Two Become One - Part 3

TWO BECOME ONE

Part 3

Craig was feeling dizzy. He’d been nearly crushed, carried across fences, gates and through a tunnel, and was now sitting in a large skip in an industrial estate on the edge of town. The stranger was sitting in the skip too, panting and wheezing, and clearly in some distress. Craig wondered if it was something to do with the gravity, or the atmosphere, when the stranger suddenly looked up at him, and fixed him with a stare.
“Are you alright?” it said.
This threw Craig. “What?”
“Are you alright, I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
“Erm, no, I’m fine.”
The stranger threw his head back. “Oh thank goodness. I was worried...”
Craig looked at the stranger. It was definitely the same one, same scaly skin and black eyes. “You were worried? You threw that bloke pretty hard and didn’t worry about him.”
The stranger stared at him. “Did I? Oh no...” He put his head in his hands again. “I hate all this, I just want it to stop!”
“All what?” Craig asked. “Who are you?”
“My name is Lanyon, I used to be a scientist on a planet far from here. I was quite successful, won several awards, before all this started.”
“Before all what?”
“We were working on harnessing telekinetic energy; we built a special diadem made of crystal with a Usapium lattice. It was going to revolutionise the universe...”
“So what happened?” Craig was still finding it hard to believe this was the same creature who had probably killed the barman and had dragged him through a plate-glass window.
“The test subjects had been focused mentally, but when it came to the demonstrations, I insisted on being the one to show it’s potential. The night before, though, I had discovered my partner was unfaithful, I was angry, but didn’t want to let that get in the way of our achievement. That was a mistake.”
“During the final demonstration, I saw my partner’s lover in the audience, and I just erupted. I turned the power of the diadem on her.” He shook his head. “So much blood... The anger in me must have caused an overload, because it fed back into my head, affecting my psyche. It split my personality, the anger, the fury, the repressed side of my character all magnified, many, many times, I can’t control it once it starts”
“So, like the Incredible Hulk?” Craig heard himself say. He liked to think he was sophisticated, and wished he’d said Jekyll and Hyde, but he doubted that Lanyon knew of either of them.
“I threw off the diadem, and ran. I spent a year in hiding, hoping that somehow I wouldn’t hurt anyone. Unfortunately, I did. Lots of people. My moods would switch at any time, one minute I’m helping someone, the next I’m attacking them.” He grabbed his head, and grunted. Craig backed away, nervously “If I can get the diadem repaired, I might be able to fix the damage.” He looked at Craig. “Where is the final fragment of the diadem?”
Craig looked back at Lanyon. He looked pathetic, pleading with him for a piece of broken crystal.
“I... I don’t know.” He said. He knew his uncle wouldn’t want him to talk, so he was pleading ignorance.
“You’d better not” Lanyon said, a touch of malice in his voice. “Because if you do, I’m going to rip your head off.”
Craig stared in terror. The evil side of Lanyon was back. He had to be careful...

Katie and Kyle were sitting in the relatives room of the A&E. Frank was awake now, but the nurses were concerned about him, as he kept babbling about monsters. Katie knew what this meant; the owner of the crystal fragment had come back for it.
Kyle sat next to her, his hand on her shoulder. “He’ll be alright.” He kept saying. Katie was starting to find it annoying, but she didn’t say anything. Recently she’d been feeling a strange attraction to Kyle. She wasn’t sure if it was just some sort of lust for a “bit-of-rough”, or a rebound thing after coming to terms with Ben, or even a proper emotional attachment, but the one thing she did know, she really liked Kyle...

Kyle’s bottom had fallen asleep. The plastic chairs in the relatives’ room were not built for comfort, clearly, and he kept shuffling. He would have taking his hand off Katie’s shoulder, but he didn’t want to. Since their incarceration in the cell on the Dalmanite spaceship they’d been close, and Kyle had had some pretty shocking dreams about Katie. He wasn’t sure if it was just some bizarre fetish for a dominating bitch, or something more. All he knew was he really liked Katie...

Katie and Kyle turned to face each other. They said nothing, and started to lean towards each other...
Suddenly Ben burst into the room, followed by Anselm and a rather harassed looking Nurse. “Katie, Kyle, it’s got Craig.”
“What has?” Kyle asked.
“Some sort of alien creature. It may have killed that fat disgusting man from the Mermaid, and now it’s got Craig!”
Katie looked stunned. “What, Barry’s dead?” She really couldn’t stand the dirty old pervert, the way he would try and cop a feel at any opportunity, but dead?
“Oh, probably. But it’s got Craig!”
“What does it want?” Kyle asked.
“It wants that fragment of crystal we found.” Ben explained. “I think it’s part of some ancient weapon.”
“Well, we can’t give it to him then!” Katie said. “Who knows what damage he’ll do?”
“He’s got Craig, I can’t take the risk.” Ben said firmly.
“It’s him or the world though if you’re right.” Kyle said.
“Of course I’m right. Look,” he said, tears forming in his eyes “Craig relies on me, I need to help him, and if that means handing over part of a mighty weapon, that’s fine by me.”
“I take it you have a plan to stop him once he has the fragment.” Anselm asked.
Ben turned and glared at Anselm. It wasn’t like him to doubt him.
“Of course,” he answered, pulling his mobile from his pocket “I’ll just give UNIT a call, and they’ll sort him out.”
“You know,” Katie said “One day UNIT won’t be there to save you, you’re going to have to think of a back up.”
“I have, actually.” Ben said smugly.
“Phoning Torchwood isn’t a back-up plan...” Katie responded sharply.
“Look” Ben said defensively “I’m in charge here, I’ve saved the world more often than any of you-” “More like UNIT, Torchwood and the Doctor have” Katie muttered “- and I think you owe me some respect.” He came very close to saying that he had a first from Cambridge, but he managed to stop himself. That argument had ceased to mean anything now Katie was better qualified than him, Anselm had one from Bristol and Kyle was completely unimpressed by it, so he hadn’t used it in ages.
Kyle moved toward Ben, and placed his hand on Ben’s shoulder. “Look, mate, I know you’re worried, Craig’s a good kid and knows how to look after himself. He’ll be fine.”
Ben shrugged off Kyles hand. “He’d better be...”