Two Become One - Part 4

TWO BECOME ONE

Part 4

Craig was terrified. Lanyon was muttering to himself, banging his fist on the bottom of the skip. Craig wanted to ask him if he was alright, but he decided hat it would be best to stay quiet. Lanyon suddenly shot Craig a look, then leapt across the skip and loomed over Craig, his limbs forming a scaly cage. “What are you looking at?” he hissed.
“N-n-nothing.” Craig stuttered.
“You’re wondering why I want the diadem if he wants it to stabilise our mind, aren’t you?”
Craig nodded. If this side of Lanyon was talking, it might bring out the other, nicer side again. Hopefully...
“Cos over the last few years, I’ve gotten stronger. The frustration of interstellar travel, the fact that the Camellan government decided to destroy such a powerful telekinetic manipulator, it has made even the mild-mannered side of my psyche irritable, and that gets passed on to me. When the diadem is reassembled, I will dominate, and use it to take my rightful place.”
“But you, the other you, didn’t seem to have that ambition.”
“He wants power, like anybody else. He just doesn’t realise it yet.” Lanyon sneered. “Academic awards and fame, being the best in your field, such small-scale aims.” He loomed at Craig again, closer, so Craig could see his reflection on Lanyon’s eyes. “Over the years so many people walked all over him, his wife, his colleagues, as soon as the accident happened they all distanced themselves from him, refused to protect us. Once we have the diadem, it’s time for a bit of revenge.”
Craig could see his point. Since he was little, he’d had a bad life, mum never being there, ignoring him so she could meet her dealer. Then, when she died, he’d been dumped on her brother, his uncle Ben, who kept leaving him on his own, or dragging him into danger. He always felt that nobody understood him, and were out to get him. Deep down, he knew it wasn’t true, but he still got angry. Was Lanyon any different to him, or even Isobel? When she was angry, whole towns knew about it. Unlike Lanyon, though, she had Torchwood helping her to overcome her anger issues.
“What time is it?” Lanyon screamed in Craig’s face.
He looked at his watch. “11:30” he told him.
“Then we need to contact Mr Chatham, don’t we!” Lanyon said.
“How are we going to do that?” Craig asked.
“Were would he go if he was waiting for something?”
Craig considered. “Probably the flat.”
“Then we shall go there.”

Ben was indeed in his flat, although he preferred to refer to it as his apartment. He, Anselm, Kyle and Katie had been waiting to hear from the strange alien creature for hours, and despite Katie’s protestations, Ben had insisted they drink some wine. Three empty bottles stood on the coffee table, and Ben was trying to explain to Anselm why Bowie was better than Dylan. Kyle looked at the clock on the wall. Five to midnight. If the alien was going to contact them, it was going to be soon...
Suddenly, the window blew in, shattered glass flew everywhere, and a rock bounced across the room. Ben shot out of his seat and ran to the window. “Bloody Chavs!” he started to shout, but once he’d reached the window he saw it wasn’t chavs. It was Lanyon. He was stood in the courtyard of the apartment block, and had Craig by the scruff of the neck. “If you’ve hurt him...” Ben shouted.
“Come down here and bring the crystal with you!” Lanyon shouted. “Or he dies!”
Ben turned and looked at the others. They said nothing, but Ben knew they didn’t want him to hand over the fragment. After a few seconds, he snatched up the fragment, and headed for the door. “Ben...” Katie said, causing him to turn.
“What?” he replied testily.
“Do you know what you’re doing?”
“No,” Ben admitted, surprising himself “but I have to do it, for Craig’s sake.”
Katie nodded, and Ben left the room.

Ben entered the courtyard, and took in the absurdity of the location. The courtyard had been intended for a communal patio, but had ended up as simply somewhere to leave the bins and bikes, with a big gate in one corner. Lanyon’s large, scaly form stood in the middle of the binbags, and Ben could see Craig was awake, uncomfortable but alive. “Has he hurt you Craig?” Ben called to him, but Lanyon shook Craig so he couldn’t answer.
“He’s unharmed.” Lanyon replied. “Do you have the fragment?”
Ben nodded, and held it out. Lanyon reached out for it, but Ben pulled it back. “Release Craig!” he demanded.
Lanyon considered. “Very well.” He answered, and let go of Craig, who fell from Lanyon’s grip to the floor. Ben went to help him up, but Lanyon stepped in between them. “The fragment!” he demanded, holding out his hand. Ben slapped it heavily into Lanyon’s outstretched hand, a look of anger on his face. “Here, now leave us and this planet alone!” Ben shouted, going round Lanyon to get to Craig.
Lanyon ignored him. He had the final fragment. He reached into a pouch on his belt, and pulled out the other fragments.

“What’s happening?” Anselm said, trying to see past Katie and Kyle through the window.
“He’s handed over the fragment,” Katie said “Now we’re in trouble...”
“Why?” Anselm asked
“Because, you imbecile, he’s got all the bits of whatever it is he’s after. When he puts them together, he’ll destroy us all...”
“No necessarily...” Anselm countered...

Lanyon placed the fragments on an abandoned table, and began putting them in place. Using a tool he’d pulled from the same pouch, he started attaching the pieces together...

Ben was hugging Craig, ignoring Lanyon’s actions. “I was so worried” He said. “But you’re safe now.”
“What about Lanyon?” Craig asked. “Has he got all the fragments?”
Ben pulled back, and looked Craig in the eye. “He told you his name? Did he explain his plan?”
“Yeah,” Craig said. “He wants the diadem to fix his mind.” He told Ben the story that Lanyon had relayed to him in the skip.
“So we could be lucky, and his mind will be fixed.” Ben said. He suddenly felt a large weight lifting from his shoulders. He hadn’t doomed the world; he’d simply helped a fellow academic.
“If the nice version is dominant...” Craig reminded him. But Ben wasn’t listening. It had taken a lot of soul searching to hand over the fragment, he thought he’d been endangering the entire world just to protect Craig, and the chance that there was a silver lining was too great for him.
Lanyon had just fitted the last piece into place, and was just re-attaching it when Kyle came hurtling through the door. “Ben!” he shouted, “We’ve just thought of something!”
His interruption was ignored though, as Lanyon held up the diadem, and announced “Soon I shall be one, and the Universe will regret ever doubting me!” He placed the diadem on his head, and waited.

Nothing happened.

Lanyon took it off, checked the diadem for any missing parts, and placed it back on his head. Still nothing.
“Why isn’t it working?” Ben said, confused.
“That’s what I meant,” Kyle said. “Anselm realised something. The helmet thing won’t work.”
“Why?” Ben asked. Lanyon was rechecking the diadem, getting more and more irritable.
“Jake said it contained a load of delicate circuitry, right?”
Ben realised “So when the diadem was smashed the circuitry was damaged!” He looked across to Lanyon. “So why did he think he could repair it?”
“Why did we?” Kyle said. “Too many films with powerful artefacts being broke up then reassembled. Just cos it works in films doesn’t mean it works in the real world!”
He suddenly ducked as the diadem flew at his head, smashing against the wall. Lanyon’s angry side had fully asserted itself. “FIVE YEARS!!!” he yelled. “FIVE FECKING YEARS!!! I’ve been shot at, imprisoned, beaten and living off crap for five years, and it was all for nothing. Oh, the universe is going to pay for this!” He turned on Ben. “And it’s going to start with you...” He moved towards Ben. Ben started to panic, and moved between Lanyon and Craig. Suddenly, there was a loud crackling noise, and Lanyon’s body began to glow. His eyes bulged, and evaporated, followed by the rest of him. All that was left was a fine powder on the paving slabs.
Ben blinked. What had happened?
“Where’s he go?” Kyle asked. He shouted up to the window which Katie and Anselm were hanging out of. “Did you see anything?”
“No!” Katie shouted back.
“Ah well.” Ben said. “The world is safe, that’s the important thing.”
“A monster that’s about to kill you just went ‘Poof!’ before your eyes for no reason, and you’re not slightly bothered?” Kyle asked, staring at Ben in disbelief.
“Maybe I have a guardian angel” Ben said. “Point is, Craig is safe. Now, let’s get back inside. All this noise is going to have annoyed a lot of my neighbours, so I don’t want them to know it was me!”
Laughing, then went inside, leaving the dust to drift slightly in the wind.

Just outside the courtyard gate a young woman with short blonde hair stood, slowly dismantling a large, advanced looking gun. She’d not wanted to use a disruptor, but it didn’t produce a visible particle trail, so she could use it without being seen. Just a shame it was so bloody heavy... Once it was stowed, she pulled out a mobile phone and called her bosses.
“Hi, it’s me.”
A muffled voice spoke at the other end.
“Yeah, he did need rescuing.” She rolled her eyes.
She looked around her.
“I wasn’t seen.”
She nodded, listening to the new instructions from the other person.
“Right. I’ll maintain observation, then reintroduction can begin.”
She put the phone in her bag, slung it over her shoulder and began walking down the street. Chiara hadn’t seen Ben in over a year, but soon he was going to be seeing a lot more of her...