Until We Burn | Dr Who

Chapter Thirty: Torchwood

TW// Guns, death

—

I can already feel Mickey's glare as he gets into the car. "You're late. Our plane landed an hour ago."

Rolling my eyes, I give him a quick side hug before starting the engine. "Unfortunately, I can't control traffic. Seatbelt."

Jake sends me a cheery wave from the back seat. "Miss us?"

"Dreadfully."

"Yeah," Mickey scoffs, "'cause that's definitely why you've been ignoring my calls."

He has every right to be angry. It wasn't fair on him. "I'm sorry, really. I was struggling but I shouldn't have frozen you out like that. I really did miss you."

I can tell that he is trying to appear cold, just to make feel bad for a little longer. He turns to the window but I have already seen the faint upwards twitch at the corner of his lips. "So," Jake speaks up, resting his chin against the back of my seat, "what did you call us back for? Sounded pretty urgent." Nodding, I pass my phone back to him. "You've got a burner?"

"I work for a sketchy underground institute that deals in the unknown, and my boss is a poorly concealed xenophobe. Of course I have a burner phone for emergencies. Just look at the picture."

He closely examines the photograph of the file. With each second, his eyebrows raise further. Cursing under his breath, he passes it to Mickey. "What the—"

"I know! This is so bizarre. I knew that something was wrong but this beyond anything I'd expected of that-"

"Can't we stop this? Get rid of her or something?"

Jake nods. "I know where we can go."

——————

"Hmm."

Pete sits at his desk, studying the picture in front of him. We have been waiting for his response for some time and that is all we get in return. Crossing his arms, Mickey lets out an impatient sigh. "That's it? 'Hmm'?"

The man removes his glasses, setting them down on the polished oak.

I try to force a polite smile but I don't know how long it will last. "Pete," I say, already hearing the panic and frustration start to build, "I just showed you a file detailing secret experiments on my DNA and all you can say is 'Hmm'? "

Huffing, he pushes the phone across the desk to me. "I've already seen it."

"What?"

"Torchwood's always been dodgy. I've been collecting dirt on them for years. They have a mole. It's actually funny you came right now. I'd just gotten off the phone with the President. He was asking about you, going over plans for tomorrow?"

The thee of us share anxious looks and Mickey jabs his thumb in my direction, saying, "Her? Why?"

He shrugs innocently, although I see his gaze dart over to Jake for a moment — they know something. "Sometimes you have to look outside for help. An alien from a parallel world is as 'outside' as it gets. Just be smart tomorrow, act like this never happened."

——————

I follow Pete's advice the next morning, although I have no idea why. Everything seems perfectly normal.

"I found the data," Mark says excitedly, leading me over to his desk.

I take the seat that he offers, frowning when I see that he has what looks like security camera footage of an empty street playing on the computer. "What am I looking at?" He hushes me, pointing to the screen. We wait. A light appears out of nowhere. It glows brighter and brighter, and we watch as the Tardis materialises. My breath catches at the sight of it. "Mark, what is this?"