This story continues the plotline of Fall of the Four which is itself a prequel to Parody Among Us
Torchwood: Forgone Conclusion
A Parody Among Us Prequel
Starring Fiona Shaw
Hello? Is there anybody in there?
Where Am I? What is this place?
Relax.
You're a professional. Focus.
Damn, My Ears are still ringing.
Focus.
One must be orderly. One must focus to prosper in an environment such as this.
Hello? Is there anybody in there?
No.
Everything's Black.
I can see, but everything is black.
Where am I? What is this Place?
Last I remember - Richardson.
Richardson. He shot me.
Remember to fire him. That's not the kind of professional behavior we look for at Torchwood.
Torchwood.
I'm there - aren't I?
It's black. Torchwood is in the black. Layered in darkness, like some kind of poetic blanket.
God, I hate poetry. Never gets to the point.
I stand. I'm standing. In the Hallway. Hallway where I was shot.
Hallway where I'm lying dead. I can see me, and I'm standing.
Just nod if you can hear me. Is there anybody home?
Light. There's a light at the end of the hallway. I'm walking towards it.
Why do I have to think so hard to walk? Why -
Oh. Right. I saw my body, and I'm dead. That should make sense.
Then - a light at the end of the tunnel. That's - that's the light they say you see when you die. The light of heaven.
Well, I know I'm not going there.
Probably filled with boring Saints who do nothing but philosophize anyway.
Let's see if I can turn around.
I can.
That doesn't track.
Let's try to solve this.
Let's walk.
Come on now I hear you're feeling down Huh?
What? What was that?
What is it making me do?
Music
Something's here. Something's here. God, I'm not alone.
Run
Run into the darkness
Run and see what we can find
My name is Maureen Willows. I'm Commander In Chief of Torchwood Four. And I'm not going to die.
The Laboratory is wrecked. Everything's black, everything's been kicked over, trashed.
There are slashes on everything, like some kind of feral animal went mad here.
Eliza!
Eliza - she's on the floor, she's - she's been shot in the head - no!
Oh, damn! There's blood - they're
Well I can ease your pain
Gordon!
He's gone! They're all gone, they've all been shot, and - and they're covered in the dark - stuff.
I don't know what it is. It's not a scientific term, but it shall have to do.
I shall be a woman of action.
I shall figure out what to do and I will get out of here, do you hear me?
Wherever you are, whatever you're trying to do to me, I am Maureen Willows, and I will not let you hurt me or anyone else.
Get you on your feet again
Are you listening to me? Do you get it?
This isn't some kind of game, damn you!
I will find you Richardson
I will find you and I will kill you
* * *
The Laboratory was a dead end. Maybe one of the office blocks will offer a better lead.
Door's been torn off it's hinges. More signs of another - beast.
I haven't seen any of them, so I can't hypothesize any more than that, but it shall have to do.
Relax
I'll need some information first
No, no, I shan't relax. Stop trying to manipulate me! I'm not going to tell you anything!
Are you the beast, this voice in my head? Well, I'm not going to listen to you. I'm going to go out fighting!
Now. The Office.
There are cubicles. Many more bodies in here. I can't say I know them all personally, but I do know all of them. Plenty of workers I saw every day. Plenty of ordinary people under my command. No gunshots here. Unlike Eliza, Gordon - my close friends, these ones were burnt. They're glowing with light, ethereal light.
It's bright, and it cuts into this dark place. On their bodies you can see the burns, the lacerations all the more clearly. They've died an agonizing, painful death - you can see it on their faces - those that have faces. Those that haven't been disfigured or melted beyond recognition - those people were lucky to die screaming.
Well.
Infuriating. These people were under my command. I won't let another of them -
Oh, face it, Maureen.
They're all dead.
This dark building was your life, and you're walking it. You understand that?
If you are going to immediately take the sight of your body as an act of religion - and although I'm you, I'm not going to say you should...
Then if the light ahead of us after death was heaven - wouldn't this be hell?
Just the basic facts
Hmm. Now that's a fascinating one, voice in my head. Just the facts. Well. I'll look at just the facts. These people died of some kind of exposure to a substance - that unlike all of the other items here - appears to be comprised of light. There's a scanner on the desk. I'll see if I can pick it up -
Hmm.
Oh, yes, I can. Which I wasn't expecting, since I thought I was dead.
I'll try to scan them.
Scanner's dead. Just like them.
No! I need tools, I need results! I won't have these people, these people under my command -
...Come now, Maureen. You don't even know them. You don't care about them.
Those faces that are burnt, you see and walk past them every day. Each and every one of them underachievers, that you never bothered to learn the names of.
You never realized you even worked with someone as smart as Stacy Kingston until today. They're unimportant until they become important.
Focus, it's a failure on your part of course, but it's no big loss for now.
God, can't even convince myself of that, can I?
I didn't know them, but somehow that hurts more.
Scanner! The Scanner's working. Oh, yes! They died of - they died of -
Temporal degradation! That can't be right...
They didn't die of old age - their faces - well, the not burnt ones - are the same age.
Temporal degradation...can the scanner define that?
…Overexposure to the Time Vortex?
Richardson! When he activated the sphere - did he activate the sphere? Yes, of course he did - he had to get away somehow!
He punched through the universe. To get to the void.
Temporal leakage of the time vortex - from the hole in the universe, erased them from time.
Working theory.
Could explain how they died, can't explain me.
But at least those faces - those co-workers that I never knew - at least I know why they died.
Can You Show Me Where It Hurts?
* * *
Next room across the hallway. Infirmary.
Open the door.
Three more bodies. Doctor Mandla.
I wish I didn't feel so resigned to that. Seeing a close friend with his guts spilled open onto the floor, mauled by something.
But I don't. I've seen a lot of friends die over the years.
A man I don't recognize - simply from how simple he looks. White, brown hair in a simple hairstyle, blue eyes, suit. No distinguishing features. Torchwood often hires people like him - not because they were always smart, but they were very good faces for spying.
Not as good as maids, or taxi drivers, cashiers, or the other invisible workers of the world. But an appearance can be helpful in of itself.
The third's a creature. We keep a lot of them downstairs. Not sure what they are, really. They come out of a rift somewhere up near Stirling and a few of them got into the Countryside and got to breeding. They're starting to appear in Glasgow, so they're now our business. Luckily it's dead.
Probably responsible for all of the damage. Broken out of a cage on one of the lower levels, I'll bet.
It's so dark in here.
I feel cold.
There is no pain you are receding
* * *
I'm standing in the corridor now, wondering where to go. No one's here, that's plain and simple. And there's nothing I can change.
I feel responsible.
If there's anything out there - and I used to think there is, but now, I'm not sure...
Not sure if it can hear my thoughts, or maybe I should just say them...
I haven't said anything this whole time, actually. I'm not sure if I can speak.
The lights in the corridors have been torn out, and the hallway is dappled with black. I can't see outside the windows. Nothing but dark out there too.
I could be right. This could be hell.
A distant ship smoke on the horizon
You are only coming through in waves
Your lips move but I can't hear what you're saying
You're speeding up, there. I remember what you're saying to me now. Am I running out of time?
* * *
I'm trying not to remember it. Because I think it's what you want me to remember.
When I was a child I had a fever My hands felt just like two balloonsOh, I get it, I get it. Don't get your knickers in a twist.
When I was a child? Oh, - Age 12 - you can hear me, can't you? It - it was the last time I saw my father.
Do you get that? Is this what you want from me? Do you want to hear my pain?
No. I'm not going to tell you, damn it - that's not your memory. That's not your story to tell.
I - Please. Don't make me remember.
It hurts.
I can't explain you would not understandThis is not how I am
Oh, I understand. You're not a beast, a monster I have to fight. I'm Torchwood, I'm good at that. You're just a memory.
* * *
I'm back in the hallway. It's near my office.
I can see your light - that light - is it the light of the temporal disaster - or is it something else?
Whatever it is, I - I don't care.
I don't think anything's here anymore. Not even you. Just. It's just me, isn't it?
Alone in the dark, remembering. Struggling not to.
My father. He was a good man. Loved my mother and I.
I saw him one last time when I was Twelve. He gave me an album.
I-
It was The Wall.
Have Become
And then he left. And then he left my life, forever. Went out on a business trip, he said. Gave me the album. Said he loved me, I should remember that. And he left. There was no business trip. He left me and my mother alone.
Would have been easier if he was dead.
Dead, I understand. Dead I can process. God knows, I'm doing it now. Because they're all dead because of me.
Comfortably Numb
I'm walking towards the light in my office. The light that probably has a rational reason. I'll know it soon enough.
I don't care if I live or die. I have to know. Have to understand why.
I - I - I -
Have Become
Opening the Door.
Comfortably Numb
* * *
Dad?
* * *
Okay
Okay Okay
Just a little pinprick
There'll be no more,
But you may feel a little sick
Can you stand up?
I do believe it's working, good
That'll keep you going through the show
Come on it's time to go
I've missed you so much...
There is no pain you are receding
A distant ship, smoke on the horizon
You are only coming through in waves
Your lips move but I can't hear what you're saying
When I was a child
I caught a fleeting glimpse
Out of the corner of my eye
I turned to look but it was gone
I cannot put my finger on it now
The child is grown
The dream is gone
I have become comfortably numb
This Story (Hypothetically) Starred
Fiona Shaw as Maureen Willows
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