Murdar turned and doubled back after reaching another dead end, the smoke bomb had distracted the Letifer Anguis for a few moments but soon they would be following her scent trail. If she didn't find a place to escape soon she'd get cornered. As if to prove that fact she heard something moving fast towards her as she turned down another corner, she didn't dare slow down to look behind her until she jumped onto a fire escape ladder only to be pulled down. She was relieved it had been by a person and not the alien... She just wished it wasn't a Torchwood leader.

"Going somewhere?" Jack asked as he stared down at her.

She swallowed and panted a bit as she tried catching her breath before struggling to get to her feet and run off again. "Away from you!"

A gunshot barely missed her hand as she was tripped onto the hard ground again. "Doesn't seem like it, you have no idea where you're going."

Outcast glanced back at him, rolling onto her back to face him. "I'll find my way."

"Your way is back to the Hub."

"Is it now?" She glared at him. "Why would I go with you?"

"Shylah is going to die any minute, possibly second, if you don't tell us how to help her." He explained evenly. "Those bites were poisonous, now we need you to help us help Shylah and Tosh before they die."

"I... You're lying." Murdar accused as she scooted back. "You're just trying to make me go back so you can capture me!"

"I don't lie about my team dying!" Jack shouted, grabbing her by the collar of her shirt and pulling her back to her feet. "Now you're going to help or I'll shoot you through the skull seven times... that's how many lives you said you had left right? You have three seconds to make a choice... One."

"Do it then! You'll never get the answers from me." She spat.

"Two." He growled and held the gun to her skull. "Where's your sense of loyalty now? Are you really going to let your only friend die?"

"I..." She trailed off and went silent.

"Three." He shoved her into the wall and pressed the gun against her temple. "Time's up."

She shuddered at the cold barrel before looking at him. "I'll help..."

"That's what I thought." Jack dragged her away from the wall and shoved her in front of him. "Any sign you're lying and I shoot."

Murdar shivered, and walked at gunpoint all the way back to Torchwood Three's base, which had been at least ten minutes. When she finally got into the hub's interior her worry had developed into a sickened feeling in her gut. Behind her Jack finally put his gun away, a tense expression on his face.

"Where is she?" Murdar asked, noticing no one was sitting around.

"Follow me." He replied stiffly before taking her to the medical room, where everyone was standing around or following Owen's orders.

Upon Jack's entrance, Ianto paused. "Captain."

"Status!" Jack shouted, getting everyone's attention this time.

Owen gave him a shake of his head. "Nothing is working. Miss Hartman and Sato are getting worse, though Tosh does have more time."

"How much?" Jack stressed.

Owen glanced down at the two unconscious women. "Twenty minutes at the most... three for Shylah."

"Where are my things?" Mudar shoved past the others and looked at her barely breathing friend. Guilt rose up in her throat, she should've stayed and at least checked for this. "Someone get my bag now!"

"You heard her." Jack backed her up.

Shuffling noises followed and a moment later she was handed the bag, though she noticed it was still lacking what Owen had taken out earlier. At least what she needed was in a different pocket. She quickly unzipped the small front pocket, her hands shaking a bit with the tension as the others watched her, before pulling out a syringe filled with clear liquid. She stuck it deep into Shylah's chest, right over the heart, before pressing down on the plunger half way before turning and doing the same with Tosh... though if she hadn't been worried about being attacked she would've left the Torchwood woman to die.

"What was that?" Owen asked as he looked at the monitors.

"Castitate." She replied. "It neutralizes nearly any poison. You're lucky I stole it from the Time Lord who brought me to this planet."

"Sounds like castrate." He muttered before relaxing. "Their vitals are steadying."

Murdar shrugged. "I didn't name it and don't think for one moment I saved your friend out of kindness. You'll need everyone you can get if you want to kill those things."

"What are they?" Gwen asked suspiciously. "You seem to know how to deal with them."

She dropped the needle onto the table and turned to look at the other woman. "Where I lived, we learned about a lot of species. These, the Letifer Anguis, come from the vortex. Why they came here... something is commanding them. They may be fierce creatures and work under the largest lizard's command but the alpha takes orders from a dominant species that has proven its worth."

"So you're saying there's something worse out there?" Jack pointed up towards the ceiling.

"Yeah." She grabbed her bag and slung it over one shoulder before walking past him. "Now if you don't mind, I'm going to get out before they track you down and kill me with you."

"Such loyalty." Jack hissed. "To save someone only to leave them to die."

"She'll die anyway! You will all die anyway! People die, that's what happens and I will live once again after I'm killed... I'd rather not waste my lives fighting against something that has nothing to do with me." She glared at him with all the pent up rage she could muster. "Do not follow me again."

"Murdar." Owen called out this time.

She turned her venomous stare to him. "What?"

"Leave the bag here."

"Whatever." She ignored him and grabbed a fallen leather jacket from the floor, why did Torchwood have to be so careless with her things? She'd never get the odd smell coming from it off. "Why don't you make me? You humans seem to like forcing your will upon others."

Murdar darted off before any of them could pull out a gun, reluctantly leaving her Soul Knife and TARDIS behind as she made her escape. She continued running along the sidewalk until she was positive no one was following her. One last glance behind her revealed an empty street, seeing this she relaxed and tiredly turned down an alley. She couldn't hope to figure out the alleyways now, considering the sun was starting to set, for now she'd just find a nice place to hide and sleep. Tomorrow she'd get out of Cardiff and hopefully find a place without Torchwood to stay in... perhaps she'd build a new TARDIS. It would never replace the first she made and would in no way compare to those that had been grown of Gallifrey, but as long as it served its purpose she'd feel better with it.

She finally settled on a spot in a nearly dead end beside an even narrower alley she could use as an escape route if needed. With a heavy sigh she laid her head down on her backpack, which wasn't a comfortable pillow but it had to do, and used the jacket as a blanket as she curled up close to the wall. A few seconds later she frowned and sat up, holding the jacket out in front of her as she did so. Her frown deepened as she realized the design didn't match her jacket, which explained why it didn't smell right at least, though the scent wasn't as horrible as she first thought... it was actually getting a bit addicting to her senses. Another thought came to mind and she reached into one of the pockets and pulled out a few broken pieces of glass... she yelped as she remembered what had been in that container and looked around for any sign that anything else had smelled it.

A low growling noise told her something had and she turned towards the narrow alley to see red glowing eyes boring into her as the Letifer Anguis leader stepped out into the open and came closer followed by several more. Murdar backed away, the blood leaving her face as she realized she was practically unarmed, before she felt herself run into a scaly hid of another one.

"Shit!" She reached for a weapon, anything really, that could still be in her bag while the beasts were distracted with the jacket.

She was about to pull out her last defense when heavy weight pinned her down and hot breath was on her face. A hissing noise sounded in her ear and she glanced back to see the webbed spine along the black and white creature's back and tail lift up as it continued to stare down at her in rage and lust. She slipped out of its claws, wincing as they created long cuts on her sides, before getting to her feet and edging towards the alleyway opening. The creature followed her like a severely oversized puppy, a faint growling sound in its throat as it looked down at her.

Murdar was glad it wasn't about to kill her anymore but she didn't want it following her either. "Shoo! Go home!"

The lizard like monster pounced on her again and she felt something like an electric jolt go through her skull for a moment before a faint voice entered her head. "I cannot go home. Master blocks home... You can take me home! You will come with me, follow me back to home... we shall rule home."

She tried to move but found she couldn't even move her gaze from the red glow of this creature's eyes. She could at least still speak. "I won't leave my home."

"Have you not already Time Lord? You are far from home. Come with me... we will be close to your home than you will ever get." An image of the vortex flashed across her vision and she shuddered with fear, which it didn't seem to notice. "Come with Serpens, we will never need another Master with you in charge. Under your command we can be free."

A gunshot broke the connection and she turned her head dizzily to see a figure running towards her. Her vision blurred and she closed her eyes, above her Serpens growled threateningly and she felt his scales brush against her as he shifted into a fighting stance. She faintly heard someone shouting her name but couldn't make it out, as the growling grew insanely loud, she swore the ground was vibrating from all the noise.

More gunshots and several of the smaller lizards fell to the ground lifelessly, she blinked her eyes open again once the world didn't feel like it was spinning under her and saw Serpens standing on his hind legs and knocking the silhouette of whoever was shooting onto the ground. He was about to rip out their throat when she spoke up.

"Stop!" Serpens jerked back obediently before padding over to her, his bloodied claws clicking on the hard pavement.

His snout touched her brow again and the same shock went through her. "Why did you stop me? He was invading our space!"

She felt Serpens press harder against her until her back was against to cold wall. Frustration was reflecting in his crimson eyes... she shuddered at the murderous creature's gaze. "Tell me why I should spare him! Tell me why I should let him get any closer and interrupt us!"

"Oi!" Murdar heard the man shout though she still couldn't see him. "Come pick on someone worthy you overgrown lizard!"

"How dare that mortal!" Serpens snarled, the sound vibrating against her and she felt claws dig deeper into her sides as his frustration grew.

Once again the world spun as the connection was broke and she sank to the ground feeling sick, this time so much that she thought she'd get sick right there. Then something changed and she saw Serpens change course from the man and stare out down the alley with a vicious roar... the others soon followed suit before slinking off, leaving their leader the only one left standing there.

"Serpens?" She called out softly, not sure if she wanted the Letifer Anguis to hear her.

He did however and roughly picked her up in his jaws before swinging her onto his back. His gaze barely left that one spot as he continued to growl lowly.

"Murdar!" This time she recognized the voice and stared down groggily at Owen, who now had an accusing look. "You're their master? It makes sense how you knew everything about them then."

He aimed his gun up at her and pulled the trigger, she slid off Serpens' back and winced as she hit the ground, blood ran out from the graze on her back. "I'm not I swear!"

Serpens gave an agonized spasm and shook himself with a growl, his gaze wild as he switched between glaring at the alleyway and glaring at Murdar. He staggered a bit before running off in the same direction the other Letifer Anguis had gone, leaving Murdar to face Owen alone.

The doctor didn't hesitate to attack again and she squirmed under his tight grip on her shirt while a gun was pressed once more to her head. "What was that?"

"The-the perfume in y-your pocket." She was trying to slow down her racing hearts. "T-they smelled it... I d-don't know what happened exactly... Their m-master called t-them home I t-think."

"You think or know?" He pressed, not completely ignoring the claw marks marring her skin.

"I don't know why else they would leave." She groaned and closed her eyes as he pressed down on one of her deeper cuts. "I swear on my lives I'm not lying!"

He didn't move however and when she blinked her eyes open again she saw him looking past her at a faint blue glow... she grew pale as she heard the quiet sound of something hovering closer. It couldn't be, it just couldn't; this had to be a hallucination. Owen jerked her onto her feet before shoving her towards the other exit and snatching up her bag, completely abandoning his jacket, though he did glance longingly at it, before running.

"Keep running!" He shouted as she started to slow down. "Those things kill on sight!"

"I know!" She yelled back, hearing a robotic voice cry out 'exterminate' behind them. Murdar tried to pick up her pace, terror making her blind to her pain.