Owen Harper

Owen killed the ignition while gazing out of the front windscreen taking in the sight of the street ahead. It was deserted this early in the morning, the residents of the street safely in their beds - sleeping, dreaming, fucking.

He sighed, resting his head on his hands that were wrapped around the steering wheel. He turned slightly to get a look at the house he had pulled up outside of. A soft yellow glow shone out from behind the curtain of the front room, like a beacon calling to him, telling him to follow the light. He wasn't sure he would be welcome at this time of the morning but he needed to be close to someone. Someone who understood what it was like to feel isolated and alone.

Still shaky from the earlier meltdown in his shower, he couldn't think straight. He fidgeted in his seat and stared between his legs to the floor. What was he doing? He had no right to assume he was entitled to comfort her or expect any in return. It had seemed like such a great idea when he had jumped in his car but now he found he didn't have courage to go and knock on her door.

Toshiko Sato

Toshiko woke slowly, tensing and stretching the muscles in her neck as she worked out the kinks that came with falling asleep on her couch.

Her hand flopped over the side, knocking over the bottle of wine from the night before. Jumping into action she grabbed it before its contents could do any damage but realized she needn't have bothered. She had drunk it all and passed out on the couch. Swinging her legs over the side Toshiko sat up and scrubbed a hand over her face trying to brush away the fatigue.

An oppressive silence settled around her, pushing at her senses and engulfing her as she bit back tears over the thought of just how alone she felt. Needing to make some noise she got to her feet and marched the empty bottle to the bin. When she walked back into the lounge room she noticed car headlights dancing across her front curtain, stopping right outside.

Curious, she walked to the window, glancing out of the crack of curtain so she could remain undetected. She was surprised to recognise Owen's car out front. She could count the times Owen had been at her place on one hand and none of those times had been at this time of the morning. It wasn't hard to figure out what had brought him to her house morning. But he was just sitting there, not moving.

Toshiko knew he was out there debating his decision to come over, so she made it for him. Putting on her cardigan, she walked out into the cool morning air knowing what she needed to do.

Owen Harper

A sharp tap against the passenger window sent him jerking upward, swearing violently as adrenalin imploded in his chest.

Grappling for the weapon he kept in the middle console he ripped around pointing the offending object at his would be attacker. Instead of the six foot homicidal maniac he had conjured in his head he was presented with the giggling form of Tosh and instead of the automatic weapon pointing at her it was a day old banana he had forgotten about yesterday.

"Fuck!"

He let the banana slide out of his hands and once again he found his head on the steering wheel as he tried to catch his breath. Tosh was still giggling as she opened his passenger side door.

"Hmmm strange perve loitering in his car armed and dangerous………think I better call the cops."

"You scared the shit out of me Tosh."

"Not intended but oh so funny."

He watched as she turned to walk back to her apartment and his heart fell out of his chest.

She paused and turned slightly calling back over her shoulder, "You coming?"

Swallowing hard he grappled with his seatbelt, got out of his car and locked it before following her inside.

Earlier

"What the hell was that?" Owen snapped his head up as a mighty crash reverberated through the house, followed by another.

"With any luck the end to whatever started all of this."

He glanced over at Tosh who was applying field dressings to the unconscious man's injuries.

"How's he doing?"

"Well to me the wounds look mainly superficial, maybe a few stitches?"

"I'm not liking the head wound and the fact he is unconscious, we'll have to keep an eye on that."

She nodded while running fingers over the graze on the man's head.

"How's she doing?" Tosh asked without looking up.

"Not good, we have to get her out of here. She's lost a lot of blood……we may have to move her but…."

"What?"

"These hooks, where they are there's no telling what damage they have done, they could be the only thing at the moment preventing her from bleeding out entirely."

"So, we leave her here she dies, we move her, she dies?"

"Basically yes."

"Christ, now I know why I would rather deal with computers."

"Now I remember why I gave up emergency medicine."

"So what do we do? If that thing gets past Ianto and Jack we can't just stay here Owen, we're sitting ducks."

Before Owen could answer a pair of small feet appeared dangling down through the hole in the ceiling his boss and colleague had disappeared only moments before.

"Owen, Tosh….some help please?" Ianto called down, holding onto the scared child.

Tosh rose to help ease the boy to firmer ground.

"Is he ok?" Owen asked, not needing any more complications at this stage.

"Far as I can tell yes." Came the muffled reply as he watched Ianto slip back down through the hole, amazed at his ability to make it look graceful, dignified even.

Owen made a cursory assessment of the young boy who then moved out of Tosh's grasp and flung himself down at his father's chest. The medic satisfied with Ianto's diagnosis turned to him and asked,

"What happened up there?"

"It went to attack me and Jack tackled it but they broke through the floors."

"The crashing?" Owen asked.

"Yep. We've got to get these people out of here. That thing…I think it's specifically after this family. I don't know why but they are not safe here."

At that moment Gwen's panicked voice crackled through the comms.

"What's going on in there? Talk to me guys?"

"We're here Gwen, well all bar Jack." Owen answered.

"What the hell is going on Owen?"

"I think Ianto's about to tell us."

Ianto took a deep breath before answering, "It's a Golem."

"Did you hit your head up there, Teaboy? We're not talking about a quest for someone's 'precious' here, this is way beyond battle for middle earth."

"No Owen, not Gollum but a Golem. G-O-L-E-M, as in bringer of death, Jewish folklore."

"Come on Ianto, those things are just myth and legend to scare little kosher kids to be good for Hanukkah." Gwen scoffed.

"Yes Gwen and Weevils are just someone's Halloween costume gone wrong."

Owen glanced at Tosh hoping to see the same disbelief reflecting back in her eyes but she looked strangely satisfied with Ianto's explanation.

"Ianto, those things don't just materialize out of nowhere, someone has to be controlling it." Tosh offered.

"I know. This must be one hell of a revenge plot."

"So oh knowledgeable Teaboy, how do we kill it?"

"The symbols on its head, it's the Hebrew word for Emet, meaning truth. Remove the first letter and your left with Met, meaning death."

"How do you know all of this?" Owen asked

"You should know by now I know…."

"Yeah, yeah… everything. I get it. So what are you thinking?"

"We get the really big gun, and then we blow its fucking head off."

"Good plan."

"I'll break out the heavy artillery, get it in the house." Gwen offered.

"Thanks Gwen, what about the kid?"

"I can secure her in the SUV. She'll be safe there."

"Great, we have to get these people out of here first." Ianto replied.

"Only one problem with that, we move her she could bleed out." Owen countered.

"If that thing comes back for them we may not have a choice." Tosh said.

"Then let's only resort to that if we need to. Ianto can you carry him out?" Owen indicated to the husband on the floor and Ianto nodded.

"Gwen, better call paramedics we're gonna need to move quick when we do move her."

"I'll take the boy." Tosh pulled the bewildered little boy from his father's side but was met with resistance.

Ianto leant down to the boy so he was face level. "I'll take care of him. He needs you to be brave and go with Tosh, she'll keep you safe. Trust me, okay?"

The boy hesitated for a brief second before nodding at Ianto and accepting Tosh's outstretched hand.

Ianto waited until Tosh was just out of the door before bending down to pull the man off the floor. As he did so, he felt a jerk as a hand busted through the flooring and latched onto the man's legs dragging him down.

"Ianto, grab onto him, don't let him go," Owen yelled.

Ianto wrapped his arms around the man's torso in a macabre game of tug of war as Owen looked on in frustration. To help Ianto he would have to stop working on his patient. But if he didn't help Ianto they may lose the man instead.

Tosh turned back to the room at his shouts. She drew did her weapon but not letting go of the boy who was now struggling in her grip to get to his father. Ready to spring into action she was stopped in her tracks by Owen's assertion.

"Run Tosh, get him out of here," Owen watched the conflict in her face but could see she knew he was right. "Go! Get him out and help Gwen to find Jack."

Tosh hurried down the passage hailed Gwen, "Gwen, I need you to get a lock on Jack then take the heavy artillery to him."

"What's going on Tosh?"

"The Golem, it's trying to get the father."

"I'm on my way."

******

"Hang on Ianto," Owen shouted.

"I don't know how long I can hold him," Ianto said through gritted teeth.

Groaning alerted him to the fact the man had woken. "Let me go."

"No!" Ianto looked desperate, the strain causing beads of sweat to streak down his face.

Owen made the decision to help and launched himself into the game of human tug of war as Ianto and the man were steadily being pulled out of the room.

"Save her.," the man rasped as the force of being pulled became too much.

"He's right Owen, get her out of here, I can't hold it for long but we can buy you some time."

"Ianto no……let me help."

"No use Owen, you heard him…..save her. Gah…."

Ianto tightened his grip further as the beast pulled harder.

Owen swallowed the bile that had threatened in the back of his throat and turned back to his patient. "I'm sorry darlin', this is going to hurt like hell."

With a small nod to Ianto, Owen released her as quickly and carefully as he could off the wall, and put her over his shoulder in a fireman's hold. Ignoring her screams, he ran, not stopping until he got her outside on the grass.

Tosh met him with another med kit from the SUV and he began to work on the woman again, trying to stem the flow of blood sustained from the crucifixion type wounds.

"Ambulance is on its way."

"Not fast enough Tosh, it's gonna be too late."

A crash and a yell came from the house; Owen tried to ignore it and concentrated on staving the blood loss as the woman's life quickly ebbed away

TBC