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Chapter 17: Not Quite A Hero
Pete called for silence as the faint sound of footsteps approached the tower.
"Positions!" he suddenly called out, and there was a rampage as everyone took their positions inside the building.
Checking for the umpteenth time that every security protocol was enabled, he closed his eyes and prayed to whoever he could that the guns would not be necessary and the battle wouldn't happen. Whatever alien technology had landed on Earth, Torchwood was the one place that could reassure people they could fight it. Each time a different piece of technology had forced its way into the building, Torchwood had armed itself against it for the future. He only hoped this species' technology had been to Earth before.
Pete winced each time the footsteps grew in volume. There could be hundred of those mannequins out there, and there would be no way of knowing - not since they'd had to black out the windows for full security.
Suddenly, the footsteps grew to a hair raising crescendo, reminding Pete so much of the Cyberman attack all those years ago, and then... nothing.
"Stand to." Pete said loudly, glad for something to break the eerie silence of the building. Guns were cocked and people all around the room locked their eyes onto the barricaded door, hoping against everything that it would withstand the army of plastic.
"At post!" he shouted to his army, and the guns were raised and aimed at the door, a hundred designs in the hope that even one would take out the species.
"Enemy approaching, sir!" a soldier cried from his post near the only outlook to the outside world. Pete braced himself and raised his own gun, swallowing the tight knot in his throat.
There was a loud cracking noise and several bangs. The sound of lasers could be heard, and then a deafening crash confirmed Pete's fears. They were fighting their way in.
"Steady!" he called out to his troops. "Find the biting point." He wasn't even sure himself what that meant, but the agents understood.
A second loud crash sounded throughout the hall, followed by several more, and then a great gust of wind blew into the building as the door burst of its frame, flying to the floor. As the dirt and dust faded, an army of the plastic mannequins could be seen outside the tower.
"FIRE!" Pete bellowed into the room, and ducked down to cover as the shots clanged and echoed throughout the place. Some of the mannequins fell, some stayed standing through the fire, but not one of the opposition fired a gun, not one used a laser, and not one caused any damage. Pete fired a few shots, but the creatures just kept coming, an endless line of soldiers.
After what could have been minutes or hours of fire, the last mannequin finally fell to the floor with a crash. Pete paused, standing nervously.
"Cease fire!" he called, and jumped around the make-shift barrier to inspect one of the mannequins, expecting to find it was a person, or alien of some kind. But as he reached it, he pulled vigorously on its arm, and the limb came off in his hand.
"They're plastic." he said, his brow creasing. He dropped the plastic arm to the floor. "Just plastic." he confirmed to the army.
"Then no one's dead, sir?" a man spoke out in the front line of agents. "We killed... no one?" The man seemed partly disappointed.
Footsteps sounded outside and Pete jumped back.
"Stand to!" he yelled out to the soldiers, and backed out of the way, in fear of the four human-like aliens. Guns were raised and aimed at the door, but most were lowered again when Jamie stumbled in.
"Jamie!" Pete cried, beckoning him over. "Come on, come out of the way. It's not safe."
"Mr Tyler -" a woman began nervously as Pete made his way over the scattered mannequins to his son. "I-I don't think -"
"Don't tell me how to look after my child." Pete spat at her, tears already in his eyes, but the woman still stood up and approached her boss.
"But she's part of it!" she continued, tip-toeing over the mannequins as Pete had done, but he ignored her.
"Jamie? You okay, Jay?" he asked Jamie, approaching his son with caution, and the woman did the same. "Come with me, yeah? Your... your daddy?"
"You're funny." Jamie said childishly, and Pete grinned weakly.
"Yeah, that's right. Funny old dad." he muttered.
"So funny." Jamie smiled happily, and Pete almost sighed with relief, until the boy's smile grew into a scowl, and he reached into his pocket and drew out a gun. There were numerous gasps and shrieks, and Pete stood straight up, terrified for his life and his son. The woman now stood next to him, and she too stood up straight when the gun was pulled out.
"Jamie..." Pete whispered with sorrow, but Jamie showed no recognition of his father.
"Put down your gun." the woman said firmly, indicating to the gun in her hand. "I'll shoot." she assured him, but Jamie showed no regret as he aimed the gun into the woman's chest, and pulled the trigger smoothly.
The woman screamed out in agony for only a second, then her arms raised in the air with pain and her legs crumpled to the ground, and her body vanished into the hot, terror-filled air and she sunk to the floor, leaving nothing but a pile of ashen remains. Pete, breathing rapidly, stumbled backwards to the other agents.
"Now who's going to shoot me? Any of you? Really?" the small boy challenged eagerly. A stunned, shocked silence filled the room. Some guns were cocked, ready to fire, but no one had the guts to make the first shot.
"Put down your guns." Pete ordered harshly.
"But sir -" someone interrupted, but they were ignored.
"I'll not see this happen." he said firmly. "Not anymore. You will retreat in an orderly fashion through the back of the tower. Jennings, lead the way."
"But -"
"I said lead the way." the man persisted, and Jennings reluctantly stood.
A girl rounded the corner: Helena Price. There was a silence as she entered, the majority of the agents looking to the army officer for commands. They received them instead from Helena.
"Go on then!" she cried. "Run!" She raised her own gun into the air and shot at the ceiling. Immediately, agents jumped to their feet and rushed to the back exit after Jennings.
Once the building was empty, Helena's mouth twisted up into a sinister grin. She looked down at the floor to the mannequins. "Re-animate." she said simply, and the soldiers rose, ready for battle.
- - - - - - -
Moments later, the agents were herded back into the building by the mannequins.
"One of these female soldiers has the watch." Suzie explained to Jamie, holding one up by their collar from the long line of female employees being held by the mannequins. She didn't dare try to resist. "You've seen her. This one?"
"No." Jamie said immediately, and Suzie pushed the girl to Helena, where she was shoved out of the door into the small adjoining office.
"This one?" she asked again, holding up another woman, who again, didn't struggle.
"No." Jamie repeated, and the woman was thrown into the office with the others.
The mannequins this time brought forwards a struggling woman, who was kicking out furiously at Suzie and the mannequins.
"Let go!" she bit out, struggling and failing to get away. "Get off me!"
"Ah-ha!" Suzie cried. "This one - is that her?"
Jamie tilted his head to the side, studying the woman. "No."
The woman was pushed out with the others.
"Right," Suzie sighed, bored. "Kill this lot."
- - - - - - -
High in the tower, Kate sat cross-legged on the floor of her office, having fled from the battle below.
She lifted the faintly glowing watch into the air calmly, all sense of distress lost, and pressed smoothly on the button. The golden flow of light erupted once again, and she closed her eyes peacefully.
"Lord of Time..." she heard. After a few seconds of opening the watch, she snapped it shut and ran outside, then bounded over to the stairwell and called up the lift.
On the ground floor, Suzie froze, sniffing loudly, and Helena and Jamie did the same.
"That's him." Jamie whispered, savouring the scent of the Time Lord.
"Upstairs! Suzie ordered, and the three of them marched up the stairs to find Suzie.
The woman most recently released leapt out of the door, pushing the mannequins aside. "Don't just stand there!" she exclaimed to the other prisoners. "Outside; come on!"
Moments later, Suzie, Helena and Jamie reached the floor from which Kate had just descended in the lift. They charged towards the office where the scent was still strong, but it was empty, with no traces of the watch.
- - - - - - -
"Doctor!" came the loud, hoarse voice of Jeffrey Wilson, ringing out through the night. Rose, John and Martha heard it from inside the forest, and turned instinctively towards the noise. "Doctor!" he called again. Rose started towards the sound and the others followed quietly.
"Come back, Doctor." the man shouted. "Come home. Come and claim your prize."
After a moment's walk to the edge of the forest, Rose reached the road and ducked down behind a cover of bushes crawling over an old, weathered plaque.
"Out you come, Doctor." Helena's smooth voice joined in, as she walked to meet Jeffrey. John and Martha joined Rose and crouched down behind the slap of concrete, watching as the figures met in the dim light of the streetlamps. "There's a good boy."
"Come to the Family!" the small voice of Jamie piped up eagerly. Rose swallowed the tears and the lump in her throat, her eyes transfixed on Jamie as if that was her only problem in the world.
"Time to end it now!" Suzie's sharp voice rang out.
Then Rose heard Martha's voice beside John. "You recognise it, don't you?" she asked softly, and for a moment, Rose was confused. But then she looked up from Jamie's body and saw what was standing behind this Family of aliens. The TARDIS, strong and proud, was being leant on by Helena, its lights blaring into the night eagerly.
"Come out, Doctor!" Suzie urged. "Come to us!"
"I-I've never seen it in my life." John denied shakily, his eyes transfixed on the blue box, as were Rose's. Emotion she couldn't have imagined rose to her heart as she gazed upon the machine, but she couldn't say the same for John.
"Do you remember its name?" Martha asked him, but he shook his head wordlessly.
"John?" Rose whispered to him hoarsely, finally ripping her eyes away from the TARDIS. "John, but you wrote about it." she told him, placing her hand on top of his on the concrete plaque. "The blue box. You dreamt of a blue box. Remember?" she asked him, her voice cracking as her eyes welled up with tears. "Please remember..."
"I-I-I'm not -" John spluttered. "I'm John Smith! That's all I want to be." he told Rose, looking deep in her eyes for an answer as his own filled with tears. "John Smith. With his life... and his job... and his love. Why can't I be John Smith?" he asked Rose, tears streaming down his cheeks in such a John-like way. "Isn't he a good man?"
"Yes." Rose agreed solemnly. "Yes he is."
"Why can't I stay?" John asked, his face frowning with sorrow.
"But we need the Doctor." Martha said firmly, and John broke eye contact with Rose to glare at Martha.
"So what am I then, nothing?" he said angrily. "I'm just a story? Am I not real?"
"No, of course you are." Rose whispered.
"When I kissed you, was that not real?" he asked her, and she shook her head insistently.
"I love you, John." Rose told him."Of course you're real."
"But the Doctor? He's more so?" John asked, and Rose didn't answer, not wanting it to be true.
Before Rose or Martha could stop him, John leapt up from the bush and ran into the distance, under the dark cover of the forest.
Rose closed her eyes for barely a second, then opened them again to glance angrily at Martha. Then she jumped up and ran into the forest after John. After another second, Martha too leapt up and ran into the forest after John.
"One more phase and we won't have to hunt." Jeffrey spoke bluntly. "The Doctor, Mr Smith, the woman, the watch - they will come to us. Soldiers! Guard this thing!" he ordered.
The Family walked away, leaving the magical blue box in the safe hands of their soldiers. Then they disappeared into the cover of the night.
There you go, I saved Pete. Happy now? Happy enough to... review? Maybe?
Oh, and I'm going away for a week on Tuesday, so you definitely won't get an update until November. Unless I can beg my grandparents to let me at the computer. Not likely. :P Sorry!