Nightingale: Agent of Torchwood

Cyberwoman [3]

"Security's been breached," Jack said as he grabbed Nightingale's hand. "We assume battle protocols,"

"That's impossible," Tosh reasoned. "Nobody can get in without tripping seven separate alarms,"

"Yeah? Well, it looks like our system needs to be upgraded," Jack said, turning to give Nightingale a gun.

"No," Nightingale shook her head.

"Gale..." Jack sighed. "Now's not the time for second-guessing. I know you don't like it, but I need to make sure you're safe,"

Gale nodded and took the weapon from his hand.

"I'll go looking for Ianto," Owen said.

"Keep your comms open at all times. Any doubt, shoot first." Jack ordered, "The priority is to find Ianto,"

***

"What's down there?" Nightingale asked as she watched Jack and Owen's markers move in different directions on the screen.

"Normally? Nothing," Tosh replied.

"Progress report," Jack said over the comms.

"Signs of activity in..." Owen's voice staticed out.

"We're losing your comm signals," Nightingale reported.

"Whatever that power source is, it's interfering with the comms," Tosh explained.

"Jack, Owen, can you hear me?" Nightingale asked. She looked at Toshiko. "Can we get them back?"

"I'm trying other channels. There's something else you need to see."

Nightingale moved to look at the screen.

"I've gone through our internal CCTV footage for the last couple of hours," Tosh said as she scrolled through the feed.

Nightingale noted the blank entries "Someone's tried to remove the images from our system,"

"I've dug into the system memory,"

Nightingale noticed Ianto talking to a man inside the hub. "What the hell? Jack, Owen, can you hear me?"

Tosh looked when her computer beeped, "Internal levels are being restored,"

"Jack, Owen, can you hear me?" Nightingale shook her head and looked at Tosh. "If I don't hear something within 30 seconds, I'm going down there,"

"Gale, it's Jack. The comms dropped out. We're back online now. Any sign of Ianto?"

"No," Owen said from his comm. "But I have found parts of a cyber conversion unit, fully powered up and working,"

Nightingale paled and backed away from the computer.

"This is no time to be kidding around, Owen," Jack said.

"I'm deadly serious. I don't know why it's here or how it got here, but that's what's draining our power,"

"I'm coming down there," Nightingale said.

"Gale, stay up there!" Jack ordered.

"Ask yourself something, Jack...how can a conversion unit turn itself on?! There is a Cyberman somewhere in this facility..."

"And that's why you must stay up there and protect Toshiko. End of discussion,"

"Jack..."

"That's an order!"

Nightingale threw her comm to the ground in frustration.

"Tosh, if you don't hear from me within 15 minutes, activate total shutdown procedures and get yourself and Gale to safety,"

"But we can't just leave you all here!" Tosh exclaimed.

"If there's a Cyberman in this building, we need a last line of defense. Just make sure it never gets to the outside world,"