Chapter 8

Subterfuge

'But if that's the Prime minister, then who the hell is running the country?' Stuart asked.

'An alien called a Zygon,' John told them.

'Some of the best and most aggressive shape shifters in the galaxy,' Eight explained.

'I think we've both saved the Earth from them on a number of occasions,' John said, looking at Eight.

Eight nodded. 'Lucie's aunt was even copied once.'

'Oh I remember that in my reality. It was back in eighty five,' John remembered. He looked around the ward. 'We need to see who the others are.'

'Okay team. Groups of two on each one and get a positive I.D,' Andy commanded.

'Where am I?' Harriet asked in a hoarse whisper.

'You're in Torchwood,' Eight told her. 'You've been attacked by an alien who wants to take over the planet.'

'But why are they all here?' Lucie asked. 'Isn't Torchwood supposed to find and detain aliens?'

'I think the reason may become apparent in a moment,' John said.

And if on cue, Stuart called out. 'Andy! You're not gonna believe this. We've got the director here, Yvonne Hartman.'

'There you go,' John said. 'Infiltrate the organisation that defends the Earth, detain any resident off worlders and eliminate any resistance.'

'So Yvonne upstairs is a Zygon then?' Rose realised. 'Hadn't someone better get up there and arrest her?'

Andy looked at John and the Doctor. 'What are we up against here? Will our weapons stop them?'

'They are stronger than humans, but just as mortal. They have venom sacs in their tongues and venomous barbs on their palms which can stun, maim or kill. You can tell if you've been stung as they leave large welts on the affected area,' John explained.

'And what do they look like when they're not looking like us?' Andy asked.

'Ooh. Big red thing covered in suckers,' John said, using his hands to indicate what suckers looked like.

'Craig, Stuart, Pete. Did you get all that?'

'Yes Boss,' they replied.

'Good. Then get up to the top floor and find it.' He turned to the other members of his team. 'Are there any more of our people here?'

It turned out that Yvonne's P.A was there, along with the head of the public relations and communication department. More agents were dispatched to round up the imposters and put them in the cells. They also found the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, the Secretary of State for Defence, and the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice.

That last find told Andy why they had been so busy rounding up innocent people lately, which in turn got him thinking about those people. 'And for God's sake, let those people out of the cells who shouldn't be there,' Andy commanded. 'You know who they are.'

Rose smiled at him. It might be a different universe, but it was definitely the same man. She wandered over to John and helped him free someone from the remnants of the Zygon webbing. Lucie and the Eighth Doctor were doing the same in the adjacent bed, and Rose took the opportunity to talk to Lucie now that everything had calmed down.

'Lucie, right?' she asked as a conversation starter.

Lucie turned and smiled. 'Yeah. And Rose wasn't it? But not ROSE Rose.'

Rose laughed. 'Yeah, that's right. So how long have you been travellin' with him then?'

'Let's see. What year is it? Two thousand and seven right? So the Time Lords dumped me with him last year because of something I'd seen.'

'What was it?' Rose asked. John had told her about HIS Lucie and some of their adventures, but not all of them yet.

'No idea, but whatever it was meant I was in danger. So I had to leave my home in Blackpool, and I wasn't too pleased about it I can tell you. Having to leave all my friends and family behind. But it's been a few years now, and the life style kind of grows on you.'

Eight had a lopsided smile on his face as he listened to their conversation. He knew they hadn't got off to a good start. But over the years, Lucie had come to realise that he was showing her a better way to live her life. That one person could make a difference.

'Yeah. I know what y'mean,' Rose agreed.

'So what's the story with you then?' Lucie asked.

'Yes. The former Tenth Doctor from an alternate reality. What's all that about?' Eight asked as he sat his freed victim up in the bed.

John looked over to them and smiled. He was giving someone a drink of water as he spoke. 'Ah. That one's a bit complicated. There was in incident with the Daleks in our universe . . . our old universe. They were trying to destroy reality. You'll see what I mean in a few years time when the stars start going out. So, I have an accident with a travelling companion and there's an instantaneous biological metacrisis.'

'You're a hybrid duplicate then?' Eight asked with surprise. 'I know it's a theoretical possibility, but I never knew it could actually happen. What does it feel like?'

That was a question only a Time Lord could ask. 'I feel no different to how I felt before it happened. Although, it was a bit strange seeing myself in my original body. I've only got one heart and no regenerations, but I still have all my nine hundred years of memories.'

'Nine hundred! You've got a couple of centuries on me then?' Eight said.

'That's right. Anyway, the original me left me with Rose in her dad's universe where we live our lives together.' He could see Eight's questioning look about "Pete's World". 'And that is a whole other story.'

'I bet it is,' Eight laughed.

The Prime Minister and Director of Torchwood were now on their feet and being brought up to speed on what had happened by Andy.

'I need to get to Number Ten and convene an emergency meeting of the cabinet. Yvonne, do you think I could trouble you for some transport?' Harriet asked.

'Of course Prime Minister. Andy, could you see to that?'

'Of course. Clive. The P.M needs a taxi. Look sharpish. Blues and Twos all the way,' Andy called out.

'On it Boss.'

Harriet paused. 'Oh, and Captain. Thank you for your help.'

'To be fair Ma'am, it was these people who you should be thanking,' Andy said with a sweep of his arm towards the time travelling troupe.

Harriet looked over at them, and for the first time realised who was there. 'Oh. It's you Doctor. And Miss Miller.'

Eight smiled at her. 'Yes Harriet. And it was my friends here who helped me.'

'Well, on behalf of her majesty's government I would like to say a very big thank you.'

'You're welcome,' John replied.

Harriet turned, and was led out of the hospital wing by Clive Simpson. Yvonne came over and addressed the group. 'Doctor. I know the Torchwood Foundation Charter of 1879 names you as an enemy of the Crown, however, today your actions and those of your friends, may have thrown doubt on that assumption.'

'Was that an apology?' Rose asked in a whisper.

'I think it's the closest you're going to get,' Lucie whispered in reply.

'Although I see you still have a propensity for causing chaos and mayhem wherever you go. You seem to have broken my building,' Yvonne continued, and Rose and Lucie both stifled laughs.

John raised a finger. 'Ah. That was me . . . I'm Chaos.'

Rose grinned. 'That must make me Mayhem then.'

'It was just a medium power, narrow band EM pulse. A hard reset of your systems should fix it,' John informed her.

He looked at Eight and took out his sonic screwdriver. Eight knew what he had in mind and took out his own sonic. They flipped their sonics in the air and caught them again. 'We'll nip down to the power distribution hub and check everything over for you.'

'Thank you,' Yvonne said. 'Now, I have to get to my office and find out what damage my doppelgänger has done.' She left the hospital wing with her P.A in tow.

John kissed his wife, waggled his eyebrows and left with the Eighth Doctor to reset Torchwood Tower's systems. Rose, River and Lucie continued their conversation about their lives and adventures. Rose realised that Harriet had said "her majesty's government".

'Does this world still have a royal family?' She asked Lucie.

'Yeah. Of course,' Lucie said as though it should have been obvious.

'Which means you met Queen Victoria and the werewolf.'

'Oh yeah. What did the doctor call it? A Heamavariform.'

'Yeah, that was it. And did you get a knighthood?' Rose asked with a cheeky grin.

Lucie squealed with laughter. 'Yeah. Dame Lucie of Blackpool. My mum thinks I'm making it up.'

'Mine too,' Rose laughed. 'Although Dad's world doesn't have a royal family, so I think my title doesn't count any more.'

'What happened?' Lucie asked.

'There are no Time Lords in Dad's world, so there was no one to save Queen Victoria from the were . . . the variform.'

'Oh that's horrible,' Lucie said.

['Prescott to McNab. Over,'] Duncan called over the radio.

'McNab. Go ahead Duncan.'

['Andy. I've got a Colonel Mace from UNIT at reception with orders to investigate Torchwood under Section Five of the emergency protocols. He wants us to stand down.']

'Stand Down? On whose authority?'

There was a pause. ['The Prime Minister's. Harriet Jones.']

Everyone in the ward was looking at him. 'Typical,' he said to them. 'Rescue a politician and they immediately think you had something to do with their capture.' He keyed the mike. 'Okay Duncan. Get everyone to the Standby Room and I'll come up and sort it. McNab out.'

'It's probably a routine precaution after an infiltration by an aggressive force,' River reasoned.

'Yeah. Maybe,' Andy said, but he wasn't convinced. Something didn't feel right. In the SAS, they had trained for hostage rescue scenarios. And one trick terrorists used was to pretend to be the hostage, while forcing the hostage to act as the terrorist.

Rose knew Andy well enough to know when he was troubled by something. ['John, where are ya?'] Rose thought to her husband.

['In the Switch Room, resetting the system. And as if by magic . . .'] The electronic systems in the tower flickered and spluttered to life. ['I'll be up in a minute,'] he thought back.

['NO! Just hang back. UNIT have turned up with a ministerial order to conduct an investigation.']

['It's probably routine. I should imagine they did something similar when we blew up Number Ten that time.']

['That's what River said, but Andy's not buying it, which means I'm not buying it either.']

['Okay. I've learnt to trust Andy's gut. We'll stay out of sight and wait for an update.']

['Thanks Love. I'll be in touch.'] Rose moved over to Andy. 'I know that look on MY Andy's face. What's up?'

'I can't put my finger on it, but something doesn't sit right,' Andy told her.

'That's good enough for me,' Rose said. 'How can we help?'

'You're Special Operations, yeah?' Andy asked.

'Yeah. You trained me. If you know what I mean,' Rose answered.

'Okay. We're going up to the Standby Room. Stay sharp and hang back a little. As far as anyone here knows, you're just civilians. Do you have any weapons?'

Rose looked at River. 'Two stun guns between us.'

Andy frowned. 'That'll have to do.'

'No wait!' Lucie said, and went over to a waste basket. She rummaged through the waste paper and pulled out two handguns. 'Will these do?'

Andy grabbed her face and kissed her forehead. 'You beauty!'

Andy led his team up the stairwell to the next floor and went through the stairwell door into the Special Operations Department. Rose put her arm out to hold back River and Lucie, and held the door ajar so that they could hear what was going on.

Andy walked into the Standby Room and could see some of his agents were already there, sitting on the comfy sofas drinking coffee and tea.

'Captain McNab? Colonel Mace. It's an honour to meet you,' Mace said with a salute.

Andy returned the salute. 'I wish I could say the same. What's all this about?'

'Standard operating procedure after a terrorist attack. Alien or otherwise. We need to make sure we've got all the suspects and that the area is secure.'

'The area is secure,' Andy told him, as if he was questioning his professionalism.

'Yes, I'm certain it is Captain. This is no slight on your command. I will need all of your team to surrender their weapons for the duration of the investigation, and for everyone to remain in this room,' Mace informed him. UNIT soldiers moved into positions to confiscate the weapons.

'And is that standard operating procedure?' Andy asked, looking around at the UNIT soldiers.

'Yes. Of course.'

'And where are your search teams? It's a big building. With this small detachment it's going to take you a week to do a proper search.'

'That is not your concern Captain . . . Your weapons . . . Please,'

Andy gave Mace an icy stare for a long time before slipping the SA80 rifle off his shoulder, handing it over by the strap, and taking his Heckler & Koch MP5SF out of his holster and handing it over by the barrel. 'Hand them over people.' The rest of the team followed his lead and reluctantly gave up their weapons.

Meanwhile, in the director's office on the top floor, Yvonne Hartman was making a telephone call to report what the Zygon had been doing during her absence.

['Report Director. How are our plans progressing?'] a voice asked over the phone.

'We are fortunate. The Zygons were planning an invasion, so they continued with a similar strategy. A number of individuals who pose a threat to the mission were apprehended and taken into custody,' Yvonne reported.

['Fortunate indeed. Then we can continue with our original timetable.']

'We may have a problem. The Special Operations captain released some of the detainees when he realised that it was the Zygons that had ordered their detention.'

['Then rearrest them,'] the voice said with some irritation. ['I'll have the captain executed so that he can't interfere again.']

'There is something else General. One of the detainees was released before the others by a small team of infiltrators. An alien and his human companion . . .'

There was a pause on the phone. ['Tell me. What was the name of this alien?']

'The Doctor.'

['NO!']