"Look at this!" Toshiko called from the bathroom.
I had been scanning my bedroom to no avail. The numbers stayed at a steady 0. Whatever that meant. The number increased a little around the closet, but no where near 10.
After the strange land lord incident, we had gotten back to work. Toshiko told us she would dig a bit deeper into the land lord's file to make sure they weren't falsified. She said it definitely wouldn't have been the first time.
Owen and I rushed to the bathroom to find Toshiko holding a scanner that was beeping like crazy. "It's off the charts!" Toshiko exclaimed, "As soon as I came in, it's just... everywhere!"
Owen dashed out of the room and came back moments later with a field test kit. "What's it showing?" he asked.
"Unknown alien compound. We'll have to take swabs to bring back to the lab for further analysis."
"What do we swab?"
"It's literally everywhere in here, I'd go for the sink. Probably least contaminated." Toshiko answered.
"Wait a minute," I interjected. Owen continued to get out the test kit, "The land lord said he wanted to come in to check the plumbing. Do you think it's a coincidence? Him wanting to come in here and having the alien leftovers show up in here?"
"Probably not," Owen said as he bagged a coupled q-tips. "All the more reason to double check that background check," he handed the bags to Toshiko. "Anything else you need?"
"This should be good. Let's head back. I want to check these pronto. I don't like all these little coincidences that've been coming up," she said.
"Actually, I told Teegan this morning I'd help her put her bed set together. May as well do it while I'm here," Owen said.
Well I certainly didn't expect that. Apparently neither did Toshiko, she looked taken aback. "Oh, " she said. She looked sheepish for some reason.
"You're welcome to stay and help," I chimed in.
"No, I need to get back and check these," she said. "Like I said, I don't like everything that's been piling up."
"Well, call if anything comes up, not like we're far away," Owen told her. Toshiko took her leave and Owen motioned for me to lead the way.
I suddenly felt very embarrassed leading him into my bedroom alone. I should've asked Gwen or Toshiko. I didn't know why I felt this way. Not like you've had many men in your bedroom.
We made quick work of the bed set. As soon as it got time to putting the thing together, all my embarrassment was forgotten. That is, until Owen started talking.
"So, what was your life like... before... you know?" he asked.
"I thought you guys knew everything about me? It was nothing special really. Honestly, abnormally normal. I went to school, then college and planned on working for some cooperation."
"Any cool hobbies? Something up your sleeve that none of us would expect?"
"I knit..." I said cautiously. I knew it wasn't the answer he was looking for.
"Oh god, you're down right boring. Even with this job I have more of a life than you had," he rolled his eyes.
"Well sorry to disappoint you, but there's nothing extraordinary about me. Imagine my surprise when I get kidnapped by aliens." he laughed at that.
"How about a boyfriend?"
"How about one? Didn't have one." he raised his eyebrows at that and mumbled something along the lines of 'can't imagine why', I just ignored him. "I mean I dated guys. I'm not a virgin or anything," I felt my face flush at that, "I was just more focused on other things. What about you? Hobbies? Girlfriend?"
"Hobbies include anything medical, biological or alien. I don't exactly have time for rock climbing or kayaking with Torchwood. As for a girlfriend... well there was one, but she's gone now," he had a distant look on his face. The momentary distraction caused him to drop the beam we were manoeuvring on his foot.
"Ow! Shit!" He yelled.
"Hey, watch my new bed set!"
"Oh I see where your concerns lay. Damn, my shoe is all scuffed up now," he tried buffing it out with his sleeve.
"You alright?" I was a bit embarrassed I didn't ask that first. He nodded. "Here, I'll go get you a rag to get that out."
I left the room and went to the bathroom. This room gave me the heebeejeebees now that I knew it was covered in alien junk, even if I couldn't see it.
I grabbed a rag and stuck it under the sink. I stared at my face in the mirror. God, I'm so dull. Owen was right, I'm ridiculously boring. My hair was brown and parted down the middle. I didn't even have bangs.
"Wait a second..." I mumbled to myself. I knew I turned on the sink, but there was no water coming out. I tried turning both the nozzles, but nothing still came out. I even tried hitting the top of the spout. Maybe I really did have plumbing problems.
All of a sudden, the sink made a big gurgling sound, like a hungry stomach, only a lot louder. I tried looking under the spout. The stench hit me first. It smelled like a cross between garbage and brine. Then, a single drop of liquid hit me.
I pulled my face back immediately, whatever hit it stung like hell. In the mirror, my face was red where whatever it was hit. I backed up from the sink.
What came next, I could hardly believe. It was like a blob of grey mass interspersed with dull colored particles. As the first tentacle of the mass came out, I called for Owen. When he didn't come immediately, I shouted louder and more urgently, the thing was pouring out of the sink impossibly fast.
He came to a running stop at the bathroom threshold. "What in the name of-" he said, taking in what was coming out of the sink. He motioned for me to get out of the bathroom, drawing his gun, as the mass started pouring out more quickly, forming a giant, unshapely blob in the middle of the bathroom floor.
When it finally finished pouring out of the sink, it stood at a little over six feet and was quite wide. Because it was amorphous, it didn't exactly have a set width. "Stay back!" Owen shouted at it.
A dark gaping hole appeared in the center of the mass and made a horrible noise. Owen and I started backing up. It shot a tentacle at us. I dove towards the kitchen as Owen dodged and shot at it. The bullets seemed to anger it more than anything.
I looked back over at Owen. The blob was between us now. My back was towards the front door and Owen's back was towards my bedroom, he was cornered.
I ran to the kitchen and grabbed the sharpest knives I could find. Owen continued to shoot until his clip ran out. The blob made another tentacle shot at Owen. He dodged and yelled, "Run!"
"No way!" I plunged one of the knives into the blob's back and backed up. Unexpectantly, it shot a tentacle straight out of it back towards me. It hit me straight in the chest and knocked me into the kitchen counter. I heard the clange of my exoskeleton hitting the counter. I fell to the floor and rolled as the tentacle plunged into the floor where I had been.
My shirt sizzled where the poisonous tentacles had made holes. I glanced around frantically, looking for anywhere to go. There! I crawled under my dining table to find that Owen had done the same.
"What do we do?" I asked him. The blob was now between us and the door and still roaring like crazy. I wondered what the neighbors must've thought.
"On three, we'll make a dash for the bedroom and try to barricade the door. 1 -" too late, the blob crashed down a heavy tentacle on top of the table and smashed it to pieces.
I made a leap for the door and Owen crashed in behind me, pushing me away from the door so he could shove it close. "Quick! Get something to block it!" he was shouldering the door close as the blob pounded against it.
I pushed my dresser in front of the door, it wasn't very heavy, I didn't have a lot of clothes. Next I got the mattress and then propped some of the beams from the unbuilt bed set up against that.
"That should hold it for, oh, 30 seconds," Owen said.
"Just a bucket of optimism aren't you? So now what?" the windows didn't open and even if they did, it was a three story drop. I could've made it, but Owen would be seriously injured.
"I came up with the last plan! Your turn!"
"We could hide in the closet?" I suggested. I hadn't expected him to take me seriously. He grabbed my hand and dragged us both into the closet.
"It could be stupider than it seems and think that we just disappeared," he whispered. The closet was dark, so I couldn't see him, but I could definitely feel him. It was a fairly small closet, not very deep and we had to crouch to fit under the clothing pole. Our foreheads were almost touching. If we weren't being hunted by some giant moisture sucking blob monster, I'd be embarrassed about being in such close proximity.
"Your turn to come up with a plan," I remarked.
"I don't know," he sounded exasperated. He put his hands on my shoulder and leaned his forehead against mine. We could still hear the blob pounding against the door. From the sound of it, the door wouldn't hold much longer. "Fuck, bullets don't work. Stabbing it doesn't work. Think, what do we have, what can we do?"
"I could distract it. You get around and run," I said. I could already hear the protests forming. "No, think about it, I have the best chance. I can heal, I could last a lot longer distracting it than you."
"No way."
"So what? We both die?"
"No, we'll figure a way out, there's always a way out," I could feel his hands tighten on my shoulders. There was a giant crash from my bedroom, signalling the blob had finally broken down the door completely. I could feel Owen move one hand up to his lips, telling me to keep quiet.
The blob almost sounded like it was moaning now. I wondered how it saw. I hadn't seen any eyes on it. Maybe it had echolocation or something. Whatever it was, I hoped it wouldn't find us in here.
If it finds us in here, we're both goners, it'll have us blocked in, but if I get out and distract it, Owen can at least get away. Hell, maybe I will too. I was fed up with being boring. I had to do this, I had to be brave and take chances for once, damn it.
Before I knew what I was doing, I pulled Owen in and kissed him, full on the lips. If I was doing this, I needed courage and I wasn't going to die without even remembering my last kiss.
Sooner than Owen realized what was going on and could stop me, I slammed open the closet door and ran to the opposite wall. My room was a wreck, it looked like a tornado had been through it. "Oi, ugly!" I called at it. The blob shot a tentacle towards me and I dodged. I saw Owen run out the bedroom door and stop to stare at me.
I was cornered now, the blob in such a way that I couldn't see the doorway or Owen anymore. I took a deep breath and tried calling on my 'beast' mode.
Almost as soon as I willed myself, I could feel my heart rate pick up and my eyes focus in. The blob seemed like it was trying to size me up. It was alternating between moaning and roaring, trying to decide on the best way to eat me.
I wasn't going to let that happen. I looked up at the ceiling and started quickly calculating, it was too low for me to jump over, but if I was fast enough, I could dart to its left. The only issue, if it predicted my movements, it'd have a square shot to pin me against the wall. It was my only chance. If I went right, I'd have to brush up against it and then it would definitely have me.
Just as I was about to make my final adjustments to pounce, I heard a voice yell, "Down!" followed by the blob screeching. Instinctively, I followed the voice's order. It only took me a fraction of a second to identify the voice as Jack's.
There were a few quick shots in succession followed by what I could only assume was a taser. I had my head covered with my hands; the thing was shooting spittle or sweat or blood (it was really impossible to tell) and I had to protect what I could.
When it was finally quiet, I peeked up through my arms. Ianto was standing on the left side of my room, stun gun on hand. Jack was next to him and Owen was in the doorway. I could feel my heart rate quieting and my muscles unflexing.
"Where did it go?" I hadn't dared look up for fear of getting the alien acid in my eyes.
"Ran out through the doorway and slithered back to whatever sewer it came from," Jack replied. I stood up and surveyed the damage to my room. I just sighed.
"I wasn't even moved in all the way," I shook my head. Owen came over and started looking me over.
"Looks like whatever it is is made out of some kind of acidic substance. There are holes all burned in your clothes and part of your hair is singed." Owen surmised from his analysis. I went to run my hand through my hair, but he stopped me. "I wouldn't do that, looks like there's still some of that acid in your hair. Back in a sec."
I glanced at Jack and he just shrugged. Owen came back with one of the test kits from earlier. "Here, turn around," he told me.
"Why?" I asked, suspicious, I turned anyway.
As soon as I did, he picked up a bit of my hair and I heard a snip. I whirled around immediately and put my hand up to my hair. In Owen's hand was a chunk of my hair, sizzling with acid. I could see Jack behind him, laughing and Ianto just had his hand over his mouth, trying to cover a smile.
"What?" Owen asked innocently, "I need it to analyze and I doubted you'd part with it willingly."
"You could've just asked!" I huffed. I could feel exhaustion setting in from all the excitement. I folded my arms, "So what now?" My room what such a mess. There'd be no way I'd get back my security deposit now.
"I'd like to go talk to that land lord," Jack said. "Toshiko called and told me what happened while she was here. I came here expecting to break up something, just hadn't expected it'd be an alien attack. Come on," he motioned for us to follow him.
"So where is the land lord office?" Jack questioned. Ianto was able to answer that one, as he was the one who found this apartment in the first place.
When we reached the office, I noticed Jack had a hand on his holster. He looked back at us and nodded. Without bothering to knock, he went to swing the door open, but it was locked. He knocked, no answer.
"Stand back," he said, motioning for us to give him room. As soon as we did, he kicked the door in. No one was in the room and it was dark. There wasn't even enough room for us all to go in, so I stayed outside and kept watch on the hallway.
"Look for something, anything out of the ordinary," Jack prompted. The three men started shuffling through papers, there was no computer in the room.
"Tennant lists, bank receipts and phone records with quite a few calls to 'Larry's Seafood Dine in & Take Out, but nothing out of the ordinary." Ianto said after a few minutes of searching.
"Damn it," Jack ran his hand through his hair.
"Can't you do a scan for alien tech or something like Toshiko was doing in my room earlier?" I asked.
"No I hadn't thought of that," Jack said sarcastically. "I had a ship a couple of centuries ago that had something that might've been able to detect alien tech, but we'd've picked it up by now if there were anything our machines could pick up.
"Ok, Ianto, Teegan, you wait here for the land lord to come back. Try calling him if you've got his number. Owen, with me, we need to go back and see how Toshiko is coming with those samples."
With that, Jack and Owen took their leave. Ianto and I set the door back in place to make it look like we hadn't just broke in. "Well?" I huffed, putting my hands on my hips. "I'm definitely not letting you pick my next apartment."
Ianto gave a nervous chuckle. "What?" I asked, he wouldn't meet my gaze. "Oh don't tell," he still wouldn't look at me. "You didn't, tell me, you didn't know something fishy was going on here."
"Well I didn't know. There had just been some unusual coincidences and you were looking for an apartment..."
If I had somewhere to go, I would've stomped off out of frustration. But no, they had to violate even my living space. My home.
Instead, I crossed my arms and stood in silence. After I couple minutes, Ianto informed me there had been no answer on the land lord's cell phone, "So I guess we wait. For what it's worth, I'm sorry. I didn't think it would strike in the same exact place twice."
"I just wish you wouldn't use me as a guinea pig. I've been used as one enough if you couldn't tell. All I want is a normal life."
"Well that's not something you're going to have with Torchwood. Our lives are as far from normal as they're going to get. But it's definitely not dull and it can be quite fun at times. I wouldn't choose any other job."
Ianto did look quite content with himself. He was always the first at the Hub [besides Jack] and was always the last to leave. It seemed a bit strange because he seemed to be the lowest man on the totem pole from my perspective.
My thoughts were interrupted when we heard the front door open. Ianto and I glanced at each other, eyebrows raised. "What do we do?" I whispered before whoever it was rounded the corner.
"Follow my lead."
"Ah, it'sa the American girl and her boyfriend!" The land lord said when he spotted us from around the corner. He put his arms up in a gesture to embrace me, but I backed up, trying to maintain a friendly stance. We technically didn't have proof it was him, the thing that came out of the pipes.
"Uh, yes," Ianto said, stepping forwards, hand out of his pockets. "We have a few questions for you."
"Now'sa not a gooda time," he said, wiping his brow despite the fact that it was winter, "but maybe if youa stopa by tomorrow..." he tried stepping around us and into his office.
"It's about the pipes," Ianto said, not moving. That made the land lord pause as he was fumbling for his keys.
"Yes, I willa send repair man tomorrow. Please do nota turn on pipes until then," he was still trying to find ther right key on the huge key ring he had.
I was getting sick of this. I crossed my arms, "Well what if a huge bog monster comes out of them?" I could see Ianto raising his eyebrows at me, but my gaze stayed locked onto the land lord.
The land lord gave a nervous chuckle, Ianto started to say something, but I interrupted him, putting my hand on the door frame to the office. "I was attacked by something, right after you left. What was it?" I demanded.
"Teegan, he might not-"
"No, he knows what it was!" I was getting angry at this point, "You can mess with my body, do all the medical experiments you want, but when you violate my home, my safe place, that is where I draw the line. He knows what it is, there's no tip toeing around it."
"I- uh." The land lord started.
"You may as well fess up mate, I don't think she's letting this one go."
"I -uh," he started mopping his brow again. "Just a moment," he smiled and started digging in his pockets. Ianto and I glanced at each other. "Ah, here ita is."
He had something small in the palm of his hand, I couldn't tell what he was holding. The landlord held his handkerchief up to his mouth right as Ianto yelled, "Get down!" but it was too late, he pressed the button in the center and there was a small mist that spread surprisingly quickly.
"What-" I started to stammer, but I couldn't get anything else out before my muscles started to relax and I fell to the ground. I saw Ianto do the same right before my vision started to go black. And then there was nothing.