As Brittle As Quicksilver (Fourth in The Creators Saga)

Journey's End

***

"Rosie!" Rose perked up and ducked out of the hug, walking over to Jack's side, who was grinning. "Any chance you met our brother in your parallel world?"

"I recognized the name," Rose smiled at Owen. "I never met you, though. I mainly worked for my father at Torchwood. We were still based at Canary Wharf. You were still in Cardiff."

"Nice to finally put a face to the girl Alex based her face off of," Owen held out a hand. "Owen Harper."

"Rose Tyler," she responded, bypassing the handshake and giving him a hug instead, which he reciprocated after a moment.

"Quite a family reunion," Ianto remarked.

"Yeah, well," Rose lost her grin quickly. "I didn't expect my sister to be dying when I arrived."

"Yeah," Jack cleared his throat. "We didn't expect her to die this quickly."

"I'm not dead yet, guys," the Alchemist mumbled as she turned around.

The power abruptly shut off, making everyone look up. "What's that?" Owen asked cautiously.

"They've got us," the Doctor checked one of his monitors, seeing it off. "Power's gone. Some kind of . . . chronon loop."

The TARDIS tilted, and the Alchemist lost her balance, and would have gone crashing to the floor had the two closest to her, the Doctor and Ianto, not caught her when they did.

***

"Transferring TARDIS to the Crucible," one of the four Daleks surrounding the TARDIS announced as it went up in an energy beam.

Sarah Jane, Mickey, and Jackie peered around an abandoned van, watching, then Sarah Jane turned to Mickey. "Those teleport things, can we use them? If they've taken the Doctor and the Alchemist to the Dalek spaceship, then that's where we need to be."

"It's not just a teleport, it's a dimension jump," Mickey held his yellow button up. "Man, this thing rips a hole in the fabric of space."

"But can we use it?"

"Not yet. It burns up energy. Needs half an hour between jumps."

Sarah Jane nodded. "Then put down your guns."

"Do what?"

"If you're carrying a gun, they'll shoot you dead." Sarah Jane stood up and stepped out into the street, hands up. "Daleks, I surrender!"

The Daleks turned to her. "All humans in this sector will be taken to the Crucible."

"She's bloody mad!" Mickey stared.

"Yeah, but Mickey, if they've got the Doctor and the Alchemist, then they've got Rose," Jackie told him. She lowered her gun and walked out as well. "And us," she held up her hands. "We surrender."

Mickey kissed his gun, then put it down and followed out, his hands raised.

***

"Now Jack's explained the base code, I know how this teleport works," Martha told Francine, putting the backpack on. "I think. But you just stay indoors. There's no Daleks on this street. You should be all right. Just, er . . . keep quiet."

"But where are you going?" Francine frowned.

"I'm a member of UNIT, and they gave me the Osterhagen Key. I've got to do my job. I'm sorry."

"Martha, what's an Osterhagen Key?" Francine frowned. "Tell me, what does it do?"

Martha just swallowed and shook her head. "Love you," she said, pulling the ripcords.