Daughter of Torchwood

Exit Wounds

Toshiko led the way into a cavernous server room, the sterile office lighting humming above stacks of black computer towers. Ianto and Starla followed, their eyes darting across the rows of blinking LEDs.

"This building houses the nervous system for the entire region," Tosh explained, her voice echoing, "Military, police, NHS... it even manages the fail-safes for the nuclear station at Turnmill."

"What's the actual problem?" Ianto asked, his hand hovering over his holster. The room was eerily still. "There's no sign of a physical breach."

"Ghosts," Tosh replied, tapping a handheld scanner, "Something is haunting these server stacks."

Starla moved to check the far side of the room, glancing back at Tosh's makeshift sling, "How's the arm?"

"Owen gave me industrial-strength painkillers," Tosh grimaced, "They seem to be doing the trick, but I..." She stopped dead, her eyes widening as she noticed shadows shifting behind her companions, "Ianto! Star!"

They whirled around, coming chest-to-chest with three figures in heavy monks' robes. They held jagged, rusted scythes that glinted in the fluorescent light.

"What are they?" Starla whispered, her heart hammering.

The three men spoke in a haunting, perfect unison, "Devils! Blasphemers! Pray to your heathen God. While in the Lord's name, we cast you out!"

Tosh, Starla, and Ianto didn't wait for a second warning. They exchanged a single, grim look, drew their weapons, and fired in sync. The three reapers collapsed into heaps of robes and static.

"There we are then," Ianto muttered, holstering his gun.

"Sorted," Tosh agreed, though she immediately sat at a terminal to check the integrity of the Turnmill link.

Ten minutes of frantic typing followed until the comms system crackled to life. It wasn't Jack. It was the mocking, velvet tone of Captain John, "Attention... Torchwood employees! Evening all! Now, stop what you're doing."

"Dad?" Starla stood up instantly, "What's going on? Are you okay?"

"Sorry, pint-size," John chuckled, "Daddy Harkness can't come to the comms right now. But if you leave a message, I'll be sure to pass it along."

"What have you done to him?" Gwen's voice broke into the channel, sharp with panic.

"No, no, wrong question, sweetheart," John purred, "You should be asking: What am I about to do to you?"

"Put Jack on. Now," Ianto ordered, his voice like ice.

"Eye Candy! That was so masterful, so bossy... so basically powerless. All of you, get up to the roofs of your buildings. Quickly now, spit spot!"

They abandoned the servers, racing for the stairwell as John's voice followed them through their earpieces, "Because if you don't, you'll miss all the fun. Hold on a minute, do I mean fun or do I mean carnage? I get them confused. Are you running yet? No dawdling now!"

They burst onto the roof, the cold wind whipping Starla's hair as they looked out over the darkened skyline.

"Now... Cardiff!" John's voice whispered in their ears, "Isn't it pretty? Doesn't it twinkle so? Take a good look. Remember this... because it all goes so quickly."

In a horrific, silent sequence, orange blooms of fire erupted across the city. One, five, ten... a dozen explosions ripped through the skyline. Seconds later, the sound hit them, a rolling thunder of destruction followed by the rising wail of a thousand sirens.