A/N:- HAPPY READING!
Disclaimer: Doctor Who is (NOT) mine! :P
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
One week later 21:43
"Jack, the Rift readings are going mental!" Martha exclaimed hurriedly into her Bluetooth earpiece, scanner in hand. "The scanner's saying something's going on in the Hub. Massive energy spikes. Is everything OK down there? JACK? JACK!?"
"What's Jack say?" Mickey persisted, craning his head back to face Martha.
"I don't know!" Martha yelled in anxiety, causing Mickey to jump back. "Sorry… Jack's not replying. I don't know what's going on down there. It's all static!"
"Have you tried to get the Doctor?"
"He's not picking up my phone."
"So where to: the Hub or the Weevil rave down the ASDA?" Ianto asked hurriedly, hands tightly gripped on the SUV's steering wheel and eyes quickly flickering to the mirror, as he swerved a corner. "I say we head for ASDA to beat the traffic but…"
"The Hub!"
"The Weevil rave!"
Martha and Mickey shot each other wary glares, but Martha was the first to speak, "If something's wrong in the Hub then it's our duty to help our team-mates."
"Yeah," Mickey stated, "But isn't it Torchwood's duty to protect the Cardiff an' not jus' care 'bout ourselves," A sudden thought struck him and he muttered something only Ianto could hear – so he thought. "'Sides, chasing Weevils around a busy supermarket is gonna be much more fun."
"I heard that," Martha warned him, with the hint of a smile. "I still say we check on Jack first."
"What if someone's dyin' right now?"
"Why don't we just do this the sensible way and toss a coin?" Ianto settled.
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
Back in the Hub, all that could be seen was an enormous pulse of stunning white light and the estranged wailings of Janet and the other Weevils, down in Torchwood's basement.
"Martha? Martha? Can you hear me? MARTHA?" Jack sighed, broke the connection with Martha on his Bluetooth earpiece, and strode over to the Doctor. "I've lost connection with the rest of the team."
The Doctor just laughed happily, "She's creating a gateway between the two Universes!"
Jack watched intently as Gwen was surrounded by light of a yellowy colour, like a giant halo around her, as the Welsh girl caught herself in trance and started adjusting the air in front of her face.
"Is it safe?" Jack asked in concern.
"A new window is being unlocked and Gwen's siphoning a new opening in a new environment which hasn't been touched but this sort of technology before, so there's bound to be effects and a rebound outcome spouting from the multiplex core of the Rift, but…" the Doctor explained wordily. "Yes, it's safe. The most danger is only here, in this Hub but Cardiff and the Earth itself won't be at risk."
"And Gwen?" Jack enquired, "Doctor, answer me, is Gwen safe?"
The Doctor paused and a dark grim look passed his features. The Captain was just about to protest and give the Doctor a taste of his own medicine when…
"Jack, I've told you before and I'm telling you again, this hasn't ever been done before – not on Earth, anyway and there's never been a human this powerful to be able to manipulate such power," he took a deep breath. "Things could go wrong and there could be a mental backfire – I don't know. But, trust me Captain; I'll do everything in my power to ensure that your co-worker is out of harm's way. I won't let one life go, just to save another. Even if it is Rose, 'cos it doesn't work like that. I can promise you that."
"What the hell?" Captain Jack exclaimed suddenly, stumbling backwards.
"The world with zeppelins…" Gwen whispered eerily, dropping the Life Knife onto the floor with a heavy CLANG.
The Doctor turned to the focus of his attention and punched the air, grinning. It was done. The light was evaporating and the only light left was the yellowy-white glow encasing the five-foot window that stood proud and glowing in the light. Through the window was a totally different scenery – the scenery into the different world.
Gwen gasped and stumbled out of her trance, staggering backwards but luckily falling into the grateful arms of the Doctor, as she fell.
"Gwen Cooper," the Doctor smiled, pulling her back onto her feet. "You just opened the gateway into another Universe!"
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
"Heads it is," Ianto said, nodding and quickly stepping onto the brakes – swivelling the Hub round into the other direction.
Mickey scowled and muttered darkly, "I still say we should go bust some Weevils."
"Would it make you better, if I told you that the rest of our co-workers could be dead?" Martha suggested hopefully and Mickey immediately shut up, suddenly worried about what Martha just said. "Thank you. Ianto, you wouldn't mind sending a transmission to that supermarket to get everyone to evacuate the building until Torchwood gets there, would you?"
"Already done," Ianto informed.
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
"I did that," Gwen muttered, shaking her head in disbelief. It was more of a statement than a question. "I still can't believe it – I opened a portal into a different Universe."
"The world with zeppelins," the Doctor said, repeating Gwen's earlier words. His mind rung out with something else, the world with Rose Tyler.
Crap, what the blimming hell am I s'posed to tell Rhys: 'Rhys, did I tell you, I'm not only a Torchwood officer any more who battles aliens but they call me the 'Chosen One' an' I can now open portals into different Universes an' worlds with a knife. All thanks to a Time Lord who's got a blue box that can travel in time '"
"Nah," the Doctor chirped nonchalantly. "Just tell him I'm an alien with five eyes, a lust for human blood and a tail, who happened to have a time machine that's as big as an asteroid," He winked at her mischievously, "You'll get a bigger reaction."
Gwen opened her mouth to protest but Captain Jack interrupted, "Do we go through?"
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
Ianto carefully parked the car in its designated spot and they all jumped out. They filed to the fake Tourism Office and Ianto, after a long lengthy moment of scrabbling about in his pockets and, deciding which the correct key was, slotted the key snugly into the lock, and unlocked the door.
"I hope they're OK," Martha said, sighing.
She checked the scanner to find that the energy spike from the Rift had died down a little, but still dominated the central part of the Hub and seemed to be causing a great rise in room temperature. Martha tapped her Bluetooth earpiece, yet still only heard static and a lot of rumbling.
"Still no response."
Ianto quickly tapped out the correct sequence on the little computerised security lock and it beeped politely, unleashing the locks, as the huge metal cog – that played the role of a door, chugged slowly open.
"Ladies first," he said, clearing his throat and beckoning for Martha to go through first, who teased him momentarily and was soon followed by Mickey, then Ianto himself.
Reaching for the stun gun in her leather holster, that the Doctor never failed to nag her about, Martha crept forward, inserting the code for the last security door and watched cautiously as it slid open. Mickey and Ianto flowed onwards, Mickey also armed with his supplied stun gun and Ianto armed with the knowledge of how to punch somebody in the face, without breaking his own fist.
"OH MY…" Martha's voice rang out from the inside of the Hub and the two men rushed to her side, only to gawp with her.
They watched in shock one of the Doctor's long pinstripe-clad legs disappear through what looked like a window, surrounded by a throbbing angelic yellowy-white glow. After a couple of clickers on the alien scanner, with a 'little' help from Mickey, Martha drunk in the fact that there was nobody else inside the Hub, except those three. Well, excluding Janet, the other Weevils and the pet Pterodactyl – then there was nobody else except them. It appeared that they had all stepped through the 'window' type thing and into the light. The scanner refused to tell them what the window was and kept insisting that it didn't exist, even though it very well did.
"Wha's in there?" Mickey said aloud.
"It could be anything…"
"I'm going after them!" Martha shouted in warning, as she quickly strode off but craned her head back round. "You coming or what?" snapping out of her awed stupor, darted down the metal-grating steps, and vanished into the light. She had to do this.
"Martha?!" Ianto called worriedly after her, but the girl had already gone.
"Where d'you think you're goin'?" Mickey asked, pointing an accusing finger at the man in question – Ianto Jones, who was currently jogging down the steps and into the commotion of light too. "There could be anything through there! It's dangerous! You can't just go…"
But Ianto had already apologised and went in after Martha.
Mickey took a deep breath and shook his head determinedly, "My Tin Dog days are so over."
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
Gwen opened her eyes again, as she stepped onto the other side and gasped in awe. She looked back into the window and met the Hub, right in front of her. Yet, she was in a completely different surrounding. In a different Universe. Aliens she could deal with, but a different Universe altogether?! It was mental. Insanely mental. She grinned weakly at the Doctor who'd proceeded to step through after her.
"This is bonkers, this is," she breathed finally, gazing around in the darkness.
"Where the hell is this place?" Jack piped up, gesturing the dark area around him. The whole place was covered head to foot in huge metal filing cabinets, stacked against each other and only illuminated by the pulsing light of the Time Window.
"Looks like some sort of," He pulled out his Sonic Screwdriver and pointed it to the above, grinning to himself as dozens of lights flickered on. "Storage facility…"
"S'bit… dull," Gwen added, "I mean, where is everyone?"
"So this is Torchwood, parallel Universe, yeah?" Jack verified, hands in pockets as he strolled casually around the place – kicking cabinets and rapping on walls as he went.
"Not necessarily," stated the Time Lord, walking away from them and offhandedly examining the place. "I mean, yes, it could be but parallel Universes – there's thousands of them, each one stacked up against the other and all completely, completely different, one little change could be the biggest difference. You never know. This could be Torchwood or this could be something else, a hospital, a school, a library, an abandoned warehouse… Anything, in fact, anything at all..."
"Martha, how nice of you to join us," Jack interrupted, grinning madly and encasing the newcomer into a bone-crushing hug. The Doctor whizzed around and stared at Martha in surprise and smiled – the girl probably just blundered through the Time Window without thinking. Typically Martha. Always the inquisitive one, eager to explore.
"Umm, could someone tell me where we are?" Ianto's voice rang on loudly, causing an echo to bounce off the walls. The Captain grinned toothily at him and nodded.
"You Mister, scared half to death," Martha grumbled defensively, prodding the Captain in the chest. "We all thought you were dead."
"More like just you," teased a familiar voice that the Time Lord immediately recognised as Mickey's. "Me and Ianto wanted to go Weevil chasin'! I told you, they'd be all right!"
Mickey suddenly jerked to a stop, realised his new surroundings and spun around – gasping at the sight of the Torchwood Hub through the window. "Woah...."
"Woah, indeed, Mr Mickey," the Doctor said, making his presence known as he strolled towards them.
"We're in Pete's world."
"You mean…" Mickey said, eyes bulging.
The Doctor nodded and erupted into a steady grin, "We're getting Rose back!"
"I don't think it's going to be so easy," Ianto put in.
"And why's that?" the Doctor boomed, frowning at the man and slightly hurt.
There was a scratchy clearing of throat behind the Doctor and he froze.
"Her," Ianto concluded, pointing at the figure behind them all.
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
A/N:- Reviews anyone?
=D =D =D =D =D