Everyone in the room was silent for a moment. Gregory quickly turned to Colonel Mace. "Colonel, this is one thing I can do. I need a line to the UN now. Half the world is asleep and we need to move."

"I'll have it wired in through the second meeting room," the Colonel said, nodding towards it. Gregory disappeared into the room as Scorch turned to the people at the computers, pointing and issuing orders.

"You keep a solid eye on the Rahki. I want to know if and how they respond. Those of you who were just watching the Krize, one of you stay on task. The rest of you brilliant humans need to start in and see if we can do anything to block or slow down the signal. Break into your own programs if need be, but stop it. Try turning the satellites around so they face away from Earth. If anything you do gets interrupted from inside UNIT, let it through, it'll be me." Scorch spun in her chair to face Colonel Mace. "I don't know how the government around here works, or how you manage crises, so this is your game now Sanders."

Scorch put down her headphones and got up from her chair, pushing buttons on her manipulator as she walked towards one of the side rooms.

"Where are you off to?" the Doctor asked.

"I've got a call to make."

"To who?"

"TORCHWOOD."

"We don't need their help on this," the Colonel said. Scorch smiled.

"Yeah you do. Trust me, they get their hands dirty on a regular basis, and oi vey do they have better computers than you do. As a bonus, we've been working on wiring the place to serve as a great big signal tower. They've got a chance to slow this thing down."

She pressed a final button and disappeared into the side room. "Jack? Yeah, this is Katie. I've got a favor to ask."

Onboard the Rahki ship

Assavapisitkul thought carefully about how to approach this sudden, uncharacteristic move from the Krize. He hadn't expected them to follow through on their threat, much less enact it so soon. They must truly be desperate to claim Scorch. Assavapisitkul couldn't really blame them. The Krize were—admittedly—incredibly smart. He highly doubted they'd be able to withstand the temptation to use it against its creators.

Yet what good would this do them? Scorch had an emotional attachment to this planet. If Assavapisitkul remembered correctly, its perceived family was still on Earth. The Doctor was down there to, and Scorch was very, very attached to him. Its emotions must be very strained.

Perhaps that's what the Krize were doing. They were still Krize at the core; they'd want to make this whole thing its choice. They were going to force it to come to them. It would do it too, eventually. Unless…

"Block part of that signal," Assavapisitkul said to no one specific, knowing that at least three separate Rahki would start working on it.

"Sir, I do not understand," his second-in-command said blandly, keeping all question out of his voice. One did not accuse the Dictator of foolishness.

"You don't need to. Do we have anyone near her?"

"Yes sir."

"Once we've slowed the Krize transmission, set her off."

"Yes sir."

UNIT Headquarters

"Jack, I need Ianto at the computers," Scorch said as she opened up the laptop she'd seen in the first meeting room when she'd talked to the Doctor. "I've been working with him on this while you and Gwen were dashing about doing TORCHWOODie stuff."

"How did—of course, it's you," Jack said in a slightly irritated tone. "You would find a way to call my wrist."

"I'll call your boyfriend directly in a second if you don't transfer my call."

"Touchy. Does this have to do with getting those ships out of my sky?"

"And keeping your buildings standing, your planes in the air, your cars on the road, and your trains on the tracks."

There was a momentary pause, a small click, and then Ianto's voice. "Miss Moore."

"Mr. Jones! Good to hear from you again. You've been keeping things warm since I left, yah?"

"Everything's been on standby as you requested."

Scorch grinned. "Good. I'm about to break through the firewall—again—but I need you to start picking apart the signal that the second ship is sending out. I want to know what it's made of."

"What does it do?"

"We're thinking it's going to change iron to lead, including things with high concentrations of iron—"

"Which includes steal."

"Oh, I wish I was there with you people instead of UNIT. They are so slow. Ah, some things might be flashing on your secondary screen. Ignore them; that's gonna be me using the Hub to try and get into the Krize ship itself. Expect power drains. Oh, and one other thing; have I mentioned anything I was planning for today?"

"Not that I know of. Why?"

"I just feel like I've forgotten something. Oh well."

The conversation paused while Ianto and Scorch worked on their separate tasks. However, a few minutes into her work, the Doctor opened the door.

"I think you need to take a look at this."

Scorch debated staying, but the Doctor was using one of his tones. "I have to step out for a moment Ianto," she said into the manipulator. "Keep working."

"What is it Doctor?" she asked as she stood.

"The Rahki are helping."

"Who, the Krize? Wouldn't have expected an alliance."

"Not the Krize."

Scorch stared at him before quickly leaving the room. "What, we have a third ship?"

Colonel Mace looked up at Scorch, a slightly smug look on his face. "It seems your evaluation of your owners was wrong Scorch. They—"

"If you value your continued existence," Scorch hissed at him, "you will never refer to the Rahki as my owners again. They are not my masters, my owners, my controllers, or any variation thereof. Are we very clear?"

The Colonel seemed a little surprised by Scorch's intensity, but gave a small nod of agreement. "As I was saying, the Rahki have countered the Krize's attack."

Scorch blinked in confusion. "Come again?"

"Yes. They're slowing down the signal. It seems you were wrong about them."

Scorch stood silently for a moment before looking up at the Doctor. "Doctor," she said slowly. "What does it mean when the two most predictable people so far are going against everything they've ever done?"

"I wish I knew."

"Neither of you sound particularly pleased about it," Colonel Mace scoffed. "The Rahki have given us valuable time, but not much."

"They haven't given you a thing except a mind game," Scorch said. "But what on Earth would it be?"

"You possibly," Mace said.

"Now hang on!"

"Why are you running from them?" he questioned accusingly. "So far, everything you've said about both of these invaders has turned out false. How do I know you aren't simply here to cause trouble? You all seem to agree you're some kind of experiment gone wild. Why pick Earth?"

"Because it's my home," Scorch said, looking a little lost at how to answer the questions. "I don't know anywhere else. And yes, I'm an experiment. I suck light, heat, sound, and mental energy out of my surroundings and store it. I drain life from people I have skin-to-skin contact with, and I store it. I take temporal energy and store that too. Who knows how I do it, who knows why, but you can bet your stars it's not good."

"I only have your word on that."

"Augh!" Scorch growled in frustration. "Why do humans have to be so thick?"

"Kathryn, breathe," the Doctor said, moving her gently to the side. "Getting irritated won't help."

"How do you deal with these people?" she asked.

"Breathe. Remember, you were raised as one. Just…go back to what you were doing."

Scorch gave a final glare at Mace and disappeared into the side room, muttering all the way. The Doctor turned back to Mace. "Colonel, the Rahki only help someone if it benefits them."

"The benefit would be the girl."

"Right now, your priority is to keep that girl safe. If either race gets a hold of her, there is no telling what would happen."

"Is she a weapon?"

"Could be, yeah."

"Then why is she hiding here?"

"If you had the world's biggest nuclear bomb, would you advertise it?"

"Could we use her?"

"Don't you dare."

"Doctor," Mace said, "I know you've always been protective of your friends, but this planet is under attack, and I will not allow it to go down on my watch."

"And it will if you give her back," the Doctor said, part of his brain taking note of Gregory Bradsford going into the room containing Scorch, writing it off as harmless as he continued pleading his case. "I know that's what you're thinking. Yes, the Rahki have just given you some time, but that's all."

"Sir," a soldier coming up to them said. "The Krize have already found a way around the Rahki interventions, and the first reports of structure collapse are coming in."

"How many planes are still in the air?"

"27 Sir, all calling in about structure damage. Most of those are commercial airlines."

Mace nodded, then peered at the man talking to them. "Are you ill?"

"It's nothing Sir," the man said. "Just a headache."

"Report to the Med Center," Mace ordered. "We need everyone on their toes."

"Don't you see what your friend has caused Doctor?" Mace said as he turned back. "The Krize and the Rahki would take the fight away from here if we simply gave her back to her creators."

"You do that and you are sealing your fate," the Doctor said.

"Doctor, Scorch has already labeled herself as volatile, and I don't want her here. She is a risk that could easily be removed by giving her back. How do you know she didn't run away from them, and now they've simply come to take her home?"

"Trust me, she's running because everything will end if they get her back," the Doctor said earnestly. "Just give us until the end of the two hours. Right now, she's perfectly safe."

The door to the side office opened suddenly and Scorch stuck her head out, leaning over heavily, sparks flying off her. "Doctor!" she shouted, sounding like she was in pain. "I need a hand gun!"

*Constructive critisisim welcome, praise happily accepted, flames not wanted*