Ficlet: With Prejudice

[badly_knitted]

 


Title: With Prejudice
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Jack, Ianto, Gwen, Team.
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: All kinds of things fall through the Rift, but some are more dangerous than others, even if they don’t look it.
Word Count: 500
Content Notes: None necessary.
Written For: Prompt 114: Dispatch at anythingdrabble. Also for my fffc bingo square ‘Overkill’.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters.




Torchwood was alien central. Whether artefact, technology, animal, vegetable, mineral, or intelligent being, if it was alien then sooner of later Torchwood were the ones had to deal with it.


Artefacts and tech, provided they weren’t in any way dangerous, went in the main archives. Dangerous tech and biologicals went in secure archives, and weapons in the armoury. Hazardous materials, where possible, were destroyed. Organics were somewhat trickier.


Fruits, vegetables, and other consumables got incinerated, while plants unlikely to be lethal found homes in the hothouse. Animals either became permanent Hub residents or went to the reservation, unless they were highly dangerous or too big to house, in which case every attempt was made to return them to where they’d come from.


Sentient beings, depending on whether they were friendly or hostile, were returned home if possible, helped to settle in Cardiff if they could pass for human, or held in the cells until the Shadow Proclamation’s representatives could collect them.


Naturally there were exceptions. Alien alcohol was often consumed rather than destroyed; Jack didn’t believe in wasting the good stuff. Dangerous animals sometimes had to be shot on sight, while hostile invaders and slavers generally didn’t survive long enough to be locked up. Show up on Torchwood’s territory threatening violence to the people under their protection and you got what you deserved.


Then there was the Wuggadooo.


None of the team had known what to expect when the Rift alarms went off; all they knew was that the new arrival was alive, and since living creatures were usually more difficult to retrieve than inanimate objects, everyone piled into the SUV to help locate it.


Arriving at Jubilee Trading Estate, they found what they were looking for almost immediately, which made a pleasant change. Usually they wound up spending ages tracking creatures down to wherever they’d hidden, since it was rare for anything ripped from its familiar environment and dumped in a strange place to stay put and wait to be rescued.


This one had.


It was approximately the size and shape of a small teddy bear, covered in velvety pink and white fuzz, with big floppy ears and round blue eyes. When it saw them it reached out its paws, whistling mournfully.


Jack paled. Drawing his gun, he emptied it into the creature, then strode forward and stomped on the remains, grinding them into the ground.


“What did you do that for?” Gwen cried. “Poor little mite!”


“Poor? Hardly. Only thing to do with a Wuggadooo is dispatch it with extreme prejudice. Those things are an epidemic waiting to happen!”


“Even if it was dangerous, wasn’t stamping on it overkill?” Ianto asked mildly.


“Nope, if I could kill it more, I would. They’re parasites; latch onto a host, drain it dry, move onto the next. It would’ve eaten its way through Cardiff in a month. Lucky we got that one while it was weak. Once they start feeding they’re practically unkillable.”


Ianto winced. “Next time I’ll bring a flamethrower.”



The End

Comments

[mxcatmoon]

Can't judge a book by its cover. Good thing Jack is around with his knowledge, otherwise, things could have gotten very bad!

[badly_knitted]

The team would have been sucked dry of life first, then the Wuggadooo would have gone in search of more food... Doesn't bear thinking about. O.O

Thank you!