Fic: "Lady or the Tiger" Girl Number 9 (R)

[51stcenturyfox]

Title:  Lady or the Tiger
Characters: Vincent Boylan, Detective James Matheson
Rating: R
Word count: 593 (Hey, it's a web series, what do you want, a Girl Number 9 Big Bang?)
Summary: Alternate ending for Episode Six @ canyousaveher.com
Notes: I had a free hour and... some beer(s). Beta thanks to the lovely and charming misswinterhill



"G'wan; do it," Boylan goaded the detective, the corner of his mouth turning up in a foul sneer. "You die, she lives. End of."

Matheson paused and felt a rivulet of sweat trace its way down the centre of his spine.

"She's all I have... left," he repeated uselessly. As if this fucking... animal cared about what was left of their family, though obviously he'd learnt enough to know how to hit him below the belt. An accident had taken Holly's mother, Sian, from them far too recently. God knows what Boylan had done to the caregiver he'd had to hire to watch his daughter after school while James had worked late nights tracking him. Ironic, that.

Boylan grinned at him then, teeth a feline flash, and Matheson fought back tears -- don't give the bastard the satisfaction; that's what he wants --then felt something... tip over in his head.

"Lady or the tiger," Matheson gasped.

"No time for stories. Time's passing. Forty-one seconds. Tick tick tick." The killer's cuffed wrists clanked against the interrogation room chair.

"No. The Lady or the Tiger. One choice, and it's me or it's Holly. Question is... who would you rather see die? Me or her?"

"Oh, I don't know... I'm rather fond of killing little girls."

"No. Not like this. You- you could've picked any random child off the street knowing we'd do all we could to save her. You chose Holly. Because you knew I was after you."

"And look what a lovely resolution we have." Boylan laughed.

Matheson glared at him, and turned his attention to the laptop screen, where Holly struggled against the chains.

"She'll die," Boylan spat. "Just like the last one. It's a quick death; shock and blood loss. But oh, she'll feel it, won't she? It's got to be agonising having limbs ripped off. She'll know what's happening to her. She'll wonder why her policeman hero daddy couldn't save her."

Matheson looked at Holly's image again, then swept his eyes back to Boylan. Banging came from the reinforced door behind him, along with Lyndon's voice shouting his name.

Swallowing hard, he raised his gun. He knew what he had to do. "You know no jury would convict," he said.

The time ran out on the countdown. On the screen, the chains loosed and Holly stood shakily and ran, disappearing from view.

Matheson smiled, quirked his head to the side, and aimed.

"No." Boylan tried to stand, but the shackles held fast, and all he was able to do was pitch the chair forward. "No, goddamn you! I wasn't going to kill her. I was never-"

"Doesn't matter, does it? CCTV's off. Key's broken off in the door. Your orders. Once you've got a hole in your skull, I'll just make it look like you picked the shackles, came at me and wrestled me for the gun."

Boylan stopped moving and gulped air as Matheson released the safety with a practised thumb. Bits and bytes and websites... Boylan could keep them. But steel and the power of a well-aimed projectile? Matheson could get behind that.

"See, you did your research, didn't you, Boylan? But you didn't realise that I might notice there's no way you could stop whatever you'd set up in that warehouse while chained to a fucking chair, whether I killed myself for your entertainment or not."

Boylan shut his eyes and grimaced. This time he didn't even try to pretend it was a smile.

Detective Matheson replaced the safety and holstered his gun as the door crashed in.
 

Comments

[edibleflowers.livejournal.com]

Yes. Can I have this ending instead? Please?

[51stcenturyfox.livejournal.com]

There you are! :D

Aim to please!

[remuslives23.livejournal.com]

As much as I liked GN9, I much prefer your ending (less plot holes and more logic for one thing)! Why must they keep doing this to Gareth? *pets him*

[choccy-grl.livejournal.com]

I know. If he ends up dying in The Bill episode he's filmed I will not be happy :(

[choccy-grl.livejournal.com]

Yes, yes that makes so much more sense.
I can't believe they did it to us again.

[51stcenturyfox.livejournal.com]

That was kind of weirdly ironic, huh?

I just had to write an alternate ending!

[le-chapeau.livejournal.com]

YES. This ending really works.
Lovely lie of "Lady or the tiger" - it's great to see Matheson living up to expectations and working out Holly would have died either way if it weren't a hoax.
*applause*

[51stcenturyfox.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

It wasn't too hard to figure. I mean... the guy was stressed out, but yeah!

[topgeargirl2.livejournal.com]

Yeah I enjoyed this ending, even though i didn't mind the ending I saw this morning.

[51stcenturyfox.livejournal.com]

Everything needs fic, or it's not a real fandom. It's a rule!

:D

[jackieville.livejournal.com]

Thank you!!!!

[51stcenturyfox.livejournal.com]

\O/ You're welcome!

[lefaym.livejournal.com]

Yes, much better! I too wondered how Boylan was supposed to prevent Holly's death while he was chained up -- I expected, at least, that Matheson would unlock the cuffs before he offed himself.

[51stcenturyfox.livejournal.com]

Yes, exactly!

I was befuddled by this.

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, this ending is, ya know, logical.
It actually makes sense!

Unlike the webisode which... did not.
Not at all, not at all.

[51stcenturyfox.livejournal.com]

So it wasn't only me, then? :)

[mathequasian.livejournal.com]

Look at that. He doesn't kill himself and he STILL loses the game -- by one point, in your version. In the real world, I won by a landslide!

[51stcenturyfox.livejournal.com]

We Are The Champions!

Matheson... loves Queen.

As do I. Great band.

[eawen-penallion.livejournal.com]

Thank God - an ending that makes sense! Though I would have had Matheson actually blow him away just as Leydon broke in, then Matheson ending up chained to a chair as a 'murderer'...

I felt that Leydon and the other officers around her were such 'cold fish', I got no sense of sickness or true moral outrage from any of them - I couldn't empathise with the characters except Matheson, so the whole thing left me feeling 'meh - was that it?'

Your ending was so much more satisfying :-)

[51stcenturyfox.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

Thank God - an ending that makes sense! Though I would have had Matheson actually blow him away just as Leydon broke in, then Matheson ending up chained to a chair as a 'murderer'...

That's genius! I wish I'd thought of that! Ooo!

[tktrix.livejournal.com]

To be honest I like both endings, yours and James' because they are both very interesting and dynamic. I think we *the fandom* for the most part are the more intelligent of the viewers and see the plot(holes) and its a little harder to let the little things go, but I really like this. I know we do like to see GDL die *and damn it seems like its happening alot lol) but really, it does show his strength as an actor. I'm continually impressed by James and I think it shows alot of talent that he sees Gareth as someone he wants to work with, and cast him in such a dynamic role. Really Matheson and Ianto are very different. I truly think these (both endings) are brilliant.

[tktrix.livejournal.com]

shit, I mean dont! dont like to see him die, dont flame me! lol. damn you glass of wine!

[kel-reiley.livejournal.com]

ooh, i likey

[51stcenturyfox.livejournal.com]

YAYS!

[melita-r.livejournal.com]

Much prefer this to the actual ending! They need to stop killing GDL when the story works out so much better with him alive.

[51stcenturyfox.livejournal.com]

He does do shaky, freaked-out acting very well.

I just like alternate endings.

YOU KNOW, they could have made more than one ending and had viewers pick one. Choose your own adventure!

[elainasaunt.livejournal.com]

I was pretty "Meh" about the real ending - about the whole series, in fact - but this one works, for sure. I can't believe Moran made the story so predictable. A little ratiocination, please.

[51stcenturyfox.livejournal.com]

*adds new word to vocabulary* That is the second one today. misswinterhill made me google bogong moths. :D

I expected a shocking ending, but wasn't too shocked, really. Though I haven't even seen Saw, I did see Severance, which Moran wrote. I liked it, actually.

[cowgrrl.livejournal.com]

Yes!!!! An actual satisfying ending that makes sense. Thank you. This is my new canon for Girl Number 9.

[51stcenturyfox.livejournal.com]

YAYS! LOL. :D

[purple-shoes.livejournal.com]

*applaud* I really like this, much more than the actual ending! It makes much more sense and addresses all the logic holes apparently, well, everyone found with the last installment. XD Also your writing is lovely.

[51stcenturyfox.livejournal.com]

Oooh, thank you very much!

Fandom has low tolerance for plotholes.

Also wish more of the backstory was developed so we'd care more. (It was on twitter, and misswinterhill helped a LOT with that.)

[samstjames.livejournal.com]

Uh, I didn't even know this series existed (up to now - just watched all the episodes of it) and I gotta say, I absolutely prefer your ending over the real one.

[51stcenturyfox.livejournal.com]

Thanks! The writer did at least one Torchwood ep and Doctor Who episodes. Thought his dialogue was really good and you know, this was fun. :)

[hab318princess.livejournal.com]

definitely the preferred ending :D

[51stcenturyfox.livejournal.com]

:D Hooray!

[sassysailorgirl.livejournal.com]

*applauds* This would've made a hell of a lot more sense. I loved the first five episodes, but #6 really fell flat. Poor Gareth playing another doomed character!

[51stcenturyfox.livejournal.com]

Guy can't catch a break!

I do like his acting and hope he gets a regular series.

[teaboyfan.livejournal.com]

Your ending makes a lot more sense, and is morally superior to the one I thought up, in which Matheson knee-capped him and threatened to do the other one unless he talked.

[51stcenturyfox.livejournal.com]

HEY, that would have worked! I would read the heck out of that story!

You should write it! :)

[huesiemama.livejournal.com]

I approve of this.

[51stcenturyfox.livejournal.com]

Alllllriiiiight~! :D

[wynkat1313.livejournal.com]

thank you! A writer with guts and brains. much much better. This is what I went off in my dang journal about. Smart detective being smart instead of the writer of the show being all cute and lazy and taking the cheap "Shot" of killing the character. THANK YOU!

[51stcenturyfox.livejournal.com]

Aww, thanks!

No brains on the wall, anyway. Hmm.

Matheson caught the guy, after all...I'm pretty sure he's not stupid. (Though I can buy too stressed to think straight, sort of.)

[gypsylady.livejournal.com]

I'm still trying to figure out why Moran wanted it to end like it did. Either he truly thinks cops are idiots (and the way he portrayed them in G#9 certainly makes it seem that way) or he just went for pure shock value and sacrificed interesting plot to it...or he didn't realize that he destroyed the last segment by killing off the only actual chemistry and half of the good acting in the show.

I always knew GDL was a better actor than the "Torchwood" plotholes were allowing for. You can tell from his willingness to make his face ugly to express ugly emotions. Not many actors are willing to do that. It's the extra step that puts him way above a lot of the tv actors out there today. (Sorry, but compare him to someone like Thomas Gibson or Kiefer Sutherland, both of whom have had similarly deeply personal negative moments on the small screen. They're both good, competent actors. GDL blows them out of the water in terms of willingness to express emotions believably.) Having only 30 (a little less, actually) minutes to tell the story, losing one of the two good actors with five or so minutes to go is a major problem. Absolom was good, damn good, but without GDL to bounce off of he seemed almost comic.

So my personal canon will be this ending. I might adjust some of the dialogue in my mind, but the story remains the same. Thou hast saved me, Foxy.

Gotta get back to Nano-ing now. (I wrote all this as a warm up. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!)

[51stcenturyfox.livejournal.com]

That's interesting. Yeah, I do think Absolom needed GDL at the end... or the Lyndon character, who we knew a bit more than the other random copper.

I think he's a really good actor. I'd like to see him carry something longer.

Something really different, not sci-fi or a thriller cop drama. Yes, a military role! So he'll have to cut his hair.

[sistercarrion.livejournal.com]

Love this ending so much more. Nicely done!

[51stcenturyfox.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :)

[cloudillusion.livejournal.com]

Yes. This, please. A much-preferred ending, and very well done. Thanks for sharing!

I'm in the middle of writing my own alternate ending, and can I just say that I love fandom for all the 'better' possibilities we can produce.

[51stcenturyfox.livejournal.com]

Think of the reams and reams of Torchwood fic when we have only what... 27 episodes or something?

I hope you link me when you do write it!

I was a huge X-Files fan, and well, that's why it doesn't bother me when I disagree with something in canon. You can just write your own or read fanworks! :)