull. "Jack? I think I'm all right. The Doctor used the cerebral regenerator on me."
"He wouldn't have done that unless you were brain damaged," Gwen said. "Not untested, he wouldn't. Must have been bad."
"Ianto's brain…was swelling," the Doctor said, voice so weak it came out as a whisper. "Had to. I'm sorry, Ianto. So sorry. Jack. Don't leave me."
"I'm not going anywhere and neither are you. You hold on. I'm ordering you! As your husband, I'm ordering you, hold on! You don't give up, you hear me? That's an order, mister! Doctor? Doctor!" Jack cried. "He's not breathing!"
Gwen went to Andy and called his name. Andy moaned. "You're going to be all right, the Doctor looked you over. Is back-up on the way?"
Andy nodded, holding his shoulder. It drooped at an unnatural angle. "You lot better get out before they get here," he said. "Don't worry about me, I'll get to hospital."
"Gwen!" Jack called, "Get Ianto into the SUV! We have to get the Doctor back to the Hub now!" He scooped his lover up in his arms. "Rhys, glad you're here. Clotting powder! He's bleeding out!"
Gwen took the kit from Rhys, flinging the lid open hurriedly. She scrambled for the clotting powder, ripped it open and dumped the contents into the open wound in the Time Lord's neck. Opening the second, she treated Ianto as well.
They scrambled to the SUV and packed themselves in, Gwen and Ianto in the front, Jack and Rhys in the back, the Doctor draped across their laps as Jack now pressed his palm to the Doctor's neck, helping the clotting powder in slowing loss of blood. Gwen took the wheel and broke every law in the book and then some as she sped back to the Hub.
Jack placed the Doctor on a sofa. Gwen ran after needles and sutures, knowing Jack had fought in many wars and knew how to close the bleeds. Gwen helped flush out the wound with sterile saline, biting her lip anxiously. Force of will alone kept Jack's hands steady as he tied off the sutures one by one.
"Call Martha," he snapped. "Tell her to get her ass in a helicopter and get here stat. Rhys, you sit here with him. I need to get some blood in him quick. And I need to access his medical info. Gods, I hope he's just in respiratory bypass!" He bent and kissed the Doctor's cheek. "You hang on, sweethearts. Don't you dare die, you hear me? Don't you die, you can't regenerate right now. Your Jack is here. I'm going to fix this. I promise!"