Chapter Sixteen
Martha ducked again as another of those lizards...no Cynrog lumbered past. She suppressed a shudder...Cynrog, of all of the things that wanted a piece of the Doctor, it had to be the Cynrog.
As she watched the lizard disappear round a corner, question started flooding into her head.
Why were they here? Did they want the Doctor for the same reason?
She shook her head... no, that couldn't be it. As far as she knew, Balor was still locked in the canister the Doctor had put him in.
Then what? Could it be revenge, were the Cynrog that petty, perhaps? But then surely they would have just killed him, and what did it have to do with White Coat?
She froze again at the crunch of boots on rubble, and tensed ready to pounce if the owner of the boots came too close.
She only relaxed, when a familiar voice hissed. "Martha!"
She stepped out, just as Ianto was emerging from behind a half ruined concrete pillar.
"Over here," she hissed back, and gestured for Ianto to hurry over, as the sound of many boots filled the air.
Ianto was so relieved when he saw Martha step from behind the ruined wall of the building.
He'd just about given up hope of finding her, having spent the last few minutes trying to avoid the battle that had been raging, then UNIT troops, and then lizards in armour.
He had no idea what species the lizards were, but they definitely did not look friendly.
So he was overjoyed to see Martha, and he sprinted over the distance between his hiding place and hers.
"Did you see those lizard things? What the hell are they?"
"They're called Cynrog. Remember when Jack and I were lost in the rainforest, it was because of them."
Ianto frowned, yes... now he remembered, they had...
"They want the Doctor don't they?" he said.
"They must..."
Martha never finished her sentence as two things happened at once.
The owners of the boots poured round a corner, dozens of black uniformed UNIT soldiers, who suddenly looked up as something appeared over the roof of the building.
It looked like the same craft Martha had seen way back at Cold Runs Deep, which meant it could only be one person...White Coat!
"No, dear god, not him!"
Three dozen UNIT soldiers looked as one in the direction the words had come from.
"You behind the wall, out with your hands up! We won't hesitate to blast that wall apart if you don't!"
Martha frowned, she recognized that voice, that distinct Welsh female voice...Gwen!
She looked at Ianto, who had the same look of relief on his face, and they both moved to their own edge of the ruined wall, and moved out into the open, hands above their heads.
The soldiers tensed as they walked out, and several shuffled forward, restraints in hand.
"No, there's no need, they're Torchwood," the woman in charge ordered and walked over to the pair.
When she was a few paces away, she let a huge grin break onto her face.
"Oh my god, I thought I was too, the place looks like Custer's Last Stand."
Gwen looked behind them and frowned. "Where are Jack and the Doctor?"
Ianto and Martha looked at each other and then at Gwen.
Jack paled and took in a sharp breath, not understanding why the Doctor still wanted him to kill him...no murder him.
"Why?" he asked, his voice choked with disbelief.
But the Doctor didn't answer, he remained silent, his back now turned to Jack, the picture of abject misery.
Jack sat back, knowing that he could ask the question a million time, and never get an answer. If the Doctor wasn't going to answer, he wasn't going to answer.
"Wonder where he's taking us, not to the Cynrog, that's for sure," he said, glancing over at the Doctor's still form.
However the Doctor hadn't moved, stubborn to the last Jack thought, so he spoke again.
"I said Cynrog, you know, big lizard people, long on vengeance, short on hygiene."
Still silence from the Doctor, so Jack gave up and sat back against the wall of the shuttle cargo bay.
His mind wandered, back to when they'd never heard of White Coat, and the Doctor had been the free-spirited Time Lord that had travelled through space, blazing a trail of light as he went.
I really should have killed him, when he had the chance, oh so long ago, back in the Hub. Then none of this would have happened, and the Doctor would have begged him to kill him.
He looked over at the Doctor whose back was still turned to him, looking more like a ghost than a person.
"I should have never listened to you. I should have killed him. Sometime killing is the only way."
He wasn't expecting an answer, so he was caught off-guard when the Doctor spoke.
"No, killing is never the answer. Killing him may have stopped what happened, but it may not have, so no, you shouldn't have killed him."
The Doctor turned to face Jack, and Jack could see his face was no longer translucent, but still pale.
He had a strange look in his eyes, a mixture of pain, sorrow and resignation.
"What's meant to happen will happen, not even I can stop it."
Jack looked at the Doctor. "You can't believe that, all that pain, the torture, the things he made happen."
"What, letting the darker side of me out, that's part of me Jack, and you know it. It's always there, waiting for the crack in the door, the unlocked window. One day it might be all I am."
"No, I won't believe that!" Jack said sharply.
"Then one day you may live to regret not killing me. Do you know why I asked you to kill me?"
Jack looked at the Doctor. "You have to regenerate to get rid of that thing inside you," he said quietly.
The look the Doctor gave Jack was one of overwhelming sadness.
"I'm sorry Jack, but no. It's the thing inside me that's holding that back. Once White Coat removes it, I'll be gone and he will be back. I don't want that, not again."
The Doctor stopped for a few seconds before speaking again...his voice was soft, laced with sadness.
"I'd rather be dead."
Jack stopped breathing, unable to take a breath as the Doctor said those words, ones he never thought would pass the Doctor's lips.
"You can't mean that," he finally said.
The Doctor went to reply, but the shuttle suddenly lurched to one side, and there was the ominous groan of overstressed metal.