Plot: What if someone else came into Jack's life, the same way Captain John Hart did, and revealed more about him and maybe more... It's really about all the team, but of course lots of Janto, and Tosh with some pretty girl...
Rating: No special rating for this first chapter, but it'll come I promise...
Disclaimer: Obviously, I don't own nothing, 'cause I wouldn't have killed Ianto... Or at least, I would have killed him and ressurected him.
Who was it that still had to clean up afterward? Ianto! Who was it that had a tone of crap to wash over? Ianto! And who was still stuck with the Weevils at the Hub? Guess who… Ianto, again! A couple of Weevils had showed up in the Llandaff village and they had been neutralized. Somehow, he was relieved. This time, no retconning of anybody, thanks to that new spray Owen had developed in order to restrain their usual enemies. Since the death of the man, the doctor had never been so efficient. He would rest one or two hours and get up as fast as he lay down. He would keep on working on new projects. At this rate, he would soon deserve a Nobel Prize.
His never failing methodic nature had lead Ianto into registering a few more documents. He had undertaken to classify every file by date and category since Torchwood creation. Obviously, no one had ever thought of classifying any of those in a logical order. Jack had not directly asked him to do it, but it seemed only natural that it entered his profile to keep everything cleaned up. He neatly closed the file on the new Weevil invasion. As he closed the drawer, a sudden taste of salty metal came to his mouth. A dry taste of salt and metal. Maybe of iron. Like, like blood. Yes, definitively blood. He laid his fingers on his lips to see that they were quite dry and free of any blood trace.
Ignoring this fact, he went quietly to put away the various items that had been necessary for the weekly Weevil hunt. From habit, he crossed the boundaries of the small kitchen and headed for the coffemachine. How many times had he prepared coffee for his colleagues? He knew by heart their preference. For Owen, one sugar, though he didn't drink much these days given the circumstances. Gwen liked it with two sugars and two creams. Meanwhile, Tosh took a coffee that hardly resembled a coffee. It had milk, lots of cream and sugar… and a little cacao that Ianto kept well hidden at the bottom of the cabinet so that Jack would not throw himself on that innocent sweet and finish it all. The latter liked it very, very dark and Brazilian. Ianto suspected this obsession for Brazilian coffee had an interesting story behind it.
Emerging from the torpor of his thoughts, Ianto realized that whining had been raising up in the air for some time already. Complaints, rather disturbing since they were pretty strong but dull. Leaving everything aside, he approached the source of the groans. He went down a floor to realize that the laments came from the Weevils. His first thought was that, somewhat telepathic, the newly captured Weevils were languishing about their sad fate as prisoners. Sometimes, Ianto felt guilty locking them up in this manner. But leaving them downtown, where men, women and children could get killed was not an option. He did not quite know how to ease their pain, because Owen would rather focus on a solution to contain the beasts, and not exactly in a relief optic.
He realized that their grief was not directed at themselves. They all shouted in a very specific direction. Up, on the right. That is to say, to the East or the center of the Hub. Was there a Weevil on the run? Impossible. He quickly dismissed the possibility. Those aliens were not smart enough to get into such elaborate plans. Still, to have a clear conscience, he took the ladder to the Hub arming himself with the famous spray and a stungun. He was quite used to the weapon. His job rarely consisted in anything other than stunning people and retconning them. It was his tool basically.
Should he alarm someone? No! It was all under control. Barely, crying Weevils and a strange feeling. Nothing to worry about. He slowly made it to the center of the Hub, scarcely making a sound. As he made it to the indented door, he became aware of the presence of a Weevil facing Tosh's screens. Well! He had been wrong about their wits. Cautiously, he grabbed his weapons and, pointing the Weevil, he slipped behind it. The monster did not seem to have noticed him.
Strangely, the more Ianto watched the Weevil, the more he felt it was much different from other of its specie. The beast features were a little rounder though it seemed even stronger than the other Weevils. « An obese Weevil », he thought with a smile. Its skin was a little darker and its red hair ended in unkempt curls. The hair came from the sides while usual Weevils had straight, sporadic, grayish hair coming from the top of the skull, all the way down the spine. Was it a different kind of Weevil? Or from a different part of their planet? Ooh, but wait! That Weevil had a huge protuberance attached to its lower abdomen… A pregnant Weevil! Is that even possible? A lady Weevil? That would explain the sudden interest of the Weevils downstairs, anyway. Never would he have imagined the Weevils reproduced the same way human did. Somehow, he had imagined that Weevils had eggs or something. Oh! And this one was very pregnant. It was enormous. As a fridge. He tried to prevent his mind from finding another unladylike comparison when it suddenly struck him. Ianto was standing scarcely at 2 meters of the Weevil, whereas the monster hadn't stopped its efforts. It must have smelled him long ago. Weevils, like many animals, were very sensible to odors. It must have known he was there for some time already. It didn't even remotely react when Ianto used the spray Ianto on its face. It was probably way too busy with the computer. What do you know? Females must be way smarter than their mates. She was running a program for fuck sake!
Reaching the Bluetooth communicator, Ianto alerted the rest of the team of the newcomer.
"We've got very interesting visit. You might want to say hello." he said, not sure who would answer.
"If it's John Hart, give him to Myfanwy for lunch. I don't care. " growled Owen in Ianto's ear.
"What is it?" asked Jack's deep voice seriously but still with a smile.
"Well, he started, I'm not an expert of course, but I'd say: either a very huge and feminine Weevil or a very hairy Cyberman. I'd go with the first option though."
An unexpected movement came from underneath the monitors of what could have been called a mini-Weevil.
"Oh, wait. Make that two. The second could be a Weevil kid." corrected Ianto.
"Didn't you always want a complete family, Ianto?" crossed off Owen.
"Certainly, but looking at their traits, I reckon they come from your side of the family."
"We're on our way, Ianto." cut Jack, to prevent Owen from answering as politely as his colleague. They were probably at the closest bar, thought Ianto. They'd be there in a minute or two.
What surprised him most was the lack of reaction when he sprayed Owen's product on the weevil. Any living being would react to this poisonous mix.
Plan B: Stun gun. He approached, while keeping an eye on the little one. He stretched his arm as to attain the lady-Weevil's shoulder. He laid the gun on the blue leather clothe (did Weevils have blue cows back on their planet?) and quickly pulled the trigger. The animal stopped typing. For a second, Ianto was trying to estimate which side it would fall down. However, the lady-Weevil did not fall down, but turned around to face Ianto. They stared at each other for a moment. It was almost beautiful, if it wasn't for this terrible creased skin and this dreadful jaw.
"It must be hard to type with so big fingers." he stated.
To his surprise, it actually smiled. Well, it was closer to a strange wince, but it was definitively meant as a smile. At most, the stungun must have tickled it.
A clutch sound rose from the rift manipulator. It was starting!
Without further ado, the monster resumed its work on the computer.
"Uh-uh! That doesn't sound good." whispered Ianto. "Are you opening up the Rift?" he asked expecting, for some reason, to obtain an answer. Now that was getting very, very serious. He jumped on the nearest monitor and tried to preclude the imminent catastrophe. "Jack! I believe it's opening the Rift and I can't stop it. I'm switching to manual override." Manual override actually meant taking a cricket bat and hitting the thing. In this case, it was probably preferable to stop its starting element.
Keeping his cool, he carefully stepped out of the tray and put his hand on a net nearby their communal couch. Maybe the solution laid in catching the beast with a net. Surely, Jack wouldn't have hesitated to jump on it, but he was not mortal. Ianto couldn't just pounce and hope for the best. He dashed toward the lady-Weevil, but before he got the chance to sling the net, it had already vanished from his hand and lifted in the air. In its downward motion, it met a slight resistance. A slight yellowish resistant. With no distinct shape or texture, but it was definitively there. It landed heavily on the floor, empty.
The Weevil looked at Ianto and grunted as to prove a point and got back to work. That is when Jack and the rest of the team erupted into the room, guns high, ready for all contingencies.
"Ianto!" called Jack.
"Over here."
The team circled the beast in beta formation while Tosh attempted an intrusion into the system.
"I believe it's trying to open the Rift." reaffirmed Ianto.
"Yes, thank you Ianto. Did you find this by yourself or did the activation of the Rift manipulator give it away?" said the doctor.
"Oh! It's gorgeous!" commented Jack examining the lady-Weevil.
"It taped into our main system and it's blocking my commands." cried Tosh.
"I tried the spray and the stungun, without success." He explained about the yellowish resistance in the air.
"All right, no one goes near that thing for now. Tosh, find a way to stop it from entering the system. Gwen and Owen, shut down the rift manipulator. Ianto, with me on the pretty Weevil. Just like good days." ordered Jack.
Everyone did has they were ordered to. Ianto armed himself with a sedative and Jack gripped the fabric bag for the head handed by Ianto. Jack always got the head while Ianto did his thing.
"Come one, Gorgeous. Let me take you to some friends of yours. Don't be afraid." Jack cooed.
With this technique they had developed, nothing could go wrong. Their experience prevented any inconvenient that could arise. Easy shot. But this time was different.
"Now!" Jack shouted.
The beast was highly focused on its task, whatever its nature was, and did not react to the call. Jack jumped on it, securing the jaw, and Ianto was already injecting the sedative when creature rose the Captain's whole body over Ianto's head to land surprisingly gently on the couch close by. Dazed at the fact that he was in a sitting position, he stared at the heavy animal with perplexity.
That is when the Weevil actually focused on something else than the computer. It stared back at Jack, with both bewilderment and confusion.
"Even Weevils can't resist him!" thought Ianto rolling mechanically his eyes.
Jack stood and directed his Colt Python .357 right at the lady-Weevil's forehead. It was his favorite handgun, because he had acquired it while traveling in the US with a very handsome gentleman. Ianto did the same with his handgun. He preferred a CZ 100, a classic Torchwood issue.
"You're not a Weevil, are you?" he asserted. It wasn't a question really, more like an observation.
The beast screwed up its eyes. It stepped a little closer to the Captain and made a sign as to raise its paw to Jack's face, but stopped mid-way. Almost as though it was afraid to be rejected.
That was definitively not an ordinary Weevil.
"Who would you be then?" asked the younger man.
Suddenly, complete silence replaced the Rift manipulator's loud noise.
"Who did this?" said the Captain.
No one of their team had. They simultaneously remembered the baby-Weevilunderneath the computer station. It was closing a panel and rubbing its hands in satisfaction.
The lady-Weevil stepped backward and crossed its paws. It applied pressure on its left paw as to stretch the skin. The whole skin followed the pay and made place to a human-looking hand. Same was done to the right paw. The thick Weevil paws were left down on the floor. The right hand reached a hidden panel fixed on the left arm. Tapping rapidly, the Weevil face blurred and was replaced by a very beautiful female head. Long, brown, heavy curls fell down the shoulders and framed a young puzzled face. They kept staring at each other, radically changing color. Jack shook his head in disbelief.
"No!... No, no, no, no, no! Oh no, you don't! How dare you? How dare you take her form to lure me into sympathy for you? I've lived longer than you can imagine. Such tricks won't fool me!"
"What?" a strong woman's voice echoed.
"You should be ashamed to mock the dead in such a way!" the Captain screamed.
The rest of the Torchwood team turned around, intrigued by this strange turn of events.
"I am not mocking anyone!" she replied with a definite American accent.
"You must be some psychic creature, he cried still pointing angrily the gun at her, that takes advantage of other people's lose. You should know the individual you're impersonating was the greatest woman of her time. Get out of my head or I'll shoot!"
"Sweetheart, the only thing on your mind right now is your next shag."
Owen busted out into laugh, cheered for the first time that evening. "Oh God, Jack! This is good!"
"Don't encourage her!" he shouted back.
Turning back to the beauty, the Captain asked with rage: "Why are you doing this? Why are you doing this to me?"
Still as a block since the short flight of his lover over his head, Ianto went into deeper consternation at the Captain's composition, or as it was, decomposition. The coffeeboy could not believe it. Jack was as white as a sheet, his knees were slightly shaking and sweat forming on his forehead. Ianto definitively did not like this strange situation.
Somewhat worried at this violent reaction of the Captain, Gwen and Owen pointed their guns at the might-be-beasts. This was strange enough for Gwen. She could not bear such a reaction without an explanation.
"Who is she, Jack?" she asked, trying to have a sweet but steady voice. Truth was, each time she discovered something new about Jack, it was losing him all over again. Each time, she felt like she finally knew him and something or someone came up and showed her otherwise. Adrenaline was working its way up to every extremity of her body. She felt anger toward what that woman meant to Jack. She had dealt with John in the past and she had accepted Ianto in Jack's life as a necessity to her comfort with Rhys. But now… She couldn't fight over Jack with a woman, could she? At least, she didn't want to.
"It really is you…" the woman slowly said with a sincere smile.
"That woman is dead! She is dead. I killed her myself and it was such a mistake. I scattered her remains on the Seven Finger Mountain. She is long dead." he insisted.
"So are you! " she said sharply.
"She's got a point there." Ianto admitted.
They all stayed silent for a moment.
"It's all right! It is me. Don't be scared, don't be mad either." the woman said softly.
"For all I know, you could be a telepathic monster tricking me! You tried to open the Rift! God knows what you're planning." Jack suspected.
"Oh! Wouldn't you like that! That would be so convenient. You wouldn't have to deal with me." she retorted offended.
"That's not how I meant it." said Jack softening.
"No, no! I get it perfectly. I wouldn't want to alter your clever plan against the Mavri. I'll let you do the job, yeah? How is that? Deal with the Mavri by yourself. Victor! Stop what you're doing. Your dad's gonna deal with it!"
"No, listen…" affirmed the Captain now lowering his weapon.
"Please! Be my guest." she said as she sat casually in Owen chair. After a short pause, she added: "But you know, psychic species have a tendency to control humans when they're alone, not when they're in group. This could cause several complications since there's so many minds to trick. You all see the same pregnant brunette in a Weevil uniform, isn't it? That's how you call them anyway, Weevils right?"
"It's a uniform?" Gwen questioned.
"Well, it's a rubbish uniform." cried Owen.
The pregnant woman chuckled.
"Listen, the only thing your eyes haven't told me is your name, because you're note Amanda." insisted Jack.
She smiled again. "After all strange things you must have seen, someone from the past is the thing you're the most likely to disbelieve?"
She stepped down the stairs.
"If I tell you something you know, you'll think I'm reading your mind, right?" she asked rhetorically. "So I'm gonna tell you something you don't know."
"This is good!" Owen thought. How ridiculous could this become? Truth was, he was still thinking about that beer waiting for him. Now, more than ever, was a good time to get madly drunk.
"The morning of our wedding day…"
She had not stopped talking, but time seemed to have. This was Jack's wife or ex-wife! Tosh was shocked, Owen started laughing, Ianto didn't blink, still in complete control, and Gwen was turning red of jealousy.
"… you had sex with our milkman in the cabinet. I'm the one who closed the door, because your Aunt Dorothy would have eaten your brains." And turning to the others: "And if you're wondering, she literally ate bad boys' brains."
Owen could not hold it any longer. He writhed in laughter to the point where his belly hurt.
"That does sound like you." agreed Ianto.
"You knew that?" asked Jack incredulous.
"Of course I did. How stupid do you think I am? His skin was the same color and touch as the milk he was carrying. And he also wore a tie. You never could resist ties." She smiled. "I'm not trying to open up the Rift, she continued quietly. Victor and I have just managed to prevent an invasion. You've got a Mavros around here. That's Greek for 'Black'. It makes a pun in their language with the word 'salty'. We call them Mavri. With an 'I' for plural. Just like 'stimuli' and 'hippopotami'. But not for 'cactus'. You don't say 'cacti', do you? Grammar is important."
"Who are they? What do they want?" said Gwen that had stayed unwontedly silent for quite a while now.
"Oh well. Apart from killing and destroying this dimension, I'd say they…"
The whole ground shook underneath their feet and a huge thump flood their ears. A sequenced noise was accelerating.
"Oh no, you don't!" the pretty woman decided jumping toward the computer.
Tosh had headed toward the engine.
"DON'T GO THERE!" roared the woman.
At the fierce warning, Jack had bounced on Tosh protecting her from an amazing blast of computer juice.
"WILLIAM!" the pregnant woman yelled rushing toward her former lover. "Why do you always have to save every soul?" she asked checking his damaged skin. The flesh was still burning, because of the acid. Jack winked at her. She grinned back, but got serious again immediately.
"The whole machine is fused, there's nothing we can do." concluded Ianto thought he was almost more worried about what he had just learn about… William?
"Oh yes, there is." stated the brunette, resolute.
She raced to the Rift manipulator and punched into the part in plastiglas containing the running flux causing it to blow up and pour all of the fatal liquid all over her body.
"'Manda, please! Stop this nonsense. Come down here before it's too late." cried Jack. "I'm not loosing you again." he threatened.
"You think a bit of acid will kill me? I've been through worst, you know that." she assured as she got her melting hand further in the burning machine still accelerating. She reached what seemed the central nerve now visible since the acid liquid had left the machine. She clinged it and pulled with all her might. Her wrestling did not break off, but the metallic-like nerve yield to her strength. She was thrown back on the floor, burnt all over and unconscious. The large machinery slowed down until total shutdown.
"Chances of survival: 0.000001%." thought Owen rushing to the body. He could not recognize the lady. The hand was gone and only a strange blood-drenched stump remained somehow still diminishing in proportion. Most organs were visible and emerging baby had burns all over. He would have taken the pulse, but he doubted any remaining artery was still intact. In the corner of his eyes, he caught sight of small beetles agglutining around the neck at the vertebral column. Frightened, he rolled quickly the motionless head to see it was all gone. "Drinking was actually a bad idea." he thought. The kid-weevil, forgotten as always, still walked around busily but completely calm.
Jack approached in awe-stricken. Lifting his hands and falling on his knees, he muffled a scream.
"I'm sorry, Jack. There's nothing we can do." the dead man announced.
He finally let out a wail. He was whooping. His pain made him choked. He gently took corpse in his arms and tightened it against his bosom, rocking back and forth.
"Don't go… don't go… don't leave me again… I still got the picture…" he whispered between sobs.
Gwen approached and surrounded the unhappy immortal of her small arms. She could hear the irregular beating of his heart. Ianto looked away, unsure of the right thing to do. Probably, there wasnoright thing to do. Tosh and Owen sat back to back, looking, astray.
For some minute, only Jack's jerked sobs could be heard. Nothing moved. Until a deep gasp echoed in the Hub. A long breath was inspired and expired.
Still shaking, Jack moved away the dead body, to find the same healthy pretty woman of an hour ago. Winded, he could not say a word, nor could anybody realizing what it meant.
"But you're dead!" breathed the doctor. "You were burnt all over."
"I've had worst from cooking." Ianto shivered at the allusion. He suddenly wondered if it was a saying in the 51st century.
Standing up the same way the Captain always did, she asked: "So? Are you going to introduced me properly? 'cause I'm not gonna be off quite soon. I just blew up my only way out."