The thick bulky door gave a mechanical whine as it rolled to the side revealing the strangest most impossible; and well there is only one word for it, alien place. There were series of metal stairs and walkways, workstations that composed of desks and computers that buzzed with that ever humming and flashing with light that glowed from their screens, tall, glass doors like portals that lead to rooms with darker, more unbelievable purposes like holding completely out of this world weapons, or what are believed to be weapons and dissecting anatomies from a variety of species.
That breathtaking pillar that gushed water like it was going out of fashion stood towering in the middle of the collection of oddities, trailing miniature rivers under the walkways, giving the element of the ever present dripping water and slightly grungy and damp walls that was a constant reminder that they were in fact, underground.
The Torchwood hub. Jack sighed with content as his home, what was as close to his home ever could be, filled his senses. The damp air from being so low down, the freshly brewing coffee, and a strange metallic smell that always seemed to linger in the air, he wasn't sure whether it was the combination of metal and water or something they had found. There was flashing and plenty of movement, enough to entertain his eyes for a long time but he had never enjoyed people watching, he preferred more energetic hobbies. There was the humming that the hub gave off, from all the technical equipment with the beeping orchestra, joined by the chatting and laughing of its occupants, and the occasional chalk-on-blackboard screech that the pterodactyl made.
Standing where he was in the doorway, he could feel the chill that came from the icy waterfall and the warm homely air that came from heated machines, radiators and people as underground tended to be cold. He grinned as he glimpsed each of his employees. Gwen Cooper, ex-policewoman and an exceptional worker was like a bee, typing at her desk, the repeated clicking as she hit the buttons on her keyboard over and over again without looking from the screen. She had that familiar cunning look in her eye when she had put her mind to something.
Close by at another desk was the one and only Mickey Smith, filing through an assortment of papers. That ever present frown on his face. Mickey had been trained and became part of the family a few weeks ago. Jack smiled as he remembered their first meeting, when Mickey had knocked on the front door of a certain blue police box only to come face to face with a complete stranger that was Jack. He walked up the metal stairs in front of him, his boots making a clunking sound with every step. He was greeted by none other than Ianto Jones when he reached the top who handed him a steaming mug of coffee with a bright smile.
Jack took it with a nod of his head as a thank you. Ianto walked over to Gwen to hand her a similar cup which she took gratefully. Ianto and Jack had been in a relationship for sometime now, but it was more of a touch and go thing that they had, constantly on and off. But honestly, he didn't mind, mind-blowing sex with no strings attached was more of his style anyway. He kept walking along the silver walkway until he came to the bleached white mortuary, dotted with tables on wheel, covered with apparatus that shone in the electrical light. Standing in the middle of the doctor's office was Miss Martha Jones, white coat and all, cleaning her equipment. When she noticed Jack walk past, she smiled and waved at him. He put his hand to his head and saluted her. Martha was another member of his team that he had met through the great time lord himself.
He kept walking until he came across the final member, last but not least, Grace Miller. She was in Jack's office, leaning into one of his cabinet's searching for something. He lent against the door way and watched her, waiting for her to notice him. She had recently come onto the team and was still in training for the way things went around here. UNIT had a little team of specialised people in most cities and Gracie came from the one in the big city of Manchester in the north-west on England. Being from so far away she had recently moved to Cardiff and was learning to fit into society as well as becoming the newest member of the family. She knew what she was doing and didn't need the know how on what Torchwood did, but it was apparently a lot more rustic then UNIT, as Martha confirmed. Being tall and thin, she equalled both girls in the team, but it was her straight blood red hair, obviously dyed, and brilliant green eyes that set her apart. She straightened herself, a file in her hand that she flipped through before putting it back in the cabinet and by chance she flicked her gaze towards the door for a moment and, in seeing Jack, smiled at him and walked over to greet him.
"Good morning" he said to her putting his coffee down on his desk and looking up at her. She replied,
"Good morning to you to. Did you sleep last night?" she asked. That was the first thing Jack had noticed when he first met her, apart from how attractive she was although Jack saw that in almost everyone he met, was that she had a very trusting air about her so that he felt he could tell her anything and his secret would be safe. Somehow they had gotten onto the subject of Jack's fear of sleep. It might have sounded silly at first but she didn't laugh. Since Jack had become immortal, the darkness had become more noticeable so to say. Every time he closed his eyes it was there, waiting for him. Being that he was immortal of course, he didn't need sleep and so felt no reason to actually fall into the slumber at night, but when his humanity took over and he couldn't keep his eyes open, he had very dark, very restless sleep that truthfully, was like opening his eyes and looking at the darkness. Watching it try to get that tiny bit closer ever second but there was a barrier keeping it back. A very thin barrier.
"No. But I don't need it. Although I could catch up on a bit of grooming since I'm missing out on my beauty sleep, don't you think?" he asked, feeling his face. She grinned and replied,
"Honey, even if you slept for a thousand years you couldn't look a dime more then the million dollars you do now" to which he smiled and said,
"All green and wrinkly?"
"Sure thing. Now, there's a message come through about disturbances around the old paper factory. Strange readings when I scanned it and weird noises so say the neighbours. I'm thinking rift disturbances" she told him.
"Is that why you were nosing in my filing cabinet?" he asked pointing to the cabinet itself. She smiled and shrugged her shoulder,
"Just checking what things have happened in the past. A bit of homework hurt no one". He smiled back at her,
"So, I'm going to check these out by the sounds of it. The team are a bit tied up on that last case I think" he said looking behind them. She laughed,
"Well you did make a mess of things, I'm sure the creature would have been much happier if you hadn't of 'accidently' thrown paint all over it and let it lose on the streets of Cardiff" she replied. He shrugged.
"So kiddo, want to come along?" he asked, picking up his long brown jacket from the back of his chair and putting it on over the same white shirt and trousers with braces he always seemed to wear. She put a finger to her chin and pretended to think very hard,
"Let's see, go out with you and possibly hunt aliens all afternoon before going for a drink or sit on my backside doing paperwork. I'll just get my coat" she said before walking out the office winking at him. He grinned and checked over the report she had left on his desk. Yep, he decided, most certainly rift disturbances. Hopefully it's not as bad as it looks, because we might be dealing with a crack in time and that wouldn't be good.
A/N: So OTT with descriptions, sorry. This has a really bad summary, please don't lose interest, it gets much more interesting. Also, no romance in the bit i've written so far. The paragraphs are massive too, oh gosh can I do anything right? Please don't foget to review and tell me what you think :D