The Modern Myths
Note: I decided not to write for all the Torchwood characters, so Gwen is missing. Let's presume this story happened during her honeymoon.
Tosh and Owen ran down a corridor, trying to get in contact with Jack.
"Where are you?" Owen hissed.
"There!" Tosh yelled.
"Was that Jack?"
"Max Hadarien!" Tosh answered.
Owen and Tosh chased after Max, finally catching up. Owen tackled Max as Tosh pulled out a scanner.
"It's not on him," Tosh indicated.
"Then we move on," Owen replied. He handcuffed Max to a rail.
Meanwhile, Jack was chasing a different person. As he turned a corner, he saw his target and another man with a gun pointed at Jack.
Tosh and Owen eventually made it to another room and saw the two men holding Jack hostage.
"Drop your weapons," one of the men said, holding Jack in front of him and pointing a gun at Jack's head.
"He's got the emerald," Tosh said.
"I said put down your weapons!" repeated the man, Tom.
"Is this everyone?" Jack asked, while nodding to Owen and Tosh.
Owen and Tosh put down their guns.
"Max?" the other man, Lorne, called into his radio.
"Sorry, he's a bit preoccupied," Owen informed them.
"If you've hurt him – "
"He's fine," Owen interrupted.
"So this is the rest of your gang?" Jack asked.
"Yeah, it's just us left. We're going to slowly – "
A gunshot interrupted Tom and blood gushed out from Jack's head.
While Jack's body fell to the floor, everyone noticed Ianto with a gun in his hands. Ianto quickly advanced and hit Tom with the butt of his gun. Meanwhile, Tosh and Owen quickly pulled out their second guns and backed up Ianto.
"Don't move," Owen warned.
Tosh searched through Tom's pockets and retrieved a large emerald. "I got it."
"Is it stable?" Owen asked.
Jack suddenly gasped back to life, scaring Tom and Lorne.
"You got it?" Jack finally asked.
"Yes, it's stable," Tosh replied.
"You know what to do."
Tosh nodded and ran out while Jack pulled out retcon pills.
Back at the hub, Jack, Owen, and Ianto entered and saw Tosh at one of her computers.
"I've sealed the emerald," Tosh said.
"Good," Jack replied. "The three guys are back where they belong with no memory of the past two weeks just like the others. Are we sure that Anthony Lessig is the only casualty?"
"Yes," Ianto said.
"Okay. Owen, you've gotten to know Anthony well. What would tempt him to take off without warning?"
"A good woman would do it."
"Create a social networking page for Anthony if he doesn't already have one and a fake one for a woman. Fill in the blanks. Make her tempting."
Later, Owen stood in front of a computer near Tosh, who happened to look at Owen's screen.
"Why are you looking at so many pictures of women?" Tosh asked.
"I don't think I ever needed a reason," Owen responded.
Tosh scoffed.
"I need a profile picture for Katie Holmes, so I'm looking for a couple good pictures to merge."
"That American actress?"
"Oh, right. New name, then . . ."
"You mean Anthony Lessig's love interest," Tosh said.
"Yeah. Carys, then, after Diane's passenger."
"That was Emma," Tosh corrected.
"Then who was Carys?"
"She's the woman who got possessed –"
"And snogged Gwen! I remember!"
"I suppose all pretty women look alike to you."
"No, Tosh, it's all white people. Just the other day, I was looking through a photo album and stopped at a picture asking myself, 'Who is that sexy hunk?' Well, as it turns out, it was me."
Tosh rolled her eyes and moved to a different computer located across the hub.
"It's too bad this website only does faces," Owen commented. "She could use a body."
Owen eventually finished his project and was staring at the profile page when Jack approached.
"Emma Holmes. PhD in Psychology from the University of Waterloo," Jack read. "And before that, the University of Edinburgh. Political views . . . Very thorough."
"Well, it's got to be realistic, doesn't it?" Owen responded.
"She's friends with Lessig?"
"Yeah, and a few fake accounts. Tosh helped me insert some comments and messages with dates back a few weeks."
"Jack, come take a look at this," Tosh cried nearby.
"What is it?" Jack asked.
"I was running a test and it picked up something above the atmosphere," Tosh explained.
Owen kept his attention on Emma Holmes' profile and began typing more details into her biography.
"It's above Spain now, and moving north," Tosh continued. "I don't think anyone would be able to notice it yet."
Jack looked at the screen. "It's almost like it's headed here. Can you open a communication line?"
Tosh typed in several commands.
"They're not responding, whoever they are."
"All right. Keep your eye on it. If it slows down, let me know immediately."
"My computer will alert me on my mobile when I'm out," Tosh said as she gathered some of her belongings.
"I'm heading out, too," Owen declared. Tosh then followed him out.
"Bye."
"See you tomorrow."
Jack approached Ianto from behind and put his arms around Ianto.
"Are you going to stay for a while?"
Ianto turned around and kissed Jack.
While Jack and Ianto shared a romantic night and Tosh monitored the unidentified ship, Owen continued working on Emma's profile. He attached the face he created to a body he found and used graphic software to place Emma in various settings for a picture album.
The next morning, Tosh rushed into the hub.
"Jack?" Tosh cried.
"He'll be back in a minute or two," Owen replied.
"You're here early," Tosh said.
"We've got better programs here than I do at home."
Tosh saw that Owen was working on Emma's profile. "You're still working on that? I thought you finished."
"I just wanted to add some things, make it look more realistic."
"What kind of information did you put about her?" Tosh quickly looked through the page. "Sounds like your ideal woman."
Jack re-entered the hub with Ianto.
"Jack, the ship started slowing down two hours ago," Tosh said. She went to her computer. "Actually, it looks like it is stopping."
"Where?" Jack asked. He went to Tosh's side.
"Approximately 24 kilometers from here."
"Near Merthyr. Let's go."
The team arrived at an open field and got out of the SUV. Together, they looked up.
"Not visible yet. Altitude?" Jack asked.
"Unchanged," Tosh commented.
Suddenly, three individuals appeared in a flash of blue light, wearing heavy armor that concealed their figures. The team drew their weapons.
"Who are you?" Jack yelled. "What do you want?"
The three individuals teleported away.
"Well, that was informative," Ianto commented.
"I've managed to track them," Tosh said.
"Let's go!" Jack responded as the four went back to their SUV.
Torchwood soon arrived at a warehouse.
"We've been here before," Owen said.
"The whale was here," Jack realized.
The team rushed into the warehouse and saw the same individuals as before.
"Where . . . is . . . Mewa?" one of them asked.
"Is that the name of the whale? The large animal?" Jack asked.
"Mewa," the alien replied.
Tosh, Owen, and Ianto looked to Jack.
"I'm sorry, but Mewa died," Jack finally said.
Everyone stood in awkward silence until the aliens teleported away.
"Tosh?" Jack asked.
"They're still up there," Tosh replied.
"Well, what do they want now?" Owen asked.
"We'll wait and see."
Nearly an hour had passed while the team waited.
"Colonel, we are right underneath," Jack said into his phone. He stood near the warehouse with Tosh. "There's no reason to suspect any hostile intentions. I'll alert you as soon as there's anything to report."
"You really think they won't be hostile?" Tosh asked Jack.
"I don't know. They came all this way for someone who's dead. I wouldn't be too pleased, but I don't want UNIT here yet. They're coming, anyway."
Meanwhile, Ianto was walking around the SUV and peered inside. Owen was working on Emma Holmes' profile page.
"I thought you were done," Ianto wondered aloud.
"Well, there isn't anything else to do out here, is there?"
"Tosh, how long has it been since the last one?" Jack asked.
"Nearly twenty minutes."
"Send another message to the ship."
Tosh complied and the two waited for a minute before the ship appeared in the sky and stopped descending. Five aliens teleported to the ground and started firing at the team in two directions.
Jack and Tosh sought cover in the warehouse. Owen ducked in the SUV and Ianto hid behind it. All four tried to get in shots while remaining safe.
"Ianto! Are you out there?" Owen yelled.
"I'm behind you!"
"I need see what we have in the back here."
"Not much left."
"I'm about to run out. I need cover."
Ianto quickly peered out from behind the SUV and fired several shots at the two hostiles, giving Owen the opportunity to climb into the back of the SUV and search through the contents. Ianto soon ran out of bullets and joined Owen in the vehicle.
Owen handed Ianto a firearm. "Something stronger." Owen then shot a hole through the window and continued firing at the aliens.
In the warehouse, Jack and Tosh were also running low on ammunition.
"What do you have?" Jack asked Tosh.
"Not much."
Jack burst out into the open, firing. He managed to fatally wound an alien before being shot.
As soon as she saw Jack fall, Tosh darted out and killed the other aliens. She moved towards the SUV and saw that Ianto and Owen had killed the aliens attacking them.
Ianto and Owen approached Tosh.
"There's probably going to be more of them," Owen said.
Owen and Tosh bent down to look at one of the dead aliens. Another teleported nearby and placed his hands on Ianto's head. Ianto's grunting finally drew Owen's and Tosh's attention but by the time they pulled out their weapons, the alien teleported away.
Ianto started to stagger and Jack caught him.
"What did it do to you?" Jack asked.
"I don't know. I was remembering the whale all of a sudden. I was reliving it."
"Some sort of telepathic exchange," Jack said.
Shots started to fire from nearby. The team turned and saw two UNIT vehicles approaching, firing heavy artillery at the ship. The ship soon started to fire back, destroying a vehicle with a yellow stream of light.
Jack frowned. "That's Lyrag energy," he concluded. He ran to the SUV.
"You have something for that?" Ianto asked.
"Yeah, and it won't cause any permanent damage as long as they go back to where they came from."
"And why is that a good thing?" Owen asked.
"They just came here for the whale. They wouldn't have meant any harm if those guys didn't cause that mess. Besides, we couldn't save the whale, but we can do something about this." Jack pulled out a thick metallic tube and attached a small electronic device to the side and ran closer to the ship. He set the tube on the ground and ran back to the team by the SUV. He then brought out a gun and shot at the tube several times, hitting it twice.
"Now what?" Ianto asked.
The alien ship released another beam of Lyrag energy, which was automatically redirected into the tube and released back towards the ship. The energy stream hit and ship, making it shake violently.
"They can't stay, now. Depending on where they came from, they should have time to get back home safely."
The ship finally departed and UNIT joined the team.
"Captain, I'm Colonel Palmer. Thank you."
Jack nodded. "You shouldn't have come, though."
"We were just sent to observe, but we could tell from a distance that shots were being fired. We felt we needed to intervene."
"Well, they're gone now," Jack responded. "They can't come back in that state."
"Do keep us informed, hmmm? If anything like them comes again?"
Jack nodded reluctantly and UNIT departed, followed by Torchwood.
Above Earth's atmosphere, the aliens tried to recover.
"Take us back to our time," the commander, a purple slug-like creature, ordered.
"Sir, I'm preparing my report."
"The humans butchered our ancestor. Tortured him, used him. Humanity will pay. They will die."
A flash of light engulfed the ship.
"We have returned," one of the armored aliens indicated. "And there is an incoming message from the Daleks."
"Direct the message to High Command, and tell High Command that we should ally ourselves with the Daleks."
"I'll do that now."
"And summon Jagrafass. I will assign him to help the Daleks."
Back in the present, in Torchwood's hub, Owen was at his computer, looking at Emma Holmes' profile page.
"It's disappointing that she isn't real, isn't it?" Ianto said.
Owen muttered a profane word as he got spooked. "I thought I was the only one left."
Ianto approached Owen.
"I think with my death, Gwen's wedding . . ."
"You don't have to explain, Pygmalion," Ianto said.
"I know what you're thinking, and you're right. I just wanted to have one last look." Owen then deleted the account and watched Ianto head out.
"Good night, Owen."
"Bye."
Ianto stopped. "Owen, I won't tell anyone you actually had real feelings."
Owen let the slightest smirk appear on his face as Ianto disappeared.
Thank you for reading. I hope the ending of the whale story wasn't too abrupt and/or a letdown. I hit writer's block and couldn't do a more developed story that I wanted. I originally intended it to be longer. The idea for linking the whale to Jagrafass came from Television Without Pity's Torchwood forums. So did shooting the hostage when the hostage is immortal.