The alarm-clock under the glass dome went off at seven. The vibrations pulled a string running out the base of the dome, which pulled the pin on a small trebuchet. The swinging arm let loose a Ping-Pong ball that gently rolled to a stop as it bumped the beginning of a domino line. The line split as it came to a ramp, one line going up and the other continuing along the floor.

The line going up knocked a thin piece of metal off of its balance, making it turn on a CD player. The song "Trouble is a Friend" by the artist Lenka started playing loudly through the basement archives of TORCHWOOD.

Josephine Cole, TORCHWOOD's resident crazy lady in the basement—at least until she could contact the Doctor again—was singing along with the song, albeit a little off key.

"Trouble he will find you no matter where you go, oh oh. No matter if you're fast, no matter if you're slow, oh oh. The eye of the storm or the cry in the mourn, oh oh. You're fine for a while but you start to lose control."

The lower line of dominos continued on its merry way, the last one pulling a piece of thread which in turn pulled a small piece of wood which allowed a marble to roll down a track. The marble added weight to a balance, flipping a switch. The switch turned on a remote control car that went straight forward, knocking over a book that knocked over a larger book that knocked over an even larger book which pulled a cable that was attached to a door knob, effectively opening a wardrobe door.

The first chorus of the song had started playing while Josephine pulled on a hoodie, ignoring the rest of the Rube-Goldberg machine that was making her breakfast while she sang, knowing no one could hear her, nor would they much care if they did.

"He's there in the dark, he's there in my heart. He waits in the wings, he's gotta play a part. Trouble is a friend yeah trouble is a friend of mine, oh oh!"

A receiver picked up the pitch of the radio and sent a signal to a heat pulse emitter, frying an egg and two slices of turkey bacon. The pan tilted and the contents slid in between two slices of cheese toast, already laid out in a sandwich maker that closed.

"Trouble is a friend but trouble is a foe, oh oh. And no matter what I feed him he always seems to grow, oh oh. He sees what I see and he knows what I know, oh oh. So don't forget as you ease on down the road."

Josephine plopped into a rolling chair, shoving off of the edge of the closet with her foot, grabbing a neon watch-cap from a shelf as she passed it, spinning all the while. She'd been up all night as usual, and was glad for the day to start and break the monotony.

"He's there in the dark, he's there in my heart. He waits in the wings, he's gotta play a part. Trouble is a friend, yeah trouble is a friend of mine, oh oh. So don't be alarmed if he takes you by the arm. I won't let him win, but I'm a sucker for his charm. Trouble is a friend, yeah trouble is a friend of mine, oh oh."

Josephine stepped from the rolling chair as it stopped in front of the cupboard she'd thrown her two pairs of shoes, gesturing grandly as she acted with the music.

"Oh how I hate the way he makes me feel. And how I try to make him leave, I try. Oh oh, I try!"

Knowing she'd only be in the TORCHWOOD Three Hub today, she slid into a pair of flip-flops. Sitting back in the rolling chair, Josephine spun her way over to her chemical work station to claim her breakfast, singing around the food to meet the words at two minutes and forty seconds.

"But he's there in the dark, he's there in my heart, he waits in the wings he's gotta play a part." She continued eating while claiming a disc that had been burning for the last hour, mumbling around her food.

"Trouble is a friend, yeah trouble is a friend of mine, oh oh!"

Josephine did a quick check in a small mirror before going up the to the main level, finishing the last of her breakfast Panini and continuing the singing.

"So don't be alarmed if he takes you by the arm. I won't let him win but I'm a sucker for his charm. Trouble is a friend yeah trouble is a friend of mine, oh oh!"

She did a few side steps up the stairs as the music finished, coming out onto the main level just as Ianto Jones walked up, holding out a mug of black coffee. Josephine took it, nodding thanks. He smiled lightly in jest.

"Should be strong enough for you; the horseshoe was floating this morning."

Josephine drank some of the coffee and sniffed. Her Texan accent was evident as she said, "Made of rubber or iron? Keep at it though; nearly there."

"It's from the percolator you insisted I purchase," Ianto replied in kind, knowing full well Josephine was beyond pleased with the coffee.

"You aren't using it right then," Josephine said sweetly.

"Just cause you're the only one who prefers her coffee be the consistency of mud," Gwen Cooper interjected, her thick Welsh an interesting contrast to Josephine's voice. "Did you finish that write up on the transport that came through two nights back?"

"Check your e-mail," Josephine told her. "Medic popped in yet?"

"I swear Tex, call me that one more time…" Owen Harper said as he walked past, throwing his coat over the same railing he always did. "Got me that disc?"

Josephine tossed it to him like a Frisbee. He caught it without looking up, ignoring her as she retorted. "I'll stop calling you Medic when you stop calling me by my home state."

"You did start it Jo," Toshiko Sato reminded Josephine as she sat down at her desk. Josephine smiled and plopped down next to her, setting her mug on a coaster. Josephine asked something in Japanese, an expression of hope in her eyes. Tosh smiled gently and shook her head, answering in the same language. Josephine shrugged and Tosh reassured her with something.

"It'd be an awful lot easier if the two of you would use English like the rest of us," Captain Jack Harkness said as he emerged from his office, reading from a folder in his hand. He paused by Josephine and gave her a look. "If I check, I won't find a single air soft bead or piece of bubble wrap anywhere, will I?"

"Do I ever leave a piece of Tuesday to work its way into a Wednesday?" Josephine defended herself. "I keep time in a very strict order, thank you."

"I'm sure the Doctor would say the same," Jack said dryly. He frowned. "How's the signal coming anyway?"

Josephine rolled her eyes. "That's what Toshiko and I were talking about before you so rudely interrupted. You'll have to be patient, because you can't send me back yet. It's five totally different pieces of technology all coming together to make one piece of equipment." She turned back to Tosh. "Meanwhile, I got this idea last night about increasing our satellite range and accuracy, as well as signal triangulation in general. I think that with some work we could track and locate everything that comes through the Rift within feet, maybe even inches."

"You'll have to do that when you get back," Jack told her. "Get changed; you're coming with us."

"Come again?"

"Ditch the flip-flops and hoodie, Jo," Jack said, smiling. "You finally get your wish. I'll let you do a field run."

"Seriously?"

"You've been here for four months. I think you're clear. Just make sure you O.D. or something. I want you in total control of that energy craving, got me?"

Josephine grinned and dashed back downstairs. Owen and Gwen watched her go before turning to Jack.

"Jack, you can't be serious," Gwen started. "She's not the most stable twenty-three year old, or trained for what we do."

"Are you really going to let her outside with a gun?" Owen asked, tone heavily sardonic as always.

"She's better with a revolver than you are with a semi-automatic Owen," Jack reminded him.

"I'm more worried that she'll eat someone."

"Relax," Jack said. "She's been to other planets. This is more or less a routine run for us. I think we can handle her."

"We have a routine?" Ianto asked. Jack gave him a look as he went back to his office for his coat.


Josephine came back out top ten minutes later, getting odd looks from everyone. Jack spun his hand, having her rotate.

"How long have you been bootlegging U.S. crime shows in the basement?" Jack asked her.

"A month or so. Why? It's not that different from the stuff you guys wear."

"Except for the Sturgis motorcycle patch on the back of the leather jacket." He shrugged. "At least you aren't carrying a machete."

"I can go get one."

"No."

"Fine. I can still have the seven-shot revolver, yes?"

"Yes."

"You do know that TORCHWOOD is a secret organization," Owen pointed out. Josephine raised her eyebrows.

"Then it wasn't you who put the name on the van, or on the equipment boxes?"

Gwen snickered. "She's got a point."

"I was talking about the head gear," Owen snipped back.

"I like my headband, peacock feathers and all."

"Just get in the car," Jack said. "We're already late."

"What are we late for?"

"Writing on the wall. I hope the sight of blood doesn't bother you."


"There was a murder at the David Morgan Apartments just off Baker's Row," Jack explained to Josephine on the way. Just being outside the Hub was cause for excitement, and she was having problems paying attention. "Mother, father, and two children, all dead. The neighbors said that it looked as though the residents were killed either by a mirage, a tall man in a suit, or a teenage boy."

"Well that's helpful."

"Extremely."

"Why does TORCHWOOD care about this?" Josephine asked.

"Besides the conflicting descriptions of the killer," Jack said, "the TORCHWOOD logo was painted on the wall with blood, among other things. We were called in to check it out."

"Supposed to be horrible, blood all over the walls, organs missing." Owen said from the front. "Can't wait to see it myself."

"You're sick Owen," Gwen rebuked him. "A family was murdered and you want to see organs and dead bodies?" She glanced at Josephine. "And stop making it worse than it probably is."

Josephine bit her lip, deciding not to confess she was thinking the same thing that Owen was. Gwen was the only one from TORCHWOOD Three that still had a life outside the Rift, Josephine included.

They pulled up outside a basic apartment building, flashing lights and police tape everywhere. Josephine was certain everyone could tell she hadn't done this before, even as she fell in step with Gwen, Owen and Jack, her face as blank as theirs were.

"Don't throw up on the crime scene," one of the regular police said as they started up the stairs.

"We'll keep it in mind Andy," Gwen said, hardly looking at him.

"Ex-boyfriend of yours?" Josephine teased. Gwen glanced at her.

"Co-worker."

"Ick."

Jack opened the apartment door, stepping inside with the rest of the group close behind him.

"How long have they been dead?" Josephine coughed, gagging on the smell. No one else seemed bothered.

"Ah, that's just the bowels," Owen told her cheerfully, enjoying her discomfort. "They relax after death and all that mess comes out."

Josephine gave him a glare as Gwen and Jack continued further into the living room. She turned and followed when she heard Gwen swear.

Josephine felt her stomach turn over and she nearly lost her breakfast. It was like the most graphic horror movie of all time, but it was real. Organs and limbs were stacked neatly in the corners, huge lacerations on what was left of the bodies showing that they had died in pain. Blood had been used to paint and write all over the walls. The sick part of that was that the pictures were wonderfully done, as if by a master artist, and the words were in calligraphy. It was as though whoever had done this had only regarded the family simply as pots of red ink for their horrendous work.

"What sort of sick bastard would do this?" Gwen asked. Jack shook his head.

"I don't know. But I'll be damned if I don't get my answers. Treat it like a crime scene, I want photographs of everything." He turned and looked at Josephine, worried. "You feeling alright?"

"No. Most decidedly not."

"Step outside and take a breath."

Josephine nodded, following Jack's order. She steadied herself on the railing, inhaling deeply through her nose.

"First crime scene?" the officer from before, the one Gwen had called Andy, asked.

She nodded shakily. "Yeah. Yeah, first one. Didn't think it would look like that. I've seen dead people before, but not…not like that."

Josephine heard the curious frown in the man's voice. "Are you American?"

"Yeah. Texas."

"How'd you get over here?"

She straightened, inhaling. "Long story. I should get back inside."

"Don't be ashamed of it," Andy said, trying to comfort her. "Several of our guys threw up."

"Thanks."

Josephine went back inside, bracing herself. She could hear Gwen talking to Jack about the drawing on the wall.

"Look at the center here. It's a bunch of initials and names." Josephine's feet stopped moving of their own will as Gwen read them off. "G.A.O., K.T.M., Kavrin, and Wilma Deering."

"Wilma Deering?" Owen asked as Josephine started walking again. "Wasn't that Buck Roger's girlfriend in the comics?"

"Send Tosh a message, get her running them. If they're at the literal center of this, I want to know who they are." Jack turned towards the door, looking at Josephine. "If you're alright, I want you to try and figure out what the rest of this mess says. We have about ten words in English, the rest is in some sort of rune-like language." Jack frowned at Josephine. "What is it?"

"It's me."

"What?"

She ignored him, stepping around the gore and walking closer to the design on the wall, blood draining from her face.

The whole thing was arranged as a circle. Gang signs she knew didn't come from Cardiff. A molecular structure for a powerful mind-altering drug. Initials belonging to people she tried to forget or knew were dead. A date that had passed twice for her now, once from her life as a human and once while she was part of TORCHWOOD. Faces that belonged only in her mind. Lines and lines of writing. Off to the side, almost as an afterthought, was the TORCHWOOD 'T'. All of this swirled around the names Gwen had read off.

"Jo, if you know what this is…"

"It's me," she repeated, her voice distant. "All of this. But who would know about…" She turned and a streak caught her eye. Disregarding any rule about disturbing a crime scene, she pushed a bookcase over, revealing a new picture. Clapping a hand to her mouth she let out a horrible half-strangled gasp.

"Jo, tell me what is going on?"

"The Doctor. The Doctor's in danger."

"Explain."

Josephine was trembling, but Jack's tone brooked no argument. She pointed at the picture. "It's the console room, the TARDIS console room. A person standing by it. And this sentence." She drew her hand along a bunch of symbols that matched the writing in the circle. "It's…it's a code I invented, to use with my brother." She looked up at Jack, eyes filled with frantic worry. "Guess who's next?"

Jack's face set and he grabbed Josephine's arm, pulling her outside. "Okay, I need you to talk faster. What's going on?"

"I don't know," Josephine said, not looking at Jack, her eyes danced across the street. "I only know…" Her eyes widened. "Doctor."

"Jo, focus on the here and now."

Josephine ignored Jack. Seeming to forget the stairs, she jumped over the railing, landing on her feet and taking off running.

"Doctor!"

Jack didn't bother watching her. He pulled out his phone, swearing as he speed-dialed the Hub.

"Tosh, I want you to drop whatever you're doing and finish that homing signal."

"What?"

"I know you've been delaying on purpose, but we need to get ahold of the Doctor. Jo's loose and she just had an emotional shock. Have Ianto start looking for her energy signature. That might help, but it's no guarantee. She's had too long to study maps and learn her way around the city during outings. We won't catch her without the Doctor helping us. Now get it done!"