Gwen Cooper and Ianto Jones were just walking away from their favorite fish and chips place when Gwen's mobile rang. She had been busy taking a hot chip out of the bag that Ianto carried and blew on it to cool it down.

'Are you going to get that?' Ianto asked, amused that she looked torn between eating the chip while it was hot and answering her mobile. She finally took a bite just as it was breaking in half in her hand and opened her mobile. Glancing quickly at the display, she brought it up to her ear.

'Andy,' she said, although to Ianto it sounded more like Amphy. Ianto shook his head at her manners and she rolled her eyes at him. They kept on strolling back towards the tourist centre entrance to the Torchwood Hub.

'Gwen, is that you?' PC Andy asked, pressing a finger in his other ear to minimize the noise around him. Several PCs were stretching tape to cordon off a room behind him. He took a few steps away from them in the hopes of being able to hear better, his long legs taking him halfway across the room. 'Gwen?'

Gwen quickly swallowed the bite in her mouth, wincing as it burned her throat. 'Andy, it's me. What's the matter?'

'I've got one of your weird ones here, Gwen. Can you come to the National Museum?' He asked.

'What, now?' She paused in the act of walking and Ianto had to stop after a few strides when he realized she wasn't accompanying him. 'What do you have?'

'It's kind of hard to explain. Better if you can just come round. Can you do that now? It's important,' Andy replied. He wasn't sure whether his superiors would be happy or angry with him for pulling the Torchwood Institute into the investigation, but the feeling in his gut told him that this was something they couldn't handle on their own. Gwen look at Ianto while she considered what they had going on at the Hub.

'Could do, if you think it's important,' she said. Ianto lifted a brow in enquiry and she held up a finger to forestall him.

'I do, Gwen. We need you,' Andy replied. She agreed to come over as soon as she picked up some stuff from her office before heading over. She caught up to where Ianto was and reached in for another chip. She had a feeling that if she didn't eat now, she wouldn't get a meal for several hours, judging by the tone of Andy's voice.

'That was Andy,' she said, reaching in for a piece of fish and munching on it while gesturing that they should continue.

'I got that much. What did he want?' Ianto asked. He had been refraining from eating until they were back at the Hub, but Gwen digging into the bag had released a smell that was making his stomach growl. He caved in and took some chips out to eat as they walked.

'He didn't say but mentioned that there was something happening at the National Museum and that he wanted me to come. I'm taking that it is a Torchwood issue, so let's grab our kit and head on over.' She stole another chip out of the bag after Ianto had taken his hand out of it.

'Let's get the usual and take a look then. Jack's going to be gone for a while, so we can set the rift monitor on standby and be back to the Hub if something triggers it. My car or yours?' Ianto asked as Jack had taken the SUV with him.

'Yours, it's more comfortable,' Gwen said with a nod. They were back on Roald Dahl Plass and together they made their way to the tourist office entrance.

'If I'm driving, you had better finish this. No food in the car,' Ianto warned her. She took the bag out of his hands and kept on eating. He took a key out of his waistcoat pocket to open the office and they ducked through the door, locking it before anyone thought that it was open. Keeping the lights off, he triggered the button under the counter that would open the hidden wall door, giving them access down to their secret base underground. Within ten minutes they were off in the direction of the museum for their meeting with Andy.

They made good time to Cathays Park, pulling in behind a police car that was parked out front. Ianto put a Torchwood placard on the dashboard and they both got out of the car. Gwen nodded to the two police constables standing near the entrance as she waited for Ianto to pull a bag and a large case out of the back seat and follow her up the stairs.

'This way,' she said, indicating the entrance. When they went through the doors, a large number of people were milling about, but the two passed through them quickly. Gwen had spotted Andy up on the second floor landing and she quickly made her way up the stairs, Ianto a heartbeat behind her.

'Andy, whatcha got?' She asked. PC Andy Davidson was wearing his standard issued constable uniform, his hat covering his curly blond hair. He nodded to Ianto and indicated a corridor off to the left.

'Down this way. I'm glad you were able to come so quickly. And I'll tell you that this is an odd one,' he said, leading the way down the hallway. 'You need to see this for yourselves.'

'What is it?' Gwen asked, her brow furrowed as she stretched her legs to catch up to Andy's stride, her boot heels clicking against the marble floor. Silently she cursed the fact that she was so short and had to work with tall men. Life just wasn't fair.

'I can't really explain it. It, erm, defies description,' Andy replied, taking a right down another hallway. Ianto noticed that they were headed towards the Origins exhibit. He had been to the museum a few times as a child, usually bored out of his mind once they got to the collections like the Davies sisters. He was glad that they weren't headed in the fine arts direction, but towards the Welsh history area. That had always been what he found most fascinating when he had come to visit. He shook his head to clear his reverie and turned to listen as Andy continued.

'Let's just say we have a body you need to look at.' He pressed his lips together and refused to say more, even though Gwen kept on urging him for additional details. Ianto followed along silently. If Andy was spooked, it probably was something he wasn't going to be happy to see.

He led them through the outer room of the historical collection and in through a maze of rooms until eventually they passed a police tape marker. The room was full of police personnel milling about. They grew quiet as the two Torchwood operatives entered. Several of the men nodded in grudging acknowledgement with a new respect born from the events of several months prior when Cardiff had been under attack from some sort of terrorists. A pathway opened in the crowd, allowing them access to the last room which was obviously their destination. Two constables guarded the entrance to the room and moved to either side as Andy brought them to the edge of the police tape. Gwen peered over the barrier to look around the room.

'Oh my God,' she gasped softly. Beyond the tape were several suited experts and detectives who were moving about taking notes. In the center of the room was a large stone with a body in an outstretched position on the surface. Blood pooled on the stone, but it was obvious that the body had been there for a while before anyone had found it. Instinctively she moved forward, about to duck under the tape and enter the room. Ianto shot out his arm to restrain her. 'Don't go in there.'

'And why not?' She demanded. She turned look at him but he was staring into the room, his face drained of color. Before he could answer the sound of a shoe scuffing behind them made her turn all the way around to see who was behind them. It was Detective Chief Inspector Aeron James, head of CID for the South Wales Police. He was a tall man with dark hair that was greying at the temples. He focused on Gwen, his pale blue eyes staring at her somberly.

'PC Davidson said this was more up your alley than ours Gwen,' he said with a frown, looping his thumbs into his belt as he stood and faced her. 'Is it?'

'It certainly looks that way Aeron,' Gwen said, her eyes going back to Ianto who was as still as one of the stone statues around them. 'Ianto, what is it?' Her question brought him out of his trance and he moved back a step as if to distance himself from the contents of the next room.

'DCI James, has anyone left this room yet?' Ianto asked, his voice sounding hoarse.

'Yes, some paramedics who arrived on the scene before we got here as well as the PCs who were the first responders. The PCs are over there,' Aeron James said, pointing over to a corner where two men were verbally giving a report to another constable. 'Once they found that the medics weren't needed, they left to head back to hospital.'

'You need to bring them back as soon as possible,' Ianto said with an urgent tone in his voice. 'This is extremely important.'

'Why?' The detective asked, not seeing the point for why they would be needed, but it was obvious that the Torchwood agent was agitated over his news. He still wasn't sure that pulling Torchwood into this investigation was a good idea, but he knew that what they had found was more than it seemed. 'Not much they can do for the poor bugger.'

'Please ask them to return. Their lives depend on it,' Ianto replied. He turned away and knelt down to open the case he had brought with him. Gwen shrugged at the DCI when he looked at her questioningly.

'Aeron, please do as Ianto asks. He obviously has a good reason for doing so,' she said. She watched as Ianto pulled items out of the case, opening smaller containers that were stashed inside and muttering softly to himself. He moved onto the bag and rummaged through that, finally finding what he had been looking for. It was a bag with what looked to her to be black sand in it. Standing up again, he moved to the edge of the tape, careful not to cross the line.

'Excuse me, would you please mind staying still for a moment?' Ianto asked politely, his brow furrowed. The men in the room stared at him, but after a nod from their DCI behind him, they stood quietly. 'Thank you.' He opened the bag in his hand and reached into it. Pulling out a handful of the sand-like substance he held his palm up above the level of the tape blocking the door and blew on it.

'Oh!' Gwen exclaimed softly. The sand scattered into the room and drifted down to the floor. As it settled, red lines began to glow where the sand landed. The lines were broken in some areas, while they extended off into other directions before fading as they reached beyond the edge of the sand. Ianto poured some more of the black crystals into his hand and tossed them upwards towards the ceiling. More lines glowed. They formed a jagged arch around the door. Ianto stared intently at the network of lines above before looking down at the floor and ducking under the tape. Carefully he stepped into the area that was left blank between the red lines, angling his body sideways to pass between them as he entered the room.

The police personnel inside the room stayed still. It was obvious from Ianto's movements that he was being extremely careful not to cross any of the red lines. Since they had been moving about the room as part of their investigation, they knew they had unwittingly stumbled into something more than a simple murder.

Ianto paused to pour more of the stand into his hand and gently cast it out in a circle around him. More lines glowed as the sand touched the new areas. In the corners of the room, they intersected with one another, forming an intricate web. In the areas where the police had walked around, those lines were broken, the jagged areas showing clearly about the room. Ianto continued to move cautiously about, scattering more sand as he went. When he got close enough to touch the first police constable in the room, he looked at the man solemnly.

'Please cover your eyes,' he requested softly. Once the man complied, he tossed the sand up in the air, letting it drop softly over the constable. Lines glowed around him, some passing through his body. Ianto ducked under one such line so that he could get to the next man, who was closest to the stone. Again he tossed the sand, getting a similar result as the lines glowed with a steady light around the forensics technician. He followed that movement by casting more sand near the stone, illuminating the web-like markings that spread from the wall behind the technician towards the body on the bed.

'Please stay as still as you can,' he informed them before making his way back towards the other side of the room. He could see the rest of the constables crowding at the doorway behind DCI James and Gwen, all staring with their mouths open. Gwen watched his movements intently, a worried frown on her face.

When he reached the other side of the room, he repeated his request and gestures, the light from the lines glowing luridly as he turned towards the body on the stone. He held out his hand and blew the sand across the body, finishing the network of lines so that they completed an intricate pattern which passed through the body and into the stone below. Ianto turned in a circle and sighed. He tapped the com in his ear.

'Jack, are you headed back yet?' He asked. Several of the constables looked at him in surprise. They didn't have reception for their own communications equipment, but from the intent looks on both of the Torchwood operatives' faces, they obviously were getting a reply in their earpieces.

'Yeah, just finished up and on my way back,' Jack said into their ears. He sounded tired. 'What's up?'

'Jack, we have a problem,' Ianto said, his voice grim.