THE HIVE

Chapter Twenty Two

"Hurry, Rose, we need to get away from here," the Doctor said as he led her through the Hub.

The nearly made it to the cog door when they heard someone clearing his throat. They turned to see Owen with his arms folded over his chest.

"And where are you going?" he asked them.

The Doctor hurried over to him.

"I can't do it. I won't be able to find a cure in time. The queen probably has figured out by now I've scarpered and I need to get far away from here because I'm sure this'll be the first place she sends the troops."

"Okay, but what about Rose?"

"I'm going to hide her somewhere where she'll be safe."

"Mate, you're about to turn into a wasp, don't you think she'll be safer with us?" Owen said, "especially since you're not gonna have your mind for very much longer."

"On the contrary, I intend to keep my mind long after my body has gone."

"Really? Well didn't you also say you'd be able to come up with a cure before it was too late. If you were wrong about that, what makes you think you won't be wrong about your mind going?"

"I trust him," Rose said, coming forward. "I know that even if he can't think for himself anymore, he'll know who I am. I've always felt safe with the Doctor and I always will."

"Love, I admire your devotion to your sweetie but look at him, he's changing right before your very eyes and he's not gonna be himself for much longer. Wake up and smell the coffee before you end up just like him."

Rose took hold of the Doctor's right arm.

"I'd rather end up like him than be apart from him forever," she said.

"Fine, fine, you wanna risk gettin' stung, be my guest," Owen said.

He reached into his pocket and handed her a small plastic bag filled with white pills.

"These are the seditives. I have a feelin' he's gonna need em," he said.

Rose took the bag from him and put it in her pocket.

"Thank you, Owen, and now we have to go before it's too late," the Doctor said.

"Too late for what?"

They looked up as Jack and the rest of the Torchwood team came into the room.

"You're leaving?" Jack said.

"I have to, Jack. I'm not gonna be able to find a cure in time and I'm putting all of you in danger by being here."

"Yeah, but Rose...she's going with you?"

The Doctor sighed.

"Owen, explain, I really don't have time, yeah?" he said, turning to leave.

"Doc, wait!" Jack said running over to him. "Don't go."

The Doctor saw the anguish in his friend's eyes and put a hand on his shoulder.

"This is for the best. I promise I'll find a way back to my normal self but for now we have to go before the wasps find us here. In the meantime, my notes for my experiments are on a pad of paper by the microscope. Hopefully you can use them to find a solution."

Jack ran his hand through his hair.

"I will but...just...keep in touch somehow and don't you dare let Rose get hurt, you hear me?"

"I will and I won't. Now can we go?"

Jack nodded. He bit his lip, keeping the tears back as the Doctor and Rose went through the cog door and headed out of the Hub.

Once they were outside, the Doctor threw off the blanket exposing himself to the night air.

"No comments," he said, pointing his finger at Rose.

Rose grinned in spite of herself and the Doctor kissed her forehead.

"Hold on to me now, tightly. I'm gonna fly and it'll take awhile to get used to passengers," he said to her.

Rose wrapped her arms around his neck and the Doctor pulled her in close. She gasped when she felt his penis against her. The Doctor grinned at that.

"Now don't be gettin' ideas about my other stinger, Rose Tyler," he said to her.

He smiled when Rose let out a soft laugh at that.

"We'll be alright, Rose. Somehow this'll work out for the best, you'll see. Just keep your hope alive for me."

"I will," Rose said.

The Doctor nodded. He held Rose tightly to him, vibrated his wings and rose into the night air with her.

Jack slammed his hand down on the table beside the Doctor's notes. His team was standing behind him.

"Damn it, if I find the queen, I'm gonna break her neck," Jack snarled.

He sighed and picked up the pad of paper. He studied it for a moment and handed it to Owen.

"You think you might be able to make sense of this?" he asked them.

"I can try but like I said before I'm a doctor, not a geneticist," Owen said.

"I'll assist you in any way that I can," Jack said.

"Same here," Tosh added.

The others echoed the same thing and Jack smiled.

"See, that's the old team spirit. Working together, we'll be able to find a cure in no time and..."

Suddenly an alarm went off and they heard a loud bang up near the front entrance. They ran out of the lab and hurried over to their computers. Jack checked the CCTV camera mounted beside the front entrance and his face drained of color when he saw two wasps trying to bash their way inside the door.

"We got company, team! Let's show these wasps what happen when you mess with Torchwood!" he yelled.

Meanwhile, the Doctor was flying Rose out of Cardiff and into the countryside. Rose clung tightly to him trying to ignore the fact that his chest was now hard and bright yellow like the rest of this skin. The Doctor had wrapped his arms and his two extra legs around her keeping her secure. The moon was out and Rose couldn't help but think that any other time it would be a romantic sight but the fact that her lover was now almost a gigantic wasp killed that notion completely.

Suddenly the Doctor let out a groan and began to sink towards the ground.

"Doctor?"Rose said panicking.

"Ah!" the Doctor cried out in pain.

Rose's heart raced when she saw the grimace on his face as they went down towards a grassy hill.

"Doctor, I have the sedatives," Rose said to him.

"No," the Doctor grunted as he fought to land safely. "Not that. It's the wasps, they're nearby. I can feel the hive mind getting stronger. I mustn't...lose control."

He landed and let go of Rose. He sank to his knees grimacing as he fought to keep the hive mind from asserting itself. Rose, terrified for him, fell to the ground next to him and watched helplessly as he fought the pressure to become one with the other wasps. By now, the stinger was about halfway out of his body, jet black with a sharp point. The Doctor grabbed the sides of his head as he fought for his mind. Watching her lover struggle, Rose couldn't help the tears the streaked down her face. At a loss as to what to do, she put her left hand on the back of his neck and rubbed it, trying to give him a little bit of comfort in his time of agony.

"Rose," he grunted out. "If I fail, you must run from me. Don't let me hurt you. I don't wanna hurt you. I love you so much!"

The tears came faster now as the Doctor squeezed the sides of his head until Rose thought he would squeeze his head in.

"I know their plans...I can hear them speaking to the queen," he grunted out. "We were right to escape. Going...to Torchwood...swarm of them."

Rose's fear increased and she said a silent prayer the Jack and the others would be safe. The Doctor's agony finally let up briefly and he let out a gasp as he took his hands away from his head.

"They've moved on into the city and the hive mind has dimmed, at least for now," he said in a weary voice.

He took Rose's hand and squeezed it when he saw how distressed she was.

"I'm sorry, Rose. This is why we need to get away from the hive. The closer I am to it or the other wasps, the stronger the pull on my mind. Damn it, damn their hold on me and damn the pain I'm in."

He held up his hand when Rose started to reach for the bag.

"No, Angel, I definately need to be lucid if I'm flying with you in my arms. We'll find a safe spot for tonight and once I'm sure we're out of danger then I'll take one."

Rose nodded. They stood up and the Doctor embraced her when she put her arms around his neck.

"I just hope Jack and the others are able to stand the assault on the Hub," he muttered.

He looked up at the sky and when he saw it was clear, he tightened his hold on Rose and they flew up into the sky.

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