Harm ' s Way ( short story ) Harm ' s Way was a short story published in " Torchwood Magazine " issues 8 - 10 . It was written by Trevor Baxendale . Summary . Part One Issue 8 ( 6 pages ) Landing in the back garden of a house in Pontcanna , the Torchwood team of Jack , Tosh , and Ianto retrieve an " artefact " . It is two metres long by one metre wide , and resembles a loaf of bread with a thick crust but translucent like amber , with a strong organic smell . The artefact is moved back to the Hub , and taken to the autopsy lab . Gwen has been given a morning off , which she has decided to spend having coffee with Rhys at a café . Rhys voices his concerns and worries , about her career choice ( mainly the daily threat she faces to her life ) and Jack phoning her , calling her back to work and cutting their meeting short doesn ' t help matters . Back at the Hub , Gwen suggests the artefact is a chrysalis with something organic and alive inside . This would explain the dead readings from the scan . Under UV light there appears to be some form of script writing on the shell , but before it can be translated , Gwen is proven right . The chrysalis splits open and a huge , multi - limbed creature breaks out . With lightning speed the creature knocks out Jack and leaves Owen hiding his bloodied face and moaning in a way that reminds Gwen of a child run over by a bin lorry . Ianto races to the armoury . Gwen leaves Toshiko to tend the wounded Owen and pursues the creature in the Hub . Ianto is brushed aside by the creature following a hail of bullets which seem to have had little effect . As the creature moves in on Gwen , her phone rings — the last thing she ' ll probably ever hear , Rhys calling . . . Part Two Issue 9 ( 6 pages ) Gwen lies unconscious in a hospital bed in a separate room at the hospital , linked to various machines when Rhys arrives . Jack joins him at the bedside . His " She ' s gonna be alright " comments do little to pacify a very angry Rhys , who demands to know what happened . Guided by Toshiko back at the Hub to another Rift disturbance , Owen and Ianto have discovered another chrysalis in the middle of a building site . Around the open shell are the torn - apart remains of workers ' bodies . Jack tells Rhys about the chrysalis that opened up and proved to be hostile . The creature is trapped inside a highly localised time - field created by Tosh using the Rift manipulator . It is alive but moving very slowly . The effect will not last for long . The only weakness that has been identified in the creature ' s armour is a soft , unprotected area of the palate that is exposed for a brief moment before it strikes . Jack is more concerned about the other creature on the loose in Cardiff . Leaving Rhys " grateful " that Gwen is alive ( albeit with a hairline fracture to her skull and some cracked ribs ) , Jack joins Owen and Ianto . The second creature has been found in Grangetown — heading towards the city , some nine foot tall and growing , according to police reports . As the creature causes devastation , turning over buses , and ripping cars in half , Toshiko hears the chaos as Jack tries to take control of the system . When the communications go down all she can get is the BBC News report suddenly brought to an end by the sound of a huge explosion and an image of a huge orange fireball . . . Part Three Issue 10 ( 7 pages ) In the hospital room , Gwen makes a recovery . Her first concern is Jack and the others . Ignoring Rhys ' pleas to rest , she discharge herself . Rhys takes her back to the Hub via the paving stone lift . Jack is trying to motivate a badly injured Owen into getting up out of the gutter . They were separated from Ianto in the fracas and Owen took another knock . Ianto arrives and helps Jack get Owen in the back of the SUV where Owen is treated with a broad spectrum range of antibiotics from the glove compartment for his infected wounds . Leaving Owen with Ianto , Jack goes after the second creature . Inside the Hub , Toshiko tells the others what she has learnt from the glyphs on the casing . The two creatures are rivals . She believes that they have both come through the Rift , not as flotsam and jetsam but for a purpose . Toshiko believes they are contestants , sent through the Rift to settle their differences . Jack listens to Toshiko as the military arrives ( possibly UNIT ) . These aliens need each other . Gwen suggests letting them get on with it . Jack takes a little convincing to release the creature in the hub , but with the sound of the second creature ' s challenge ringing in his ears and the containment field in the hub about to break any moment , Jack gives the command . Released , the first creature makes its way up the gantry to the open space near the pavement stone lift in pursuit of its opponent . Gwen , Rhys and Toshiko play catch up . At the Millennium Stadium , the second creature responds , crying out to the other . Soon the two creatures are locked in ferocious battle . The first creature , although smaller , is more vicious than the other creature . Black blood is spilled over the stadium as the two fight it out . The second creature is distracted by the arrival of Gwen and Rhys on the other side of the stadium . Seizing the advantage , the first creature strikes and makes the kill . Torchwood watch as the dead creature glows — a blood - red light spreading across its body before it fades away . The first creature is drawn to Gwen and as it moves in for the kill for the second time , a single shot rings out . Jacks fires his Webley revolver into the creature ' s mouth , hitting the soft palate and through to the creature ' s unprotected brain . Like the other creature , it glows red and fades from existence — just as if they never existed . As the casualties and damaged are assessed , Rhys observes that " sometimes there are just too many people in harm ' s way " . Jack reminds him that " we look after our own at Torchwood , as well as everyone else . " References . " to be added " Notes . " to be added " Continuity . " to be added "