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

[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.