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badly_knittedTitle: Heroes And Monsters – Sequel to ‘Good Samaritans’
Author:
badly_knittedCharacters: OMCs William, Bobby, Gurjit, Jon, Dai. Ianto, Jack, Nosy, Kathy Swanson, OFCs.
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: On a night out, William and his friends encounter an alien monster and wind up running for their lives.
Word Count: 3897
Written For: Challenge 308: Safe at
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fan_flashworks.Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters.
It had been just over eight months since William and his pals had found the little alien girl and met the Torchwood team, and although they’d never mentioned the encounter to anyone else, ever since that day they’d kept their eyes open for anything that could be alien, figuring that Torchwood could probably use all the help they could get. Cardiff was a big city, and it seemed doubtful that the official team, a mere handful of people, could be everywhere at once.
“We could be sort of like the junior branch, unofficial Torchwood agents in training,” was how Dai had put it. He’d already decided he was going to follow in his mother’s footsteps and study medicine because if that Harper guy was the only member of the team with medical skills, then they could probably use another doctor. Preferably someone who wasn’t so grouchy.
The rest of the gang had been equally enthusiastic to prove themselves worthy by helping Torchwood in any way they could, but despite their eagerness for more alien encounters, they had yet to see anything else of an extraterrestrial nature, which was a bit disappointing.
The whole of the summer had passed by with frequent treks around the city, both on their bikes and on foot, but although they’d spotted Torchwood’s big black Range Rover on two or three occasions, they hadn’t seen so much as a flicker of the weird golden light that meant, according to William, that something was arriving from another world. Seemed they’d never been in the right place at the right time to get in on the action.
Now here they were, back at school again. It wasn’t so bad since they’d all agreed they’d have to work hard and do well in exams if they wanted to be considered good Torchwood material, but it was still kind of boring. Lessons, homework, sports, family life, the same old things day after day…
Nothing exciting ever seemed to happen, if you didn’t count the time Jimmy Deacon nearly sliced his finger off in woodwork class. If Dai hadn’t been there and known what to do, Jimmy might have died from blood loss. Several of the other kids had fainted at the sight of all the blood, and Mr Prout, the woodwork teacher, had gone really pale as he’d phoned for an ambulance, like he might faint too. Dai had been given an award by the headmaster for his handling of the crisis, which had been pretty cool, and Jimmy’s parents had said some really nice things in the Thank You card they’d sent him, along with fifty quid as a reward, but that had been three weeks ago.
Now it was the weekend, and after a day of mooching around Splott the gang had got their parents’ permission to go into the centre of Cardiff and see a movie. If they pooled their pocket money, they figured they’d probably even have enough to get chips afterwards.
They took the bus into the city, getting off on Tredegar Street near the Cineworld Cinema, and joining the queue to see the latest blockbuster superhero movie. It was pretty good, with lots of action and great special effects, and the boys were still discussing their favourite bits as they left the cinema and headed for the McDonald’s on Queen Street. William and his friends were just nearing the Central Library when they heard a scream and saw two older teenage girls burst out of a side street, doing their best to run in their high heels, but wobbling precariously. The taller one looked back over her shoulder and screamed again.
William stared at the girls for a brief moment before looking past them at what they were running from, and when he saw it… Well, it just had to be an alien, but unlike all the others he’d seen, this one looked far from friendly. It was pretty obvious the girls were never going to get away if someone didn’t help them; they simply couldn’t run fast enough.
“Fuck!” Bobby said succinctly. “That’s just ugly.”
“Yeah,” Gurjit agreed. “The kind of face not even its own mother could love.”
Dressed in a sort of boiler suit, it was wrinkled and leathery, with almost no nose, small, deep-set eyes, a few wisps of hair on its head, and wickedly sharp teeth. It moved at a peculiar lumbering lope that looked ungainly but was steadily closing the gap between itself and its quarry.
“We can’t just stand here watching; we’ve gotta do something!” Jon urged the others.
Bobby shot his younger brother a look. “Yeah? Like what?”
“I dunno, just something! Distract it.”
“Jon’s right; if we just stand here and do nothing, that creature’s gonna get them. There’s no way they can outrun it, not in those shoes. What kind of Torchwood agents would we be if we let two innocent girls be attacked, and probably killed?” William cast around for some kind of weapon, but all he could see was an empty soda can someone had dropped. It would have to do. Snatching it up, he threw it at the monster as hard as he could; it wasn’t heavy enough to do any damage, it just bounced harmlessly off the thing’s arm, but that was enough to get its attention. Snarling, it whirled towards the friends.
“Now you’ve done it!” Bobby hissed. “It’s gonna come after us instead!”
“Yeah, but we can run faster and at least we’ve given those girls a chance to make it to safety. Oi! Ugly! Come and get me!” William slung another empty can, just missing his target this time, but that didn’t matter; the girls were already out of sight, and the monster’s attention was now firmly fixed on him and his gang.
“Where’s Torchwood when you need them?” muttered Gurjit.
“Should’ve asked for their phone number when we met ‘em,” Dai said. “Oh shit, here it comes. RUN!” The sharp-toothed alien was heading right for them.
They ran, William grabbing Jon’s arm and practically dragging him along for the first few steps; then the younger, smaller boy was ahead of him, and all five of them were running flat out back the way they’d come, cutting through onto streets that were pedestrians only, heading in the direction of Cathay’s Park.
“We’re gonna die!” Bobby yelled. “We’re all gonna die horribly and I ‘aven’t even got to second base with Lindy yet!” Bobby had been dating Lindy Greer for almost two months.
“That’s not what you told me!” Dai said.
“Shut up and run,” William snapped. “We’re not gonna die; Torchwood will save us.” He had to believe that. Hadn’t the Captain said something about keeping an eye on them? The team would come to the rescue in their Range Rover and deal with the monster; everything would be fine. Glancing back over his shoulder, he realised the alien was gaining on them; it’s method of running might not be pretty, but it was a lot faster than he’d originally thought. “No matter what happens, don’t stop!”
“Who said anything about stoppin’?” Bobby yelled back. “Shit! You and your insane ideas, Will!”
OoOoOoO
It was late, nearly eleven at night. After a long day at work, Jack and Ianto were finally heading home to their flat, with Nosy curled up on the backseat of their SUV, when Jack’s phone ringtone blared out. Tugging his mobile from his coat pocket, he answered it to find Detective Inspector Swanson on the other end.
“Harkness, glad I caught you; we just had two teenage girls come in saying they were being chased by a monster, or some guy in overalls and a really ugly mask. They were pretty freaked out, but they said a group of boys rescued them by distracting the monster, so it went after them instead. Thought you lot would be the best people to deal with it.”
“Yeah, thanks; sounds like a Weevil. Did you get a location?”
“Near the Central Library, but one of the girls thought the boys took off in the direction of the St. David’s Centre. Could be anywhere around there though. I’m not sure how long ago it happened, but I’m guessing maybe ten or fifteen minutes.”
“Okay, leave it with us; we’ll check it out.” Jack hung up and put his phone away, quickly filling Ianto in on the situation. Ianto had the car turned around and was heading for the shopping centre before Jack even finished speaking.
They parked as close to the St. David’s as they could get, arming themselves with all the necessary Weevil hunting equipment before jumping from the car: handguns, Weevil spray, hood, wrist clamps, and a hypodermic loaded with a powerful sedative. Ianto leaned into the back seat to speak to Nosy.
“Stay here and keep out of sight. We’ll be back as soon as we can.”
Nosy gave a noncommittal hum, watching as the doors were slammed shut and its friends took off down the street at a run. Something familiar was tickling at the edges of its empathic sense and the Fluff searched its memory, trying to place the distinctive emotional signature it was picking up. Then something clicked and Nosy remembered its first friend on earth, more than ten years ago now, the little boy it had played with one hot and sunny afternoon, two very different beings finding common ground through a simple game.
Now, however, it could sense that the boy was in great danger, and Nosy couldn’t just ignore that! Without hesitation the Fluff reached for the door handle, pushing it down and slithering quickly from the car, taking just long enough to make sure the door shut and locked behind it before setting off in the direction its empathic senses were telling it to go. It could detect excitement and fear mingled together, along with strenuous effort; the boy must be running for his life.
Slithering at high speed, keeping to the shadows as much as possible and taking turnings seemingly at random, Nosy changed colour as it went, switching from its usual grass green to a dark, smoky grey, the better to conceal itself from view, although there seemed to be few people about. Once it heard someone shout, “Hey! Did you see that? What was it?” but at the speed it was going the Fluff felt sure whoever had spotted it couldn’t have seen much.
Soon Nosy started to detect a familiar scent on the breeze: Weevil. It smelled like a big male, and the sense the Fluff got from it was annoyance mingled with hunger. Following the smell, Nosy speeded up, heading into an underpass beneath a main road. Beyond that it could detect the fresh scent of green things growing, indicating some kind of open space, but it was overlaid with the Weevil smell and the stink of human sweat. The fear it had been sensing earlier had increased, amplified by several other minds in addition to the one it recognised, and drowning out the excitement as exhaustion started to take hold.
Nosy cast the net of its empathic sense wider, seeking out Ianto and Jack, deftly nudging them in the right direction without them noticing, but aware that they were still too far away to be of any help. It pushed onwards, slipping out the other end of the underpass almost at its top speed; it was going to need a lot of coffee to restore its energy levels after all this exertion, but that wasn’t important right now. This was one of its daydreams made reality. Captain Fluff to the rescue!
OoOoOoO
‘So much for outrunning that thing,’ William thought. It seemed tireless while he and his friends were all flagging, not nearly as fit as they’d thought they were. That would have to change if they wanted to work for Torchwood when they were older. If they lived that long, which he was beginning to have some doubts about despite what he’d told Bobby.
The ground in Cathay’s Park wasn’t as smooth and flat as the pavements and roads had been, the uneven footing making the five boys stumble from time to time, their legs growing weaker as their weariness increased. Then Dai caught one foot on a tussock of grass and went sprawling, all but knocking the breath out of himself.
Bringing up the rear, because he was sort of the leader of their little gang, and as such felt it his responsibility to protect the others, William stopped to help. Pulling Dai to his feet, he urged his friend forwards again, pushing him ahead as they both tried to run faster than their tired legs wanted to go. He glanced back over his shoulder as he did so, seeing by the fitful moonlight that the monster was now barely fifteen metres behind them, and finally realising the stupidity of heading for the park where there was nowhere for them to hide.
‘We’re doomed and it’s all my fault. I got that thing mad enough to chase us, and now it’ll kill us all! Maybe if I stay behind and fight it, I can buy enough time for the others to get away…’
But before William could do more than slow down, falling a bit behind the rest of the gang, help arrived from a completely unexpected direction.
It came from ahead of them, a second monster, a long and furry blur, dark as smoke and moving impossibly fast. The gang skidded to a halt as it swept past them, making a sound like a boiling kettle, a shrill, high-pitched whistle that made them clamp their hands over their ears, and stopped their pursuer in its tracks.
The first monster slashed at the newcomer with sharp-clawed hands, snarling savagely, but the new monster dodged with ease, feinting one way and darting the other, so the toothy alien didn’t know where to aim, swatting ineffectually at its tormenter, and flinching back from the wall of sound it was creating. The ugly alien started to back away, making a low, keening sound as the furry creature harried it…
OoOoOoO
Nosy had circled wide around the Weevil and its quarry before slithering at it head-on, making as much noise at it could, hoping to drive the predator back and give the humans some breathing space, but it didn’t just rely on its high-pitched humming to get the job done. As an empath, it knew and understood emotions; it felt what others felt, but it could also, when necessary, redirect those emotions back at the source, and that was what it did now, sending the Weevil’s anger and blood lust back at it, along with a healthy dose of fear borrowed from those it had been chasing.
Weevils, Nosy knew from experience, used telepathy to communicate with each other. They were all linked together in a manner not too dissimilar to the way Nosy was linked to all its friends. It took the Fluff a few moments to tap into the Weevil’s telepathic wavelength, but when it succeeded, the big brute flinched back, and Nosy pressed its advantage, driving the Weevil before it, away from the small group of humans.
Jack and Ianto were closing in now; Nosy could sense their approach. The Weevil didn’t stand a chance!
The two humans came running out of the darkness, their powerful torches illuminating the scene, shining right in the already disoriented Weevil’s eyes and half blinding it. A couple of squirts of Weevil spray to subdue it and then it was down. Ianto snapped the wrist clamps on it, securing its clawed hands behind its back, then hooded it as Jack gave it a shot of sedative to knock it out, ready for transportation back to the Hub.
Drifting on the breeze, the Weevil spray made Nosy sneeze.
SNISH! SNISH!
It shook itself from end to end, then seeing its friends had the Weevil well in hand, it slithered off to check on the other humans, changing back to its preferred colour as it went.
OoOoOoO
William and his friends watched, panting for breath, as the two men appeared and dealt with the monster.
“See? Didn’t I tell you Torchwood would save us?”
Bobby nodded. “Yeah, you did. Too bad I can’t tell Lindy about this; if she knew what a hero I was, helpin’ to save those two girls from a monster, maybe she’d be impressed enough to…”
“Will you shut up about Lindy?” Gurjit grumbled. “I wanna know what that thing is.”
“And the other thing too,” Jon added. “The furry thing.”
“It’s comin’ this way!” Bobby took a couple of steps back, but William ignored his friends, walking calmy forward to greet the furry snake that was slithering towards them. Now it had slowed right down, he had no trouble recognising it.
“Hey, Space Animal! Remember me?” He crouched down and held out his hand.
“HUMMMM!” Slithering right up to William, the fluffy creature rubbed against him, humming excitedly, and William laughed, stroking the thick, soft fur.
“You do remember, don’t you?”
“Of course it does; it has an excellent memory, almost as good as mine.”
William looked up; he hadn’t noticed Ianto approaching.
“Nosy, didn’t I tell you to wait in the car?” Ianto stood, hands on hips, frowning down at the space animal.
“hum,” it said in a small voice.
“Well, I suppose I can’t blame you; I’d have done the same if a friend of mine was in danger. Excellent work with that Weevil, young Fluff.”
“Humm!”
Ianto turned to the boys. “William, good to see you and your friends again. You’ll be pleased to know the two girls you rescued are safe and well; they went straight to the police, who called us, which is how we found out you were in a spot of bother. Nice work, by the way, but if you ever encounter a Weevil again, my advice is to head towards somewhere crowded and well lit, not out into the dark.”
“Yeah, I realised that a bit too late,” William admitted. “I thought we could outrun it, but…” He shrugged.
“They’re a lot faster than they look.” Ianto smiled understandingly. “You won’t make that mistake again.”
“So, Weevil, that’s what you call that thing?” Dai said, coming forward.
“Yep! They usually live in the sewers; Cardiff has quite a large population of them. Most of the time they don’t cause any trouble, just stay out of sight; they don’t like bright light, but once in a while one will come to the surface and cause trouble. This one’s an adult male; they’re the most aggressive and the most likely to go rogue and attack humans.”
“It they’re so dangerous, how come you don’t just kill them all?” Bobby asked.
“Because they didn’t ask to wind up here, and they have as much right to live as anyone. Like I said, most of the time they’re no trouble. Would you kill all dogs because one attacked somebody?”
“I guess not; I hadn’t thought of it like that. Um, what’s this other thing?” Bobby pointed at the snakelike creature that was busy rolling around on the grass with William.
“That’s Nosy, the Torchwood Fluff. It’s empathic, and almost as smart as a human.”
“What does empathic mean?” Jon asked.
“It can sense people’s emotions; that’s how it knew you were in trouble. It’s met William before and formed a sort of emotional connection with him, so as soon as we were close enough, it could feel his fear and came to help. Good thing too; it saved your lives. There was no way Jack and I could have reached you in time; we’re not fast enough.”
With Nosy still wrapped around him, William sat up, grinning all over his face. “This is the best day ever! Come and say hello, guys!”
“HUM!” Nosy chimed in.
“Not to interrupt or anything,” Jack said, joining them and reaching down to pet Nosy, “but I called Owen; he’s bringing the SUV to pick up Bruce there.”
“You’re calling it Bruce?” Ianto raised an eyebrow.
“Did you see the size of him? The Weevil equivalent of the Incredible Hulk. Anyway, Owen should be here in ten; I’ll go back to the Hub with him, and you can pick me up from there after you give the boys a ride home. They’ve probably already missed the last bus.”
“Shit, yes!” Bobby’s eyes went wide. “Mum’s gonna kill me for keepin’ Jon out this late; I said we’d be home by eleven!”
“I’m not a little kid,” Jon complained. “I’m almost fourteen!”
“Yeah, you try tellin’ mum that.”
“Nobody has to get in trouble,” Ianto said calmly. “I’ll just tell your parents you saw some girls being harassed and stepped in to help them; it’s close enough to the truth. William, let me have your mobile for a minute?”
“Um, okay.” Untangling one arm from Nosy, William dug his phone out and handed it to Ianto, who removed the back and put something inside it.
“Tracking chip,” he explained. “If you’re going to be Torchwood agents one day, we’d better keep you boys safe.” He turned the phone on and did something else before handing it back. “There; now you’ve got my number. If you see anything suspicious, or if you get into trouble like this again, call me, day or night; I’ll be able to trace you. I only have the one spare chip with me right now so the rest of you will have to wait for that, but I suggest you all load my number on your phones. You did good today, even though you shouldn’t have put yourselves in danger like that.”
“We’ll know better in future,” William said, disentangling himself from Nosy and standing up. “Thanks, Ianto.”
“You’re welcome. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’d better go and fetch my car. Can’t have Nosy slithering back through the streets of Cardiff; someone might see it. I shouldn’t be long. In the meantime, I suggest you call your parents, tell them you’re safe and that you’ll be home shortly. And no taking photos of the Fluff. Its existence is supposed to be a secret.”
Ianto set off across the grass, stopping briefly to talk to the Captain before continuing towards the underpass.
“Wow, some adventure, huh?” William sat down again, wrapping his arms around Nosy and hugging it. “Thanks for the rescue, pal. You arrived in the nick of time.”
“Hummmmmm,” Nosy said modestly.
“Yeah, thanks.” Jon slumped down on the other side of the Fluff and stroked it, smiling. “Wow, it’s so soft!” He studied the furry creature. “So, this was your first alien?”
“Yep.” William grinned at the younger boy. “The first and still the best.”
“Neat.”
“Just think; some day it could be us chasing Weevils and stuff, being all heroic and saving lives.”
The other boys settled down on the grass as well, letting William’s alien friend sniff their hands as he introduced them. As scary as being chased by the Weevil had been, it was worth it to be reunited with the friendly space animal from so long ago, and to be reassured that it too was safe and happy, living among people who loved it as much as he did. He hoped it wouldn’t be such a long time before they met again.
The End
“We could be sort of like the junior branch, unofficial Torchwood agents in training,” was how Dai had put it. He’d already decided he was going to follow in his mother’s footsteps and study medicine because if that Harper guy was the only member of the team with medical skills, then they could probably use another doctor. Preferably someone who wasn’t so grouchy.
The rest of the gang had been equally enthusiastic to prove themselves worthy by helping Torchwood in any way they could, but despite their eagerness for more alien encounters, they had yet to see anything else of an extraterrestrial nature, which was a bit disappointing.
The whole of the summer had passed by with frequent treks around the city, both on their bikes and on foot, but although they’d spotted Torchwood’s big black Range Rover on two or three occasions, they hadn’t seen so much as a flicker of the weird golden light that meant, according to William, that something was arriving from another world. Seemed they’d never been in the right place at the right time to get in on the action.
Now here they were, back at school again. It wasn’t so bad since they’d all agreed they’d have to work hard and do well in exams if they wanted to be considered good Torchwood material, but it was still kind of boring. Lessons, homework, sports, family life, the same old things day after day…
Nothing exciting ever seemed to happen, if you didn’t count the time Jimmy Deacon nearly sliced his finger off in woodwork class. If Dai hadn’t been there and known what to do, Jimmy might have died from blood loss. Several of the other kids had fainted at the sight of all the blood, and Mr Prout, the woodwork teacher, had gone really pale as he’d phoned for an ambulance, like he might faint too. Dai had been given an award by the headmaster for his handling of the crisis, which had been pretty cool, and Jimmy’s parents had said some really nice things in the Thank You card they’d sent him, along with fifty quid as a reward, but that had been three weeks ago.
Now it was the weekend, and after a day of mooching around Splott the gang had got their parents’ permission to go into the centre of Cardiff and see a movie. If they pooled their pocket money, they figured they’d probably even have enough to get chips afterwards.
They took the bus into the city, getting off on Tredegar Street near the Cineworld Cinema, and joining the queue to see the latest blockbuster superhero movie. It was pretty good, with lots of action and great special effects, and the boys were still discussing their favourite bits as they left the cinema and headed for the McDonald’s on Queen Street. William and his friends were just nearing the Central Library when they heard a scream and saw two older teenage girls burst out of a side street, doing their best to run in their high heels, but wobbling precariously. The taller one looked back over her shoulder and screamed again.
William stared at the girls for a brief moment before looking past them at what they were running from, and when he saw it… Well, it just had to be an alien, but unlike all the others he’d seen, this one looked far from friendly. It was pretty obvious the girls were never going to get away if someone didn’t help them; they simply couldn’t run fast enough.
“Fuck!” Bobby said succinctly. “That’s just ugly.”
“Yeah,” Gurjit agreed. “The kind of face not even its own mother could love.”
Dressed in a sort of boiler suit, it was wrinkled and leathery, with almost no nose, small, deep-set eyes, a few wisps of hair on its head, and wickedly sharp teeth. It moved at a peculiar lumbering lope that looked ungainly but was steadily closing the gap between itself and its quarry.
“We can’t just stand here watching; we’ve gotta do something!” Jon urged the others.
Bobby shot his younger brother a look. “Yeah? Like what?”
“I dunno, just something! Distract it.”
“Jon’s right; if we just stand here and do nothing, that creature’s gonna get them. There’s no way they can outrun it, not in those shoes. What kind of Torchwood agents would we be if we let two innocent girls be attacked, and probably killed?” William cast around for some kind of weapon, but all he could see was an empty soda can someone had dropped. It would have to do. Snatching it up, he threw it at the monster as hard as he could; it wasn’t heavy enough to do any damage, it just bounced harmlessly off the thing’s arm, but that was enough to get its attention. Snarling, it whirled towards the friends.
“Now you’ve done it!” Bobby hissed. “It’s gonna come after us instead!”
“Yeah, but we can run faster and at least we’ve given those girls a chance to make it to safety. Oi! Ugly! Come and get me!” William slung another empty can, just missing his target this time, but that didn’t matter; the girls were already out of sight, and the monster’s attention was now firmly fixed on him and his gang.
“Where’s Torchwood when you need them?” muttered Gurjit.
“Should’ve asked for their phone number when we met ‘em,” Dai said. “Oh shit, here it comes. RUN!” The sharp-toothed alien was heading right for them.
They ran, William grabbing Jon’s arm and practically dragging him along for the first few steps; then the younger, smaller boy was ahead of him, and all five of them were running flat out back the way they’d come, cutting through onto streets that were pedestrians only, heading in the direction of Cathay’s Park.
“We’re gonna die!” Bobby yelled. “We’re all gonna die horribly and I ‘aven’t even got to second base with Lindy yet!” Bobby had been dating Lindy Greer for almost two months.
“That’s not what you told me!” Dai said.
“Shut up and run,” William snapped. “We’re not gonna die; Torchwood will save us.” He had to believe that. Hadn’t the Captain said something about keeping an eye on them? The team would come to the rescue in their Range Rover and deal with the monster; everything would be fine. Glancing back over his shoulder, he realised the alien was gaining on them; it’s method of running might not be pretty, but it was a lot faster than he’d originally thought. “No matter what happens, don’t stop!”
“Who said anything about stoppin’?” Bobby yelled back. “Shit! You and your insane ideas, Will!”
OoOoOoO
It was late, nearly eleven at night. After a long day at work, Jack and Ianto were finally heading home to their flat, with Nosy curled up on the backseat of their SUV, when Jack’s phone ringtone blared out. Tugging his mobile from his coat pocket, he answered it to find Detective Inspector Swanson on the other end.
“Harkness, glad I caught you; we just had two teenage girls come in saying they were being chased by a monster, or some guy in overalls and a really ugly mask. They were pretty freaked out, but they said a group of boys rescued them by distracting the monster, so it went after them instead. Thought you lot would be the best people to deal with it.”
“Yeah, thanks; sounds like a Weevil. Did you get a location?”
“Near the Central Library, but one of the girls thought the boys took off in the direction of the St. David’s Centre. Could be anywhere around there though. I’m not sure how long ago it happened, but I’m guessing maybe ten or fifteen minutes.”
“Okay, leave it with us; we’ll check it out.” Jack hung up and put his phone away, quickly filling Ianto in on the situation. Ianto had the car turned around and was heading for the shopping centre before Jack even finished speaking.
They parked as close to the St. David’s as they could get, arming themselves with all the necessary Weevil hunting equipment before jumping from the car: handguns, Weevil spray, hood, wrist clamps, and a hypodermic loaded with a powerful sedative. Ianto leaned into the back seat to speak to Nosy.
“Stay here and keep out of sight. We’ll be back as soon as we can.”
Nosy gave a noncommittal hum, watching as the doors were slammed shut and its friends took off down the street at a run. Something familiar was tickling at the edges of its empathic sense and the Fluff searched its memory, trying to place the distinctive emotional signature it was picking up. Then something clicked and Nosy remembered its first friend on earth, more than ten years ago now, the little boy it had played with one hot and sunny afternoon, two very different beings finding common ground through a simple game.
Now, however, it could sense that the boy was in great danger, and Nosy couldn’t just ignore that! Without hesitation the Fluff reached for the door handle, pushing it down and slithering quickly from the car, taking just long enough to make sure the door shut and locked behind it before setting off in the direction its empathic senses were telling it to go. It could detect excitement and fear mingled together, along with strenuous effort; the boy must be running for his life.
Slithering at high speed, keeping to the shadows as much as possible and taking turnings seemingly at random, Nosy changed colour as it went, switching from its usual grass green to a dark, smoky grey, the better to conceal itself from view, although there seemed to be few people about. Once it heard someone shout, “Hey! Did you see that? What was it?” but at the speed it was going the Fluff felt sure whoever had spotted it couldn’t have seen much.
Soon Nosy started to detect a familiar scent on the breeze: Weevil. It smelled like a big male, and the sense the Fluff got from it was annoyance mingled with hunger. Following the smell, Nosy speeded up, heading into an underpass beneath a main road. Beyond that it could detect the fresh scent of green things growing, indicating some kind of open space, but it was overlaid with the Weevil smell and the stink of human sweat. The fear it had been sensing earlier had increased, amplified by several other minds in addition to the one it recognised, and drowning out the excitement as exhaustion started to take hold.
Nosy cast the net of its empathic sense wider, seeking out Ianto and Jack, deftly nudging them in the right direction without them noticing, but aware that they were still too far away to be of any help. It pushed onwards, slipping out the other end of the underpass almost at its top speed; it was going to need a lot of coffee to restore its energy levels after all this exertion, but that wasn’t important right now. This was one of its daydreams made reality. Captain Fluff to the rescue!
OoOoOoO
‘So much for outrunning that thing,’ William thought. It seemed tireless while he and his friends were all flagging, not nearly as fit as they’d thought they were. That would have to change if they wanted to work for Torchwood when they were older. If they lived that long, which he was beginning to have some doubts about despite what he’d told Bobby.
The ground in Cathay’s Park wasn’t as smooth and flat as the pavements and roads had been, the uneven footing making the five boys stumble from time to time, their legs growing weaker as their weariness increased. Then Dai caught one foot on a tussock of grass and went sprawling, all but knocking the breath out of himself.
Bringing up the rear, because he was sort of the leader of their little gang, and as such felt it his responsibility to protect the others, William stopped to help. Pulling Dai to his feet, he urged his friend forwards again, pushing him ahead as they both tried to run faster than their tired legs wanted to go. He glanced back over his shoulder as he did so, seeing by the fitful moonlight that the monster was now barely fifteen metres behind them, and finally realising the stupidity of heading for the park where there was nowhere for them to hide.
‘We’re doomed and it’s all my fault. I got that thing mad enough to chase us, and now it’ll kill us all! Maybe if I stay behind and fight it, I can buy enough time for the others to get away…’
But before William could do more than slow down, falling a bit behind the rest of the gang, help arrived from a completely unexpected direction.
It came from ahead of them, a second monster, a long and furry blur, dark as smoke and moving impossibly fast. The gang skidded to a halt as it swept past them, making a sound like a boiling kettle, a shrill, high-pitched whistle that made them clamp their hands over their ears, and stopped their pursuer in its tracks.
The first monster slashed at the newcomer with sharp-clawed hands, snarling savagely, but the new monster dodged with ease, feinting one way and darting the other, so the toothy alien didn’t know where to aim, swatting ineffectually at its tormenter, and flinching back from the wall of sound it was creating. The ugly alien started to back away, making a low, keening sound as the furry creature harried it…
OoOoOoO
Nosy had circled wide around the Weevil and its quarry before slithering at it head-on, making as much noise at it could, hoping to drive the predator back and give the humans some breathing space, but it didn’t just rely on its high-pitched humming to get the job done. As an empath, it knew and understood emotions; it felt what others felt, but it could also, when necessary, redirect those emotions back at the source, and that was what it did now, sending the Weevil’s anger and blood lust back at it, along with a healthy dose of fear borrowed from those it had been chasing.
Weevils, Nosy knew from experience, used telepathy to communicate with each other. They were all linked together in a manner not too dissimilar to the way Nosy was linked to all its friends. It took the Fluff a few moments to tap into the Weevil’s telepathic wavelength, but when it succeeded, the big brute flinched back, and Nosy pressed its advantage, driving the Weevil before it, away from the small group of humans.
Jack and Ianto were closing in now; Nosy could sense their approach. The Weevil didn’t stand a chance!
The two humans came running out of the darkness, their powerful torches illuminating the scene, shining right in the already disoriented Weevil’s eyes and half blinding it. A couple of squirts of Weevil spray to subdue it and then it was down. Ianto snapped the wrist clamps on it, securing its clawed hands behind its back, then hooded it as Jack gave it a shot of sedative to knock it out, ready for transportation back to the Hub.
Drifting on the breeze, the Weevil spray made Nosy sneeze.
SNISH! SNISH!
It shook itself from end to end, then seeing its friends had the Weevil well in hand, it slithered off to check on the other humans, changing back to its preferred colour as it went.
OoOoOoO
William and his friends watched, panting for breath, as the two men appeared and dealt with the monster.
“See? Didn’t I tell you Torchwood would save us?”
Bobby nodded. “Yeah, you did. Too bad I can’t tell Lindy about this; if she knew what a hero I was, helpin’ to save those two girls from a monster, maybe she’d be impressed enough to…”
“Will you shut up about Lindy?” Gurjit grumbled. “I wanna know what that thing is.”
“And the other thing too,” Jon added. “The furry thing.”
“It’s comin’ this way!” Bobby took a couple of steps back, but William ignored his friends, walking calmy forward to greet the furry snake that was slithering towards them. Now it had slowed right down, he had no trouble recognising it.
“Hey, Space Animal! Remember me?” He crouched down and held out his hand.
“HUMMMM!” Slithering right up to William, the fluffy creature rubbed against him, humming excitedly, and William laughed, stroking the thick, soft fur.
“You do remember, don’t you?”
“Of course it does; it has an excellent memory, almost as good as mine.”
William looked up; he hadn’t noticed Ianto approaching.
“Nosy, didn’t I tell you to wait in the car?” Ianto stood, hands on hips, frowning down at the space animal.
“hum,” it said in a small voice.
“Well, I suppose I can’t blame you; I’d have done the same if a friend of mine was in danger. Excellent work with that Weevil, young Fluff.”
“Humm!”
Ianto turned to the boys. “William, good to see you and your friends again. You’ll be pleased to know the two girls you rescued are safe and well; they went straight to the police, who called us, which is how we found out you were in a spot of bother. Nice work, by the way, but if you ever encounter a Weevil again, my advice is to head towards somewhere crowded and well lit, not out into the dark.”
“Yeah, I realised that a bit too late,” William admitted. “I thought we could outrun it, but…” He shrugged.
“They’re a lot faster than they look.” Ianto smiled understandingly. “You won’t make that mistake again.”
“So, Weevil, that’s what you call that thing?” Dai said, coming forward.
“Yep! They usually live in the sewers; Cardiff has quite a large population of them. Most of the time they don’t cause any trouble, just stay out of sight; they don’t like bright light, but once in a while one will come to the surface and cause trouble. This one’s an adult male; they’re the most aggressive and the most likely to go rogue and attack humans.”
“It they’re so dangerous, how come you don’t just kill them all?” Bobby asked.
“Because they didn’t ask to wind up here, and they have as much right to live as anyone. Like I said, most of the time they’re no trouble. Would you kill all dogs because one attacked somebody?”
“I guess not; I hadn’t thought of it like that. Um, what’s this other thing?” Bobby pointed at the snakelike creature that was busy rolling around on the grass with William.
“That’s Nosy, the Torchwood Fluff. It’s empathic, and almost as smart as a human.”
“What does empathic mean?” Jon asked.
“It can sense people’s emotions; that’s how it knew you were in trouble. It’s met William before and formed a sort of emotional connection with him, so as soon as we were close enough, it could feel his fear and came to help. Good thing too; it saved your lives. There was no way Jack and I could have reached you in time; we’re not fast enough.”
With Nosy still wrapped around him, William sat up, grinning all over his face. “This is the best day ever! Come and say hello, guys!”
“HUM!” Nosy chimed in.
“Not to interrupt or anything,” Jack said, joining them and reaching down to pet Nosy, “but I called Owen; he’s bringing the SUV to pick up Bruce there.”
“You’re calling it Bruce?” Ianto raised an eyebrow.
“Did you see the size of him? The Weevil equivalent of the Incredible Hulk. Anyway, Owen should be here in ten; I’ll go back to the Hub with him, and you can pick me up from there after you give the boys a ride home. They’ve probably already missed the last bus.”
“Shit, yes!” Bobby’s eyes went wide. “Mum’s gonna kill me for keepin’ Jon out this late; I said we’d be home by eleven!”
“I’m not a little kid,” Jon complained. “I’m almost fourteen!”
“Yeah, you try tellin’ mum that.”
“Nobody has to get in trouble,” Ianto said calmly. “I’ll just tell your parents you saw some girls being harassed and stepped in to help them; it’s close enough to the truth. William, let me have your mobile for a minute?”
“Um, okay.” Untangling one arm from Nosy, William dug his phone out and handed it to Ianto, who removed the back and put something inside it.
“Tracking chip,” he explained. “If you’re going to be Torchwood agents one day, we’d better keep you boys safe.” He turned the phone on and did something else before handing it back. “There; now you’ve got my number. If you see anything suspicious, or if you get into trouble like this again, call me, day or night; I’ll be able to trace you. I only have the one spare chip with me right now so the rest of you will have to wait for that, but I suggest you all load my number on your phones. You did good today, even though you shouldn’t have put yourselves in danger like that.”
“We’ll know better in future,” William said, disentangling himself from Nosy and standing up. “Thanks, Ianto.”
“You’re welcome. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’d better go and fetch my car. Can’t have Nosy slithering back through the streets of Cardiff; someone might see it. I shouldn’t be long. In the meantime, I suggest you call your parents, tell them you’re safe and that you’ll be home shortly. And no taking photos of the Fluff. Its existence is supposed to be a secret.”
Ianto set off across the grass, stopping briefly to talk to the Captain before continuing towards the underpass.
“Wow, some adventure, huh?” William sat down again, wrapping his arms around Nosy and hugging it. “Thanks for the rescue, pal. You arrived in the nick of time.”
“Hummmmmm,” Nosy said modestly.
“Yeah, thanks.” Jon slumped down on the other side of the Fluff and stroked it, smiling. “Wow, it’s so soft!” He studied the furry creature. “So, this was your first alien?”
“Yep.” William grinned at the younger boy. “The first and still the best.”
“Neat.”
“Just think; some day it could be us chasing Weevils and stuff, being all heroic and saving lives.”
The other boys settled down on the grass as well, letting William’s alien friend sniff their hands as he introduced them. As scary as being chased by the Weevil had been, it was worth it to be reunited with the friendly space animal from so long ago, and to be reassured that it too was safe and happy, living among people who loved it as much as he did. He hoped it wouldn’t be such a long time before they met again.
The End
