Weevolution
How will Torchwood survive the upswing in violent deaths hitting Cardiff, especially when one of their own might be involved?
Spoilers: post-series two Torchwood
Beta(s): bookwrm89, vipersweb
Crescent Moon | Quarter Moon | Gibbous Moon | Full Moon | Waning Moon
Crescent Moon
^top
Ianto Jones flipped idly through the South Wales Echo, making small hash marks to keep track of the crime report details. He'd include the tally in his afternoon update, but he knew Jack wouldn't comment on it and Gwen would likely not even show up for the meeting. Not that Ianto would mind her absence; it meant fewer broken coffee mugs and less yelling. He'd resigned himself to Gwen's foul mood as a particularly bad month, but he'd keep the good mugs hidden for now since Jack didn't seem to mind Gwen's black cloud and wasn't making any attempt to defuse it. As he closed the newspaper, the cover story caught his attention again.
Jovian Comet 203P Korlevic Brightens Skies.
Astronomers look forward to Korlevic's return after ten years. Amateur stargazers can expect best viewing the night of the full moon.
He dropped the newspaper on the coffee table and headed towards his workstation; his clipboard and checklist were waiting for him to start the day. First, coffee for Jack, followed by checking on any new Weevil inmates. The coffee machine spluttered as the water turned to steam, and infused the granules. Ianto smiled as the machine performed its magic- the few minutes spent on this simple task were often the only calm moments during the insanity of Torchwood so he savored them. A last look to confirm Gwen's absence and Ianto, his clipboard, and two mugs of coffee made their way to Jack's office.
"Thank you, Ianto." Jack accepted the mug of coffee without looking up from the paperwork engulfing his desk. He smiled as the first sip took the edge off his nerves and his attention returned to the paperwork. As the chair across from him creaked, he said, "Shouldn't need any supplies in the SUV. And no new Weevils to deal with, they all headed for the sewers as soon as I got there." He didn't look up from his paperwork as he heard the scribbling on Ianto's checklist. "Let me know when Gwen gets in please?"
Ianto drank his coffee while staring at Jack, waiting to see if he'd ever make eye contact. After half a cup and several folders shuffled, Ianto gave up and rose from the chair. "If you won't be needing anything else then?" Ianto headed towards the door but turned back, "When you have a moment, there have been several violent murders that the police are investigating. They seem like something we should investigate." When Jack only grumbled, Ianto gave up and left the office. There were many things on his to-do list for the day.
The clock radio buzzed loudly and was quickly followed by news on Radio Wales talking about the startling increase in violent crime over the last week and the police's apparent inability to get it under control. With a growl, a fist came down on the radio, breaking the plastic into shards and buzzing electronics. The hand grabbed at a pillow and compressed it over its head. Rhys stepped out of the bathroom with a toothbrush in his hand, "Hey, I was listening to that! Come on Gwen, time to start the day." He looked at the rubble that used to be the clock radio and grumbled, "I liked that radio, come on grouch, get up and I'll make a proper fry up." Rhys dropped heavily onto the bed and pulled the pillow off Gwen's head then fell back as a fist slammed into the side of his head. "Oi! You can make do with bloody toast for that!" He headed back into the bathroom, leaving Gwen to her own devices.
It was nearly an hour later when Gwen finally sat up in bed, rubbing her eyes and grousing under her breath. She looked at the rubble that had been a clock and frowned. Her head was throbbing with the headache that hadn't left for days as she wandered into the kitchen. She pulled the Paracetamol off the shelf and dumped several tablets into her hand, which she washed down with the room temperature tea sitting on the counter. Gwen looked around for something interesting to eat but finally grabbed the cold toast that Rhys had obviously left. She continued to press the flat of her hand into her temple, hoping for at least a little relief and cringed when her mobile began ringing.
Police Constable Andy Davidson had to close his eyes and leave the room after seeing the crime scene. The 999 call was for a domestic disturbance, but this had all the markings of a wild animal attack. Rather than go back in the flat where several officers mulled around, he took up position at the base of the stairwell and kept the onlookers away until cordon tape could be strung around the area. Not that there was much point to getting the tape up in hopes of evidence as the rain probably washed it away and the area was heavy with foot traffic going towards the entertainment district. Andy watched a couple of lads, no more than twenty, laughing and shoving each other as they made their way along the other side of the road. He closed his eyes and let out a long breath, the boy upstairs couldn't have been any older that those lads; but he wouldn't be going out with his mates anymore. Opening his eyes, Andy Davidson made a decision and pulled his mobile out of his inner pocket. He stared at the screen for a moment before hitting the call button and holding it to his ear.
"Gwen? I need your lot to look into something."
"Why exactly are we rushing to a homicide, Gwen? Isn't that something the police are supposed to be able to handle?" Jack glared in the rearview mirror's reflection of Gwen, who was reading the initial report she'd accessed from police servers. She'd barreled into the Hub two hours late yelling for Jack and Ianto to get in the SUV because they needed to check something out. A little smile played at the corner of her mouth as she remembered the first time she'd seen Tosh access the police systems as if they were the public library. Gwen realized that for the first time in months, she was reminded of Tosh and didn't feel swallowed by overwhelming sadness. Her mind wandered a bit until Jack again pulled her attention back by snapping at her.
"What? I was miles away." Her words made Jack's face soften slightly, but he was still a bit miffed about their current mission.
"I said, why does the ever capable Constable Andy think this is a Torchwood matter?" Jack checked the navigation screen and threw the SUV around a corner hard enough to make Ianto cough at the sudden tightening of his seat belt. Jack grinned back at him, which earned a raised eyebrow. "Is the Cardiff police force so inept these days that they can't even deal with a simple homicide without our help?" Jack noticed the flashing blue lights and the telltale Vauxhall's in their panda clothes ahead and veered so that the Torchwood SUV would be in the very centre of everyone's attention. He twisted in the driver's seat and looked at Gwen, "Well?"
Before Gwen could get her mind around Jack's question, there was a tap on the window and they all quickly turned to look out Ianto's passenger window at the slightly damp form of Andy Davidson. Ianto eyed the soggy constable and pushed his door open to greet the man, "We're here now; might as well take a look."
Andy bristled as Gwen's colleagues showed an utter lack of regard for the members of Cardiff's law enforcement and pushed their way under the cordon tape towards the crime scene. He felt a tug on his arm and pulled away before hearing Gwen's voice, "Andy, why do you think Torchwood needs to be involved in this? I looked at the dispatch report and it sounds like a bit of domestic violence that went too far. How is that our problem?"
Andy couldn't stop the shock from taking over his features, "Best if you see the scene before you go making that sort of call, Gwen."
Ianto had seen many violent deaths in his time with Torchwood Three. He'd even faked a few, as cover stories, but this made even him feel a bit light-headed. According to the landlady, a University student named Colin Davis rented the flat. He was tall, slim, with blonde hair and green eyes- a fact seen in several photographs of the young man that also featured a slightly shorter, dark haired man with nearly black eyes. The landlady referred to him as a roommate, but Ianto wasn't naïve. The one double bed and the look the two men shared in several photos made it perfectly obvious that they were together- or at least had been.
He didn't attempt to study the body, only a cursory glance to confirm that the light hair and green eyes matched Colin Davis; the body would require a medical examiner or doctor. For a moment Ianto thought about getting the body to autopsy for Owen, but he quickly cleared the thought from his mind. Owen was dead; completely dead this time thanks to the radioactive material eating him away as he saved Cardiff from certain destruction. It would be Jack's responsibility to hire a medic or at least acquire a secondment for the short term, while Ianto's job was to collect, collate and archive the data. Walking away from the ruined body of the young man, Ianto inspected the medicine cabinet in the bathroom under the watchful eye of a crime scene specialist. Ianto smiled and allowed the police officer to handle and catalog each item while Ianto watched and mentally recorded all of the details as each prescription was pulled from the shelves and dropped into evidence bags. Dafydd Cooper- the dark haired youth- had quite the personal pharmacy to review.
Ianto left the bathroom and headed into the living room, spotting the computer and telephone along with a paper calendar covered in notes. Sitting down in the chair at the computer desk, he carefully studied the calendar without touching it and with a deft touch attached the small silver device to the side of the computer. Even turned off, the little alien device could read the entire contents of the hard drive into local memory, which could later be retrieved. A tiny beep confirmed completion and he slipped the button onto the answering machine to collect its recordings as well. After finishing his study of the calendar, he stood back up, pocketed the device and headed to the kitchen area where Jack was carrying on a lively discussion with Detective Kathy Swanson.
"Listen Harkness, this is my crime scene; you keep out of our way and don't even think about trying to run us off or I will throw all of you in cells and accidentally lose the keys for at least a fortnight- got it?" Kathy Swanson hated dealing with Jack Harkness and his high and mighty Torchwood even when she had to; but this time Torchwood had shown up and seemed to be snooping about and it unnerved her. Anything that made her nervous made her angry and Jack Harkness, with his overly bright smile and too many teeth was an obvious target for her ire. "And tell that old beat cop of yours to let the professionals do their work. If she wants to help, let her stand guard- that's all she was ever allowed to do when we had her." Detective Swanson turned, nearly running into a young man in a three-piece suit, "What the hell do you want!" She snarled at him while he just looked past her to where Harkness remained- she should have known, "Out of my way or I'll lock you up for obstruction." He stepped out of her path with a slight bow of his head and she stormed away calling out to the closest constable, "Keep this place clear of unauthorized personnel, this is a bloody crime scene!"
Andy startled and his eyes went wide as Detective Swanson barked at him, but he quickly pulled himself together, "Yes ma'am. I'll get these folks out right away." He watched as the Detective pounded out of the flat before peeking into the bedroom where Gwen was standing, looking at the victim with a hand over her mouth. "Gwen, maybe you should get out of here, yeah?"
Ianto and Jack were waiting somewhat impatiently in the SUV as Gwen spoke with Andy. She asked again, "What do you expect us to do, Andy?"
He looked at her frowning, "Didn't you look at the body? Do you really think this was just some bit of domestic violence gone too far?"
Gwen wouldn't make eye contact but persisted, "It was extreme, but it's an isolated incident. Not like there's a serial killer or anything." Andy grabbed her arm and pulled her around behind the SUV out of sight, which caused Gwen to tense and pull away quickly, "What is it?"
Andy looked around; making sure no one would see or hear him. Taking a deep breath for courage and possibly damning his career, he looked her straight in the eye, "It's the fifth."
The members of Torchwood Three gathered in their new, smaller conference room to review what they'd seen at the home of Colin Davis and compare it with the equally gruesome reports from the four prior homicides. There was no obvious relation between the victims: both men and women, straight and gay. The youngest was Colin at twenty while the eldest was fifty-five. Three were either married or living with someone, while two were single to the best of anyone's knowledge. The only commonality between the victims was that they were all dead, and from the looks of the picture and the reality of Colin, they died brutally. Gwen had searched through the police records and tried to make connections, but all she could see were people torn up.
Ianto cleared his throat, "We may want to look for Colin's boyfriend, Dafydd Cooper." He keyed the screen input so the data he'd remembered was on the screen. "Dafydd started having troubles about a month ago, first with headaches then bouts of uncontrolled violence." The screen scrolled as National Health database content was displayed, "His doctor prescribed Sumatriptan then added Amitriptyline before moving to the heavy duty tranquilizers within a week." The screen moved to a calendar, "It seems Daf was trying everything to get his sudden violent tendencies under control but I have a feeling that maybe..." Ianto let the words hang in the air as he first noticed Gwen's frown and then Jack's sudden interest in the desk. Ianto studied Jack's expression and grew concerned, "Maybe we need to look at more than just the victims."
Gwen shuffled through the police reports in front of her and scanned them before throwing them across the table, "What the bloody hell were they doing? There's not a word about partners in any of these reports, no statements or even notes." She looked at Ianto who cringed at the mess, "Can we tell if the police reports have been hacked from the outside?"
Ianto couldn't help but smirk, "You mean other than by us?" Gwen pursed her lips and he hastily continued, "We can check to see if there are earlier drafts saved in their system easily enough, and I might be able to get access histories. Tosh..." Ianto stopped, "I'll see what I can do."
Gwen collected her notepad- leaving the rest scattered, "Right, I'll try reaching the partners, do a follow-up. Maybe call some relatives while I'm at it. Jack? Is there anything else you can think of?" She looked expectantly at their leader who had been unusually quiet.
Jack pulled his gaze from the image of the dark haired man on the screen and looked between them before shaking his head, "I'll give Martha a call, see if she can give us a hand medically; only seems fair after CERN. Gwen, do the follow-ups and talk with the police to see why they dropped the ball. Ianto, pull up NHS records for the victims and their partners." Jack pushed himself away from the table and headed for his office.
Gwen and Ianto looked at each other after watching Jack leave. Gwen finally asked, "You don't know a secret concerning this do you? Because he knows something and isn't saying."
Ianto headed for the doorway, "I don't know anymore than you, but I suggest asking him yourself; and if he tells us to drop it... maybe we should this time."
Gwen flipped through more police reports, crushing sheets and throwing them in the bin next to her desk. There wasn't a single lead in any of the official reports and it made her already aching head hurt even more. She blindly reached for her coffee mug and brought it up to her mouth, scowling when she found it empty. "Fuck!" She threw the empty mug against the tiled wall and watched as it shattered into bits. She yelled into the empty space, "Ianto! Coffee, now!" Gwen looked at the pile of paperwork in front of her and glowered as she pushed it all on the floor in a fit of anger. She knocked her chair over as she grabbed her jacket and stormed towards the blast door, "I'm going out for some air and coffee since Ianto can't be bothered to do his buggering job!"
Ianto wandered into the main work area from the archives hallway and looked around. Jack was at his desk, not doing much of anything and he didn't see, or hear Gwen. Then he frowned at the mess of papers littering the floor intermingled with shards of crockery. He considered approaching Jack about Gwen's increasingly erratic behavior, but saw no point. Jack must have witnessed the most recent outburst and hadn't done or said anything, so what use was it bringing it to his attention? With a resigned sigh, Ianto gathered the paperwork and headed for the dustpan to collect the shattered mug. He still needed to start the NHS database search, but first he needed to make sure there were no sharp objects about for Gwen's next performance.
Jack sat at his desk, idly running a finger over the coral under its heat lamp. The metal flip calendar needed turning, but Ianto would take care of it soon. Jack didn't need to know the date; he knew what was coming. He flipped open his mobile and scrolled until he reached the other Jones in his life and held his breath.
Ianto watched as the mainframe duplicated NHS records for their victims and the partners they knew about. For good measure he opened a second session, setting search algorithms to sift the debris and fragments littering the NHS database to look for traces of changes to the files in question. He looked over to Jack's office, where the Captain seemed lost in thought and considered going to him; but mainframe reported back and Jack would call if he needed, rather than wanted, something.
"Ianto!" Jack's voice carried through the mostly empty hub, even though Ianto was less than a dozen meters away. Ianto rolled his eyes but turned his chair to look at Jack with a raised eyebrow, earning a typical Jack Harkness grin, "Coordinate some accommodations for our favorite UNIT songbird please." Ianto gave a curt nod before reaching for the phone, and Jack continued with a leer, "And maybe a bit of a mid-afternoon snack?"
Ianto's lips twitched as he dialed.
Gwen squeezed the hand of Colin Davis's mother as she sobbed quietly. Andy Davidson sat awkwardly across from them holding the cup of overly milky tea the woman had offered. In his years with the Cardiff police force, informing family members of the death of a loved one, especially a child, was his least favorite duty. It was something of a relief that Gwen had been eager to join him on this trip; she'd always been better at providing a compassionate shoulder to cry on. But Andy was starting to think that maybe it hadn't be such a good idea.
"I just can't believe it. Are you sure it's Colin, oh god, why won't they let me see him?" Mrs. Davis shared the same green eyes as her son, but they currently were nearly red and filled with tears that continued to leave trails down her face.
Andy opened his mouth to speak but Gwen started abruptly, "As soon as the investigation is completed we'll make sure you can see him; but there isn't any doubt who the victim was." Gwen suddenly had the sobbing woman clutched against her, so she tried to soothe the upset woman, "I know this is hard, but what can you tell us about Dafydd Cooper?"
Mrs. Davis stiffened and pushed away, her face hardening even as the tears streamed. "That boy. It's his fault isn't it?" She ran the back of her hands over her eyes, "Colin always protected the Cooper boy, but I knew from the first time I laid eyes on him he was no good." She reached for her tea and gulped it quickly, "Knew he'd end up hurting my boy. Did you arrest him? Hanging is too good for that boy, just like that witch mother of his. Pack them all up and send 'em back to Bontnewydd where they belong." Mrs. Davis slumped, dropping her cup and holding her face in her hands; her words muffled by sorrow, "My baby."
Gwen looked at Andy with something similar to a lost look, which allowed him to find his voice. "We're very sorry for your loss, ma'am; but do you have any idea where the Cooper boy would go?"
Mrs. Davis looked at Andy for a moment, and then stood up, "I'll just show you to the door now. I've no idea where that boy would go, maybe directly to hell for what he's done." She opened the door, "Thank you for letting me know about Colin; now if you wouldn't mind." Andy grabbed Gwen's arm as she made to ask more questions and pulled her out the door.
"Thank you again Mrs. Davis, we won't intrude any more. And again, we're very sorry for your loss." The door slamming in his face caused him to blink but he expected no less.
Gwen slammed the car door shut and shouldered her seat belt while grousing, "Well, not a lot to go on there. I hope Ianto and Jack are having a bit better luck." Gwen continued to fidget, getting comfortable before she finally noticed the appalled look on Andy's face. "What?"
Andy gaped at her before looking back out the windscreen and pulling away. "I don't know who you are anymore. That woman just found out her son was murdered and you ask her about the prime suspect? What happened to tact, Gwen?"
Gwen only looked at him in shock as she massaged her temples.
Ianto checked the Concourse clock against his pocket watch with a sigh. British rail was living up to its reputation of being somewhat on time as he saw Martha Jones striding towards him from platform four, twenty minutes late. With a half grin and a raised eyebrow he waited for her to get closer and suddenly found himself in a bone crushing hug followed by a swift strike to the arm.
"Don't start with me, Mister Jones; it's not my fault the trains look at arrival and departure times as suggestions." She pushed her roller bag over to him while shifting her shoulder bag, "And where's himself? Off standing on top of a building again?"
Ianto offered his arm, which Martha took with a smile as they headed towards his car in the lot, "Weevil duty; big upturn in activity recently, starting to think it's related to lunar cycles." He dropped her bag in the boot of his car while she made herself comfortable. Before getting in, he checked his mobile looking for any contact from Jack. Finding none, he slid the mobile back into his jacket pocket and sat behind the wheel. "So, hotel first?"
Martha noticed the false brightness in his voice and frowned, "Might as well drop my kit off before we start getting messy. You going to tell me what's bothering you, or do I have to guess?" Ianto ignored her, pretending to focus his attention on making the next turn which, made Martha squint her eyes, "I expect an answer, Ianto Jones."
With a slight grunt Ianto formed his question, "How high is your security clearance?"
"Level one, why?"
Ianto nodded absently at her words, "Some records we need for this case have been tampered with. They're locked with level one security that I can't break. Maybe you can access the files and put an end to my suspicions."
Martha looked at him confused, "And what would those suspicions be?"
Without looking at her, he answered quietly, "Jack knows more than he's telling."
Gwen released her seatbelt and pushed the door open of Andy's patrol car, "I'll ring you tomorrow after we've gone through the research. If I need any help I'll let you know." She gave him one of her less condescending smiles; then let it fall at his expression. "Go home Andy, there's nothing more to do today."
Andy Davidson looked at her, his expression somewhere between insulted and disappointed, "Right, us simple police constables can't possibly do anything without mighty Torchwood. Go up to your sack of potatoes Gwen, some of us still have work to do." He pulled away leaving a miffed Gwen standing on the corner.
She barely had the key in the lock before the door was thrown open and Rhys was looking at her in shock, "Blimey, you actually remembered! Hurry up, we're due down at the pub in ten. Last thing I want is your mam and dad giving me the shifty because you look all roughed up." He pulled her in the flat and pushed her towards the bedroom, "It's your turn to come up with the excuse for why we haven't given them any grandkids yet."
Gwen stood dumbly in the bedroom looking at her reflection in the mirror as she pressed against her temples, remembering finally that her parents were in town to visit her aunt's grave and sighed. The last thing she really wanted to do right now was listen to her mother go on about grandchildren or watch either of them carefully avoid the whole story of her dad's black sheep sister. "Hey, are you suitably gorgeous love? Let's get this over with; sooner your mam gets to tell me I'm too fat, the sooner we can put them back on the train to Swansea." Rhys held out her coat while looking at her reflection, "What's wrong now? What kind of excuse do I need to come up with?"
She looked back at Rhys and shook her head, "Nothing; just a bit of wool gathering." She slipped her jacket on and grabbed his arm, "Come on, I'll buy the first round and let her complain how I'll never get pregnant wearing tight jeans while you and dad watch the match."
Quarter Moon
^top
Martha frowned at the screen as Ianto typed; record after record had level one security locks that not even her access codes could circumvent. "I don't know Ianto, why would Jack lock all of these records?"
Ianto pulled up another record, "I don't think he did; at least not all of them." He pointed at the reference dates, "Jack was away when this file was locked but it was definitely a Torchwood protocol that locked it. I just don't know who enacted it." Ianto quickly stopped speaking as the invisible lift shuddered into life, lowering with a certain Jack Harkness aboard. Ianto looked at Martha, "Don't say anything yet, I want to keep digging," then offered his arm to her. "Shall we go greet the Captain?" Martha shrugged and took his arm as they both waited at the base of the lift.
Jack Harkness was all teeth and bravado as he called to the people looking up at him, "Martha Jones, did my favorite nightingale have a safe trip? Has Ianto been an attentive host while I was out?" He looked between his favorite pair of Joneses seeing tight smiles and tense shoulders, "What? There something stuck in my teeth?" Jack rubbed a finger over his teeth and gave them another smirk, hoping to defuse the situation as he hopped off the lift before it came to a rest. He pulled Martha into a hug, "Glad we could add some excitement to your life for a few days. Things must be terribly boring with UNIT."
Martha chuckled, "Oh yeah Jack; teleportation, people ripping apart at the molecular level; all dreadfully dull in comparison to domestic violence and autopsy." She shoved him away and took a moment to study him, searching his face for any hints but found none. "Right, UNIT medical officer Martha Jones reporting for temporary duty at Torchwood. Please state the nature of the medical emergency."
Ianto couldn't stop the chuckle that escaped his lips, but he quickly tried to cover it with a fake cough, "Sorry; just a tickle in my throat." Which quickly caused him to roll his eyes before Jack could even get his eyebrows raised in response. Restoring his facade of calm, Ianto quietly offered, "If you two would like to discuss the situation, I can retrieve whatever weevils you hauled in." Ianto turned and made his way towards the blast door when Jack called out.
"No need Ianto; just ran them back down into the sewers." Ianto turned to look at Jack, who had one of his 'don't question me' looks plastered across his face as he led Martha up to his office.
Ianto remained where he was, thinking over the five weevil reports in different areas that had caused Jack's trip because they were so spread out. He chewed his lower lip for a moment before answering, "Of course Jack."
As expected, Mary and Geraint Cooper were already at the pub by the time Gwen and Rhys arrived. Even though she was sipping lightly from her glass of wine, the telltale gin blossoming on her cheeks made it readily apparent Mary Cooper was nearing that magical phase where her brain no longer filtered her words. Not that Geraint Cooper would notice, as he was mindlessly drinking his pint watching the match on the big screen and making the occasional grunt to acknowledge that his wife was prattling on about something.
Gwen took a deep breath before giving Rhys a sad smile, "Once more unto the breach then?"
Rhys shrugged and pulled the door open, "After you; hope you brought your gun this time, or at least one of those stun guns." Gwen laughed as they entered the pub and waved to her parents. Mary Cooper fixed them with a glare of distinct disapproval while her husband smiled and gave a small wave. "Think I'll get the first round then, you go visit with your folks." Rhys gave her a kiss on the cheek then headed for the bar.
Gwen scowled then called, "Coward!" She took a deep breath before turning towards her parents with an enormous false smile plastered on her face, "Mam, Dad. Sorry we're a bit late. Some problems at work needed sorting out."
Mary Cooper frowned at her daughter; "Those special ops people are going to wear you to the ground, dear. The sooner Rhys gets a better job, sooner you can stay home and have a baby. Dear, you really must stop wearing such tight jeans, they'll only constrict things."
Gwen allowed a hum to slip from her lips as she turned to her dad, "And how are you doing, Dad?" She slipped a hand over to her father, who looked at her with a smile and gave her hand a squeeze. Rhys arrived with the drinks much to Gwen's relief and she smiled and took her glass, "Thanks, love."
Rhys gave her a grin, then slipped another pint in front of Geraint and a glass of wine to Mary. "Just asked the keeper for a repeat, hope that's okay." Rhys mouthed 'six' to Gwen who cringed before turning a false smile to her mother.
"So, did you get everything done in town today like you planned?" Gwen tried to keep her voice light. Her mother frowned even more than usual before glaring at her husband.
Ianto positioned himself at one of the secondary workstations from which he could clearly see into Jack's office without being noticed. While Jack and Martha caught up on personal trivialities, he accessed some of the more questionable tools Tosh had designed over the years. One of Jack's booming laughs carried throughout the empty hub just as Ianto finished the command sending the search bot through the mainframe's temporary files. With a final look at Jack, who was smiling and happy, he set the search running.
If Rhys Williams weren't certain that they were currently sitting in the pub with the match on the screen and half a heavily salted pint in his hand, he would swear an oath that they'd suddenly relocated to Siberia. Trying not to be too obvious he glanced from Gwen to her mother and quickly decided that, like Geraint, he'd become even more interested in the match. Even though Gwen didn't take after her mother in looks, she surely did inherit the scrotum-twisting scowl currently fixed on both faces. After a gulp of his lager for courage, Rhys cleared his throat and played Switzerland. "So, Geraint, you're coming up on retirement, yeah? Must be exciting, being able to drop the ledgers and relax. You planning to stay in Swansea?"
Geraint Cooper pulled his eyes from the screen and noticed the daggers currently flying between his wife and daughter before answering. "What? Oh yes, six more months. Looking forward to being able to travel a bit, or maybe spend my days relaxing at the family cottage. It'll be nice to get away from the noise of Swansea."
"Family cottage? If you think I'm spending the rest of my days carding wool or spinning in Bontnewydd you've another thing coming Geraint Cooper," Mary Cooper snapped. Geraint looked away from his wife then returned his gaze to the television, but she continued with her attack, "It's bad enough the few times we're forced to go up there, listening to the accusations and murmurs about your sister and her wild ways." Mary gulped her wine and grimaced, "I won't have my retirement spoiled by stories of the harlotry and violence of that woman, or the child she abandoned," she looked at her empty wine glass, "Janet Cooper is in the ground and that's where she'll stay."
Martha smiled as Jack handed her the crystal highball glass, "Cheers. So how are things with the Cardiff branch of the End of the World Survivor's Club?" Martha studied Jack as he sank into his chair and applied the Jack Harkness arrogance. Unfortunately for him, the chinks in his armor were readily apparent. "What's going on here Jack? You can try keeping things secret from them, but they know- at least Ianto does." With some sadness, she watched Jack's mask slip, "What is it, Jack?"
Jack looked out into main work area where Ianto attempted to covertly monitor what was happening in his office. Jack gave him a raised eyebrow, which Ianto answered with an eye roll and slight shrug. With resignation, Jack walked over to his door pulling it shut, then pressed a nondescript button on the wall before turning back to Martha. Martha turned abruptly at the buzzing of the sound dampener and she just glimpsed the frown on Ianto's face as the glass went opaque.
Jack turned back to Martha, trying not to think about how much this would be hurting Ianto, and slowly let his breath out. "There are some things you need to know, but you can't tell Ianto or Gwen; at least not yet. You have to promise me."
Martha worried her lower lip for a moment while frowning, "I'm not going to like this, am I?"
Jack shook his head before going to his private files, files not even Ianto was allowed access to. Carefully entering the access codes, he tugged the drawer open and retrieved an aged folder. He sat back down at his desk, idly running a thumb over the handwritten label before placing the folder in front of Martha. "No more than I do, or any of the previous leaders have."
Ianto continued to look at the opaque glass of Jack's office chewing on his lower lip. In his time at Cardiff, Ianto had never seen Jack actually use the privacy features in his office. Of course, if he used them a bit more often, maybe Owen wouldn't have witnessed their interesting version of Cribbage. Ianto caught himself chuckling quietly at the memory, especially Owen's reaction to Jack's liberal interpretation of pegging. He was so lost in an actual happy memory that he forgot his usual feelings of guilt about surviving while Owen and Tosh died, until his search program decided to report that it found something. Shaking himself back into reality, Ianto studied the information scrolling before him and any trace of good mood faded.
Rhys and Gwen fell into heaps on their couch. Rhys let out a long sigh of relief as Gwen's head lolled towards him. She barely contained her laughter at the look on Rhys' face as he said, "Bloody hell, I'd rather go a few rounds with one of those Weevil things than spend that much time with your mam!" Gwen's guffaw rang through the small flat as she quickly clasped her hand over her mouth in horror as the laughter continued to pour out.
Rhys looked at her with concern, "Gwen? Blimey, how much did you drink when I wasn't looking?" He wrapped an arm around her as she leaned in, still unable to stop the near hysterical laughter. "Come on, let's get you to bed." Rhys carefully helped Gwen to her feet and guided her towards the bedroom, but found himself slammed against the wall and seeing stars as her laughter shifted to screams. He grabbed for Gwen's leg as she scrambled towards the bedroom only to receive a boot squarely to the face; then all he saw was darkness.
Ianto had taken Martha back to her hotel after Jack deactivated the privacy systems surrounding his office. While Martha looked distressed by whatever had conspired behind closed doors, she did not share the information with Ianto; she only grasped a small flash drive tightly in her hands. He didn't press her, or mention the results of the computer search. Jack was reverting to his secretive ways, which earned him nothing more than a slight nod from Ianto as he left the Hub with no intention of returning later.
Jack sat at his desk staring into space, the files still sitting there, waiting to go back with the rest of Torchwood's darkest secrets. He ran his index finger along the edge of the aged card stock folder and thought about Martha's reaction to the news. She had taken it remarkably well, considering the horrors of page three and the nightmare that was page ten. He was reasonably sure Martha wouldn't divulge anything to Ianto or Gwen, at least not until he was ready and that would depend completely on how this lunar cycle went. He looked at the paper cut he'd just received from the old folder with curiosity. If Ianto was here he'd ask him to kiss it and make it better; but the look he'd received from Ianto as he left made it readily apparent that Jack would be very alone in his camp bed tonight. As the cut sealed up, he thought about the agreement he and Ianto had come to after the recent losses. He didn't like keeping things from Ianto; especially things that were eating away at him, but the report made him hold his tongue.
Jack opened his private files and returned the folder to its resting place. Another ten years before the file would be looked at again, and maybe there wouldn't be a Gwen or Ianto there to be concerned about page ten any more. The thought only made Jack's mood darker, and it wasn't helped by the telephone on his desk ringing out into the quiet room. Jack grabbed the old desk phone and shouted down the line, "What" as his mobile chirped and a message appeared on his computer screen. He frowned as he looked at the screen and the scowl grew while listening to the voice at the other end of the line. He dragged a hand across his face as the person stopped speaking; then taking a deep breath Jack replied, "Slow down." Jack listened to the hesitant voice on the line and sighed, "I'm on my way." He slammed the phone down before launching himself from his chair. His boots pounding on the metal catwalks echoed throughout the empty space as he headed for the parking garage.
Gwen shifted uncomfortably in the plastic chair, checking the clock, and then looking between the entry doors and the curtained area where Rhys had been taken. She clutched at the cup of dreadful hospital tea as she tried to remember how they ended up here. Everything from leaving her parents at the train station to finding Rhys unconscious with two black eyes and a broken nose was lost in a fog she couldn't penetrate. The paramedics had treated her with kid gloves, thinking she was the victim of a domestic dispute, which made her want to laugh. She wasn't looking forward to what came next, the reports, the false concern and most of all- Jack.
And with that thought, Jack pushed through the entry doors of Casualty where Gwen sat looking lost. He noticed her dazed expression and how she was pressing her hand painfully into her temple. It didn't bode well, but he needed to keep calm for both of them as she came running with tears streaming down her face.
"Jack, I didn't know who else to call." She buried herself in his chest crying, "They won't tell me what's wrong with him, but it's been two hours- they should have told me something!" Jack held her as she raged against him, leaving bruises as her anger built along with her frustration. "I don't know what happened. I don't remember!" They sank into the waiting room chairs, Gwen's frustration venting through tears and howls that were swallowed by the wool of Jack's greatcoat.
Gwen was fast asleep by the time a nurse came out with information about Rhys. Jack carefully freed himself from Gwen's grasp, but left her covered in his coat as he followed the nurse to Rhys. When he pushed the curtain out of the way Jack couldn't help but smile as Rhys groaned, "Can this night get any worse?" Jack tried not to frown as he cataloged the more obvious injuries to Rhys and how they matched the heel of Gwen's boot. Rhys glared back at him through his raccoon eyes and the tape on in his nose, "Is Gwen okay now? She didn't mean to kick me, I don't think she knew what she was doing." Rhys lost focus for a moment before locking back on Jack, "Where is she?"
"She sleeping in the lounge, she's pretty exhausted. I'm going to have our medic give her a check up as soon as we leave." Jack pulled the medical chart from the end of the bed, "It looks like you'll be here overnight, so why don't you get some rest and we'll be back in the morning."
His eyes were a bit owlish, but that didn't stop Rhys from frowning at him, "If something's wrong with her, I'll make you pay Jack."
Jack couldn't help but smile, "I'm sure you will."
When Ianto picked Martha up in the morning, he noticed that she looked as if she hadn't slept much during the night. It didn't surprise him; the flash drive Jack had given her probably contained horrors even he hadn't experienced. For once, Ianto actually felt well rested. He hadn't been pleased at the weevil call at two in the morning, but since Jack apparently wasn't going to take care of it, it fell to him. Going on a weevil hunt alone hadn't happened in quite some time, but it felt good. He'd run a couple back into the sewers, but there had been one that was unique. He'd need to write a complete report on their new inmate during the day; maybe it would shed some light on the strange behavior they'd seen recently. An apparently immature Weevil running rampant more out of fear than anything else was new- and the fact that it was running around naked- that was a first.
He'd pulled into the parking garage they used for their personal cars when Martha finally spoke. "I need to tell you something. Jack gave me some documents to review and they relate to what's been happening lately. Ianto, have you been feeling well recently? I mean, no headaches, confusion or nausea? Oh god, I'm making a mess of this." She stopped for a moment then took a deep breath, "Just, let me know if you start feeling poorly okay? And don't let Jack know I mentioned it." Martha stared at Ianto, trying to look beneath the surface, which confused him a bit but he gave her a nod.
Ianto wasn't surprised to find Jack wandering around the Hub as they entered through the blast door, but he was stunned to see Gwen sleeping on the lumpy old couch. Jack was already making his way towards them when Ianto very pointedly said, "I'll just get the coffee on."
"Martha, can you give Gwen a medical check up. Seems during the night she had a bit of a night terror and accidentally kicked Rhys. Probably just a combination of exhaustion and stress, but it's best to be sure right?" Jack gave one of his false smiles and headed towards his office.
Martha tried to clamp down on her sudden fear before going over to the couch to wake Gwen, "Gwen? Hey, wake up." She rubbed on Gwen's arm, then quickly backed away as a fist flailed in her direction along with a distinct growl. She tried again and Gwen sat up with a jolt, looking around in a panicked daze. "Hey! Calm down, it's just me." Martha made to grab her arms, but Jack was suddenly there pinning her down, speaking quietly under his breath until she came around.
"What? Jack, get the hell off me!" Gwen was pushing to get out from under Jack's weight. After a few moments struggle, Jack slid off and Gwen pushed herself up into the corner of the couch. "Why am I here?" She frowned, "Where's Rhys?"
Martha pushed Jack out of the way, "Gwen, it's okay. Come with me down to the medical bay and let me have a look at you. Once we're sure you're fine, Jack will take you to hospital and you can pickup Rhys, okay?" Martha was trying to get Gwen's attention, but Gwen continued to look around frantically and swipe away any hands that reached out for her. It was only after Gwen started pressing the heel of both palms into her temples that Martha had a chance to get her attention. "Come on, let's get you sorted." Gwen finally gave in and they headed into the medical bay.
Ianto watched the whole scene play out with a bit of concern; the random violence and headaches sounded awfully familiar.
Gwen was squinting against the brightness of the medical lamp even while trying to cooperate and allow Martha to check her pupils. At least the headache was subsiding thanks to the double dose of Rizatriptan Martha had given her, but the pressure was still there. Gwen pushed the penlight away with a low growl in her throat, which made Martha step back.
"Listen, the sooner you let me do this, the sooner you can go be with Rhys." Martha tried being firm, but her voice wavered slightly, which made Gwen suddenly stiffen and glare at her. They were trapped in the moment when Ianto broke the tension with a clearing of his throat. Both women quickly turned towards the sound for different reasons. Martha looked relieved, but Gwen had a much more feral demeanor.
"Thought you both could do with something to drink." Ianto stepped carefully down into the medical theatre balancing the silver tray easily. He handed a steaming mug of coffee to Martha and a cup of tea to Gwen, who frowned. "Thought caffeine wouldn't be a good idea if you've been given migraine medication." Gwen sipped at the cup and her face crushed sourly which made Ianto chuckle, "I know it's a bit strong, but all that vitamin C will make you feel better."
Gwen sniffed at the citrus tea again and sneezed, then sipped some more of the tangy beverage and quickly hissed while spitting it out. Ianto stepped back mildly disgusted, "Right, well I suppose I'll just leave you to it then."
Ianto lingered in the medical bay, idly clearing away the packaging from the sterile items Martha was using, while keeping one eye fixed on Gwen and her behavior. He noticed slight ticks that hadn't been there before; scrunching of the nose and a snarled lip were not normal behavior for Gwen, but they were things he'd seen before. He was so engrossed in his study of Gwen's change in demeanor that he nearly jumped when Jack's hand appeared on his shoulder.
"Sorry, didn't mean to frighten you, Ianto. Though I may be off my game since I haven't had any coffee since late yesterday." Jack tried to be jovial, but there was an underlying hurt to his words. Even when Ianto was upset with him, he usually maintained his professionalism and that meant coffee first thing in the morning.
Ianto stepped away from Jack and quickly restored his professional calm, "Sorry, Si- Jack. I'll take care of the oversight just as soon as I've checked on our new guest in the vaults." Ianto stepped away and quickly headed for the staircase.
"New guest?" Jack's voice raised an octave, "I didn't see any reports. What happened?"
Ianto frowned, "Just a weevil, I took the calls you dismissed last night. Ran three back underground, but this one seems different. I'd say it's an adolescent, and it was naked. I'll try putting scrubs on it until we find something more suitable." He left the medical bay, "I should have a report ready for you shortly."
Jack and Martha exchanged nervous glances before Jack finally spoke loudly, "Take your time, Ianto; after all, it's just a weevil." Jack took a couple of breaths before turning back to Martha and Gwen, "Right, so how's our patient, Doctor Jones?"
Martha looked up from the computer screen attached to her lab equipment, "Test results are just finishing up." She chewed her lip as some of the data appeared, then disappeared just as fast leaving a need to know access only statement flashing on the screen. She quickly rotated the screen so Gwen couldn't see it before putting on a bright false smile, "Probably just a few too many last night at the pub, Gwen. Drink lots of fluids and come see me if you start having a headache, and I'll give you as big a dose of painkillers as you can take. Now let Jack take you to see Rhys, then go home and get some sleep." Martha gave her a pat on the arm before turning to Jack mouthing, "It's starting."
Jack grimaced at Martha; then turned back to Gwen, "Why don't you head upstairs and I'll meet you in a few minutes." Gwen had remained unusually quiet, save for the odd grunt before nodding and heading up to the main work area. Once he couldn't hear Gwen's footsteps, Jack asked Martha point blank, "Are you sure?"
Martha glared at him, "Of course I'm not sure. No one did any proper research on this in nearly a hundred years and I can't tell you what the test results were because your little Agent Turing kicked in and blocked off the data." Martha snapped her mouth shut after she noticed her voice getting louder and echoing around the med bay. She hissed at Jack, "All I know for sure is that we've got two days to stop it or..." Martha stopped abruptly as Ianto appeared at the top of the staircase.
Jack spun quickly, "Ianto! I'm going to take Gwen over to pickup Rhys, then send them home for the day. Think you and Martha can hold down the fort until I get back?" Jack climbed the stairs quickly and smiled at Ianto as he stood well within the man's personal space. "Since she's here, why don't you let Martha do your annual physical, get that out of the way?"
Ianto opened his mouth to reply, but Jack had his lips pressed tightly over his mouth so all that could be heard was a 'mrph.' His hands automatically wrapped around Jack's waist while Jack's found purchase around his neck. The kiss didn't carry any of the urgency or fire that a usual Jack Harkness kiss did, but Ianto let his mind drift for a few minutes just enjoying the feeling, the connection. It was a small cough from an amused Martha that finally brought them both back to reality and their duties. Jack gave him a last quirky smile before heading into the main Hub area.
"Jack, I'm fine really. I don't know what it was last night, but I'm much better now." Gwen was hounding Jack as he walked towards the SUV; Rhys already bundled up in the flat where Gwen was supposed to be. "We're too short handed for me to be pfaffing about at home. I need to search for those missing people- they're the answer to those murders, I'm sure." Gwen slapped Jack hard across the arm and snarled, "Jack! Listen to me, you bastard! You are not leaving me here!"
Jack spun around just as Gwen's hand was swinging again and he caught her by the wrist, very pointedly staring at how her hand was balled into a fist. He then met her gaze, noting how she was squinting even with the sun mostly blocked by clouds. "You're on medical leave effective immediately. Martha already signed the papers and I agree with her. Go up there and take care of Rhys, or read a book or just sleep; but don't come in, because you're locked out until cleared for active duty." She scowled at him and Jack tried to ignore the distinct growl he heard in the back of her throat. "I'll call this evening, give you an update; now go home, get some rest." Jack climbed into the SUV without a second glance and sped off, leaving a fuming Gwen curbside.
Gwen watched the rear of the SUV disappear around a corner before the first spike of pain shot through her head. It felt as if a pickaxe had lodged itself in her skull as she crumpled to the ground. Mrs. Gregory, the landlady, quickly twitched her curtains shut and was skittering up the staircase before her own door even clicked shut. "Mister Williams, Mister Williams! Your Miss Cooper is collapsed on the street corner like a common vagrant." As the neighborhood gossip and busybody, Mrs. Gregory made it her mission to remind everyone that the world would be perfect if everyone would only do as she told them. She'd only needed to knock for a minute before Rhys had the door open and gazing like a cross eyed raccoon at the irritating woman.
"What are you going on about?" Rhys tried to focus on the irritating woman, but he was still seeing double. "We didn't leave the car in front of the building and rents not due for three weeks."
Mrs. Gregory glared at him, "I said that girlfriend of yours is passed out down on the corner like a drunken streetwalker. It's not even tea time and she's out there for everyone to see."
Rhys snapped, "That's my wife you old hag, and she's special ops. Now what are you going on about! What do you mean she's out on the street?" He pushed passed the nosy neighbor and worked his way down the staircase towards the street.
'Too bright, need darkness, the darkness hides all sins.' Gwen was scrabbling towards an alley without thinking, her actions driven solely by the need to be in the shadows. Moving mostly on instinct, Gwen pulled herself into a dumpster and let the lid fall with a crash, relaxing in the cool damp darkness.
"Gwen, come on love, where are ya?" Rhys staggered against a brick wall, still a bit dazed. "Come on Gwen, let's get home already, okay? Don't want the old bat downstairs makin' stories up about you." He dragged himself along the wall and fell into the alleyway, "Gwen?"
Ianto gave Martha a bemused look as she went through the motions of performing a supposed physical, but didn't mention that he noticed all the things being left out. In his mind, he was comparing the tests being performed to those done on Gwen and wasn't surprised to find they matched. He watched as Martha tried to hide her anxiety until the tests completed, wondering what she expected to find. Ianto returned his full attention to Martha as she made some irrelevant notes on her clipboard, "Okay, Ianto, that's everything I need. You should be fine for another year."
He slid off the exam table, buttoning his shirt, "Nice to know psycho ex-boyfriends, alien sleeper agents, giant space whales and murderous in-laws, along with a little intergalactic travel haven't inhibited my ability to make coffee and sort files." He gave Martha one of his bigger false smiles as he did up his tie. "I think you'll find that whatever is happening to Gwen isn't happening to me, at least not at the moment."
Martha dropped the clipboard, "I. Ianto, no." She looked away as she knelt to retrieve the clipboard. "We need to talk to Jack, it's not right keeping the information from you."
"Jack's not here right now; we can talk to him when he gets back. Right now, I want you to have a look at the weevil I brought in this morning." Ianto offered his arm to Martha, who was frowning and frantically trying to figure a way out of the situation. "Something is off with this one, and I want an extra pair of eyes when I get him dressed." Martha finally gave in and followed Ianto out of the medical bay and down into the depths of the Hub towards the holding cells. He opened a storage cupboard and retrieved a set of generic blue scrubs, "Have to preserve its modesty." Carrying the clothes, Ianto opened the security blast door that led into the holding cells and towards the waiting weevil. He picked up a can of spray and tucked the stun gun into the back of his trousers as he stopped at the control panel for the cell. "Once I have him subdued, you can-" Ianto stopped as his hand reached for the keypad that was blinking green instead of red which indicated it was secured. His eyes grew wide and he pushed Martha back as he drew the stun gun, "Stay back." Ianto carefully pushed the heavy door open, scanning the cell for the adolescent; the cell was empty, top to bottom. Ianto cursed under his breath, 'fuck.'
He pushed Martha back down the hallway to the security door; he kept the stun gun raised as he continued to scan all of the crevices and darkened areas of the hallway. "Get back into the main area. We need to activate security protocols; a loose weevil in the Hub is not something we want to run into accidentally when going to the loo." Ianto was pushing them through the hallways quickly as he kept his guard up, and he nearly knocked Martha out as she grasped at him. "What?"
Martha stopped him and pointed to the security screen on the wall, "I think you need to read that." Ianto's eyes fell on the screen and he frowned as he read the directive.
"Who the hell is Agent Turing and how do they have authority to transfer anything out of Torchwood?" Ianto fumed as he shoved the stun gun back into the back of his trousers and marched towards the main work area in a rage. Martha followed behind with a frown, not wanting to upset Ianto any more than he was. As soon as they reached the main level, Ianto was at a workstation accessing the Torchwood personnel database searching for a Turing, and how such a person could exist and have the authority to release a weevil without him knowing. Martha wasn't sure what to do; return to the medical bay and wait for Jack's return or admit what she knew to Ianto and hope for the best.
Ianto's search strings resulted in no information. Turing didn't exist as far as Torchwood's systems knew, which made no sense. If an agent had the authorization to release someone or something, then how could they not exist? Ianto was beginning to give himself a headache when a search he'd set off earlier finally came up with some answers. He quickly shunted the results to the printer as he scanned the first document's contents on the screen. Ianto looked over with relief as the printer started clunking and spitting pages out, then turned back to the screen to continue reading. His eyes went wide when he read the computer screen. What had been concrete proof regarding the deaths and disappearances now only read:
Need to know access only.
Ianto stared at the screen, dumbfounded by anything that could not only wipe data from his terminal, but to do it with impunity and without a trace. "Tosh would have been furious," Ianto mumbled as he waited for the print job to finish. He allowed himself a moment of fancy as he imagined Tosh taking revenge on whoever would dare interfere with her research. The sudden silence pulled him back to the moment and he pulled the stack of paper still smelling faintly of ozone, from the printer's output tray. The first page was the answer he'd been looking for, but as he flipped through the other pages he couldn't believe what he was seeing. He clutched the paper to his chest as he headed to his workspace deep in the archives, rubbing his temples as he went.
Martha kept a hand clutched over her mouth as she watched Ianto's behavior then, slowly backed down into the medical bay as he disappeared into the depths of the Hub. She dropped onto a step and tried to get her emotions under control as the sight of Ianto rubbing his forehead in pain made her stomach twist. After a few minutes she pulled out her mobile and sent a text message to Jack, hoping he'd respond quickly. She nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard the distinct chime of Jack's phone behind her. "Jack," she gasped as she ran towards him, "I tried not to say anything, but Ianto's too good at this. Jack, he knows and I think he might-" She stopped as Jack placed a hand over her mouth.
Jack waited until she was breathing normally before removing his hand, "Ianto's always been too smart for his own good. It was only a matter of time until he found something. That's not what has you upset. Martha, what's happened?"
Martha looked at Jack, seeing the fear in his eyes and she looked away, "He's having headaches. He ran for the archives, for the darkness."
Gibbous Moon
^top
"Hey, wake up, Rhys. Come on you lump, open your eyes." Rhys blinked rapidly, the world around him slowly coming into focus and all he could see was the eye-blistering day-glo green vest of a police constable. "That's right, you wanker, open your eyes and look at me." He frowned at the snide comments coming from the copper, and finally saw the face. Reddish-blond hair and a crooked grin were looking back at him, which caused him to groan in recognition.
"Andy. What the hell are you doing here? Where's Gwen?"
Andy Davidson offered an arm and helped Rhys stand up; Andy ended up doing most of the work, leaving Rhys propped against the brick wall. "You're land-lady called us. We've been looking for Gwen for nearly an hour, but there's no sign of her." Andy ran his hand through his hair, "Her mobile is up in the flat and I don't know how to get those people she works with on the phone. Could she have gone to work?" Andy looked hopefully at Rhys.
Rhys shook his head; then decided that wasn't a good idea as he started seeing double. "She was sent home, her boss said she was on medical leave but she never came in. Her and Jack were out here talking I guess, but I was busy sleeping." Rhys used the wall to stabilize himself as he tried heading back towards the flat, "I need to call Jack and her parents." Rhys stopped for a moment, "Bloody hell, I don't know who I want to avoid more."
Gwen watched the brightly colored man and the familiar one move out into the daylight, and then she heard no more. She could smell prey nearby, deeper in the darkness that called to her. She pushed the skip lid back far enough to escape and quickly dropped through the steam grating located deeper in the alley. The clang of the grating didn't bother her, but there were cries ringing in her head, echoing the throbbing pain in her temples. And the scent- the smell of fear and weakness was so strong and appealing that she bared her teeth as she sniffed the air. A meal was hers for the taking.
Jack ran between the archival racks looking for Ianto's hiding place. The rabbit warren that made up the deeper archives was always dark and every aisle looked the same so if you didn't know exactly where you were headed, it was easy to get lost. Jack had to give Ianto credit though; for years before his arrival the archives were nothing more than a dumping ground. Now things were labeled and descriptions with locations were easily found in the central database. Still, it didn't change the fact that right here and now, Jack couldn't find where Ianto was hiding and he really, really wanted to.
"Ianto? Come on, while naked hide and seek is always fun, now is really not the time," Jack's voice echoed in the stone chambers. "Listen, I really need to tell you some things. Ianto?" He waited quietly; hoping things hadn't gone too far. A rustle of papers and creaking leather shoes caught his attention, "Ianto?"
Ianto stepped from the alcove into a pool of light, "It's interesting what you can find in the personnel files of Cardiff." He walked slowly towards Jack, not offering any aggression, "Interesting bits and pieces, especially when one knows the maiden name of people who later get married and actually leave Torchwood." He strode past Jack, just letting a few fingers brush over his arm as he went. "Or how an in-law takes their position, only to suddenly go missing from all the records without information about death or Retcon."
Ianto turned the corner and stood next to the table where he'd spread out the staff rolls and dispositions. Marriage certificates and birth certificates clipped to documents where needed, records of payment towards the care and raising of a Torchwood ward, a divorce decree. Jack looked at the assembled story and cursed under his breath. Ianto shifted a file so that a large staff photograph was exposed. The woman had raven black hair with pale brown eyes and a smile that was apparently a family trait. Jack ran a finger over the photograph, "She was a beauty."
Ianto studied Jack's face, "Was that before or after the promotion?" He closed the folder, straightening its contents and making sure the cover photo was properly attached.
Jack continued to look at the date on the picture, "After. Everyone hoped it would calm her down, but it didn't." A sad smiled played across his lips as he ran a finger along the jawline in the photograph. "All fire and tough as nails. You know the type; get too close and you get burned, but what a way to go."
Ianto studied Jack, "And you burned often didn't you?"
"You know me; have trouble staying dead remember?" Jack frowned, "Not that she didn't try her best after..."
Ianto picked up the folder and moved it out of the way then slid a spreadsheet into Jack's view. Jack studied the chart for a moment and frowned.
Ianto didn't look at the chart; he stared at Jack and in a low voice asked his question, "Whose Agent Turing?"
Jack's face went pale as his eyes fell shut. Opening them, he looked again at Ianto, "Not a who- more like a what."
"Thanks, mate." Rhys accepted the bottle of lager Andy offered, Gwen's mobile still tightly held in his opposite hand. "It shouldn't be so hard, should it? I mean, if I call that overgrown Boy Scout, what am I going to say? 'Sorry to bother you Jack, but have you by chance seen my wife in the past six hours since she seems to have buggered off?'" Rhys pulled a long draught from his bottle, "I mean, what if he says 'Oh yeah, here she is- sorry to leave you unconscious without a clue.'" Andy couldn't help but smirk at the thought of Gwen dashing off like that, but then he looked at Rhys again and quickly schooled his features while Rhys tore at the label on his bottle. He finally slammed the bottle on the coffee table and flipped the mobile open, hitting the speed dial after taking a deep breath. "What if he doesn't know where she is?"
Martha had all of the medical data spread across the table, looking for anything that could possibly reverse the process. She'd relaxed a little after Jack reported over the comm that Ianto's headache was unrelated. She even laughed at Ianto's quip about it being due to an increase of blood in his caffeine system. It kept coming back to Ianto, from everything she'd read, he should have been the next case, especially considering what he did and where he spent his time. But he was still steady-as-you-go Ianto and it didn't make sense. It frustrated her, even as she couldn't help but feel grateful that he'd not yet been affected.
Martha had just pulled out the last full transition report from twenty years earlier, when the phone behind her began to ring. She nearly jumped from the chair to reach the phone and quickly answered, "Martha Jones."
"I'm trying to reach Jack Harkness, is this the right number?" The man on the phone sounded tentative, "My wife has this listed as her work number." He paused for a moment and blew out a frustrated sigh, "Aw bollocks, listen this is Rhys, Gwen's gone missing and I need to know if she's there or not."
"Sorry, Jack came back alone after dropping you two at your flat. Gwen's on medical leave and wouldn't be here. Rhys, how long ago did she go missing?" Martha had a pen ready and was already taking notes, her heart beating faster as she realized what it meant.
Rhys answered, "She never came in after Jack helped me upstairs- so gone six hours now. Listen, where's Jack or that Ianto bloke? Who are you anyway?"
"I'm helping out on the medical side of things; I want you to go home and stay there. I'll have Jack or Ianto call you as soon as we know something. If she comes home, you give us a call alright?" Martha caught a glimpse of Jack and waved frantically at him, "Okay Rhys, we'll find her." She hung up the phone and yelled, "Gwen's gone missing- no ones seen her since you dropped them off. Jack, I think she's transitioning."
Ianto looked between them, Jack's frown and Martha's fear, before clearing his throat to draw their attention. "Not that I don't appreciate the Torchwood Code of Silence, but can we maybe start with some basic truths so we can solve this case and find Gwen?"
Jack stiffened at the less than subtle sarcasm in Ianto's comment, then looked at Martha, "Tell him what we know, I can't." He turned to Ianto, "You stay here and work with Martha, and I'll go search for our wayward Miss Cooper." Jack struck one of his I-will-not-be-questioned-just-do-as-I-say poses but the more than obvious pleading in his eyes spoiled it. Ianto considered pushing back, hoping Jack would give in, but decided he wasn't Gwen Cooper and it wasn't his style. Instead, Ianto just gave a solemn nod before turning his attention to Martha. Jack gave her a quick glance before turning to leave, "I'll keep in contact."
She was slowly creeping along the tunnel, following the song in her head and the scent of prey. Her fingers were running along the crumbling concrete wall as she moved forward but like the predator she was, she made as little noise as possible. A grumble from somewhere ahead had her hunkering down and on the guard, teeth bared and fingers tensed into talons; she was ready to pounce when the other came into view. It was male and young, which made them more closely matched. Waiting silently, she threw herself at the male snarling and scratching, only to find herself thrown down to the ground. Their fighting drew the others, who collected and watched; sometimes raising their heads to scent the air or dropping it down letting a gravely grumble. The male was on top of her, pinning her to the ground as he bared all of his teeth and moved to press them into her throat. The wiry hair of his body was scraping at her skin where it was bared through torn clothing, then the snarling changed, as the male's action became less of an attack and more mounting, dominating. Somewhere in the primitive part of her mind, the part that was becoming more dominant, knew she was being put in her place within the pack and it did not suit her in the least. She arched her body up and let loose a scream while simultaneously rolling sideways and pressing her knee forcefully into the male's groin. His black eyes bulged and he howled in pain as she stood up and snarled down at him. She spun around and bared her teeth at the others, cowering them and taking her rightful place. She was alpha now.
Ianto sat at the table, staring blankly at the documents strewn in front of him. No matter how many times he blinked, the letters refused to rearrange into sentences that said something different. He looked at the medical reports again, then at the lists of names dating back decades. The DNA tagging report was again calling his attention, the red word next to only certain names screaming out. He found his voice finally, "I always thought it was just typical Saes arrogance that kept the Welsh out of Torchwood, figuring we couldn't be good for anything other than snacking on leeks or shagging sheep." He straightened in the seat and gave Martha a dodgy grin. "Still, it does explain her fascination with Owen." Martha couldn't help but let out a bark of laughter that danced around the conference room. He ran a finger over the medical report again, "So does having the gene seal the deal, or are there environmental factors?"
Martha grasped at his hand, "They didn't do much research." She frowned, before continuing, "Actually they didn't do anything other than locate the gene and actively keep people with it out of Torchwood." She pushed a specific report in front of him, "They didn't even discover it until her; she was the first one they witnessed first hand. After that, they went back and tested all the old blood samples, especially for agents that went missing. They tested her immediate family as well. It says a sibling received experimental treatment that they deemed a success- the family was moved out of the area as well." Martha looked down at the report, noticing Ianto's jaw clench when he reached the worst part. "Somehow they lost track of the son."
Rhys looked at the row of empty bottles on the coffee table then, at the clock sitting on the bookcase. Two hours since he'd called; eight hours since she'd gone off- and not a word from anyone. Andy left after his fifth bottle, leaving Rhys alone with the remainder and an empty flat. He thought about getting something to eat, but decided another bottle would work just as well. It wasn't the first time he'd been left sitting, wondering if she was okay. Back when she was just a beat copper, he'd worried when there would be a major crime scene, always thinking he'd get a call saying she was the victim. Then, when she'd gone to Torchwood it got worse, because now he knew the dangers. It really wasn't fair he thought, she was supposed to be home having a curry with him while they watched Wife Swap and instead she was god-only-knew where- maybe dying and there wasn't a thing he could do. "Well to hell with this!" Rhys slammed the bottle down on the table, knocking most of the empties over and onto the floor. He shoved the mobile into his pocket and made for the door after grabbing his jacket. "I'm going to find her myself and Jack Harkness can bugger off if he doesn't like it." Rhys was already out the door and nearly to the street when the house phone began to ring. He couldn't hear it as he headed down the street.
Jack hit the end call button and shoved the phone in his pocket. He hoped Rhys was asleep, but Jack knew better than that; Rhys was probably wandering around looking for Gwen by himself- the idiot. He checked his supplies one more time: a full dozen sets of restraints, four clips of tranquilizer darts and a couple cans of weevil spray, just in case. A quick glance at his wrist strap confirmed the tracking tag he'd put on Gwen hadn't moved in nearly ten minutes. Closing the strap and patting his trusty Webley for luck, Jack slipped down the ladder into the Cardiff sewers.
She was alpha now; even the male bared his neck to her position of power. The pack was small and the old one would slow them down; but she was strong and would lead them in the hunt. The blinders were gone now, she could feel the world breathing around her and the song of the pack filled her mind. Now it was time to hunt, the pack was hungry and they needed to be fed. As the alpha, it was her duty to provide, and she was strong and would feed them. The cool air of the night sky stroked her skin as she began the hunt.
Jack could hear growling and snarling around the corner, the shadows bounding about actively to match the vocalizations. He was sure there were at least four, maybe five distinct vocal sources and they were huddled in a small area as if fighting over something. Jack checked his tranquilizer gun, confirming he had a full dozen darts at the ready before coming around the corner. He wasn't surprised by what he saw; five people ranging from around ages twenty to fifty covered in rags or completely naked. They matched the descriptions of the five missing persons attached to the five deaths just as he knew they would, even with their features distorted and their hair falling out. The young male, obviously trying to assert his dominance over the others, was the first to notice the intruder and growled low in his throat at Jack. The male threw himself at Jack but the dart buried itself in the young man's chest easily. Each of Jack's darts hit the target and the five were soon incapacitated enough for Jack to secure them. He checked them carefully, relieved to see none had completely transitioned yet. He sighed with worry as his eye caught the strips of fabric in the corner. The fabric was common enough, but the metallic glint is what had him concerned: the small silver button that featured the linked hexagons that formed a 'T'. He let his eyes linger on the young man, even through the distortion to his features, Jack had no doubt who he was.
Rhys wandered around Bute Park looking behind every bush and tree while calling out, "Gwen? Come on love, are you here?" He could see his breath in the nightly chill as the words bounced around the greenery. Rhys rubbed his hands together, hoping to cut the cold that was building there when he heard a rustling behind him. "Gwen?" He turned where the underbrush was moving and tried to see into the darkness. "Come on love, it'll be okay. Just come out here and we'll get this all sorted. Gwen?" Rhys took a shaky step into the brush and pushed apart branches so he could see better into the darkness. He could hear breathing in the darkness, then he made out the slightest flash of eyes, "Gwen?" His voice shook with uncertainty and he wondered just why he considered it smart to look for her in the dark.
Martha fed Ianto's blood sample into the machine and waited for the results while he rolled his sleeve down and refastened the button. She looked closely at him, noting that he was a bit drawn and tired but showing none of the early symptoms that were documented in the files. Ianto's clearing of his throat brought her attention back to reality and the test results. "Something just doesn't make sense." She looked again at the old medical files and the screen containing Ianto's. "From what little data we have, you should be transitioning- males are affected faster due to testosterone and it being an X-linked." She pointed to another section of research, "You're more saturated with rift energy than even the person they watched." With a huff, she slammed the folder down and glared at him, "What makes you different, Ianto Jones?"
Ianto had no answer for her, but shrugged as he unbuttoned the sleeve and rolled it back up, holding it out for Martha who was gathering vacutainers and needles. "I'll try not to make it like you're too big of a drug addict," she assured him, forcing a tight smile.
"I don't suppose I could get something to drink and maybe a couple of biscuits? You know they always offer those at the blood donation clinics." Ianto tried making light of the situation, but Martha allowed him to get a few bottles of water and juice from the kitchenette. While he was away, Martha read his medical file, hoping something would jump out at her.
"That's not a complete file, by the way." She jumped as Ianto appeared behind her holding another folder and not the expected beverages. "That only covers what has happened here in Cardiff." He handed it to her, "This is from the Tower."
Martha snapped the folder from his hands, "Why wasn't it with the rest of your file?" She began scanning pages in excitement, hoping the answer to Ianto's resistance laid within, then slowly sank into the chair as her eyes grew wider, "Oh my god." She looked back at Ianto, "I thought you were a researcher?"
Ianto raised an eyebrow, "Who do you think creates all the devices of mass destruction? The bomb fairy?" He unbuttoned the other sleeve and moved his bare arm under the inspection light so she could see the fine surgical scars. Martha ran delicate fingers over the skin as she inspected the work. Ianto pulled his arm back with a jerk, "Sorry, that tickles a bit. Medical services in the Tower were always top notch. Owen used to make it sound like he was the ultimate in his field, but I doubt he'd have even made it as an orderly at the Tower." He turned his arm over and twisted it while flexing his fingers and rotating his wrist, "Completely severed at the elbow with bones sticking out and all that's visible are a few fine scars. Doesn't even hurt much."
Martha looked at him in awe, "Did Owen, strike that, did anyone know about what's in this file?" She went back to the pages and pages of medical procedures performed on him during his three years at Torchwood One. Most were reparative from experiments gone wrong but the occasional report had her laughing to the point of tears while Ianto blushed. Each of the reports included a complete breakdown of tools and procedures and any medications used. One thing appeared on every report which made Martha ask, "Ianto, what's AA170?"
He looked over at the medical report for a moment, "Torchwood developed advanced antibiotic. It was created by the same team that invented the inoculations we received during our new hire physicals." He saw Martha's eyes light up at the description as she quickly came towards him with a needle, "Which Jack and Owen refused to use in Cardiff because it was a product of the Tower." He winced as the needle dug a bit too far into his arm, but the large bore needle made the vial fill quickly, as did the second and third. "I can retrieve a vial from archives if you like; I'm sure that would be easier than bleeding me dry."
"You mean we have it here? If you've had this antibiotic all the time, why didn't you use it?" Martha followed along as Ianto made his way into the archives. "Why are you hiding them down in these blasted vaults?"
The comment caused Ianto's spine to stiffen and he glared at her. "I'm not in charge of medical decisions here. Owen refused to use any of the medical advances made by the Tower because he didn't trust them. I think it was more a case of professional envy, since they never considered him anything more than a field medic." They reached a bright white cabinet and Ianto entered the access code before opening the doors. "Jack refused to use them because the Tower ordered him to, and anything they said he did the exact opposite." He handed two vials of powder to Martha. "Do you really think these might be the answer?" He asked plaintively.
Martha clutched the vials tightly and began running towards the medical bay. "I don't know, but I'll need to test it on someone in transition. Hopefully Jack will find Gwen soon."
"Not Gwen, but how about five others in various states of transition?" Jack's voice carried from his office where he was pulling on a clean shirt.
She passed amongst the plants, careful not to disturb them as she tracked her prey. The chill did make her breath visible, but the prey did not appear to notice. It continued to make too much noise and its constant vocalizations for the rest of its herd covered even the slightest noise she made. It was a male, well covered and more than enough to feed the pack for days. It had obviously become separated from its herd; maybe it was injured. That would explain all of the noise it made and why it was wandering towards her. She would strike quickly, crush the throat so it suffocated or the neck snapped. She held her breath as it stepped into the brush directly in front of her and spread the bushes. It continued to bleat for its herd, but that would not stop her; she was the alpha and her pack was hungry.
Ianto sat at the conference table emptying his third glass of juice and nibbling on a biscuit after another round of blood draws. He was very careful not to look at the monitor with its multiple split screens showing the five new guests, all in matching boiler suits. Martha was discussing her test plan for the antibiotic and inoculation from the Tower.
"I'll try a simple matrix to begin with, single dose of the jab for one, antibiotic for another. One will receive a single dose of both and we'll keep the last two in reserve if that doesn't give us our answer." She pointed to a chart, "The enzyme is the most obvious indicator, so I'll start with those that have the lowest enzyme levels, that way I can see if it decreases." Martha looked between Jack and Ianto; neither really listened to what she was saying and both very carefully not looking at each other. "Finally I'm going to give each of them a nice ice lolly hoping a case of brain freeze will slow the progression." She growled in frustration, slamming her hands into the table as she pushed away to leave the conference room, "Work it out you two. We're on a deadline here." She didn't have the time or patience to deal with their relationship problems, not if she was going to figure out how to stop the transition.
The prey was surprised. It continued to bleat for its herd, hoping they'd come to the rescue; but she was faster. She was the hunter and she would bring down this animal to feed her pack, as was the duty of the alpha.
Rhys saw the face in the shadows and smiled, "Gwen? Thank god! Come on love, let's get you home." He reached a hand out to her then gasped as a rock hard right hook connected with his jaw sending him to the ground. He hardly had a chance to breathe through the pain or register the blood in his mouth when he was being battered all over by balled fists and scratching nails. Without even thinking he swung out and grabbed for his now-howling attacker only to find teeth buried in his forearm as a pair taloned hands ripped at his shirt. "Bloody hell!" Rhys could hardly control his reaction as he threw his attacker away and scuttled across the ground towards a tree. Even with his vision blurred and seeing stars, there was no doubt that the snarling mass getting ready to pounce again was Gwen.
"Gwen? Come on love, what the hell's going on?" Rhys tried to reason with her as he pushed himself up the tree; but once she finally focused her attention on him, all Gwen did was growl low in her throat before throwing herself towards him again. With no choice, Rhys grabbed her tight trying to contain her. Unfortunately, whatever madness had a hold of Gwen brought with it a strength she didn't usually have. It took all he had to push her against the tree and use his weight to trap her while pulling the mobile and hitting the speed dial.
Ianto ran a finger up around the lip of his empty glass; the vibration allowed the glass to hum while Jack pretended to read the report in front of him. They both had plenty of experience at not discussing things openly, and they were experts when it came to avoidance, but there wasn't a choice this time. Ianto finally gave in and broke the silence; "I suppose this explains why you tried to keep me away from Torchwood; why you kept us at arm's length for so long." Jack finally looked at him. "You could have trusted me. If you just told me to trust you, I would have, Jack. But you chose to keep it all to yourself and look where we are now." Ianto was relentless, "Having to read between the lines and pick the locks; and who the hell is Agent Turing?" Ianto couldn't stop himself from pounding a fist on the table.
"What could I say? 'Sorry Ianto, you need to stay away because it's quite possible you'll turn into a mindless killer if you stick around?' You were far too tenacious and nothing short of Retcon would have stopped you." Jack stared into Ianto's eyes, "But Retcon wouldn't have done it either, would it? Just like Gwen, you can fight it when you put your mind to it." Ianto's eyes widened as Jack smiled, "Didn't think I knew that? Come on, Ianto, it's right there in your medical file from One. You know, the one you never shared with Owen," he taunted.
Ianto glared back, "That's right Jack, it is all my fault. Because everyone here asked questions about how I was doing and how I was after the Tower. I purposely hid the surgical scars that are all over my arm and those skin grafts on my back are barely noticeable." Ianto got up from the table and placed himself right next to Jack, "Grow up, Jack. Constantly blaming the rest of us, blaming me, when we don't tell you every single detail yet you get to keep everything secret?" Ianto grabbed Jack's chin and turned him so they were eye-to-eye, "I trust you Jack, but it can't always be one sided." Jack tried to look away, but Ianto refused, "Now tell me, just once be honest, Jack; tell me."
Jack wet his lips as he looked at Ianto; he took a breath and opened his mouth when both of their phones began chiming an emergency. Ianto finally let go as they pulled their mobiles, then jumped off the table and pounded out of the conference room. Jack couldn't stop himself, "Fuck!"
Andy Davidson peaked into the holding cell for the fifth time in as many minutes. He was relived to see that the raging and howling had finally ceased and now there was only a person rolled into a tight ball in the corner making small mewling sounds with her hands pressed firmly against her head. He carefully slid the peep hole cover back into place before heading to the interrogation room they'd set aside at Detective Swanson's orders. He gave the exiting constable a smile and a nod of thanks for staying with them while he had gone to check out the state of the prisoner. Andy took a final deep breath and headed in himself.
"Well? What's going on young man? I insist you tell me what's happened to my daughter this instant!" Mary Cooper was spitting nails at the blond police officer. The wait for a train heading to Cardiff had been unbearable, and she yet again cursed her husband's inability to pass a simple driver's test. Mary Cooper didn't spare a second thought for Rhys, who as she understood it, was at the Heath with a concussion and covered in lacerations and contusions. He wasn't her daughter, he didn't concern her. "Why is my daughter in a jail cell?" The constable, who she knew had once been partnered with Gwen, looked at her with pity and she snapped, "If they were attacked, why isn't she receiving medical treatment as well? I'm sure Gwen would have done more to stop any attack than that lump Rhys!"
Andy was taken aback by Mrs. Cooper and tried to think of a polite way of explaining that Gwen was the violent offender in this situation, but he didn't have a chance as the door slammed open and the overgrown action figure in a blue greatcoat filled the space. Andy couldn't even control himself as the words slipped out, "Bloody Torchwood."
Jack surveyed the room, ignoring the comment that Andy couldn't keep from muttering. He took in the enraged look from Mary Cooper and was a bit relieved to see Geraint was not overly concerned. "Captain Jack Harkness. This is now Torchwood jurisdiction. Officer Davidson, if you could arrange for me to see the prisoner?" Jack raised an eyebrow at Andy who finally caged on and made for the door, "Andy? I'll need to speak to you afterwards." Andy gave him a nod as he left the room. Jack took a moment to lock the door then press a code into his wrist computer. Once he was sure that the recording devices in the room were disabled, he sat down at the table and looked at the enraged face of Mary Cooper. "I'm sorry."
Without a moment's hesitation, Mary Cooper slapped Jack soundly across the face and snarled, "Sorry won't do this time, Jack. I've done everything you told me, kept my husband doped ever since Janet and now it's Gwen!" She pushed herself up from the table and came around to glare down at him, "You promised me you'd keep her safe when she found out about Torchwood and look what's happened. And don't think that you can Retcon this away either, because if you try that again I'll call in every favor I have. You'll find yourself locked in some dark hole until even the memory of Jack Harkness is erased from the world!" Mary Cooper stopped for a moment and collapsed into a chair crying, "She can't go the same way as Janet, not after everything I've given up for her."
Geraint Cooper, who had been humming to himself as he idly stirred his cup of now cold tea, registered his wife's sobs, "Mary? I'm sure it's nothing. Gwen will be alright, won't she mister?" He looked at Jack with absolutely no recognition, "When can we see Gwen?"
Mary pulled herself together and wiped the tears from her face before allowing one final sniff of upset. She put her customary stony, angry expression back in place. "Yes, Captain Harkness, when will we be allowed to see our daughter?" She pushed herself up from the chair near Jack and glared daggers at him as she returned to the seat next to her husband, whose attention had by then returned to his cup. Jack let his breath whistle through his pursed lips as he stood up and pushed back from the table.
"Probably not until morning. After all, there's paperwork to be done, statements to be taken, and of course Gwen will need to visit hospital to be checked out and she'll likely want to visit her husband. I'll arrange accommodations for the night and have someone take you over. Just charge anything you need to the room, we'll be covering the costs." Jack reactivated the surveillance equipment and unlocked the door; "I'll call you with an update this evening, after she's been checked out by our medic." With a brief nod, he quickly exited the room and closed the door with a solid thud before heading towards the cell holding Gwen. Jack pulled his mobile out from his pocket and noticed the time. "He's going to kill me," he muttered to himself as he hit speed dial one and waited.
Jack's voice was tense over the mobile, even as he leaned against a corridor wall in the police station, "I need you to get a room for Gwen's parents right away, someplace close to University Hospital." He stopped for a moment, trying to decide if he should commit to this course of action. "Then I need you here at the Police Station, to help maintain this, too many eyes have seen too much." Jack looked into the cell then continued, "And prep another containment cell."
Martha was speaking in a low murmur with the doctor in charge at University Hospital regarding the care of the mauling victim currently in surgery. The surgical staff at first believed that the man had attacked the woman he was found holding down, but it was made perfectly clear to them that was not the case. Many believed it impossible that the injuries the man suffered could have been at the hands of a small woman; but the closer they were inspected, the more the patterns matched defensive wounds and they did bear a remarkable resemblance to the size of a woman's hands and teeth. She watched from the surgical theater's viewing room as the medical team carefully stitched the man's throat back together where it had been torn open and another repaired the internal organs pierced by ribs that were crushed. Martha frowned as she watched the proceedings; it was difficult to see Rhys Williams under all of the medical drapery and it was more difficult to imagine that his own wife had inflicted the injuries. She checked her mobile again, torn between calling his family and waiting, as Jack wanted. She nearly jumped when the phone began ringing and the name Jack Harkness appeared on the screen.
It had taken Jack twenty minutes to subdue the feral creature that wore the face of Gwen Cooper. The restraints had to be pulled to their smallest setting, but they held well as did the muzzle that Ianto had dug up from the archives. He shuddered a bit when he first touched the muzzle, remembering the last time it had been used, how the eyes of that person were nearly identical to the person wearing it now. Of course the eyes were now shut as the sedative had brought her down effectively, if a little slower than was normal for a human.
But not for a weevil.
Ianto gave the Coopers one of his better false smiles as he escorted them to the hotel's front desk. "I'm sorry I couldn't find you accommodations closer to the hospital, I hope this will be acceptable." Ianto handed Mrs. Cooper the room keys as Mr. Cooper was busy studying a painting, "If you need anything, feel free to charge it to room service. I'll likely be assigned to pick you up in the morning, so if you can be ready by ten?"
Mary sniffed at him, "You can cut the sugar coating Mister Jones; I remember the drill- I probably wrote most of it." She sneered at the shock that crossed his face, "Retcon doesn't work on everybody, Mister Jones; you know that better than most. Even when he thinks he's improved the formula, Jack's little amnesia pill isn't perfect." She pressed the lift button and pulled her husband in along-side her when the door slid open. She enjoyed Ianto's discomfort as the doors slid shut, "And Mister Jones? The dress you picked for Gwen was lovely- you make an excellent wedding fairy."
He watched the mirrors metal doors of the lift slid shut then let his breath escape in a rush. "Hell," Ianto murmured to no one. He gave himself a moment to recover before heading back to the police station. It would take several hours of damage control and many carafes of coffee and tea, probably pastries and maybe even muffins to make the events of the past day fade into the vaguely remembered fog often referred to as 'Bloody Torchwood'. Ianto smirked; Bloody Torchwood had been one of his better ideas. With Jack in charge and all of the crazy things that happened in Cardiff, keeping Torchwood secret was nearly impossible. So Ianto chose the simpler path of making people's memories hazy but reinforcing the underlying irritation at Torchwood interrupting their lives. He remembered his presentation and Owen's ridicule but, Jack thought it was hilarious and Tosh was for anything that didn't seriously damage people. Gwen of course had gone ballistic when she read the protocol and ran back through her own memories of events and discovered several hazy events where the same mnemonic fell from her lips. Pulling back to the present, Ianto placed a call to his favorite bakery and checked his supply of special glaze and secret ingredients for the coffee and tea.
"There's no doubt, Jack; all the marker enzymes are elevated and her white count has dropped dramatically." Martha looked through the plexi wall separating them from Gwen. "Jack, why didn't Torchwood study this more? You've known for decades and there's nothing here other than notes about progression dated twenty years ago." She turned to the computer where she'd connected the flash drive and scanned through the medical analysis and scant records that abruptly stopped in 'ninety-nine. "Why didn't you let Owen work on this? He was a prat but this is just the sort of thing that would have kept him out of trouble for at least a year." She looked at him, waiting for a response, but Jack's eyes were still lost someplace between the plexi and Gwen's restrained form. "According to the documentation, all I can do is keep her heavily sedated or perform a chemical lobotomy and hope it represses the transition; but Jack, that much Thorazine would leave her barely functional. She wouldn't be Gwen anymore, she'd just be a husk walking around."
He looked through the plexi, "What about the antibiotic trials? The others were further along than her." Jack unintentionally stepped back when Gwen let out a howl and strained against her bonds. Martha frowned as she kept her eyes on the PDA in her hand. The results weren't hopeful as far as she could see and the last thing she wanted to do was share her findings with Jack. He pushed on, "Come on Martha, I need at least a shred of hope."
"I'm sorry Jack, they're transitioning too fast. I think it's the AA170 that works as an inhibitor, but it can't stop the process if it's already started. There's something we could try, but I don't know if I could do it in good conscious." Martha looked back at the struggling form in the cell, still recognizable as Gwen Cooper but the coarsening had started; she was moving into stage two.
Jack turned away from the cell and its occupant, "Let's talk upstairs, I can't make this sort of decision here." He headed for the staircase with Martha following as the howls of a restrained Gwen Cooper filled the air. They returned to the main work area of the Hub to find Ianto staring blankly at the screen monitoring the cells with a faded manila folder in his hands. Jack could smell the freshly brewed coffee and just a hint of cinnamon coming from the kitchen area, but Ianto didn't acknowledge either Jack or Martha. He slid up behind Ianto and placed his hands on his shoulders, which earned an initial spasm of tension before Ianto looked up at him. "Police contained?"
"Yep. Just another frustrating Torchwood matter that they'll complain about but have not the foggiest memory of." Ianto gave him a half smile before turning his attention back to the monitor, "I could easily have been in one of those cells, slowly losing my humanity." Jack's grip on his shoulders tightened and Ianto let his cheek fall onto his hand. "If it weren't for a standard issue vaccination at the Tower I, would be."
Jack leaned down and placed a kiss on his forehead, "Then I guess there is something in this world I owe Torchwood One for." Jack glanced at the folder Ianto was holding, "Found the harridan's file I see."
The folder dropped to the desk, "She was quite the agent according to the file, I'm surprised Torchwood ever let her slip through their fingers." He let his hand rest on the folder, "But they didn't let go, not of her or the child."
Jack stepped away frowning, "No. Not really."
Full Moon
^top
The personnel files at Torchwood three reflected the personality of whoever led the facility at the time. Ianto always found the files amusing, especially the colorful terms used by several of the female leaders to describe Jack. Perhaps it was the fact that Torchwood was a clandestine organization, or because it was founded by a Queen, but for most of its history, the leaders had been women. Jack, Alex and Gerald were more the exception than the rule. In the early seventies, Cardiff was under the iron fist of a woman named Baljeet Gupta, and her terse staff evaluations made technical manuals seem entertaining. Few of her comments were telling, but when she did choose to become descriptive you couldn't help but take notice. And her descriptions of Mary Bowen, who was being groomed as the next head of Cardiff, were voluminous up until her sudden departure. The record became short and to the point after that: Retcon failed to modify memories. Signed non-disclosure on pain of death. Married Geraint Cooper, one child. The last entry in the file was even more disturbing: position filled by former partner. See Janet Cooper.
Jack was looking at Martha's data on the display, his eyes scanning it over and over. Ianto was no longer looking at the data; instead his attention was taken by the swirling vortex in his coffee mug. Martha continued describing her solution and no matter how her phrases turned, the results were the same. After a few minutes she fell silent and looked back and forth between Jack and Ianto, hoping they would break the stalemate. Ianto finally gave in, "Who will sign the consent?" Jack's head snapped around at the comment, which made Ianto look at him oddly, "This is experimental medical treatment, Jack; even Torchwood requires informed consent." Martha cupped her hand over her mouth to stifle the guffaw threatening to escape, which earned a wink from Ianto. "We have the next of kin staying at the St. David's running up an impressive mini-bar charge."
Jack drummed his fingers on the table letting the thumps echo in the conference room. It was a no-win solution as far as Jack was concerned and he really hated getting trapped in those. "We should check on Rhys first, he deserves a say in this too." Jack looked at Martha, "Get whatever you need ready for when we get back." He turned back to Ianto, "I could use backup for this one, Ianto." He stood up from the table, pushing his chair back, "So, let's get this over with."
Ianto followed along behind Jack as they headed for the SUV, giving Martha one last nod before the blast door closed. He didn't speak as they drove towards the hospital, but Jack tried to fill the silence with inconsequential things. "Maybe we need to order a new SUV, you know I've been watching Top Gear and that Cayenne would really help us get to our destinations faster." He winked at Ianto, "Just think how impressive we'd look climbing out of a black-on-black Porsche? Maybe add some nice Armani sunglasses for the team?" Jack pulled into a space at the hospital and looked at Ianto, "What do you think?" Ianto climbed out of the SUV and headed towards the hospital entrance with Jack speeding to catch him, "Come on, we'd be the most fashionable alien hunters in Cardiff."
Ianto finally looked at Jack, "Considering the amount of money we spend on dry cleaning and repairing your coat I doubt we could afford a G-Wiz and sunglasses from the bargain rack at Tesco Express." Ianto pressed the lift button and waited for the door. "Do you think he's up for this Jack?" They stepped into the empty lift and the doors slid shut after Jack pressed the floor button. Ianto watched Jack's reflection in the doors.
Mary Cooper was pacing around the suite they'd been booked into by Jack's lackey while Geraint was entranced by morning television. She stalked through the room checking for surveillance and was insulted by how obvious the installments were. The camera mounted in the carbon monoxide detector was a newer design than she'd remembered but that was to be expected after nearly thirty years. The only bug that impressed her was the one in plain sight, the television that Geraint was currently glued to. During the night she waved a hand in front of the IR port and heard the buzzing of the micro camera's auto focus; a quick peek in the speaker grill revealed the directional microphone. "Not bad Jack, or should I say Ianto Jones?" She checked her watch again and growled, "I have had enough of this!" Mary pulled her jacket on and headed to the door; she quickly called out, "Geraint sweetheart, I'm going down to the spa. Why don't you stay here and enjoy the program?" Geraint mumbled something and waved to her as she pushed the room door open and headed out.
"Considering the extent of his injuries, Mister Williams came through surgery remarkably well." The attending physician checked the chart again and shook his head, "In fact, he's doing far better than he should." He frowned at the device sitting on the table next to Rhys- its leads attached to the patient and had an odd glow that did not look like any medical equipment that should be in the hospital. "I suppose there's no point in me asking what you Torchwood people want with this poor man?" When the men standing against the wall made no comment, the doctor cursed under his breath and put the chart away. "He should wake up soon, please try not to exhaust him." The doctor pushed past the men and out of the room, 'Bloody Torchwood' was clearly heard.
She'd forgotten how much the basin had changed since her time there. The dilapidated dock buildings were gone, replaced by the Millennium Centre and the Plass. Of course, the main entrance was still there, now pretending to be a tourist information centre instead of a derelict coal exchange office, but she didn't want the main entrance. Mary Cooper knew all of the secondary entry points to the Hub, but only one was still obvious in all its glory- the Pierhead building. The door was still as generic as ever and the pressure pad remained on the top corner of the frame. A faint click confirmed the latch releasing and she pressed into the utility closet with its mops and cleaning supplies and the storage rack. The rack didn't move as smoothly as she remembered and considering the dust that rattled free as it swung, it wasn't difficult to believe that the entrance had been forgotten- especially when faced with the four tumbler locks that she herself had installed, "Now that's just sloppy, Jack." With a few flicks of the spindles, the wall slid back and she pushed her way into the Hub.
Rhys looked between Jack and Ianto owlishly thanks to the painkillers flooding his system. He was pretty sure he heard them right, but things were a bit fuzzy around the edges. After wetting his lips he finally spoke, "If the world was normal, I'd think you were taking the piss, but you're serious aren't you?" Ianto sat on the edge of the bed with a cup of coffee that smelled far better than anything originating in an NHS hospital. Rhys looked at the cup and then over to the wall where Jack continued to lean without speaking. "So my choices are hemlock or the dagger, eh?"
Ianto couldn't stop himself from snorting at the quip, which made Rhys grin like a loon. Jack finally pushed away from the wall and took up position next to the bed. It took Rhys a few moments to adjust to this new location. He frowned, "One way or another, you'll take care of her, yeah?" Ianto handed the paper cup to Rhys who continued to look glassily at Jack as he slowly drank the coffee. Rhys finished the cup, imagining a bitter aftertaste that had nothing to do with the coffee itself.
Jack watched as Ianto took the cup before Rhys dropped it while his eyes slid shut. Many would believe the man slept because of the medication and surgery, which wasn't far from the truth. Jack placed a hand on Ianto's shoulder as he continued to look at the sleeping form of Rhys Williams. "We'll do the best we can. Ianto, make sure it's a clean wipe." With a final squeeze of Ianto's shoulder, Jack left the hospital room, taking the Torchwood tech with him. Ianto would make sure the medical records were modified, along with the memories of everyone involved- most importantly the victim. He threw the device in the rear of the SUV and headed to St. David's and the real gauntlet.
The adjunct processing room for archive level three had changed dramatically since Mary Cooper had last seen it. The function of the room was still obvious, large work surfaces for artifacts and plenty of supplies for containing the items before filing them for future use or permanent storage. What used to be wood was now metal and glass, but she smiled at the small Welsh dragon tile still proudly defending its secrets. She placed her hand over the dragon and waited as the gears went into action and the hydraulics activated. The old recording still worked, if a bit scratchy.
Name, position and password. Please speak clearly now.
She hoped that her voice hadn't aged too much for the logs, or that someone actually remembered to remove her cylinder. She quickly cleared her throat, "Mary Bowen, field agent. Password slide rule." Mary waited for the mechanical systems to complete the comparison algorithms; either the door would open or the room would flood with paralytic gas. She was relieved when the cogs turned and the door allowed her access to her first destination. The room hadn't changed, the dust was thicker and the air still tasted of ozone from the vacuum tubes and mechanical switches. Mary rested her hand on the console, the buzzing between springs and jumper wires that defined the circuit unchanged. She let her hand slide on the surface before she patted the panel lightly, "Hello Turing, we need to have a little talk."
Martha checked the dosage one last time before moving to the exam table. None of the other tests had worked; the DNA of her patients was already too corrupted to undo. Thorazine had somehow inhibited the transition in the past, at least according to the scant research they'd done. Hopefully the answer laid somewhere along those lines. The test subject's breathing was shallow and rapid, which seemed to be normal for a weevil, and the Thorazine should keep it under for the test and hopefully let the magic bullet do its job. She doubled the dose logged in Ianto's medical records and after a moment's hesitation she injected the test subject and hoped for a minor miracle.
"Thank you again for your cooperation; you'll receive a copy of the final report directly from the Ministry's office next week." Ianto smiled at the dazed hospital administrator who continued to sip at the coffee. "I'll just be on my way now, please thank the doctors and nurses for their assistance as well." He quietly shut the office door, with the pertinent medical files in his attaché. Even if they never appreciated it, Ianto's suits had made clean ups go smoother on more than one occasion. He waited at the hospital entrance for his cab since Jack had forgotten yet again that he'd driven. The sun was out for a change, so Ianto enjoyed it for the novelty that it was in their line of work. The buzzing of his mobile wasn't too much of a surprise, but the automated message Unauthorized Hub Access: Level Three definitely wasn't something he wanted to deal with.
Jack pressed his fingers against the bridge of his nose and sighed. He really should have expected it from Mary Bowen. After all she'd raised Gwen. He nearly choked when he saw a notification from the old Pierhead entrance; it hadn't been used since the lift went online and other than perhaps Ianto, only Jack knew it was there. Well, Jack and an agent who retired nearly thirty years before. Ianto's call regarding someone going into level three told him exactly where Mary was headed, but that could wait. First, he needed to check in with Martha and the experiment. The cog had barely rolled back when he heard the howling and screaming and he was running towards the medical bay. "Martha!" Jack skidded to a halt at the medical bay where Martha was backed against a wall with her hands clasped over her mouth watching the subject strapped to the exam table arching upwards and howling in pain. Jack slipped down the staircase to Martha's side where she continued to cry and the man- nothing more than a boy- finally collapsed back onto the table silently.
"Oh god Jack, it was the only thing left to try. I'm so sorry." Martha huddled against him as she cried for the poor young man that lay as if dead on the exam table. "I've tried everything I can think of to reverse or at least halt the transition, but nothing works, at least nothing they can survive." She finally let go of Jack and stood next to the young man on the table. He was about twenty, dark hair and pale skin with a dusting of freckles that were familiar. "It works, but without some sort of a buffer I can't imagine anyone coming through alive."
Jack came up beside the exam table with a sheet and covered the young man while asking, "What would work as a buffer?"
Martha sniffed as she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, "Uncorrupted source DNA, if I could synthesize enough it might work to minimize the shock and let the antibiotic do its work."
"Gwen should have a vial of blood on hand, Owen always made sure of that." Jack wandered over to the medical refrigerator and looked for the spindle of blood samples. "Of course after the bombings we never restocked the bank, did we?" He slammed the door shut, letting everything around it rattle, "Would her parents' work? Is it close enough?"
Martha turned to him and stood up straight, "It's better than nothing, because if we do nothing then Gwen Cooper will be nothing more than another weevil in your containment cells."
"Do it! I'll send Ianto to get Geraint while I go hunt Mary down from where ever she's hiding in the Hub." Jack was nearly up the staircase when he came to a dead stop against pinstripes. "Ianto! I need you to fetch Gwen's father from the hotel while I go hunting." Jack stopped as Mary Cooper stepped from behind Ianto holding a steel cylinder covered in frost, "Mary! So good of you to join us. Hope you had a good time checking out your old haunt, but right now you need to get downstairs so Martha can draw some blood." Jack tried pushing her towards the staircase, but Ianto grabbed his arm. "Ianto? It's the only way to save her."
"No. You don't need me, you need her mother." Mary Cooper handed the steel cylinder to Martha, "you need this." Martha looked at the tube for a moment, the odd circuits printed on the exterior under the frost.
"What is this?" Martha noticed that the top unscrewed and began to spin it open. The interior held a small glass vial of blood surrounded by copper wires and a vacuum tube.
Mary Cooper stared at Jack, "That's an unadulterated blood sample from Gwen's mother. Her real mother."
"Janet."
Jack stared at the cylinder then back at Mary, "What? No. You and Geraint had a little girl. I remember." Jack stopped and the expression on his face quickly shifted from confusion to anger, "You Retconned me?"
Ianto handed Mary Cooper a mug of coffee, which she gladly accepted, then sat on the opposite end of the worn sofa. Martha and Jack were in the laboratory filtering the DNA samples from Geraint Cooper and his first wife Janet Cooper to create a buffer solution. Ianto glanced at the monitor, which displayed the CCTV feeds that were tracking Geraint during his tour of the Millennium Centre. As he watched Gwen's father carefully study whatever the tour guide pointed out, he finally asked, "Is it safe to leave him like that? Couldn't he wander off."
Mary laughed, "He'll be fine. Geraint is always careful and considerate when he's alone. If he gets lost or confused, he'll end up in a lavatory for a while then wander back to the front doors. The medic at the time had spent the sixties working for the Americans and had experience with subliminal programming." She paused and watched her husband run his hand over the finely crafted wood balcony ledge, "It's been a blessing, especially in the early days when the doses left him disoriented. Any time I couldn't find him, I just headed towards the nearest WC." She looked at the frown dancing across Ianto's face, "You think I'm a monster, what I allowed Torchwood to do to him, what I did to Gwen."
Ianto turned to look directly at Mary Cooper. All of the tacky pretense he'd remembered from Gwen's wedding was stripped away and underneath was a woman made of solid iron. "I'm sure you had reasons for everything and I'm definitely not the person to be throwing stones when it comes to acting out of love." Ianto quickly bit his lip, he hadn't meant to say that much. She gave him a smile that was far too knowing.
"Let me tell you a story Mister Jones, it's a completely human tale of a very selfish young woman who ruined a friendship, destroyed a marriage and along the way made a mess of five lives." She looked into her empty mug for a moment, "Janet Cooper and I were fast friends, and I can't count how many times she saved my life on missions. We even shared a flat for a while since we were always at work." She placed the mug on the coffee table, "She told me all about her childhood sweetheart from Bontnewydd, how they were going to get married as soon as her tour with Torchwood was done. You see, back then the Directors for Cardiff signed people up for five years only then you either transferred to another facility or went to UNIT. Janet was going to get out completely, which meant mind wipe with the machine or Jack's magic pill." Mary shifted on the couch, trying to see into the lab where Jack and Martha worked frantically. "But you know how the best laid plans go, don't you? Janet got pregnant while visiting Geraint at his flat in Swansea so they got married in a clerk's office. Janet was put on desk duty for the duration of the pregnancy and Geraint moved into our flat with us."
"Ianto!" Jack's voice boomed through the Hub, "Need you here."
Ianto gave Mary Cooper a shrug as if to say 'It's my job after all' and headed towards the lab. Mary just looked on and said loudly, "When it's all over, I'd much rather you administer the Retcon, Mister Jones, I think Gwen would appreciate a happy ending." Ianto stopped and turned back to her, slightly shocked which made her laugh, "But you've already started, haven't you?" She looked at the coffee mug then back to where he stood silently, "Go on, Jack needs you to help my daughter."
"You bitch! How could you do this to me, to us!" Janet Cooper's right-cross connected with a crack to Mary Bowen's jaw. "I trusted you Mary, I trusted you to protect my husband and child and this is your answer?" Janet's fist probably broke several ribs as it met Mary's side, but it still didn't make up for the pain she was feeling. "You betrayed me."
"I'm sorry Jan, we didn't mean for it to happen, it just did." Mary Bowen raised her arms to block the next punch, but made no attempt to fight back. "Geraint was so exhausted caring for little Gwen and you didn't notice- you were too busy letting Torchwood take over your entire life. You have a husband and a daughter Jan, and you're never there!" Mary angled her body so the roundhouse kick merely glanced off her thigh instead of knocking her to the ground, "You have everything and you're throwing it away for Torchwood!"
Janet stopped and gasped for air, "Torchwood's important and you know it. What we do protects the world Mary, our personal lives aren't important- the work is!"
"You're wrong. Without something to hold on to, Torchwood just eats us whole. You're losing your humanity Jan, you'll end up no better than Harkness." Mary was pressing her palm hard against her side to numb the pain. "I won't let you hurt Geraint or that little girl like this Jan, you need to choose."
Mary didn't even see the fist that smashed into her nose, or the frigid expression on Janet Cooper's face as she fell to the ground. She didn't hear Janet's words as she turned and walked away. "Then I choose Torchwood."
The mechanical systems were familiar to anyone that had witnessed someone in renal failure. The hemofiltration machine worked a lot like dialysis, but the buffered solution of source DNA was passed back into the restrained patient. Martha checked the readings again, just to be sure, then looked over to where the others waited. "This is my last idea. We'll either kill her or save her, but no matter what, the old Gwen Cooper will be gone." She noticed the frown on Ianto's face and the hard glare Mary Cooper gave Jack, "It's your call now, go or not?" Martha looked at Jack, waiting for his answer.
Jack finally turned to Mary, who closed her eyes and walked away. "Do it."
"The divorce was easy enough, we could thank Torchwood for that. Janet gave up all parental rights and moved into the Hub full time." Mary stared at the monitor, watching her daughter writhe on the table. She waited a moment, looking at Ianto, trying to make him understand. "Geraint and I married and it was only too easy for me to modify legal records so that Gwen became my daughter. The rare occasion Janet did come around, Gwen thought she was her aunt and that worked fine." She twisted her wedding ring around, "I left Torchwood and we moved to Swansea to raise Gwen but the memory erasure didn't work and no matter how many times they tried, I always threw off the effects of the Retcon. Baljeet finally gave up and let me be as long as I kept my mouth shut." She looked up and smiled, "It wasn't a hardship, not really. We were a happy family and Gwen was such a good girl, but then it happened. Janet showed up on our doorstep with a baby."
Gwen's guttural moans filled the medical bay as the sweat poured from her body. Jack couldn't take anymore, "Can't you do something? Give her something for the pain?"
Martha scowled at him, "Like what, Jack? I have no idea what's safe at this point. She's already flooded with enough Thorazine to drop a rampaging elephant!"
"Just do what you can."
Mary accepted another cup from Ianto then continued, "She never told us who the boy's father was and she looked like she'd been on the run for weeks. Her clothes were ragged and dirty and she looked mad. I wouldn't let her in the house but she pounded on the door and screamed about how she'd make sure the world knew the truth about how I'd stolen her daughter."
"You can play the honorable little housewife Mary Bowen, but I know the truth, you harlot! You stole my husband- you stole my daughter!" Janet Cooper screamed at the top of her lungs in front of the simple terraced house, the baby clutched to her chest wailing the entire time. "You're going to suffer just like I've suffered Mary Bowen! I promise you!"
Mary Cooper wrapped her arms around herself as she carefully peaked through the curtains and out onto her tiny front garden. The passing years had not been kind to her old friend, but the child was her main concern. Janet was starting to draw attention, and started mentioning Torchwood, which made the decision simple. Mary picked up the phone and called a number she'd hoped never to dial again. "Jack? I need you to come, it's Janet."
Jack sat at his desk looking at the photograph. The boy in the picture was around seven and wearing a school uniform. His dark hair had a will of its own and his freckles stood out against the flush in his cheeks. The dark eyes were his mother's, but the glint in them was definitely thanks to his father. Another groan from the medical bay brought his attention back to the present and he carefully placed the photograph in the yellow tin where it would stay with the rest of his memories. He pushed the drawer closed and looked back into the Hub, noticing both Ianto and Mary staring at him. Questions would come, but not until after.
"Unfortunately, Geraint and Gwen got home before Jack arrived. Poor Gwen was so frightened by Jan's behavior and Geraint tried so hard to protect her from it, but he couldn't fight back because she was still carrying that baby. That poor child was screaming at the top of his lungs and Janet didn't even notice, she just got wilder and wilder as she railed on poor Geraint." Mary stopped for a moment, "I didn't have any choice; I couldn't let any of them get hurt."
Mary eyed Geraint and Gwen as they watched a children's program, Gwen singing along as Geraint held her tightly. Poor Geraint's eye was nearly swollen shut and his split lip couldn't be comfortable, but he was keeping Gwen entertained while she dealt with the situation. The situation being Janet Cooper on a rampage and her obviously neglected son. Mary felt guilty for sneaking up behind Janet as she railed on her husband, but she was relieved that the alien shock gun she'd liberated from Torchwood had been enough to drop the crazed woman. Nearly an hour later and Janet was still unconscious from the stunner, but safely strapped to the heaviest wooden chair in the house. The makeshift gag would at least make sure Janet's screams wouldn't scare the children. The knock on the back door surprised her, but she relaxed quickly when she saw the familiar blue greatcoat.
"He said she'd 'gone off the reservation,'" Mary quipped. "They'd been searching for her ever since they discovered she was pregnant. Her behavior had become erratic even before then, but they let it slide because she still did her job." Mary got up from the couch and slowly walked towards the medical bay, "It wasn't until the other deaths started that they really became concerned." She stopped and looked down in the medical bay, remembering a similar procedure years earlier. "The medic made the connection between civil violence, weevil activity and the change when they caught a man in transition." Gwen's moans filled the space for a moment, "It was already too late for Janet, but we could still protect Gwen and Geraint."
Mary held Geraint's hand as he relaxed on the exam table, he gave her a small smile, "It's okay love; if this will keep our Gwen safe then it'll be worth it right?" She felt the last faint squeeze as the medic pushed the bolus into his IV and his eyes fell shut. She looked up at Jack, "Tell me this is the only way. Make me believe it."
Jack didn't watch the procedure, he went back to the room they'd set aside for the baby. The medic pronounced the boy healthy, if a bit malnourished but that was easily taken care of. The administrators at One had already lined up care and education for the child since he was technically a ward of Torchwood, even if his father was an open secret. Jack was so intent on the boy that he barely registered the snuffle from the cot in the corner where the little girl slept fitfully. The amount of Retcon she'd been given had never been tested on a child that young, but it was necessary.
Martha checked Gwen's vitals again and made a note on her chart. She looked up to where Jack, Ianto and Mary Cooper were pretending to wait patiently. The sample was still running, so she used a cloth to wipe the perspiration from Gwen's face. The tests would confirm what they could already see happening to Gwen's features, but no one wanted to say it out loud. Martha finally looked up at her vultures and said flatly; "Go away. It will be at least another ten minutes and you're making me nervous!"
Ianto followed along behind Jack and Mary Cooper as they headed to the conference room. Ianto had several pads of A4 ready for the debriefing and planned to make good use of them. All of the preliminary work was posted on the walls for review and most of the clean up operation was already in motion. New identification, job histories, all the small details were clearly labeled on the charts he'd posted earlier. There were just the finishing touches left and the final go ahead after he finally got some answers. Jack dropped into his chair while Mary took up residence where Gwen usually sat. Ianto, in his normal seat, started his questioning before either of them had a chance to deflect him. "First off, how did you enter the Hub, obviously you used an alternate entrance that is not in our current documents." That had frustrated him the most; a secret entrance that wasn't secured was a liability.
Mary laughed, "Didn't Jack give you access to the primary schematics for this place? Most of us used the Pierhead almost exclusively." She paused reflectively before continuing, almost derisively, "Of course he never did- he always preferred the flashy entrance down by the docks." She glared at Jack who gave a huff of laughter. "As for other entrances, well things have changed a bit since my day but there should be a map of all exits in archives. It's filed as Ventilation and Recirculation Schematics, unless someone accidentally misplaced it." Ianto quickly looked at Jack who put his hands up as if to say 'don't look at me.'
"Yes, I'll look into that. Now, your activity in the archive preparation room, and the cylinder I found you carrying towards the main work area. How is that related to the person or system known as Agent Turing?" Ianto covertly tapped a button on his PDA, which would force the cameras in the conference room to record multiple copies of the conversation for security purposes.
Mary leaned back in the chair and gave Ianto a smile, "Turing was my greatest accomplishment. It's the ultimate uni-tasking system for searching and deleting all references to the weevil mutation process. I came back for six months to perfect it after Janet." She ran a finger along the edge of the table, "A purely analog computer that compared blood test results against its control sample and then deleted all traces. It's completely independent of the Torchwood mainframe with hardwired circuitry that could only be modified by manual changes to the console. And he did his job perfectly until I pulled the sample out and broke the circuit." Mary paused to look at Jack, "You should really update the access system to Turing, Jack; the quarter-inch tape recordings aren't stable. And if I'm not mistaken, only you and I could even access the room at this point."
"I'll leave the upgrades to Ianto and Martha. I hope you'll be willing to assist them in reprogramming Turing for its new assignment." Jack hoped Mary would be willing, especially since it would mean never having to deal with this problem again. She gave him a nod in return. Ianto prepared his next question, but Jack spoke over him, "So, that should cover everything. That just leaves modifying Geraint's memories and implementing the final phase of the clean up." Ianto scowled, but Jack ignored him for the moment, "So, Geraint?"
Mary looked at him, "He'll be fine. I'll tell him and he'll accept it and never mention the past. The Thorazine treatment and Retcon all those years ago left him open to suggestion and if I repeat something enough times, that becomes reality for him."
Jack stood up from the table, "Well, then I think now would be a good time for you two to get Turing updated while I have a chat with Martha." He quickly darted from the conference room leaving the others sitting. Ianto checked his notes and tapped his PDA to stop recording. He didn't have as many details as he'd like, but at Torchwood, he rarely got exactly what he wanted.
Mary stared at him for a moment before finally asking, "Do you think, well... Can I see her?" Ianto looked away for a moment, then looked back into her eyes before giving a slight nod.
Waning Moon
^top
Jack and Ianto sat in the SUV watching the semi-detached for several hours. The man currently doddering about in the front garden was a bit worse for wear, but he appeared to be enjoying himself as he pulled weeds and spread mulch. The directional microphone perched on the SUV's dashboard allowed them to hear him humming a jingle softly to himself as he worked. In the three months he'd lived here in Newport, Rhys Williams had made the impersonal little house into quite the home.
"Has he shown any signs of remembering?" Jack asked.
"No. Our monitors in the house haven't detected any behaviors that indicate Retcon failure and surveillance at his place of work and the pub he frequents haven't seen anything to indicate that he remembers anything. We'll keep up basic monitoring for a full year per the protocol, but I don't think we have anything to worry about. He was a willing participant in the process and I've never had a failure when that was the case." Ianto reached over and flipped off the microphone and stored it away.
Jack sighed, "Of course you're right. How is Turing working these days?" He watched as Rhys moved from the garden to wash his car.
Ianto laughed as Rhys slipped in a slick of soapsuds, "It appears to be operating as instructed. Every blood test matching the sample parameters flags the person for an inoculation against Avian Flu, which our systems automatically replace with a dose of AA170. Turing only applies to samples tested within the area influenced by the rift since a certain level of energy saturation prior to Korlevic's return is required to elicit the transition." Ianto checked his watch, any minute now, "So in 2019 you should know if all of our mucking about has worked or not."
Jack gave a non-committal grunt then shifted up into his seat as a police car stopped in front of the house. They both watched silently as a woman in a constable's uniform climbed out of the passenger seat and waved to the driver as they sped away. Her dark hair whipped about as she responded to her name being called by the man washing the car and even without the microphone they could hear her shriek of laughter as she was doused in cold water from the garden hose. Even from their location, they could see the gap toothed smile that lit up her face as she received a kiss from her husband, followed by peels of laughter as she dumped the bucket of sudsy water over his head. "I'm going to get you for that, Gwen Williams!" He shouted as he chased her towards the entry door.
"First you have to catch me, Rhys Williams!" Gwen shouted back.
As the blast door rolled open, Jack smiled at the cacophony that awaited him. Their new mad scientist, a rather entertaining man called Malcolm that he'd nicked from UNIT, was again testing the automatic interpreter he'd designed by trading squawks and screeches with the pterodactyl. The medic on loan for the month had her hands clasped to her ears but it was a futile attempt at keeping the chalkboard scratching noise out. Ianto just shrugged and wandered past Jack towards the kitchen and the coffee machine.
"I'll see you in my office shortly, Ianto, I just want to check on something." Ianto gave him a nod as Jack headed into the depths of the Hub. He ran his hand along the wall and remembered all the people who had passed this way over the years. So many people traveled these hallways, but only a few came here and never left. The new secured cells were larger and easier to clean thanks to Ianto's design, but the occupants didn't seem to care either way. He'd barely reached the first cell when the groans issued from the occupant. She crouched in the corner where the air vents linked the two cells and crooned to the other cell. The deeper groans from the adjoining cell were plaintive in counterpoint. Jack stood so the divider allowed him to see both occupants clearly as he watched the limited interaction between mother and child.
"Boss? You down here?" Andy Davidson's voice carried in the concrete tunnels of the Hub. "There's a beastie covered in tentacles holding people hostage out at Castle Coch. Seems to be saying something about you and 'never calling?'" Andy stopped next to Jack, where he was still looking intently at the captive weevils, "Jack?"
Jack straightened up and turned dramatically towards Andy, "Right, probably forgot its number, or maybe species. Tentacles do my head in a bit." Jack gave him one of his better lecherous grins and patted Andy on the shoulder, "Ianto and I can take care of it. Make sure these cells are kept clean Andy, no reason to make them live in squalor." Jack strode out of the containment area and was barking through the comms at Ianto, only to laugh a moment later.
Andy waited a moment, wondering just how in the world he ended up in this insane asylum; but went about his duties. The thud against plexi glass had him jump back a foot as the two weevils looked at him intently. Giving himself a shake, he smiled at them and said, "Right, sorry about that. Where was I? Oh yeah, breakfast. Hope it hits the spot." Andy pushed the trays through the security panels and watched as the weevils devoured the meal. "Be back in a couple of hours if everything goes smoothly. Don't get in too much trouble." He started to leave the cell area, but turned back, "Oh and Daf? Don't go annoying Janet too much. She likes it quiet."