Chapter 8: Becoming More

"What happened!?" Paul demanded, inspecting Rory's bashed head and broken ribs. Luna stood quietly in the corner, her eyes on the ground, ashamed. She hadn't meant to drag Rory into this whole mess.

Rory winced as Paul bandaged his ribs. "I got mugged." Luna's head whipped up and caught his eye. Without breaking eye contact, "I was working the late shift and was going to meet Luna at the new bakery. I got mugged on the way and Luna got worried and found me." She hung her head again in shame. "Ow!" Rory hissed moving away from Paul.

"Why did you lie for me?" Luna asked. They sat in Luna's bedroom, in their pajamas, with Rory holding an ice pack to his damaged side.

"He wouldn't exactly believe me. Hell, even I wouldn't believe me!" He went quiet for a bit. "But... I'm glad you're right."

"Are you?" She questioned skeptically.

"It means that you're not crazy."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"S-sorry! I d-didn't mean it that way!"

Luna let off a tiny smile, "I know…thanks."

Luna's door swung open and Edwin and Daniel made themselves known. "Hey!" Daniel pushed Edwin out of the way and entered the room. Edwin pushed himself in anyway seating himself next to Luna. "Dad says you got mugged!"

"Yeah." Rory said.

"Really?" Edwin demanded with skeptics, "Are you sure it wasn't just…you know." He grinned broadly doing several enthusiastic pelvic thrusts.

Luna smacked him hard, pushing him off the bed. He fell with a thump smacking his head on the floor.

"Oh come on!" Daniel laughed, "Don't deny it! You and her just-"

"Get out." Rory's voice was soft, but menacing. It was a tone that no one had ever heard from him before.

The room went deadly silent. Daniel and Edwin shuffled out. "Geez," Daniel mumbled, "Don't start PMS-ing."

"Thanks," Luna said as soon as they were gone.

"So what happened?" Rory changed the subject, "I mean, how did you-?"

"Salt."

"Salt?"

"I just picked up the nearest object and it happened to be a handful of road salt." Luna took a deep breath. "Rory, you can't."

"Why not?"

"It's already my fault you got hurt tonight. I mean, what'll happen if…" She shook her head, "I won't have that happen."

"And what about you?" Rory demanded, "What happens if I'm not there and you're the one who gets hurt. Or dies!" He shook his head, "I'd never forgive myself. Besides, I'm already involved. I'm going with you and you can't convince me otherwise."

Luna nodded, "Okay then." Luna got up and locked the door. Going over to the bed, she pulled all her father's notes from under the bed as well as his laptop. She opened it, "Here's what I've got."

"Owen," Tosh wrapped her arms around his waist, "I'm worried about Ianto. He hasn't been in contact in a while."

"Don't worry, Tosh. He's probably busy trying to appear normal. He's got Luna to look after."

"She's twenty-one, she can look after herself." Tosh argued, "Besides, with all the crap we live through, isn't it better she's living in ignorance?"

Owen's video chat opened and rang for him, "See, that's probably him." He reached out pressing the answer button. Color drained from his already pale face. "Shit." He turned to his wife. "I spoke too soon."

"Aunt Gwen? Are you there?" Luna's voice called, "Listen. I made a really bad mistake and Ianto-" Owen's face jumped onto the screen, "Uncle Owen!?" Luna's voice screeched from the other line. This drew in an automatic and panicked rush from Tosh and Gwen. Both faces were forced into Luna and Rory's view. "Auntie Tosh!? Holy crap!"

"What do you mean 'Holy Crap'? What are you doing with Ianto's computer? How did you-?"

"Ianto's in hospital, in a coma, and I don't know what to do! I searched through his diary and stuff and I know all about Torchwood and the thing that took him!" Luna blurted out fast.

"Gwen, did you know about this?" Tosh accused.

"She called earlier begging for help! Ianto was in trouble; what was I supposed to do?"

This caused a long and astonished pause, then, "Who the bloody hell is he?" Owen pointed at Rory.

"Rory Slippery." Rory introduced himself.

"You told him!?" Gwen accused.

"To be fair," Tosh reminded, "You told Rhys."

"Uncle Rhys knows!? Never mind!" Luna snapped, "What about my dads!? I need them back!"

"I'm assuming that you've already tried to go after Hollowcall considering," Gwen said nodding at Rory's injuries.

"Yeah," Rory said, "We found a nice Achilles heel. Salt. Luna threw a hardened lump at it and I suppose it burned him. Saved me from dying." He gave a small smile in Luna's direction before redirecting it to the video chat.

"Where did you find Hollowcall?"Tosh asked moving to her computer.

"An alleyway behind the empire state building. It was the last place my Dad's notes said it was."

There was a moment of silence except for the sound of Tosh's typing, the Rift monitor, and the occasional screech of the pterodactyl. "Right," Tosh said, still typing, "Here's what you're going to do."

Luna clenched her hands around the bag of salt. Her palms were sticky with sweat, her heart pounding fast. She stole a glance at Rory who was fidgeting nervously. He tugged at the corners of his wooly hat. He caught her eye and gave a slight nod. Both proceeded forward and made it to the door. After a few unsuccessful attempts, Luna managed to get the door open with Rory on the lookout and armed with salt. The door creaked open on rusted hinges. Swallowing hard, Luna peered around the darkened room. A pungent odor of decay and stale air bombarded their senses. There was no sign of Hollowcall or any life form. Rory handed Luna a flashlight. Proceeding with caution, both flipped on their flashlights and began to explore. A sweep of the light revealed a large empty storage room crawling with all sorts of creepy crawlers. Luna nearly jumped out of her skin as a cockroach scurried over her left foot. "Hey," Rory whispered lightly gripping Luna's forearm, "over there." He swung his light over to a corner where they glimpsed something shining in a pile of blue. "What is that?" He wondered aloud. Luna shrugged and both crept their way to the shining bauble.

As soon as their eyes rested on it, Luna's face drained of all color. "Holy-" The shiny bauble was one of the buttons on Jack's signature authentic World War II coat.

"Luna…" Rory dragged out her name slowly and without taking his eyes off the horrendous sight in front of him.

"Hmmm?" Luna's sight drifted over to Rory's light, "Oh my God, Dad!" Luna rushed over to the unconscious Jack Harkness. He was covered in his own blood, vomit, and other bodily fluids. The only sign that Jack was still alive was the steady, but labored breaths he took. Luna got on her knees and attempted to wake him, or at least, she hoped, get some sort of reaction out of him. "Dad?" She choked out softly and then sucked in her breath forcing herself to stay strong, "Can you hear me? It's me, Luna, your daughter. Please wake up." Luna reached out gingerly touching Jack's face with her fingertips. His skin was cold like a corpse and the texture was beginning to feel like Hollowcall.

A loud thump behind Luna caused her blood to run cold. She knew what had happened even before she turned and saw Rory's unconscious body. "How touching." Luna spun around fast to once again face Hollowcall. He was angry; the burns from the salt still prominent on its skin. "You know what I should do?" He circled them with a predatory gaze. "I'm going to skin you alive, you little bitch. I'm going to burn you in the same way you burned me."

"With salt?" Luna squeaked out in a poor attempt at humor.

Hollowcall laughed with an obvious confidence. "I'll even do you a favor. I'll wake up daddy dearest, over there, along with your boy toy and they can watch you die."

"W-we could sort this o-out you know?" Luna backed away slowly.

"I can smell it you know," Hollowcall mimicked Luna's terrified tone, "you're fear!" He screamed the word 'fear' causing Luna to jump and squeeze her eyes shut. Hollowcall grabbed her face in one hand squeezing it hard, "This isn't any dream, princess. I'm going to kill you." Saying thus, Hollowcall's tongue slithered its way out of his mouth and began wrapping itself around Luna's neck. She whimpered with fear, not wanting this to happen. She didn't want the alien tongue sliding all over her face, her fathers to be in comas, her best friend to be dying on the floor, and most of all she wished this alien had never interfered in her life. There was a sudden roar of agony and Luna was released from Hollowcall's suffocating grasp. She fell to the ground wheezing for air, her lungs greedily sucking in oxygen.

Rory had thrown a large handful of salt at the creature. Luna stumbled to her feet, messily groaping for her bag of salt, while Rory continued throwing the grainy white substance. With shaking hands, she tore the bag open, and siezed her opportunity. Hollowcall was on the ground cowering. Taking the full bag, Luna got as close as her courage allowed and dumped the whole thing over it's body.

The next few moments was like a scene straight out of The Wizard of Oz. Hollowcall began to screech with the intensity of seven trains skidding to a stop at full speed. It's body contorted, twisting into inhuman shapes before bursting into sludge like a Slitheeen being murdered with vinager. Both Rory and Luna jumped when the creature exploded coating the pair in the creature's bodily fluid.

There was a loud and raspy gasp and Captain Jack's body jerked upright as he gained conscienceness for the span of five seconds. Before he blacked out again, he thought he saw the image of his daughter and a stranger standing and covered in some strange goo that smelled of sulfur and oysters.

"Please!" Luna shouted into the ER, "Somebody! We need a doctor!" She and Rory had Jack between them, his arms slung over their shoulders. People stared at the strange couple covered in a brownish-purple slime carrying an unconscious man wearing a World War II coat. Nurses ran over calling for a gurney who was promptly followed by Paul.

"What happened?" Paul demanded, checking Jack's vitals.

"We don't know," Rory lied to his father, again, "We just found him."

"Help him," Luna pleaded, "He's my dad!"

Paul knew they were both lying to him but decided not to press the issue. He'd get it out of them later, but right now, he had a patient to take care of.