[And I'm back :) I was going to leave it until Saturday to put this up but I'm so excited for it that I had to show you now. This one has most of the action seen in the program because as you lot know I generally only write the bits that are important to Winter, there doesn't seem much point in writing what you've already seen. So here you go. The beginning of the end…]

A warning to the people,
The good and the evil,
This is war.
To the soldier, the civilian,
The martyr, the victim,
This is war.

30 Seconds to Mars - This Is War

Exit Wounds: part 1

'Bastard! John's taken our SUV.' Owen nodded to Ianto and let go of Winter to help pull Tosh further across the field towards Gwen's car.

'Look's like he's taken it back to Torchwood.' Ianto commented, looking down at his phone. The grime seemed to be caked onto his suit and felt rough under her hands.

'And we're getting readings of rift activity all over the city,' Tosh commented. 'Major rift flares at St. Helens hospital, the Police head quarters and the central IT service station.'

Gwen's phone began to ring and she picked it up, her voice was breathy after helping everyone out of the building. Rhys tagged alongside her.

They all bundled into the tiny car. Ianto passed Winter over to Jack who pulled her onto his lap, making room for Ianto to squish in beside them, Tosh trying not to fidget as she sat on Owen's knees. To be fair though, Owen looked pretty comfortable with Tosh sat with him. They dropped him off at the hospital first. Tosh and Ianto got out to walk to the central server building and Rhys pulled up outside the Hub the door opened and Pip raced out towards the entrance. Winter made to get out but Jack stopped her.

'You're not going in there.'

'Pip's in there!' she told him.

'He'll be fine. You on the other hand will register as a threat. You stay away from John got that.'

'He likes me.'

Jack laughed. 'Don't be ridiculous.' She heaved herself out of the car and pushed him backwards.

'What the hell do you mean?'

'You really think he gives a damn about anyone but himself?'

Anger boiled in her stomach. 'You seem to think he has some kind of feeling for you.'

Jack shook his head at her and turned away, walking across the way towards the visitor centre.

'Come on Winter get in the car.' Gwen called.

Winter shook her head. This was one time Jack wasn't going to push her onto the side lines. 'You may as well get to the police station.' She told them. Without looking back she grimaced as she walked (fairly slowly) away from the car, around a corner and down a slight slope. Just outside one of the cafés was a man hole. She sighed and pulled the covering off. People at the café looked at her like she was mad and she had a flash of Fawks grinning at her and saying 'give people what they want, Win'. She smirked a little and waved at them before climbing down into the dark.

With the cover back on there was no light in the passage. She pulled her phone from her pocket to use as a torch and used her other arm to steady herself on the side of the sewer wall. She stiffened as a growl reverberated around the tunnel, how was she supposed to tell where it was. Taking in a deep, but not so calming breath, she continued to walk. Just a few more turns and she'd be out.

TTT

'Number of reasons actually, first of all, you were very rude to me.'

'What?'

Winter peaked out of the Pterodactyl's cave and surveyed the hub. Oh, so high and mighty Jack was chained to a wall. Well, his plan was going well then. Hers was more subtle. Watch and wait. Get Jack to wheedle the information out of John, and then stop him. Alright, so she needed to work on the end, but it had the beginnings of a good plan.

'Very rude indeed,' John told Jack, 'In front of people who barely knew me. You belittled me, I can't let that go.'

So he did have feelings, he cared what people thought. She smiled despite the situation. Jack was wrong then.

'You're serious?' Jack asked.

'Second. You have all of time. An eternity essentially, and you still refuse to spend time with me. After all we've been through together, after all I've done for you.'

'Where's Gray? What have you done with my brother?'

'You don't realise, actions ramifications, ripples in a pond it's beyond my control.'

Winter watched Jack swinging slightly. This conversation really needed a fast forward button. As interesting as the little domestic was, she wanted a bath and she could only do that when the world was safe. OH! Jack was being electrocuted! So the chains were active, well that was several plans for escape out of the window. But wait, John was unchaining him. He grabbed hold of Jack's arm and they disappeared. Well, that wasn't quite the marvellous rescue attempt she'd been thinking of.

She slipped out of the cave and down to the bottom floor of the hub, racing over to Toshiko's computer. God she needed more technical skills. None of the words meant anything to her.

The Hub suddenly filled with John's voice. 'Attention Torchwood employees. Evening all. Now stop what you're doing.'

Gwen's voice broke his soliloquy. 'Jack what's going on, are you ok?'

'Jack can't come to the comms right now but if you leave a message I'll be sure to pass it along.'

'What have you done to him?' Gwen shouted.

'No, no wrong question, you should be asking, what am I about to do to you.'

Winter stopped and looked at the rift Machine.

'Put Jack on right now,' Ianto ordered.

'Eye candy! That was so masterful, so bossy, so basically powerless. Get up to the roofs of your buildings, quickly now.'

'Why?' Owen asked.

'Because if you don't, you'll miss all the fun. Oh, wait a minute, do I mean fun or do I mean carnage. I get them confused. Are you running yet? No dawdling now.'

She stared at the computer. Nothing, no signs of any activity. Just a bunch of co-ordinates he'd set in. Where was Tosh when you needed her?

'Oh! And Doll Face.' She looked up, surprised.

'Yeah?'

'I'd get out of the Hub if I were you.'

She looked around her, nothing, no one watching her. How did he know? Suddenly the ground shook. Pieces of the roof fell around her and she screamed, leaping out the way of the shower of stones. Crawling over to the rift manipulator she pulled at the wires. It had to be something to do with this. It just had to be. The Hub stopped shaking and looked much the same as it normally would but the rift machine glowed brightly, the glare getting stronger and stronger until she couldn't look at it anymore, but as quickly as it came it left. The wires still stuck in place. She kicked it in frustration and looked up at the machinery. New plan?

TTT

'I thought I told you to get out of here.'

Winter leapt up from Tosh's desk and span around to face John, he grabbed her arm with his left hand.

'Thought I made it clear it wasn't safe. I can only lock you in your room so many times.'

'What do you want?' she asked him.

'I want you to listen to me.'

'I am' she replied, confused.

'I'm feeling a bit explosive right now so don't test me Doll Face.'

'Where's Jack?'

'I mean it love, I'm bursting with energy. One more word from you I might detonate.'

Winter glanced around the hub in confusion with absolutely no idea what to say. John rolled his eyes and sighed, 'You know, I always thought you might be the smart one.'

They stared at each other for a good thirty seconds before John's eyes flicked down do his arm. Trying not to move her head she looked in the same direction and noted the seared skin and the flashing light on his manipulator. Her mouth fell open and his eyes lit up. In a tiny movement, barely noticeable, he nodded. He was a bomb. A moment of shared understanding passed and she grabbed him, pushing him back toward the wall and slamming him against it.

'Why are you doing this?' she yelled, then whispered, 'Where's Jack?'

'Can't a guy have a little fun in this time zone?' he laughed back, and then under his breath replied, 'I don't know.' He pushed her back, spinning them around and shoving himself closer to her pressing her to the wall, panting in her ear.

Winter glanced around the hub before growling out, 'This isn't fun, this is murder.' No sign of anything. 'What about Pip?' she murmured.

'One and the same Doll.' He looked at her confused and 'through gritted teeth hissed, 'Who?'

'The monkey!' she snapped.

'Oh him, I don't know.'

She growled in frustration and shoved her knee between his legs. He yelped and fell to the floor but he felt her hand stroke over his cheek and then his shoulder as she ran for her room.

He glanced wearily down at the wrist strap and sighed. Until it came off he couldn't follow her. She disappeared down the corridor and the cog door began to roll open. He hid at the side as Gwen entered, gun raised.

TTT

Her room was empty, not another soul in sight. 'Pip!' she called, 'Pip! Come on where are you?'

The corridor seemed colder, darker, scarier than normal. The first thing she was going to do when she got out of here was fit a tracking device to that… 'OW!'

Something pushed her hard against the wall and she felt a hand wrap around her throat, lifting her off the floor.

'I take it you're Doll Face.' The man in front of her asked.

She gripped his hand and tried to pull it away from her throat, kicking out with her dangling feet.

'John told me all about you. Stutterer, right? But you know what's more interesting? My brother seems to be pretty keen on you. Well, maybe I can't kill him, but I can certainly hurt him.' Grey dragged her down the corridor until they reached a possession storage vault near the armoury with pipes across the ceiling and a sealed door that Jack had installed to stop the sound from the many mobiles and other aggravating beeping tech that all seemed to go off at random intervals until their power drained.

Grey pushed her inside and pulled a gun from his pocket. She flinched when he pointed it at her but he smirked and moved his aim upwards and fired four shots in quick succession. The pipe he hit exploded, showering her with freezing cold water.

'Nothing personal,' he told her. 'You can thank my brother, not that you'll ever see him again.'

The door swung shut and she was left in the dark. So, what? He was leaving her to freeze. She got out of the puddle of water and pulled on the door. Nothing, wouldn't budge.

A gasp escaped her mouth when she felt the water lap at her ankles. She felt down at the bottom of the door and realised it was more than sealed, it was tight. The water was rising; she was going to drown.

'The Small But Powerful One': I hope this will live up to your standards :) I'm excited too and don't worry, in my experience I've found that most of the best people are nerdy

'Rachy Babes': Umm….as to the bribing… yes, is it working? I'm a bit of a nerd so I spend quite a bit of time in the library when I can and so having a secret place where I could just go and read what I wanted in whatever crazy position I wanted rather than the awful seats just seemed a great idea. Unfortunately I don't think Sutton council would go with the plan. I always knew Pip must have been in some kind of battle, to be so smart and so able to sense the tensions of the moment he just reminds me of a soldier (just a very small one :D). As Princess Leia said in Star Wars: A New Hope, 'It's not over yet.'

'sonotalady': Don't worry, I was having a bad day so I was stressing about everything under the sun, including the reviews. I'm glad you're back though :) and I hope you're feeling a lot better. If not I am reliably informed that this story acts as magic neurofen so it may help. Lol, Winter and Gray, perhaps not, I can see why no one would want to see that. I hope you enjoy this, it's got quite the cliff hanger :D (evil laugh)