Status: Hiatus

The Time Ring

Torchwood

She had no choice but return home. On the way, she couldn’t get Spei’s face out of her mind. They really looked alike; a lot. The differences were the special traits the species possessed. However, on the way back she didn’t really look around her. She stopped and froze. She felt something hit her on the back of her neck. She fainted instantly.

The next time she woke up, she felt metal against her hands. She jolted up but the chains restrained her. She was in an unknown place that looked a lot like a laboratory.

“A laboratory” She got goose bumps just thinking about her past. She didn’t like hospitals and laboratories. She had a great fear of people in white gowns. Her mother used to wear one.

“Oh, you are awake” Her eyes moved slowly towards the entrance. It was a woman. She didn’t represent a threat; at least not yet.

“Where am I?”Mousy tried to get up a few times but the restrainers were tight.

“Torchwood. We got you here at the request of a friend of yours” Mousy tilted her head to the side. “The Doctor. He’s with Jack right now” Mousy sighed and leaned back.

“And what is Torchwood? Some kind of secret agency that saves the planet from aliens?” She nodded. She did look a little perplexed by Mousy’s personality. “And it’s not even surprising” She looked around the laboratory. It had some quality technology for a secret agency. “Why am I chained like a dangerous being?”

“The Doctor insisted to have you locked up but you didn’t seem dangerous enough so we got you here” Mousy scoffed. She was annoyed. The Doctor was acting without telling her anything. Of course, she had done that too. But he didn’t end up chained somewhere. Alright, maybe he did. But it still was different.

“So, you work for this secret agency, right?”

Mousy wasn’t going to get free anytime soon. She realized it after a few more hours. The Doctor wasn’t going to run in and unchain her. No, he had bigger plans. She only hoped he wasn’t going to kill her nor kill Jeremy. Now, that Jeremy was a different story. Who would have known he was so easy to influence?

“I do. You don’t seem surprised at all. Are you the Doctor’s new companion?” She raised an eyebrow and pondered that possibility. It wasn’t quite true. She did go with him and entered some weird situations but most of them were connected to her issues. She was the reason why they were getting into trouble.

“I guess so. We’re friends. I don’t think he thinks of me like that. We didn’t really get to that level yet” The woman, whose name Mousy found out was Gwen, seemed to notice something she didn’t. “What? You’re giving me the eye, stop it”

“Well, I’m curious. You seem to like him more than you want to” Mousy blinked quickly and sighed heavily.

“I do like him” Gwen raised an eyebrow. “No, no. Wait. I like him but not like that. The Doctor is the only man I met that understands me” It probably sounded even worse. Thankfully, Gwen didn’t get the chance to respond to Mousy’s affirmation.

“Wake up, we’re going to hunt down your brother” Mousy’s head quirked instantly. That didn’t sound nice at all. Behind the Doctor was a man who was staring intensely at her.

“Why was I restrained? You know me. I’m not a dangerous creature” The Doctor was still not sure about that. She was a magnet for trouble. She was actually waiting for a statement that would make her feel better about herself. The Doctor only turned to the man behind him.

“Captain Jack, I present you the Time Ring” Both Mousy and Gwen were a little unsure of what was going on.

“Wait, what? What do you mean with The Time Ring?” Jack glanced between the two time travelers. He sensed the annoyance in the air.

“It seems you have a lot to talk about. Let’s go Gwen. I don’t want to be here when the sparkles ignite” Mousy glared at the new acquaintance.

“There are no sparkles!” The two agents left quickly. The Doctor approached her but didn’t get her out. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on?” He seemed uncomfortable. Of course, she didn’t care how he felt or how hard it was for him. She wanted answers. “Let me out” He bit the inside of his cheek and stared at her. She was still just a kid.

In the end, the Doctor did unchain her. She rubbed her wrists and moved around to get the blood rushing through her body. She walked towards him when he noticed his sad expression.
“What am I exactly?” He looked down at her with pitiful eyes.

“You are the Time Ring itself” Her eyes widened. She took a step back and shook her head.

“That’s impossible. I am a real human being, I breathe, I eat, I sleep and I do everything a normal woman does. I am-“

“Energy. You are pure energy” He walked closer to her and placed his hand on her shoulders. She frowned. The Doctor didn’t want to know how she felt in that moment. She just realized what she was. She wasn’t going to accept that easily. “That’s why they can’t kill you entirely. I noticed how tight the connection between you and the ring is but I only realized the truth when your body started to react in Corolla”

“But that means I am a vessel” The Doctor couldn’t deny the truth. “I am a vessel. My body is human but on the inside, I am empty” The Doctor stared at her with uncertainty. He couldn’t figure what she was thinking about. “Is that why I can get into the ring?”

“Probably. That’s something different” His whole demeanor changed. He grabbed her hand and inspected the ring. “What did you talk to him about?” He was truly curious. She hesitated.

“I don’t think it concerns you” He gave a pointed look. Much like a teacher scolding his student. She found herself embarrassed for no reason. She couldn’t even look into his eye and turned around. “Why did you want to lock me up? Am I so unstable?”

“Yes” The truth stung, especially since he said it so fast and cold. “He can act on his own. He can use your body and-“

“Stop it. I’m not like that and you know it. I’m not going to get pushed out of my body so easily” She glanced at the laboratory and shivered. “You brought me here for my safety or for yours?”

“Actually, that’s my fault” Their heads snapped towards the door. Captain Jack seemed too smiley and positive. However, there was something really weird at him. She could sense it. Or maybe it was the ring. “I called the Doctor and asked him about the disturbances in space. Sudden Earthquakes, sudden electricity bursts and cybermen in London don’t just happen”

“I wouldn’t bet my theory on that. Aliens are very interested in Earth. They’re everywhere” The Doctor rolled his eyes.

“You’d know that wouldn’t you?” She glared at him and decided that his presence should be ignored for the rest of the time.

“So, Captain Jack, why don’t you enlighten me? What’s going on?” The older man chuckled and told her to follow him. She did in utter silence. Unlike most of the times, she and the Doctor were very tense around each other and for the whole way, they did nothing but avoid looking at each other. Gwen rolled her eyes and nudged Jack.

“Aren’t they acting weird? It feels like they will launch at each other anytime now” Jack laughed and started to walk faster. He didn’t want to be there when and if that would happen.

Once they entered the headquarters, Mousy’s eyes widened. She didn’t expect to see alien technology gathered in one place. Her eyes were glistening and she got excited.

“Wow” Jack moved towards the central computer where some other guy was watching something. Her eyes widened when she realized who they were watching. “My brother” Her excitement died very fast.

“He’s been walking in circles for a while now. I don’t understand what he means by that” She rubbed her forehead and remembered something that might or might not help.

“It’s a game. We used to play it when we were young. At first it was something like tag but I got involved into my mother’s project and Jeremy remained on his own. He started to go around the house and he even used to blindfold himself and see if he remembers every single corner of the house”

“Isn’t that dangerous?” She chuckled.

“He wanted to play tag like that because he wanted to awaken his other senses. He was really young but he could anticipate the end. That kind of haunted him afterwards” She could see a few pitiful looks but Jack’s sympathetic smile was somehow making her feel better.

"This looks cozy" Captain Jack smiled and walked next to her. They needed to change the subject.
"It has a homey feeling. I want my team to work under comfortable surroundings" She raised an eyebrow and watched the human with her big green eyes.

"Why did Torchwood get involved? It's not a matter of world domination" Jack smiled widely and sat next to her on the table.

"Actually, we don't know what it is. We only caught disturbing signals from your brother. It just occurred to us that you are involved"

"Do you have a file on me?" Owen stared at her blankly.

"Should we?" She bit the inside of her cheek and glanced at the Doctor. He was watching the screens and looking for something relevant for him; only for him.

"What about the ring?" Jack grabbed her hand and inspected the small accessory. "It looks normal enough" He turned her hand around and leaned in.

"Maybe if you would take it off, we would be able to understand where the source of power comes from" She blinked and stared at the Doctor. She stuck her hand in his direction.

"Try it" Owen took only one step towards her before the Doctor interfered.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you" She was standing on the table with an innocent face. Owen raised an eyebrow and touched her finger. He got thrown into the wall. "Told you" He didn't even turn his head. He was succumbed into those monitors.

"What the heck was that?" He got up groggily and rubbed his head. He was dizzy. "I got this sudden energy running through my body and it suddenly pushed me into the wall" The Doctor stopped and turned slowly towards the rest.

"That's new. What else did you feel?"

"Nothing. I just got this huge urge to hide" The Doctor hummed.

"Try it too, Jack" The man scoffed.

"No thanks. I'd like to get it exanimate before anything" Suddenly, the alarms went on. The Torchwood team moved quickly into another room and stared with curiosity and worry at something on a monitor. She tilted her head to the side and watched skeptically as her brother was-

"He's looking through the garbage can" She stated. She couldn't believe that her almighty brother was rummaging through trash.

"He definitely makes an interesting impression" She stared at the Doctor with so many thoughts running through her mind.

"What's that behind him?" They leaned in and watched closely. It was night and her brother had two shadows. One was his and one was a woman.

"Where does that come from? He's all alone on the street" She rubbed the monitor and practically pushed her head against it. Well, not exactly but she was so close that she would have.

"The alarm was triggered by something he has. It seems there is a wave of energy slipping into the atmosphere"

"Why is it bad?"

"It works like pheromones for aliens" She frowned.

"My brother is giving off pheromones into the atmosphere" Toshiko nodded. "Are you sure?" She typed some more and nodded. She even showed it to her in a theoretical example.

"How much time do we have to stop the overflow?" The Doctor hurried down to the table and looked through the medical things. He found a syringe and quickly prepared something in a bottle.

"He never changes, does he?" She glanced at Jack.

"You meet often?" The human shrugged.

"Not often. Just enough to figure out what kind of man he is" She wasn't amused at all. Jack seemed quite carefree for how important he was for Earth.

"And what kind of man is he?"

"Unpredictable. But I guess that's good. He saves the world" Mousy chuckled and leaned against the wall.

"Right. He does that"

"So, you and the Doctor" Gwen and Mousy went to get something to eat. Jeremy was on his way home and she knew he wasn't going to do anything suspicious for at least a few hours. He was tired and he was conscious.

"Why does it sound incriminatory?" Gwen chuckled.

"He is a handsome man. You are not the first to fall for his charms" Mousy stared at Gwen before she glanced at the Doctor. He was still working on some experiment regarding some kind of liquid with Owen and Jack.

"He is an amazing person. He was the first to accept me as I am" Gwen smiled.

"So you only see him as a friend" Mousy chuckled.

"Maybe more. But the love I feel for him is not romantic or passionate. It's more like family. Like an older brother that helps me out" Gwen smiled softly and placed an arm on Mousy's shoulder.

"That's good. He cares for you a lot too" She leaned back on her hands and glanced at Jack.

"How did you meet Captain Jack Sparrow here?" Gwen raised an eyebrow and laughed to herself.

"That is way too complicated to talk about now" Mousy smirked and changed the subject. It's been a while since they both had someone to talk so freely with.
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I'm alive and plan to finish this story. I got the biggest writer's block back then and when I finally got inspired, I couldn't find it anymore. So I had to re-write it -_-