Seventeen: Death be Not Proud
Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,
Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.
Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell.
And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well
And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die
--Holy Sonnet 10, John Donnes
"Jack, your VIP visitor is here." Jack jumped, Marius and the others heading to follow him, all of them obviously intrigued by the announcement of a visitor. Marius had done what he could to stay out of the other's minds, and it usually worked if he turned his telepathy and such towards telekinetic, which he had been doing in order to be useful, though he had to replace two broken cups early on while practicing, despite the fact that Ianto had said they were going in the trash bin anyway.
So he was, like the others, a little surprised at the idea of Jack having a visitor, and it only served to make him happy upon seeing Martha Jones standing there, smiling at Jack then giving him a hug before looking over at the others, smiling upon seeing Marius as well, who returned the smile only briefly, happy she didn't come up to hug him. He had only met and spoken to Martha briefly, before she had gone to become the person she was during that year, and had only monitored her, not knowing if Ianto talked to her (when he did) about anything that was said or not. She and Jack at least shared the duty of being annoyed at the Doctor's one-track mind and his depth for not seeing certain things until much too late.
Marius watched as Martha took over for some of the steps, showing the puncture mark on the man's eye and then searching for his medical record only to find it deleted.
"Even Sidra records are never fully lost," Marius muttered, "and not when everyone dying is linked like this. So, need my help Tosh?"
She shook her head after giving him a quick look. "Not yet, but if it gets harder I'll ask."
Jack patted him on the shoulder, "Come on. Let's give Martha the grand tour."
--
"I'm glad you're alive...I mean..."
Marius smiled at Martha. "It's okay. I wish I had gotten to know you better, but, well...I got what I could from the others about what you did. You're very brave."
"Thank you, though Jack mentioned what happened to you earlier." Marius slowed only briefly and continued before Martha asked quietly, "Was he really worse then...him? I mean..."
"I only read about what your demon did. If he had the power of the Sidra he might have done things differently but he wouldn't have done them like Ulamo did. Ulamo would've scared him...more then what he ran to the end of the universe to escape scared him." He gave Martha what he hoped was an encouraging smile. "I only stayed quiet, that's all. Nothing too brave about it."
"Still—I have to ask, but are you and Jack or have you..."
Marius shook his head. "No. I have him in my mind when I'm not careful, and that's enough. I know you haven't."
"How?"
"You weren't listening to that first sentence, were you?"
"Oh...right, but...does that make us, like, the only two people on Earth?"
"Gwen and Rhys, so four, and Owen hasn't, Tosh thought about it but decided he was the boss so no...and..."
"Never mind, I'm just glad I'm not alone in this."
"Only for this century. Now last century--."
"Hey!" Jack's voice from down the catwalk made them look over, "Are you two talking about me?"
"No," Martha said, "we were talking about alien fauna, weren't we Marius?"
"If you'd like to call it that, then yes."
Jack shook his head and continued the tour, heading back to the main area as Marius went to speak with Ianto about getting a phone, as he didn't have access to any of the Sidra ones that most Field Agents were issued. As Ianto started to walk back up to check on something, Marius at the bottom checking something, when the small grouping of equipment exploded, causing both he and Ianto to yell in surprise and look over before Ianto sent a glare towards Owen, who was holding the alien 'scalpel' (Marius was having problems getting the origin or name of the damned thing) before reporting that there had been another attack, though the person survived.
The group headed out, going to the hospital to check in and try to figure out this mystery.
--
Marius worked where he was needed, helping Toshiko when needed and helping Ianto and Gwen with the police investigation. The group went to speak to the newest victim's house, learning that one of the murdered men had diabetes, and the girl in the hospital had once had HIV.
The appearance of sudden larval alien insects didn't help either.
"I am going to have to deal with all of these Caretakers telling me how much they hate you all after this..." Marius muttered as he looked at the dead larva. "Of course, that doesn't change much, and Lilith deals with it just as often..."
"Well, either way, it dangerous," Martha said, "and it seems to be resetting humans to their...well...'factory settings'."
"But at the same time, they incubate the larva. This is going so well," Marius sighed, looking over the reports as Toshiko continued to try and get into the Pharm's database, Ianto searching for the information while Owen and Martha looked into what they had on the now-three dead bodies.
He knew with the technology available, Toshiko couldn't crack the code, and now with what Ianto had found, it appeared that the Pharm needed volunteers. On top of that, and the highest concentration of alien lifeforms this side of the Rift?
Someone had to go in.
It didn't help that both Marius and Martha were thinking they could do it alone.
--
"No."
"Jack..."
"First of all, it's too dangerous--"
"I've been in just as much danger as Martha."
"Second, you don't know what you're looking for--."
"Connection to a doctor, the one you hand-chose."
"THIRD..." Jack let out a breath. "Avery will kill me if you die."
"You'll get over it."
Jack sighed as he looked over at the determined Sidra. "So how will you explain two people heading in there? Coincidence?"
"We could be in a relationship," Martha suggested, "and have something that can be transmitted sexually..."
At that, Marius blushed faintly before saying, "Or just friends who learned about it and came there for money and moral support. Doesn't that work?"
Jack smiled briefly at Marius' embarrassed look as Martha asked, "You're in Jack's head, and you don't want to talk about something like that?"
"I might be in Jack's head, but that doesn't mean I'm okay with it. Besides, I can sense other people besides those I'm connected to, and trust me, bringing up doctors around you, especially that Jack might know." Now Martha blushed briefly as Marius looked over at Jack. "You'll get things easier with two people in there instead of just one."
Jack nodded. "Okay, next thing then—they draw your blood, what will they find? I have to guess that it won't be human."
Marius frowned, sighing before he said, "There's the problem, but it'll look enough like a human's that they'll think it might be something they've never seen. Unless they're looking for an alien, they'll think I'm just a human."
Jack now motioned to the lucite band still around Marius' upper arm, which he rubbed. "It's just a decoration..."
"Right...Marius--."
"I'll be able to help Martha, and I'll be able to get information as well. That's what we want, Jack."
"I'm still worried about Avery beating me senseless, and finding new ways to kill me."
"Tell her...er, him...it was my idea. That should work."
"You realize Lilith will be up next after Avery, right?"
"...I'm sure she has more important things to do."
Martha waited as Jack shook his head, finally nodding and walking off to get some items for her before asking, "So, who is Lilith?"
--
I don't like this.
Me neither. I mentioned one disease that Owen said they haven't checked on, and suddenly I'm in. Same with Martha...they're too eager.
Anything else?
...I don't like it. They feel like they're doing more, and both aren't upset about the possibility of deaths or any of us dying. We're lab-rats to them...and there's something else.
Marius could feel Ianto's unease through the link, wondering if this was a good thing. Remembering Avery's warning, he knew why Jack and the others disliked it when it was used, even to this small degree.
They were just waiting on dark, the two having been put up in different rooms but near each other, the story they told of being friends, both with a different disease that had drawn them together as neither could be cured but they wished to look into anyway, as well as make some money for student loans.
What was that you were talking to Owen and Toshiko about?
It's just something that came up and gave me a small headache. That's all...just between the two. There was a long pause before he told Ianto, Go find the killer. We're going to see what's out here.
--
The minute they were outside, he felt it. He probably could have blocked it out, but the whole of it was just too much for him to really take in at once.
Martha quickly went to his side, pulling him behind a building. "What's wrong?"
"In there," he muttered, "this is wrong. It's too much."
Martha stroked his cheek before asking, "Can you continue?"
"I have to. I'm not about to let you get hurt."
"Oh?"
"Your boyfriend will never let it go if you do get hurt." Marius smiled, "I'm glad you enjoy him so much."
"I needed him."
"You did, and he needed you. Come on."
Martha nodded, helping him up as they followed the sound before he started to stop her. "No, not that way, it's..."
The large, angry and scared Mayfly appeared before them, causing Martha to back up as Marius looked up at it, trying to figure out a way to connect partly with it. Too much drugs and pain were in it, though...what the hell were these human thinking?
The sounds of gunshots caused both he and Martha to turn, only to have something stick in his neck as he saw the world go black.
No, not again, not...
--
He had a strange dream, in which he saw through Ianto's eyes for a little while and felt the worry from Jack when something disappeared, something Martha had had, and then the decision to go in but the man they were going to use exploded when Owen tried out the Singularity Scalpel and--
--Marius woke with a start, shaking as he found himself once more tied down to a bed, his heart racing in chest as he attempted to get loose, the memories of his time with Ulamo fresh until he felt the open connections, as well as saw Martha, also strapped down, and the doctor nearby, smiling at him. "Ah, you're awake. So good of you to join us, Marcus, if that is your name. Your friend was just telling us that she doesn't know what an alien is."
"And?" he asked, trying to calm himself down as he saw the bag that was going into Martha's system...Reset.
"And, I believe she's lying. After all, your bloodwork comes back with some...unusual, items. None of which are known on Earth. So what are you, exactly?"
"I'm a human, like her! Like you! What are you doing to her anyway?"
"Oh, nothing too bad, just a little experiment. You both did sign up for it, after all," the doctor smiled at him, causing Marius' blood to run cold. This man wasn't like Ulamo, but he thought this was helping people. So did his assistant. Both of them believed that, with the killing of so many, the few left would be fine for whatever, and with holding aliens like him hostage, they could find cures for everything.
"We didn't sign up for...for...whatever this is!" Marius tried to hold the role of being a concerned friend (he was, though) and not panic, keep that down, this wasn't the same...
"Oh, but you did. Reset is created by that creature you both saw, the Mayfly. It helps destroy the disease, but later creates...problems. We've had to destroy most of our patients, but I've never had one like her. Did you know, your friend traveled in time?"
"WHAT? That's...I mean...that's impossible! Right? Sam?"
"I don't know what he's talking about, Marcus. Let him go, I've know the bloke all my life!"
The doctor smiled. "I doubt that very much. Now, you'd best tell us what you know, and what you are. Can't go mislabeling you, can we? If you do, we'll see about saving your friend, though," the smile made Marius swallow, "I don't know if that's possible anymore."
"No. No, don't kill her! We don't know anything! Let her go, I don't know what you're talk about, aliens and time travel and all, but--."
The doctor slapped him hard, Marius blinking at the sting and still shaking. He'd been through worse, he had to concentrate on getting out, on saving Martha.
"It doesn't matter if you talk or not, Marcus. We'll find out soon enough, won't we?"
--
The minute Jack burst through the door, Marius gave up on playtime and using his power, built up for the minutes when the doctor made him watch Martha writhe, go through the agony of being forcibly 'reset', to unlock the buckles as he stumbled forward, cursing the fact that the drugs were still making him uncoordinated.
"They put Reset in her," he muttered, glaring at the doctor, "and she's going to die if we don't do something."
"How did you--."
Marius' and Jack's glare cut the doctor short while Owen scrambled in his bag, finally pulling out the Singularity Scalpel.
"NO!"
"We don't have a choice!" Owen yelled to Jack, Marius not saying a word as he mind, unluckily, moved to the two mindsets that he was connected to after the sudden use of his untrained power.
"Let him," Marius said slowly, looking over at Jack, "It is all we have. Please."
Jack nodded, helping Marius out of the way as Owen did what he could, and suddenly--
Martha gasping back to life startled all of them, causing Marius to fall down hard before smiling. She was fine. Everything was going to be okay.
Marius found the strength to stand, but had to give Owen the honor of helping Martha out, his own feet barely carrying him as he headed outside, smiling at Ianto weakly.
"You okay?"
"Fine. You?"
"Glad you were there, not there," Ianto's nod made Marius understand. He had been one of those to go into that area, and see what they were doing to the aliens they held. Had they been later, or sent Marius in alone...
"We're going to shut it all down," Toshiko said as Marius held onto the Torchwood SUV for support. Stupid drugs.
"Good," Marius muttered, "at least they won't have to live like that..."
The doctor's assistant looked over at him with contempt. "You're destroying years of research."
"Would you have kept Typhoid Mary, or any other human, in those conditions?" Marius argued back, "It's only 'right' to you because they're not human. If they were, you'd have said something by now."
The woman glared at him but said nothing as Toshiko quickly went to work, shutting down the Pharm. Marius frowned upon noticing that the head doctor wasn't around, his head aching from all the emotional turmoil due to what was seen, what was happening, and his inability at the moment to shut it all out.
The group was about to leave when they found the doctor holding a gun, pointing it at the nearest person: Owen.
Near the rear of the car, Marius cursed, the turmoil building around him and unable to focus enough to get a good hold on the gun. He cursed himself for not having taken more time to concentrate on that aspect of his mental abilities, as well as on his heritage making him more telepathic then telekinetic.
"I know you don't want to shoot."
"Owen!" he caught it too late as the gun went off suddenly, causing everyone to jump as Marius felt the bullet, as clearly as Owen felt it, rip through his chest and he stumbled, leaning heavily against the car as he did so and cutting off the cry of agony he felt.
Damn it, Owen, you stay here! You can't leave! You--
A new pain, this one like the fire that had torn and reworked his links after the Year that Never Was rushed through him suddenly as he vaguely heard another gunshot, felt the horror, fear, worry, tension, anxiety, everything that the others were feeling.
But it was all overshadowed by the fact that the connection to Owen, his connection to a living, breathing person, was being viciously cut, burned away, and the pain was too much to even scream at, too much to hold onto even if he had to hold it away from Ianto and Jack and the others and oh Elders it hurt...
Marius couldn't feel the ground or the truck, all he felt was the lava burning away all that Owen was, all that he would be, could be, and severing it simply, like a battle-field surgeon without any type of anesthetic to ease the pain and with the patient fully aware and able to see it all, feel it all, unable to move as a part of them was burned and cut off all at the same time--
--
Marius was barely-conscious when Ianto brought him into the office, the others helping to bring in Owen's body. Ianto knew little about the connections Marius had with them all, but the sudden spike of how closed off the young man had been after finding and rescuing him from the Pharm, as well as the almost immediate closing off but obviously pained looked he'd worn as Owen's body cooled and Ianto noticed him shook the other man to the core. He and Marius were almost like brothers, the connection only helping to enhance that feeling after meeting him and spending time with the other man, and while they had been warned about using it, Ianto found it comforting to have.
He assumed, and was never corrected otherwise, in knowing that Marius felt the same way.
And he remembered, as he did with a good amount of things, that Marius used Jack as a sanity-Hub, a way to keep himself sane, because Jack couldn't die.
Ianto had never wondered what happened when they died, or how Marius would act, but seeing him now made him realize how important they were to the young man. He was nearly catatonic, as was Toshiko, but this was...different. Toshiko was catatonic because Owen had died, before anything could happen (Ianto had to believe that Owen knew about Toshiko's crush and had done nothing only because he didn't want to hurt her, because if he didn't know he was obviously an idiot). Marius, though...
Ianto could feel the mental pain coming from him, though it felt like it was filtered so much he was only getting a very small portion of it. With Jack having raced off to get something and exclaiming no one was to touch the body until he returned, Ianto sat next to him and finally gave the equivalent of a mental knock as Martha went to change and the two girls did what they could to keep busy.
Go away.
Show me.
No.
I can help.
It's mine to bear. I'm not going to share it with you.
Please...
Marius fixed him briefly with a glare that Ianto had to guess came from older brothers when they told you not to do something or were trying to get you to wise-up. This is worse then the pain you felt when you lost Lisa, or when the Cybermen attacked. This is worse then losing Jack. This is a hundred times worse. Please, Ianto. Leave me alone.
No. Not until you let me help you. Not until you see that I can help you.
Marius closed his eyes, his head turning only vaguely, reminding Ianto of how weak he had been the first few days after—well, after.
The inner door between the two budged only a fraction of a millimeter, or a fraction of a fraction of a millimeter, and Ianto felt himself tense at the pain. That wasn't like losing Lisa: it was like losing Lisa, Jack, everyone, finding himself the only one alive and too badly hurt to cry for help--
Now leave me alone.
The door abruptly shut, and Ianto sighed, rubbing Marius shoulder. "I'm sorry."
"I don't want you to feel this."
"I do, though. It's not the same, but I do."
Marius' eyes remained closed, a low sigh escaping as Ianto could almost feel his pain disappear. "It's over. I wish it was...I wish it was still open. There. I can't feel him, Ianto. He's gone...he's gone."
Martha walked over, sitting on the other side of Marius and giving him a brief hug as the door opened and in walked Jack.
Holding a box, racing into his office, and pulling out the other Resurrection Glove...
"I'm bringing Owen back."
--
Owen gasped for life, looking around as everyone once more jumped away, Martha most of all.
"What happened, where am I? Oh my God, I'm shot. He shot me!"
"Owen, we don't have much time..."
"Wait, this isn't a hospital, it's the autopsy room. What am I doing here? Jack...oh no. Whaz that...what's that?!"
"A Resurrection Glove. We lost you, but I brought you back."
"How long have I got?"
Ianto looked at his stopwatch. "We're at thirty seconds and counting."
"Oh no, Jesus, really..."
"Okay team, say your goodbyes. Gwen..."
"GWEN, no offense, but I only got TWO MINUTES TO LIVE."
"Toshiko..."
"I'm going to miss you...and I love you. I always have."
"Owen...I need the code for the alien morgue, you're the only one who has that."
"You brought me back for that? For THAT? You didn't ask Marius?"
"I'm sorry...wait, he knows it?"
"It's 231165," Marius said from behind Ianto, "and Owen..." he paused quickly, then said, "I'm sorry I called you a prat before I knew why. You're a good man."
"That's helpful now."
Marius looked upward, his eyes shiny with unshed tears though he sounded almost like Owen as he muttered, "Fine, never mind me then."
Owen finally nodded, Jack holding his hand as the two minute mark passed, and then at the two minute twenty-second mark, Owen muttered about needing his hand back.
"Oh, here we go again," Ianto took the chance to mutter.
--
"He's not draining power from Jack," Marius said when Suzie and her partial resurrection was brought up.
"How do you know?" Martha questioned, obviously annoyed with the medically-impossible Owen trying to figure out how he was still alive when he had no pulse but there was brain activity, as Suzie had had a pulse as well as the activity.
"Considering she was draining mine as well because I have a connection to everyone, I think I would notice the sudden reappearance of any connection or any drain through one," Marius noted, a little annoyed himself it seemed. "They're not connected, Jack is fine--."
"Thanks."
"Shut up, and Owen is dead-yet-alive."
"Plus this glove is different," Ianto said, bringing up the other Glove as Gwen, almost on instinct, moved away from it.
"How many are there?" Martha asked, annoyed as well and causing Marius to glare at her as Ianto answered that two-"they tend to come in pairs"-and where they had gotten the other one before this one. Marius made only a small mental note that Gwen was taking her own issues and talking, though only vaguely and a little quietly, over with Rhys to get it off her chest.
He was fine with that: one less person to deal with. Everyone else was...well...
Owen moved over to autopsy, waiting as Martha headed down to check on him, Marius trying to help Toshiko as they looked it up and also trying to find what he could through his contacts within the Sidra community.
But nothing came up. Not because there was nothing, but--
"My access is being taken away," Marius told Jack when asked, the group looking at him, "it's been about two months, and they're just waiting to see if I'll return or if they'll need a new Caretaker. In the meantime, I can't find out what the glove is or where it's from. I'm sorry..."
Jack shook his head. "Don't be. You've done what you can, after all."
Marius nodded, heading off with the others to search for something until Martha raced up, saying that the energy Owen was showing was now off the scales as Ianto grabbed Jack's jacket, Marius moving out of the way before he suddenly turned to glare at Martha as she asked Jack why UNIT was never told about the first Resurrection Glove.
"Because they would have wanted to use it," Jack answered, even as Martha argued that Owen was officially half of something else, and his human half was dead, so they needed to stop thinking about him as Owen but as something dangerous.
Marius had the good sense to get away from her before he hurt the former companion of the Doctor.
--
"You really need to stop that," Marius muttered as Ianto walked over to where he had secluded himself, "Avery will be on us like white on rice."
"He'll be on us anyway, considering how often we open it despite all the warnings," Ianto countered. "Can you feel Owen?"
"No."
"Jack?"
"He's blocking me. He's rather good at it, thankfully."
"Are you mad at Martha for how she is?"
Marius remembered the Martha he had met, that Ianto and the others had helped, how different they all had been in the end, and-- "For how she is now, yes. She's not jaded, like Jack can be, but she's...militant. She cares but not enough. I didn't like how she got about the Glove, or about Owen. He's not fully human, and he is dead, but that doesn't mean he's not still Owen. And she saw us react to the Glove, and I know she saw how Gwen reacted as well. Something that brings people back to life at the risk of the user isn't worth telling UNIT about, even if she thinks it is. This is all too dangerous for any of us."
"Should we back off? Just let it be?"
Marius shook his head. "No. Someone does have to face the dan--" he paused suddenly, his mind freezing as he heard the information that usually went unheard and looked over at Ianto. "Holy Sonnet 10, by John Donnes..."
"'Death, be not Proud'? What about--" Ianto froze, Marius realizing why as he quickly shut the connection as much as possible, causing Ianto to look over at him. "What was that?"
"The Field Agents of Earth. They're panicking over Owen, over what he brought back. That poem is one of their codes."
"For...dead walking?"
Marius shook his head. "No. For Death appearing on Earth, and a possible fight before the End of Days."
The two were only a second behind the other as they got up and raced to the main room in hopes of finding Jack or the others and the answer to what they had heard.
--
"Oh this isn't good," Marius said as they found the CCTV footage, the voice overlapping Owen's telling him all he really needed to know and confirming what they had heard anyway.
"What's wrong?" Martha asked, "And what is that?"
"There's how much I know, and how much I don't."
"Let's got with know first," Ianto muttered.
"The Field Agents have activated Holy Sonnet 10 of John Donnes, meaning Death is supposed to come and be fought. Those words are Infernal, the language of Death, saying it will walk the Earth and it's hunger shall know no bounds. Owen was brought back to life, and like Suzie, mentioned a 'thing' in the darkness. I thought it was Abbadon, but now that I see this..."
"So what don't you know?" Toshiko asked.
"How long it'll take Owen to change into an avatar. That's the only way Death, as you call it, can enter this realm and try to gain hold over it."
"So how much worse can this get?" Gwen asked as they looked over to see Jack and Owen return.
"A lot worse," Jack said before telling them what he had seen the Weevils do when they encountered Owen.
--
"Are we going to go on something she's Google'd?" Toshiko asked after Gwen came back with the information.
"Sadly, we have to," Marius said, "I was able to get hold of the small network again: the one Field Agent in this region is reassigned until this 'blows over', and all others are on recall as needed. Even Sidra die."
"You said the language was Infernal," Martha added, "Why that?"
"Infernal is a general term for languages used by generic ideas that are beings, such as Death, the Devil, etc."
"And what about Angels?" Gwen asked.
"Could we get back to Owen and his eventual turn into an avatar and gateway to Death?"
"Thanks," Owen said as the others quickly decided that the only thing to really do was embalm Owen.
Unluckily, they forgot that the Gloves could be rather annoying...
Marius jumped when it tried to attack Martha, grabbing it quickly and pushing a small burst of energy into it as it flew away, racing up to where Ianto had been as Martha moved up to the higher area, Owen trying to free himself in order to help as the rest of the group waited, Ianto returning with a small cane or something that Jack gave him a questioning look about.
Marius and Ianto looked at it and sent a glare back to Jack, obviously annoyed by the questioning of either of their logic in this manner. The sound of the Glove rattling caused everyone to be tense, though no one could see it and Marius certainly couldn't feel it, even with the small energy signature he had tried to leave on it.
This isn't good, he thought when the whole of the area when quiet and Martha slowly leaned over the railing.
The Glove attacked, the group moving to get it off Martha as Owen got loose and quickly got it after Jack threw it down, getting Jack's gun shortly after to destroy it.
Martha felt the group's amazement at the aging that had taken place in Martha Jones, then heard the instruments beeping quickly as Jack's gun was dropped. Oh Elders...
"I shall walk the Earth, and my hunger shall know no bounds."
As Death was released from Owen, Marius quickly made eye contact with Jack before reaching into himself, as deeply as he could, and pushing open all the connections except for one. With that, he pushed a small amount of the energy into everyone as Death attacked...
...Marius awoke with a start, happily noting that a few years of his life had worked wonders to keep the group alive, though Jack lay dead nearby.
Death had taken one of Jack's many lives, and that wasn't going to phase the immortal.
"Get Martha," he gasped out as everyone got up, the two girls hurrying to help Martha as he and Ianto carried the currently-dead Captain Jack out, Marius noting that Owen was slowly getting to his feet and following them. The group was slow enough that, by the time they loaded everyone in, Owen had made it with his clothing and they were on their way to the hospital.
"Are you okay?" Gwen asked him as she raced over there.
Marius nodded, blinking against a sudden wave of dizziness. "Remind me to not do that again, though."
"You grabbed Jack's energy too," Ianto said matter-of-factly as they went, "That's why we're alive. After all, Sidra can die too."
Marius frowned before nodding. "That was all I had from him, though. I don't have anymore. After this, I'll have to get the bracelet off before I can be as free of normal Death as any Sidra can be...how's Martha?"
"Fading," Toshiko said, "but hopefully we'll get there soon."
Marius nodded. "Hopefully."
--
Ianto and Marius stayed with Martha, using the computer nearby and what they could to do research as they looked for it, waiting as the place was evacuated and Ianto found it, Marius feeling the answer when Ianto found it.
"Faith did, the little girl."
Marius knew the answer now. "That's why the dead and Death always walk together. Death needs him to go, but he's also the counter agent. The only thing to take the energy of the dead that being has is someone who is dead."
Then suddenly there were a few yells, but not a lot of anything.
"Jack?" Ianto tried, "Gwen? Tosh? Anyone?"
A hand grabbed the two shoulders, causing the two men to turn with a mild yell but smiling at seeing it was only Martha, back to her normal self, and fine.
In a sense.
--
Marius sat outside of Torchwood Three and looked over at Yvenda as she stormed up to him, waiting as she pulled her hand back and slapped him harshly.
"You let in a human to our link? You used it against us?"
Marius didn't bother to rub his cheek, only looked back at her. "Funny, I thought you liked humanity. That's why you get all in a huff when the Doctor appears to save the day, since Humans or something else like to blunder into things. And I didn't ask for him to be so connected he could find that signal, nor did I ask your new Field Agent to be so obvious or loud. Plus, it was Death, and no one else seems to mind that I had nothing to do with defeating it; that was all my Client."
"Your ex-Client," Yvenda growled, "You and your Clients are as bad as Lilith and hers...always messing things up, always making things worse, and now we have a dead man, walking around Cardiff. He doesn't even count as a Client, and yet you treat him as such."
"He's dead, but he's still Human, and he still is a type of Client. He still works for Torchwood to a degree and right now is trying to find his place, a balance for this new development. Why are you really here, Yvenda? What's so important you have to come here and demand I be belittled? I have other things to do."
The older Sidra snorted, her glare settling on him. "Your cousin asked me to check up on you, find out if you were going to get your sense back and come home." She eyed the visible band around his arm, her eyes showing a good deal of fear and repulsion. "He said there was a way to return to being Sidra, that you know what he's talking about."
"I do."
"So why not take it? Why live like this, waiting for that to come off? Why are you part of Torchwood when you should be just an observer?"
Marius stood, giving Yvenda only a small nod as acknowledgment. "I need to get back. There are things to do and people to comfort."
"So why not do what your cousin said? Why not--."
"I'm not going to do it."
"He's just a connection."
"He's a Hub."
"And you have another. As long as you have one, you can be fine, and that one lasts forever. Why do you need a mortal as a Hub anyway? Why not--."
"I told you," Marius found himself getting angry and not wanting to even look at Yvenda. "I'm not going to do it. The risk is too great, and...and I wouldn't anyway, even if he was just a connection. I won't sacrifice my soul just to go back home."
He walked away, not bothering look up as he felt Jack's eyes bore down on him, realizing Jack had seen the exchange and wanted to know what they were talking about, and what the odd solution that had been eluded to was, and why he was reluctant to take it up.
--
Death, be not proud...the words were simple, and fit into the sonnet, but that didn't help one Owen Harper as Marius sat, waiting for him to return from his small time looking at the Weevils and how they acted towards him.
"Are you done tailing me?" Owen's voice caused Marius to look quickly, and even grinning briefly at it.
"Nope."
"Why are you here, then? Not because the Tea Boy is annoyed I nearly broke his machine, right?"
"No, though he's a little annoyed Jack gave you that job. He still considers it his, and while he's fine with the help, which is what he'll call it, and he won't complain to Jack too much about it, he'd rather they allow you to get out of your huff and work how you used to."
"Oh?"
"You need productiveness, Owen," Marius said, "You also need to stop being such a prat and deal with it. You're dead, you're different, and if you keep acting like you do, you're going to be a broken dead person and we're going to have to deal with you whining all the more. I don't think you can kill yourself again, at least not easily."
"Is that your way of saying you're getting a headache from me?"
Marius stopped at that and looked down before saying, "What happens to magnets when two of the same polarization get near each other?"
Owen paused at the change of subject before answering. "They repel each other."
"I felt every minute of you dying, on top of having the connection I had with you cut. That feels something akin to being cut open slowly and having everything in you burned out, nothing to numb the pain and well aware you have to deal with it because there's no way to become unconscious. After that...nothing. I have that dead-end connection where you're supposed to be and I can't even feel where you are. I can't make the connection again because you're dead..."
Owen looked Marius over, hurt showing in his eyes, before saying, "Anything else, besides healing, eating, drinking, sex, and the like that I can't do now?"
"I don't know. I wish I could answer that."
"I'm sorry for it."
Marius smiled briefly. "I'm sorry I couldn't stop that bullet. But being sorry and doing something about your current state are two very different things."
Owen gave a smile. "You're about as much of a prat as I was, and as Jack is."
"Jack's a Hub, and I think I gained a few of your traits. Don't expect me to be dissecting anything or knowing medical things either, though. It's probably just a phase."
"Oh, thanks."
--
Marius was there again when Owen pulled himself out of the river, clicking a familiar stop-watch and saying simply, "Forty-two minutes. Congratulations on the record."
"Does Jack know you're stalking me?"
"Would you rather it be him? And I only knew you've been in a rut because you scared and pissed off Toshiko pretty badly. Jack wanted to come down and smack you around some, at least verbally, but they have important things to do, the likes of which neither of us can help with because Jack took your clearance and I'm an alien who's doctor will seriously mess up Jack's world if I get hurt again."
Owen sloshed over to where Marius sat, sitting down beside him and looking at his now-permanently-broken finger. "I need something, damn it! I'm still a doctor, and--"
"And you're dead. Get over it."
"Was that any advise they gave you when you're feeling us tortured, or when you were? 'Get over it'?"
Marius' rescue from Ulamo, and his slow opening up to the various other pains he had felt while connected to the group, had taken almost all of these two months, but no one had really openly discussed any of it with him besides making sure he was fine and nothing came back up. Owen had been his doctor, and now Martha was. Now he wasn't even part of that connection--
"When Ulamo was still a Sidra, he captured one Field Agent who was conduction research on the place he now staged himself. In fact, that Sidra nearly escape and blew the whistle on his activity before Ulamo captured him. After a day of torture, he started to reveal the names of those he was connected to, not because he wanted it but because all of them had been captured and he expected some pity. Ulamo didn't realize how the connections worked until he started killing them off and my ancestor got weaker from it. He thought he had taken out them all when a group was able to rescue him. By the time Avery got there to help, he was dead, and so was his last connection, his Hub." Marius paused in his story. "When I was the equivalent of three in Human years I heard that story, as a lesson on not getting connections. When I was five I was shown pictures of what had happened, of what had been done, even of the man himself. Very few Sidra children from my time, or even that of Lilith's time, knew about Ulamo. So until I met Lilith, all I had in my head was that I was not to have any connection to my Clients. Connections caused pain, and Hubs could cause madness or death." Marius took in a breath. "Lilith showed me differently. Working outside and on my own, unsupervised, showed me differently. Even when I had a brief run as the Doctor's Caretaker, and let me tell you that was interesting, I wanted to help and did what I could."
Owen watch as Marius seemed to stare out at the water, as if waiting for more answers.
"After the trip to the Beacons to save Yvenda, and when I found out I had those connections and worked it so I had two Hubs, one accidental or not, I was disowned by my family. My sister has two kids, one who's just getting into being an Archivist. The last time I was there, she didn't even speak or acknowledge me as being there, and later on I got a rather nasty letter about my 'unprofessional manner' after her supervisor chewed her out for it, even though I didn't say anything. My brothers...well, they aren't about to go against what they learned. I have about five cousins, four I'm close to, who wouldn't respond to anything I had to say. The fifth...he's an Enforcer, and did his homework." Marius face grew dark. "After you died, the person I saved came and said I should take a route that would result in another death, and despite the fact that it would hurt me, thinking it would be for the best."
"What'd you say?" Owen knew the answer.
"I politely told her to shove it," Marius gave a ghost of a smile and finally told Owen, "I had to adjust to losing a family when that was all I cared about, and gaining you freaks of nature as pals in my head. Even if you're dead, and I can't do anything for you, you're still a friend. I still care for you, and I'm not about to watch you destroy yourself."
Owen finally smiled at that. "I might need more then a pep-talk to get over this."
"You probably will, so I'll just ask that you no destroy yourself, okay?"
"I'll do my best. By the way—if I'm like family--."
"I'm not going to give you a hug or money, since I never did that with my own siblings anyway. Now come on, let's get you dried out and back to the Hub before Jack comes out here and drags you back for his pep-talks."
Owen groaned, "I'm getting one anyway..."
"You could always try to beat your record..."
"Cheeky bastard."
"I learn from the best."
--
"Are you our psychologist now?"
Marius looked over at Jack, who was standing nearby with his arms crossed, his mind blocked from Marius' usual low-level checks he sometimes gave the group. They had just gotten back from the mission that once more showed Owen's worth, at least enough to where he was given a clean bill of mental health and Martha was sent on her way back to UNIT. There was no doubt that Mairus had helped greatly in this and Toshiko especially seemed very grateful for his interference, as Jack had called it.
"If it gives me a purpose, I suppose I will be," Marius said, "though I have just as many problems as you all do."
"What was that friend of yours talking about...the solution to getting you back home?"
As much as Marius had tried to prepare for that question, it still made him stiffen. "It's nothing I'm going to try."
"She mentioned a Hub. That's me or Ianto, and I want to know."
Marius looked over at Jack, a battle of wills taking place and both refusing to budge at the moment.
"I'm not going to tell you Jack, and I'm not going to use it. I don't care if it's ten minutes or ten decades, I'll wear the band out and return on my own sweet time."
Jack snorted. "In the meantime you'll just have a new person to take orders from that you might not know, or even get exiled like Ulamo did. And what if you don't survive those years? Who'll that fall on?"
"Me, and only me. Avery can yell at you all he wants, and Lilith can threaten some creative things, but it'll ultimately land on me. Like your actions land on you, and everyone else's have landed on them, and don't think I can't drag them up just to get you to back off. I'm not in the mood for this, Captain." Marius wielded the word like a knife, realizing he could easily used Jack's real name and Jack knew it. Jack had a lot of things he wasn't proud of, and Marius knew all of them. Marius knew about Ianto's past, his feelings for Lisa and what had been done. Marius knew all of them well enough to bring up every flaw in character if he wanted to, and he hadn't. He had never let out that threat either, not in that way, and because of it, Jack backed off only slightly.
"Would it really result in one of us dying?"
Marius glared at him, then turned away, finding the wall and the hole where Myfaywy nested much more interesting suddenly. "Yes."
"No other way out of it?"
"None."
"And what about you?"
"I'd need a new body."
"And you'd feel it...but they seem to think you can handle that."
Marius snorted. "Yvenda doesn't have a line to any Elder of our race, and as such she's not particularly kind to some of us. She downright hates Lilith and the Doctor, and she's starting to get annoyed with me for siding with Lilith, and for doing what I've done involving your group. You're all from the same cloth, she figures, and just as meddlesome. She doesn't take into account all the dangers there are here."
"What about that cousin she mentioned? He's related..."
Marius shook his head quickly. "Cousin or no, he doesn't understand connections or Hubs. None of my family does, only that it's a bad thing. If you're done."
Jack knew that it was time to back off. Maybe Ianto could get something from him, but he doubted it, not because he doubted Ianto's ability, but because both men would protect the other's secrets with their life.
"I'll see you around, Marius."
He didn't hear Marius answer back.