Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or Torchwood, both belong to the BBC and their respected writers. But I do own Gaia! :b
Swinging the SUV round Jack halted the vehicle centimetres away from the side entrance to the warehouse. He pulled the Webley out of its holster and turned to Gaia, who now had her Torchwood standard gun out. "Ready?" He asked, still giving her the option to wait here if need be.
"Ready!" She said and opened the door.
The pair walked over to the side entrance and leant their backs either side of the door. Jack counted to three. On 3 he kicked down the door and they both bursted in, Jack fired into the air to attract people's attention. He unfortunately attracted Owen's attention as well, taking it off the Weevil; it was that moment the Weevil chose to pounce.
"OWEN!" Gaia yelled. Ignoring the other fleeing people, she ran over to the cage entrance and blasted the lock open.
The Weevil inside seems to sense Gaia as she walked into the cage, it dropped Owen and started to cower away. Gaia gave the creature a fierce look and ran over to the collapsed Owen. "Owen, Owen. Stay with me now." Gaia urged supporting Owens body. Owen mumbled something, his words slurring making no sense. He had blood pooling from a very nasty bite on his neck, all in all he needed to get to hospital...fast. Gaia lowered her hand over Owen's bite, through ways she could even understand, she began to heal the punctured artery, causing the bleeding to lessen. She could do more, but her fatigue was wearing her down, they need to get him to a hospital. "Jack! Help me, now!" Gaia shouted, taking a piece of cloth from her jacket pocket (bigger on the inside pockets thanks to the Tardis) and applying pressure to Owen's bite.
Jack walked up to the entrance of the cage as the Weevil started to edge closer to Gaia. Hearing the shuffling foot steps of the Weevil, Gaia turned around and growled. It wasn't a growl a human could even make; it was a growl an animal would make in defence, in dominance. Just by the growl the Weevil cowered back into the corner of the cage, head between its knees, hands on the back of its neck. It knew who the dominant species in the cage was. If Jack hadn't known Gaia wasn't human, he'd have defiantly had known by now.
Jack skirted his way over to Gaia, trying to remain as far away as possible from the Weevil. "Come on, up we get." Jack said. He crouched down and picked up Owen, bridal style. Oh the taunts Jack could think of to tell the medic when he recovered where going to be priceless. He noticed Owen's bleeding had lessened considerably and how tired Gaia suddenly looked. He knew what she had done. She had done it before in front of him. He may have known Gaia for centuries, but she did never cease to amaze him.
Walking out of the cage the pair assumed everyone had run off, but one remained. His name was Mark Lynch.
He had hidden in the shadows whilst everyone else had run, this was his business. If it was going to end, then he was going to end with it. So when Jack and Gaia had taken the unconscious Owen out of the cage, he struck. He ran past the pair and back into the cage, closing it behind him.
"What are you doing? It'll kill you!" Gaia shouted in protest. Mark smirked.
"Yes it will." Mark replied eyeing the Weevil cowering in the corner.
Jack turned his back on the man, he wasn't worth it. He made his way to the side entrance and lay Owen across the back seats of the SUV. Then hopped into the driver's seat and waited for Gaia.
Gaia stood rooted on the spot in the warehouse. "Mark, what are you doing?" She asked again this time addressing by his name. This causes Mark to look up from the Weevil.
"Tell me this. We've had 100's of people fighting this thing in here, yet it's never acted like this. Just who are you?" Mark asked venomously. Gaia could feel the anger bubbling inside of her. She knew Jack's intentions, she knew he was waiting and she knew every moment she wasted in here with Mark, Owen was slowly dying. What did she do, in a vain attempt try and save 2 lives, which would most likely lead to 2 deaths, did she stay or save 1 life for definite by going.
She already knew her choice.
"I hope you find what you're looking for!" She spat making her anger evident and turned her back on Mark and the Weevil and marched out of the room. She felt the human life leave the room as she did.
Jack sat next to Owen's bed, they had taken him to Cardiff General, they were used to patching up Torchwood staff. Gaia was sat on his lap, her head resting on his chest, fast asleep. It was only 9 pm, but apparently she hadn't slept since she was last in Cardiff, which was 3 days by her body clock. He sighed.
"You're a very bad pillow, you keep moving." Gaia said, staying in the same position on Jack's chest.
"I'm going to take that at as a compliment." Jack said chuckling. Gaia opened her eyes and sat up.
"How can you take that as a compliment?" She asked raising an eyebrow. Before Jack could reply Owen groaned.
"Owen..." Gaia said getting to her feet.
"...Where am I?" Owen groaned, squinting his eyes.
"Cardiff General. You were pretty beat up!" Gaia said, calmly.
"Gaia? When did you get back?" He mumbled.
"Few hours ago." Gaia replied.
"If I wasn't in pain I'd be grilling you right now!" Owen said, his anger starting to become evident. Gaia stiffened.
"I won't bother next time then." She spat and stormed out of the ward, heading back to the SUV.
Gaia walked up to the SUV and climbed into the passenger seat. She left the door open to let a breeze in. She knew she shouldn't have let her anger get the better of her like that. She had been told by everyone she let her anger get the better of her too often. Her parents told her all too often. She smiled a little at the memory. She missed them, all of them. She was the last of her kind and how the universe seemed bigger now she was alone. To the average species 17 years would be a long time to get over the fact, although many never would, but to a planet-keeper 17 years was nothing. It was a blip, a millisecond compared to their long lives. It could take millennia for Gaia to finally accept what had happened to Starnet, but like the many she doubted she ever would.
Jack left the hospital, Gaia's angry outburst powering his own anger at the Torchwood medic, who apparently didn't want to be saved. He looked up from his feet and caught sight of Gaia. She was sitting in the SUV, sunroof open staring up at the stars. He sighed. He thought he had it hard. He may have lost his home all those years ago, but Gaia had lost everything. Her home, her family, her friends, her entire species, yet she sat there, usually with a cheerful composition, not wallowing in self pity. So why should he. He's `Captain Jack Harkness` for Christ's sakes.
Jack walked over to the driver's side of the SUV and climbed in. Gaia put her seatbelt on but kept her eyes fixed on the sky through the sun roof. Jack just assumed she was watching the stars, she had much better eyesight then him and probably could see a planet or something, but that wasn't what she was looking at. It was a satellite, a satellite she didn't remember being sent into orbit, much less a satellite with a perception filter.
Gaia sat on one of the swiverly chairs in the hub, wearing an oversized hoodie. She had one knee to her chest, tucked under her jumper; she had her hood up with one ear of her iPod in. She was currently going through recent news articles on satellite launches. The only coherent one was the launch of the Archangel network, by a Mr Harold Saxon. She had never heard of the man, which had her worried.
She pulled the headphone out of her ear and turned to Owen who was on the couch. "Owen who's..." But she stopped when she saw Owen was asleep, mouth ajar on the couch. She rolled her eyes and turned back to the monitor.
Something was wrong about Harold Saxon. He seemed to have the perfect life, too perfect. Try as she might, she also couldn't find an image of him, none. Found pictures of his wife, but none of him, which was strange.
Gaia went onto the most recent news story. It was from a few minutes ago, an intercept from the metropolitan police. Apparently a Professor Lazarus was doing an experiment grand revealing tonight. The apparent answer to immortality, but it had backfired and he had become a `code 568`, AKA he had gone berserk. Civilians were being treated by local ambulances, but Lazarus had escaped police custody; a while male about 6ft with brown messy hair in a tux ran after him, followed by two dark females of 5ft 2' and 5ft 4' in evening attire.
Although slightly concerned about the whole incident Gaia smiled a little. It was being handled by the best. She couldn't help but imagine the Doctor all dressed up in his tux.
She was quickly snapped out of it by an alarm from Tosh's work station. It woke Owen up. "What in the bloody hell is that?" He said groggily.
"Tosh's rift monitor. It's been going off more often since we sent Diane back." Ianto said inspecting the monitor.
"Can you turn it off?" Owen barked, ignoring Ianto's last comment. Putting her leg down Gaia pushed her chair over to Tosh's workstation. After typing in a chain of commands, the alarms stopped. "Thank you!" Owen said dramatically and flopped back down onto the couch.
Gaia rolled back to her desk. Jack and Tosh had gone to check out a disturbance at an old dance hall. Apparently the neighbours had reported hearing 1940's music coming from it, but every time someone would check it out they'd find nothing. So Tosh and Jack had decided to have a look, checking for rift activity.
"I should call Tosh." Ianto said and pulled a mobile out of his pocket. Gaia turned back to the work station and decided to do a bit more research on a certain Harold Saxon. Ianto meanwhile was on the phone calling Tosh, but all he got was a dead line.
"The line's dead." Ianto stated. Gaia abruptly turned back to Ianto.
"Okay, let's have a look where this rift spike was located, because I have a bad feeling I know where." Gaia said, standing up and running over to Tosh's desk. Ianto came up and stood behind her.
"Oh..." Gaia said as the computer displayed the location of the rift spike. "...this is bad."
"Can you 2 be any louder? Some of us are trying to sleep here!" Owen barked, remaining still of the couch.
"How about you get off your lazy arse and help! Tosh and Jack have just been pulled through the rift and you're moaning about a bit of noise!" Gaia retorted. Owen Harper could do many incredible things, one of those being an absolute idiot. Ianto chuckled as Owen went white at Gaia's reply.
"I'll call Gwen and tell her to check it out!" Ianto said pulling his mobile out again and calling Gwen.
"Tell her to be careful." Gaia said, turning back to the monitor. Ianto nodded. Gaia began to research the dance hall.
Owen slowly got up from the couch and walked behind Gaia. "Are you peed off with me or something?" Owen asked. Gaia didn't take her eyes of the screen.
"In a matter of the word, yes." Gaia replied.
"Why? I mean I know I act like a prat, but not even Jack can hold a grudge for this long... I mean what gives you the right to even be peed off with me. I didn't disappear for weeks and turn up in the middle of the night... You've been on record for Torchwood for almost 20 years yet you don't look any older than 18 yourself. Just who are you?" Owen ranted.
"You want to know who I am." Gaia spat, turning away from the monitor.
"Yes. Not being kept in the dark for once would be a bloody relief."
"Alright then, I'm a 2 billion year old alien who's half a universe from home. I met Jack when I was a few millennia and we've been friends ever since. When my planet was destroyed in war, a friend brought me to Earth. I am Earth's keeper and know everyone who's ever stepped on the planet. A human life is but a spec compared to mine, so what gives me the right you ask... well I think that just about covers it!" Gaia finished and turned back to the monitor and continued working.
Owen stood there mouth agape in shock. How did he reply to that? And for once in his life he stepped down off his pedestal and walked away.
Things had gone from bad to worse. Jack and Tosh had fallen through the rift and ended up in the 1940's and had no means to return back to the present day. Ianto had got Gwen in to look around the dance hall but she found no sign of Jack and Tosh except the SUV parked outside. Although she did meet a rather unsettling character called Billis Manger. Gaia knew who he was but knew he had a secret, a secret so dark, so concealed that not even she knew what it was. And that in itself was worrying.
They may have managed to get Tosh and Jack out of the 1940's and back into the 21st century, but had to open the rift in the process. Gaia had tried to convince Owen and Ianto that there was another way to do this, all she needed was the dance hall's coordinates and she could go get Tosh and Jack herself. She had almost convinced Ianto, but as time passed and the search for the Jack's and Tosh' coordinates became more and more impossible; Owen became more and more impatient. He ended up whacking Ianto over the head and handcuffing Gaia to the handrail leading to the autopsy room. Then he opened the Rift, not knowing what could come through.
"I think we did alright...opening the rift." Owen announced, to Ianto and Gaia. Ianto had come around, a slight bump rising on his head and was now unlocking Gaia from the railings.
"Still no sign of Billis." Ianto murmured. Owen ignored his response.
"Good thing I had those handy." Owen said pointing at the handcuffs. "God knows what that thing could have done." Owen remarked snidely.
"Thing? What thing?" Ianto commented helping Gaia to her feet. He then walked her over to one of the workstations and cleaned up her bloody wrist from where it had been cut by the cuffs. She pulled away insisting that she'd be fine, before having a look at the large bump on his head. He winced as she applied an ice pack to it.
"Her... she's an alien. She told me." Owen said pointing to Gaia, who was wrapping her wrist in a thin bandage. She could easily heal it but that would only fuel Owen's fire.
"What are you talking about?" Ianto asked, holding the ice pack to his bump.
"I think the rift energy has got to your head Owen." Gaia added. "I'm human. Just like you."
"No your not. You said earlier that you're some 2 billion old alien thing." Owen barked, getting defensive.
"Who's some billion year old alien thing? And what happened to you 2?" Jack said as he walked into the hub, followed by Tosh and Gwen.
"Jack!" Gaia said happily, running over to him for a hug. He swept her off her feet. When he finally lowered Gaia down she turned to Tosh and gave her a hug. "You 2 okay?" She asked. Tosh nodded.
"Yep fine and dandy. But who is a 2 billion year old alien Owen was talking about? And why are you two hurt?" Jack asked, purposely avoiding making eye contact with Gaia.
"We're fine and..." Gaia replied but Owen cut her off.
"She is. She said when we were trying to get you lot back, that she was some alien thing an Earth-keeper or what ever." Owen barked pointing at Gaia.
"Owen... are you alright?" Gwen asked, considerably worried about the mental welfare of her colleague.
"Oh don't give me that. We've all known she wasn't human... we've all seen her records. She's been here 20 years yet she doesn't even look 20! She disappears and reappears when she likes and no one batters an eyelid when she does! I mean we've done scans over the hub looking for human life and it never counts her, all of us but not her. Yet when we do blood tests it says human. So how in the hell is that possible?" Owen barked.
"Alright that's enough. Owen you're obviously over worked, go home. Take the next few days off... that's an order!" Jack commanded. Owen stared at Jack, who had put a protective arm around Gaia. He then stormed out of the hub, the door rolling closed behind him.
The group remain still in silence, no one knowing what to say. Gwen, Tosh and Ianto all knew what Owen was talking about though; they had all suspected it as well. Just what were their bosses hiding from them? Jack tried to break the silence. "Who's up for some pizza?" He asked cheerfully. No one responded.
Gaia sat in her room that night, contemplating what Owen had said. She shouldn't let it get to her like this, she knew the risks that came with staying on Earth, her and Jack had made the decision to keep her species secret when she first arrived. But this team was different; they were more alert than all the others. They noticed all her differences to them, her eating habits, her sleeping habits. She had managed to hack their accounts and as a group had managed to written quite an extensive biography about her. She admitted she was impressed. Thankfully though, they hadn't figured out her biological differences, if they worked that out... trouble wouldn't cover it.
But there was something else, she couldn't help but feel something nagging at the back of her skull that she was missing something, something important, something that was staring at her in the face. And to be honest it was giving her a headache. Which in itself wasn't good, planet-keepers didn't get headaches. It was impossible in the same way humans couldn't get telepathic illness, it just didn't happen.
Gaia was sitting at her desk in her room, leaning back with her feet up. She was massaging her temples, hoping to relieve the pain. She needed to get out. Not just out of the hub, but out of the 21st century all together. Not forever...just for a holiday of sorts. She missed those days when she was younger that her and Jack would travel amongst the stars. Yeah he had been a con man and they had been arrested quite a few times due to his dodgy deals, but the places they saw and the laughs they had... she would do anything to let that happen again.
This is when she realised her escape was staring at her in the face...
...her vortex manipulator, sitting on the desk in front of her. It was much better than Jack's, the only time it had gone wrong was her own doing. All she needed was some coordinates and then she could get out of here, for a while at least. She could have week's worth of holidays and come back here with only 5 minutes passing. But where would she get coordinates from?
As if by magic her mobile chose that minute to go off. Pulling it out of her pocket she noticed it was a text from an unknown number. She opened the message wearily and was shock to fine it was a set of coordinates... with a kiss. What did she do? Put in these coordinates from an unknown source and hope for the best or find another set, which could take weeks.
It was a no brainer. She grabbed her jacket, iPod, phone and gun off her desk then typed in the coordinates. She put her gun in its holster around her leg and her phone and iPod in her jacket pockets. With a final glance around her room and down at the, now empty, hub, Gaia pressed the button and disappeared.
Gaia landed quite graciously in a bedroom, which was a first. Vortex manipulators were infamous for their bumpy landings. She looked at the room, guessing by the decor of the bedroom she assumed she was on a cruise liner of sorts. She flipped open her vortex and was about to run a scan of her environment when a woman walked in.
"Oh, you're here. Put this dress on and meet me by the bar we've got work to do. Just turn left and follow the corridor to the dance hall, the bars on your right. See you in a minute." The Woman said handing Gaia a gold cocktail dress, a pair of heels and a bag. Gaia stood their shocked. Who was that woman?
Deciding she better do as she's told Gaia slipped on the dress, which fit her perfectly, and placed her old clothes in the bag. It was bigger on the inside so she had no doubt which wardrobe it came from.
Gaia quickly wound up her hair in a bun and let the hair fall forward a bit at the front. Placing the heels on the woman had left; she looked in the mirror again. She scrubbed up pretty well considering. She kept the vortex on her wrist and gun in its holster around her leg under her dress. She then left the room, following the woman's instructions to the dance hall. Not knowing what she had gotten herself into.
Walking into the dance hall, Gaia was awestruck. This was certainly first class. The room was... wow. Gaia tore her eyes away from the dance floor and looked to the right. The woman was there calling her over. Gaia walked slowly over and sat on the bar stool next to her. "You okay sweetie you looked terrified?" The woman asked. Gaia nodded slowly in reply.
"So where are we? Have we done Darium yet?" The woman asked, reading from a small blue diary she had pulled out of her bag. Gaia gave her a blank look. "Obviously not? Wow early days then?" She said and flipped a few pages in her diary. "What about Paris?" She asked. Gaia gave another blank look. "Oh look at you, you're so young!" The woman said stroking Gaia's cheek. Gaia felt slightly uncomfortable.
"I'm really not." Gaia said moving her head out of the woman's hand.
"Gaia do you know who I am?" The woman asked slowly, like she already knew the answer but was scared at it being said.
"I'm sorry; I don't know who you are. Well I do, but I've never met you before!" Gaia replied. The woman's face dropped a little.
"Oh..." She said and put the diary back in her bag. She smiled. "Dr River Song." Dr Song said holding out her hand, Gaia shook it.
"Gaia." Gaia replied. "So what are we doing here? I'm guessing it's not for the party." She said, indicating at the dancing couples on the dance floor. They were dancing to some song Gaia didn't recognise, all she could pick out was 3 words from the chorus `Time of Angels`. If only she knew the irony in that song choice.
"No. We're going to attract someone's attention." River said and started to walk off, Gaia quickly followed. River led Gaia down corridor after corridor.
"So let me get this straight..." Gaia began as she stood outside the door keeping watch. "Your going to graffiti a message on the ship's black box, in some attempt that 1000's of years in the future a certain person, who you refuse to tell me whom, will find, understand and come get us." Gaia finished.
"Yes, sweetie. Now shh...I'm busy." River replied from inside the small room with the black box. She pulled out a pair of black shades and a small laser.
Gaia raised her eyebrows at River's response. No one spoke to her like that, Jack did but he'd known her for years. Who exactly did this woman think she was?
Two minutes later River walked out of the room, winked at the camera and dragged Gaia down the corridor to the airlock, right around the same time a well dressed man and 2 guards came round the corner. The guard's guns aimed at the 2 girls.
"Dr Song, why am I not surprised?" The man begun. "It seems you had an accomplice as well. You and Mrs Smith are well known for your crimes." The man said. River and Gaia spun around to face them, backs to the air lock.
"Mrs?"Gaia said raising an eyebrow. She was defiantly not a Mrs.
"You know me, always making friends." River said with a wink then looked up a little. "476-delta-quad-slash- acorn. Oh and an air corridor would be lovely dear." River said winking at the security camera above the man's head. The man wasn't amused.
"Enough of the games, Dr Song. You and Mrs Smith will be taken to the hold until the police arrive." The man replied sternly and the two guards took aim. River laughed.
"As I told you on the dance floor, you may want to hold onto something." River said bluntly. Then as she said it the air lock flew open hurtling Gaia and River into space.
The 2 girls floated in the midst of space for all but a second, when they were pulled towards a rather familiar blue box. A man Gaia didn't recognise yanked open the door and pulled the 2 girls in. They landed rather awkwardly on top of him. "Gaia...River?" The man said. River and Gaia abruptly stood up; River turned back out to the doorway.
"Follow that ship." She said.