UNIT and the Return to Spiridon
Title: UNIT and the Return to Spiridon
Characters: Ianto Jones, Jack Harkness, OFC, OMCs, Agent Johnson, Alonso Frame, Professor Malcolm Taylor
Disclaimer: Neither Torchwood or Doctor Who are mine
Summary: ‘We escaped Spiridon only to discover that your Doctor had destroyed his own planet and ours. We trusted him and billions died and now he is going to pay with his life.’
Spoilers: The End of Time and Children of Earth, to be safe.
Rating: R
Word count: 35, 729
Warnings: Torture descriptions in later chapters
A/N: This is a sequel to Unit and the Time Loop.
Prologue - The Angel of the North
Louise Ruth felt the overwhelming weight of the Rani’s legacy continue to haunt her, even after her death. The search for her TARDIS had been fruitless to say the least. How could anyone possibly find something that was designed to blend in to the background unnoticed, and that was without the help of the perception filter.
The Robo-men had been the easiest to locate. Without a controlling force behind them they wandered around, their last command all they had to go on. One, she had been told, had been tasked to dig a hole to bury them in but hadn’t been given the order to stop. By the time UNIT had found him the walls of the fifteen foot hole had begun to collapse in on him.
Two others had been told to steel a vehicle to be used as a troop transport. UNIT tracked them down when twenty two buses had been reported stolen from Go-ahead Northern and were discovered in a car park just off the coast. The local mayor had been kidnapped at gun point on five occasions only to be returned to his home then kidnapped again. His wife had begun making packed lunches for him so he could take one with him as he left at gunpoint.
For Louise Ruth all had been quiet as her life began to take shape once again, without the influence of the Doctor or Torchwood. Things would have ticked over naturally for once, she thought, as she lay in her hospital bed, if she hadn’t returned to the Angel, her favourite drinking establishment.
Every time she moved the pain in her arms and shoulders seemed to scream at her. At least, she thought, they left my leg alone this time. Memories of the wolf-man attack she had suffered the last time she had visited the Angel still haunted her nightmares. This time had been different though. The attackers looked normal, hiding in plain sight and disguised as humans.
She had just started her second pint of Stella when the seat next to her had been taken by an off duty soldier. She recognised him instantly as a member of UNIT, the organisation she’d worked for, for over a year, based in Wear View House in the centre of Sunderland. As the drinks flowed the talking began in earnest. UNIT soldiers, it seemed, knew only good and evil, black and white and if you weren’t in their camp then you were in the oppositions and retrieving her seemed to be their goal. With drink in shaking hand the UNIT soldier listened as Louise Ruth shot down argument after argument leaving him stunned into silence.
‘And as for bad people well…I’m afraid there is no such thing as good people and bad people,’ Louise Ruth said as she sipped her coke, heavily laced with vodka.
‘Oh please do explain,’ the UNIT soldier asked, realising that he had started to slur his words, which for him was never a good sign. It was Louise Ruth he had been ordered to keep an eye on not the other way round. As UNIT’s most accomplished drinker, Corporal Stephen Howard had been tasked to bring her back into the fold, as Brigadier Bambera had told him. But from the outset the pace had been blistering standing her drink for drink until he could hardly think straight let alone construct a valid point or opinion.
‘It’s simple. You see there is and always has been only bad people. The difference is that some of them are on opposing sides.’ Gesturing with her hand towards the Angel’s front door she continued, ‘Out there is a rolling sea of pure evil. Yes…’ she added quickly, holding her free hand up as if to halt a retort, ‘it’s shallower in some places than others but mostly it’s deep, very deep and nasty.’ The thought of something deep and nasty sent a shiver up Stephen’s spine, although he wasn’t sure why.
‘Then there are people like Brigadier Winifred Bambera that put together a boatload of rules and good intentions, and say things like, ‘This is the right way, and this will triumph in the end,’ but they never do. Both sides of the same coin go on forever.’ Louise Ruth finished her glass in one gulp and motioned to the long suffering barman for a refill.
Throwing more money onto the bar to pay for yet another round of drinks, the UNIT officer tried to focus on his drinking companion but was having difficulty. His vision was blurring perceptibly and the room seemed to move of its own accord.
‘Want to join UNIT… I mean in an official capacity?’ he asked surprising himself with the candour of his offer and the comprehensibility of his words.
‘Nope,’ came her replay as she cradled her newly charged drink in both hands as if welcoming an old friend.
‘Sure you… you err… won’t change your hind… er mind? We… we’ve got full medical and dental… er dental… hygiene… er… you know.’ Not too sure what he had just said he looked bemused as Louise Ruth answered.
‘I wouldn’t join UNIT if you had hot and cold running alcohol, soup in a basket, tea on the lawn, and Muffin the bastard mule.’ Placing her drink on the bar she looked the UNIT soldier square in the face all pretence of humour gone. ‘Keep an eye on that for me as if your life depends on it… because it just might. I need a piss.’
Shocked, the UNIT soldier tried to focus on the drink then back at Louise Ruth. ‘A little too much information but… hey… knock… knock yourself out. Who… who’s Muffin the bastard mule?’ He said to the bartender as he fell headlong from his stool.
Heading towards the ladies always gave Louise Ruth a cold shiver that ran up her spine like icy fingers. Filled with anticipation, her body tensed and her fists clenched as she walked towards the door. It meant that no matter how much she drank she would always sober up after a trip to the toilet. Due to the fact that Rani’s TARDIS once materialised as one of the stalls no one else knew where it was, but she knew. She would always know where the wolf-man had attacked her almost killing her in the process.
From out of nowhere a tall man loomed forward blocking her path. She could see that he was doing his best to look mean, holding himself upright with his fists clenched tight. He wore a dirty woollen cap that tended to detract the imagination slightly from the image he was trying to portray. His red T-shirt that held the legend, ‘I’m so happy I could shit,’ also had the effect of drawing humour into the situation rather than menace. Because of the smell she wondered if he’d previously fell into a urinal or perhaps hadn’t made it to one in time.
‘Ok… bitch… give me your shit,’ the youth growled at her with as much anger as his half-drunken drug induced demeanour could manage.
For the briefest of moments she stopped and gazed into the prospective mugger’s doped-up eyes. Some far off instinct for self preservation must have penetrated to what passed as the man's’ brain because looking into her dark blue eyes he hesitated for a second, keeping both of his hands tightly by his sides.
‘Don’t be silly little boy,’ she said, and without a second glance strolled on leaving a dumbfounded man starring after her, trying to figure out what had just happened.
***
Louise Ruth awoke at about two in the morning, the pain still rippling through her body and her head felt like she had been drinking constantly for the last few weeks.
She had just come out of out of Rapid Eye Movement sleep and it had refreshed and strengthened her to the extent that she could feel and think without pain blotting out everything else.
She felt parched her tongue seemed to be stuck to the roof of her mouth. All she knew was that she wanted to go to the toilet and badly but she found that she couldn’t move. She tried to push herself up but the pain in her shoulder and abdomen was unbelievable so she lay still.
As she lay there she began checking out her body by feeling each injury point. Each bruise and lump registered in her mind, each painfully sore area told her to lay still. Apart from that, she mused, she felt fine, she was alive and very much so.
She closed her eyes and opened her mind, visualising the most perfect symbol ever created for meditation, the Yin and Yang circle. It had been described to her as a perfect circle divided equally into white and black and held numerous meanings.
In the dark she ran through each moment, each event that had put her there in, what appeared to be a hospital bed. Turning her head she noticed for the first time that Agent Johnson was sitting asleep in a chair next to her and she felt even better. She hadn’t left her after all. The battle was over and life was good, or it would be if she could get to the toilet.
***
Returning to her seat Louise Ruth noticed that the UNIT soldier was gone but her drink was still there unmolested. Looking around she wondered, for a moment, weather he had left or had made his way to the toilet himself. Not wishing to lose the kind of money that had been furnishing her with drinks all night she waved at the barman. Without a word he pointed to the rear door adjacent to the pool table. Nodding her understanding she decided that she wasn’t the kind of person that would let a young chap vomit on his own; besides, it was his round next.
Closing the door behind her the cool fresh air hit her like a sledge hammer. Her vision cleared as her body chilled and tensed ready for something she wasn’t sure of. Turning in the darkness she had just caught sight of the downed UNIT Corporal when she felt the cold muzzle, of what she thought of as a pistol, touch her right cheek. As she turned a slow gravely voice whispered in her ear.
‘My name is Latep, a Thal, one of only a handful of survivors of the twelfth planet Skaro and I have travelled across time and space to kill the Doctor and his companion.’
Dressed in what appeared to be part of an orange space suit the man was similar in height to her. His thick blonde hair ran down his shoulders but it was his eyes that penetrated to her soul. She almost missed it but it was there. It was a brief glint of elation in the Thal’s eyes, mixed with what she could only describe as rapture. The pure sense of evil about him seemed so concentrated that she felt she could reach out and touch it. The look disturbed her greatly. It was as if he had undergone something that was far more menacing than she could possibly conceive.
‘We escaped Spiridon only to discover that your Doctor had destroyed his own planet and ours. We trusted him and billions died and now he is going to pay with his life.’
He charged his energy weapon, the buzz announcing that it was ready to fire. His finger began to squeeze tightly against the trigger. She saw his knuckle turn white as she gazed directly into the would-be killer’s eyes.
‘Nothing to say, no last words, no explanations, nothing?’ The last word was shouted in anger. As the Latep gazed into her eyes he started to worry when he saw the utter calm on her face. It was as if she was enjoying herself. He also noticed a slight smile at the corner of her mouth, and for a split second wondered if she was laughing at him.
Louise Ruth noticed his intensive gaze and gave him her full and most warming smile. She was calm and fully in control, not despite her blood alcohol level but because of it. The fear and panic that threatened to overtake her was drowned in a sea of vodka and beer, unable to come to the surface and affect her concentration.
‘Something on your mind?’ she eventually said slightly unnerving the Thal as he tried to understand her.
‘Yes, in fact there is. Are you not even in the least bit afraid? I cannot make it plainer that today will be your last day on your planet Earth. Does this information not worry you, not even in the slightest?’
He could see that she was about to say something, that would perhaps explain her lack of fear and he wanted to hear it. Jo wouldn’t have acted this calm; Jo would have screamed and ran. But if it had been Jo he wouldn’t be trying to kill her. If she’d only gone with him, he would be in this predicament, he was sure. His attention was wandering, he knew. He wasn’t a bad person but revenge had to be sought. His people were almost extinct because of this man. What other option did he have?
Louise Ruth’s smile broadened as the Thal prepared to fire his energy weapon. ‘The Butterfly only lives a day but to him it’s a life time. I’ve lived many lifetimes and will go to my grave a very happy woman… whenever that may be.’ The Thal looked aghast as he lowered his pistol away from her body line for an instant.
Smiling she lashed out with her right hand, the power of the blow snapped his head back sending him flying across the car park like a discarded rag doll thrown away by a petulant child. Agent Johnston had been right when she said that in a combat situation it was always best to get your retaliation in first.
Prepared for a follow up attack total confusion rained as black uniformed men, wearing red berets, ran passed her into the Angel dragging men to the floor and wrapping plastic riot cuffs about their wrists. She stood watching, standing stock still, not knowing what was happening; her brain not able to take in the flurry of activity as her adrenalin levels began to drop and the alcohol took over. That was when she was hit by an energy weapon fired from the opposite end of the car park. The explosion picked her up and threw her against the wall opposite, knocking her instantly into unconsciousness.
***
‘Good morning,’ an elderly, overweight nurse said as Louise Ruth, now fully dressed, turned away from her and sat back down on the bed.
‘Same to you,’ she said as her spirits dipped a little lower, wondering if her stay would be extended.
‘Let’s check those vitals shall we?’ Placing a blood pressure gauge on the table next to her she continued with her discussion. ‘How are we feeling today then?’
‘We? I’m fine but I’m not too sure about you… late night?’ Louise Ruth said as the nurse strapped the pressure pad around her arm for the fifteenth time since shed been brought in.
Again, ignoring her comment the nurse continued. ‘For breakfast you have a choice of eggs or cereal.’ She placed a small piece of paper on the table next to her.
Louise Ruth smiled and without looking at it said, ‘I’ll have the fruit… got to watch our weight you know… don’t want to end up in hospital do we?’
Without changing her expression, the nurse smiled as she inflated the pad on her arm. ‘That wasn’t one of the choices… but… I’ll see if I can scrape up a banana.’
Louise Ruth smiled and pointing at the nurse said, ‘Now, THAT should be worth watching.’
A thermometer was pushed into her mouth and the blood pressure pad was, not too gently, removed from around her arm. All the time she worked, the nurse kept up a continuous patter of meaningless conversation causing Louise Ruth to physically hold back retorts.
Johnson entered the room and Louise Ruth breathed a sigh of relief. The ordeal may be over quicker then she had hoped.
‘How do you feel now, after a good night’s sleep?’ Johnston asked, concern showing on her face.
‘To tell you the truth I feel like a sea front village after the Vikings have left.’
***
Two hours later she sat in UNIT headquarters in Wear View House and sipped at her coffee. Ianto had brought in a triple shot latté for himself and an Americano for her. Drinking from the Nero’s cartons they both eyed Jack as he sat opposite like a detective during a criminal interview. She noticed that it was getting dark outside as Jack stood, lost it seemed in thought.
‘We need you… I need you at Torchwood.’ Holding up a hand he stood. ‘I know… I know… this is the last place you want to be after what has happened but here you’ll be protected… safe.’
Louise Ruth raised an eyebrow questioning his last remark. Jack looked on impressed. He thought Ianto was the only one that could do that. The last time he’d seen anything like that, Spock was doing it on Star Trek. ‘Well… as safe as anywhere… I mean… you’ll have twenty four hour protection from myself, Ianto or Alonso.’
Ianto looked up surprise showing on his face. ‘Alonso… Alonso… and who’s Alonso when he’s at home?’ Ianto asked with something akin to jealousy showing in his eyes.
Jack looked a little sheepish but continued. ‘That would be ex Midshipman Alonso Frame, late of the star ship Titanic from the planet Sto.’
Ianto stood as if confronting Jack with his adulterous thoughts. ‘And where did we meet Mr Midshipman Alonso Frame?’
Jack looked at the floor like a child caught out in class. ‘In… in a bar… the Doctor introduced us… he has a history with…’
Ianto turned his back on Jack and holding out a hand helped Louise Ruth to her feet. ‘Come on Louise Ruth… I don’t think I want to hear this. One sniff of a ‘sailor’s horn pipe’ and he’s off.’
Louise Ruth stood and putting her tongue out at Jack left the room with her arm looped through Ianto’s.
‘Ianto… he’s just a friend… I was going to ask him to join Torchwood...’ Jack’s voice faded into the background noise as they headed through the glass doors and into the call centre.
‘Fancy a drink?’ Ianto finally asked, as they headed down the corridor passing a bank of telephonists. To his surprise she shook her head.
‘Look at the mess I ended up in the last time I had a drink, drowning in the North Sea after a wolf attack. Shot at by a Thal.’ Turning to Ianto she smiled and added, ‘Did I tell you I’m thinking about giving up alcohol… or at least curtail my visits to the Angel.’
‘Giving up alcohol… you?’ Ianto looked shocked, but Louise Ruth smiled mischievously.
‘No… just kidding.’ They both laughed as they headed towards the holding cells below the Police Station.
‘You had me thinking then… there’s no way you would give up drinking.’
‘I tried… honest… but failed… I came to the conclusion that there’s a lot to be said about failure, it’s much more interesting than success,’ Louise Ruth added. Ianto didn’t know what to say. ‘ You see the way I see it Ianto, is that if at first you don’t succeed then try, try again, then quit, there’s no point in making a fool of yourself.’
Using his key card Ianto passed through a separate set of doors with Louise Ruth in tow. Two armed UNIT soldiers stood guard outside the holding cells as Agent Johnston walked out, to be replaced by Brigadier Bambera and a third UNIT soldier Louise Ruth hadn’t seen before. Without noticing them Johnston fished in her pockets for some change and advanced on a coffee machine opposite. Making her selection she looked round while she waited.
‘Now there’s a surprise… feeling better.’
Ianto smiled and replied, ‘Yes thank you never better.’
Louise Ruth shook her head. ‘Jack’s cheating on him with a sailor.’
Ianto jumped quickly to Jack’s defence. ‘We don’t know that exactly… he just mentioned…’
‘Mentioned the extremely cute Midshipman Alonso Frame, I bet. Well you know Jack… anything with a pulse… and he’s not fussy then either.’ Johnston added with a look boarding on indignation.
‘He’s cute is he? No one told me he was cute.’ Turning Ianto headed off back down the corridor preparing himself for the worst. ‘I’ll give the bastard cute.’ Ianto said to a passing UNIT soldier, who gazed at him open mouthed.
Almost laughing agent Johnston sat down on one of the chairs opposite the vending machine. Louise Ruth looked down at her. ‘Is this seat saved?” she asked with a smile.
‘No but I suppose we could pray for it,’ Johnston added as she took a mouthful of coffee and grimaced. Louise Ruth sat next to her and offered her the Americano, which Johnston took eagerly, discarding the foul tasting beverage into the bin provided.
‘You know I can’t believe all this,’ Louise Ruth said as she gazed up at the cell holding the Thal.
‘What do you mean?’ Johnston asked, with a look of concern showing in her eyes.
‘Well this… this has never been the reality that I’ve lived in before. You know, monsters time travel, different planets and all of that.’
‘You’re not one of those people that thinks reality is bad breath, perverted sex and dead drug addicts found in public toilets?’
‘No,’ she shook her head reassuringly. ‘I mean I know that all those things exist and more. Normal reality for me is trying to find enough money to pay the electric bill, remembering my dad’s birthday and feeling crap when I realise I’ve missed it when I notice the cards on the mantelpiece. Normality is a drink with friends down the pub and a take-a-way on the way home. The thought of other life forms isn’t a reality that I’ve ever lived in, that’s all.’
Johnson smiled knowing what she meant. ‘I’ve lived in a world where reality is speed and silence when making a kill. It was a game of trying to stay alive against all the odds, but I now understand that ‘to each his own’ is more than just a saying.’
Louise Ruth looked at her friend and smiled. ‘I just don’t think I’m cut out for all of this.’
Agent Johnston looked mystified. ‘You fought and survived the Rani and her genetically created monsters. As far as I see it you’re a hero.’
Louise Ruth lowered her face into her hands. ‘Not a hero, I didn’t do the fighting, you did. I was frightened not brave. There are no heroes, just ordinary people that do extraordinary things.’
‘Yes but you are young. Everyone’s fear is different and because part of bravery is the ability to suppress your fear then you’re a hero. You see when you’re young you’re frightened of all the wrong things, and brave about the wrong things as well.’ Agent Johnson smiled at her, warmly and reassuring. ‘UNIT and Torchwood need you. It seems you’re the lynch pin that holds things together these days.’
Louise Ruth looked bemused. ‘Just because some whack job travels halfway across the universe to kill me and the Doctor I’m a lynch pin.’
Johnson shook her head, ‘There’s more to it than that. The Thals should be an extinct race but they survived. Which means…?’
‘If a number of Thals have survived then what else could have survived the Time War that you wish hadn’t?’
Johnston smiled and nodded, ‘You always were quick on the up take.’ She paused for a moment as if picking her words deliberately. ‘I’ll not beat about the bush. The planet Spiridon, where the Thal is from, is listed in Torchwood files as a forbidden planet. Apparently the Doctor imprisoned an evil race there in liquid ice and…’
‘And you don’t want them getting out and running amuck.’
Agent Johnson nodded then took another mouthful of Louise Ruth’s coffee. ‘The two Thals we have in custody are being told that you’re not to blame for the destruction of Scaro and the Thal race and after careful persuasion have agree to accompany us back to Spiridon to make sure the evil imprisoned there doesn’t get out.’
‘They agreed… just like that. You know they’ll kill me at the first opportunity… and… and where’s the Doctor in all this? I haven’t seen him in over a year.’
Johnson shook her head. ‘As far as the Doctor’s concerned… he’s a free spirit. No one knows where he is. Jack said he saw him in a bar on the planet Sto when he bumped into our Mr Frame, the man Ianto’s so happy about… but no one’s seen him since.’
‘So… what now? I mean… what happens next in the tragedy that is Louise Ruth’s life.’
Johnston took her hand and gave it a squeeze. ‘You’ll be fine… I’m telling you. I want you, Ianto and Frame to get the next train to Cardiff. There’s an old Torchwood facility there and a piece of equipment that might come in handy. I’ll see you when you get back.’ She smiled at Louise Ruth. ‘It’s just what you need… a nice, relaxing road trip.’
Louise Ruth grimaced, ‘I can just picture it, hour upon hour of me trying to hold Ianto and Alonso apart.’ She thought for a moment then added, ‘Why isn’t Jack coming…?’
‘I need him here… he’s the only one, apart from you that can talk to the Thals. We haven’t a clue what’s happening or going to happen; we need as much intelligence as we can get.’
Chapter One - Allons-y Alonso
Characters: Ianto Jones, Jack Harkness, OFC, OMCs, Agent Johnson, Alonso Frame, Professor Malcolm Taylor
Disclaimer: Neither Torchwood or Doctor Who are mine
Summary: ‘We escaped Spiridon only to discover that your Doctor had destroyed his own planet and ours. We trusted him and billions died and now he is going to pay with his life.’
Spoilers: The End of Time and Children of Earth, to be safe.
Rating: R
Word count: 35, 729
Warnings: Torture descriptions in later chapters
A/N: This is a sequel to Unit and the Time Loop.
Prologue - The Angel of the North
Louise Ruth felt the overwhelming weight of the Rani’s legacy continue to haunt her, even after her death. The search for her TARDIS had been fruitless to say the least. How could anyone possibly find something that was designed to blend in to the background unnoticed, and that was without the help of the perception filter.
The Robo-men had been the easiest to locate. Without a controlling force behind them they wandered around, their last command all they had to go on. One, she had been told, had been tasked to dig a hole to bury them in but hadn’t been given the order to stop. By the time UNIT had found him the walls of the fifteen foot hole had begun to collapse in on him.
Two others had been told to steel a vehicle to be used as a troop transport. UNIT tracked them down when twenty two buses had been reported stolen from Go-ahead Northern and were discovered in a car park just off the coast. The local mayor had been kidnapped at gun point on five occasions only to be returned to his home then kidnapped again. His wife had begun making packed lunches for him so he could take one with him as he left at gunpoint.
For Louise Ruth all had been quiet as her life began to take shape once again, without the influence of the Doctor or Torchwood. Things would have ticked over naturally for once, she thought, as she lay in her hospital bed, if she hadn’t returned to the Angel, her favourite drinking establishment.
Every time she moved the pain in her arms and shoulders seemed to scream at her. At least, she thought, they left my leg alone this time. Memories of the wolf-man attack she had suffered the last time she had visited the Angel still haunted her nightmares. This time had been different though. The attackers looked normal, hiding in plain sight and disguised as humans.
She had just started her second pint of Stella when the seat next to her had been taken by an off duty soldier. She recognised him instantly as a member of UNIT, the organisation she’d worked for, for over a year, based in Wear View House in the centre of Sunderland. As the drinks flowed the talking began in earnest. UNIT soldiers, it seemed, knew only good and evil, black and white and if you weren’t in their camp then you were in the oppositions and retrieving her seemed to be their goal. With drink in shaking hand the UNIT soldier listened as Louise Ruth shot down argument after argument leaving him stunned into silence.
‘And as for bad people well…I’m afraid there is no such thing as good people and bad people,’ Louise Ruth said as she sipped her coke, heavily laced with vodka.
‘Oh please do explain,’ the UNIT soldier asked, realising that he had started to slur his words, which for him was never a good sign. It was Louise Ruth he had been ordered to keep an eye on not the other way round. As UNIT’s most accomplished drinker, Corporal Stephen Howard had been tasked to bring her back into the fold, as Brigadier Bambera had told him. But from the outset the pace had been blistering standing her drink for drink until he could hardly think straight let alone construct a valid point or opinion.
‘It’s simple. You see there is and always has been only bad people. The difference is that some of them are on opposing sides.’ Gesturing with her hand towards the Angel’s front door she continued, ‘Out there is a rolling sea of pure evil. Yes…’ she added quickly, holding her free hand up as if to halt a retort, ‘it’s shallower in some places than others but mostly it’s deep, very deep and nasty.’ The thought of something deep and nasty sent a shiver up Stephen’s spine, although he wasn’t sure why.
‘Then there are people like Brigadier Winifred Bambera that put together a boatload of rules and good intentions, and say things like, ‘This is the right way, and this will triumph in the end,’ but they never do. Both sides of the same coin go on forever.’ Louise Ruth finished her glass in one gulp and motioned to the long suffering barman for a refill.
Throwing more money onto the bar to pay for yet another round of drinks, the UNIT officer tried to focus on his drinking companion but was having difficulty. His vision was blurring perceptibly and the room seemed to move of its own accord.
‘Want to join UNIT… I mean in an official capacity?’ he asked surprising himself with the candour of his offer and the comprehensibility of his words.
‘Nope,’ came her replay as she cradled her newly charged drink in both hands as if welcoming an old friend.
‘Sure you… you err… won’t change your hind… er mind? We… we’ve got full medical and dental… er dental… hygiene… er… you know.’ Not too sure what he had just said he looked bemused as Louise Ruth answered.
‘I wouldn’t join UNIT if you had hot and cold running alcohol, soup in a basket, tea on the lawn, and Muffin the bastard mule.’ Placing her drink on the bar she looked the UNIT soldier square in the face all pretence of humour gone. ‘Keep an eye on that for me as if your life depends on it… because it just might. I need a piss.’
Shocked, the UNIT soldier tried to focus on the drink then back at Louise Ruth. ‘A little too much information but… hey… knock… knock yourself out. Who… who’s Muffin the bastard mule?’ He said to the bartender as he fell headlong from his stool.
Heading towards the ladies always gave Louise Ruth a cold shiver that ran up her spine like icy fingers. Filled with anticipation, her body tensed and her fists clenched as she walked towards the door. It meant that no matter how much she drank she would always sober up after a trip to the toilet. Due to the fact that Rani’s TARDIS once materialised as one of the stalls no one else knew where it was, but she knew. She would always know where the wolf-man had attacked her almost killing her in the process.
From out of nowhere a tall man loomed forward blocking her path. She could see that he was doing his best to look mean, holding himself upright with his fists clenched tight. He wore a dirty woollen cap that tended to detract the imagination slightly from the image he was trying to portray. His red T-shirt that held the legend, ‘I’m so happy I could shit,’ also had the effect of drawing humour into the situation rather than menace. Because of the smell she wondered if he’d previously fell into a urinal or perhaps hadn’t made it to one in time.
‘Ok… bitch… give me your shit,’ the youth growled at her with as much anger as his half-drunken drug induced demeanour could manage.
For the briefest of moments she stopped and gazed into the prospective mugger’s doped-up eyes. Some far off instinct for self preservation must have penetrated to what passed as the man's’ brain because looking into her dark blue eyes he hesitated for a second, keeping both of his hands tightly by his sides.
‘Don’t be silly little boy,’ she said, and without a second glance strolled on leaving a dumbfounded man starring after her, trying to figure out what had just happened.
***
Louise Ruth awoke at about two in the morning, the pain still rippling through her body and her head felt like she had been drinking constantly for the last few weeks.
She had just come out of out of Rapid Eye Movement sleep and it had refreshed and strengthened her to the extent that she could feel and think without pain blotting out everything else.
She felt parched her tongue seemed to be stuck to the roof of her mouth. All she knew was that she wanted to go to the toilet and badly but she found that she couldn’t move. She tried to push herself up but the pain in her shoulder and abdomen was unbelievable so she lay still.
As she lay there she began checking out her body by feeling each injury point. Each bruise and lump registered in her mind, each painfully sore area told her to lay still. Apart from that, she mused, she felt fine, she was alive and very much so.
She closed her eyes and opened her mind, visualising the most perfect symbol ever created for meditation, the Yin and Yang circle. It had been described to her as a perfect circle divided equally into white and black and held numerous meanings.
In the dark she ran through each moment, each event that had put her there in, what appeared to be a hospital bed. Turning her head she noticed for the first time that Agent Johnson was sitting asleep in a chair next to her and she felt even better. She hadn’t left her after all. The battle was over and life was good, or it would be if she could get to the toilet.
***
Returning to her seat Louise Ruth noticed that the UNIT soldier was gone but her drink was still there unmolested. Looking around she wondered, for a moment, weather he had left or had made his way to the toilet himself. Not wishing to lose the kind of money that had been furnishing her with drinks all night she waved at the barman. Without a word he pointed to the rear door adjacent to the pool table. Nodding her understanding she decided that she wasn’t the kind of person that would let a young chap vomit on his own; besides, it was his round next.
Closing the door behind her the cool fresh air hit her like a sledge hammer. Her vision cleared as her body chilled and tensed ready for something she wasn’t sure of. Turning in the darkness she had just caught sight of the downed UNIT Corporal when she felt the cold muzzle, of what she thought of as a pistol, touch her right cheek. As she turned a slow gravely voice whispered in her ear.
‘My name is Latep, a Thal, one of only a handful of survivors of the twelfth planet Skaro and I have travelled across time and space to kill the Doctor and his companion.’
Dressed in what appeared to be part of an orange space suit the man was similar in height to her. His thick blonde hair ran down his shoulders but it was his eyes that penetrated to her soul. She almost missed it but it was there. It was a brief glint of elation in the Thal’s eyes, mixed with what she could only describe as rapture. The pure sense of evil about him seemed so concentrated that she felt she could reach out and touch it. The look disturbed her greatly. It was as if he had undergone something that was far more menacing than she could possibly conceive.
‘We escaped Spiridon only to discover that your Doctor had destroyed his own planet and ours. We trusted him and billions died and now he is going to pay with his life.’
He charged his energy weapon, the buzz announcing that it was ready to fire. His finger began to squeeze tightly against the trigger. She saw his knuckle turn white as she gazed directly into the would-be killer’s eyes.
‘Nothing to say, no last words, no explanations, nothing?’ The last word was shouted in anger. As the Latep gazed into her eyes he started to worry when he saw the utter calm on her face. It was as if she was enjoying herself. He also noticed a slight smile at the corner of her mouth, and for a split second wondered if she was laughing at him.
Louise Ruth noticed his intensive gaze and gave him her full and most warming smile. She was calm and fully in control, not despite her blood alcohol level but because of it. The fear and panic that threatened to overtake her was drowned in a sea of vodka and beer, unable to come to the surface and affect her concentration.
‘Something on your mind?’ she eventually said slightly unnerving the Thal as he tried to understand her.
‘Yes, in fact there is. Are you not even in the least bit afraid? I cannot make it plainer that today will be your last day on your planet Earth. Does this information not worry you, not even in the slightest?’
He could see that she was about to say something, that would perhaps explain her lack of fear and he wanted to hear it. Jo wouldn’t have acted this calm; Jo would have screamed and ran. But if it had been Jo he wouldn’t be trying to kill her. If she’d only gone with him, he would be in this predicament, he was sure. His attention was wandering, he knew. He wasn’t a bad person but revenge had to be sought. His people were almost extinct because of this man. What other option did he have?
Louise Ruth’s smile broadened as the Thal prepared to fire his energy weapon. ‘The Butterfly only lives a day but to him it’s a life time. I’ve lived many lifetimes and will go to my grave a very happy woman… whenever that may be.’ The Thal looked aghast as he lowered his pistol away from her body line for an instant.
Smiling she lashed out with her right hand, the power of the blow snapped his head back sending him flying across the car park like a discarded rag doll thrown away by a petulant child. Agent Johnston had been right when she said that in a combat situation it was always best to get your retaliation in first.
Prepared for a follow up attack total confusion rained as black uniformed men, wearing red berets, ran passed her into the Angel dragging men to the floor and wrapping plastic riot cuffs about their wrists. She stood watching, standing stock still, not knowing what was happening; her brain not able to take in the flurry of activity as her adrenalin levels began to drop and the alcohol took over. That was when she was hit by an energy weapon fired from the opposite end of the car park. The explosion picked her up and threw her against the wall opposite, knocking her instantly into unconsciousness.
***
‘Good morning,’ an elderly, overweight nurse said as Louise Ruth, now fully dressed, turned away from her and sat back down on the bed.
‘Same to you,’ she said as her spirits dipped a little lower, wondering if her stay would be extended.
‘Let’s check those vitals shall we?’ Placing a blood pressure gauge on the table next to her she continued with her discussion. ‘How are we feeling today then?’
‘We? I’m fine but I’m not too sure about you… late night?’ Louise Ruth said as the nurse strapped the pressure pad around her arm for the fifteenth time since shed been brought in.
Again, ignoring her comment the nurse continued. ‘For breakfast you have a choice of eggs or cereal.’ She placed a small piece of paper on the table next to her.
Louise Ruth smiled and without looking at it said, ‘I’ll have the fruit… got to watch our weight you know… don’t want to end up in hospital do we?’
Without changing her expression, the nurse smiled as she inflated the pad on her arm. ‘That wasn’t one of the choices… but… I’ll see if I can scrape up a banana.’
Louise Ruth smiled and pointing at the nurse said, ‘Now, THAT should be worth watching.’
A thermometer was pushed into her mouth and the blood pressure pad was, not too gently, removed from around her arm. All the time she worked, the nurse kept up a continuous patter of meaningless conversation causing Louise Ruth to physically hold back retorts.
Johnson entered the room and Louise Ruth breathed a sigh of relief. The ordeal may be over quicker then she had hoped.
‘How do you feel now, after a good night’s sleep?’ Johnston asked, concern showing on her face.
‘To tell you the truth I feel like a sea front village after the Vikings have left.’
***
Two hours later she sat in UNIT headquarters in Wear View House and sipped at her coffee. Ianto had brought in a triple shot latté for himself and an Americano for her. Drinking from the Nero’s cartons they both eyed Jack as he sat opposite like a detective during a criminal interview. She noticed that it was getting dark outside as Jack stood, lost it seemed in thought.
‘We need you… I need you at Torchwood.’ Holding up a hand he stood. ‘I know… I know… this is the last place you want to be after what has happened but here you’ll be protected… safe.’
Louise Ruth raised an eyebrow questioning his last remark. Jack looked on impressed. He thought Ianto was the only one that could do that. The last time he’d seen anything like that, Spock was doing it on Star Trek. ‘Well… as safe as anywhere… I mean… you’ll have twenty four hour protection from myself, Ianto or Alonso.’
Ianto looked up surprise showing on his face. ‘Alonso… Alonso… and who’s Alonso when he’s at home?’ Ianto asked with something akin to jealousy showing in his eyes.
Jack looked a little sheepish but continued. ‘That would be ex Midshipman Alonso Frame, late of the star ship Titanic from the planet Sto.’
Ianto stood as if confronting Jack with his adulterous thoughts. ‘And where did we meet Mr Midshipman Alonso Frame?’
Jack looked at the floor like a child caught out in class. ‘In… in a bar… the Doctor introduced us… he has a history with…’
Ianto turned his back on Jack and holding out a hand helped Louise Ruth to her feet. ‘Come on Louise Ruth… I don’t think I want to hear this. One sniff of a ‘sailor’s horn pipe’ and he’s off.’
Louise Ruth stood and putting her tongue out at Jack left the room with her arm looped through Ianto’s.
‘Ianto… he’s just a friend… I was going to ask him to join Torchwood...’ Jack’s voice faded into the background noise as they headed through the glass doors and into the call centre.
‘Fancy a drink?’ Ianto finally asked, as they headed down the corridor passing a bank of telephonists. To his surprise she shook her head.
‘Look at the mess I ended up in the last time I had a drink, drowning in the North Sea after a wolf attack. Shot at by a Thal.’ Turning to Ianto she smiled and added, ‘Did I tell you I’m thinking about giving up alcohol… or at least curtail my visits to the Angel.’
‘Giving up alcohol… you?’ Ianto looked shocked, but Louise Ruth smiled mischievously.
‘No… just kidding.’ They both laughed as they headed towards the holding cells below the Police Station.
‘You had me thinking then… there’s no way you would give up drinking.’
‘I tried… honest… but failed… I came to the conclusion that there’s a lot to be said about failure, it’s much more interesting than success,’ Louise Ruth added. Ianto didn’t know what to say. ‘ You see the way I see it Ianto, is that if at first you don’t succeed then try, try again, then quit, there’s no point in making a fool of yourself.’
Using his key card Ianto passed through a separate set of doors with Louise Ruth in tow. Two armed UNIT soldiers stood guard outside the holding cells as Agent Johnston walked out, to be replaced by Brigadier Bambera and a third UNIT soldier Louise Ruth hadn’t seen before. Without noticing them Johnston fished in her pockets for some change and advanced on a coffee machine opposite. Making her selection she looked round while she waited.
‘Now there’s a surprise… feeling better.’
Ianto smiled and replied, ‘Yes thank you never better.’
Louise Ruth shook her head. ‘Jack’s cheating on him with a sailor.’
Ianto jumped quickly to Jack’s defence. ‘We don’t know that exactly… he just mentioned…’
‘Mentioned the extremely cute Midshipman Alonso Frame, I bet. Well you know Jack… anything with a pulse… and he’s not fussy then either.’ Johnston added with a look boarding on indignation.
‘He’s cute is he? No one told me he was cute.’ Turning Ianto headed off back down the corridor preparing himself for the worst. ‘I’ll give the bastard cute.’ Ianto said to a passing UNIT soldier, who gazed at him open mouthed.
Almost laughing agent Johnston sat down on one of the chairs opposite the vending machine. Louise Ruth looked down at her. ‘Is this seat saved?” she asked with a smile.
‘No but I suppose we could pray for it,’ Johnston added as she took a mouthful of coffee and grimaced. Louise Ruth sat next to her and offered her the Americano, which Johnston took eagerly, discarding the foul tasting beverage into the bin provided.
‘You know I can’t believe all this,’ Louise Ruth said as she gazed up at the cell holding the Thal.
‘What do you mean?’ Johnston asked, with a look of concern showing in her eyes.
‘Well this… this has never been the reality that I’ve lived in before. You know, monsters time travel, different planets and all of that.’
‘You’re not one of those people that thinks reality is bad breath, perverted sex and dead drug addicts found in public toilets?’
‘No,’ she shook her head reassuringly. ‘I mean I know that all those things exist and more. Normal reality for me is trying to find enough money to pay the electric bill, remembering my dad’s birthday and feeling crap when I realise I’ve missed it when I notice the cards on the mantelpiece. Normality is a drink with friends down the pub and a take-a-way on the way home. The thought of other life forms isn’t a reality that I’ve ever lived in, that’s all.’
Johnson smiled knowing what she meant. ‘I’ve lived in a world where reality is speed and silence when making a kill. It was a game of trying to stay alive against all the odds, but I now understand that ‘to each his own’ is more than just a saying.’
Louise Ruth looked at her friend and smiled. ‘I just don’t think I’m cut out for all of this.’
Agent Johnston looked mystified. ‘You fought and survived the Rani and her genetically created monsters. As far as I see it you’re a hero.’
Louise Ruth lowered her face into her hands. ‘Not a hero, I didn’t do the fighting, you did. I was frightened not brave. There are no heroes, just ordinary people that do extraordinary things.’
‘Yes but you are young. Everyone’s fear is different and because part of bravery is the ability to suppress your fear then you’re a hero. You see when you’re young you’re frightened of all the wrong things, and brave about the wrong things as well.’ Agent Johnson smiled at her, warmly and reassuring. ‘UNIT and Torchwood need you. It seems you’re the lynch pin that holds things together these days.’
Louise Ruth looked bemused. ‘Just because some whack job travels halfway across the universe to kill me and the Doctor I’m a lynch pin.’
Johnson shook her head, ‘There’s more to it than that. The Thals should be an extinct race but they survived. Which means…?’
‘If a number of Thals have survived then what else could have survived the Time War that you wish hadn’t?’
Johnston smiled and nodded, ‘You always were quick on the up take.’ She paused for a moment as if picking her words deliberately. ‘I’ll not beat about the bush. The planet Spiridon, where the Thal is from, is listed in Torchwood files as a forbidden planet. Apparently the Doctor imprisoned an evil race there in liquid ice and…’
‘And you don’t want them getting out and running amuck.’
Agent Johnson nodded then took another mouthful of Louise Ruth’s coffee. ‘The two Thals we have in custody are being told that you’re not to blame for the destruction of Scaro and the Thal race and after careful persuasion have agree to accompany us back to Spiridon to make sure the evil imprisoned there doesn’t get out.’
‘They agreed… just like that. You know they’ll kill me at the first opportunity… and… and where’s the Doctor in all this? I haven’t seen him in over a year.’
Johnson shook her head. ‘As far as the Doctor’s concerned… he’s a free spirit. No one knows where he is. Jack said he saw him in a bar on the planet Sto when he bumped into our Mr Frame, the man Ianto’s so happy about… but no one’s seen him since.’
‘So… what now? I mean… what happens next in the tragedy that is Louise Ruth’s life.’
Johnston took her hand and gave it a squeeze. ‘You’ll be fine… I’m telling you. I want you, Ianto and Frame to get the next train to Cardiff. There’s an old Torchwood facility there and a piece of equipment that might come in handy. I’ll see you when you get back.’ She smiled at Louise Ruth. ‘It’s just what you need… a nice, relaxing road trip.’
Louise Ruth grimaced, ‘I can just picture it, hour upon hour of me trying to hold Ianto and Alonso apart.’ She thought for a moment then added, ‘Why isn’t Jack coming…?’
‘I need him here… he’s the only one, apart from you that can talk to the Thals. We haven’t a clue what’s happening or going to happen; we need as much intelligence as we can get.’
Chapter One - Allons-y Alonso