Beth was distraught.
She couldn't believe it, the mere idea of aliens existing was overwhelming but the fact she was one...
After a lot of comforting from Gwen (Ianto was beginning to worry that Gwen was getting too attached to the girl) Beth allowed them to freeze her. Fooled by the fake images sent by the alien the team calmed down only to have the lights go out as Beth used the tunnels to escape. Jack and Gwen followed only to get there in time when Beth accidentally killed her husband.
Then all hell broke loose. The phone network went down; three more Sleeper Agents woke up and began killing important council men. One Sleeper Agent was heading towards a top secret nuclear weaponry near Cardiff. With the help of Beth, Jack and Gwen managed to track them down and kill them in time before the world was destroyed.
Gwen was haunted by the taunting words of the male Sleeper Agent. That they were still going to come and use Torchwood as a method to destroy Earth. After cleaning up the mess that was left behind they took Beth back to the Hub and prepared a more secure way of freezing her body.
Gwen entered the autopsy room where Beth said silently, her eyes filled with grief and sadness.
"We're set with the cryogenics when you're ready" Gwen said loudly to get Beth's attention but gently to not panic her.
"Will it work this time?" Beth asked worriedly.
"Tosh has reconfigured the casket. It'll work around the implant. No more false images" Gwen explained.
"If we'd been one minute later..." Beth trailed off going back to the dark thoughts that had been haunting her.
"We weren't. We stopped him" Gwen said softly sitting down beside Beth.
"Then what happens when you have to stop me? If the freezing doesn't work?" Beth asked frantically.
"It won't come to that" Gwen said firmly.
"I can feel it coming. It's pushing me out" Beth whispered staring horrified at her alien arm. "What will you do when I lose my last bit of me?"
"We will figure something out, Beth"
"No, we won't. I'm too dangerous for that, we both know it" Gwen remained silent, unable to come up with an argument. "Do you ... have someone ... at home?" Beth whispered.
Gwen looked up at the balcony where beyond the doors she knew Ianto was waiting for her anxiously. Where she knew Ianto was worried and scared for her. "A fiancé" she answered.
"Have you ever hurt them?"
Has she ever hurt Ianto? Well she had never left him, never tried to harm him physically and never cheated on him but in ways she had, she made his heart stop beating at the thought she was going to die. She had argued and yelled at him when he had hurt her in a similar way thus hurting him as well. "More than once, yes" Gwen confessed clasping her hands together tightly and screwing her eyes shut willing herself to not cry.
"Remember how guilty you felt?" Gwen nodded. "Imagine that ... times a billion... all the time ... every second of the day. That's how I feel now. And the worst part is, when I turn back, I won't feel guilty any more. I'll want to carry out my mission. I won't even care about Mike. I'll forget all about him. I don't wanna die as one of those things, Gwen. I don't wanna forget about Mike"
"Then don't. Let's do this. Who knows what we'll be able to do in a month? A year?" Gwen said pleadingly, she wanted to preserve this good woman so badly, not let this alien thing take over.
"Thanks for being so good to me. Remember me the way I am now. Remember...Beth" Beth whispered, her arm suddenly started beeping; her eyes went vacant as she held her arm out at Gwen and a blade appeared.
Gwen gasped, shot up and began to back away from Beth who was slowly advancing towards her. "Beth...Beth..." Gwen whispered pleadingly.
Beth grabbed hold of Gwen and held the blade up to her neck; Gwen's insides froze at the touch of the cold blade. "I won't let you freeze me!" Beth hissed in a deep alien voice as she began to pull Gwen up into the main Hub. Tosh was alone and looked up horrified. "I'll kill you all!" Beth snarled.
Tosh grabbed her gun from her bag under her workstation just as Jack ran out with his gun out.
"Let her go!" Ianto roared as he and Owen ran out with their guns held up. "Let her go!"
"No! No, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, don't shoot! It's a trick. She won't. She won't hurt me" Gwen shouted, begging her team not to hurt her new friend, tears welling up in her eyes.
"Move away from her now!" Tosh snarled possessively.
"Everybody, calm down!" Jack ordered. "Beth...Beth...you don't want to do this. Let Gwen go" Jack said firmly but gently to Beth.
I'll kill her first, then all of you, then the rest of your miserable species!" Beth spat out.
"Beth, please! They will kill you" Gwen shouted. "You have proved to be better than that; you helped us to stop the invasion. You can be human. Please! Beth!"
Beth shook her head. "Not human enough" she said darkly.
"Beth ..." Gwen whispered, tears spilling down her cheek.
"Goodbye, Gwen" Beth growled in her alien voice and then she leaned down, her breath tickling Gwen's ear. "Good luck with that Ianto bloke, I figured it out" she whispered in her human voice.
Beth pulled back her arm. Everyone fired, loud gunshots causing Gwen to gasp. The bullets hit Beth's chest and she fell backwards. Gwen fell to the floor shocked and horrified as Jack and Owen ran either side of her, guns still trained onto Beth.
"She wanted you to shoot her!" Gwen shrieked. "She used her last shred of humanity to do this"
"We couldn't take that chance" Owen said gently. "She must have known that"
"She did" Jack said putting his gun down. "She just wanted to make it easier for us"
Everyone remained silent; Gwen reached out and pulled Beth's hand into hers when Jack gently squeezed her shoulder. She dropped Beth's hand and shot up; running away from Jack and directly into Ianto's waiting arms as she began to sob into this shoulder.
TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW
Jack sat at his desk holding the alien blade, his gaze never leaving it as he examined it thoughtfully. The door suddenly opened and Gwen appeared, Jack sat back propping his legs on the edge of the desk and stared at her with the same scrutiny the blade received.
"Do you think we stopped it?" Gwen asked in a flat, empty voice.
"Maybe. Maybe we've just put it off for a while, I don't know. We don't know anything" Jack said frustrated.
"We know plenty" Gwen argued immediately. "We know about the implant. We can disable their force-field. We know how they attack. We know that they can be killed. And while they think they have the element of surprise, we know they haven't. But, until that day, we just keep doing what we do" Gwen said passionately.
"Oh, them be fightin' words, they be, Gwen" Jack said in a pirate accent as he sat up. They smiled and chuckled in unison. "So, have you set a date?" Jack asked.
"Oh, don't get me started, please. My mam's already been on the phone, saying, 'What about the local church, Gwen? It's ever so lovely'" Gwen moaned.
"Good. Go home. Keep doing what we do" Jack said casually nodding to her, Gwen nodded back.
"Good night, Jack" Gwen said quietly before making her way to the door.
"Oh and Gwen" Jack called causing her to look back. "Whatever it is you're doing with Ianto, stop it" Gwen opened her mouth to argue. "I don't care if you haven't slept with him yet" Jack interrupted coldly. "I know the signs; it's you and Owen all over again. Just stop it"
Gwen frowned but said nothing. She turned round and left the office to find Ianto waiting at the bottom of the stairs for her. She smiled and linked her hand into his the moment she reached the bottom.
"I think...i think Jack's starting to work it out" she whispered. "And when the truth comes out, he probably have no problem with it because he's used to the idea"
"Let's hope so" Ianto whispered back squeezing her hand tightly.
