Sparkling Cosmos {A Torchwood Story Two} [COMPLETED]

5. Lisa

I follow Ianto silently through the holding cells down to the lowest furthest basement, my ears picking up scuffles and heavy breathing and an increased heart rate - no, wait... two heartbeats. Who else is down here?

He disappears through a door. I wait behind it, unsure of what to do next - until I see something bright flash and run into the room.
Ianto sees me and runs to push me back, but I just gape in shock myself and look round.

Scattered around the small basement room are pieces of old Torchwood One tech, either discarded or in the process of being fixed; mountains of wires are strewn across the floor leading to a large metal mainframe in the middle.
A large Cyber Conversion Unit... with one of them inside, asleep.

"Evelina, stop!" I hear Ianto beside me, trying to force my head away, and I realise I was about to rip open all the wires. I keep my eyes glued to the unit, and the Cyberman inside it - at least I think it's a Cyber. It's still got flesh in few places, and its face is still human. But it's still converted. And my new coworker knows about it.

I face him properly and ask menacingly, "How do you know about this Cyberman? Answer me, now."
He breathes desperately and runs a hand through his spiky hair. His face reads fear and desperation. "She's... she's my girlfriend."
I pause for a few long moments, blinking repeatedly. "Uhh... your girlfriend... is a Cyberman?"
He shouts, "She's not! She isn't fully converted! She... she worked for Torchwood One. She was in the middle of getting upgraded in the battle of Canary Wharf."

"And then what happened? Because how in the Hell did she get down here without anyone noticing, huh?" I say in a threatening tone, because I'm getting pretty freaked out now.
His hand runs through his hair again. "I took her here. That's why I wanted the position here, originally; to keep her alive, supported... I just want her to be okay, to be Lisa again."

I glance to the conversion unit, and rub my face tiredly. Oh no. Oh, God no - this can't be in any way shape or form good.
I run a hand through my brown hair and flip half of it to the other side of my head as I say, "Ianto... I'm sorry, but that isn't your Lisa anymore; that's not your girlfriend. She just looks a bit like her. Ianto, once someone's been even partially converted to a Cyber, there's no going back for them. There's no cure for being a Cyberman - she's just gonna get more and more Cybernetic until she tries to take the Hub over. You worked for Torchwood One - you know this."

"No I don't!" he denies desperately. "Torchwood One never knew of the re-existence of Cybermen until Canary Wharf; it's not like we ever had any training! And anyway, how would you know so much about it? It's not like you've been out anywhere recently that has an abundance of ruthless Cybermen that aren't like my Lisa!"
I falter a second before saying firmly, "I just know, Ianto. In my gut. There's no cure for being upgraded. I'm sorry, but she can't be here."

Ianto's eyes widen in panic, and he grips my shoulders. At the touch I immediately withdraw and respond by pulling my gun out of my holster, before I remember that he doesn't mean me harm and put it back.
He licks his lips in guilt as he remembers too, then says, "Please don't tell anyone, Evy. Please don't kill her. She's... she means so much to me. I really don't know who I am without her."

He looks like a heartbroken lost puppy, and I feel a twinge in my chest. I know that twinge, know that look. It's the look I give Owen sometimes, when he's not looking, and what he sometimes gives me. It's when something is set in stone to be a disaster, but you'd give anything for there to be a miracle.

And for that reason only, not the hope that she doesn't fucking kill us all, I find myself nodding.

~∆~

Hey, there's a new pizza place opening," Owen speaks up in the silence of everyone working. "Jubilee Pizza - it does deliveries and it's only along the road next to the Tower."

Tosh and I look up from disabling the circuits Suzie found in the Archives, and Jack walks in at the sound of pizza - like it summoned him.
"We haven't had pizza delivered here since the 90s - man, those were fun times. We used the little plastic tables in the pizza boxes in games of tag," he chuckles, and says to Ianto, "go ahead and order us some, to see what they're like, yeah?"

Jack goes back to his office and Ianto heads for a computer. He types in their website, finds the number, and searches for his phone to call them up. "What does everyone want?"
"Pepperoni," answers Tosh with her head bent over our circuit.
Suzie and Jack both call, "Ham and pineapple," and I walk over to him and lean on his chair. He looks up at me with a slightly terrified expression, like he thinks I'm going to say something about Lisa, but instead I wink and say, "Surprise me, Jones."

He sighs in relief quietly enough so only I can hear it, and replies, "Challenge accepted, Firestone." He relays the orders down the phone, then covers it and asks, "Who do we say we are? Oh, wait," he interrupts as I open my mouth, and says down the line, "we're Torchwood. Yes, Mermaid Quay underneath the bridge. Thank you." He hangs up and I punch him in the arm. He yelps in indignance. "What was that for?!"

"Why did you put our name as Torchwood, dumbo? Now they're gonna have that name on order for us forever, and we're meant to be a secret organisation! Why didn't you just put us as, like, John Smith or something?"
He pauses, lowers the phone, and opens his mouth slowly in realising he is, in fact, a dumbo. Owen leans across his computer that we were using and says in a half-bored voice, "If you're really cut up about it, lanto, I'll say I told you to call us Torchwood. 'Kay?"

"Oh my God, a rare Kind Owen moment! Somebody bring a Kodak!" I clasp my hands to my chest in dramatic delight, and Owen smirks and pokes his tongue out at me. I stick my tongue out back and Ianto joins in, the three of us all sagging in relief about different things we've discussed today.

Until a screech comes from above us, and a massive winged animal comes out from the gap in our walls. I regard it, then look to the boys and ask, "Wait, we have a pterodactyl now?"