A/N - Some of this you have probably already read, just scroll down to where you have read up to.

▒ xii. cyberwoman

"Okay! Come on, Gwen!" Owen screams, and Gwen gets in the clear. I pick her up with her squealing and place her on the side. We're playing a pick-up game of basketball in the Hub. Owen stands up on the workstation platform. He's got the ball. Shit. "Gwen, this is for you, baby! Come on!" He throws the ball to Gwen, and I intercept.

"Ha, ha!" I squeal and the game continues.

"Just get it off her!" screams Owen, and Jack laughs evilly. Jack, Rose, and I are on a team, with Owen, Gwen, Tosh and Summer on the other side. "Take it out of her hands! Oi!" Gwen takes the ball from me. Shit. She tosses it up to Owen who is still on the second floor workstation platform. He's so close to the basket, I almost groan with frustration. "Oh, come to daddy!" He catches the ball, moves over a couple of steps and drops the ball into the basket. "Yes! First round's on you, Summer."

Great! "Which one?" I joke, and he shakes his head.

"You! You're not getting out of this one, honey! Girls, guys, gets your handbags!" Owen walks to his desk and gets his jacket.

"Of course, that was an illegal move," Jack says in my defence.

"Totally illegal!" Rose says, folding her arm through Jack's, leaning her head on his shoulder. Lovebirds! Of course I'm only being jealous because of all that's happened, but still.

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that, yeah, losers," Owen says, being mean as usual. I roll my eyes. "Bye!" he says to Ianto, and I stop suddenly, my red jacket only over one shoulder.

Shit. Really big shit.

I look over to Summer. She looks me in the eye, and just shakes her head. Leave it, she mouths. I look at her and give her a look, saying plain and clear that I'm unhappy, but I still shrug my second arm through my jacket. I feel like punching a wall, Summer's the only thing keeping me from doing that.

Of course. This has to freaking happen. I feel like crying, but I act like I'm okay, and I walk out of the Hub.

Ianto is on the phone. "Can you make it two Pepperoni Feasts and one Meat Lovers tonight? And a tub of coleslaw. My boss says I'm not eating enough vegetables. And chips?" He looks down. The doors open and a man carrying a briefcase walks in. Ianto leaves the room and hurries down to meet this man. "Yeah, usual time. See you then!" Ianto hangs up. The man waits in the centre of the Hub. He looks up at the area as Ianto makes his way eagerly down the steps.

"Good to see you again, sir. Are they looking after you at the hotel?" He stops in front of the man, Tanizaki and bows. "Konnichiwa, Tanizaki-san."

"Konnichiwa," Tanizaki says. Ianto takes Tanizaki's briefcase and shows him in through the Hub. Tanizaki follows.

Ianto leads him to the door at the end of the corridor. He puts the case down and takes out a key, using it to unlock the door. He unbolts the door, turns and looks at Tanizaki. "I did all I could. I really did." He pushes the door open and they enter the room. Ianto puts the case down in the room and they look at what he wants Tanizaki to see.

In the middle of the room, is a partially converted, half human, half Cybernetic, Cyberwoman.

Tanizaki steps forward. He can hardly believe his eyes. "My God! It's not possible! One of them survived!" Tanizaki exclaims. The Cyberwoman is connected to drips, heart monitors and ventilators, as well as many other equipment. Ianto steps forward and adjusts the bed, tilting it to an angle.

"This is Lisa," he says. Lisa's eyes open. Tanizaki just stares.

"Is she awake?" he asks, looking at the Cyberwoman still. Ianto shakes his head.

"No. It's just a reaction to the medication." Tanizaki takes his glasses out and puts them on for a better look.

"She's the only one left. Across the whole world." He turns and shakes Ianto's hand. "Thank you, thank you so much. Bringing me here, I never thought..." He climbs up and checks Lisa's pupil with his penlight. "... to get my chance... to study..." He moves around to the other side to check her other pupil with his penlight. "... to work with... anything like this."

"Anyone," Ianto corrects, but Tanizaki ignores him, still studying Lisa.

"Tell me, what happened?"

"She worked for Torchwood London." As he talks, Tanizaki checks Lisa's legs. "It was the end of the Canary Wharf battle. The Cybermen needed soldiers fast. They started upgrading whole bodies instead of transplanting brains using Earth technology. Lisa was halfway through the process when the machinery shut down." Ianto slips his hand into Lisa's.

"You found her?" Tanizaki asks. Ianto flashes back to him dragging Lisa out of the area as people scream around him. He screams in the memory, screaming obscenities, shouting out for help.

"I pulled her out," he says simply.

"Do you know the percentages?"

"The what?" Ianto asks, puzzled.

"Some elements have been augmented. Some are still human. Sensory capacity, for instance. Her breathing and hearing appears to be completely cybernetic. And yet... there's also bare flesh." Much to Ianto's annoyance, Tanizaki runs his hand over Lisa's stomach flesh, treating her more like a machine than a human being, a woman. "Amazing." Tanizaki puts his hand on Lisa's machinery covered breast as he pushes himself back down off the tilted table. He doesn't think anything of it. He backs away from the table to get a look at the Cyberwoman. "Perhaps fifty five percent augmentation with forty five percent awaiting completion. Do you think?" Ianto doesn't answer. "Or perhaps, sixty, forty. It's fascinating."

"Can you make her human again? Completely human?" Ianto says. It's clear to Tanizaki that that's all he cares about. Tanizaki looks around the room.

"You took parts from a Cyber conversion unit and modified them into a life support for her? How did you know what to do?"

"I told him," Lisa says, startling the two men.

"I thought you were resting," says Ianto. "You should be resting. How's the pain? Are the new doses working?" Lisa's eyes open more. She looks at Ianto.

"A little. Oh!" She groans and pants. Then she looks at Tanizaki. "Is this him?"

"I promised, didn't I?"

"And you always keep your promises," Lisa says, trying to nod her head, but failing and gasping. Ianto holds her cheek to try and stop her moving, also trying to stop the pain.

"I would like to ask her some questions," says Tanizaki. "My name is Dr. Tanizaki. I specialise in Cybernetics. Your friend, Mr. Jones, asked me..."

"My boyfriend," Lisa corrects, interrupting.

"Yes. He asked me to come."

"We agreed, together."

"A few simple questions. What is your name?"

"Lisa Hallett." He enters the information in his PDA.

"How old are you?"

"Twenty six."

"What is the last thing you remember before coming here?" Tanizaki asks. Ianto and Lisa look at each other. Ianto squeezes her hand gently.

"Pain," Lisa says. "I remember my body burning with pain." Lisa cries. She glances sideways and looks back at Ianto.

"You said... there was somewhere I could work upstairs?" Tanizaki asks. Ianto stares at Lisa. He nods, barely looking at Tanizaki.

"Vanilla Coke, please," I say, giving my money over to the bartender. He takes it, and gets the bottle of coke.

"ID?" he asks, clearly bored.

"I'm only ordering a Coke," I say, calmly even though I have a mixture of feelings and emotions running through me, changing me. "Surely you don't need ID."

"You need ID for being in this joint, missy!" He says. "Now hand it over or I will call the police. Or kick you out. Your choice." I sigh and pass him my new and shiny driver's license. He nods and gives it back. "Clear." I take the coke and go sit at the table where everyone else is at. Jack bought a pack of chicken chips, so I take one and nibble at it. Jack is making jokes, mostly sexual, and I sigh. Even with Panic! At The Disco blasting in the background, I still feel awfully vulnerable.

"I need to go to the bathroom," I say, standing up and walking away. I can feel Summer's eyes on my back, giving me a strange look. I snag a quick moment to look back at her, and she's gone back to the conversation. What was that about? Why isn't she feeling what I'm feeling? Or has a hundred years of life changed her?

I find a sign leading me to the toilets, and I follow it. I look back at the group, laughing, all happy. Not knowing what is going to happen today. And what will happen to one of my closest friends. One of our closest friends, I correct myself. God, in another universe, Jack is in love with Ianto. And even though I hardly know Jack now, he acts like a brother to the older version of me.

I open the door and go to the sinks in the bathroom. My black and blue hair is all crazy and everywhere, and my eyes look almost bloodshot. My clothes and make-up with almost only red and black is really making me look more crazy and goth than I actually am. I look like a real freak. I'm wearing military boots from Rivers, red jeans from Cotton On, a black singlet, a red jacket and a black chain necklace with a simple S on it. My black eye-liner makes me look evil, and my red lips are the only thing that looks a little bit pretty on my face. The only other colours are the purple bruises I have and the blue in my hair. My eyes are turning from red to blue because of nausea and I feel like vomiting.

Which I do.

I run to the toilets just in time, spurting my vile everywhere, the toilet filling with the brown and yellow stuff. I clutch my stomach, and it feels like it's going to burst. I then roll over and cry. Why did I come here? Why didn't I just stay with the Doctor and Rose, where I belong? Older me belongs here, with Jack and Rose and Ianto and... Ianto! Just remembering him makes me let out more sobs.

Today's the day Ianto's love dies. I know it's not my fault, but somehow I claim myself responsible. I could've stopped this. Older me is beyond caring. No one else knows.

I stand up and go back to the mirror and wipe my eyes and the vomit from around my mouth. I look even worse than before. One more person is going to die today. Not everybody lives. One person dies. One that should have died a long time ago. Everybody grieves.

"That's right, Summer Watts," I spin around. "Everybody grieves."

There, right in front of me, is a Silent.

Oh, shit. I remember now. How could I, sexy badass bitch Summer Watts forgotten them? They came to be at Downing Street!

"What the hell are you doing here?" I demand. I fold my arms and lean against the sink, reaching for my gun. "You were there at Downing Street as well. Just watching."

"I'm here to tell you your future."

"Oh, yeah," I say, mockingly. "Straight to the point. And just so cliché. You had to tell me in a bathroom!" Oh yeah. I've got heaps of others up my sleeve.

"Your future depends on your actions today. Follow the path your older self did, you live a life with the Doctor, forever. But, if you choose the wrong path, a song will turn herself against you."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I ask, even though I already have a feeling of what he means. River Song. My hand still reaches for my gun.

"It means... your future can be erased. You go back to your original universe. You live a life with Leona Simmins and the love you have for her deepens." I blush furiously. How could they know about that? "The Doctor lives another life, with someone he deserves, River-"

"Bitch!" I scream. I then look around, to see if anyone is coming. After a while, I calm down.

"Yes," the Silent says. He almost sounds like Morpheus from The Matrix.

"Well, you and the Silence work with her right?" I've now got hold of the gun. "Well, I would give you a message, but how would that work if the messenger is dead?" I ask and I get the gun into the Silent's view. I pull the trigger and the Silent falls. It shakes violently and I kneel down to it's level. "Welcome to Torchwood." I then blow a kiss goodbye, stand up and walk out of the room. Funnily enough, I remember. It must be because I killed it. I shrug and walk back to where the group is.

Tanizaki is working on Lisa in the cold storage area as Ianto watches. Lisa is on a table. "This first stage should enable her to breathe without the respirator." He injects her, then turns and types on the computer. "Once her body functions without support, I can judge what work is needed."

"What if she's not ready to breathe on her own?" Ianto asks, his hand on his chin. Tanizaki sighs.

"You must be prepared for her not to survive," he says. Ianto stops pacing and looks at Tanizaki. He takes his glasses off and levels a look back at Ianto. "Sometimes... in order to save what we love," He looks at Lisa, "... we need to risk losing it." Tanizaki puts his glasses on. He presses a laptop button. The monitors beep. Tanizaki checks Lisa's pupils.

"She's not strong enough," Ianto exclaims, holding onto Lisa's hand tightly.

"Let me do my work!" Tanizaki says, annoyed.

We've been at the bar for a while now, and it's now night time. "And she said, "D'you know how difficult it is to find a man in this city? He had a nice flat, all his own hair, so frankly, a couple of tusks, I can live with!" It was hilarious!" Everyone, not including me, laughs. Tosh's pager beeps. She checks the message.

"UFO sighting over Cardigan Bay," she says, sighing. "Seven calls to the emergency services."

"Oh... Can we at least finish our drinks, please?" Gwen asks.

"Sure," says Summer, looking straight at me. "Take ten seconds." Everyone sculls their drink like it's the end of the world and we leave.

Like the Silent says. This is life changing.

Ianto is holding Lisa's hand. The heart monitor is flatlining. Lisa gasps for breath, struggling to breathe. Ianto glares at Tanizaki. "If she dies because of you..." Suddenly, Lisa's eyes open and she gasps for breath. She looks around.

"Ianto?" Lisa asks.

"Yes, I'm here! She's breathing! It worked!" He exclaims.

"Why aren't I connected?" Lisa asks, frowning.

"You're alive!" Ianto says, kissing her. "He kept you alive!"

"Thank you," Lisa says to Tanizaki.

"This is only the start," says Tanizaki. The computer beeps. Ianto looks at it with alarm. He goes to the computer and taps on the keyboard. On the monitor, he sees Summer and the others headed back to Torchwood.

"We've gotta move," He says. "Quickly!" Ianto removes the tubing from Lisa as Tanizaki gathers the machinery. Ianto puts her arm around his shoulders intending to carry her.

"I'll walk!" Lisa says.

"You've only just woken up," says Ianto, looking at her in alarm.

"I want to walk!" She shouts, looking at him. "Please," she says, softer. He stands her up. Tanizaki moves to support her other shoulder.

"Help her downstairs," Ianto says. "I'll clear up here." Ianto moves quickly to clear out the machinery. Tanizaki starts to move Lisa towards the stairs. She turns and looks back at Ianto.

"I'm alive," she says, stating it simply and clearly. Ianto and Lisa share a look, smiling. Then, Tanizaki again leads Lisa towards the stairs.

"All I'm saying is, once in a while, I'd like to drive!" Tosh says, arguing with Owen. I got stuck in a car with these two and Jack. Just great.

"And all I'm saying is no!" Owen says, turning into a lane. I roll my eyes and try and not listen to their conversation. But whenever I stop thinking about them, I think of... you know what. Yeah. I'm stuck.

"Why not?"

"Look, I've shared cars with women before, I know what'll happen. There'll be an emergency, we're all raring to go, I jump in, what do I find? Seat's in the wrong position, the rear view mirror's out of line and the steering wheel's in my crotch. Time it takes to sort it all out, aliens'll have taken Newport." I snort and look out the window again. Jack, who's sitting next to me, puts his hand on my leg.

"Hon, is anything okay?" he asks, and I turn around. "You've been in an off mood all afternoon." I give him a sad smile and place my hand on top of his.

"Don't worry. Just stupid stuff," I lie, and I smile at him. He places a kiss on my forehead.

We get to the cover shop and Gwen turns and looks at older me. "What about a rota? Different people drive on different days," she says.

"We're a secret organisation, hunting alien technology from an underground base. And you want a rota for who drives?" Summer says. "We're not some homicidal vampire who has to keep his blood wanting state under wraps." She turns and walks away, but then turns back to us. "And that was a lot of spoilers for a show starting next year." I laugh and she smiles. We all go through the secret door.

Tanizaki and Ianto help Lisa through the corridor. They reach the room at the end of the hallway. "As soon as they're gone, I'll be down," Ianto says. Lisa nods. Tanizaki continues to help Lisa forward. Ianto turns and runs out of the room, closing the door behind him.

We enter the Hub, and I go get a drink of water from the tap. "Tosh, call up the radar within a fifty-mile radius of the Bay for the last six hours," older me says. Rose and Jack head up the stairs to the workstations. "Gwen, check with that man, Neil, I think his name was, voice like Bradley James, at Jodrell Bank. See if they picked up any chatter around the time of the sightings. Rose, no time for a quickie, access the airspace provision over Cardigan Bay, also any RAF flight plans, see if it's just a case of mistaken identity, Owen, help her. Jack, look around the workstations for any sign of tea. I'll then know if Ianto was in fact here for a while, because he doesn't appear to be here now. Summer, with me." Everyone goes over to what they have to do, and I go to Summer.

"Why aren't you more effected by this?" I ask. I feel like telling her about the Silent, but really, I don't think she'd believe me.

"History and time has to take it's course of effect," she says. "What happens today always happens. If it were to be changed, something else, way into the future, would have to be changed too."

"Like what?" I ask, and she doesn't meet my eyes. "Summer Eliza Watts, you're hiding something." She looks me in the eyes.

"The Wedding Of River Song. Today, Summer, your fate lies in your hands. You can either choose what I did, or you can do something completely different. It's all up to you." She turns to move away, and I grab the sleeve of her jacket, staring down at the floor.

"Thank you," I mutter.

"No problem." I look her in the eyes and she pulls me into a hug.

Tanizaki helps Lisa back to her table in the centre of the room. "Take it slowly," says Tanizaki, helping her. "You're still very weak, this way." They reach the table, and he turns to help her onto it. Suddenly, Lisa grabs Tanizaki by his throat and lifts him up off his feet. Tanizaki chokes. His feet dangle and kick out helplessly. Then, he stops.

Ianto finally walks up the stairs to us, and I see him instantly. "Ianto!" I run down and hug him, while he stops. "Where have you been?" I say, instantly going into mum mode. Which is funny for me, I'm going to be his mum-in-law one day. Probably. "I was worrying."

"Ianto!" Jack says, while Ianto is in my embrace. "Would you work some coffee magic?" I turn my head slightly to see Jack putting his hands together, saying please. Ianto nods and looks at me.

"I'm fine, okay?" says Ianto, taking hold of my shoulders and he walks away to make coffee.

But, Ianto, you're not okay. Far from it.

Lisa puts Tanizaki on the cyber table and moves the table down to a flat position. Tanizaki wakes up, and looks at Lisa. "Lisa!" He screams. "Let me go!" Lisa leans forward.

"I can help you," she says, but she's not really Lisa anymore. Her voice sounds mechanical, cyber. "The human race is weak. I can make you strong." She turns and presses the button on the side of the table. Electrical pulses move along the wire framed table, zapping Tanizaki. He screams.

The lights fade off and on as the power is drained. The centre of the ceiling units open up and the mechanical cyber conversion arm with it's pinchers and saws drop down. Tanizaki continues screaming.

Lisa stands on the side and watches. The lights in the room flash off and on.

The door slams shut.

The lights flash off and on continuously, and everyone looks up at the ceiling. I feel a little vibration from my iPhone, I take it out, and even it's power is being drained. "What's happening?" asks Gwen, looking around.

"Internal power drain," says Tosh, looking at the monitors.

"What's causing it?" asks Gwen, looking around at everyone, moving to Owen. Summer steps out of her office.

"Something big to drain that amount of power," she says, looking around, shrugging a jacket on. "Tosh, run a system diagnostic." Ianto then speaks up.

"Actually," he starts, looking around at us, but not leaving his gaze on one of us for too long. "We've been having generator problems all evening." Liar. "I was down there checking earlier. Couple of bits of cabling come loose. I thought I'd fixed it." Everyone looks at him, and I peer at him, clearly unimpressed. "Let me have another look."

"Fine," says Jack, before anyone else can speak. "Go check." Ianto starts to leave.

"Want some help?" asks Gwen, and he doesn't even look around.

"It's fine."

Ianto runs through the corridors, the alarms blaring in his ears, but he doesn't give a care in the world. He wrenches open the door to the storeroom. "You've got to shut down the power!" he says while his eyes gets adjusted to the lights in the room. Lights flash as the cyber conversion unit is functioning fully. Ianto runs past Lisa who is just standing there. He shuts the machine, only to turn and see Tanizaki's unmoving body on the floor.

"Oh God! What happened?" He goes to check on Tanizaki, who's face has been completely shredded, and there is blood streaming down onto the table. His face has been implanted with bits of metal; his eyes and his ears replaced. There's also a piece of pipe sticking out of his head.

"His upgrade failed," says Lisa, her voice unmoving and free of emotion, almost... cyber.

"Was it an accident?" Ianto inquires, looking at her. "Tell me you didn't do this!"

"I wanted to repay him for helping me. By removing the weaknesses of his humanity."

"What have you done?" Ianto screams. "You've killed an innocent man!"

"It's alright."

"It's not alright!" Ianto shouts, looking around, tears running down his face. "They're gonna come looking for me in a minute. If they see the body, if they find out what we've been doing..."

"I can deal with them." Lisa says, stepping forward.

"Don't you go near them!" Ianto says, putting his hand forward to stop her. "You didn't mean to do this. Something's happened to your mind. Um … just, um … some sort of side effect from this whole process. It's post-traumatic. You didn't mean to ..." he drifts off and looks at her, screaming, "You've ruined everything now!" He cups Lisa's cheek. "How hard have we had to work to keep you alive? And now you do this." He touches his forehead with hers, looking at her. "I need you to stay in here. Rest. Don't come out unless I tell you." He looks at the body, and then back at Lisa. "This can't happened again, Lisa. If you harm anyone else, I'll..."

"Yes? What will you do?" Lisa inquires, giving some emotion. Ianto stops. Instead of answering her, he turns and looks at Tanizaki's body.

"Okay, the body. Got to deal with the body." He crouches down in front of Tanizaki. "I can do this." He suddenly covers his face with his hands and cries. "This is my fault! I'm responsible for this!" He stops and braces himself. He picks up the body and heads toward the door. "I'll hide the body," Ianto says, looking at Lisa. "Everything's gonna be okay." Ianto leaves with the body, a million thoughts running through his head, one repeating itself over and over again.

Lisa's gonna strike again.

I walk over to Tosh's computer with everyone else as she shows us the suspected UFO image on the monitors. "That's a UFO?" Gwen asks, looking around. I look at the monitor and see what they're talking about.

"Only just!" Owen says. The lights flash across the screen again, and older me nods her head.

"Arkan leisure crawler, first generation. Collectors' item, don't see many of them around these days. Tosh, send a polite message saying great to see them, but could they please get the hell out of our atmosphere as they're spooking the locals. And they can't have my twisties." Tosh types, leaving out the twisties bit.

"Done!" Tosh says, and swivels around on her chair.

"Shouldn't we be apprehending it?" Gwen says, frowning. "Investigating it?"

"Oh, please," Jack moans. "You interrogate an Arkan, you'll be in there for a month, minimum. And that's just the first question. They are so boring. Besides, they're mostly made of liquid, the cells would be a mess." Rose gives a funny smile.

"Well, keep me away from them, please," she says, laughing. The lights in the Hub flash on and off again, and we look up towards the ceiling.

"There it goes again!" Owen says, shaking his head. I turn to see Tosh's monitor reading a 23% power loss. Jack calls to Ianto over his wrist comm.

"Ianto, we've got another dose of darkness. Also, we need coffee. You found anything?" Tosh turns to walk on the computers and Summer sits down on a random desk, looking up to the ceiling. I power up my gun, just in case. "Ianto? I need to hear those beautiful Welsh vowels!" I giggle a bit and then realise where the hell I am. Today, I'm gonna be serious Summer.

Tosh's monitor reads a 50% power loss. "Power's draining to the storeroom at the bottom of the building," she says, pulling up a schematic of the bottom level on her computer. "Looking for human heat signals. We've got..." She shows two red dots in the storeroom.

"Two signals?" Owen asks, frowning.

"So assuming one's Ianto..." Tosh says, facing older me.

"Who's the other?" Rose says, looking at Jack. He considers it for a moment, and looks at Summer.

"Hon?" he asks Summer, nudging her. That was what I was talking about. It's like they are actually siblings. She frowns.

"I'm thinking we're under attack," says Summer, pulling out her gun. "Security's been breached. We assume battle protocols." She runs to open the weapons vault.

"That's impossible! Nobody can get in without triggering seven separate alarms!" Tosh says, looking at her computer. Summer swipes a key card in a lock. The weapons vault opens and Owen, Gwen and Tosh run to get weapons.

"Yeah, well," says Summer. "Looks like our system needs to be upgraded."

"I'll head down and look for Ianto," says Owen, cocking his gun. I need to ensure Ianto's safety, so I know what I need to do.

"I'll come with you," I say, looking at Summer. "You alright with that?" She frowns but then releases it.

"Keep your comms open at all times. And phones," she says. "Any doubts, shoot first. Priority is to find Ianto." Owen starts running down to the basement and I run after him.

Owen walks in front of me in the empty corridors to check and I use the iHandy Flashlight on my iPhone to give us some light. We check each room that we pass, I check the left rooms, he checks the right ones. At the end of the hallway we're in, I can see a storeroom with lights from the inside flashing through the small window in the door. I stop abruptedly.

"Owen, stop," I whisper, leaning against the wall, cocking my gun.

"Okay," he whispers back and leans against the wall. I get a call on my phone, and I almost moan. The music vibrates through the corridors and I quickly answer. "What?" I demand, whispering but screaming.

"Progress report?" Summer says, and I moan.

"Signs of activity at the eastern end of the main corridor." I look towards the door, where the lights still flash, red, blue, and green.

"I'm losing reception," Summer says.

"We're going in to have a look. Don't call again for about ten minutes." I hang up and put the phone back in my pocket. I nod towards the door and start walking with my gun forwards, Owen behind me. I keep my right hand on my gun, the other on one of my swords. "We're on our own," I whisper to Owen, and he nods. I reach the door, and peer inside. The window is too dirty to see clearly. "Get the bolts, quickly," I say, and Owen unbolts the door. "Okay?" I say, looking at him.

"Yeah," he says. We take a step back and point our guns at the door. "Okay, one, two..." He kicks the door open and we enter the storeroom and look around. Just like it is in the show. Owen looks at the cyber conversion table, and then it hits him exactly what it is. "No! No, no, no, no!" He says, clutching his hair.

"I know," I whisper, and step forward. I walk over to the table and press the button, it instantly turns off. Breathing a sigh of relief, I look at Owen, and smile. "It's wrong, but we're going to find out who put it here, okay?" I say, walking to him and putting my hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah," he says, and just shakes his head.

"I'm coming down there!" Jack says from our comms, and I look towards my arm. I raise it up and speak to him.

"Jack, it's me," I say, sighing, talking softly. "We haven't found Ianto... but guess what. We have found parts of a cyber conversion unit. Fully powered up and working." I look towards Owen.

"This is no time to be kidding around, Summer Eliza Watts!" Rose screams into the comm, and I sigh.

"Really, I'm deadly serious! I don't know why it is here, or how it got here, but I guess it's what's draining our power?" I say. The comms go quiet and I look to Owen. He starts speaking into his.

"Jack? You there?" Owen says.

"I want you two back up here immediately!" Summer screams into the comms, and Owen just shakes his head.

"We still haven't..." Owen gets hit from behind suddenly by the Cyberwoman and falls to the ground. He's out cold. I turn and face Lisa. Oh, holy sweet mother of shit...

"Summer, you know who is here, now get down and bloody save me, you bitch!" I scream into the comms and face the gun to Lisa, shooting fiercely. I can't seem to get skin, every time I hit her she only gets a small dent in her metal armour. She comes closer and I back away. I keep on backing away from her and I get to the wall. Lisa knocks the gun out of my hand, and she grabs me around the neck into a choke hold. I try to breathe, but only a little bit of air gets into my lungs. "Let... me... go!" I groan and she pushes me onto the table.

"Do not struggle," Lisa says, her voice mechanical. "You will be like me." The table tilts back and she holds me down while she clamps my head in place. I scream and she doesn't move.

So this is what it feels like to die. To have yourself being changed. To look into some machine and have pain be your last thought and feeling.

"Remember me, Lisa?" I say, looking at her. "I'm Summer, Ianto's friend, the one that gave you that perfume for Christmas. Stop, you know me!" I struggle against my restraints and she ignores me. She turns on the button for the cyber conversion unit and currents run through the table. There's a feeling of a thousand knives cutting away at my skin, and that's just from some lights.

I scream with the pain, and my body slumps. My eyes slowly lose focus, and I see only black.

I slowly put my head up, and look around. I'm in the Hob, and every thing's quiet, too quiet. I look up around the room, and see Jack. With the Cyberwoman right in front of him.

So I lived. Great. Just fantastic.

"You've been hiding in my basement," says Jack, looking at the Cyberwoman, sexily as always. "That's okay. Draining my power, I can live with that. But now you're starting to hurt my friends. This is gonna stop!" Jack runs out of the room and heads back down the steps to the main Hub, where I am. He sees me, and motions with his head to leave. I quickly get off the desk I'm lying on and run for the doors. Tosh, Summer, Rose, and Ianto are down there, starting to open the door. I see Lisa making her way down the stairs to Jack. We wait for the door to unlock.

"Come on!" Tosh screams in frustration. I lean against the wall, clutching my head, but no one gives me any support. I see Jack getting zapped by Lisa, and nothing can prepare me for his screams. We all watch, Rose weeps and then the door opens. Tosh and Summer run through it, and I push an emotional Ianto and a weeping Rose through it in front of me. We run up the stairs and come to another door, and Tosh pushes the unlocking device on the door.

"You guys were going to leave me there," I say, panting heavily. "Weren't you? Leave me to die... again?" I frown at them, and we watch the approaching Cyberwoman. "Shit, come on Tosh!" I say. The door opens and we run through it. We try to close it, but the Cyberwoman pushes it open easily.

"Go, go!" Rose says, and we run up the stairs while she gets out her gun, smiling at the Cyberwoman. In one hand, I think she's crazy, but in the other hand, I just think she's immortal.

When I get to the top of the stairs, Summer and Tosh are there, and Tosh is under the counter messing with the wiring. "3-5-7, 3-5-7, come on!" I have no idea what she is saying and I rush to guard the stairs next to Summer. Then something dawns on me...

"Where's Ianto!" I squeal and Summer covers her mouth. Suddenly, the lights turn on, and we rush outside.

We run to the water tower where I see Jack, Gwen, and Owen getting off the platform. They push a weeping and squealing Ianto off it, releasing their hold on him. "It worked!" Tosh screams, running towards them. Rose comes running out and into Jack's arms. "What happened to..." Tosh trails off, looking at Ianto. Jack shakes his head and brushes the question aside.

Ianto turns and glares at Jack. He steps toward him and punches him in the face. "You could have saved her!" He screams, spitting in his face. He then punches Jack again. Rose gets in-between them, holding Ianto back.

"Argh!" Jack says, holding his face.

"You're worse than anything locked up down there!" Ianto screams. "One day, I'll have the chance to save you... and I'll watch you suffer and die." I go to Ianto and take him from Rose, and push him away.

"It's not worth it," I say, and I look him in the eye. He refuses to look back at me.

"It was the only thing that would stop her!" Jack says, clutching his bleeding nose.

Tosh runs up to me. "Listen, when I was at reception," she whispers. "I managed to trip the lockdown timer. The power should be coming back on any second. We can get back in. Tell... other you." Ianto overhears me, his eyes widen, and he runs towards Torchwood.

"Ianto!" I scream, running after him. And then I realise something.

I have to beat everyone except Ianto there.

I run after Ianto as he runs through the corridors, the lights flicker on and off above me. I run to the storeroom, where Ianto is facing a gun at the pizza girl I recognise, but she's bloodied and she had a cut on her forehead. Basically, from my knowledge of the show, she's Lisa. "What are you doing?" Lisa says, stepping forward. "Ianto, it's me! You wouldn't shoot me. I did this for you!"

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry," Ianto can't do it though. He cries and drops the gun. "Lisa!" I load the gun, and they haven't noticed me.

"We can be upgraded … together." Lisa says, and the word 'together' sets me off.

Two lives. Two lives together entwined. The ever-changing man and his constant companion, travelling, loving. A child, born from love and hope and the stars. A love.

One life. Forever fighting and forever in war. With friends and the hero but with a terrible, terrible choice. A life.

I've made my decision.

I set my gun to the roof and shoot, using the bullet already ready. As Lisa faints and Ianto holds her, I turn around and look at Summer Watts, the Summer Watts who chose love. And I smile.

"I choose life."

We tried to keep her alive.

We tried as hard as we could. For the pizza girl's family and for Ianto. For anyone who held her dear and anyone who held Lisa dear.

But it didn't work.

It's been five days after she died, after she had struggled on for about two weeks. At times, I think maybe I should've chosen love, but I gave Ianto love instead. He had two weeks to be with her, properly. The first thing we did was clear her head from the Cyber thoughts, so in the time she was alive, she was thinking properly. Ianto spent all the time he could with her.

She was able to walk around for the first week. We sealed up the cut on her forehead and cleaned her up, she was even able to go out. And she enjoyed it. She even went shopping with me, it felt like the old days.

And then, on the eighth day, she fell over while we were out getting chips. We thought it was just a small tumble, but she was screaming in pain when we got back to the Hub. After the days, her health kept on decreasing and decreasing, until, she suddenly died. Her heart just went out.

The funeral was two days ago. Ianto has stayed with us the whole time, unable to be alone. And we don't let him, we know what he may do.

So here I am, standing at the top of some building in Cardiff, tossing a vortex manipulator and catching it over and over again. Summer gave it to me when I left the Hub today. Obviously I'm not coming back. I have all the essentials I need. All my presents and all my tech. And my weapons. Anyway, most of my stuff is on the TARDIS anyway.

I press buttons on the vortex manipulator and slip it onto my wrist. I stand up and stand away from the edge. There is something I need to do first.

My hand reaches for my phone and call the number I've called countless times the past year. I look towards the Millennium Centre, and the call gets answered by the answerphone.

"Hey, this is Summer, I can't answer at the moment, probably because I'm being purely awesome. Please leave a message at the beepy thingy that comes after my awesome voice." The beep sounds and I give a huge huff.

"Don't bother answering this, I hate conversations in times like this," I say, and I look towards the ground. "It's me, you, Summer. I think you know why I'm calling. It's because... I'm leaving. I have the vortex manipulator. I just can't do this anymore. I don't exactly think I was ready, really.

"And you know what? I did enjoy every single second of my time here. Maybe it was the adrenaline. Maybe it was being better off than I ever had in my bitter life. Maybe it was the fact that for once, I was loved. I became an adult here, I grew up. But, it's time I left home." I go to slide the button that says 'end call', but then I remember something. I quickly put the phone back to my ear.

"And you know what Summer? You were fantastic. Thank you." I smile and I hang up, placing my phone back in my pocket. I put on my sunglasses and I look even more cooler. Smiling, I press the button that basically says 'go' on the vortex manipulator.

A/N - The next chapter will be a rewrite of The Empty Child.