The first thing to become apparent was the high pitched keening coming out of the sphere. It got louder and louder until it stopped suddenly and with a puff of white smoke that left the whole team coughing and spluttering . Tosh reacted quickly as she snatched the connecting piece out of the circuit and closed down the rift.
Owen waved a hand in front of his face trying to disperse the smoke when he heard a loud and familiar voice sounded from the stairs overhead.
"What the hell is going on here?"
Distantly Owen could hear the sounds of Jack taking the stairs from the upper level of the hub. He heard but he didn't turn around for something else had entirely stolen his attention.
The once spherical ball had split into what resembled a perverse looking flower. Tosh had pulled back the remaining metal which looked like it had been hinged on and what it had revealed made him want to throw up.
Inside the metal ball sat a disembodied human face, coved with what looked like a respirator. It's skin was old, saggy and grey while it's eyes were faded and rheumy but that wasn't the worst of it. No, what Owen saw that disturbed him so much was the way that the creatures eyes darted about in its pale face as if searching for something that couldn't be found. Its eyes were clouded and old but the speed at which they moved belied any such notion; it was a far cry from the weak child's voice that hey had heard coming from it. Owen looked up into the faces of his team mates and saw his own emotions copied into their faces, Ianto was looking at the new development with what looked like a cross between shock and disgust, Tosh had one hand covering her mouth, not in shock but as if to smother any sound that she might have made and Gwen had one hand half extended as though she wanted to help but had no idea how to go about it as she ignored the tears welling up in her eyes.
"I said, what is going on here?" Jack came to standbetween Owen and Ianto as he looked at each member of his team looking irritated and, if Owen wasn't mistaken, just a little bit worried.
Gwen's soft voice was the one to break the silence, "We found it at the rift sight… we didn't think anything of it, we just brought it back and it started begging for help… how do we help it Jack?" She looked at Jack beseechingly and for the fist time Jack lowered his eyes to the being in question. His reaction shocked everyone.
He took a step back from it so quickly it looked like an automatic reaction. His normally handsome face was twisted until he looked both immeasurably angry and slightly crazed at the same time. However, it was his final reaction that caused the uproar. Quicker than Owen could register, the antique Webley revolver that was permanently hung by Jack's side was cocked and ready to fire and pointed directly at the ailing creature.
The reaction was instantaneous.
Both Ianto and Owen who stood on either side of Jack grabbed his arm and dragged it down to point at the floor, Gwen was shouting at him incomprehensible words and Tosh was quickly trying to put the metal over the old face to protect it from further harm.
"Jack just tell us how to help it!" Shouted Gwen above the sound of the scuffle of keeping the gun pointed away. Owen managed to grab the gun off Jack and keep it out of reach as they stilled and all turned to Jack for answers.
"Help it?" Jack said with a derisive laugh, "You don't help something like that!"
"What is it?" Came the quiet and inquisitive question from Tosh.
"They called themselves the Toglaphane," said Jack with hate and sarcasm dripping off his words in equal measure, "not what they really are, but that's what we called them." No one dared ask further than that for fear of an answer. The face looked definitely human but as long as the answer wasn't confirmed it was easier to deal with.
"Just tell us what we can do to help it, Jack." Jack looked at Gwen with what was almost pity in his gaze.
"Some things aren't meant to be helped, Gwen."
"Why not?" She demanded suddenly angry that he was so unwilling to help what was, in her eyes, obviously defenceless.
His eyes were only sad as he looked back at her, " Ask it what its purpose is." Hesitantly Gwen did so.
"I must protect the paradox machine." The sound of the child's voice was more chilling than before now that they could see what was making it. Ianto and Tosh looked up, confused as Gwen just stared back at the tired old face.
"And what was your purpose before that?" Jack asked sounding oddly calm.
The washed out blue eyes of the Toglaphane continued to dart around the room as though to identify where the voice was coming from, "To kill." It answered simply but with a definite note of glee in it's voice.
A shocked silence reigned over the team, only broken by Jack's voice as he continued to talk, "And why do you do it?"
This time a mad cackle that seemed to chill the room came from the alien, "Because it's fun!" It laughed. Jack just looked at the rest of the team all of whom were trying valiantly and steadfastly avoid his gaze.
"Owen, give me my gun." Jack said calmly but leaving no room for doubt that it was an order. Silently, Owen did so. None of the team watched as Jack took careful aim of the face on the table and then, with no hesitation, pulled the trigger. They all missed the way that his lips quirked into a half smile as he leaned over to get a look at the now dead enemy. All they saw was Jack holster the gun and walk away as though nothing had happened.
As Owen helped Tosh clear away the remains of the now dead creature he couldn't help but wonder what on earth had happened to his boss while he was away, he was never that calloused before he left them but now he had come back he had no problem carrying out a blatant execution. He knew that the rest of the team wished desperately to know where Jack had disappeared off to for those four months, but he could honestly say that if it had damaged his boss that much he hoped to hell and high water that he never had the misfortune of finding out what had happened.
After all, some things are better left in the dark.
…..
A/N- Hope you enjoyed it and thank you for reading! If you liked it (or not) drop me a line in a review, I'd love to hear your opinion, all the best- VE