Strange Little Thing

Iatrophobia

Disclaimer: Should! ...Don't...

Friends, Romans, Countrymen, Lend Me Your Ears: Enjoy!

Ianto and Gwen were laughing over...something when all the lights flickered for a second before coming back on. Then again. After it happened three times, Jack popped his head out of the door to his office. "What happened?"

In answer, an alarm sounded. Jack, living in the hub for just under ten years, placed the specific tone and pattern to the meaning almost instantly. "Intruder in the hub." He paused. "Anyone says 'in'truda window' and they'll be on cleanup for a month."

"Hark! Hark! The dogs do bark. The beggars are coming to town. Some in rags, and some in tags, and one in a velvet gown!" The girl's voice came from her room, and Jack turned to see her leaning partly out of it, watching them with those bright, wide brown eyes.

"You should go back inside, sweetheart, it's not safe." Gwen told her, but the girl only looked at her, keeping her perch just outside the door. "Jack?"

But he wasn't paying attention. Jack was edging toward the area that, a little over a month ago, was Toshiko's desk. Before he got there, something flashed past him and up the opposite wall. "Oh joy."

"What was that?" Ianto blinked as he looked from the desk to the wall.

"An electrite. They're attracted to large energy readouts, they feed on it. Must've come through the Rift, picked up on our energy output and..." He shrugged. "We get a house guest."

Gwen jumped as, without warning, it shot down the wall and ran further into the interior of the hub. It looked more like a little black...blur than anything, but she wasn't going to take chances. It let out a cooing noise as it looked at the machine that monitored and, to a point, controlled the Rift. Gwen looked back around to the others, Jack had his gun drawn and Ianto was weilding a cricket bat. She shook her head and took out her own gun.

Ianto got to the electrite first, knocking it across the room. It was stunned for a moment, then hissed at the three, yellow eyes looking at each of them. It then darted away, in the direction of the girl, who merely watched it blankly.

Then, all at once it seemed, was the a sound like a sort of like a growl, a scream, and a gunshot.

Then the Hub was quiet.

In the few seconds after all that, absolutly nothing happened. Then, Gwen, ever the heart, ran forward at once, followed by Jack and Ianto. The electrite was twitching slightly, a green liquid that might have been blood pooling around it. Nearby, curled into a ball, was the girl, shaking visibly. Even in the dim lighting - which Jack said he'd change every single time the Hub went into lockdown, but also forgot every single time - they could see a rather large gash on her side, and a scar wrapped around her arm in a sort of lightning bolt pattern.

Gwen reached out for her, but the girl didn't respond, and she turned to Jack. The former Time Agent sighed as the lights flickered back on. "Help me get her to the Medical area."

Easier, it turned out, said than done. Small as the girl was, she was rather heavy, and her constant shaking made it hard to hold onto her, but they eventually got her there; then they had to strap her down as the shaking grew worse. Jack spun around to all the...things that were still just sitting there, half of which Owen had forgotten to put a label on, and opened a few of the containers and poured some of their contents into an empty one, mixing them, the grabbed a syringe from the table.

"What's that?" Gwen demanded as he injected the girl with whatever it was he'd made.

"Just a little sedative." He responded in a falsly casual voice.

Ianto frowned. "But we don't know how she'll respo-"

"I do, shockingly, know a few things about aliens." Jack inturrupted. "Gwen, stay here and monitor her, if anything starts beeping or flashing, shout. I'm going to make a call. Yan, head up to the office so you can let her in when she gets here." With that, he walked off, not even waiting for a response.

Ianto and Gwen looked at each other. Ianto raised an eyebrow. "Her?" Gwen shrugged.

Friends, Romans, Countrymen, Lend Me Your Ears: The title means 'fear of doctors/of going to the doctor'. :) She's not being very nice, though, so if this came out like mashed up jelly babies and eels, I blame her. :( Reveiw!