Title: The Christmas Invasion from Torchwood Side.
Author: Takisys
Beta: imzadimylove
Fandom: Torchwood/Doctor Who
Characters: Jack Harkness, Toshiko Sato, Owen Harper, Suzie Costello, Ianto Jones, Lisa Hawlett & Yvonne Hartman. Mention of the Doctor, Rose, Mickey, Jacky, and of course of the Tardis.
Rating: PG.
Warnings: An over use of Murphy's Law and eventual aggressive Christmas trees. (Death of a major but immortal character)
Prompt by lyric for tw_unpaired: DW 'The Christmas Invasion' from Torchwood pov, focus on the decision to blow up the retreating Sycorax ship. Does Jack agree with Harriet Jones's decision, or does he disagree but is outvoted? What do Tosh, Owen and Suzie think? (Can also include how Jack ends up with the Doctor's severed hand)
Author's note: as I couldn't found a reason for Jack to be debating with Torchwood One when he should only have wanted to get in the game by the Doctor's side, I focused on why he never managed to join him, and on the part the Cardiff team played during these events. Ianto appearing only as a Torchwood One employee.
…..
Part One
Jack had waited for the month of December with excitement: a few weeks earlier, the Tardis had materialized right above his headquarters and a few steps from the water column of Roald Dahl plass. He'd attended the event from Cardiff rooftops, had watched Mickey's arrival, and then followed the team, which as a mortal he'd been part of something like a century earlier, in their Cardiff adventures.
He'd ensured there was no intervention from his own team by causing a lockdown confining Owen, Tosh and Suzie in the Hub for the duration of the Tardis crew stay, thus just over 48 hours. Since they'd been released, Owen and Suzie were trying to understand what had occurred well above their heads, while Tosh was trying to understand how this lockdown could have been so untimely triggered by itself.
To be fair, Jack had to admit, that he'd been very vague about his involvement in these events, despite a strange picture of him in company of individuals whom at least one was suspected in the disappearance of the lord mayor. Tosh had managed to snatch the photo from a surveillance tape of the esplanade, as most surveillance records for the city had been mysteriously damaged.
"This is over, let's move on to something else," he announced while destroying this rare testimony of a past both so close and yet so far. Soon the Doctor and Rose would come back, because from what he knew of them, Jack was sure the Doctor would want to bring Rose back to London in time to spend Christmas with her mother.
It had been the longest December of his whole life. To make it worse, since the eruption of energy caused by his little crappy tinkering aboard the Tardis, the rift seemed to have decided to stay quiet. And apart from the usual weevils and two harmless trinkets, it didn't spit out anything very exciting, nothing to divert him from his impatience.
In short, to keep busy and not make everyone go mad, he worked on using the imprint left by the Tardis's perception filter, not only in the ground on which she was stationed, but also in the space the blue box had occupied during the energy burst. Jack had some fun building an invisible lift giving direct access to the heart of the Hub. Then he spent the last few days before Christmas playing with his new toy.
On December 24, 2005, he decreed that as the rift appeared to be determined to grant them a welcome truce, they should make good use of it. Several days earlier, he'd already talked Tosh into taking an extended leave to travel to London and spend Christmas with her grandfather. So he announced that since Suzie and Owen didn't want to leave Cardiff, they would be in charge in case something occurred.
"Does that mean you've got plans of your own?" Suzie asked sarcastically.
"I've got some friends in London, I planned to visit," Jack said taking a travelling bag that had been ready and waiting for a long time. "What now?" he asked noticing his team's startled look.
"Its just that usually you wouldn't leave the Hub if not forced, especially during the yuletide," Owen pointed out.
"That's probably due to the fact that usually there is always something nasty showing up," Jack replied. "But this year, it looks like I'll be allowed to spend Christmas with old friends of mine."
"Did you plan to drive to London?" the more pragmatic Tosh asked.
"In fact, I had planned to go with you, in your car, that way these two will still have the SUV in case of an emergency," he explained, while Owen and Suzie exchanged amused glances.
"So if I have it right, that extended leave isn't completely free of charge?" Tosh bantered. "Suppose I had planned to take the bus?"
"Without being sure you would be able to leave until the last moment?" he gently mocked her.
Tosh shrugged, pulling a fake exasperated face before taking the arm Jack offered her.
"Do we need to stop by your place?" he asked, as they reached her car.
"No, I wanted to be ready and my luggage is in the trunk," she told him. "I still can't believe nothing got in the way at the last moment. Arrg! I shouldn't be saying that: Murphy's Law, you know..."
"Old friend of mine," Jack sighed. "The friends I'm going to see used to say I attracted trouble, making Murphy's Law true just by being me."
"Where are you going in London?"
"You can just drop me off at Charing Cross."
...
Much earlier, in a small residential London district.
"Ianto, have you thought about putting the gifts in the trunk of the car?"
"Already done, sweetheart," Ianto replied, giving his fiancé one last kiss on her offered lips, "I've got to go, otherwise I'll be late."
"Try not to allow yourself to be commandeered by work at the last minute or my parents would be really disappointed."
"I'll do my best," Ianto promised. "But first, let's not upset the dragon by arriving late."
He left his fiancé and walked alone to the nearest subway station. Lisa would be leaving a little later and drive to work. That's what they were still doing, even though they had been living together for several months, and were busy planning their wedding. Since he was working for Torchwood, Ianto, who was well aware of their unorthodox methods, and not wanting to endanger his family, had always been careful to remain very discreet about his private life.
To his colleagues, Ianto was one of Yvonne Hartman's zealous secretaries, probably her favorite, and he'd managed to gain her trust. He also was one of the guys professing a crush on the beautiful Lisa Hawlett from the communications service. He was, however, the last one they would imagine her choosing, even for just a pint at the pub. Ianto wasn't the most popular among his colleagues but that suited him very well. In fact it was the best way, not stuck after work hours in a pub to finally make unwilling confidents after the last beer.
In short, Ianto Jones was an organized and prudent man, which was a measure guaranteeing a relative longevity when working for an institution where the rate of fatal work accidents was well above average, including all military forces and police.
"Ianto, you're a god!" the director greeted him when he arrived in her office, a pile of folders under his arm and a cup of hot coffee in hand. "What would I do without you?"
"As everyone else does, be content with the liquid the coffee machine down the hall is serving, Ma'am," Ianto replied, while sitting the cup before Yvonne Hartman.
"What else do you have for me?"
"Requests for budget allocation, some of the more fanciful. I've sorted them ranked in order of priority with my personal analysis on a post-it as usual."
"Your analyses are always appreciated Ianto, believe me," Yvonne replied blandly, "By the way, I noticed in this on this one that you were more than nervous about Rajesh's project."
"That not-supposed-to-exist sphere gave me Goosebumps, I can't help it," Ianto said. "There is nothing really urgent, most of these files can wait until Monday without preventing Earth from turning."
He put the folders down on Yvonne desk before adding: "Professor Martin wanted you to know he'd noted the presence of a shadow that may cross Geniver's route."
"A shadow? A big one?" Yvonne asked, not very concerned about the probes fate, which was, however, the Prime Minister Harriet Jones' government pride project.
"Big enough. A wandering asteroid, maybe."
"Since its course doesn't cross Earth's, it's none of our business," she replied, grabbing the first folder on the stack. "That's what happens when you let amateurs play with the unknown."
...
Jack had said Charing Cross because from there he could easily go anywhere without giving any indication of his final destination. In fact, if things went as he hoped he would not return to Cardiff, instead resuming his place in the infernal trio with Rose and the Doctor. That was the real reason he made sure not to take the SUV. He also had left all the necessary instructions his team might need to carry out their mission of protecting the city after his departure, while keeping away from Torchwood's overbearing influence.
Jack had long planned his departure, heartedly fearing that the rift would spit out something impossible to pass on to his employees at the last moment, forcing him to stay, but for once luck seemed to be on his side. Of course, he was still wondering about what could have happen back on the game station and why the Doctor had left without him. Because while Jack was ready to believe the Doctor thought he was dead, he also knew the Tardis would have been aware Jack was there when he ran to join them. So, why did they left without him? And most importantly, why didn't they come back for him? Because he waited, he waited for days before deciding to make the leap that brought him here, back to Cardiff almost one century earlier.
Tonight, whatever might happen, he would get at least some answers to these questions still haunting his sleepless nights. Tonight he would show up at Jackie Tyler's door and invite himself in for Christmas dinner. Of course, that was a bit rude, so he couldn't arrive empty-handed. Therefore, he had no choice but to go shopping, discovering something he'd so far managed to avoid: the nightmare of last minute shopping on Christmas Eve.
Find gifts for Rose hadn't proved to be an issue; he already had two waiting in his bag. As for the Doctor, he chose to play it up with humor, buying a pair of handcuffs, hesitating in front of a nice leather studded collar with the matching lead, but he feared Rose's mother wouldn't understand the underlying message and thus would be shocked.
In fact Jackie turned out to be his main problem; what could he possibly get for Rose's mother?
The first time he noticed them, he was coming out of the third shop on that street: Christmas trees. Although this was the season, he could have sworn they weren't there earlier when he started shopping. Furthermore, they looked more like indoor Christmas trees than outdoor ones. Jack wasn't, strictly speaking, an expert on the subject, but he was still able to distinguish that much.
When he came out of the next shop, the oddness began to nag at him, so he opened his leather strap lid and activated the scanner, one of the few remaining functional accessories of his vortex manipulator. The reaction was immediate: the trees came to life. They slowly began revolving, and then speeded up, their decorations becoming projectiles, forcing passersby to run for shelter in all directions. Then the trees started marching, heading straight for him, trying to encircle him. Jack anticipated and ducked, only narrowly avoiding being cornered in the middle of a group of teenagers; he then tried to attract his attackers away from the crowd, only to get stuck at an impasse.
Before being reduced to pulp by his strange aggressors, his last thoughts were of the Doctor and Rose.
...
Of course, the mobile waited until she was already parking her car in her grandfather street to ring, it would have been nice if it had been hers, but in fact it wasn't. Tosh had to dive under the passenger seat looking for the phone. It stopped the very second she'd manage to put her hand on it: it was Jack's. How the hell he could possibly have dropped it? The caller left no message but the name displayed on the screen was Owen. She was about to return the call when her own phone started ringing.
"Sorry Tosh, but we can't get a hold of Jack, and we have a problem," Owen told her.
"Yes I know, I just found his mobile," she explained. "What's the matter?"
"Looks like we've got visitors, the kind you usually don't like showing up; what inappropriate timing," Owen summarized in his own way. Tosh would understand anyone else listening wouldn't. "Have you any idea where he could be?"
"Anywhere. I dropped him off in town, he said he wanted to go shopping before going to his friends, but I don't know who they are and he didn't say where he was supposed to meet them," Tosh replied. Jack had disappeared and without his phone, just as an alien ship was incoming: that was so much like Murphy's Law striking again.
"Maybe these unwanted guests are just passing by," she added optimistically. It wouldn't be the first time; since Jack had recruited her, they'd gotten plenty of these unwanted visitors, but of course, usually Jack was there and he always knew what to tell them to keep them away.
"Let us be lucky for once," Owen joked. "Don't turn off his mobile, in case he tries to ring it."
"Of course," she replied. "Are you planning on spending the night in the Hub?"
"I'm afraid we'll have to, but don't worry; we've got all we need to face a world invasion without starving," Suzie commented.
...
"So how are we doing?" Yvonne Hartman asked.
"All employees not occupying a critical position have left the building and are on their way to celebrate Christmas Eve," Ianto said. "As for Geniver One her case seems to be closed."
"I guess she was crushed by Martin's asteroid?"
"Yes Ma'am," Ianto replied matter-of-factly.
"Well, that's what I call a fine waste of public money, Ianto."
"Yes Ma'am."
"I'm sure you are also eager to leave. Don't look so surprised, Ianto, a handsome young man like you must have someone expecting him on Christmas Eve."
"You're right, Ma'am," Ianto admitted without leaving.
"Is there something else I need to know, Ianto?"
"In fact, this afternoon there were two attacks downtown that attracted our attention, Ma'am," he started hesitating a little. The police reports they'd intercepted were pretty fanciful even for a Torchwood employee who was used to reading between the lines. "It seems that a couple were attacked by Santas, while a man was assaulted by Christmas trees."
"Christmas trees, really?" Yvonne commented somewhat intrigued. "And why would it be our business?"
"In both case, the aggressors have vanished," Ianto replied. "If taking into account witness descriptions, teleport or transmat could have been involved."
"Half of the citizens are already under the effects of alcohol and the other half doesn't even need to," Yvonne sighed. "The targets, do we have something on them? You mentioned a man and a couple?" she asked anyway.
"The unidentified couple managed to run away, ," Ianto told her. "As for the man, he has been taken to the mortuary."
"Has he been identified?"
"Not that I know of, but witnesses said he might have been from the military. Do you want me to send Black for more information?"
"No, not tonight. That can wait until tomorrow. Now, go home Ianto, and enjoy your holidays, you've earned them."
"Thanks, and Merry Christmas Ma'am."
…..
Part two
As most people on Earth were enjoying Christmas celebrations, not so far away in space something was happening: Geniver One didn't get crushed by a wandering asteroid, but had been commandeered by a Sycorax starship.
"So what's new?" Owen asked bending over Suzie's shoulder to have a look at the screen she was working on.
"They are altering their course: now they are coming straight toward us."
"Fantastic," Owen commented sarcastically. "And Main Frame seems to have no clue who they are."
"Wait; something's going on-" Suzie said. "Oh, it seems the probe is transmitting again."
"Geniver? So it wasn't crushed?" Owen asked. "Don't know why but I have the feeling that's not for the best."
"You're probably right," Suzie replied, shifting Main Frame's settings so it could receive the transmission.
"Hey, there's a news special," Owen noted looking at one of the Main Frame screens he'd set to a TV channel. "Looks like they also got the signal back."
"Except, they believe probe has reached Mars," Suzie pointed out frowning. "What the hell is that?"
"Nothing good if you ask me," Owen replied, as a reptilian mask was appearing on both screens.
...
When his mobile rang, Ianto Jones and Lisa were still trying to comfort the Hawlett family but in fact everyone was still shocked after seeing the special flash that should have shown the first images from Mars recorded by the British probe. The ringtone had everyone jumping out of their skin.
"Sorry about this Ianto, but Christmas will have to wait. I need you."
"Right, on my way, Ma'am," Ianto replied, and then immediately hung up.
"What's going on?" Lisa's mother inquired.
"Sorry but, I've got to go," Ianto replied glancing at Lisa for help. "Really."
While Lisa was trying to give her parents an explanation for his sudden leave, Ianto grab his coat and Lisa's car keys and left; of course the Hawletts knew nothing about Torchwood or aliens and after what had happen and him leaving like that, they would probably want to have more explanations about the job they were both not very inclined to talk about.
"What was that?" Ianto asked Matt who was getting out of his own car as Ianto was locking Lisa's.
"Not a clue. Never saw anything like that," the technician replied. "That's Lisa's car, isn't it?"
"Maybe," Ianto replied without commenting.
"Matt, you're needed in the communication room. I need to know what these freaks are saying," the director greeted them.
"Great! I mean, if they want to communicate it can only be good, right?" Matt said a bit over excited. "Okay, I'd better get to it right away, now-"
"Ianto, I need you to plan a general recall of all our staff according to different incoming scenarios."
"Consider it done, Ma'am," he replied. "You seem to be less optimistic than our friend here, if I may say so, Ma'am."
"You could say that, Ianto."
...
While all TV channels reported a student had hacked into a secured system just for the fun of it and that it was a carnival mask which had scared the hell out of the whole Great Britain population, Tosh also decided to give into hacking.
After sending her grandfather to bed, and just to get an idea of the situation, she took out her laptop. Although she had had promised herself not to open it during the weekend, she had brought it with her, just in case, because ... Well, because as pretty much any good computer scientist, she couldn't bring herself to ignore the famous Bread & Butter Law, also commonly called Law of Maximum Pain in the Arse. The Universal Law making Jack disappear without his mobile on a day like this.
When Jack's message box beeped, startling her. Call me back, was written on the screen, but the caller was unknown.
Her own mobile rang.
"Tosh, we managed to translate the transmission, it's not good at all," Owen informed her. "We really need to find Jack, have you got any news?"
"No, but someone else is looking for him," she replied.
"We got someone who called, here too," Suzie said. "Do you have any idea what a code nine could be?"
"It can be a lot of thing, depending of the context," Tosh replied.
"In the context we are in, for example," an annoyed Suzie pointed out, already upset by the fact that a stranger who knew about Jack's office private line had hang up on her.
"Not the slightest idea," Tosh replied flatly. "The Motherhouse recalled all personnel to stationary, the forces are on warpath and all government agencies are on high alert."
"Can't we locate our damned boss even without his mobile?" Owen asked. "What about his wrist strap? Doesn't it have a GPS of some kind?"
"If I was in Cardiff, I would probably be able to find him," Tosh sighed. "With the SUV equipment, I should be able to localise the signature of the little device he hides inside it; it's unique."
"Okay, stay put, we're coming," Owen replied. "And don't try anything stupid in the mean while."
Of course, if Jack was ever to go anywhere nearby a radio or a TV, he would be the one joining them. He was in London, not in the desert, so what could possibly have kept him from doing so? Of course he could have decided to leave them out of the game, once again.
...
Jack woke up at the morgue, at least that's where he assumed he was, as he was definitely wrapped in a body bag and was freezing cold. He'd been battling for ages to extricate himself from his plastic prison. Fortunately, the bag wasn't completely sealed or badly closed, otherwise he would have died of asphyxiation at least two or three times.
Once out of the bag, he still had to get out of the drawer. He was luckily still wearing his vortex manipulator and apparently his clothes. That was weird. When he jumped out of the drawer he understood why and how: what was left of his clothes had for the most part, decided to abandon him to make a nice little pile of material stained with dried blood. Nobody had even taken the trouble to try to separate the flesh from the rags. They'd just picked him up and packed everything before leaving for some Christmas Eve party.
Christmas Eve, the Doctor, Rose — He was going to be late, of course, technically, no one was waiting for him...
Jack stripped his naked body of the last remnants of his clothes still clinging to him and set out to find proper clothes. He finally found a gym bag in a locker room and with an ugly grimace was content to put on the sport outfit and trainers he'd found there. There was nobody in the morgue, there seemed to be no one in the building either. Even if it was Christmas, it was still unexpected.
Because it was Christmas Day, and he'd skipped the Eve.
Walking his way out, he only crossed two or three panicked people and took it as bliss; no one was paying any attention to him. But once outside, he stopped short, the whole staff was there looking upward. Jack followed their gaze to find on each roof edge lines of people ready to jump.
"What the hell's going on here?" he uttered.
"Nothing, according to the authorities," a woman nearby replied.
"How long have they been up there?" he asked.
"I don't know," she replied still looking upward. "I was having coffee with Max, and suddenly-" she explained finally looking at him.
"Are you saying Max is up there?"
"The funny thing about it, you'd never get him to climb on a stool," she added.
"May I borrow you mobile, miss-"
"Sally, my name is Sally," she replied handing him her mobile.
"Thanks Sally, I'm Jack," he said while dialling.
But before his correspondent could answer, a big BANG shook the whole city, exploding windows all around but without causing anyone to fall from the roof tops.
"Good gracious," Sally yelped finding refuge in Jack protective arms.
"Sonic wave," Jack commented without really noticing he was saying it aloud. Not that it mattered, since a big starship had just get into atmosphere to set just above the city he had other concern right now. "Looks like we've got visitors."
"Jack is that you? Where the hell have you been?" a man voice asked from Sally's mobile.
"Bad encounters, I'm missing about eight hours," Jack summarized; the man he'd called had the advantage to know about his ability to come back from death. His team didn't. "What's going on?" he asked Lord Henry Lothian, one of UNIT's head officers who should have the best information right now.
"What do you know?" Henry asked, not to waste time.
"There's a big starship above my head and a bunch of people on the neighbourhood roof tops," Jack summarized walking away from the crow for privacy.
"Hey where do you think you're going with my phone?"
"Saving the world," Jack told her. "I'm waiting," he said for Henry.
"So you don't know them," Henry noted.
"Nope, never see anything like this ship," Jack told him. "Has there been any contact yet?"
"There has. Do you want to listen to the translation we managed to do?"
"I'd rather have the original if you don't mind," Jack replied. "Translation can only be approximate, even between Earth languages, so-"
"So what do you think of it?" Henry asked, after he'd let Jack listen to the Sycorax speech.
"That, we might be in serious trouble. May I have the translation now, please?" Jack asked because he didn't recognize a single word and that was upsetting him for more than one reason.
According to the translation, the Sycorax, as they presented themselves, were simply boarding the Earth, taking one third of the world as hostage to make their point.
"So did we get it wrong?" Henry asked hopefully.
"I can't tell, I didn't get a word of the original." Jack admitted.
"Why do I feel like that's not good news?"
"'cause you're far from stupid," Jack bantered. "They are not using any version of Common I know of, and trust me; that already tell us a lot about their sociability issues-"
"And?" Henry pressed, as he could tell there was something more upsetting Jack.
"That also means the Doctor is not nearby," Jack sighed. As a former companion, if the Tardis had been anywhere around, she would have translated the alien language directly in his head. So, either the Doctor wasn't on Earth, or for reasons he didn't even want to think about, something was preventing the Tardis getting to him.
"So no code nine rescue?"
"I could be wrong, but I'd say we're alone on that one," Jack sighed.
"Your London colleagues claim to have a response, but would need time."
"Really? What kind of response would that be?" Jack said, having a pretty good guess about what Torchwood One could have come to propose. "The first thing to do is to find out how they are controlling those people up there, or we're going to end up with a big bloody mess."
"Already working on it, it has something to do with their blood type," Henry told him. "These people are A-positive, all of them."
"Blood control; they used the blood sample from Geniver."
"Yes, very clever of us," Henry commented. "Does that tell us more about them?"
"Only that they are very primitive mercenaries," Jack replied before closing Sally's mobile without any more warning, ending the conversation. Henry knew him too well to get upset.
"Didn't you say you were going to save the world?" Sally asked him. She hadn't missed a word of the conversation.
"Currently working on it," he replied thoughtfully. "Do you have a car, Sally?"
"Driving in London is so expensive these days..."
"Right, may I?" he asked gesturing with the mobile, silently asking if he could make another call.
She nodded, he called Tosh.
"I'm in East Ham*..."
"I'll send Owen to pick you up, he should be here within minutes," Tosh told him. "What happened to you? Where were you?"
"Kind of a long story," he replied shortly. "Owen's in London?"
"He and Suzie just arrived."
"Okay, I'll be waiting for them," he said before hanging on. "You can have it back, thanks" Jack said handing Sally her mobile.
"Are you sure about that? Won't you need it?" she asked glancing once again at the sky.
"Might I ask you something else?" he asked taking her aside. "Got any idea where I could find some proper clothes, something a bit classier, and quickly?"
"Hey, you're wearing Max's sports clothes . How did you come-?"
"Christmas tree issues," Jack replied, trying to dismiss any explanations.
"Don't joke about that," she cut him short taking him back to the facility he'd walked out of sometime earlier. "Yesterday a man had been brought in cut into pieces by Christmas trees," she explained. "I'm dead serious, freaked the hell out of me."
"Sorry about that," Jack replied. "But where are you taking me, Sally? Don't get me wrong, I love the idea of having some fun with a lovely woman in a locker, but just right now, I've got something more urgent to do-"
"You're fun," Sally replied unlocking the door they had stopped by. "That's the place we store all the dead body's belongings. Bodies which are not claimed and not under investigation of course. You should find something suiting you."
* East Ham Public Mortuary. The Mortuary handles deaths that have been referred to the Coroner or deaths where no death certificate can be issued.
...
Ianto waited until the director finally found some time to notice his presence.
"What are you waiting for, Ianto?"
"As I'm more or less useless here, now, Ma'am – I was wondering about going on the roof, see if I could find a way to prevent our people up there from Jumping?"
"Might I assume Miss Hawlett is A+?" Yvonne asked.
"Yes, Ma'am."
"Do you think you can find a way to prevent all of them from jumping, Ianto?"
"If by all, you mean all around the world, the answer is no," Ianto admitted. "But I think I could at least come up with something that works for our staff."
"Then, what are you waiting for?" Yvonne asked.
Ianto didn't waste any more time, he'd come with a little idea of his own. He spun toward the archives, commandeering Andrew in passing. They recovered a set of artefacts referenced as elements of a portable restraint field, and went up on the roof to install the alien field between the vacuum and their colleagues.
...
"Is that your new look?" Owen joked, stopping the car right before his boss. "What have you done with your precious coat?" he added, alluding to the RAF officer coat Jack liked so much.
"Shift," Jack said, not commenting and wanting the wheel. "Where's Tosh?"
"We came straight here; she's still at her grandfather's," Suzie explained. "As for me, you look good. Have a hard night?"
"No more question about last night, Okay?" Jack groaned starting the car.
"And where are we going?" Owen asked.
"Let's have a word with mum," Jack replied with a grin.
"That might be interesting," Suzie replied. "What's the plan?"
"I take the front door making a big fuss, meanwhile you sneak through the back door and try to discover what kind of response they're working on," Jack explained. "These psychos are the kind to take a bazooka to kill a tiny mouse and exploding the whole kitchen, if not the house in the process."
"I'm not a big fan of bazookas myself, Jack, but right now, and taking into account the thing up there don't look like a toy plane, don't you think it could be of some use?" Owen pointed out.
"They're mere pirates, the kind that boards defenceless planets, not really good guys, but not dangerous enough to endanger the whole planet in order to get rid of them either," Jack replied.
...
Part three
Arriving in Canary Wharf, when faced with the size of the Institute Motherhouse building, Suzie pointed out that she and Owen could get lost a hundred times before finding anything, as they didn't know the place.
"Okay I know the place and dressed the way I am, no one is going to recognize me," Jack admitted.
"That's the advantage of always being in disguise, the one day you're not ..." Owen commented.
"I'll take the back door," Jack finished, without paying any attention to the mocking doctor.
"Will your ego ever recover?" Suzie joked in turn.
"Do I need to remind you that we have a big bad alien ship above our heads?" Jack gently admonished them, "And may I point out that the people we are about to face, even if they are human, are probably just as dangerous, if not more?"
"And since when should that prevent us from bantering with you?"
"Okay," Jack sighed. "You two are taking the front door; you were in London for holidays and as good Torchwood employees you're coming to offer help."
"Don't worry we can manage," Suzie cut him short by pushing him out of the car so Owen could drive away. "Don't lose time, and don't do anything stupid."
Jack knew the place; this skyscraper was built where the former Torchwood house had been, hiding among the dock facilities.
Torchwood had, it seems, always been fond of dock sites. Jack knew that the visible part wasn't the most interesting one. As in Cardiff, the structure plunged deep into the soil, so Jack chose to get in by the underground car park.
...
Owen had left Jack a hundred yards from the entrance of the employees' car park, then drove around to stop at the visitors parking access. It was a blend of unmarked cars to UNIT stamped Lorries. Owen wisely stopped at the gate prohibiting entry. A man armed with a submachine gun came to look at the SUV with an air of scepticism.
"You don't belong here," he finally noted after checking the cars identification plates.
"We got a clever one," Owen whispered to Suzie. "We're from Cardiff's House, spending the Eve in town, thought you could do with a bit of good will," he said louder to the guard.
Obviously, Owen's proposal didn't match any scenario the guard had been prepared for, upon which he would have been clearly tempted to send them to hell, but then taking into account the circumstances he finally decided to ask above before doing so.
Owen cut off contact, wondering how long it would take before someone asked their names and qualifications.
Alan, the institute concierge railed upon the unfortunate guard's incompetence; even if he was there as a replacement he could have asked about the two volunteers' IDs.
Of course he wanted to check them himself again. Except, the London Institute didn't have any Cardiff staff list to compare them with. Even if they knew the Captain wasn't working alone, he wasn't keeping them informed of his recruiting policy or staff. Actually, he wasn't keeping them informed of pretty much anything if he could help it.
"Ma'am, I've got a couple here, pretending to be of our Cardiff branch, and who want to offer themselves for reinforcements," Alan called through the intercom.
"Pretending?" John who had answered for the director asked a bit surprised.
"As for our copy of Cardiff staff listing, the only employee listed is Captain Jack Harkness."
"What are their qualifications assuming they got some?"
"Owen Harper physician and Suzie Costello scientist," Alan replied.
"Got all what we need, send them home," John was a bit too quick to answer.
"No wait," Yvonne Hartman called out with a resigned sigh, taking her eyes off the schema Hedvig was trying to comment in English stress was making very approximate. The director walked to the nearest security control screen and switched it to have a look at the two volunteers. "Bring them in, I want a word with them."
Hedvig took the opportunity to join Ragnar. The catalyst was stubbornly refusing to work and they couldn't determine the cause. It had already taken them eight days to determine the catalyst was the cause for their failure. Because they were working for months now on converting these particle cannons retrieved from a shipwreck rescued at sea two years earlier.
A potential target was in orbit, an opportunity to test it in real situations was available to them, but they were not ready. It was frustrating. As always, when he was frustrated Ragnar pondered loudly for everyone to hear all points tested. No matter, as apart from Hedvig, no one else spoke Dutch in Torchwood.
Owen and Suzie were beginning to wonder if they were trying to rob them of their sense of direction, as the way seemed long and complicated in the huge underground warehouse. There was a tremendous amount of extraterrestrial material, some forty men and women in white coats bustled around certain artefacts while the rest lay abandoned. Amid this chaos, a huge solar glider was enthroned as the dubious trophy of some barbaric hunt.
Owen and Suzie exchanged a concerned look, they'd already seen such gliders, and their passengers were very curious but harmless. Jack would dismiss one or two of them per year. A few months earlier, the Captain entered into a rage, because Torchwood One had attempted to shoot down one of them over Scotland. Clearly, Torchwood had managed to capture one.
"So here's our nice volunteers from Cardiff," a woman, they immediately identified as being director Yvonne Hartman, greeted them.
She'd come to meet them wearing a television show host's broad smile and by applauding. The whole staff, including armed men, immediately imitated her like little monkeys. It was somewhat creepy and gave Owen chills. The two Cardiff employees shared uncomfortable glances.
"I'm Doctor Owen Harper, and this is my colleague Suzie Costello-" Owen started only to be interrupted by a new wave of applause hopefully quickly stopped by a gesture from the director.
"Where's your boss?" she asked abruptly.
"Good question," Owen answered a bit taken aback on that one. "Right now? No idea."
"Try and make an effort," Yvonne retorted. She was still wearing that anything but reassuring smile which reminded Owen of some psychopaths. "Because, if you're absolutely useless, he, on the other hand might be able to decode the sequence that appears to be giving my technicians some problems."
"Perhaps, I could-?" Suzie suggested.
"Oh, of course, you can have a try; but I would be really impressed if you only show a glimpse of understanding it," Yvonne replied showing them the way.
A dozen white coats were bustling around a group of computers gathered near a table. There were, again, high computer cabinets and various artefacts Owen didn't recognize, but there was a familiar figure leaning on a strange contraption; a kind of engine, perhaps and he was tinkering with it.
"Speaking of the wolf," the director exclaimed. "The problem is not with the transformer, Captain."
All eyes turned toward that man dressed in a black leather Jacket no one had noticed until then.
"I wouldn't be so positive about that if I were you," Jack replied with an enigmatic smile. "The acid has a funny colour, if you ask me," he added talking to the man who rushed to get between the precious artefact and the intruder. "Professor Ragnar Orloff, I presume?"
Professor Ragnar Orloff mumbled something Owen couldn't make out, leaning over the machine to check that Jack hadn't caused any damage, or to see what was the deal with the acid, or both.
"How did you get in?" Yvonne asked.
"Don't I get any applause?" Jack asked with a fake pout, which earned him a very dark look from the director. "You look fantastic, ma chère; chaos suits you well," he told her, flashing his own predator grin.
"Jack," Suzie called out, worried by her boss' cheekiness.
"Do you really intend to open fire on that ship?" he asked. "Because, I don't know if you heard the news, but Prime Minister Harriett Jones is onboard along with some UNIT representative."
"Really? Where did you get that from?"
"From that little radio, over there," he said pointing to the device.
"Believe it or not Captain, Harriett Jones herself, asked for our intervention."
"Really?" the Captain asked, looking suddenly a bit distracted by Ragnar and Hedvig arguing nearby the artefact. "I guess that was before being invited on board. Whatever, I will probably have to tell her a bit more about you and your politics when this is over."
"I don't know much about those things above our head, Captain, but I'm pretty sure they are not the kind willing to negotiate."
"It's said predators know each other when they meet," Jack replied with a grin and a knowing glance at the solar glider.
"These creatures have taken a third of the world population hostage, they want sack our planet and force our people into slavery-"
"I know, I know, I've heard their spiel," Jack cut her short. "It's a shame I can't teleport up there," he said glancing back at Ragnar and Hedvig. "You don't happen to have a working teleport, by any chance?"
"Jack what's going on? Don't you think you-?" Owen asked confused by his boss disconcerting attitude.
"Right Owen, time for us to go and let those people deal with whatever they are," Jack replied.
"Captain," the director demanded, as guards were readying to stop them from leaving. "Where do you think you're going?"
"This is going to be over soon and without your intervention," Jack stated. "I'm sure it might be frustrating, in fact I know how much it is for different reasons, but we have to make do with it, all the same."
"How can you tell?" Suzie asked at a complete loss but feeling Jack had some data no one else seems to have.
"Because I don't speak a word of Dutch," Jack replied with an enigmatic but confident smile.
"I don't get it," Yvonne said, looking toward the two scientists still debating in their languages. "What is it about?"
"Code nine," Jack replied.
"The Doctor? UNIT has been trying to get to him for hours..."
"He's here, more likely up there."
"How can you tell?"
"Because I don't understand Dutch, I least I shouldn't," Jack said as if it was a valid explanation. "Oh, and you should let us go," he added taking out a small metallic sphere from one of his pocket.
"What's that suppose to be?"
"A sonic grenade," Ragnar answered in English for everyone to know.
"You wouldn't-" a man, not wearing a white coat or a uniform said before stepping between the Captain and Yvonne as if his body could have been an appropriate protection against such a weapon.
"That's because you don't know me, Mackintosh. You're Mackintosh, right? Nice suit, by the way," the Captain bantered. "Did I ever tell you how sexy a suit looks to me, Owen?" he added.
"That's probably why I would never wear one of those."
...
Meanwhile, up on the roofs the hostages were coming out of their trances.
"What am I doing here?" Lisa asked backing of the roof edge and into the arms of a very possessive fiancé.
"Thanks God," Ianto whispered catching her and holding her tight.
"Ianto, what's going on?" she asked just before spotting the starship above her head. "Good gracious."
"Okay, it's going to be okay," Ianto replied, both to Lisa and his other colleagues who were looking at each other completely puzzled. "Calmly go back to your workstations, you'll soon receive answers to your questions," he added, keeping Lisa tight against him. "Make your way down, now."
While Andrew guided his disoriented colleagues towards the stairs, Ianto called the director to inform her of this turnaround.
"It looks like the hostages have been released, Ma'am. We're on our way down," he said, before passionately kissing his beloved under the surprised and envious glances of his fellow male colleagues.
...
Jack and his team reached the SUV just as people started to come down from the roofs.
"We'd better hurry," Jack noted throwing the sphere to Owen before taking the wheel. "In a short while the streets will be impassable."
"Are you mad?" the physician, yelped, catching the grenade.
"Why? Oh, it's just a toy," Jack said mockingly, as Owen was settling into the back seat. Jack didn't even wait for his teammates to close the doors before starting the car.
"A toy? So why did this Ragnar guy say it was a sonic grenade?"
"I guess because he was probably the one who stored it under that label," Jack replied. "But trust me, it's just a learning toy, it will be the up-to-date toy in about three or four centuries."
Jack always found it strangely satisfying to throw out that kind of assertion and watch the perplexed reaction of his audience; sometimes it helped him to deal with his own frustrations. As usual, Suzie and Owen were looking at each other in bewilderment, as if pondering whether they should be worried about his sanity, as if he had some extraterrestrial sources of some kind or if he was just making fun of them.
"By the way: what's a code nine?" Suzie asked.
Jack remind silent, pretending to focus on the road. It wasn't too difficult, as every single ex-hostage seemed to have decided to regroup in the streets along with the people waiting for them. Driving was getting more and more hazardous. Jack was dying being stuck down here when the Doctor and Rose were having fun without him, and he couldn't join in.
...
Jack attended the general jubilation unleashed in London streets after the ship had finally left the sky. Tosh grandfather invited them to party, but he stayed apart, sitting in the middle of the stairwell, playing mechanically with his mobile phone he had recovered.
What happened up there? He typed on the keyboard.
Currently debriefing. Henry replied.
Was the Doctor on his own?
There was a couple with him: Rose Tyler and Mickey Smith; as for Harriett Jones. I'll call you back as soon as I can.
"Something wrong?" Tosh came to ask him. "Your friends?"
"Err, no... yes," Jack replied awkwardly as getting on his feet. "I need to go," he mumbled, with a bit of luck the Doctor and Rose would still be around, as it looked as if they also had skipped Christmas Eve.
"But where are you going?"
"Looking for my coat," he explained. He rushed out into the night without waiting and took the SUV. If the Doctor asked questions he would explain, but he wasn't going to take any chances. Heart beating rapidly in his chest, Jack slalomed among onlookers who all went out for more partying in the streets, enjoying the beautiful starry night.
Halfway to his destination, it started snowing, enticing even more people outside and into the streets. Jack knew it wasn't real snow but ashes from the alien ship the Motherhouse had finally managed to bring down, but as for the citizens it was just one more reason to be in his way to the Doctor.
Jack's mobile rang just as he'd reached Rose's estate; Jack turned on the speaker and drove on.
"Jack we could have a situation," Henry's voice said as the Captain was stopping the car at the corner of Rose's street. A few yards away the Tardis was waiting, while Rose was looking up to the sky by the side of a man Jack had never seen. Jack could only see his back, but he could tell he was nothing like the Doctor he knew. Mickey and Jackie were standing there too.
"You've got thirty seconds to convince me," Jack warned his old friend, he was not going to let them go.
"Looks like the Doctor had lost a hand during a duel-"
"What?" Jack asked startled. "From where I am, looks like he has both."
"You're with him?"
"Not exactly, but let say he is in view," Jack summarised.
"We've been told it had grown back immediately, but that's not the point-" Henry tried to explain.
"It doesn't make sense," Jack cut him short ready to hang of.
"That's not the problem, Jack, the hand fell overboard, the Prime Minister and her secretary are both certain about this."
"Are you saying there is a Doctor's hand somewhere in London streets?"
"A hand had just been taken to East Ham, Jack-"
Jack looked one last time toward his friends, his chest constricted in pain, but he couldn't take the risk that the hand fell into bad ones and certainly not Torchwood One's.
"I'll take care of it, I know the place," Jack replied starting the engine. "I will need a coat, the same World War II RFA coat, do you think you can get one for me?"
"What happen to your relic?"
"Christmas trees," Jack sighed ending the conversation.
...
Next morning, Jack showed up at Tosh's grandfather's house with a new coat smelling of naphthalene, but it would soon take on Jack's very special brand. When the team settled into the SUV to go back to Cardiff they had no idea there was a severed hand stored in a jar in the back of the car.