Story disclaimer: I own none of the following. Many of the references in this story are owed to the writers and the rest of the team(s) involved in the creation and production of Torchwood and Doctor Who. Without them, this story would not be possible. My character Teya owns me. I am making no money from this or any of my other fics posted on this site.
Author's Note: Ah so good to see some olf friends again!
Scene Fourteen – London, 2004
The sounds of screaming echoed about the cells, the military clonking of metal boots overhead. United cries of "Delete!" and "Exterminate!" filtered through the shrieks of pain as the battle raged above them. Teya, like the other prisoners, had risen carefully to press herself against the glass door of her cell, her gaunt face harrowed by bruises, a spark of curiosity in her colourless eyes. Whatever battle was going on above them, she was still alert for an opportunity to escape. Some of her fellows had also decided on this tactic, the Weevils were throwing themselves against their cell doors, their defiance clear in their growling. Teya glanced at the Blowfish opposite her and they shared a long look. She nodded once to him, a determined incline of her head, and he returned the gesture. They would die free, or die trying...
The prisoners went still as a unit of metallic robot-men entered the cell block, black eye-sockets empty and slits for mouths. They looked at the prisoners, as if assessing them. "The Cybermen require greater numbers to defeat the Daleks. You will be upgraded." Teya retreated a step at the sound of the robotic voice; the mount slit lighting up blue as the lead robot spoke... Cybermen? Upgraded? Not exactly keen on the sound of that, Teya backed into the corner of her cell, preparing herself. She knew how weak she was, nearly twenty years of torture had seen to that, being fed thinned blood full of anti-coagulants and little space to move had left her emaciated, weak, and not so far from death, but she would be damned if Torchwood and these Cybermen would be that death... The Cybermen began to blow the locks with powerful electric charges from their hands, entering the cells and dragging the prisoners away. The further they got down the block, the more Teya's resolve weakened...
The metal hand was cold as it gripped her arm. She fought against its vice-like grip, crying out and trying to pull away with all her feeble strength... It pulled her from the cell with as much effort as dragging a small lap-dog, the Cybermen forming up in a regimental style with their prisoners between them. Teya was beside the Blowfish, both of them giving up in themselves, defiance immobilized by their fear. These Cybermen would have been more than a match for them both at full strength, let alone in their current conditions. Then something very strange happened. The Cyberman holding her began to rise up, letting go of her in its surprise... if it could feel surprise... Teya fell to the floor, grunting as her hip met the cold floor, watching as all the Cybermen rose upward, then with a suddenness that terrified them all, the Cybermen disappeared through the ceiling, sucked as if by a giant vacuum cleaner and leaving a cloud of plaster chunks and dust in their wake.
It took a moment to register that they were free, the prisoners all staring upward after the Cybermen, each one breaking into coughing fits as the dust in the air caught them. Teya felt a foot nudge her, then the Blowfish offered her a scaled fin-like hand. He helped her upright, before the two of them led the way from the cells. They expected to meet resistance at every turn, but there was nothing. They passed so many dead humans, all Torchwood operatives, and Teya found herself concerned for Jack's safety. Was he here, in Torchwood London, lying dead somewhere? Had he been "upgraded"? She shook her head to clear such thoughts as they headed out of a fire-exit, burnt open by some unknown weapon, to stand blinking in the daylight.
They scattered to the four winds, those that made it out alive. Dehydrated, emaciated, broken in every possible way, some ran, others limped, and a few gave up and died in the court yard, content to have seen the Sun a final time. But Teya and the Blowfish moved away from Torchwood Tower as fast as they could. They fed that night on an elderly homeless guy who had been about to tuck himself into a mouldy old sleeping bag. Frozen scared by the sight of a walking fish, the guy was easily dispatched by the Blowfish's poisonous breath. Teya fed quickly, before the blood could coagulate in his veins, desperate for warm, rich, salty blood, before the Blowfish had his share. They slept a few miles later in an abandoned council flat that was rife with vermin and stank to high heaven, but it was freedom, and to Teya tasted every bit as warm and fresh as the blood she had fed on.
She dreamed of Jack that night... dreamed of the day he had delivered her to Torchwood, shouted and screamed profanities at him for all she was worth, but then things turned about and it was her watching as Jack underwent the tortures and cruelties that she herself had undergone. Beatings, systematic electrocutions, whipped, starved and chained. Teya woke with a start when Jack was shot between the eyes, a step further than Torchwood had ever taken it with her, full of terror not for herself but for Jack. She settled again slowly, her back pressed against the Blowfish's for warmth, but it was a long time before she drifted back into sleep. Her dreams were more peaceful, though Jack was reading a list of the dead, someone close to him named on that list. Though she did not know who it was, Teya felt his pain. She always felt the pain, as if that was the only time jack ever allowed himself to feel.
When she awoke the following morning, the Blowfish was gone, and Teya did not wait to see if he would return. She, as much as he, wanted to be away from this place, putting as much distance between themselves and the chance of being recaptured. Teya had no doubt that if Torchwood ever recovered from the battle they would be doing their best to retake all those who had escaped their clutches. Yet something carried her feet back to Torchwood Tower and Canary Wharf, and Teya knew that something was Jack.
It took all her courage to head into the seemingly deserted building which groaned and creaked on occasion, suggesting that the sudden disappearance of the Cybermen and Daleks had left the building structurally unsound. Though there were no signs of life, she crept through the building, floor by floor, searching the bodies that littered the floors for signs of Jack. There was no sign of him at all, and despite the knowledge that he was probably somewhere else entirely, Teya was pleased to find a computer terminal that appeared undamaged. She sat down to search the system.
Fifteen minutes later, she pushed her chair away from the desk, slapping her palm down on the desk in annoyance. Unable to access the system, she supposed that she would never know of Jack's whereabouts, or even if he was still alive. She left the room dejectedly, wandering down the corridor, trying to get herself into the mind set of running again, but she could not summon the calm she needed, until...
"Tosh, go through this lot would you? Owen..."
Jack's voice! Teya had to stop herself shouting aloud as she peered round an open door to see Jack standing with a ginger haired man, while a young Asian woman was searching through a box of gadgets. It was all she could do not to dash into the room and throw her arms around Jack, sternly reminding herself that though Jack had been her friend once upon a time, he was Torchwood and therefore the enemy. He had proved that much on the day he had handed her over to them.
At least satisfied that he was alive and well, Teya felt that sought after calm settle upon her. Smiling as she saw Jack clap the man on the back and go over to the woman, picking up an item, studying for a moment before tossing it to one side. Jack seemed to have a wary respect for both his colleagues, as if he knew their reputations but not their intent. Teya smiled to herself before disappearing down the corridor, murmuring a quiet goodbye.
Jack picked up another item, unsure what it was, and decided to file it in the bag with the other items Tosh had deemed worthy of taking back to the Hub. He dropped it suddenly, alert and looked round at the door where, unbeknown to him, Teya had been standing moments ago. Tosh glanced up at him as he frowned, quietly asking him if he was okay.
"Nothing's wrong Tosh." He smiled, picking up the item he had dropped and studying it more closely. "I just got the spooks for a moment. For a moment it felt like we were being watched..."
Jack shrugged it off, going back to what he was doing. He put it down to the eeriness of the empty building, the echoes of the people who had worked her not a day before, and the fact that he hadn't found a trace of Teya in his searches through the building. He had found the Cyberman conversion units, the grizzled bodies of some of the Cybermen's less successful attempts to convert Torchwood employees. Some of the bodies were alien, all marked with the Torchwood T, and many of the cell blocks had been ripped apart by the Cybermen when they had come for the prisoners, including the block Jack had last seen Teya in. Had she been upgraded? Did she live still, or had Torchwood been the death of her as Teya had feared so long ago?
A few minutes later, through the broken windows, they heard the roar of an SUV engine. Owen and Jack glanced at each other before both dashing to the windows that looked down over the entrance to the complex, fearing the loss of their own vehicle by some opportunistic thief or by another Torchwood scavenger. Sure enough, they saw a Torchwood SUV leaving the complex, being driven rather recklessly. Their own SUV was still parked below; Jack was the first to make sure of that.
"You want me to go after it?" Owen asked, already halfway across the room.
"No." Jack wasn't sure why he wasn't bothered by the loss of the SUV, why he didn't want Owen to go after it. He smiled out of the window, for a moment allowing himself to dream that it was Teya escaping. Even when that day-dream faded, and it did so quickly, Jack had to acknowledge that whoever had escaped this place and the battle between the Daleks and the Cybermen deserved every chance to get away and to live...