Disclaimer: I don't own anything you will recognise here, I'm merely playing around with the characters. Torchwood belongs to Russell T Davis. The characters belong to the writers and their respective actors. I don't claim anything but the idea for this story to be mine. I do not make money from the stories I write they are solely for my own and the readers here entertainment.
A/N: If someone is reading my other story Take a Look at the Lawman, will notice that this story is part of it. However since the other story is a Life on Mars/Doctor Who crossover in which I included Torchwood, I decided to separate the Torchwood bits and turn them into a story of its own right, because it was threatening to overwhelm the other story. It might seems a bit cheesy from me to copy my own story and re-post it like a new one to another fandom, but I think that with a bit of changing it could actually turn into a separate story.
Cardiff, Wales 2008
The sun was just rising in Cardiff as it tried to push its way through the normal Welsh cloud and rain of the early morning. It was the beginning of another usual day in the city, with the regular flow of people running around, drowsily sipping on their coffees before hurrying towards work.
Under the water tower of Roald Dahl Plaza, away from the eyesight of the citizens and among the buzz of the alien tech and cutting edge computers, another normal day was starting for the personnel of Torchwood. Well as normal a day as Torchwood could have given the line of work they were in.
Apart from the hum of the machines the place was quiet and could very well have been completely deserted, if you didn't spot the figures of four people completely oblivious to the world around them. Toshiko, a young Japanese woman was scanning the data on the screen of her high tech computer and analysing the information, which looked as if only she could understand it.
On her left on another work station with screens around it, another young woman, the ex-police officer Gwen Cooper was running through the CCTV footage from the previous night. Further down in other levels of the Hub was the medical station. It held an iron examination table in the centre and very bored Doctor Owen Harper, poking at something that looked very much dead.
All this was observed by the head of Torchwood Three, Cardiff, Captain Jack Harkness. Jack was sitting at the desk in his office, trying to concentrate on doing some paperwork, but instead being constantly distracted by the empty place where, not so long ago, a hand in a jar used to be. He sighed and moved his attention back to the paperwork. Moments later a man dressed in an immaculate three piece, dark grey suit entered the through the glass door of Jack's office. A cup with streaming, black coffee was placed on the desk to Jack's right and the man left the office quietly, almost unnoticed.
Jack smiled to himself and took a sip from the strong coffee. Yes another normal day at Torchwood. That was until the monitor at the centre of the Hub started to spark and send abnormal readings on to Tosh's computer. Suddenly everyone sprang into frenzy of motion. For the outside observer it might seem somewhat chaotic, but everyone did their job with absolute precision. Jack was out of his office the moment the first spark appeared from the rift.
"Tosh, put the monitors on high alert and scroll back to the last couple of hours. I want to see when the first anomaly started and why we missed the glitch!" Jack was in full work mode now.
"Already on it Jack." Toshiko Sato answered moving around on her work station and busying herself with all the charts and readings. She pressed various buttons on the keyboards, her finger moving at nearly the speed of the light. "Nothing abnormal on the readings, until the exact moment the rift sparked."
"Gwen, check the recent CCTV!" Jack then ran up to the sliding wheel door and opened it to shout to the man inside the tourist shop's office. "Ianto, call the police, see if there are any reports of strange creatures or persons lurking around the city!"
Jack went to Tosh next and looked over her shoulder at the screen.
"Nothing, I can detect Jack, I'm sorry." She shook her head. "There are a few changes up and down in activity, but nothing too significant or strong enough to cause this."
"Ok, keep monitoring and let me know if anything changes." Jack pushed himself from the back of her chair and made his way to Gwen.
"Anything on the CCTV?"
Gwen looked up from the screen to him and sighed. "Nothing on the CCTV either. Just normal people going on their way, the most interesting thing so far is the occasional mugger."
Owen finally left the medical area and joined the others in the central Hub.
"So, everyone has a task, but me." Dr Harper whined. "You think. I'm incapable of working with the rift, Jack?"
"'Course not!" Jack smiled thinly at him. "If I ever need the rift open, I'll be sure to ask the expert, Owen."
"I saved you and Toshiko from being stranded in 1942, in case you forgot."
"Yeah…" Jack answered. Of course he couldn't forget, but annoying Owen Harper was too much fun to miss. "Only you seemed so engrossed in sticking your tools into the time vortex worm and I didn't want to ruin your fun."
Jack's smile grew. It was hard enough sometimes to work with relatively amicable Owen Harper, an annoyed Owen was next to impossible to handle.
"Found anything you like there?"
"No!" grunted Owen, as he flung himself on the sofa.
The streets of Cardiff were cold and wet and not the most pleasant place to walk through if you didn't have to. You should at least be dressed warm and water proofed. The autumn was at its peak and the weather, although not yet biting cold, was far from comfortable. Yet strangely enough, through one of the many streets, there was a woman walking dressed only in light red, backless dress, with bare shoulders, her feet were without shoes, but this weather did not seem to affect her.
She was walking almost in a trance, seemingly just floating through the streets, towards the Millennium Centre. Her look was near vacant and she was swaying slightly as if the wind would pick her thin body up at any moment and blow her away with the fallen leaves from the trees. Her blond hair was flying around her face and shoulders, the hair might once have been neatly and stylishly clipped in a loose bun or around the temples, but now it was in complete disarray. But much stranger than all was the fact, that despite this woman's strange appearance, no one paid her any mind.
Lucy was determinate to reach the Roald Dahl Plaza and do her part of the work. She knew what exactly was expected from her. She gripped the ring in her hand tightly until her frozen fingers ached, but she knew that soon everything will be alright. Soon, when her Harry was back, the cold would go away. Soon, she will be warm in her husband's arms once again. She wished the rain would stop, it was ruining her hair and her dress; and she was in the red one, because her Harry always loved her in this colour.
She knew, others were mean to resurect him, but she knew that if the others did it they will bring back the Master, not her Harry. She needed Harry, her loving husband, the one who found in her something that no one else did. She didn't want the Master, he wasn't her Harry, he was mad and uncaring, and most importantly he forgot about her the moment he had his Doctor to play with. If she was careful, if she did it right, then she would have him back only for herself. He had explained to her about the rift and the Time Vortex, and they hoped that when she threw the ring into the rift, it would grant him his life back. If the Vortex could grant life to the Torchwood Captain, then it could do the same for her husband.
She had to hurry up, or she might miss the moment when the rift was weak, but she couldn't move any faster. Her legs were cold and felt heavy; everything seemed to move in slow motion, only she was flying through the streets, between the buildings and around the trees. The rain was beating down on her, biting into her bare skin and made her shiver, but she just kept going, she knew what she had to do. It was strange how the rain muffled not only the sounds but also colours. The trees with their missing leaves seemed even duller on this October morning than they ever had before. Only the occasional red (the red always seems to be such a strong and bright colour) stood apart from the rest, brighter than ever, almost as if grey and red were the only colours left in existence.
Meanwhile, back in the Hub, everyone was still trying to find the reason for the sudden rift activity but without much success.
The entrance door rolled open and Ianto joined the rest of the Torchwood in the main area. He held a tray with cups of coffee, to the great relief of everyone present. Sometimes the only thing that held the Torchwood team intact and sane was Ianto's famous coffee.
Gwen rubbed her eyes, which stung after staring at the screen and watching endless scrolls of CCTV footage. She sighed contently and took a sip from her cup, turning to the tea boy.
"Ianto, you are my saviour, always knowing what I need." Gwen smiled, and received a smile and a curt nod in reply.
"Nice coffee for a sore head and good sight for sore eyes, that's my Ianto Jones!" Jack Harkness winked at him, reaching for the cup of coffee.
Ianto didn't seem to be affected by any of the comments and not missing a beat, he turned to offer Toshiko her coffee, tossing over his shoulder at the Captain.
"This is sexual harassment, sir."
Looking back at her screen Gwen hastily put down her mug and zoomed in on the image.
"Jack!" She shouted. "Come and see this!"
Not only Jack, but almost the entire team apart from Tosh joined Gwen on her station. To Jack's utter disbelief, there on the screen was the image of a woman dressed in red, kneeling on the ground almost on top of the Hub.
"I don't believe this!" Jack exclaimed shaking his head. "How can she be here? She was in a mental hospital."
"Who is she, Jack?" Gwen asked surprised by her boss' reaction to this strange woman.
"Lucy Saxon, the late Prime Minister's wife." Ianto answered the question.
"Wasn't she the one who killed him?" Tosh asked, not leaving her work place even for a moment.
"Yes, and that's why, she can't be here. She is locked up." Jack sounded bit scared, but mostly angry, because Captain Jack Harkness did not do well with strange.
"Jack!" Tosh shouted from her place." The rift is powering up. The readings are going off the scale."
Jack left Gwen and ran to Tosh's place to look at the rift activity readings; they were changing constantly and the rift was opening again. Moving around trying to find the cause, he missed the woman placing a ring into a crack of the pavement, which coincided with the exact time the rift opened.
The ground started to shake and the light in the rift started to move up and down. There were red lights flashing and the Hub was filled with the blaring of alarms.
"Ianto, go and try to turn off this noise!" Jack shouted, trying to make himself heard over the alarms. "Tosh, stay here and keep trying to find the cogs to close the rift back! Gwen, Owen, with me and get your guns ready!"
London, Parallel Earth 2007
Torchwood Institute had received a signal for one other rift activity in the last three days. This time, however the reason was almost impossible to explain. They had run every test and scan they could, but the only source of energy remotely similar to the one that could explain the opening of the time-space rift was a man lying in a bed in a hospital in Manchester.
There was nothing remarkable about the man apart of him being in a prolonged coma but able to react to stimuli or make small muscle moves from time to time. He was registered there as Sam Tyler, the local DCI, who was involved in a car accident a year ago. Since then Sam had just never woken up. He was constantly being visited by his mother or his girlfriend, who would talk to him all the time in the hope that he would hear them and respond somehow. On rare occasions he would twitch or move a finger, once he even smiled, but never opened his eyes.
Torchwood decided that however unusual or unimportant this seemed in connection to the rift they would have to monitor the man constantly. After the last big opening the Torchwood Institute in London decided to send two of their field agents to Manchester to take a closer look at this police chief.
The woman was making her way towards the hospital reception with an air of professional confidence, the arrogance of someone with a powerful position and the clearance to almost everywhere. The woman was young, but she had a stern and tough demeanor. Her features were set in cold professionalism, a polite smile appearing on her lips only when she reached the receptionists' desk. Her blonde hair pulled back in flawless neat bun, complimented her immaculate suit. She pulled her credentials from the inner pocket of her suit jacket and showed it to the receptionist.
"Torchwood Agents Tyler and Smith." The woman said curtly. "We are here to see a patient of yours in Hyde Ward. His name is DCI Sam Tyler."
The receptionist scrolled through the computer screen and then nodded to the woman.
"Agent Tyler?" She asked. "Am I right to think that you are a relation of DCI Tylers?"
"No, we are not related." Agent Tyler answered coldly.
"Then I'm sorry ma'am, but I can't let you see him. He is in I.C.U. Only relatives and close friends are allowed there." The receptionist answered politely.
"Look lady…" Agent Tyler said calmly suppressing her anger. "We are here to do our job, and we will do it with or without your help. If you assist us we could spare each other a lot of time and headaches." She finished firmly, putting her hands on the reception's desk.
'Bloody Torchwood', the receptionist thought. Always thinking that they are on top of everything.
"Ma'am, sir, you don't understand. I can't let you go in there!" The receptionist stood her ground. "You don't have authorisation to disturb our patients."
"You will find out that Torchwood had authorisation to do anything that is required, if we see fit, in the name of protecting our Earth." Agent Tyler said and then strode along the corridor, not waiting to be given permission or directions.
"Mickey, are you going to stay there and gape at that girl or are you coming with me?" Tyler snapped at her dark skinned partner.
He had to jog to catch up with her fast stride. She had become so different he mused, sometimes it irritated him how cold and calculatingly professional she had become. He could not believe that once this woman was a lively teenage girl with the bright smile. It had been only a couple of years ago, but it seemed like an age to him now, or more like some wistful dream.
"Rose babe, we should have waited for her to tell us where he is." Mickey spoke when he caught up with her. "We don't even know where this Hyde ward is."
"That is Tyler to you, when we are working in public." She told him firmly, and then nodded. "We will find the ward on the maps and then find his room from the nurses."
Mickey cringed at the tone of her voice, telling him off for calling her Rose during work time.
"Sorry ma'am!" Mickey saluted. "You have changed so much." He said sadly as an afterthought.
"The world has changed Agent Smith." She turned sharply towards him. "Everything has changed, Mickey." She then added softly.
In the end they didn't need to ask the nurses for Sam Tyler's room, because the moment they reached the Hyde ward their scanner started to beep in high alert.
"I think we found him." Mickey murmured. "And it looks like it's just in time for some really strong signal emission."
They entered the room to see an unconscious man, around his mid to late thirties, lying on a bed surrounded by monitors. He seemed almost serene. Despite this the scanner was rapidly going off the scale.
"I don't understand." Mickey frowned. "I can't see anything unusual with this guy but come and look at the readings."
Cardiff, Earth 2008
Captain Jack Harkness checked his gun and with a determined stride, approached the lift. It was good that it had a perception filter, covering the particular square in the ground outside and making them practically invisible to the world around. It came in handy in situations like this when they needed the cover.
He was shortly followed by scared looking but determined Gwen Cooper and Dr Owen Harper, armed to the teeth. Jack lifted and eyebrow at Owen and smirked.
"I said take your guns, not prepare for all-out war." He could never resist a comment. "What do you think one woman can do to you Owen?"
Gwen snorted in amusement, which much to his colleagues delight, made Owen even more irritated. He was going to answer with a jab of his own, but right at that moment the whole base shook and Gwen swayed dangerously, only Jack's arms around her waist preventing her from falling off the pavement square that was the Torchwood lift.
Myfanwy- Torchwood's pet pterodactyl swept around the place, frightened she swooped down, knocking Ianto off his feet.
"Ianto!" Gwen shouted form above.
Ianto dropped the phone in mid conversation with the local police station, with a small yelp of pain. He clutched his torn shoulder and tumbled down the few steps from Jack's office to the main Hub area.
Gwen was ready to jump, not even thinking about the drop, at that moment Jack's grip on her tightened even further. He held on her already anticipating her that she would act on the spur without giving herself time to think through.
"Get us back Jack!" she shouted at him.
Jack shook his head refusing to comply. Did she think he didn't want to just go back and help? Of course he did, but there were more important things to take care of, the ground above them was shaking, the Rift was powering up, all that didn't bond well for Cardiff city.
"We have more important work to, they can handle it," Jack told her firmly.
"For God's sake Jack," Gwen shouted starting to wriggle. "That's Tosh and Ianto down there with scared pterodactyl and the place falling apart. How is one crazy woman more important?"
Jack just looked at her not answering; he didn't loosen his grip either.
"I hate to say this, but Jack is right," Owen told her. "If that woman out there was connected to this Master guy and is able to cause this much trouble, then she is more important than them. Maybe it's time for the Tea-boy to show us that he could be useful to someone else other than our Captain." Owen smirked.
Seeing the cold glare Jack sent his way however, he stopped talking and pretended to check one of his guns again.
Lucy Saxon looked on in delight at the energy coming from the ground; it ripped through the air and was tearing the world apart. The wind swept her hair around her face; she could feel tingles of energy through her skin. She had completely forgotten about the cold now. Her body felt warmed from inside. She laughed, spreading her arms. Her Harry was coming back to her. She could see his beautiful brown eyes and manic smile in her mind. She was imagining how she was going to welcome him with an embrace and a kiss. Her beautiful Harry.
Lucy watched the colours that swirled through the ring and in the crack formed by the Rift's activity that was splitting the ground around her. The colours were constantly changing, bright and beautiful. There was a strong surge of power as the ground shook again violently again. Debris was now falling all around her from the buildings, but she did not notice them. All she could see and feel was the power that was spreading through her. She was more than warm now, she was burning alive from the inside; it felt as if she was being torn apart and then pieced back together.
The Torchwood trio jumped out of the lift, guns ready to confront any threat they expected to encounter, but all they could do was stay rooted on the street immediately outside the lift. They watched the woman helplessly as she shook and screamed. Their powerful guns were now useless, as was all their combat training. Gwen's eyes were wide with worry and compassion at the screaming woman. She had momentarily forgotten the worry for her colleagues watching the woman. However, too afraid to act, Gwen could only hope that Jack would do something. If someone can act without being affected by the power spilling out of the Rift it would be Jack.
Gwen gazed at Jack pleadingly, he knew what she wanted, and that was why he recruited her- to be the 'heart of Torchwood'-, but he couldn't feel any sympathy towards Lucy Saxon. Not after that year of hell that he had to endure in the hands of her husband. Not after watching Lucy dance happily on the Valliant's bridge with the Master while the Earth was burning below them. Still he had to do something if he wanted to find out what she was trying to do now.
Jack motioned to his team mates to stay behind and moved to grab Lucy and drag her away from the energy rift. He gripped her arms tight enough to bruise without caring much if it did. The year might have never happened now for everyone who wasn't on the Valliant when the Doctor reversed time, but this didn't mean Jack could forgive this woman, although ultimately she was the one who shot the Time Lord. She wriggled in his arms, screaming and kicking trying to get free and run back to the place where her husband's ring and only chance for resurrection was.
Down in the Hub, Ianto was throwing pieces of pizza covered in BBQ sauce to keep Myfanwy occupied and away from them. He was trying to stop the bleeding from his shoulder at the same time.
The place was a scene of pandemonium. Everything was shaking, debris was falling and stray paper sheets were flying around amidst the noise of a frightened dinosaur and the blaring of emergency alarms.
Toshiko Sato was keeping her post beside her work station, trying to crack the codes despite everything around her.
She shouted "Yes!" in excitement and typed one finale time on her computer. Suddenly the rift stopped the energy died down and all went still and quiet. After the chaos and the blazing noise the new deadly stillness seemed eerie and unreal. The last stray papers fell lightly to the floor and the only sound was the now frantic flap of the pterodactyl's wings.
Ianto took a sharp intake of breath, finally breaking the silence and bringing the world around back to normal. The screech of the dinosaur drew their attention back to the danger. Always able to think quickly in an emergency, Ianto ran to the kitchen for the stash of dark chocolate. It was the one thing that could keep the pterodactyl calm and content. Pteranodon, thought Ianto and then snorted. Yes, Ianto because is really important to get the semantics of the dinosaur's proper species when you are under the thread to be ripped apart by the very dinosaur.
Locating Myfanwy's preferred threat, he ran back out the kitchen and into the main Hub throwing the chocolate to Torchwood's pet. She snatched it in her beak in flight and turned around to her nest to eat it and probably lied there getting over the shock.
"We did it!" Tosh shouted exited and jumped from her seat. "We did it!"
"Yes." Ianto smiled. "We did it. Now if you don't mind I should go and clean my shoulder and my suit. There will be a lot of tidying up for me later." He said curtly and went to the medical bay.
The Torchwood trio and Lucy watched in disbelief as the light and energy abruptly ceased and the ground under their feet stilled. In the now quiet, the whine of sirens could be heard. Emergency services were already going around the city of Cardiff to assist the injured.
Gwen gave a triumphant cry and throwing her arms around Owen, kissed him before she could think.
When Lucy and Jack returned to the epicentre of power, the ring had vanished without a trace. There was no evidence that it had ever existed.
"NO!" Lucy shouted and tried to throw herself forward.
"You Mrs Saxon are going to be my guest for a long while." Jack said coldly, not even a trace of smugness at having a beautiful blonde in his arms. "I have a lot of questions that need to be answered by you."