Chapter 4: Torchwood vs. the Evil Queen
Prince Eric's ship stood still on the water; slowly drifting towards the shores of the nearby city.
"Why are we just sitting here?" Regina demanded to know.
"Have you forgotten the basics of sailing Regina?" Prince Eric asked her. "We need wind to propel us forward. Without it we can't move."
"Ugh" Regina uttered sarcastically. She was not in the mood to wait for a random gust of wind to come along.
"Like it or not Regina, that's how the world works." Eric said.
"No. The world works with magic." She corrected him.
The Evil Queen then extended her arm foreword and closed her eyes.
"What are you doing?" Eric asked.
"Giving us a little boost." Regina replied.
Regina concentrated. She was going to conjure up a magical gust of wind that would move them to the shores of Cardiff instead of waiting for one to come out of nowhere. However, nothing was happening.
"Is something supposed to be happening?" Eric asked.
"Yes!" The queen fired back at him.
"Maybe you're doing it wrong." Eric proposed.
This greatly angered Regina.
"How dare you." She said staring him down. "My magic is perfect. There's just something about this land that's messing it up."
"Maybe there's no magic here." Eric suggested.
"A land without magic? How could anyone live in such a place?" Regina said, chuckling as the words flew out of her mouth.
She clenched the red diamond, which she was wearing around her neck. This was one of the two most powerful objects her land had ever produced. Surely it's magic could still do something here.
Suddenly, one of Eric's sailors shouted.
"Come see this!" He screamed at the top of his longs from the port side of the vessel.
Soon, the entire crew, Eric, and Regina rushed to the port side to see what was happening. They all stared intently at the water. Then, a large black object started to rise from the waters. It was Torchwood's submarine. Mickey did a fantastic job piloting the massive American submarine. This strange new object stopped rising once the top portion of it was entirely above the water.
Then, the hatch that acted as a door between the inside of the submarine and the roof opened. Next, Captain Jack Harkness walked out. Gwen Cooper followed. They stood there on the roof waiting for Mickey.
"Let's go!" Jack yelled down the hatch loudly enough that Mickey couldn't possibly ignore it.
Mickey then climb out of the hatch carrying the silver cannon-like gun.
"I thought we might need it." Mickey said to Jack and Gwen.
The crew on the ship cringed at the sight of this strange weapon.
"What the hell is that?" They all asked amongst themselves. They were creating a ruckus. This was silenced however, by Captain Jack's yelling.
"Hey!" He yelled to them. Everyone on the boat stood still.
"What are you doing here?" Gwen asked.
Regina stared at the three people with their mysterious weapons and ship that could travel underwater. This had to be Torchwood.
"Are you Torchwood?" Regina yelled down to them.
"Yes." Jack replied. "Who are you?"
Regina did not respond. The crew and Prince Eric said nothing. Regina was clearly handling this confrontation. They would be fools to stand in her way.
Regina merely extended her arms out in front of her. She was going to levitate the three members of Torchwood and force them to repair the broken dimension jumper that she brought along with her. However, nothing was happening.
"Regina your magic isn't working." Eric said.
Everyone could see the anger forming on her face. She merely stared at Eric and he knew that it would be best for him to be quiet.
Jack, Gwen, and Mickey were confused. This strange woman was pointing her arms at them. She seemed to be the only woman on board.
"Jack, what's she doing?" Gwen asked.
"I don't know." He responded.
Regina screamed in anger and moved away towards the center of the ship in order to get out of Torchwood's view. She was greatly embarrassed. Eric followed her, attempting to try and console her. The last thing Eric needed was for the Evil Queen to unleash her wrath on the ship. The rest of Eric's crew was still on the side of the large ship, staring down at the three people below.
"Fire the gun." Jack said to Mickey.
"What?" Mickey said.
"You heard what I said now do it." Jack commanded.
Mickey aimed the gun at those on the boat. Looks of fear possessed the men on the boat.
"Sure thing boss." Mickey said.
When Mickey pulled the trigger, a large amount of dark blue gas came racing from the gun and onto Prince Eric's ship. The crew on the side were the first to be consumed by it. Within moments of inhaling the strange gas, the men were paralyzed. Eric and Regina watched as the gas invaded the ship. Eric's men were falling down.
"Come on!" Eric said taking Regina's hand, opening a secret hatch on the floor beneath them and jumping down to the lower level in order to escape the gas. He closed the hatch afterwards. Eric and Regina escaped Torchwood's mysterious blue gas.
Ianto and Martha watched from the shore as a large cloud of blue gas suddenly consumed the large ship in the distance.
"What's wrong with my magic?" Regina desperately asked Eric.
"Don't you think we have more important things to worry about?" Eric reminded her.
Regina clenched the red diamond on her necklace again.
"I bet this will still do something." Regina said.
Meanwhile on the submarine, Jack, Gwen, and Mickey prepared to board Prince Eric's ship.
"How do we get on?" Mickey asked.
"And how will we survive the gas?" Gwen said referring the cloud of blue gas on the boat that paralyzed the entire crew.
"Just wait another minute." Jack said calmly.
Within a minute, all the blue gas on the ship disappeared.
"How did it just disappear?" Gwen asked.
"It's a special gas from a plant that grows on Raxacoricofallapatorius." Jack said.
"No way!" Mickey said in surprise. He was familiar with this planet.
"What are you two going on about?" Gwen asked.
"It's a gas from another world. It can only last so long in Earth's air before the molecules disintegrate." Jack informed her.
Jack then reached into his pocket and pulled out what looked like a small cell phone.
"What's that?" Gwen asked.
"Just hold still." Was Jack's only response.
He pointed the "cell phone" at the large ship in front of them. Next, he pressed a button on the device. Then, Jack, Gwen, and Mickey were teleported onto the deck of Eric's ship.
"What was that?" Mickey asked Jack.
"It's sort of a pocket teleporter. Just point where you want to go and it takes you there." He replied.
They cautiously walked about the deck and scanned all the paralyzed sailors.
"Where's that woman?" Gwen asked referring to the Evil Queen. She was nowhere to be seen
amongst the group of fallen men.
"Check the lower deck." Jack said. "The gas may not have gotten down there."
Jack pointed to a door at the back of the boat. Mickey was the closest to it. He opened it and saw steps leading towards the lower level. He went down first with his gas gun aimed in front of him; ready to blast the strange woman with it.
Eric and Regina heard the door open and Mickey's footsteps as he slowly came down the stairs. Regina swiftly hid behind a wide beam that was right next to the stairs. Since she as dressed entirely in black, and the beam cast a dark shadow from the sunlight coming in through a window in the ship, Regina was nearly invisible. Eric quickly hid under some heavy blankets at the other end of the room opposite from the steps that he kept down here in case the weather became too cold on the open ocean.
When Mickey arrived at the bottom of the steps. He quickly scanned the room; completely oblivious to the fact that the woman he was looking for was hiding in the shadow next to him. Jack and Gwen followed behind him also not noticing Regina.
Mickey stood at one end of the room near the blankets that Eric was hiding under. Gwen stood in the middle inspecting her surroundings. Jack stood by the steps holding his gun, and preparing for a possible battle.
Eric was becoming very hot underneath the blankets. He had to do something soon. He slowly and carefully moved a tiny part of the blanket so that he could see the three intruders. Mickey had his back turned away from Eric and the other two weren't even looking in his direction. This was his chance.
Without any warning, Eric jumped out from under the blankets, kicked the gas gun out of Mickey's hands, and drew out his sword; threatening to slice Mickey's throat.
"Get away from him!" Jack yelled at the prince.
"Now Jack there's no need to get angry." Gwen intervened. "We all just need to calm down." Gwen preferred solving this dispute the peaceful way. "We can solve this without any bloodshed."
"You killed all my men!" Eric said to Gwen now looking very angry. "Blood has already been shed."
"No we didn't kill them." Mickey said.
"Keep quiet you." Eric said turning his gaze towards Mickey and pressing more of his sword into Mickey's throat. Any more pressure and the blade would surely pierce the skin. "I'm talking to the lady."
"This is certainly very out of character." Regina said now stepping into the light and surprising Captain Jack.
Jack turned around and aimed his gun at her.
"Honestly Eric. I thought you were a sweetheart." Regina commented ignoring Jack who looked very focused on shooting her.
"Hands in the air." Jack commanded.
"Your little toy doesn't frighten me." Regina said referring to the gun. "Not while I've got this." She said taking the red diamond off of her neck and displaying it in her hands for the captain to see.
"What's so special about a little red jewel?" Jack inquired with a fair amount of sarcasm.
"It's the most powerful object in the universe." Regina replied with a tone of victory. She'd finally had Torchwood at her mercy.
"Regina wait," Eric interrupted. "Magic works differently here. You don't know what that will do."
"Magic?" Gwen said.
"Yes," Regina responded. "Magic."
"Regina it doesn't work here. Think about what you're doing." Eric pleaded.
"I have thought!" She shouted at him. "I've thought of everything. I've thought of every possible way to get my revenge and my plans keep failing. This jewel is the only thing that I have left as a symbol of the fear I used to put in people. Now, thanks to that witch Snow White, I have nothing. This jewel will give me my happily ever after." Her loud voice boomed across the room.
Suddenly, the red diamond in Regina's hand began to levitate. It hovered mere centimeters from Regina's open palm. The red diamond then started to glow, brightly. It was an almost blinding red light.
"What are you doing?" Gwen asked sounding very afraid.
Regina did not answer as the glowing red diamond landed back in her palm again. She then aimed at Gwen and chucked the red diamond at her. Gwen stood in fear as the glowing jewel hurdled towards her.
Jack quickly guessed in his mind that something terrible would happen to Gwen if the diamond hit her. Without wasting a second, Jack dropped his gun, turned towards Gwen and started running. He was determined to jump in front of her and save her. Jack was so close now and so was the diamond. Jack jumped in front of Gwen just in time and the glowing red diamond penetrated Jack's body. It was now inside of him. Jack landed on the floor hard. Gwen went down to him in order to try and comfort him.
"What have you done?" Gwen yelled at Regina.
Regina did not reply. She simply smirked and ran up the stairs behind her in a hurry. Taken aback by these events, Prince Eric lowered his sword from Mickey's neck. Mickey then punched the young prince and he fell on the floor. Mickey then ran over to Jack.
"I feel weird." Jack said.
"Look at your skin." Mickey said to Jack sounding very alarmed.
Jacky's skin was literally glowing bright red. It was the same glow as the diamond.
"What's happening to him?" Gwen yelled.
Eric picked himself up from the floor and rushed over to Jack.
"We need to get out of here." Eric said upon looking at Jack's glowing bright skin.
"What's going on?" Gwen asked.
"He's going to explode!" Eric replied very sternly.
"How do we stop it?" Mickey asked.
"We can't." Eric said.
Gwen started to cry.
"We have to get off this ship." Eric demanded.
"I'm not leaving him!" Gwen yelled.
"Gwen," Jack said. "You have to go. I can survive anything. I'll see you soon."
"No Jack!" She yelled sobbing into his chest.
Mickey quickly grabbed her, but Gwen would not let go. Eric helped Mickey break the hysterical woman's grip on Jack and carry her upstairs. Once, they arrived on the deck, they saw Regina standing on the edge, preparing to jump.
"Regina!" Eric called to her. "What are you doing?"
"Escaping." Regina yelled back.
Martha and Ianto Jones were still waiting on the shores of Cardiff for Jack, Gwen, and Mickey to return. They had been watching the boat intently in the distance for a little while now. They were starting to get nervous.
Suddenly, Martha and Ianto watched as the old boat violently exploded. The flames and chunks of wood from the ship flew through the air in the distance. Martha and Ianto were powerless. All they could do was watch in horror as that part of the sea caught on fire. As far as they knew, Mickey Smith, Gwen Cooper, and Jack Harkness were dead.