Chapter 5: Rise of the Minotaur

Regina awoke on a bed covered in blankets. She quickly sat up and examined her surroundings. She was in a box. Three sides of this box were made up of stone. They were stone walls designed to be impenetrable. However, the fourth wall was made of glass from which she could look out. Regina now knew exactly where she was. The Evil Queen was in Torchwood's version of a prison cell.

Regina quickly moved away from the bed and went towards the glass to see what was outside. Her first instinct was to try and break the glass with magic. She extended her hand and focused on the glass, but nothing happened. Regina once again became enraged. Her magic was gone. Her magic was the only thing that gave her power. Now it was gone. She wanted to cry, but she knew that showing weakness would get her nowhere. She then, proceeded to look through the glass and observe her surroundings.

She saw that her cell was located in a room filled with other cells looking exactly the same as hers which lined the sides of this one long room. The only other cell she could clearly see was the one directly across from hers. There was someone inside of it. She looked hard to see through the glass of her own cell and the one across from hers to see who it was. Regina could clearly make out the physical structure of the person in the other cell. It had the body of a man.

"Good." Regina thought to herself. She'd been manipulating men for years. This man must be in serious trouble to end up in Torchwood's prison cells. She could use an ally to plan an escape.

"Hey!" She called to this man.

The man turned around to look at Regina. He had terrible posture and a large round head. Regina still couldn't quite make out his face. She steadied her gaze and looked more intently. When she finally saw the man's face, she quickly backed way from the glass. She'd never seen such a strange face before. It looked like a sort of monkey. There were strange wrinkles running all throughout his face. When this "man" opened his mouth, she saw teeth that looked deadly. He seemed to have fangs. It suddenly occurred to Regina that this wasn't a man. It was something else.

"It's called a Weevil." Martha Jones said as she entered the prison cells room and walked over to Regina's cell. "They're in all the cells. They're aliens from another world. What about you? Where do you come from?" She asked Regina.

"Where am I?" The Queen asked.

"Aren't you going to answer my question?" Martha asked.

"Where am I?" Regina repeated.

Martha gave up asking. "You're in the Torchwood prison cells."

Regina had guessed correctly.

"What happened?" Regina asked.

"The boat you arrived here on was destroyed and the entire crew was destroyed with it." Martha replied.

"I remember that part. I meant how did I get here?" Regina fired back fiercely.

"Ianto and I watched from the shores as the boat exploded." Martha stated.

"Ianto?" Regina questioned.

"We work together." Martha said. "Anyways, we didn't know what to do. We went down to the

shores to get a better look. Then, Gwen and Mickey swam up to the shore."

"Who are they?" Regina asked.

"You've got to be kidding!" Martha replied. "They're the people from Torchwood you tried to kill."

Regina merely stared at her. Martha then continued speaking.

"They told us you threw some sort of red diamond at Jack and then he exploded. They managed to jump off the boat before the explosion and swim to shore."

Regina suddenly realized that she didn't have the red diamond anymore. She didn't have the dimension jumper either. They were both gone.

"Looking for something?" Martha asked as she pulled out the red diamond and the dimension jumper from her pockets.

"How did you get those?" Regina asked sounding very surprised.

"Well if you let me finish the story, you'll find out." Martha continued. "About twenty minutes later. A man called Eric swam up to shore carrying your unconscious body. You must have started drowning and he saved you. Then he collapsed."

"What happened to him?" Regina questioned.

"He's laying unconscious in our medical section. He's going to be fine, but I can't say when he'll wake up." Martha responded.

"And that other man is dead. He was the cause of the explosion." Regina said trying to see if she could break Martha's confidence.

"No he's alive." Martha replied.

"What! How?" Regina shouted.

"He's sort of immortal." Martha said.

"But he exploded." Regina said.

"Ya he did. His body parts reformed under the water and was brought back to life. He washed up two days later holding the jewel." Martha said referring to the red diamond.

"Two days?" Regina questioned.

"You've been asleep for awhile." Martha said.

"Why did you put me in here?" Regina asked.

"Gwen and Mickey told us what you did. We couldn't risk keeping you out in the open Regina especially with a dimension jumper. So we took that as well."

"How do you know my name?"

"Eric said your name a few times on the ship."

"Well Regina is simply the name my parents gave me. I've made a new name for myself in my land."

"Oh really? What's that?"

"The Evil Queen." Regina was trying to install fear into Martha. In the Enchanted Forest, just the mention of that name would've given children nightmares for a month.

"Wow." Martha said with no sincerity. To Martha, that was just a fancy title relating to a fairy tale she heard as a kid. "So did you try and poison Snow White or something?" Martha said chuckling.

Regina's eyes grew wider. She was shocked.

"How can you possibly know that?" Regina said trying desperately to hide the fear in her voice.

"What? Are you serious?" Martha said still chuckling.

Regina only stared at her.

"You...you are serious." Martha said with a sudden change in tone.

"Why have to come here? Did you just come to insult me?" Regina asked.

"No. You need to be interrogated." Martha replied.

"I'd sooner reveal my secrets to those Weevil things than you." Regina said.

"I wouldn't advise that. Weevils are savage. They'll rip your heart out with their bear teeth."

"I'll rip your heart out with my bear hands." Regina yelled at Martha. "And trust me. I'm quite good at it."

"Ok." Martha said. Her confident chuckle had returned. There was no way Regina could be capable of such a thing.

Regina's attempts to scare Martha had failed. Asserting her dominance over Torchwood was going to be harder than she thought. Fortunately, when Regina reached into a pocket that was in her dress, she felt something. It was something that she had brought with her from the Enchanted Forest which Torchwood had not yet taken from her. It was a seed. A black seed. It was exactly like a sunflower seed only black. However, this was a special seed. It was magical. If given water, the seed would grow into a terrifying monster that Regina could control. The queen forgot that she even brought it. With this monster, Regina could assert her power over them and force them to fix the dimension jumper. This was her only viable option considering that Torchwood had the red diamond and her magic was gone.

So Regina cooperated. She let Martha lead her out of her cell and into the hub. The rest of the Torchwood team was waiting for her. Gwen, Mickey, Ianto, and most surprisingly, Jack, all watched as she walked through the hub. Regina was taken aback by the sheer wonder of the Torchwood hub, just the same as Mickey when he first arrived only days ago. Regina was taken to a chair like the ones in most dentists' offices. Her arms were soon strapped into the chair. The Evil Queen could not escape. This put a damper on her plans to get her seed wet and transform it into a monster. She then watched Martha leave with the red diamond and dimension jumper.

"Where is she going with those?" Regina asked.

No one answered her.

"So who exactly are you?" Jack Harkness asked standing right in front of her. Regina was still so shocked to see him. He should be dead. It was impossible. Yet here he was. Torchwood truly had some serious power.

"My name is Regina. No wait. Why did I say that? I meant to make some snarky comment." Regina said.

"You'll find you won't be able to stop telling the truth." Harkness warned her.

"What are you talking about?" Regina asked.

"We're right in the middle of a truth field." Jack told her.

The other team members stood in the same part of the hub as Jack and Regina, but kept their distance outside of the truth field. Jack was handling this interrogation.

"Just you and me...Regina." Jack said. "I wouldn't advise lying because you can't. I can't either, but I've got nothing to hide."

"What sort of magic is this?" Regina asked.

"It's a piece of alien technology. That's what we do at Torchwood. We collect alien technology for the benefit of the human race." Jack replied. "Now I have a few questions for you. First question. How did you get here?"

"With a magic bean." She replied.

The other members of Torchwood were certainly perplexed. Regina was telling the truth. She had to be. She honestly used magic to get here.

"Why did you come here?" Jack asked.

"To force you to fix the dimension jumper." She replied.

"How did you get a dimension jumper? They were all destroyed during the Battle of Canary Wharf."

"The Sontarans."

"Pardon?"

"The Sontarans invaded my world. They used a dimension jumper to get there."

Martha was suddenly more attentive. She was remembering the graphic details of her last encounter with the Sontarans.

"What happened to your world?" Jack asked Regina

"The Doctor happened. He saved it. Him and that magic blue box of his." She replied.

Martha and Mickey suddenly perked up their heads and walked into the invisible truth field.

"Was he alone?" Martha asked. "Was the Doctor traveling alone?"

"No." Regina replied. "He had some girl with him. Her name was Clara."

"Did he mention someone named Rose Tyler?" Mickey asked.

"No." The Evil Queen replied.

No one at Torchwood had seen the Doctor or Rose since they helped save the Earth from the Daleks after they stole the planet.

"Can I please go to the bathroom?" Regina asked figuring it was her best chance to give her special seed some water.

"No. We can't trust you." Jack said.

"I've been more than cooperative." Regina stated.

"Yes because you had to be." Jack said. "That's the beauty of the truth field."

"What can I do now that my magic is gone and you've taken the red diamond and dimension jumper?" Regina challenged the captain.

"She's got a point." Mickey said. "And you know she's telling the truth."

"Gwen!" Jack said calling her over.

"Yes." Gwen said upon reaching Jack.

"Take Regina to the bathroom. Watch her every move. Make sure she doesn't touch anything." Jack instructed.

"You want me to watch her use the toilet?" Gwen asked.

"If that's what it takes." Jack responded jokingly.

"In your dreams." Gwen responded and then released Regina from the chair.

Gwen lead the Evil Queen to the bathroom. On their way, they passed the medical section of the hub. There, she saw Prince Eric asleep on a bed. Honestly, it was more like a table. Torchwood didn't have any spare beds so they used their dissection table to lay the unconscious prince. Regina couldn't help but stare at him. Suddenly, Eric opened his eyes and caught Regina's stare as she and Gwen walked by. He immediately turned away, obviously still upset over the deaths of all his innocent men.

They arrived at the bathroom, equipped with one toilet, a sink, and a mirror. It was meant for one person at a time, but was large enough for at least four people to stand in comfortably.

"Alright. Do your business and be quick." Gwen instructed.

Regina quickly walked in and shut the door behind her. She took out her seed from her pocket and smiled happily at it. She'd acquired this seed so long ago that she'd forgot about it. The seed belonged to her mother Cora. When Regina banished Cora to Wonderland, there was a whole room of Cora's magical possessions locked away at her home. Regina eventually discovered this room and took these magical possessions for herself, including the monster seed.

She watched herself smile in the mirror. Regina had lost her magic, but unleashing this monster would give her the upper hand. She didn't even know which monster would grow from the seed. She only knew she would be able to control it. She would finally gain power over the situation. So Regina turned on the faucet and placed the seed under the running water. Then, the seed started to glow a bright purple. Regina placed the seed on the ground and stood back to watch.

Within seconds, the glowing purple seed released a bright purple mist which rapidly flooded the room. Regina couldn't see anything. The mist was everywhere. Soon enough, the mist magically cleared and Regina got a good look at her monster.

Regina was staring at a large Minotaur. She'd only read about these creatures in ancient texts. The Minotaur was a powerful beast. It had the head of a majestic black bull, and the body of a strong and powerful man. While this monster was shirtless, it was wearing black pants which confused Regina a little, but not enough to phase her emotions. Regina smiled with a victorious grin as she gazed upon the large monster.

On the other side of the door. Gwen was growing suspicious. She knocked on the door.

"Everything alright Regina?" Gwen asked.

Gwen then heard a loud roar come from the other side of the door and swiftly backed away from it and drew out her gun. She aimed it right at the door.

"Regina!" Gwen yelled.

Suddenly, the door to the bathroom broke off the hinges and flew towards Gwen. However, the young Torchwood girl was quick on her feet and evaded the flying door entirely. Gwen gathered herself together and refocused her gun towards the bathroom.

Then, Gwen was shocked. A large powerful Minotaur stepped out and stared at her with its pitch black eyes. Gwen fired at least seven bullets at the beast, but they were ineffective. The bullets did absolutely nothing to harm the Minotaur which now inexplicably appeared.

The Minotaur was in the hub and it was ready to kill.