Challenge 817 - Pulling in the crowds
Jun. 16th, 2024 06:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
m_findlowTitle: Pulling in the crowds
Character: Torchwood team
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 300 words
Content notes: None
Author notes: Written for Challenge 817 - Herd at ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
torchwood100
torchwood100Summary: Jack is worried about how they're going to get everyone out safely. A triple drabble.
‘Could there be a worse place for having to deal with this crap?’ Owen moaned, throwing himself from the SUV which was parked diagonally across double lines, blocking off a one way street and managing to simultaneously back onto a pedestrian access only area. If Jack was playing parking scrabble, he’d earned the three triple word score, using Z, X and Q.
‘Gwen, you get those police friends of yours to get a proper cordone in place,’ Jack barked, watching the impending chaos about to unfold on a busy St Mary Street shopping plaza. Too many people and too much danger for five people to handle without help. ‘We need to evacuate everyone without creating a panic.’
‘Easier said than done,’ Owen griped. ‘Look at the place. Saturday morning and every sod in Cardiff is here. Remember what happened last time?’
Jack didn’t need reminding. People never reacted the way you expected them to, even in the face of imminent danger.
‘Herd them towards the castle end of the street. I want a clear path between here and the hub in case we need to flush them down that way and use the hub’s shielding technology to capture them.’
Suddenly people disappeared from the plaza, as if by magic. Had he blinked and missed alien abduction on top of a swarm of deadly Gnatterbugs? One second there’d been hundreds of people everywhere, clutching shopping bags and disposable coffee cups and now there was hardly a person to be seen; just a few baffled police officers milling uselessly.
Jack’s head flicked from left to right. ‘Where’d they go?’
Ianto sidled up beside him, looking pleased. ‘Shoppers herded and accounted for, sir.’
Jack frowned. ‘What’d you do?’
‘Just announced a sale at H&M. Never underestimate the power of a good bargain.’
‘Could there be a worse place for having to deal with this crap?’ Owen moaned, throwing himself from the SUV which was parked diagonally across double lines, blocking off a one way street and managing to simultaneously back onto a pedestrian access only area. If Jack was playing parking scrabble, he’d earned the three triple word score, using Z, X and Q.
‘Gwen, you get those police friends of yours to get a proper cordone in place,’ Jack barked, watching the impending chaos about to unfold on a busy St Mary Street shopping plaza. Too many people and too much danger for five people to handle without help. ‘We need to evacuate everyone without creating a panic.’
‘Easier said than done,’ Owen griped. ‘Look at the place. Saturday morning and every sod in Cardiff is here. Remember what happened last time?’
Jack didn’t need reminding. People never reacted the way you expected them to, even in the face of imminent danger.
‘Herd them towards the castle end of the street. I want a clear path between here and the hub in case we need to flush them down that way and use the hub’s shielding technology to capture them.’
Suddenly people disappeared from the plaza, as if by magic. Had he blinked and missed alien abduction on top of a swarm of deadly Gnatterbugs? One second there’d been hundreds of people everywhere, clutching shopping bags and disposable coffee cups and now there was hardly a person to be seen; just a few baffled police officers milling uselessly.
Jack’s head flicked from left to right. ‘Where’d they go?’
Ianto sidled up beside him, looking pleased. ‘Shoppers herded and accounted for, sir.’
Jack frowned. ‘What’d you do?’
‘Just announced a sale at H&M. Never underestimate the power of a good bargain.’
no subject
Date: 2024-06-16 09:30 am (UTC)