Running was all I seemed to do these days. My team and I kept running until we found the familiar Cardiff Bay surroundings. My second in command, Ritch Boulder, led the team first past the water feature opposite the Millennium Centre.
'I can't believe that actually worked!' Ritch laughed.
'You doubt our leader too much.' Molly Richmond, our tech wizard, remarked.
We got into the corridors into our Hub, sheltering from the cold wind for a while. Watching Dr Lou Zhang, our doctor for everything, and Chrissy Donnally, our designated driver, cosy up to each other just made me feel as if I was the odd one out of the group.
'Come on, boss! Keep up!' Ritch laughed.
I rolled my eyes and walked a little bit quicker. I could hear my team laughing up ahead, but then deadly silence fell as they disappeared out of sight and I heard the loud cog in front of the doorway into the hub move. Guns cocked and I ran down the corridor.
'What are you doing in here?' A stranger snapped.
I got into the hub and saw another team stood by the computers. My team had guns aimed at the strangers and the strangers had guns aimed at my team. I got in between both teams as best I could.
'Boss, just give the order and we'll happy take down these trespassers.' Ritch growled.
'Lower your weapons.' I gave the command.
'What?' Molly was horrified.
'I gave an order. Lower your weapons!' I ordered.
My team slowly lowered their guns.
'You trust this lot?' Lou asked, curious.
'I can tell you've not read the files.' I pointed out.
'Don't do this.' Ritch snapped.
'Which year is this?' I asked the guy in the army coat.
'2007.' Trench coat guy replied.
'Ok. This is going to sound really weird, but we're you from the future.' I explained.
'We're meant to believe that?' The guy in a white lab coat asked.
'Dr Owen Harper, all I ask is we stand at a truce until we figure out what's happened.' I said.
'You know me?' Owen was in shock.
'I know who you all are. Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones, Toshiko Sato and your leader Captain Jack Harkness. Torchwood Three.' I pointed out.
'You're Torchwood?' Jack, Trench coat guy, asked.
'Yeah. We're a combination of Torchwood Three and what was left of Torchwood Four.' I shrugged.
'Will you introduce your team?' Jack watched me carefully.
'Ritch Boulder, Molly Richmond, Dr Lou Zhang and Chrissy Donnally.' I explained.
'Yourself?' Jack pointed out I missed myself.
'Spoilers.' I walked down the steps to my team.
'What do you mean?' Gwen asked.
'I'm a future of one of you, a descendant. I can't cross that timeline.' I pointed out.
'Who have you been talking to?' Owen didn't like my attitude.
'The Doctor, actually. Oh, Jack, he sends his regards.' I smirked a little.
'What do you want us to do, boss?' Molly didn't like Torchwood Three very much.
'I don't know. We must have come through the rift somehow.' I tried to figure out what to do.
Jack walked down to us and tapped me on the shoulder.
'May I have a word in my office?' Jack spoke like I didn't have a choice.
'Don't.' Molly snapped.
'Ritch, keep the team here. I won't be long.' I was certain.
I followed Jack up to his office.
'You know a lot about Torchwood?' Jack asked.
'Like the fact you've been here for years since the 19th century? Yeah, I could say that.' I shrugged.
'Can you tell me anything about yourself?'
'Not really. It would disrupt your timeline.'
'Mine?'
'Yeah. I don't know why. It's what The Doctor said.'
'Did he say anything about me to you?'
'You flirt with anything, literally anything, you met trying to con him and he can't seem to get rid of you because you can't die.'
'Can you at least tell me your first name?'
'Mel.'
'Well, Mel, it's a pleasure to meet the leader of the future Torchwood.'
'Glad to see it's in good hands?'
'You could say that.'
'Well, it was The Doctor who had suggested I found them. He knew what you'd done to make Torchwood better and thought I could do the same thing.'
'The Doctor holds you highly then?'
'Appears so. I just hope he can explain why he sent me this direction.'
Jack seemed curious about it too. He led me back to the others. Ritch was getting edgy. I got to my team and checked they were ok.
'What happens to us now?' Chrissy asked.
I looked at Jack and suddenly my vision went fully red and then back to normal.
'What was that?' Owen had seen something.
'Mel, your eyes flashed red.' Jack pointed out.
'You told them?!' Ritch was mad.
'Only my first name, Ritch.' I pointed out.
'Next thing you'll be telling them is where you're from, which isn't Earth! You'll end up telling them everything and it will be the death of you!' Ritch yelled.
'Ritch, please don't do this now.' I was unsure how I felt.
'What's going on?' Jack asked.
'Our supposed leader got sent to Earth on some mission by The Doctor that she won't tell us about! He knows who you are and what it means! We only got the name and no explanation of what consequences we will get! Maybe it's a good thing your mother is dead!' Ritch almost screamed at me.
I pushed past him and walked further through the hub, trying to get away from him.
'HARKNESS!' Ritch yelled.
I turned and looked at him. Ritch laughed at my sudden upset.
'Do you enjoy tormenting me? I had to hold my mother in my arms as she died! The Countess of the planet Valencia, always admired by the many but she only had my father in her heart. No one else could better him for giving her me. She begged me to find my father because he was the only reason I was still alive! That name is currently all that keeps me fighting. No matter what I do to keep this team together, it's not enough for you! I've put thirty years of my life into Torchwood and I'm aging slower than I should be! Right now, what I have left is a disappointment to my Dad and it always will be.' I let a tear run.
I walked quickly through the hub until I found a room I recognised as a meeting room. I sat on a chair and started to sob. I couldn't find a way to stop. Someone followed me and I was held in an embrace to comfort any pain I had.
'I'm sorry.' Jack had found me.
He held me to him in a hug, his comfort finally making me calm. Jack wiped a tear off my cheek as I started getting control back of my emotions.
'I didn't know your mother was pregnant.'
'She didn't until you'd left. No one could find you. Once I'd got your name I figured out you'd actually gone to meet The Doctor for the first time.'
'How long have you been searching?'
'Since she died. That was thirty of my years ago.'
Jack gently kissed my head.
'I need to tell you something.'
'What is it?'
'You won't like it.'
'What?'
'I can't die either.' I saw Jack's horror strike his entire being.
