'You Better Run, You Better Take Cover ' (for capj_harkness)

[first_in_time]

The wardrobe in the Guardian's TARDIS was quite kind as to provide Barbara with a rack of clothes to choose from. Well, probably not just Barbara, but it certainly felt that way. The dress she chose fitted perfectly, and even the bottom hem stopped at the perfect length above the floor. She smoothed the dress over her hips as she admired herself in

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[capj_harkness]

Again Jack fired, but this time it didn't have quite so much the desired effect. One of the tentacles wrapped around his leg and pulled him to the ground, dragging him further in.

[first_in_time]

"Captain!" she cried out as the walls began to shake, and dust fell from the ceiling to catch in her hair. Barbara dashed after the tentacle, tripping over rocks, and narrowly missing other limbs from...whatever it was that lived at the end of the tunnel.

[capj_harkness]

Jack's gun fell from his hand, skittering across the stone floor as he tried to get it aimed at the creature again. He hit his head on a rock and his vision blurred, then he blacked out.

[first_in_time]

"Captain!" Barbara cried, seeing him hit the rock before he was pulled away again.

She reached for the gun. Barbara didn't like firearms at the best of times, but if it was what stopped the thing, and brought Captain Harkness back to the TARDIS, she'd have to get used to the idea.

Although they had vanished from sight, Barbara could still hear the sound of her shipmate being dragged along the ground. She held her lantern up higher, until she spotted the torch he must have dropped when he passed out. That should help her somewhat, and she picked it up. Now that she was able to see better, Barbara could pick up the pace.

She ran as fast as she could, dodging as many of the larger rocks as she could, and only tripping a few times. She never fell, just stumbled. The tunnel didn't branch away from the main run, but after a long moment of panting and following the tracks, Barbara realised that she couldn't hear the dragging any more, just her own heavy breathing. So she slowed down, expecting something to jump out at her at any moment

[capj_harkness]

When Jack came around, he was still being dragged. His vision was a little blurry. He blinked and tried to move, but his foot was held fast and there didn't seem to be anything he could grab. Suddenly they stopped. He glanced around, then pulled his leg back, but his foot was still held firm. He felt around, trying to find something to throw.

[first_in_time]

Barbara rounded the corner, gun held tight in both arms, and she leveled the barrel at the...the...

The Captain was still held fast by the tentacle, the impossibly long tentacle, which lay curled on the ground like an extension power cord, the other end of it was still very clear to see. Barbara might have been expecting an octopus-like creature at the other end, or perhaps a jellyfish, but what she found was more like a personWell, sort of

[capj_harkness]

Jack came gasping back to life, sitting up, coughing. He glanced around until he saw the creature, green brains splattered on the wall behind it and Barbara, curled up against the wall sobbing.

He frowned in confusion.

"What happened?"

[first_in_time]

The sobbing was replaced with wide, shocked eyes, and a little bit of fear. She knew that the Captain couldn't die - he'd said so himself, and the Doctor had explained it - but she'd never imagined...or thought about what it would be like. Barbara reached out and prodded his arm; her little test to see if he was real, or if he was a figment of her desperate imagination.

"Captain," she gasped, eyeing him over, still not trusting her senses. "You're...well, you were...but now you're-well, you were dead."

[capj_harkness]

"Oh." He sat up groggily, glancing at Barbara. "Yeah. That can... happen." He got to his knees and leaned in to get a better look at the alien. "And it would seem it's killed a lot of people that won't be waking up."

[first_in_time]

"Oh, no, I knew about you," she told him, still clearly stunned. Eventually she managed to tear her eyes from the Captain, and look at the alien.

"Here," Barbara said and returned the pistol to him. I don't know how you use those things."

[capj_harkness]

Jack took it, but glanced at the body again. "Looks like you did just fine with it," he noted.

[first_in_time]

"I'd rather not have," replied Barbara as she wiped her eyes. "But what are we going to do with this mess now? We can't simply carry it out, it's too heavy for one thing. Do you think there'd be anything helpful in the TARDIS?"

[capj_harkness]

"Why would we bring him anywhere?" Jack asked, confused.

[first_in_time]

"We can't leave it here. Someone will discover it," she said and pointed to the Captain's gun, "not to mention the bullets from the future. We need to do something with it."

[capj_harkness]

Jack pointed to the rock above them. "When we're done, we collapse the cave."

[first_in_time]

"And if it's dug up in years to come?" she asked with her chin jutted out and her arms folded.