A game of cat and mouse, Jack/Ko/Open

[Koandi'r Piotr]

It was official. Earth was scary. The ground was hard and it hurt to run on. There were so many people, and a lot of them screamed and jutted their fingers out at him. Ko wasn't completely sure why, but he was pretty sure he'd picked up fear. Or maybe that was his own, as he'd scampered off as fast as he possibly coud, trying to get anywhere but where he was then.

Then there were the big things that made loud noises that went really fast, and tried to kill him. Ko couldn't seem to figure out why they stopped and started, but when he saw that there were real live humans inside he became even more panicked and kept running.

By now the little alien had made his way halfway through Cardiff, scaring people as he ran on all fours past them. However, Koandi'r was starting to get very tired, and he would have to stop running at some point. But what would happen when he did? Ko didn't even want to think about that... humans killed. Often, and in grotesque ways...

A glimmer of relief came over Koandi'r's panicked face as he came across something that looked familiar. Green, soft plants, like back home. Though they were smaller, and they didn't look quite the same. Koandi'r ran in but soon noticed the same hard grown was cutting through the green area as well. What had the humans done to it?

Ko felt something coming, and quickly darted into a cover of greenery, curling up and shaking from fear. Perhaps it wasn't the best hiding place in the world, because unknown to Ko the bush too was shaking...

[Jack Harkness]

“Hey, Ianto! Is there anything to do around here besides going through stacks upon stacks of paper?” Jack called into the stillness of the Hub. He leaned back into his chair and groaned boredly. He stretched his arms wide out behind him and he yawned wildly. The Captain stood up when he got no answer from his Hub. He peeked out into the main area and realized that his team still had the day off. Jack shook his head and sighed.

It was then that he’d noticed that the Hub had detected some more Rift activity. The Captain’s face broke out into a wild grin. “Now that, is what I’m talking about!” Jack cried excitedly. He grabbed a Rift energy detector and then he threw on his coat and he exited via lift from his Hub.

He raced out onto the streets, and then hit the garage where the SUV was stored. Jack opened the door and slipped into the driver’s seat. He had to readjusted it quickly and turned the car on. He geared it out of the garage and out onto the brightly lit streets of Cardiff city. Jack took a quick glance at the GPS and drove the car to the location where the signal had seemed to come to a stop.

Pulling up to the location, Jack parked the SUV (paid whatever silly fee he knew he would have to pay) and then looked at the area he would have to search. He smiled and left his gun in the holster, but made sure it was loose and ready to be pulled out at any seconds notice. The captain grinned and felt the thrill of the chase take him over. He laughed and then walked into the park.

He kept a careful eye on his surroundings and then checked to make sure that the signature was still here. Then, in an afterthought, Jack reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. While Jack was sure he’d be just fine (sure he might die, but that was just about the average nowadays). He checked his contact list and decided to call up the newest member on his team.

Nothing like bonding over an alien capture. Jack pressed the “SEND” button and waited for the phone to be picked up. When it was, the Captain grinned boldly, “Mal! Good afternoon, know it’s your day off… but I was kinda thinking we could bond over. How fast can you get over to Holiday Park?” Jack grinned. He wasn’t really looking for the alien any more, but then he noticed a bush shivering. Jack smiled warmly.

“Oh, and hurry up Mal.” Jack said before closing the phone and slipping it back into his pocket. He looked at the bush once more and then wondered what they would be up against. Jack was assuming that anything that hadn’t already tried to kill someone (or him), wasn’t probably going to kill anyone.

[Malchovalmar Akermazinest]

Mal Akerman - also known as Malchovalmar Akermazinest to a select group not exactly native to the planet - could only imagine and indeed hope that there were more interesting things to do on Earth than be the Torchwood spy for a wannabe alien empress when nothing was happening at Torchwood. While known for being a man of the books, years working for Evelyandra, now going by the more human name of Evelyn, had nearly transformed him into a man of action. Sitting still, doing nothing was a challenge, never more so than on his days off. But maybe the low-level anxiety in those dull moments could be blamed more on his guilt than boredom. Guilt on two sides, much as he tried to ignore it. Or three, depending on how you counted it. There was that issue of his one-time future wife dying just as proof of his loyalty in the wake of a failed assassination attempt. But right now, at this very moment, two things. One, that even as he pretended to be just one of the gang in his daily work of hunting down aliens at Torchwood he was preparing daily reports for Evelyandra on everything they did or knew. Two, that as he reported that information back to the leader of the broken Taem’in, he was thinking about just how much he might enjoy surprising her by telling Torchwood exactly who she was and what she was up to. It might have helped if Mal knew which way he was leaning, but it changed by the day, by, the hour even.

The call from Jack, Torchwood’s leader, was a welcome release from his troubling thoughts. Malchovalmar was already driving around in the area - cars were one of those human institutes that he quite enjoyed - and was glad to make the wandering drive more purposeful. He knew enough to know that bonding didn’t just mean hanging out. “Be right there, Jack,” he said simply, waiting for only the Captain’s final remark about hurrying before closing the mobile and dropping it on the seat next to him. He gave a shrug as he turned around to head in the right direction; regardless of what his leader said, his tone hadn’t indicated a lot of concern and Mal hadn’t planned on wasting time anyway. Following his tracker, he got within a street of Jack’s location, feeling relieved that Torchwood’s enigmatic boss never treated him as just a linguist. A few minutes later, he had passed Jack’s SUV and was nearing him in the park. Jack was staring at a bush that had a strange movement pattern for an inanimate object. “Bonding, huh?” he asked in a whisper, accompanied by a bit of a smirk.

[Koandi'r Piotr]

Ko tried to squeeze his eyes shut and cover his ears and tell himself it was all another dream and that he would wake up any second. But this was no dream. He'd never dreamed anything like this before. This was a living nightmare, and there wasn't any escaped. Koandi'r whimpered, and wiped his eyes in the fur on his arms. It just hit him he wasn't ever going to see his parents again. And on top of it, if the humans caught him he was going to die... because they killed everything....

He heard footsteps. Then an high pitched frequency which caused him to wince in pain a little until the human near him stopped talking. Or what he though twas talking. Koandi'r couldn't understand it. He couldn't feel any strong emotions, which was a good thing he supposed. It meant he had a little more time... time to try and think what to do.

More footsteps. They were so loud on the hard black ground with those things on thier feet. How did they ever sneak up on someone to kill? Did they need to stalk someone to kill? Koandi'r froze. They could be after him right now. He heard more speaking... he coudln't understand what was going on. But he could feel something strange about the new one. Something not right. And he had to get out before he found out what.

Sweating and panicked, he took to all fours and bolted... running straight into one of the humans legs...

Koandi'r whimpered, looking up with big, fearful eyes into the creature's face. He screamed and tried to run the other way...

[Jack Harkness]

Jack looked over at Mal and grinned warmly at the newest of his co workers. He was still a little wary about the man. Something was just a little bit off about the human, but Jack could never put his hand on it, so he let it go. He grinned patted the male on the shoulder when he commented on bonding. Jack nodded his head, “Well, comrade bonding. Though I’m sure I wouldn’t mind another sort,” Jack said, flirting because he could.

He turned to look at the shaking bush and was about to make some sort of comment about Mal having scared the poor thing when suddenly something that was roughly lion-colored and child-sized charging out from the bush. He didn’t really get a good look at the thing, but he could tell it moved like a dog – and reminded him of a cat.

Jack was on the brink of jumping back, but suddenly the creature crashed into his legs. It took him a great feat of dexterity not to fall over, and as it was he went down to his knees. He looked down in shock at the creature that had run into him and blinked several times. Then he smiled gently and looked down at the fearful creature.

“Hey there little one,” he said with a soft voice, he glanced up at Mal and grinned, “Not much time for bonding.” He said almost sarcastically. Looking back down at the creature he blinked as the thing tried to run in the other direction. Jack grimaced and then charged after the creature, “Stop!” he called and then looked at Mal.

“Ever seen anything like it Mal?” Jack asked playfully, then gave chase after the strange alien. Jack was positive now that the poor thing was horribly lost, and he was ready and willing to help the lion-fuzzy-alien-thing in any way he could. They just had to catch him first.

And the little fuzzball was proving to be extremely fast.

[Malchovalmar Akermazinest]

Mal had yet to make a solid impression about Torchwood’s leader. Though he was usually a good first-impression judge of character, the misplaced Taem’in could pinpoint nothing about Captain Jack Harkness outside of the basics - that he was very...friendly and that for whatever reason, he had the respect and dedication of his team even under the most extreme circumstances. Malchovalmar could tell there was far more to the man - secrets even the other members of Torchwood were unaware of. Seemed like a good guy over all, though; the kind of guy it was going to be a shame to have to betray. Mal did like him, for the most part, and knowing that Jack and his team, part of Earth’s very little defense against other species, were going to get the worst of the battle when Evelyandra finally executed her plan to take over the planet. For as short as the time he had been on Earth and, even shorter, the time he’d been with Torchwood, that finally was going to be painful for him. He already hated to think about the end they’d likely met if she succeeded and any distraction - including chasing after other aliens with those same people - was a welcome one.

He gave Jack a slightly wary smile in return before turning to watch the bush that currently had the leader’s attention. Mal had experienced enough of Jack’s quirks - particularly his strange use of the mating tactic known as flirting - that it no longer caught him by surprise. Most of the time he could easily ignore it. Focusing instead on the creature they were tracking, or at least at the creature’s chosen hiding spot, Malchovalmar’s first impression was that despite the readings, he, she, or it, was more like a child than anything else, in size and behavior. In his experience, most dangerous aliens didn’t hide and shake behind bushes in a public park - they either kept running, or came out fighting. Or infiltrated key organizations so that the fight was over before it started. Even with all his experience, Mal was surprised when their target suddenly emerged, somewhat overwhelmed by the sheer hairiness as it failed to escape, instead running right into Jack. “That was easy,” he got in quickly, before the clearly scared creature took off yet again. He was still watching when Jack yelled at their target to stop and looked back to Mal for assistance. He caught up quickly, recovering himself in the process. “No, I definitely have not,” he said in response to Jack’s question. “This should be interesting,” he added, as he joined in the continued pursuit. “Wouldn’t it be nice if for once they didn’t run?”

[Koandi'r Piotr]

Ko didn't know why, but he felt so disoriented. There were too many things to take in at once... sights, sounds, smells, touch, emotions... the hustle and bustle of Earth was too much for an Iphite with heightened senses to stand. So it was really no surprise that he had accidentally moved toward in the wrong direction, even if perhaps not the best thing to do.

His head smacked into the human's legs, and he rubbed it as the thing bent down and looked at him square in the face, showing its teeth. Koandi'r gulped. They were carnivores too? Iphites were... but they only ate meat if they absolutely had to in order to survive...

So as fast as he could, Koandi'r took off, trying to get anywhere except for where he was. Lest they catch him... and then they would kill him, and most likely eat him too. He didn't even have time to cry, his flight instinct had taken over and he was going to run until his legs hurt, and then he was going to run some more.

That's when this big red metal... thing... came near him with bright flashing lights and an ear piercing scream, the panic and urgency of the humans in it washed over him. The alien grabbed his ears in pain, and fell to the ground in tears. Why did everything on this planet have to be so loud?

[Jack Harkness]

Jack looked over at Mal and grinned when the man came up alongside him. Jack flashed him a quick salute and nodded his head, “Yeah, but the running is half the fun,” and then he laughed at an old, old, old memory of his when he had still been travelling with the Doctor. Way back before he had become immortal. And Jack looked back at the alien that was running away from him currently. He frowned, the poor thing must be terrified.

Jack was busy chasing after the little devil and his mind wasn’t really on Mal anymore. He didn’t call after the scared monster child (affectionate nickname in Jack’s mind) and then Jack realized that they were nearing the edge of the park and bordering back onto the place where people often roamed. Jack groaned mentally and forced himself to go running on ahead.

When a large fire truck pulled out into the street, sirens a blaze with urgency and the small furry alien ran out into the crowd Jack knew that they were in for a bit of trouble. The Captain, thinking fast, pulled off his long greatcoat as he kept up his rapid pace and held it awkwardly in his arms, ready to toss it over the small alien when they got close enough.

As soon a the poor thing fell to its – knees? – Jack gained ground. Within seconds he was a few feet away and then he tossed his great coat over the small beast, trying to trap it; but not harm the poor thing. He waved the people moving all around them onwards and forced a smile.

He looked over at Mal and then reached into his pocket and grabbed out the SUV’s keys, “Mal, can you bring the SUV around? I don’t want to freak the … alien,” Jack winced at the crass words he used, “out any more than the poor thing already is.” Jack tossed the keys at the new kid and smiled.

Then he directed his attention down to the small blob that had hopefully remained under his jacket.

[Malchovalmar Akermazinest]

The Taem’in didn’t understand the joke Jack seemed to be making, but he couldn’t argue with Jack that there was something in the excitement of the active mission work of Torchwood, even if Mal was far from being a track star. On his home planet, the one he’d basically been banished from for his connection to Evelyn, looks and intelligence were valued far above athletic prowess, and there were no sports competitions like the ones that seemed so important to humans. Malchovalmar was able to keep up with Jack, though barely, and it was probably only a matter of time before breathing difficulties were the result, long as the running kept up. Their target was heading toward more people, and he couldn’t help feeling bad for him - the child, whatever it was, was obviously terrified and couldn’t have had any idea he was running away from safety instead of toward it. Relatively speaking. It didn’t seem like this was going to be an easy capture, though none of them had been that Mal had participated in so far. He could only hope that Jack had a plan to explain the situation to the onlookers that were unexpected spectators to their work.

The Taem’in was just getting around to wondering how long this particular chase would last - and once again feeling grateful that since his arrival on Earth he’d taken up a respectable exercise routine to counteract his weakness. The answer to that momentary question came quickly, and from a surprising source as the creature, clearly no more than a mere child, heading toward the street in his flight of desperation. Mal was directly behind Jack when it unexpectedly stopped, falling to the ground. Confused and paralyzed by fear, he assumed. He could only imagine what it would be like to suddenly find yourself on a strange planet, not knowing anyone or what anything was. His own experience had been quite different, coming with a group of his race, and coming armed with at least basic knowledge of Earth’s population and culture. The fire truck and the building crowd could easily become an issue - Malchovalmar didn’t need the covert nature of Torchwood operations to be explained to him to appreciate the many reasons. And it certainly wouldn’t do him any good to have the generally population of humans be that much more aware of ‘extraterrestrial’ life on their very own planet. Mal gave a quick nod at Jack’s direction, although he couldn’t help cringing at his use of the word alien. Sure that was what Torchwood did, and as far as Mal knew, Jack had no idea that Mal wasn’t entirely human, but the leader’s use of the word still bothered him every time. Just barely catching the keys in time, he headed toward the vehicle at a jog, muttering under his breath, “Of course, we don’t want to scare the aliens.” It was rather ironic, but Malchovalmar wasn’t in the mood to fully appreciate that at the moment, being a little unnerved by it instead. Just seconds later, he was in position, and opening the door. “He okay?” Mal asked, in spite of himself. Not that he really cared that much, it’s just...well, the creature was so little and...”Whatever it is,” he added, staring at the coat-covered form as if he could identify it now.

[Koandi'r Piotr]

The Iphites had adapted senses over the years to protect themselves from anything that might harm them. However, Koandi'r was used to the quiet forests of Iphitus, not a small city like Cardiff. Every noise, sight and feeling was just too much for the little guy's body to handle, and the bright flashing emergency lights and sound of the fire truck just set him completely over the edge. And now he was on the ground, a sitting duck for his predators.

A strange material came down over his entire body. It was smooth and cool in the warm weather, yet it felt very strange. Pelt? Was it pelt? Did they wear the things they killed? Ko panickedly tried to pull it off himself, however his thrasing around caused his head to get tangled in one of the arm holes and his leg to get tangled in the other. And his ears hurt from the ringing of the firetruck and he was still seeing stars from the lights and... and... HE JUST WANTED TO GO HOME!

The little furry alien sniffed, the skin on his face wet as tears trickled down it as he hugged his own arms. At this point Ko was too exhausted to continue, and realized exactly how pointless it was trying to run away forever when he wasn't even sure how to get back. Even though he knew he was going to die... there wasn't much he could do about it anymore.