Kitzinger v Danes

Chapter Three: Part I

An Alliance Is Formed

A/N: Wow, I can't believe how many people have viewed this already! Thanks! As always, please enjoy, and please review. But mostly enjoy. :) Oh, and I do not own Torchwood. Or this story would be the next episode. Or even the next series.

The room was in darkness and its occupants were all sleeping soundly. This time, Rex and Gwen took a sofa whilst Jack, Esther and Jilly lay down on the mattresses. Unfortunately, one of them was broken and several springs stuck boldly out of it, and as a result, Jilly and Esther were forced to share a mattress. It wasn't that either of them minded –they didn't- but the mattresses were rather small and it was easy to get cramped when curled up on one by yourself, let alone with another person. However, they were all tired from the day, and managed to fall asleep quickly. Dark shadows fell across the floor and crept up the walls, a tap drip-drip-dripped somewhere, cars drove by outside, but the five slept, oblivious to Life.

She was pushed up against the wall again, and he was hitting her, ignoring her cries of pain and protest.

The door creaked open, slowly revealing tall, shadowy figures standing in the doorway.

She fell to the floor, pain slowly sinking in to her body.

The shadows moved past the door and into the room, treading slowly, carefully, silently.

A faint red glow flickered below the floor, and Jilly felt the floor underneath her grow slightly warm.

A light flickered in the far corner of the room, casting even more shadows around, dancing in the burning glow.

Flames flickered up around her; she screamed for help and no-one was coming….

Jilly Kitzinger opened her eyes and stared up at the dark ceiling.

Just a dream, she told herself. Nothing to be scared about. It's not real, only a stupid-

Her train of thought was cut off by her sudden scream. There were people moving about in the room! She stopped herself screaming too late. The shadows had heard her and turned around. Luckily, the others were had been woken by her scream. Jack, Rex, and Gwen, being the most experienced, jumped up and grabbed the nearest guns. Esther's hands found a large china vase.

"Whoever you are, put your hands up and come where we can see you." Rex ordered. The shadows obeyed, and stepped forward. The leader was small and slim, with olive skin and dark hair piled neatly on top of her head. Two men, one pale with brown hair, one tall and dark with black hair pulled back into a ponytail stood there. The woman said;

"Hello, Jilly Kitzinger."

Jilly's eyes widened. "Oh my God, Amelia?"

Rex turned to stare at her. "You know these people?"

"Not personally, just by name. I used to work in the same office as them at PhiCorp."

Amelia feigned hurt surprise. "Jilly, I feel so betrayed! We were good friends."

Jilly actually laughed. "Is that what you called it?"

Esther looked between the two of them, confused. "Ok, what's going on here?"

Jilly sighed. "Amelia and I worked in the same office at PhiCorp. This was when I had just started working for them and they were still testing my abilities. The week after I started, they brought in Amelia. We talked a bit, but that was it, really. So what are you doing here, Amelia?"

Amelia smirked. "I'm a reporter now." she informed them. "Here to question you."

"At…." Jilly checked her phone. "….3.55 am? Amelia, get over yourself, you're not that good an actress. Why are you here?"

"Well, if you really must know…" Amelia sighed, fiddling absentmindedly with her Blackberry, "We're here under orders from Oswald Danes."

"What!"

Esther dropped the china vase she was holding. "What?"

Amelia nodded. "You heard me. And he wants us to kill you."

Jilly gave a fake-sympathetic sigh. "Why? Is he scared?"

"He feels it would be…uhh….in his better interests if you were 'out of the way', so to speak. I mean, a court case, Jilly? C'mon, he's already the most notorious man on the planet. What you're doing could just remind everyone of that, and Oswald doesn't want that.

Oh my God. Jilly thought. He's replaced me. With Amelia! Did I really act like her when I worked with him? Jesus, I hope not.

"Look," she began, bracing herself for a fight, "I did represent Oswald Danes for a while, I understand the kind of things he does. I know if he wants me dead, he won't give up until either he's forced to or he's distracted by a better offer. But Amelia, you're replacing me, which makes you the same as me, which means if you don't play your cards exactly right, it'll be easy for you to end up like I am now."

Amelia did her irritatingly smug smirk again and raised her eyebrows. "You mean badly dressed and hiding away in an old apartment with a bunch of complete nutcases? Eh, I do not think so!"

"Firstly, this dress cost more than both your houses put together!" Jilly snapped, tired of the back-and-forward arguing. "Secondly, I'm not 'in hiding', I'm not in this old place by choice and these people are not nutcases!" She cast a slightly apologetic look at Jack. "Well, he is, but the rest of us are perfectly normal!"

"Hey!" Jack cried, outraged, from where he was standing.

Keeping her eyes firmly fixed on Amelia, Jilly replied "Sorry, but it's true."

"Can't argue with her there, Jack." Gwen said. The others nodded.

Amelia sighed. "As interesting as this discussion is, I believe I have a murder to attend to."

Up until that moment, Jilly Kitzinger hadn't actually been scared. Amelia had never been a threat to her before, and she wasn't one now. That is, she wasn't one until she pulled out a gun and pointed it straight at Jilly. That was the moment when Jilly Kitzinger started to feel scared.

"Amelia," she started, using all of her power to stay calm, "Amelia, listen to me. You aren't the sort of person who'd pull that trigger and shoot me. I mean, you say you might, but would you really? I don't think so."

"Oh, I do think so." Amelia replied, her voice quiet yet determined. "Goodbye, Jilly Kitzinger."

Instantly, Amelia found three guns all pointed at her.

"Leave now." Jack ordered. "Or we will shoot."

"And what if I shoot first?" Amelia asked, taking one step closer. The others also took a step forward, almost in a protective fashion. The only things between Jilly and Amelia were four people, one completely unarmed. This did not go unnoticed.

"She," Amelia nodded at Esther, "doesn't even have a gun. What if I shoot her?"

"Don't even try it." The voice came from somewhere just behind Amelia. In the stand-off between Amelia and Torchwood, no-one had noticed Jilly edging round the room to where the small, dark-haired woman stood. "I took self-defence classes once." she continued. "If you even try shooting any of them, I will knock you unconscious."

"You seem to have forgotten, Jilly, but we were in the same class." Amelia replied, and in one swift, unidentifiable motion, she flung Jilly across the room. Esther, the only one who wasn't preoccupied pointing a gun at Amelia, reached out and grabbed her to stop her hitting the wall. She was sure that hadn't exactly done much good to Jilly's injured ankle, either.

"Look, I don't care who you're working for, if you don't get outta here, I'm gonna make sure you end up Cat. One." Rex told her, not making any attempt to lower his gun, despite the fact that Amelia was obviously slightly more dangerous than they had first thought. "I'm warning you, Amelia, you better leave."

Amelia shrugged. "Fine. I'm late for a thing anyway. But don't think this is the last time you'll see me. I'll find you again, when and where you least expect it." She turned to the two men behind her. "C'mon, boys, let's leave them in peace…for now." With that, she turned and marched purposefully out, the men following. A silence followed, Gwen being the first to break it.

"What the bloody hell just happened?"