Metal Rebirth

(Open to: Charity, Rose, and Care. All others, PM me or hit me up on the chat if you want in, I'm sort of picky and like to discuss ins and and glance over people's posts first. However I'm probably all locked up for this now unless someone decides not to join.)

Somewhere between Eric’s and Captain Jack’s adventuring, and Clara disappearing to go with the Doctor on adventures, Eric and Clara ended up parting ways. And with Eric eventually deciding to focus on relearning all of the new century’s wonders, his adventuring with Captain Jack ended too. In the end he had gotten a government loan to relearn medical school and the higher sciences, spending many years at it and getting apprenticed to another research lab. The one key difference between this lab and other’s he had been in in the past, was it was devoted entirely to the study of aliens and alien tech. Not Torchwood, but something more underground and secretive, without actually using much of it to develop weapons or explore beyond their sector of the galaxy or their place in time.

Eric sat in a chair outside the main lab, simply fiddling with his watch. Only it wasn’t a watch, but a time vortex manipulator. He’d seen it on Jack’s wrist, and he vaguely knew how to use it, only it left him feeling rather cranky, his neck sore, and he otherwise preferred not to use it at all if he could help it. However it was something of a lucky charm, and he kept it around, that and the beaded necklace he had found in the market so many years ago.

“Hey Eric,” said one of the researchers as he passed by his desk. “Head doc wants us all to look at something the team found. Come on,” he said, giving Eric a quick tap on the shoulder to break him out of his musings before disappearing down the hall.

He didn’t know why, but he felt particularly bored today. Instead he spent much of his time musing on the time he had spent hopping around, and what he could’ve been or could’ve done if he had stuck with things. Mostly, he missed his sister, who had long since died. As tempting as it was to use the vortex manipulator to pinpoint the year she died and prevent her death, the last thing he wanted was to mess something up in the whole space time continuum. Though, it couldn’t be that bad, could it?  Paradox laws were there, but sometimes laws were meant to be broken…if done gently.

“Alright, what is it?” he asked in a lazy voice as he strolled after the guy, and into a side room that they held secret projects in. Inside were the other researchers, with the head researcher resting near a large case with a metal lock.

“I think this is our first real look at something alien and futuristic. Something tangible, something we can actually study and bring back to life. I bring you, metalman!” With that he unlocked the case and opened the door.

Metalman had to be the stupidest name Eric had ever heard, but he supposed it fit what was inside. A lifeless husk of metal met their gaze, with round rather empty eyes looking out at them. Several of the pieces had been disconnected from the main torso, and it looked badly in need of repair. What was strange though, was it felt rather familiar, like a childhood nightmare he could only vaguely remember.

“Now all we need to do, is put this thing back together, access its memory core, and see what it can tell us!”

“I really…don’t think that’s a good idea,” Eric said as he raised a hand. All eyes were focused on him, and he couldn’t fathom why he had spoken up. All he had was a hunch, he didn’t actually know what was wrong with the contraption, or why he felt that way. All he knew was deep inside, it felt dangerous and it’d be a mistake to activate it. But he knew they were awaiting an exclamation. “Well,” he continued. “We have no idea what this is or where it’s from. For all we know, we could be activating a war machine from a distant planet that could destroy us and this lab, then move on to the rest of the city.”

There were murmurs between the group, before the head doctor nodded. “You have a good point, Eric. But that’s why we’ll be activating it in the lab! Our blast-proof walls and computerized system will make sure to keep it contained if it ever gets out of hand. And then failing all else, as unfortunate as that would be, we could simply detonate the containment lab.”

Even as Eric agreed that it would be alright, inside his heart was hammering as it warned him that something dreadful would happen if they tried it. As he followed them to the containment lab, he fingered his watch and his good luck beads. However when they had attached its limbs and switched it on, nothing happened. It was extremely anticlimactic for the head doctor, who moaned about the information lost to humanity. Eventually it was decided to plug the unit into an external power source and charge it up enough to download its memory core.  For the first few minutes, the display light flickered on while the computer began downloading.

Just when Eric was deciding that perhaps they did not have the power to actually activate the monster, and was beginning to relax, the eyes lit up. He raised a hand, warning the head researcher that getting too close would be dangerous, but he was waved off. Eventually, Eric just remained at the back of the room with a sigh, resting his elbow on the desk as he waited for what would happen if the head researcher was stupid enough to get too close.

Nothing did though, and the researchers oo’ed and ah’ed and went over their data with scrutinizing gazes and marveling about all the places this mechanical man must have been. By the time they had gathered all the data they could for the night, the lab had mostly shut down and they’d gone off for dinner, leaving only a few assistants monitoring the lab and their experiments.

One of those assistants for the night was Eric, and he spent half of his time looking up at the mechanical mayhem, and half of his time reading over a research report. Every time he looked at those creepy eyes, he wanted to go over to the machine and shut the thing off. But research and science and all. He ran a hand over his face, sighing as he shook his head. They were all idiots, but he had nothing to explain the gut feeling other than flicker from his childhood with a metal creature and a mad man with a bowtie. He couldn’t even remember what it looked like, just that he was scared of it. Maybe he was just going off a childhood fantasy, maybe there was nothing to worry about, maybe…

And that’s when a loud whirring and clanking sound came from inside the containment lab. He looked up from the sandwich he had picked up, and raised his eyebrows as he watched the mechanical man come to life and stand up from the platform it had been resting on. “Okay, it could be harmless,” he said aloud. “It’s perfectly harmless, nothing to worry about. Just need to be cautious with alien lifeforms.” He could feel his heart thumping in his chest as he breathed in. It was contained inside the lab, but he was still worried. “Doctor, robot’s awake. And it’s standing up and walking around.”

The rest of the research team practically rushed over to the lab room, while the metal man stood frozen in place staring at Eric. Its gaze was rather menacing but it hadn’t moved since it stood up, hadn’t said anything, hadn’t done anything. What was its name? It had a name, and its name invoked some meaning of fear. Even as the others talked and conversed with eachother, the back of his mind was telling him to shoot the thing. Pick up one of those useless pieces of trash and bash the thing over the head, or blow up the containment lab. He’d likely lose his job, but what would it matter if he stopped a threat?

There was a sudden crash as the robot lifted its arm, firing a laser cannon hidden within its arm that smashed a hole through the glass. Silence filled the room as the researchers watched the robot. Eric took that moment to activate containment on the security system behind the desk and bolt for the door. The researchers were alarmed by the blaring alarm and the robot, but were slow in moving until it had crashed through the glass and electrocuted the nearest researcher. The screams that followed were deafening and everyone ran for the door in a panicked rush, most of them getting out before the doors slammed shut.

“I knew we shouldn’t have activated that killing machine!” shouted the head researcher as he looked around for a culprit to blame. “It was your fault!” He said pointing to an intern.

“Me!? What’d I do?!”

“You found that thing and brought it here!”

“Well you were the one who insisted we plug it in and activate it!”

As much as Eric wanted to point out to the head researcher what an idiot he was, he decided to be silent and stew in his own anger. He stood quietly in the hall, rubbing his forehead as he breathed in and out, trying to quell the buildup he felt every time something didn’t go exactly right. And lately, that feeling seemed to come out of nowhere, particularly when he had to listen to arguments such as these.

“Who activated the containment seal anyhow? We’re never going to get back in there to turn that thing off!”

“I don’t think we’re going to be able to, quite simply,” Eric said plainly, though the annoyance in his voice was evident. “It’s not like the thing is going to let us be friends with it.” The last thing he and Ellie had tried to make friends with one, it lurched towards them rather menacingly. But what had he used to deactivate it last time? A laser gun perhaps?

“Well you should’ve been watching it more closely, and if it looked like it was going to do something, unplug it!” the head researcher yelled as he turned on Eric.

“Well you wanted the download to continue.”

“Can you people not use your brains around here or something?!” The head researcher was practically fuming right now. “You’re not paid to sit there at a desk and look pretty, you’re actually paid to provide some useful ideas, and if you can’t start providing a way to get out of this situation you got me into, then…”

Eric found himself very close to punching out the head researcher’s lights, but at that moment the robot had found a way to unlock the door leading out of the containment lab. The hallway erupted into cries yet again as everyone ran every which way, the head researcher stopping to point at Eric.

“Where’s your advice now, huh?”

“Probably in one ear and out the other, like it always is for you!” he hollered back, before running the other way.

The screams of both pain and panic filled Eric’s ears, and as he dashed down the hallway, he debated his options. Well, the ones that did not involve running away from a towering metal man firing laser bolts and wanting to delete him. In Captain Jack’s arsenal was a lot of big guns that could blast aliens like these, but there was no way to get over short of warping. Warping…

Eric stopped short in the hallway as he glanced down to his vortex manipulator. It had been a long time since he fiddled with it, and the last time he had, he’d sent himself to some man-eater’s camp before Captain Jack had pulled him out. He had yet to figure out how to set it properly, and didn’t have Captain Jack’s years of time travel training. And of course, if he escaped, the metal monster would still run around London ‘deleting’ people until the military finally stopped it.

He was torn between staying behind to figure out how to kill this thing for the sake of the people, and the voice in his head that was telling him to save himself, but as a researcher barreled into him and sent the wrist manipulator flying to the ground, he decided that running til he found a place to hide and adjust the dials would be the better choice. He scrambled to his feet as he scooped it up, the precious item glinting in the light and a little scraped up on the side.

But the hallways seemed to grow longer, and the distance between him and the cyberman grew shorter until they finally stopped. He ran smack into a dead end and pounded his fists on it in dismay before he turned around, pressing his back against the wall. What to do now? His fear level had gone up to the point where he could almost taste his own doom approaching. The voice in his head was telling him to do it, do what he had done before, but what was that?

‘Be creative!’

“Stop!” He yelled, pointing at the cyberman. To his surprise, the cyberman stopped several meters away, just staring at him, still and almost lifeless. What now, genius? He asked himself as he clenched and unclenched his fists, looking between the metal man, the floor, and the wall. It was then that he noticed the blue sparkles around the wall and the floor, and he realized that the metal man had noticed them too. So much for having a commanding personality, he thought. He scrunched his eyebrows, trying to remember where he had seen this before. The first time he saw it, he had met Jack. The second time he saw it, he had been warped away from Ellie after breaking up her wedding. He’d seen it now and then, but he’d never truly found out what it was.

“Analyzation complete. Species unknown,” it droned. “You will be taken to a cyber lab for further analyzation to see if you are compatible for upgrading.”

“Woah! I’m a human, not your pet project to upgrade and…” He peered at the metal man, “Whatever the heck you are.”

“Irrelevant. You will be taken for analysis.” The cyberman took a step forward, and though Eric’s heart rate picked up again, he stood his ground and instead took a step forward pointing towards the cyberman’s head.

“That’s really…very nice, but I don’t feel like being analyzed and upgraded like a piece of software,” Eric said as he jerked his finger slightly. “Instead, I’m going to be going now, and there are some pieces of software you could likely assimilate in the lab.”

“You will be upgraded or you will be deleted. You have nowhere to go.”

That was too true. He had managed to turn the wrong way, did not have his vortex manipulator set for a proper jump, and though he could jump blind, he might land in the space between times. Which he had been told was very bad. Between that and his worries though, he constantly heard the mutterings in the back of his head. ‘Quit fighting. Trust in yourself. Go. Go…GO!’

He turned and ran…straight through the wall that seemed to bend and fold away from him, the pathway turning into a blue tunnel of stars and light. Behind him he could hear the clanking of metal feet hitting the floor as he heard lasers being fired and exploding, and something bigger being fired. He didn’t feel anything though, just the feeling of sailing through the mysterious vortex...and landing outside on the pavement in a pile of trashcans.

With a resounding crash he tumbled to the ground, in the middle of 21st century London in front of a street bum begging for a coin, and staring in bewilderment at the wall that was twisting and turning before straightening out. It appeared mostly normal, but still had a glow unearthly blue to it.

It was a nice and sunny day on earth, and Care was enjoying a strode around the blokes. She was in some kind of "vacation" from time traveling. Not that she needed one, if fact, she loved it a lot. But she actually never had the opportunity to visit London and the rest of Brittain as she intended when she took the plane. So after a few adventures with the Doctor, she asked him a day or two to just sightsee London, Stone Henge and a few castles she really wanted to see. As well, she wanted to write to her parents, and her former foster brother about the place here, and that perhaps she would go exploring the wilderness and wouldn't be able to write to them for some time.

Of course, the Doctor had said he could drop her whenever she wished, but there was a tiny part of her that just wanted to be cautious, in case some calculation or an adventure went wrong. And well, she did want to visit Britain for real.

So here she was, letting her feet carry her as she often did. It had gotten her into lots of trouble, but also let her meet awesome people, or discover great places. She never knew, and it was part of the excitement and wonder of following your feet and intuition. She was lost in her thoughts when she heard a loud resounding crash very close from where she was. And there, far ahead of the street was this strange twisting mirage. What was that? It wasn't natural for sure, and there was a man on the pavement, and what seemed a beggar next to him.

She didn't even think, her impulsiveness would be her downfall someday, she knew it, but she couldn't help it. She was curious, and there could be someone in need of help. She had no clue of what kind of help she could be, but she was the kind of person to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. And if she was truly honest with herself, she loved that. Finding adventure, danger, helping people and measuring herself against the odds. It was what made life worth living.

So she started walking a bit faster, right to the two men. Now that she knew that weird stuff really could happen and that the universe was so much bigger and complex than she ever could have imagined before meeting the doctor, she was excited to meet a new mystery, and possibly have a chance to help someone, to meet new friends.

"What happened? I heard some big noise. Is everyone okay ?"

She had this french Canadian accent that she never successfully repressed even after all those years training her English, but most people told her it was befitting and mostly gave her some charm, so she stopped trying to speak more properly. And anyway, no one told her she was incomprehensible anymore, so it was alright. Besides, she was kinda proud of her origins so, there was no point in losing her accent.

Her eyes were scanning both men for injuries. She was so used to doing that with the red cross and before that as a lifeguard that it was second nature to her. Neither of them looked injured, but just eyeing wasn't enough to be sure.

Rose Tyler slowly rolled to her feet after landing in an alley. She was getting tired of traveling by dimension cannon, but until she found an alternative method of travel, this was her only option. The blonde quickly moved out of the alley, searching the surrounding area. “London?” She frowned, looking around. She didn’t usually land on Earth, let alone London.

Deciding not to look a gift horse in the mouth, Rose moved further onto the busy sidewalk. Gaining her bearings, and realizing exactly where she was in London, she let out a relieved sigh. She was safe, then. Safe was good. As her gaze passed through the street, she took notice of a street vendor selling food of some sort.

Patting her pockets for spare change, Rose found a few euros, and made her way across the road towards the sustenance. As luck would have it, the vendor was selling chips, and the blonde began to inhale them as soon as she had them in her hands, doused in salt and vinegar, just the way she liked them.

Chips in hand, she made her way through the busy streets of her city, looking for any sign of the Doctor. After all, the dimension cannon was set to find him, not take her for joy rides to assorted planets and times. With the Doctor in mind, Rose began scanning street corners and alleyways for the familiar blue box.

After what must have been two hours, Rose entered a sunny street, near the London Eye. She sighed and took a seat on a nearby bench. She really didn’t know how much longer she would have to search before she found him, be it leather or pinstripes or any other Doctor. She was just getting tired of trans-dimensional travel.

Standing again, she decided to make the most of her trip. She took a short bus trip to her old flat on the Powell Estate, wondering if she was in the correct time to swipe some of her old family photos for her mum.

Thankfully, the key was still under the mat where Jackie Tyler had hidden it, the cat flap was nailed down, and her old neighbours were still living there. She entered the flat quickly and looked around. Everything was the same, wonderfully the same.

Moving through her old home, Rose took time to look at each picture, drawing, knick-knack, and piece of furniture that had ever meant something to her and her mum. She smiled at a picture of a much younger Rose with a teddy on her lap and a big grin on her face. She had gotten that teddy when she turned seven, and it brought back very fond memories.

Finding a bag, Rose took the picture and carefully stashed it in the bag. Repeating this with a few more photos and long forgotten photo books, Rose paused when she reached her room and found her old jewelry box.

In it laid a very special necklace, a Prentiss heirloom that Rose had always regretted not having with her. The younger Tyler woman pocketed the necklace as well, before leaving the flat, locking the door behind her.

Making her way back towards a more populated area of London, she fingered the delicate piece of jewelry. Rose smiled at the thought of having it back, it meant so much to her and her mum. Allowing herself to be pulled into memories of pre-Doctor Jackie and Rose, she barely noticed when she finally reached a crowded part of the city. It was there that Rose found her first sign of alien activity for the day.

A man appeared, looking scared out of his mind, in front of some homeless bloke on the street. Even from a distance, Rose could identify the vortex manipulator on his wrist. Frowning, she moved closer to him, not understanding what a time agent, rogue or not, would be doing in early 21st century England.

As she approached, the blonde noted another woman with the two men, but decided to proceed anyway. Kneeling next to the two men, Rose smiled in a way that she hoped was reassuring. “Hello, my name is Rose. Are both of you gentlemen alright? Do I need to call the hospital?”

She looked at the redhead and back to the men. Hopefully the woman was harmless, because Rose really did not want to deal with an angry woman if she had a possibly confused and out of time civilian to look after.

There was a metal man right behind him and two girl voices were asking if he was okay? Hello? Could nobody see the metal man shooting behind him? Grunting, he scrambled for footing, pushing through the garbage and tripping over a can lid as it made a clattering noise. Spinning around, he turned to face the wall. No portal there, but still blue. That wasn’t good. The last time a portal was on the wall, it had let loose a big velociraptor like creature.

“No, I’m fine,” Eric said as he waved a hand to the side and began brushing off his white lab coat, doing very little to smooth out the grease stains and spots gained from simply being on the floor. “I’m a doctor. Well I’m a lab technician. Actually I’m a research assistant.” He turned his head to look over to the beggar who was staring with bug eyes at him. “What are you looking at, haven’t you ever seen a research assistant before?” He huffed slightly before breathing in heavily. “Okay,” he said as he waved a hand in the air. “There’s a thing that just might come around and it’s probably not very friendly,” he said as he looked to the two girls. “Actually it’s very mad so, here is probably not a safe place to linger.”

Just when she asked the men if they were alright, another woman joined them, asking almost the same question she had. There was something familiar about that women, but before she could focus on her and try to find why she looked and felt familiar, the lab assistant, since it's what he told them he was, talked.

He really looked frightened out of his wits. That wasn't good. Before her encounter with the doctor, she probably would have dismissed his claim of dangerous thing. But now, well, she knew there was a lot more ways to explain that then hallucinations and schizophrenia. There could really be some dangerous monster about to come out of the wall. She had seen something very much like it at the hospital a few months ago.

He wanted to get away, to flee this place and she couldn't blame him at all. Monsters were not for everyone to handle, but she couldn't flee. She might be able to help, might be able to do something. She had gifts, and that gave her responsibility. She just hoped that unlike her meeting with the doctor, she wasn't the beacon that led that portal to open. She didn't have the doctor's special helmet to increase her powers and she was very much alone to close any disturbance. That might not end well.

"I'm Care, I work against paranormal activities. I know and understand you are afraid, but as we back up a little bit, I would need you to tell me what happen. We can't let the thing you say is dangerous terrorize the population or harm anyone."

Well, there was so little she could do on her own, but she would have to try to help. And now she could feel something happening again. It was like waves of electricity brushing on her skin, passing in her. She never could describe it to people, the way she felt cracks and tearing into the worlds, but she knew something was happening again.

She grabbed the man's hand and turned to look into the women, then the beggars' eyes.

"You might not want to remain here. He is right, something is coming through, and it's going to appear any seconds now. So all those who wish to flee are advised to do so now."

She started backing up quickly taking the man with her. She hated doing that to someone. He would surely prefer just to flee and leave it all behind, but right now he was her best chance to understand what was happening. So, she needed him.

She perhaps could slow the time to open the tearing, perhaps, but she didn't know how much time she could maintain it. And she needed to hear the story behind all of it. She felt this was going to give her another hell of a migraine. She opened her mind to feel the fluctuations, to try to grab a hold of them, to freeze them, or at least slow down what was happening. The pressure in her head became stronger, she could feel some kind of electricity flowing in her, tingling, tickling, rubbing on her skin, but inside of her as well. She would not be able to hold for long, but she might have bought them all some time.

Rose looked between the man and woman, now completely ignoring the beggar. "It's alright, really. I work for an agency called Torchwood, we specialize in paranormal and extraterrestrial activities." She smiled slightly, trying to show the frightened man a calm front.

At the other woman's introduction, the blonde felt a jolt go through her head. The name rang a bell. For a moment, her head filled with TARDIS song and golden light, memories from being Bad Wolf overcoming her. Her eyes widened slightly as she realized who the woman, Care, was. Bad Wolf had helped to create her. Rose had helped to create her.

Deciding to keep that bit of information to herself for now, Rose answered the woman's warning with a smile. "Count me in. I'm not about to leave this poor bloke looking pale as a ghost and shakin' like one too." She followed them as they began to move backward, looking at the man. "Sorry, what was your name? And could you maybe describe the creature you saw?"

Charity saw the blue glowing portal, first. The fact that it did not seem like a normal thing for this planet drew her attention to it immediately. She stared from down the street and hurried closer to try and see if she was really seeing what she thought she was seeing. As she got nearer, she saw that yes, in fact, it was a glowing blue portally thing that did NOT seem to belong in this world at all.

Next, she noticed the people. First, she saw only the two guys and two girls, backing hastily away from the portal. Then, she recognized one of the girls.
"Care!" She called in surprise as she hurried over toward her friend. She glanced at the portal with wide eyes, and back to Care. "What is that? What's going on?" She did her best to seem calm as she glanced at the others present, first at the blond girl, then the best guy, and finally at the young guy in the lab coat.

She smiled reassuringly at him; he looked really shaken, and he was about the same age as her little brother so she couldn't help feeling big-sisterly toward him.
"It's alright, don't worry. I'm sure everything will be fine." She told him as comfortingly as she could manage given the circumstances. "I'm Charity." She added, for all those who didn't know her. She glanced again at the portal. "Something tells me that doesn't belong here..." She commented quietly, glancing at Care questioningly, while yet offering no explanation as to why she was here instead of still with the Doctor in the Tardis...

(OOC: This is specifically tagged at Rose, so she can momentarily skip the posting order to post a response convo post, which I'll then respond to and carry on with the rest of my post. I was going to explain and answer everyone's questions, but the way the mental process went kind of demanded I pause right here, otherwise it'd look semi awkward. Unless people disagree with me and think there is other things that can be said. I don't know. [color=#009900][b]lol[/b][/color] If so, then yeah, go ahead with general posting order of Care - Rose - Charity, but it'll probably just be a round of convo posts.)

“It doesn’t belong there,” Eric said plainly as he rested a thumb and a forefinger to his face as he let out a large sigh. It was bad enough that he was chased by a mechanical robot that wanted to analyze him and delete him if he was not compatible. Now he had to explain to two random people off the street what the portal on the wall was, what the danger was, and the fact that it was dangerous and they should not all be standing around like a bunch of idiots waiting to be run over by a truck. “And I don’t know what it is.”

He breathed out a heavy sigh as he looked towards the beggar who was now staring at the portal on the well, and looking between the four with wide-eyed glances. “Here, here’s a few dollars, go get some food and get out of here,” he said as he plopped it in the man’s hand. Not that he was extremely interested in giving charity to a man who would likely spend it on beer, but it was the fastest way to get him out of the line of fire. The man promptly took the cash and hurried off out of sight.

“Let’s see, where to start…” Eric turned to the two women who had both claimed to work for paranormal groups. He supposed they’d at least believe what he was telling them, but how believing would they be? What was paranormal to them? Was that the occasional fairy tale or did it truly extend to aliens and time travel? Then he practically stared at Rose as he realized something.

“Torchwood?” He repeated. “You work for Torchwood?” He took a moment to analyze her and take in her appearance. She certainly didn’t look like she was old enough to have any expertise, she had to have been only twenty. Still, Captain Jack was known for flirting with anything that moved, and it was possible that he had recruited her purely on her pretty looks. She had to at least be decently smart to realize that the portal was not normal, and she wasn’t freaking out about it. “Then you should know Captain Jack?”

(OOC: As long as Care and Charity don't mind I'll gladly answer this post now and then resume the order after. )

Rose smiled as the homeless man was given a bit of money to go off. Yes, it wasn't necessarily a smart idea to give a beggar money, but it was still kind, and Rose didn't know many men who would even think of someone on the street, especially not in the situation they were in.

The blonde watched the emotions and thoughts flit over the man's face. She rocked patiently on her heels as she waited for a response, and when she got one, it was not what she expected.

"Yes I work for Torchwood." She smiled. That smile quickly dropped and her whole body froze at the mention of Jack. There was no doubt in her mind that the man was referring to Jack Harkness, not with the added title of Captain in front of his name. She had honestly thought Jack had died. The Doctor had told her he was back on Earth, but he had refused to let her visit her friend, so she had figured the Captain had died and the Doctor hadn't had the heart to tell her.

"Jack's alive?" She gasped out. "Jack Harkness? Tall, dark hair, gorgeous eyes and smile, flirts with anything that even has a chance of being alive? That Jack?" All the blonde could think about was the fact that her flirty friend was still alive, and she couldn't be more grateful.

Eric took a moment to ponder that. Had Jack died? Last time they had seen each other had been years ago. That left plenty of opportunity for Jack to go off on some crazy mission through time and get killed by an alien. Or it was entirely possible that he had time warped into the wrong century and never come back…or, hadn’t come back yet. Time was weird when you thought about it that way.

“Well, tall, dark hair, and flirts with anything male, female, or alien certainly fits the description,” Eric said with a mild hint of amusement in his voice. “But the last time I saw him was years ago. I guess you didn’t join Torchwood til after we stopped running together, so…” He paused as he considered. It sounded like Jack had disappeared. “Maybe he just used his vortex manipulator and jumped off somewhere for a while.” Well if she was Torchwood, at least she was legitimate. He’d seen the inside of the Torchwood building and it was quite impressive as far as the amount of alien and futuristic technology it held.

“Okay,” he said as he took a step back and glanced at the portal. He’d decided to trust the group, or at least Rose, and if that thing didn’t close up any time soon, they’d all be in trouble. “So our team finds this metal man rusting in the forest nearby, it’s either a government experiment or some completely new technology, and given its futuristic design, probably alien. So we put it back together, someone gets the brilliant idea of turning it on and downloading information from it, then bam. Starts killing everything with a laser gun and palm electricity pulses. So it’s pretty much everyone for themselves as the building is put on lockdown, and I run through this portal here, which I guess is some kind of fancy door between the street and the building.” He held up a hand as he continued, “Don’t ask me what it is, I don’t know, but the metal man seemed to be clueless on its origin, so I’m guessing it’s a weird thing associated with this part of London.”

“And I’m Doctor Eric Zimmer,” he added as he glanced to the rest of the group.

Care was surprised a little bit to see Charity joining them, but well, they were both traveling with the Doctor, so everything was possible. And there was no time to wonder on that. There was a much bigger problem here at hand. But she felt happy and somewhere reassured to have a familiar face with her, to have a comrade in arms by her side at this moment.

She listened closely to the exchange between this Rose and the Dr. Zimmer. She didn't know what was that Torchwood, but the name and title of captain Jack Harness seemed vaguely familiar, but she didn't know why or from when. It wasn't relevant enough right now to dwell upon it. That metal man was, though. What could they be? It was ringing a loud bell in her mind, she had seen some strange metal man once, upon meeting the doctor. But it didn't mean it was the same thing. She had still too little information yet.

She approved of how he handled the homeless. Not exactly the best way to help him cure any addiction he might have, but it would keep him alive to give him a chance to do so later. Death was rather permanent. And this way he was quickly away and out of danger. She nodded her approval to him.

"Obviously, we'll need to keep clear of the gun and palm. I can... still... keep the doorway hard to penetrate... but I can feel it ... going through."

It was painful and hard. She never had to do it alone before. She couldn't hold very long.

"We... need to figure... out a way... to neutralize it. And I can't... hold... much longer."

It was hard to think and concentrate at the same time. Should she let loose or continue, she was so unsure of what to do. The doctor was usually the one to figure out things, not her. But if it was some kind of program, there had to be a way to stop it or something. A headache was growing slowly, it was far from a migraine yet, and she would probably lose her hold on the portal long before it reached a critical pain level. It was just too hard to maintain without the helmet and any kind of help.

Rose smiled at the possibility of Jack being alive. "I shouldn't be surprised, I think the world would be a dark place without Jack's flirty nature." She giggled, before getting back to the topic at hand.

"Metal men? That could only mean one thing, Cybermen. Not sure if any of you are familiar with them, but essentially, they originate from two places; the first is Earth's twin planet, Mondas. The second, is a parallel universe known by most as "Pete's World" or "Universe 982." Both are very dangerous, and were created from the bodies of the species that lived there. In the parallel universe, they were humans. The cybermen convert humans into emotionless metal beings with intelligent brains and a desire for perfection."

Rose took a breath, thinking of her last encounter with the cybermen. It had been Canary Warf, and the blonde did not like to reflect on those times. "As for the portal, if we can somehow force enough power into it, it will collapse in on itself, trapping whatever wants to come through on the other side."

She smiled at Eric. "Seems you got yourself into a really tough spot. That's okay though, happens to the best of us." She winked and looked to the two women, specifically Care. "Unless you have the power to collapse the portal, I would suggest ceasing whatever you're doing to hold the portal back, it's really only feeding it and making it grow stronger. It's sort of like when you fight fire with fire. Too little will just add to the strength of the other, too much will decimate everything, just the right amount will solve the problem."

With that said, she wandered a little closer to the portal, wondering what had the power to shut it.

Charity frowned a little as she listened. She didn't know who this Jack guy was they were talking about, but the other things were things she was familiar with. This new girl, whose name she hadn't caught, knew much more about Cybermen than she did. But the young man's description made her think of cybermen as well, and she nodded.
"Yes, I was thinking it must be Cybermen, too." She agreed. She listened as the other blond spoke about a portal and Charity couldn't help remembering when she, Care, and the Doctor had fought these things. "They might have cybermites too.." She added.

She glanced at Care when Rose said something about her stopping what she was doing. Speaking quietly, she turned to Rose.
"Care has done this before," She told her. "The Doctor helped her, before.. that's our friend.. but she might just be able to close that portal, she closed one before." She informed her, hoping that she was right. Hopefully, Care could close the portal and they would be safe from the Cyberman. She didn't actually know how to deal with a full-grown cyberman.. if that's what they were called, but she could handle a cybermite if those showed up!