Fans Fiction Stories of the Nightmare Child - Chapter Two - Compassion by Lady Mayhurst

The name “Laura” rang a bell, although Domina couldn’t really understand why. It had been like a whisper to her the whole time she had been inside the TARDIS, a comforting word throughout her imprisonment like a lullaby to soothe her to sleep every time she was afraid. There had been no women throughout her early life, no mother like figure had been assigned to her as she grew in her confinement to raise her as a woman, teach her about the world or offer her sympathy when she cried. All her guards were men! Big burly soldiers assigned to her to watch over her in case she escaped and brought about the end of days. Everything Domina knew and had learned about the life that was now stored inside her brain and the physical form she presented to those she would encounter, the other beings she would come across during her journey and search for the truth, she took from the TARDIS during the years she had assimilated with it in her incubation.

   She decided to follow the man, to find out what was going on, what he knew or thought he knew about her, what Ordifica was and who Laura was. A lot of questions without leading him to ask any of her, because for now, she wasn’t sure she could trust him. He led her down deep under the canal and through a heavy metal door into what looked like a small prison which he had turned into some kind of office. There were maps on the wall, tide times, sun rise and sunset, blue prints of tunnels, underground caverns, names and pictures of people stuck to the walls which Domina was sure if she scanned them, looked at them closely enough she could find some information on them, that somewhere buried deep within her memory, she would find them! A bizarre concept to know you have a certain kind of ability without really knowing who or what you are.

   The man who thought he knew her, sat down behind the large metal desk and pulled open a drawer, pulling out a bottle of whiskey and two glasses which he filled before pushing one towards her. “Still a JD girl I hope?” He asked as he took a gulp of the drink and eyed her with anticipation, as though she were a stranger to him, yet somehow a trusted friend. Domina noticed that as he drank his whiskey, his hand slid beneath the desk slowly and he seemingly pressed something, a warning trigger maybe? Some kind of button that opened a secret door? Nothing obvious happened around her and her senses picked up nothing by way of any alarm but she returned her gaze to him with more intent now, watching him a little closer, ready to attack if he tried to have her surrounded.

   “Your parents sent you away, yet here you are. You were supposed to have rendezvoused with Kristeva 5 days ago? I thought you had, Jesus, Laura we all thought you had. Our leader is going to want to talk to you, you’ll have to be ready to answer his questions if we’re ever going to have a hope of winning this war. What the hell happened? I mean yeah you look younger maybe but they can’t have cloned you, yet could they? There wasn’t enough time, unless......." he stared at her confused and questionably, his facial expressions changing slightly as the cogs in his head began to click ever so slowly into place so that he came up with what he thought, was a rational explanation.

Domina found him fascinating! He was the first being she had encountered since escaping Gallifrey and so far, had yet to determine which species he was although human, of some variant had crossed her mind several times. It was difficult to say the least, to be inside her own head the way she was, trapped in the cell of physical restraint when she had a whole universe buzzing inside her, fighting to get out and explore.

   “So, you know what year this is? Who you are? What name did they give you?” He went on, interrogating her to get to the truth. Was she a spy? Was she working for the other side now or had something gone terribly wrong and their best hope of survival was now and empty shell? That could explain it, some kind of memory loss perhaps? Understanding his intent to a degree. Domina decided to use his lack of knowledge to her advantage and took a gulp of the drink that burned the back of her throat. “Yes, she said, maybe, I don’t know. Please tell me who I am, who is Laura? I kind of have an idea but it’s all so foggy right now. Who is the leader?” He nodded and drained his glass before pouring himself another, larger drink, leaning back into his chair as he surveyed her. His thought once more trying to fix the broken jigsaw that stood innocently before him. “Yeah thought so. You’re probably the first, they like to clone the first quickly, you know, to eradicate the memories they don’t need. Maybe they sent you back to help us win this war? Tell me everything you know about the Time Lords?”

Time Lords! There it was. The name of those who tried to kill her as a child. The race she had fled from and travelled billions of years to escape from but it seemed now that no matter how far she ran, they would always find her. A memory jogged in her head and she locked eyes with the man deep in thought as a name come to her lips. “Fritz?” The man leaned forward slightly and rested his elbows on his desk, his brow furrowed in question. “You know me?” He asked her. “No” She replied honestly, “but someone did, someone trusted you and I think maybe I can trust you too?” A question mixed with a statement of confusion. She was telling the truth. She didn’t know him yet she knew his name and that someone important to her once trusted him with their life.

   As the images of a woman started to burn their way into her consciousness, Domina heard the sound of the TARDIS engines, the screeching sounds of agony that screamed at her and she covered her ears in pain wondering what the hell was happening. And then it happened, for the first time, the only time or the first of many times. Domina was suddenly back in the console room, the TARDIS surrounding her, hazy and magical as though it was sucking her into its core. She felt drunk, like she was dreaming, blinking hard to focus as the lights blinded her so she was unable to see what was going on. And then it stopped again and she was standing where she had been, facing the man now known as Fritz who had dropped his glass and shattered whiskey all over the floor and was standing upright, staring at her opened mouthed.

   “What happened?” she asked him, wondering if he had spiked her drink and was untrustworthy after all. She had no real conception of these things as she was still fairly new born in her existence.

   “You, erm, well you kind of disappeared! There was wind, down here in the deepest of all the tunnels where there’s no light, so dark even the rats keep away, yet there was wind!” He pointed to the papers that had been on his desk which were now all over the floor. “And there was a noise, a whooshing, wheezing sound and then you kind of, faded out and were gone! Literally gone, but for a few moments, 10 seconds maybe and then you came back in the exact same way”

   They were both confused at the event, but unable to explain it, both lost in those few seconds about what to do.

   “Who are you?” Fritz asked, his toned changing as he began to fear the woman in front of him. “What did they do to you? The faction, what the bloody hell is going on Laura, I don’t understand”

   “Sit down Fritz!” The order came from behind Domina, a man’s voice softly spoken yet full of arrogance and authority, and Fritz sat down. “Yes sir” He mumbled, “But sir, she just….”

   “I know, I saw it, it’s ok, she’s fine, she’s perfectly fine”

Domina turned and faced the man who smiled widely at her. In the gloominess of the room she could just about make out his features and she let her eyes travel over the clothes he wore which she was sure did not fit the time of the planet she was on. He was out of place as she was, out of time, on the run, away from those he loved because he feared them, he was alone, he was like her but different in so many ways. A man with more secrets than she had, a man lying to Fritz whilst claiming to be his leader. He knew she was scanning him and he let her. He knew everything about her, things she herself had yet to discover and he smiled again, shaking his head softly as he drew a deep breath.

   “You’re just like your mother, Domina. Just like Laura, although by the time the order had finished with her, by the time she came to me she had been remembered 5 times and was was known as Compassion, a wonderful brave woman and like you, one of a kind with a unique ability. Hers was extrapolated to her of course, in a vain attempt to turn her into a weapon, one she fought against hence being given the name Compassion. You though, oh you were born with these abilities, the one thing the Time Lords couldn’t foresee, The    Nightmare Child”

   He was rambling like an excited child, watched in a state of confusion by Fritz and a state of fear by Domina.

   “I suppose You’re wondering why you don’t know me, why you can’t find traces of me in your memory? Well you can, just not recent ones, it’s complicated timey wimey stuff but I’ll help you figure it out. You faded by the way, just then, you kind of teleported, back to your TARDIS maybe? It’s because you kind of are a human TARDIS….wibbley, wobbley, timey, wimey but I’ll explain it all properly to you” He ran his fingers through his hair and then jumped forward, his hand out ready for her to shake as though he were apologising for not doing it sooner.

   “I’m The Doctor by the way”

Fans Fiction The New Adventures of Lady C: The New Identity by Sarah Cambridge

Never one for early retirement and certainly not one for letting something as trivial as a prison sentence get in her way,  Lady C was ready to pounce back into the underworld of daylight robbery as the notorious lucky cat, the world’s most renowned, famous and rather beautiful jewel thief, but considering it had been all of those things that had contributed in her failure to remain anonymous, she would pounce under a completely different name.

   It hadn’t been her choice to adopt the name of the lucky cat. She had acquired it quite by accident some 10 or so years ago when she had first become notoriously famous after stealing King Athelstan’s solid gold cup worth 18 million pounds from the international gallery in London and flying a bus to another planet with an alien man known only as The Doctor. The police had nick named her after she had left her calling card, a small statue of the Maneki Neko aka the Japanese lucky cat, in place of Athelstan’s cup and the press had picked up on the name and had a field day plastering everywhere for all to see.  Coming up with something else just as catchy that would make her infamous as well as keeping her anonymous was going to take some thought.

   She wished Cook were here to help her, he often although not very, had a few good ideas and would have at least made her laugh as he always could. She sighed heavily, her sigh of loneliness echoing around the de Souza manor to signify her solitude. It was going to take some getting used to living here alone now, especially as before her incarceration there had been at least 8 or 9 friends and family living with her at some point.  She wondered where they all were, why none of them had visited her in prison and why none of them called now she was out especially after she had been photographed and tagged arriving at the royal wedding reception in Hello magazine. They all knew she was here yet none of them seemed to care. She even missed clip clop, a shabby knackered flea ridden old pony that belonged to Hugo, the slightly knackered flea ridden stable hand who was John Cook’s cousin. If prison had taught her anything it was never turn your back in the showers, and never reveal your identity or intentions to anyone. Trust no-one, not even yourself! – Especially after raiding the large stock of gin in the cellar.

   Bits of scrap paper adorned the kitchen floor. 2 hours after she had started Lady C still couldn’t come up with anything conspicuous yet catchy and she had mused over everything from Black Beauty as she wore a black cat suit and was rather beautiful, to Lady Cyanide so she could keep the Lady C option yet maintain an air of mystery and mayhem. Sadly, nothing really gave her the same excitement in the pit of her stomach feeling that the lucky cat had, but she summarised that it was because someone else had taken the time to look at her and her work in detail and do it for her, much like how her nickname Lady C had come about.  An old friend from way back, the alien man known only as The Doctor, couldn’t be bothered to keep calling her Lady Christina so he had shortened it to Lady C to save time, but she liked that, it humanised her from the mechanical world of her childhood that had stripped her of her true identity just to force her to live up to her title.

   Another 25 minutes passed, and the phone rang. It was a gangster known only as The Parasite, probably because like fleas and ticks he got on everyone’s nerves, and he was calling to make a deal on Queen Mary’s diamond bandeau which contained diamonds dating back to 1839, the tiara she had stolen a few weeks ago at the royal wedding. The conversation was strained as always between the two as they had no real time for each other and they hated doing business with each other purely because she always had what he wanted, and he always had the money to pay for it. She felt more like his private dealer than a spur of the moment cat burglar stealing thinks for the thrill of the high.

   “Ah the night bird, or is it jail bird now? You know why I’m calling I trust? I heard a tweet that the little birdy has something shiny for her nest that she wants to lose quickly”

He was as slimy sounding as he probably was in real life, not that she had ever met him, which meant she had to lay it on thick to get him to agree to a price as this was after all, her way back.

   “Long time no speak, charmed as always to make your acquaintance and you might be right, but only if the price is”

   “I will give you 20 thousand and not a penny more!”

   “You’ll give me 2 million and not a penny less or you can find someone else to infest, you’re not my only contact, you know how this works!”

   There was a lot of growling and words spoken in a foreign language that she assumed were of a very blue nature and silence for a few moments until the disgruntled voice grumbled something about being robbed himself and then agreed to have a courier sent to her within the hour to claim his prize and pay her demands.

   “You should reconsider the offer I set you years ago night bird and work for me. We could infest the world together you and I. Your skills and mine, we could make something magical happen”

   She heaved silently, gagging at the thought of being around someone so incredibly creepy and yet again very graciously declined his offer of a partnership and hung up before he could contest.

   The courier arrived as promised with a case of notes and she made him wait as she passed each one through a counter scanner which would show if the money was fake or not, and after what seemed like hours, she handed him the tiara and took the note from him the parasite had written for her.

   It read simply, “Night bird, one day you will sing for me.”

This time, instead of gagging, his words made her smile, not because it was from him or because what he had written was particularly nice, but because she realised as she screwed up the note and tossed it in the bin that she finally had her new ID and someone else had taken the time to do it for her.

   The night bird.

Fans Fiction Viva Torchwood Pt 2 by Doreen Freitag

Chapter 2

Four weeks later, Catherine felt like she’d never done a different job before. She didn’t regret going to Torchwood Cardiff for even a second. In the beginning, everything had been quite new for her, but it didn’t take her very long to know the technology better than Gwen or the Captain would ever do. Both of them had given her a short orientation to the devices, but both of them shortly pushed their boundaries.

And they had always mentioned the names of Toshiko Sato, Dr. Owen Harper and Ianto Jones. Toshiko had always done it this way, Owen only kicked against some devices and they’d get started and nothing ever worked out without Ianto.

By that time, Catherine knew that those three former colleagues died during Torchwood operations and she was almost doleful that she didn’t have the chance to meet those three very special people.

She also knew that especially Ianto Jones must have been very important to Jack Harkness, since she noticed that the Captain still had problems talking about the loss.

Catherine also knew pretty quickly that those two men must have shared more than just friendship. When she had asked Gwen during a pizza-lunch, she nodded approvingly.

‘But Jack doesn’t only love men,’ Gwen added, smiling. ‘Jack is interested in everybody who’s in his grasp, you’ll notice that yourself. He doesn’t even stop short of aliens.’

But Gwen also had to admit that Jack Harkness had calmed down in the past few months. Very often he was lost in thought and didn’t talk very much and the next second he was personified glee.

‘Jack isn’t quite the same as he was before Ianto’s death and since Miracle Day,” Gwen finalised. “Both of us changed.’

Catherine spent most of her daytime sitting in front of the devices here in Colasanto Manor, how the Captain fondly called the house. One afternoon, she had asked him what this name meant. ‘Angelo Colasanto was a very good friend of mine,’ Jack Harkness answered, smiling wistfully. ‘Over a few years’ period, he created some sort of Torchwood archive and collected material and artefacts. He bequeathed me this house after his death. And now the Hub doesn’t exist anymore and it became refuge for me and Gwen – and also the new base.’

Curious as she was, Catherine had later searched for the name Colasanto on the internet, but she only found a rich, old American of Italian descent who had died in the course of Miracle Day.

Gwen and Jack Harkness often were on outdoor missions. They investigated in cases of the police and Scotland Yard, when they were at a loss, but they also spent much time rebuilding the Torchwood archive. It was destroyed along with the Hub, the former Torchwood base in Cardiff. Catherine still remembered the reports about the explosion in the city centre. A gas explosion, that’s what they called it.

During a long evening, Captain Harkness told her about a rift, a jag between worlds, which, until about two years ago, ended directly in Cardiff.

‘And now this rift is closed?,’ Catherine had asked the Captain.

Jack Harkness rose and looked out of the window, his hands in his pockets. ‘Yes, it is. And along with it, it took many things.’

As every morning, Catherine was analysing last night’s data. She checked every report on unusual incidents from Buenos Aires and Shanghai and also the measurement data from the stations on the ground. Gwen had explained her that beneath both of these towns, there lay the cause for Miracle Day. People on Earth had been immortal for several months, which eventually led to the collapse of the world system. Torchwood’s work was now to never let that happen again.

Catherine also had a special scan programme, which searched through thousands of newspaper articles. She then prepared the filtered data for the searching, which Captain Jack Harkness performed himself every morning.

Again, the Captain had arrived at the house earlier than the other two and was sitting in his office. Just like he had always been since Catherine’s employment. She could come to work as early as she wanted – he would already be sitting at his desk and would be doing paperwork. When she then entered his office to say hello, he would look up at her, a bit absent-minded at first, just to give her a radiant smile in the next moment. Catherine wasn’t quite sure, though, if he was happy to see her or if he realised in these moments, that he shortly would have his morning Bonnet-coffee standing in front of him.

In the evenings, it was just the other way round. When she stopped to say goodbye, the Captain didn’t really look like he was going home soon – and the regret that appeared on his face could again have something to do with Catherine herself or only her coffee.

She was quite aware that she already hoped it wasn’t only the good coffee she made he liked about her. Captain Jack Harkness was a mysterious man and Catherine also couldn’t help but notice how attractive her boss was. Because of his flawless face and his distinguished profile, she still couldn’t estimate how old he really was. But he was also aware of the impression he made on other people, since he never missed an opportunity to put himself in a good light. And Catherine had to admit that this also had the desired effect on her. But she liked the private moments better, the moments when the Captain almost let drop his mask. In these moments Catherine had seen a man who was deeply sad. A man who must have experienced things which were beyond her grasp.

When she had entered the building half an hour ago, she had heard him walking down the stairs leading from the attic.

Did he live up there? Catherine could hardly imagine Jack Harkness ‘living’ anywhere. Colasanto Manor almost seemed like his home. So a better question would be: did he sleep up there?

For the first time in four weeks she had had the impression that he was still a bit sleepy when he stepped up to her. His hair didn’t look as perfectly styled as it did before and he was red-eyed. But still he had smiled at her with his Jack-Harkness-smile before entering his office.

Catherine was just checking through the latest data on her screen when a window popped up, establishing a connection to a stony-faced, dark-coloured man. This had to be Rex Matheson, who was ironically called the ‘Torchwood US-outpost’ by Gwen.

The man looked at her, frowning, and then directly asked her: ‘Who are you?’

‘My name is Catherine Bonnet and I’ve already been working here for four weeks. Mr Matheson, I suppose?’

‘Uhm, yes, that’s me. Beg your pardon. So Jack has raised Torchwood Cardiff up to the incredible number of three people.’

‘Yes, he has and he is very pleased about the gain,’ the Captains voice sounded behind Catherine. ‘Good morning, CIA!’ Everything alright?”

‘Hahaha, World War Two,’ Rex Matheson replied derisively, ‘forget about the good morning. I’m already over and done with a fucking-long day and it only brought me more crap. So I thought why don’t I call my old buddy in Cardiff and ask him about his opinion.’

The sewer point in the next room opened and Gwen entered the room. She just quickly threw her coat over the coat rack and joined them.

‘Hi Rex,’ she smiled to the monitor.

‘Ah, that makes your illustrious group complete. Miss Bonnet, I hope you are aware what you got yourself into there.’

‘I’ve got a good guess so far,’ Catherine replied sincere. ‘But after all I now have the pleasure to meet you,’ she added.

The amused snort the Captain gave behind her almost let her let go of her poker face.

For a moment, Rex looked at her angrily, but then, finally, he grinned and shook his head. ‘Surely you had to fit into there.’

‘I’m always picking the right people, Rex!,’ Jack Harkness laughed, but the next second he was serious again. He leaned onto the table with his hands next to Catherine. ‘But lets get back to the point: What’s going on over there at your place?’

Rex Matheson’s face darkened. ‘Oh man, stop it. What a bummer. This morning, somewhere in the middle of nowhere in California, a road tanker rushed into a warehouse and the whole thing blew up. And now have a look at what we found in the burnt-out place. But I’m warning you, this is nothing for the faint-hearted.’

His face approached the monitor when he was typing something on his keyboard. The image changed and charred corpses appeared. Catherine could only just stop herself from breathing in sharply. But then, something else caught her attention. The less-burnt bodies weren’t human. Whilst the torso, the arms and the legs showed human proportions, the heads somehow were too big and the mouth more looked like the snout of an animal. The impression was completed by peaked teeth – these couldn’t be humans. And as far as Catherine could see from the photos, there were dozens of them.

‘Weevils,’ Jack said wearily and hung his head.

‘Weevils?,’ Rex asked via the still-open connection.

Gwen moved. ‘Jack!,’ she shouted. ‘Why the hell are there Weevils in the American desert?’

‘What are Weevils?’ Rex sounded upset and his face re-appeared on the monitor.

Jack pushed himself away from the table. ‘They’re creatures from another world,’ he replied. ‘We’ve had a plague over here, when the Rift was still open.’

‘But so far, none of them have made it over to America, have they?,’ Gwen asked.

‘No, I’d know that,’ Jack said and crossed his arms. ‘Rex, we’ve got a problem. Somewhere near there must be a Rift or some sort of gate which easily leads alien life forms into our world.’

‘Damn it,’ Rex said and threw his arms up in frustration. ‘And what am I gonna do now with that knowledge?’

Gwen approached. ‘For a start, just do nothing,’ she said. ‘Torchwood Cardiff has years of experience with Weevils so Torchwood Cardiff will come and help you. They will, won’t they, Jack?’ She glanced at Jack, who nodded and gave his consent.

‘I knew it!’ Rex leaned back into his chair. ‘As if this day hasn’t already been bad enough!’

Suddenly, he seemed to notice that Catherine was still there. He sat up again. ‘I hope you’re also coming, Miss, uhm, Bonnet!’

‘I don’t know,’ Catherine started to say and looked backwards for help to Gwen and her boss behind her. She would have loved to fly to America with them, but it wasn’t her decision.

‘Of course you’re coming with us,’ Gwen said. ‘I need some female backing. Jack and Rex in one room at one time – you can just about stand them when you’re two people.’

Rex snorted derisively.

The Captain grinned. ‘You’ve got a point there. So, Miss Bonnet, I would be very pleased if you accompanied us, even without Gwen’s detailed explanation.’

Catherine was all smiles and that was more than a good answer for him. ‘CIA,’, he said towards the monitor, ‘Salvation will come tomorrow. I hope they’ve got a motel with a coffee machine in that godforsaken area over there. That brown water you call coffee, that’s close to physical injury.’

Catherine could extract from Rex’s mumbled answer that he wanted to know when exactly they would arrive and that he would mail her the exact instructions later. Then he had cut the connection.

‘Miss Bonnet, would you mind and book the flight?,’ Jack said and turned towards his office. ‘Gwen, you’ve got a day off today. Take the opportunity to spend some time with Anwen and say hello to Rhys from me.’

Gwen grabbed her coat. ‚Thanks, Jack. I’ll see you at the airport. Tell me when we’re leaving, Cathy!’ The next second, she had disappeared through the steel door.

Catherine was lost in thoughts as he stared after her. It had to be hard for Gwen to balance this job and her family at home. But did Gwen really have a choice? Once Torchwood, always Torchwood.

Then Catherine had to smile about herself. After only four weeks, she already thought about it like that. She turned towards her computer again and started to deal with booking the flight. Next she would search for a motel somewhere in the middle of nowhere in California which definitely had a coffee machine. She didn’t have much hope.