Author's Note
The team regroup and set about trying to catch an alien and find a way to put themselves right again.
The Disclaimer: I own nothing. All rights belong to Russell T. Davies and BBC. I make no money and intend no harm.
Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoy it, any reviews or comments would be great. :)
The whole team arrived late to the HUB the next day. Ianto arrived an hour after he usually did, having found it difficult to get dressed. He must have tried on half a dozen suits before he realized that none of them were going to fit Jack's broad frame. He eventually gave up and wore the same clothes he had gone home in. Ianto pottered about cleaning up and making coffee, all the while avoiding Jack.
Tosh arrived a half an hour after Ianto, dressed in her own clothes. She had had more success than Ianto, Gwen being about the same size as her. She went straight to her computer and started typing away, pretending to work, acting as if nothing had changed.
Next came Gwen, shortly after Tosh, dressed simply in jeans and a T-shirt. She wandered about the HUB and like Tosh, pretended she was working. She made sure to steer clear of Tosh, wherever she went.
Owen arrived and unlike the others, he stormed straight in, wearing his own clothes with everything rolled up to fit Tosh's small frame and demanded that something be done. : What are you lot just laying about for? We should be doing something. I don't know about you but I don't want to be a woman forever." he shouted, making them all jump.
As if on cue, Jack stepped out of his office and walked down to where the rest of the team had gathered around Owen. "He's right," said Jack. "Now that we're all here we should get to work. First things first. We have to find that creature. It was in possession of the sphere and we don't know if it just found it or if it was guarding, either way it's a start. Tosh," he said, turning to look at her. "Is there something on that sphere that would be on the creature too? Something you could trace?"
"There was a trace element on them both. It was like nothing I've ever seen before. It was like a cross between radiation and traces found on certain metals."
"Whatever it is, can you trace it?" asked Jack.
"Well, it won't be easy." she said. "It originated from the sphere, so what's on the creature got there by contact only. It will have faded significantly by now, making it almost impossible to trace."
"I have faith in you." Jack said, smiling. "Okay, the rest of you. I want you researching. Go through ever Torchwood record involving body displacement. We may not be the first. Also, check every rift spike that occurred yesterday. This creature may not have been the only one to come through. Let me know when you get something." He abruptly turned and disappeared into his office.
"He's still just as bossy." Owen grumbled as he made his way down into the vaults to check the storage area where all the old Torchwood records were kept.
Gwen sighed as she settled down at her computer and pulled up all the records of rift activity from the day before. Tosh retreated to her workstation to see if she could track the creature down. Ianto, not knowing what to do with himself, and being good with research, followed Owen down into the vaults.
Several hours passed in this fashion and not a word was spoken by anyone. Finally, Jack emerged from his office, calling down to them, "Okay, what do we got?"
"I've got a trace on the creature, but it's still too faint to get an exact location. I'll keep working at it."
"What about the rest of you?"
"I've been checking rift activity from yesterday but there wasn't really much to begin with and there's nothing at all like the sphere."
At that moment, Ianto and Owen came up from the vaults, each carrying several files and looking dusty.
"What about you two? You find anything?" asked Jack.
"It turns out that this sort of thing has happened before." said Ianto. "There's even a pamphlet on what not to do when you find yourself in a new body."
"Anything at all like what happened here?" Jack asked them.
"Not at all." said Owen. "No spheres, no explosions. There was a case of a bloke who ate some bad Thai food and woke up a dog, but that's a whole other story."
"Well, that means our only lead id this creature. Hopefully it knows more than we do. Any luck on that trace, Tosh?"
"I've got a general location. The trace element had all but worn off; this is the closest I could get. I don't know if it will be enough." said Tosh.
"I'll have to be enough." said Jack. "Okay, everyone get ready, we leave in five minutes."
They all piled into the SUV, following the faint readings coming from the creature. They had been driving for about twenty minutes before they reached the place where the creature had been hiding.
"We're right on top of it. Do you see anything?" asked Tosh.
"I don't see it. Let's get out and have a look around." said Jack getting out of the car.
They proceeded to scour the dirty, weed filled property that they had been led to. Owen kicked aside an empty can as he made his way through the trash-strewn lot. He suddenly came across a sewer entrance and groaned. "Bloody Hell!" he shouted to the others. "It's in the sewers."
They quickly gathered around the sewers entrance, disgust etched on their faces. Tosh looked up from her hand held saying "It makes sense, that's why the signal was so weak. It's underground."
"There is no way I'm going down there." said Gwen defiantly.
"We're all going down there. Ianto help me with this." said Jack grasping one side of the cover while Ianto took the other. Together they managed to drag it off. They stood panting and peering into the black hole.
"We'd better get moving." said Jack. "Tosh, which way is it?"
"Let's see," said Tosh, referring to her handheld. "Once you're down go left and I'll direct you from there."
"All right, see you down there." said Jack grabbing the top rung of the rusty metal ladder and lowering himself down. The others followed quickly, Tosh bringing up the rear.
Once down they hugged the slimy walls, staying as far away from the river of putrid smelling water running through the sewer. They slowly made their way through the darkened tunnel, side stepping rats as they went. They came upon a fork in the tunnel and paused, the light from their flashlights barely penetrating the darkness.
"Go right." said Tosh from behind them. "We're getting close."
They turned down a darker and narrower passage. "It's just up ahead." said Tosh. "In a closed off tunnel, to the left, about twenty meters away."
They raised their guns and slowly inched down the tunnel until they could see the dead end. They looked to Jack, as they always did in these moments. He stepped ahead and motioned for them to follow. They closed the gap between them and the dead end as Jack took a syringe out of his pocket.
In the syringe was an extra strength sedative, guaranteed to knock anything out for several hours. Jack stopped short, turned to the others and held his hand up for them to stay. Ianto looked worried but said nothing. Jack took a step forward and quickly turned the corner, his gun pointed at nothing. All he saw was a large grate blocking off the tunnel, no alien.
He was about to turn away when a movement caught his eye. He looked up, but it was too late. The creature was on him in an instant, leaping from the ceiling and latching its large jaws on his throat. He yelled out in shock and the others came running, guns raised.
"Don't shoot!" cried Jack. He gripped the syringe, amazed he had managed to hold onto it. He wrapped his arms around the creature's neck and was able to shift it to the side a bit. He swung his arm up and buried the needle in the creature's neck.
Jack shoved the massive body off him and staggered to his feet. He lifted a hand and felt his neck. He had felt large chunks of flesh being chewed off but all he felt now was a small scratch and a lot of blood. He sighed, realizing his curse of immortality had followed him.
For a brief moment during the struggle, he has wondered if he was going to die. Not the usual, just another day at the office death, but real death. As he thought about it, he realized a part of him wished he had died. He looked to his team, seeing the concern on their faces and suddenly felt ashamed. He couldn't die, not while there were people who needed him.
"I'm fine." he said reassuringly. "Not a scratch on me. We better get him home before he wakes up."
Jack, Ianto, and Owen all grabbed hold of the creature and started dragging it back the way they had come. After a lot of grunting and cursing, they managed to heave the creature up the ladder and into the back of the SUV.
They climbed into the SUV and drove quickly back to the HUB, afraid the creature would wake up before they got there. Once at the HUB they hauled the creature down to the vaults and put it in a cell to sleep off the sedative. They stood outside the cell hesitantly, looking at one another.
"Well," said Owen bluntly. "What do we do now?"