Entries tagged with torchwood: gwen

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Rec: Cluster-Bombing, by Prochytes

Story: Cluster-Bombing
Author: Prochytes
Rating: All ages
Word Count: 3,410
Author's Summary: (Crossover with "Sense8"): Five times Torchwood ran into the cluster, and one time they didn't.
Characters/Pairings: Gwen Cooper, Jack Harkness, and the Sense8 characters Will, Riley, Nomi, Amanita, Lito, Hernando, Sun, and Mr. Whispers

Recced because: How often do you see a Sense8/Torchwood crossover? I know this is the only one I've seen, and it's got everything I love in a Torchwood story -- specifically, Gwen Cooper being a take-no-prisoners badass -- as well as the most vital part of any fanfic (for me, anyway) -- specifically, characters who sound like themselves. Prochytes nails each sensate's voice, and the whole story feels so natural and well-realized that it's hard to believe it isn't canon for either show.

Excerpt: ( after the cut )

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Rec: Recruitment by Sphinxey

Story: Recruitment
Author: Sphinxey
Rating: All Ages
Word Count: 738
Author's Summary: Gwen is taking her new role seriously, but things rarely work out as expected. Crack. Spoilers for first episode of Children of Earth but episodes 4 and 5 never happened.
Characters/Pairings: Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones, Jack Harkness, Myfanwy
Warnings: none

Recced because: Time for some Torchwood crackfic! Because of my sad, sad love for the show, I still hold out hope that more TV episodes will be produced, and there's also Big Finish material to keep me going. Plus, of course, fanfic. In this story, we jump back to right after Children of Earth, part 1. With only Jack, Gwen, and Ianto around, the team has two openings. How do they plan to fill the spots? Gwen has an idea that results in chaos, basically. This fic is a quick, amusing read with my favorite part being the bit where Ianto describes why certain candidates just are not going to make the cut.

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The Moth People by Ember Keelty

Hi! I'm

merryghoul. I'm also on Teaspoon as merryghoul (my work there was formerly under a different name). I'll be with you for the next two weeks as this comm's reccer.

For this reccing period, barring one exception, I really wanted to highlight people who haven't been recced before or have been recced less than a handful of times on this comm. Several of these works have been lingering in my fic bookmarks for years, and I'm just getting to rec them now. I blame myself for not reccing a lot of these fics earlier.

With that said, here's my first rec of the reccing period.

Story: The Moth People
Author: Ember Keelty
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 1537
Author's Summary: "You aren't getting rid of me that easily, sweetheart. You can't; I'm inside of you."
Characters/Pairings: Gwen Cooper/Suzie Costello
Warnings: no standard warnings apply

Recced because: What if Suzie's resurrection glove never lost its connection after Suzie's second death in "They Keep Killing Suzie?" And why is Gwen not resisting this connection at all? I've always liked this fic's take on what could've happened after "They Keep Killing Suzie" for years now, and I'm finally happy I can rec it for Calufrax today.

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Rec: "Naked People," by Pluto

Your reccer for the next two weeks is Styrofoam monster on Teaspoon; I'll be posting on their behalf.

Story: Naked People
Author: Pluto
Rating: All Ages
Word count: 4,956
Characters: Tosh
Summary: Tosh finds confidence in the shape of a little rust-colored dress, and sees a side of herself that she'd like to keep. Slight AU (confident Tosh).
Warnings: none

Recced because: Tosh doesn't get enough love. The summary calls this story a slight AU, but it's that kind of AU that is so close to reality you can see it, and far enough that you feel its loss when you finish reading. Tosh is gorgeous and smart, and here she starts to realize it. The structure is excellent, composed of Tosh's interactions with not just her co-workers but also some very well-drawn OCs. Tosh's inner-doubts and struggles ring painfully true, as she explains to a girl much like herself just how she feels sitting in a bar: "You came here because it was better than going home and staring at the television and now you just wish you were home watching anything at all, because at least you wouldn't be paying seven quid a drink for the privilege."

The story is about self-confidence, self-doubt, and self-esteem. It's heart-warming and just a little bit tragic.

( excerpt )

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rec: loose sand, by schildkroet

Story: Loose Sand
Author: schildkroet
Rating: All Ages
Word Count: 2687
Author's Summary: Torchwood is facing a problem and Jack doesn't want to call the Doctor for help. Martha does so anyway.
Characters/Pairings: Tenth Doctor, Jack Harkness, Martha Jones, Sarah Jane Smith, Mickey Smith, Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones
Warnings: None

Recced because: This fic is like the best of Twilight Zone in the way it quietly unfolds, starting with a mystery -- why doesn't Jack want to call on the Doctor for help? -- and then turning on a simple, horrifying reveal. The story was written back in 2008, so it's AU now, but perhaps that just means this happened in an alternate timeline (something else both Doctor Who and Twilight Zone have in common).

( Try it )

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rec: And Indeed There Will Be Time by kaydee_falls

Getting the last one in under the wire! I was planning to only rec crossovers this week, but then I found this fic and I couldn’t not rec it. So the last one breaks the mold. Thanks for having me, all, and to all a good night!

Story: And Indeed There Will Be Time
Author: kaydee_falls
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 42816
Author's Summary: In 1919, Harriet Derbyshire was killed while investigating the disappearance of Torchwood Four in Dublin. In 2009, UNIT pulls a dying man out of the Irish Sea with a one-word message: Torchwood. Martha joins up with Jack's team in Cardiff to track down the errant branch of the organization -- before a time-traveling race of aliens can change the course of history as we know it. (Jack/Ianto + team)
Characters/Pairings: Jack/Ianto, Donna Noble, Gwen Cooper, Martha Jones, Mickey Smith, UNIT
Warnings:

Recced because: I love a good twisty time travel mystery, and this fic delivers on all counts. The Jack/Ianto pairing is so background you’ll hardly notice it, so don’t come into the fic expecting romance; this is all action adventure time travel plot mystery, all the time. Well-drawn OCs, a richly realized setting, a fantastic mystery, and insanely good writing – you’ll be up late reading it, just as I was!

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Rec: An Unkindness of Ravens

Story: An Unkindness of Ravens
Author:

prochytes
Rating: Teen
Wordcount: 1,293
Author’s Summary: Thought and memory. In the end, they’re all that matters. (Crossover with The Avengers.)
Characters/Pairings: Jack Harkness, Gwen Cooper
Recced because:

prochytes’ work has been recced before, because the author is damned good at emotional complexity, believable settings, three-dimensional characters so real that you can, upon occasion, dislike them for many reasons, and an unwillingness to provide happy or sad endings simply because people want one or the other. The latter works well with the author’s focus on Torchwood, I think. I recommend this, somewhat shorter and breezier than many others of the author’s works, because it pushes my “does crossovers well” buttons. The plot is sketched with short, efficient sentences and the characters' dialogue is much the same, enhancing the story's kinetic feel. Architecturally and in substance, much of the story is told between the words. All of it is done with elegance and and wit, as witness the amount of thematic consistency, from title to endpoint.
A taste:
( "Greatcoat - corner of the third alleyway.." )

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Rec: The Impossible Flirts

Story: The Impossible Flirts
Author: LordRebeccaSama
Rating: All Ages
Word Count: 4,935
Author's Summary: Captain Jack Harkness and Professor River Song: two people that should never meet, but they do...multiple times across both their timelines. "The biggest flirts in all the universe, and you let them have coffee!"
Characters/Pairings: Other Character(s), River Song, The Doctor (11th), Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones, Jack Harkness, Owen Harper, Toshiko Sato
Warnings: n/a

Recced because: The amount of relationship building that went into every side of this story is frankly astounding. As is the effort that went into characterisation, particularly at different points in each of the character's lives. Everyone is in character, the voices are crisp, and you can really picture the scene. I like how they've managed to seamlessly fill in some of the gaps in River's backstory to make it work, while still referencing little nods in episodes, like A Good Man Goes to War. The fish and chips nod is a pleasure, too! I also like the amount of work that's gone into both the pop culture references (eg. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) and into building new planets and species to play around with. Always a plus when there's some of that to add to a brilliant plot.

Another note - sorry that my reccing has been... sporadic. I underestimated the amount of real life that would happen this week and have spent half the week driving forth across the province of Nova Scotia and sewing.

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Universes Apart by atraphoenix

Story: Universes Apart
Author: atraphoenix
Rating: All Ages
Word Count: 5324
Author's Summary: They found each other through the skin of the universe.
Characters/Pairings: Gwen Cooper/Rose Tyler, Ianto Jones, Jack Harkness, Owen Harper, Toshiko Sato
Warnings: None

Recced because: Rose and Gwen seem like the least likeliest of pairings. And yet this bittersweet fic, where Rose and Gwen communicate between Pete's World and the regular Doctor Who universe, makes this pairing work without forcing it in this fic.

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rec: Clarification by Prochytes

Story: Clarification
Author: Prochytes
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 2538
Author's Summary: It is a truth universally acknowledged that Captain Jack Harkness is hard to forget. So why does one conquest never remember his name?
Characters/Pairings: Jack Harkness, Clara Oswin Oswald, Gwen Cooper, Rhys Williams, Eleventh Doctor (Clara/Jack)
Warnings: Swearing.

Recced because: It’s sharply written, contains an unexpected (but entirely logical) pairing, and it's very funny. Clara Oswald and Jack Harkness are bound to meet, in this case, repeatedly. What’s bothering Jack is why Clara can never remember who he is each time it happens again. I can’t decide what’s the funniest part – Gwen’s suggestion that it's because the sex isn’t as great for Clara as it is for Jack, or the effect of the Doctor's arrival on Torchwood’s tendency to bad language but it's a thoroughly entertaining read from start to finish.

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Rec - Torchwood Goes Watercolor by Canaan

I began my recs with an angsty crossover. Let's end with something VERY silly...

Story: Torchwood Goes Watercolor
Author: Canaan
Rating: All ages
Word Count: 1207
Author's Summary: A strange being comes through the Cardiff rift. Stranger than usual, even. Torchwood/Looney Tunes crossover.
Characters/Pairings: Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones, Jack Harkness, Other Character(s), Owen Harper, Toshiko Sato
Warnings: None

Recced because: It's a Looney Tunes crossover and ships Jack with a toon - do you really need more justification than that?

( A short extract )

I hope that you've enjoyed these recs - if so, please show your appreciation of the authors by reviewing the stories!

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Rec - The Sound of Running Water by Firefly

Next, another story from the Year that Wasn't, in which Gwen gets help from an unexpected source:

Story: The Sound of Running Water
Author: Firefly124
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 9950
Author's Summary: Staying behind to mind the Hub while the rest of the team went to investigate an anomaly in the Himalayas had sounded boring to Gwen, but that was before the Prime Minister announced First Contact, Jack was declared a terrorist and then killed on live television, and a mysterious stranger popped into the Hub from nowhere.
Characters/Pairings: Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones, Jack Harkness, Jack Harkness, Martha Jones, Martha Jones, Rhys Williams, River Song, The Master (Simm), Toshiko Sato
Warnings: Explicit Violence, Swearing

Recced because: A lovely story by an author who hasn't been recced here before, in which River Song takes a hand in the events of the Year That Wasn't.

( A short extract )

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rec: 'They' by Prochytes

first of all: a happy new year to everyone!

Story: They
Author: Prochytes
Rating: teen
Word Count: 2295
Author's Summary: Remarkably, the Doctor was the easy one.

Characters/Pairings: Gwen Cooper, Kate Stewart, Martha Jones

Warnings: none

Recced because: What a great year it was for Doctor Who in its fiftieth year. Lost episodes found, regenerations shown and so many new stories told. One of my favourite characters in the fiftieth special was Kate Stewart. After her (re)introduction on the show I immediately went looking for fic, but sadly, there isn't much available. The Teaspoon hosts less than fifteen stories featuring her, of which 'They' is the newest addition. Luckily, it's a great story, featuring not just Kate, but many others, too. The dialogue (and it is mostly dialogue) is truly great, with lots of references and name dropping for the careful reader. It had me smiling, laughing and, at the end, almost crying.

'They' is a heartwarming story about 'them'; the people around the Doctor, those who stay on earth and do the very best they can do. It's about Kate Stewart working to get UNIT back on track, with Martha Jones and Gwen Cooper guiding her along the way. It is about Torchwood and UNIT and all those other people, who sometimes make the wrong choices and cannot travel back in time to put them right. It's also about the Doctor, and how he touches the lives of those around him: both of those who travel with him and those who don't. It's not pretty and it's not forgiving, but it's beautiful regardless (or perhaps because of that).

enjoy!

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rec: Child of the Cold by schildkroet

Story: Child of the Cold
Author: schildkroet
Rating: All Ages
Word Count: 2459
Author's Summary: Gwen is pregnant, and this time it's not an alien egg. It's not entirely natural either.
Characters/Pairings: Gwen Cooper/Toshiko Sato, Gwen Cooper/Rhys Williams
Warnings: pregnancy, angst

Recced because:This story is angsty and heart-wrenching, but not in an overly dramatic kind of way. The author uses different fonts to differentiate between different times and plays with flashbacks very effectively.

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Rec: Merlyn Sickness by Prochytes

Story: Merlyn Sickness
Author: Prochytes
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 1711
Author's Summary: Time’s arrow does not exclude the possibility of trick shots. (Crossover with Arrow.)
Characters/Pairings: Gwen Cooper, Jack Harkness
Warnings: None.

Recced because: I love crossovers, and one of the shows I've recently liked is Arrow, whose major villain in season 1 is played by John Barrowman as Malcolm Merlyn. This story takes the idea that Merlyn is one of Jack Harkness's identities and runs with it, with lots of wibbly-wobbly angst for all concerned. The story can be read without knowledge of the crossover.

( A small sample )

later - Many apologies for the faulty link, and for not fixing it sooner!

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Rec: Making It Stranger by Bad_Dickens

Story: Making It Stranger
Author: Bad_Dickens
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 26,771
Author's Summary: The Doctor arrives in Arkham Asylum while Jack Harkness meets Batman. Cardiff must brace itself for a visit from the Clown Prince of Crime. A Batman/Nolan!verse cross over with Doctor Who and Torchwood.
Characters/Pairings: The Doctor (10th), the survivors of Torchwood S2 (Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones, Captain Jack Harkness), Martha Jones, Mickey Smith, plus crossover characters.
Warnings: Some violence, both physical and psychological and all of the attendant creepiness and tastelessness you'd expect from The Dark Knight version of the Joker.

Recced because: Who doesn't like a good crossover? Well, some people probably don't, but I'm not one of those people. I love a good crossover, and this is a very good crossover indeed.

Cast your minds back to the distant, heady days of 2008. We'd just picked our jaws up off the floor, for a variety of reasons, after watching Journey's End. We still had the festive rollercoaster thrill-ride that was The Next Doctor to come in a few months' time. How to kill some time while we waited? Well, the announcement that David Tennant would be leaving the role of the Doctor, eventually, and the attendant media scrum did that to an extent, but before that a lot of us, in the UK at least, went to the cinema and watched... Mama Mia. Not me, though - I was in the screen next door watching The Dark Knight and loving it.

This was before it made a squillion dollars at the box office and the fan backlash set in, before last year's rather Marmite-ish conclusion to the Nolan Bat-trilogy muddied the waters still further. At the time, TDK was the hot ticket (it had Eric Roberts from the Eight TV Movie in it!) and the late Heath Ledger's nightmarish Joker was burning up the screen just like Jack Nicholson's had back in 1989 (scarily, I can remember the hype around that one when it came out too). Good stuff. Even better, though, when my enthusiasm for the film and its world was still at its height, this excellent crossover fic was posted to the Teaspoon. I remember following it avidly, checking every day for updates, and generally lapping it up.

Essentially, this story takes the Batman and his rogues' gallery from the Christopher Nolan films and, via a bit of Rift-related jiggery-pokery throws them up against the Tenth Doctor and Captain Jack's much-depleted Torchwood Three team, with Mickey and Martha thrown in for good measure. Everybody's in-character, and gets nice character moments to boot, but it's also all hung on a good, well-plotted story in which everybody gets things to do and a chance to shine. The Joker is, as you would expect, a force of nature, using the villainous plot-armour that is basically his non-super superpower to throw a spanner into our heroes' works and put them through the wringer. And, to be honest, who doesn't think the idea of the Joker versus a Dalek is a good idea? Oh, right. Well, I do.

All this and Weevils too! Seriously, even if you're not a Batman fan, or a fan of the Nolan/Bale movies, go and read this just for the Who and Torchwood characters and their reactions to the off-the-wall situation. You won't regret it. And when you're finished, please leave your words of appreciation for the author.

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Rec: And You Will Know Her By The Smile In Her Eyes, by James

With the new switch to biweekly reccing, nonelvis has invited me to stick around for another week. Hooray! I'm going to finish my original planned slate of recs, then go through my backups list and pick another two or three to scatter over next week. So recs today and tomorrow, then periodically.

Story: And You Will Know Her By The Smile In Her Eyes
Author: James
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 21928
Author’s Summary: Jack is gone, and Ianto has discovered something very important that he needs Jack for. Will he find Jack in time, and, more importantly, what will happen when Jack does return? Mpreg.
Characters/Pairings: Jack/Ianto, cameos by the rest of S1 Team Torchwood
Warnings: Mpreg

Recced because: Everything James writes is amazing, but this is the amazing-est of them all. I’m a sucker for angst, tru wuv, and mpreg, so this fic is pretty much my fangirl trifecta. The writing is fantastic, and the characters are so wonderfully written you’ll forget you’re not watching canon. (Speaking of canon: the events of Children of Earth aren’t referenced, so this can’t properly be called a fix-it, but it pretty clearly operates in a world where CoE never happened/won’t happen.)

Jack actually plays a surprisingly small role for most of the fic, which gives Ianto the space he needs to step out from Jack’s shadow and demonstrate his underlying strength. It’s a story where you can love but still see clearly, be loyal without giving up your self-respect, and have faith but work hard to achieve your goals. The Doctor appears briefly to deliver a paeaen to love and devotion in the face of immortality (bring your Doctor/Whoever goggles) and the ending is eminently satisfying.

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Rec: Public Enemy Number One

Title: Public Enemy Number One
Word count: 16,676
Author: idelthoughts
Author summary: The prisoner drew himself up tall, facing Jack squarely, and Gwen was suddenly glad he was bound. “Yes, I am the Doctor.” He looked Jack up and down with a stern expression, and his voice was heavy with scorn. “And you’re Torchwood.”
Characters: Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones, Jack Harkness, Jack Harkness, The Doctor (10th)
Warnings: Spoilers for Torchwood through season 2.

Recced because:
This is one of my favorite Who stories. It manages to be fun and deep at the same time. It has a heavy dollop of Torchwood, and in fact is written from Gwen's POV. This makes it interesting, because it's a look at the Doctor through the eyes of someone who doesn't know him at all. The characterization for Ten is spot-on in this-- he switches from goofy to angsty in the blink of an eye, just as he does in the series. There's also a lot of nice filling-in of Ianto's story, which was never fleshed out enough in Torchwood to suit me.

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Rec: Just Because They Protect You Doesn't Mean They Like You by Nancy Brown

Story: Just Because They Protect You Doesn't Mean They Like You
Author: Nancy Brown
Rating: Adult
Word Count: 14122
Characters: Amy Pond, Ianto Jones, Jack Harkness, Owen Harper, Rory Williams, The Doctor (11th)
Author's Summary: Working for Torchwood Cardiff means dealing every day with aliens, time travellers, annoying co-workers, and worst of all, tourists. A day in the life of someone who'd rather be somewhere else.
Warnings: Swearing
Recced because: When I started reading this I was drinking coffee, and ended up with coffee over my keyboard. It's fun and extremely silly, a day in the life of Torchwood 3. Warts and all...

Before the excerpt I should mention the introduction, which adds a few more warnings including "language, character death, necrophilia, dub-con, excessive whining, incredibly offensive humour." I don't find it offensive, but tastes differ

Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom

6:13AM

***

The noise broke into the middle of Ianto's dream: a raucous buzzing and tweeting, like the repetitious caw of a thousand angry ... somethings. Birds? The dream morphed into terror -- giant, slouching, with skeletal black wings and razor-like beak -- then scattered to rags as he opened his eyes.

The noise continued.

Everything was dark. Ianto thrashed his limbs, did not encounter another body but did manage to unwind the blanket he'd wrapped around himself twice as he half-rolled, half-fell onto the floor. As he became more alert, he saw that he was nowhere near his bed but in fact had slept naked in the wardrobe.

His mobile kept ringing. He stumbled to where he'd dropped it on the night stand, flipped it open, and said in a sleep-roughened voice, "Yeah?"

"I woke you up."

Ianto rubbed a hand over his face. Events from the previous night made their presence known in his memory, pickled with a bit too much whisky and aged about three hours. "Did you catch the Weevil, then?" When the call came, Jack had kissed him stupid and told him to stay put. As Ianto had just experienced a fantastic orgasm, backed up against the wall of his wardrobe and buffered by shirts and suit coats, he hadn't been in the mood to argue.

"Yeah. Piece of cake. I didn't want to wake you, so I came back here."

"Thanks."

"I need you to get dressed and head in." Jack's tone was apologetic, but Ianto heard the distinct sound of his lover sliding back into boss mode. Jack may have sucked Ianto's brains out through points south last night, but this morning, he was all work.

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rec: The Last Enemy by Prochytes

I'm

ffutures, Marcus Rowland at the archive, and I'll be reccing this week. My mix this time includes some Torchwood, old school Who, new Who, and crossovers, and a couple of authors who haven't been featured here before.

Due to work problems I may not be around to post every day, so I'm posting all of the week's recs on Sunday night, scheduled to appear at 7AM each day, and hoping nothing goes wrong. Apologies if they all appear at once, or vanish into Limbo - I'll fix any problems as quickly as I can.

Story: The Last Enemy
Author: Prochytes
Rating: Adult
Word Count: 9946
Characters: Gwen Cooper, Martha Jones, Martha Jones, Suzie Costello, The Master (Simm)
Author's Summary: Christmas Day in the Master’s Cardiff. Gwen Cooper is still Gwen Cooper. She doesn’t have much time to work out why.
Warnings: Explicit Violence, Swearing
Recced because: Gwen Cooper was one of the best characters in Torchwood, and I thought it was about time I recced a story that featured her. This one is a beauty, a Doctor Who / Torchwood crossover in which Gwen has to handle the events of The End of Time, with a little help from a very unexpected source.

It didn’t work on cats. The ebony ripple that had pulsed across the road two streets (eighty-seven heartbeats) back was still a feline. Ears flat against its head; eyes staring. Kitty couldn’t know what had just pissed all over the planet.

No hive-mind. The one she had pistol-whipped outside Asda (four streets, nine hundred and sixty-three heartbeats) had looked — briefly — just as surprised to see her as... (don’t remember, mustn’t remember, hold the thought by the rim so it can’t scald) as the first one. They weren’t sharing information telepathically.

He didn’t know she was coming, and this was still her town. Alien mastermind, my arse; you could live in Cardiff for twenty years and still not have a bloody clue what to do there of a Friday night. If she got the drop on him, she could take him.

How many times, though? Three? Ten? A hundred? Cardiff wasn’t a battlefield, now. It was a video-game, and not one where she got to be the shooter. Gwen Cooper had become the obstacle; the adversary; the poorly pixelated mook. Every time she won, he could restart the level. Harold Saxon only had to win the once.

And so Gwen Cooper ran for her life through the December dark (still fast, still very fast — the first trimester hadn’t yet got around to pilfering her pace), measuring out the streets of her city in footfalls and prodigal heartbeats, twisting her options like a blackjack player, and not making it up as she went along. Captain Jack Harkness had made it up as he went along, and hadn’t that ended well for everyone? Jesus fucking Christ, Jack, you had to go and bolt to the stars like the cheap little hustler you always were. Left our town with an exhausted, pregnant basket case for a champion.