You Can't Go Home Again [Ed and Victor]

[fractured_agent]

Another typical night in Cardiff.

The streets are dark and quiet, no one seeming to be out and about... except for a bright red convertible roaring down the empty roads, its driver just as flashy and colorful as the vehicle. The blowfish laughs, slightly unhinged, as he accelerates through the red lights, swerving dangerously across both lanes.

And behind him, bringing up the rear, is a pitch-black Range Rover with blue LEDs flashing. Torchwood Three gives chase, with Owen Harper at the wheel, as Toshiko Sato tracks the car with one of her many alien and advanced devices.

Comments

[fmalchemist160]

It's been a crazy few weeks at Torchwood for Ed. He more or less expected that—he is, after all, familiar with the TV series, though he hasn't said a word about its existence to any of the Torchwood team—but expectations don't always prepare you for the actual experience, even when you've spent the past couple of years living in a hotbed of supernatural activity like Dominion City. He got used to it pretty quickly, though, so a joyriding, humanoid blowfish isn't so unusual anymore.

He's in the back of the SUV, sitting in the middle seat, presumably sandwiched between two members of the Torchwood team, leaning forward slightly to keep an eye on the convertible through the windshield. If they let this chase continue on for much longer, people might get in the way and get hurt. His options are limited, though; he's not yet confident enough in his marksmanship to be comfortable trying to shoot out the tyres, though he does have his trusty Beretta with him, holstered on his left hip. That leaves trying to disable the car via Alchemy, and he needs to be able to touch the pavement to pull off any of the possible transmutations he has in mind. He sits up a little and leans forward a bit more, and tells Owen, "I have an idea. Can you try to get in front of him?"

[fractured_agent]

"Well that depends on whether he stops swerving all over the place, doesn't it?" Owen replies as they fishtail around another corner. "Tosh, any pattern?"

Toshiko shakes her head. "I can't tell if he's trying to lose us or just enjoying the chase. By the time we get ahead of him he might turn again."

"We can still try," Gwen says. "Keep an eye on his signal and let's take a side street. Give us green lights the whole way."

[fmalchemist160]

Ed nods and sits back again, working on coming up with a couple of backup plans, in case they can't get ahead of Blowfish Dude. "Anything else I should know about that guy?" he asks while he plots.

[fractured_agent]

"Torchwood records show quite a few blowfish encounters since its founding," Ianto reports from memory, but also consults with a handheld device to double-check for any additional information. "The species as a whole seems to enjoy joyriding, drug use, and... other vices."

"We can't say that for sure," Gwen protests. "It could be that the only ones we've seen came here for that reason. Squeaky wheel getting the grease and all. There could be lots of blowfish who are perfectly polite and well-mannered."

"Regardless," Ianto says, smoothly moving on. "They have venomous spit, so be careful. Tasers are particular effective against them, as are any blows to the gills."

[fmalchemist160]

"Don't let it spit on me, check," Ed answers. Now's not the time to debate either of them on stereotyping or anything along those lines, though generally he'd agree with Gwen's stance on the issue. "Don't have a taser, but I can improvise one. Gotta disable the car first, though, or we're gonna have a tough time getting to it at all. For that, I need to transmute the pavement." By now, they're probably all fairly familiar with his abilities, and he's probably given them as succinct-yet-clear a rundown as he can on the subject as well.

[fractured_agent]

Owen curses and slides around another corner. "Ruddy fish turned again. This is ridiculous."

"Tracking him heading for the east side of town," Tosh reports, keeping an eye on her devices. "I'd give him red lights but somehow I don't think he'll care."

[fmalchemist160]

Ed swears under his breath. At this rate, they'll never overtake the blowfish. "Okay," he mutters. "Plan B. Sorry, gotta climb over one of you," he tells Gwen and Ianto. "Need to get at the pavement."

[fractured_agent]

"We'll need to slow down, and if we do that, we'll lose him," Owen gripes.

Gwen does her best to give Ed some clear space, flattening herself into the seat. "Whatever you're doing, best be quick."

[fmalchemist160]

"With luck, he'll be stopping dead in a few seconds," Ed replies to Owen, climbing over Gwen to open the door of the SUV, leaning out to get a line of sight on Blowfish Dude. "I'm taking out his tyres." Then he claps his hands, stabilizes himself by getting a good grip with his left hand on something stable but as low to the floor of the SUV as possible, and leans down to flatten his hand-of-steel against the pavement for just long enough to transmute a set of road spikes a little bit down the road from Blowfish Dude's car.

[fractured_agent]

There's an immediate reaction as the little red sports car sags and swerves wildly across the road, accompanied by four rather loud bang noises as the rubber pops. The blowfish, realizing that the chase is nearly over, drives the car nearly into the side of a building and jumps out, heading for the door.

[fmalchemist160]

Keeping in mind the whole taser thing Ianto told him about a few minutes ago, Ed's next move is to work a transmutation to ionize the air around Blowfish Dude and generate an electrical current (a non-lethal one, naturally), which is the closest thing he has to a stun gun. He doesn't really need to be close to do that, as long as he has something to touch before working the transmutation. The roof of the SUV will serve just fine for that purpose, since touching the air itself just doesn't cut it—after all, he's basically always touching the air. If the alchemical taser doesn't work, though, Ed is prepared to run after Blowfish Dude—providing he can get out of the SUV safely in the process, of course.

[fractured_agent]

The blowfish twitches a bit as part of the current hits him, but most of it dissipates through the ground, following the laws of physics. The alien ducks into the building.

At least that gives them a place to start, and Owen drives the SUV almost onto the sidewalk in his haste to park and get out. "Quickly now."

"Good work," Gwen says to Ed as they scramble out of the SUV. She pulls her sidearm out, holding it at the ready. Owen and Ianto follow suit, as does Tosh, once she figures out how to aim and still hold her scanner at the same time.

[fmalchemist160]

Ed flashes Gwen a brief grin, unholstering his Beretta as well, holding it in a point-down, left-handing firing stance. "Thanks." He follows the team's lead, as he's currently on their home turf, remaining alert and focused, trying to keep at least a cursory eye on their surroundings.

[fractured_agent]

There's a scream from inside the building, a woman's voice, not the blowfish. The team picks up the pace, guns at the ready, as they enter the house.

The blowfish turns as he hears them enter, holding a woman in front of him, his own pistol pressed against her head.

[fmalchemist160]

Ed picks up the pace too, close on Gwen's heels, heart clenching when he sees the blowfish with the hostage. "Let her go!" he calls, trying to find a clean shot, so he doesn't accidentally shoot the woman.

[fractured_agent]

The blowfish turns quickly, with jerky motions, clearly hopped up on something. Tosh's eyes widen a little as her scanner pinpoints the source of the alien's erratic behavior. "Massive amounts of adrenaline, mixed with approximately three grams of cocaine."

[fmalchemist160]

Ed grimaces, gritting his teeth a little. "He's in full-on fight or flight mode, then. No way he's thinking rationally." He lowers his gun a little. "Pointing guns at him may not be the best course of action."

[fractured_agent]

"Oh, good choice!" the blowfish answers, twitching from side to side, keeping his gun pressed to the woman's head. "So this is Team Torchwood, the teacher's pets."

[fmalchemist160]

Alarm bells start ringing in Ed's head, and he immediately tenses. Uh oh. I smell a trap... "You know Jack?" he asks, warily.

[fractured_agent]

The blowfish chuckles. "Teacher's gone, hasn't he? Leaving the kiddy-kids all alone."

[fmalchemist160]

Ed arches an eyebrow. "And? But? So? Therefore?" he asks, borrowing a line from a good friend. "If you think that makes us easy prey, think again. We 'kiddy-kids' are more than capable of taking care of ourselves."

[fractured_agent]

"Then shoot me," the blowfish dares him. All of them. "Can you do it? How good are you? How sharp is your aim?" He tightens his grip on his hostage. "What if you kill her? What if I kill her first?"

The rest of the team pause, unsure of their next move. Gwen, who has only been using a gun for a few months, isn't confident that she wouldn't miss or hit the woman instead. Tosh, her hands full of scanner and gun, is reluctant to take the first shot when one of them might have a better angle and hands more free. Ianto flinches, thinking he might be able to do it, but... what if he did hit the woman? Owen stares the blowfish down, watching for other weaknesses, other opportunities. Surely there's a better way.

[fmalchemist160]

For a moment, Ed doesn't think he can do it either. He's still working on his aim, and hasn't been using a gun for much longer than Gwen has. And with all the focus he's placed on learning guns recently, sometimes he overlooks his primary talent.

It doesn't take him long to spot an opening, thankfully. The blowfish is anticipating a gun fight—he won't be expecting a different avenue of attack. And Ed remembers what Ianto told him about the blowfish's anatomical weaknesses.

He maintains eye contact with the blowfish, then, with the usual lightning speed he exhibits when he's in the midst of an adrenaline rush, claps his hands and slaps a palm against the nearest wall, transmuting a hard stone fist that comes rocketing towards the blowfish, from the wall to the side the woman isn't on, and aimed right at his gills. The fist is moving fast enough that the blowfish won't have a very large window in which to react—though there will still be a window, obviously.

[fractured_agent]

The blowfish has just enough time to react, but unfortunately all he has time for is turning his head to see what that movement is, and the stone fist punches him square in the face. He cries out and loosens his grip on the woman.

Gwen reacts quickly, lunging forward and tugging the woman from the alien's grasp. He snarls at her, raising his gun to try to shoot at someone, anyone.

A shot rings out. The blowfish stands for a moment, surprised, then collapses with a neat little hole in the dead center of his forehead.