Yeah, I should've made it clear that Toshiko, Ianto and Owen are in the Hub, not out in the car. I know it's an SUV, but with all the stuff they have, I think they had the maximum load with the five who went in...besides, getting a sick person near potentially-dangerous situation while still affected by LSD? Not happening, especially since it's Ianto we're talking about. Sorry.
And the fight somewhat depicted here happens in So Much Dust, I just deal with the get-away.

Fourteen: Lady So Divine

Marius tried to gain the strength to speak, but the man (Avery?) holding him stopped his voice. "Shh. You've done enough. Saying anything won't save us, Marius."

Lilith glared at the angelic-looking man with the demonic grin as he looked all of them over. "Three lower-beings...two Humans and a Time Lord, and one who can survive anything." His grin seemed to split his face in two. "I'll have so much fun with you."

"You're not going to get a chance," Lilith muttered, her voice angry and the tone causing Ulamo to look over at her.

"Ah, the abomination speaks. I was wondering when my fellow convict would get around to threats." Ulamo moved forward a step, looking over Lilith as if examining a toy or item on sale, his grin never wavering. "And what will you threaten me with? I have an upper hand."

Lilith tilted her head. "You'd kill us all off so quickly? I didn't think you would be so hasty, Ulamo. From what I've read and seen, you're not."

Ulamo laughed. "Ah, only read? Of course, you're too young to have known what I did without having to read it, aren't you? So what did Avery tell you about me?"

"Everything he could, of course," Lilith answered, her tone changing and Marius shuddering. The erratic drumming was starting again... "You're sick, you know that? It's something, to have an...abomination like me, tell you that, isn't it?"

"Not really," Ulamo answered coolly, his smile never wavering, "I don't consider it that odd, that a thing like you would have ended up a guest of Enforcement. I'm more surprised they," he nodded towards the messy-haired man and Jack, "would tolerate your presence."

Lilith looked over at the man, their eyes meeting, then back to Ulamo. "They only tolerate me when I'm good. You haven't seen me when I'm not...but as Avery told them, I might as well apply for sainthood when I'm being evil, compared to what you've done."

"Lilith," the messy-haired man said in a warning tone.

"You'd better not interfere with this, dear," she muttered, her tone acidic and cold, "the psychotic ones are having a chat."

Ulamo laughed. "How sweet. Not only are you an abomination, you married the one responsible for your condition! Did he know how much he has to thank you for? I can't begin, can I?"

"Oh, I'll start for you. The most recent is the lovely problems with my other Client...infidelity and basically being a psychotic bitch. I believe I even called him a 'house-elf' when I saw him after what the Master did to him. I walked off with a ring belonging to the Master after finding myself with a piece of him in my head too, if you really have to know. Psychic fly-paper, that's me. I can go backwards or forwards, but we do have one thing in common, if you'd like to call it that."

Ulamo's grin grew even more, if that was possible. "The Cybermen. I liked mine. Less waste...and the pain they caused was beautiful. No need for chips, only the instinct to adapt or go insane. Perfect, and yet you changed that, and not on this world but another! I'm rather annoyed at you for that."

"A test is a test. Being told it would be 'safe' by various authorities is different from just going off to try it out. They assured me that the threat would not only be neutralized in a timely manner after the Doctor left, but also that the world was equipped to deal with them. Imagine my surprise when not only do I get the boot, but it turns out the world didn't deal with them and blamed me for the Daleks as well. Had they given me more time, I would be occupying the Void as opposed to a petty blond working on the other side of it."

The Doctor and Jack sent glares to Lilith, but it was obvious that something in that stung the Doctor as well, causing a look of concern as well.

"Of course, you didn't bother, or wouldn't have, would you?"

"The Daleks and Cybermen...four Daleks, a thousand or more Cybermen, and Daleks that fought in the Time War as well?" Ulamo chuckled, "The world and universe would have cried out in pain and suffering. It would've been beautiful. No need for the Master, or his cowardly brilliance. No need for the Doctor and his flightly nature. No more Torchwood, no more anything. Even if they killed the Cybermen, I would have loved to see that."

"Well, you didn't." Lilith's glare became arctic, sub-zero and beyond as she walked two steps towards Ulamo, "You instead were trapped on this backwards planet that spends half of it's time thinking up ways of destroying itself or being manipulated into something suicidal or even just being stupid. I'm amazed Humans have lived this long or are so damned interesting to anyone, my dear Doctor included." Lilith tilted her head to look at Ulamo as she said this, "I hope you have no ideas...you're not leaving here alive."

Ulamo chuckled. "Oh?"

"I might not be good with the Doctor, or anyone else here, and I know for certain that our Captain hates my guts despite everything. The Doctor doesn't want me to touch him anyway. In fact the only person who was able to get past a defense I put up when I was going to keep myself away from anyone was him," her finger moved to point to Marius. "And he didn't deserve to have half the stuff that's gone on happen to him. I hate to say this, but the minute you laid a finger on him, you got on my bad side." She smiled at him, her own smile sadistic, "and as anyone here will tell you, my bad side has a mind of her own."

--

Avery cringed at the idea. Any fight between two beings of Sidra nature was dangerous, but these two? Neither were fully Sidra, and both retained enough power to be potentially damaging to the area, at least. She looked over at Gwen, noting that even if Lilith made a a move, he could get to a position where he could move the group.

Only...the problem was the band on Marius' arm. It prevented most of his Sidra abilities and was erratic. If that was true, then the chance he could even move the group a few feet without leaving Marius behind was slim at best.

The damned thing had to be erratic and also lose or gain signs accordingly. I have to hope for the best, though, and get the rest of these guys to safety, even if it's behind. I'd rather have a wall between us and those two then front-row seats.

Avery looked over at the Doctor, who was watching Lilith intently, then at Jack, who seemed to be waiting for her move. Could he read Avery so well?

"Marius," Avery whispered, watching Ulamo's smile actually waver for a second at Lilith's pronouncement, "I need you to tell Jack and Gwen to get close to me."

"But--."
"It's okay. I have a plan."

Marius nodded weakly, blinking once as she noticed Gwen stiffen but not look around, and Jack shift a little more towards Avery as he felt Marius' life go down a little more.

By all that is Holy and Unholy, you'd better not die on us. Avery made eye contact with the Doctor and motioned, happy that he wasn't level with Lilith as she moved forward again, allowing the Doctor to move back as if from fear of her, the group gathering around Marius as if to protect him.

"Your companions don't seem to trust you," Ulamo noted, "And you are getting too close."

Lilith looked up. A few more steps and she'd be out of range of the place, while the others...weren't so lucky.

Please Elders, let this work.

"You're right. They shouldn't, and truthfully, as long as Marius is able to live, and Avery too, I really don't care."

Avery felt three hands grab hold of him as he disappeared in a rush of gold, feeling slightly dragged down as something pushed with him before the group fell down, the box falling between them and the two other Sidra.

"Lilith!" the Doctor stood quickly while Avery looked at the now-unconscious Marius. The boy had to be as much of a martyr as Lilith...his pulse was still erratic and Avery knew that he need to be brought to the Hub and stabilized quickly before anything else happened.

"She's fine," Avery said, "She was in the right position to get out of the way and deal with Ulamo. I was in the right position to get you out of there. Besides, have you seen two Sidra go at it? We have special rooms for that, and neither are in it. Granted, neither are actually full Sidra anymore..."

"Mind explaining it?" Gwen asked, "for us 'lesser-beings'."

Avery looked at her and said, "Sidra are bio-energy beings. When we decide to self-destruct, the amount of energy that is put out could destroy a solar system."

"WHAT?"

"But Lilith is only part Sidra, thanks to saving the Doctor," Avery went on, "and Ulamo is stuck in one form despite having a few Sidra abilities. So it will be destructive, but not that bad."

"We forgot she has that gun, right?" Jack asked.

The Doctor and Gwen frowned. "What did he mean, it was 'illegal'?" the Doctor asked.

Jack looked at him, as if surprised. "It's a sonic rifle that was changed to feed off the energy of the user to create bullets."

"WHAT? That's illegal in—in..."

"Yeah."

"And she has one?"

"I know." Jack smiled. "I wish there were more...I'd kill someone for a gun like that."

The Doctor shook his head. "I thought you learned your lesson. Right, so, now what?"

Avery looked over at the unconscious Marius, trying to think of how bad he was and how quickly they would need to leave the building. "We need another way out. Any suggestions?"

--

"Tosh, are you there?" Jack's voice caused Ianto to look up as Toshiko answered the phone.

"We're all here. What's wrong?"

"We need a way out. Marius isn't doing to so good and--" the sound of an explosion caused the group to surround the phone.

"What was that?" Owen asked.

"Lilith is a little angry at Ulamo...and she has a sonic shotgun...can we get back to getting the rest of us out of here?"

Toshiko nodded, pulling up the plans for the building. "Right, sorry!" she typed quickly as Ianto said simply, "Can I do anything to help?"

"If you do I have to beat you and Marius," Avery's voice came over the phone, "I don't care how hot you are or how nice you and Jack look together while kissing."

The group paused.

"And the CCTV footage is never fully deleted."

Ianto felt himself turn red as Jack coughed. "Escape route?"

"PLEASE," the Doctor and Gwen said together, obviously not in the mood for anything besides leaving. The mild sounds of explosions and yells were enough to get Toshiko typing quickly, pulling up the specks and looking through them. "I got where you all are and...oh my God..."

"Sidra fight. Let's concentrate on an escape route."

"You should see this, though," Owen muttered, "The energy scales are--."

"GET US OUT OF HERE!" Gwen yelled into the phone.

"Go to the left, and try to find the maze. From there I'll get you out."

Jack told them they were going there as the group moved, the sounds dimming as they headed out of the area, it appeared.

"Okay, we're at the maze again. Now what?"

Toshiko typed quickly as Owen put a hand on Ianto's shoulder, whispering, "Don't you dare think about going to see how Marius' doing. Neither of you are fit for it, okay mate?"

He nodded, wanting to ensure Jack was okay but unsure what to do while in the Hub. He needed to find out if he was okay...

"Go to the right at the first junction, it's only a little ways away."

There was the sound of running, then a sudden stop as an explosion sounded nearby.

"What's wrong?" Ianto asked, worried by the sounds.

"THAT is a large hole..." The Doctor's voice came over the coms.

"...We need another way out."

--

"I'm getting a little worried about Lilith," the Doctor commented as they turned down the new route.

"Try not to be too worried," Avery told him as they hurried down the other way, Gwen and Jack with their guns drawn just in case.

"Probably hard not to be worried," Gwen muttered as they headed between the boxes, "I mean...she's probably in danger or...or something."

"She'll be fine," Avery said.

Gwen nodded. "Yeah. Right, sorry, it's just...I mean, I don't know a lot about her, but she seems okay. Off, but alright. I dunno what she did, and it must've been bad, but it can't be much worse then some of the others that we've seen, right?"

"Depends," Jack told her as he looked around the corner, "but I only met her twice. She didn't seem to like me much either time. Of course, the first time she looked a little different too."

The Doctor looked off to where the sounds of the fight could be heard, then said, "And if she's right? If this does release her bad side?"

"Then you'll have to remind her that she's got a good side," Avery said, "and try to not blunder it either."

"OY!"

Jack shrugged, "You can do that."

"Oh, not you too."

Gwen giggled a little before asking Avery, "How's Marius?"

Avery looked down at the still form, his breathing shallow and erratic. "Not good. We need to get him out of here and stabilized, then we have to make sure Lilith doesn't go and get herself killed. I think she's all that's holding him here."

"So no pressure then," Jack muttered, "that's nice."

"Why do you think I needed your help too? I doubt we could've gotten this far with the Doctor alone, and after that Nightmare Room of his, I'd put good money on us not having escaped if it had been only me and Lilith."

Gwen looked up and down the way. "I see the exit again. Should we try for it?"

The group gathered together and all nodded before racing for the SUV that was parked outside, reaching it as the area they had just left exploded suddenly, causing the roof to collapse.

The group blinked as the Doctor yelled, "Lilith!" and headed back, Avery getting help from Gwen to put Marius in the back seat before grabbing another bag and heading the same direction as the Doctor.

--

Gwen sat next to the younger man called Marius, stroking his short hair, a wet towel taking away most of the blood that coated his hair, turning it dark. It seemed the real color was actually a dark blond color, one that seemed nice on the youngish face. His breathing was shallow and nearly non-existent as she checked on his vitals, frowning at the faint heartbeat that met her fingers. Whatever the boy had done, he had taxed himself to do it, and even more so to keep quiet about whatever Ulamo wanted to know.

"You're very brave," Gwen muttered to him as she got another cloth, cleaning off some of his face as well. She remembered the look in his eyes when Lilith had woken him up, and despite seeing Ianto wake up only a few times in Jack's arms, and his recent look when seeing Jack spoke depths to how he felt about him. Gwen did like Jack as well, and knew Jack felt something like the same, he never said anything, possibly because he was immortal and more then likely because of Ianto.

After seeing how Ianto looked, Gwen knew it was more for Ianto's sake then her own. Seeing how Marius had looked up at Lilith, as if seeing a ghost then realizing she was alive, hearing the relief in his shaky and uncertain voice, and--

Oh God...he loved her, didn't he?

"Jack," she whispered, gaining her leader's attention, "did you...see how this was?"

Jack looked at her, then down to Marius before nodding. "Kinda sad, isn't it?"

Gwen nodded, sighing. "And...she likes the Doctor?"

"I'd have to guess."

"Oh bloody hell."

Jack nodded, looking back at Marius' still form. "We'd better make sure he lives, then, shouldn't we?"

Gwen nodded, shifting to ensure Marius was still in a comfortable position, but still worried about his lack of response and his low vitals.

"Hurry," she whispered to the two that had gone in after Lilith, "hurry."

--

"Hurry!" Jack yelled when he saw the trio heading back, "He's getting worse."

"You could have taken him to the Hub and come back for us!" Lilith yelled as she stumbled towards the SUV, Gwen moving to allow the other woman to take her place.

"We weren't sure if he would survive," Gwen pointed out, "He's fading, though."

The Doctor and Avery moved in as well, Gwen moving to the front besides Jack as the doors closed and the group sped back to the Hub.

"Come on, Marius, stay with us," Lilith whispered as Avery pulled out his medical instruments and checked him over, a look of worry crossing his face briefly before he said, "He's fading too fast, Lilith. We might lose him."

"We're not going to lose him," Lilith growled, her actions soft despite the harshness of her voice as she looked down at the younger Sidra.

Gwen looked back, then over to Jack as the SUV accelerated towards the Torchwood Hub.

--

Owen was ready with the main medical room as Lilith and Avery carried Marius over there, the Doctor following behind while Jack quickly checked on Ianto before following, Gwen stopping to speak to Toshiko about the area before doing the same.

"Oh bloody hell," Owen muttered when he looked at the damage, setting up the monitors to check on his vitals, "I hope that bastard got what was coming to him."

"He did," Lilith said darkly, looking at Marius' unmoving form as Avery moved her up the stairs to stand next to the Doctor.

"Anything I can help with?" Owen asked at the same time the Doctor did, causing the two to look at each other.

"You, yes," Avery pointed to Owen as he produced a few more medical items, most of which were familiar to Owen, or he hoped so. "You, just comfort Lilith. I'm not going to have her go berserker again in here should worse come to worse, which it shouldn't," he added quickly then turned back to Owen. "Now then…"

--

Darkness...nothing but darkness all around him, and he couldn't find anything or go anyway.

He didn't care. It was safe here...wasn't it?

A voice called to him, causing him to turn and look around, trying to figure out where the sound came from.

The voice came in again, causing him to blink. That light was appearing, a small sliver but beautiful and familiar. Who was that?

Another sound, the same voice, saying something, and he slowly walked towards the light. The darkness seemed to force him to push harder, like walking through tar. Still, he pushed towards the light, trying hard to reach the area with the light.

The voice now became more prominent, changing to that of a female voice as he paused to blink at the sound then looked back over at the darkness. He didn't have to go did he?

The voice sounded, more persistent, almost annoyed at him, called at him in the darkness and he turned back, looking over at the light before pushing forward, not wanting to be late and wanting to see the owner of the voice.

The voice called again, joined in by a few others that sounded persistent, urgent, like they needed him to come back.

Come back to where? Where was he going? After all, the place he had come from to be here wasn't good, was it?

He stopped in the darkness, the light warm against his face, and looked down at his feet before shaking his head.

No. He had to risk it. He had to risk the chance that he would be fine. He had to risk it all for those voices that now came up. Urgent, important voices, ones that meant a lot to him, but he couldn't put a name to at this point.

Ignoring all reservations, all calls to stay in the dark or head deeper into it, he pushed forward until the light engulfed his entire being.

--

"Marius!" Lilith hugged him, causing Marius to blink and moan.

"Ow..."

"Damn it, don't scare me like that again!"

"Lilith...that hurts..."

"I don't care! You nearly died!"

Jack gave a small laugh nearby as Lilith continued to hug Marius, Avery and Owen looking relieved, though Avery looked a little annoyed as well, the Doctor smiling at the scene along with Gwen, Toshiko and Ianto.

"Lilith..."

"Damn it, don't you do that to me again!"

"I...okay."

Avery shook his head. "That's enough, Lilith. He's still hurt, you know."

"He scared me!"

"Just let him go. We need to check on him and Ianto, plus I have to talk to the two."

Lilith reluctantly let to look over at Avery. "Only them?"

"Yes, only them, and that means you make sure everyone stays out, Jack included."

Jack paused, looking over at Ianto. "Now I'm worried."

"Lilith, please get them out of here," Avery said, motioning for Owen to leave as well, a glare getting Ianto to stay where he was, "I really have to talk to those two."

Marius watched as Lilith helped to push the rest of the group out, looking for doors and, unable to find any, shrugged towards Avery before turning back and standing watch at the doorway.

"Get down here, Ianto Jones. I don't want to yell too much."

Ianto slowly moved down, taking a seat next to Marius as he did and casting a worried glance at Marius, looking both worried and relieved he was there now.

"I have a few things for you two," Avery said in a stern voice, "First off, I gave Owen some stuff, painkillers and the like, for you. It's only good for a few months, until your ankle heals. Everything else you'll have to take care of when you get a new body and out of that one." He paused, holding up a small glass of water. "In the meantime, I'm going to go back for a few minutes to send in my report on this and request for you to be on medical leave because of this, as well as file all your Caretaker paperwork from here. Realize, though, that because of how this is going, they might use it as an excuse to replace you as Caseworker."

Marius nodded, looking off to the side. If he was replaced as the Caretaker, that would mean he would either have to go elsewhere or get another job, and he knew he couldn't be happy with that.

"I know it'll only be a few minutes, but that doesn't mean that you get to take any of his injuries, Ianto. You have enough problems as it is, a broken foot isn't going to be added to them. Jack's worried enough as it is, right Marius?"

Marius gave a weak nod before Avery continued, "Also, neither of you are going to use that mental connection you have as much as I know you want to. Phones and every other technology for this time is fine, but not that. It's a unique link, and until I can get more information on it, or find an expert on the subject to check on it, it's also a problem. If you use it too much you could very easily become permanently joined in personalty, and again, not something anyone would want. It's bad enough one of you being weird over Lilith, but adding Jack to the mix will only stress everyone out. Understood?"

Ianto nodded silently.

"So until I get back, you two will behave, yes?"

"Yes," the two muttered.

"And you won't tax yourself?"

"Yes."

"Promise?"

"Yes."

"Good," Avery smiled at them. "Then if anything DOES happen, I'm going to beat you both silly. Now then..." she disappeared in a sudden glow of gold while Lilith looked back over.

"Well, now that you two know, I'd suggest not doing anything. Auntie Avery is violent when she...he...needs to be."

"I'm still confused on that," the Doctor muttered as Owen walked past to check on Marius.

"I told you, she's normally a she! She decided to become a guy for whatever reason, so that's that. Now will you please get off of that?"

Jack walked up, looking over at Ianto and obviously confused by the conversation. "So if Avery's normally a she, and changed to a he—could you or Marius change?"

"I can't, and neither can Marius at the moment," Lilith pointed out, "What is it with you guys and asking about that?"

Marius gave her a weak smile. "They're just curious, that's all."

Lilith looked over at him and sighed. "Well, either way, you'd better not strain yourself when I leave here, Marius. I don't need you to be hurt again."

"Neither do I."