CHAPTER ONE
November 23rd 2008, 01:32AM, Cardiff Bay.
It was a cold, wet, dark night… or morning as it were, in Cardiff. Drunks lurked in alleyways, pissing or throwing up, sometimes both at once. Nobody sober enough to walk in a straight line would dare walk these alleyways by day, never mind at this time of night. No one sober enough to walk in a straight line would even be awake at this time. The alleyways were narrow, dingy and cold… so cold. The stench of urine and vomit was overpowering.
On this particular night however, there were two, seemingly sober people skulking in the alleyways, the smell not seeming to bother them. They were hardly noticeable to anyone with acute eyesight, so, to the drunks, they were pretty much invisible in their dark clothes and hoodies. Something flashed by behind them, "just a Weevil." They thought. One of the figures turned to the Weevil and growled at it. Well, growled, but they seemed to be communicating with it. "Go-on, back to the sewers, I'll find you again and tell you, OK?" This seemed to do the trick; the Weevil nodded and crept away, to the underworld. As the two figures walked into the Bay, they looked over at the glistening water tower. They pulled the hoods of their hoodies down simultaneously and a black ponytail fell from each of their heads. They were twin girls. Identical twin girls. Identical in every way, right up to the position of their black ponytails. They looked at each other and smiled. This was what they loved, gazing at the water tower and knowing the secret that lay within. They then looked up to the sky, wondering what mysteries they held. The girls looked at each other and nodded at the water tower, then to the small, nameless Tourist information centre in a dark corner. They pulled up their dark blue hoodies, shoved their hands in their black combats and began walking. Their black converse splashing in puddles as they went. Not a word was spoken through the entire time. Behind the girls a man stumbled out onto the Bay, singing loudly before throwing up and passing out.
Captain Jack and Ianto Jones were watching the girls on the CCTV camera relay in the Hub. Jack turned to Ianto with a grave face; "They don't know, do they?"
"No, I'm afraid not" Ianto replied, with an equally grim face and tone.
"It'll break their hearts…" Jack replied. Both men bowed their heads in sorrow.
At this moment, Gwen Cooper waltzed in, "Just ordered three pizzas, and should be here in about five minutes!" Both men tried to look pleased,
"Great!" Ianto said "I'll go wait for them then, shall I?"
"No, no Ianto, it's OK, at this time of night it'll be Sally doing the deliveries, she knows where to go." Gwen smiled and wandered back to her desk.
Jack turned to Ianto and mouthed "She doesn't know about them yet, does she?" Nodding towards the television screen, displaying the footage of the two girls. Ianto shook his head. Ianto turned towards Gwen and smiled,
"Shall I make you an espresso Gwen, you look exhausted?"
"No Ianto its fine, really… oh go on then, if you're offering." She beamed, she knew how utterly beautiful Ianto's coffees were, especially on late nights.
As the twins entered the empty Tourist Information Desk, one of them quickly vaulted over the desk and took great delight in pressing the big red button that opened the passage to the hub. As the wall next to the desk began to shudder and move the girls quickly squeezed through the wall as it began to open, suddenly in a rush. They feared, deep down that if someone heard, or saw them doing this, they would be in humungous trouble. With Jack. With Ianto, everyone! They decided the stairs would be less noticeable than the lift; they wanted to give the team a surprise…
An alarm began blazing in the hub. Gwen was suddenly on attack, fighting mode. "Looks like we have company… intruders!"
Ianto looked shocked; "are you sure it's not just Sally with the pizzas?"
"No Ianto, it's definitely intruders, two of them. I'll go get the guns!"
Ianto looked horrified, "No-no!" he said thinking on his feet, "I-I locked the gun room... and I left the key… at home."
"Well that was a bit bloody stupid wasn't it Ianto?" Gwen said furiously, "Why don't we just bust the lock open?" She walked to wards the gun room. Jack stood in her way, "Move Jack! Now!"
"No way! I built this hub! And I'm not gonna have you mess it all up 'cos someone's breaking in!"
Gwen shot Jack a pair of dagger-eyes; "Fine then! I'll just have to find something else!" She stormed off; you could almost see the steam coming from her ears. Her fury was intense. Jack and Ianto breathed a sigh of relief. Jack turned to his computer and typed a few keys. The alarm stopped. "'Bout time" Ianto said, "that was giving me an awful head ache!" he wined. Jack smiled.
As the big metal wheel began clanking and turning, the two girls entered the hub, they dumped backpacks at the door, all the while beaming at Jack and Ianto. "Hello boys!" they said at the same time. As they got nearer to the two men, they knew something was wrong; "We found it, just last night, we just gotta give it to Owen." They paused. "so… where is Owen?" Jack bowed his head. Ianto's eyes widened as he looked behind the girls. He yelled "NO GWEN!" But it was too late; Gwen had aimed the baseball bat and swung. Jack looked at the two girls grimly, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…" The girls' smiles faded. There were two dull thuds and the girls fell to the metal mesh floor. Gwen smiled happily, "Okay boys, now help me drag them to the vaults, Ianto, you search them for weapons." Ianto glared at her. Jack squared up to Gwen, looked her angrily in the eye and growled, "Don't you understand? We know them! We'll do as you say. But only because we know that you'll regret it later… we'll talk later" As he gently picked up on of the girls and walked away, Ianto followed. Gwen was left alone, looking completely perplexed. "What the hell just happened?" She thought to herself.
As the girls lay unconscious on the cell floor, Ianto walked in to strip them of any weapons. He gently moved the girls into a more comfortable position. But didn't search them. Gwen, who was watching from the video link noticed this and said; "Ianto! Strip them of their weapons!" Jack was beside Ianto, they looked at each other. Jack pulled out a metal tube-like object and shook his head as he placed it back in the girls' pocket. Ianto understood and stood up. "Gwen, they're like, 16 years old, I doubt they have weapons on them…" he said grimly looking directly into the camera. Jack stood up and without looking at the camera said; "I don't think they would need them anyway."
Gwen looked at a screen next to her showing a body scan of the girls. She noticed something irregular. "No-" she said softly to herself, "No that's impossible…" she looked back at the camera, and looked as Jack and Ianto watched over the two girls. She decided to take the scans word for it, but she asked Jack and Ianto just in case, "Boys… those two girls each have two hearts…"
Ianto and Jack looked down at the girls and smiled, then looked up towards the camera, Jack said, "Yeah. Of course! Why would they only have one…?" Gwen looked at the scan, now even more confused, This is ridiculous! She thought.
As Kerry woke up her head throbbed with pain. She groaned. Beside her Hannah was waking up as well. They rubbed the back of their heads and looked around them. "Well" Hannah smiled; "well… Nice to see this vault hasn't changed much…" she grimaced as she stood up and leaned against the wall for support. Kerry quickly followed suit, remarking as she did "Well…. Waking up in a vault is a common occurrence at Torchwood…" Kerry began checking her pockets. She found what she was looking for. Hannah looked in her pockets and found the same. They looked up at the camera in the vaults and waved, both girls with a huge grin on their faces, "Cheers Ianto!" They said as they pulled some sort of tubular device out of their pockets. They pointed them at the door of the vaults and pressed a button. The two devices made an electrical "whirring" sound and a blue light shone from the tips. The door buzzed and swung open, they removed their thumbs from the button and returned the devices to their pockets. As they walked out, they walked past a Weevil. It groaned at them. They turned and looked solemnly at the creature and moaned back, again speaking in its language, "Yes, he's fine. He was asking about you. He says he's sorry…" The weevil took these words and sat in the corner of its cell… to think them over? To cry? Who knows? The girls growled something else at it and smiled before heading to the door.
Gwen had been watching this on the Surveillance cameras. She was outraged. She turned to Jack and Ianto who were talking quietly in Jack's office, smiling at each other, probably flirting. "Oi! Ianto! I want a word with you!" Ianto looked over at Gwen, his smile faded; he knew he was in big trouble.
"Yes Gwen? What is it? Another coffee?" Jack came up behind Ianto, wondering what Gwen would say next.
"You failed to search them properly! They've escaped!"
"Oh- well… that is a problem now isn't it?" Ianto smiled; it didn't last long as Gwen shot him a set of dagger eyes strong enough to rip a man apart.
As Gwen opened her mouth to yell in outrage, Jack silenced her by raising a finger to his lips. He looked down into her eyes, "Look Gwen, we know these two… you will regret what you did, we only let you because- because… we want to put the news off for as long as we can…" A tear was running down his cheek. Gwen wasn't buying it;
"Look! I don't care! You've told me before that I'll regret it! And that you know them! But… WHO THE HELL ARE THEY?" Gwen was flustered; she wanted Jack and Ianto to tell the truth to her, she didn't want to be kept in the dark, now she knew how Rhys felt all that time when he didn't know about Torchwood. A flash of guilt surged through her body.
Jack looked solemnly at her. The two girls walked into the main part of the hub and looked up at the team. Jack looked down at them, trying to force a smile. He then came in close to Gwen's ear and hissed; "They are Owen Harper's sisters!"
Gwen looked horrified and looked at the girls. They smiled back looking straight into her eyes.