4
"But…you are from London" Jack said as they ate the greasy fish and chips, "I don't understand."
"I was born and bred here, adopted out to a London couple as a baby ya twat" Owen giggled as he ate, "My only comfort is that that bitch is not related to me by blood."
"Your father died when you were young, as my mother did" Ianto nodded.
"Yeah, it seems that grief enhances our powers" Owen explained to Jack, "All of us who are strong with our powers have known great pain."
"So… they had no idea they had a Riftling" Jack sighed, "So when you started exhibiting…"
"My dad was dead and mother put me in boarding school and forgot about me. She doesn't even know the selfish bitch" Owen shrugged, "I learned fast how my skills could help me get past bullies, pass codes, cops…"
"Yeah" Ianto snorted, "Seen a few bullies myself before I realised I was stronger than them."
"Bastards" Owen muttered, then he frowned as he watched Jack and Ianto have some sort of silent battle. "Oi! Are you talking?"
"I am able to take Jack's ability each time we touch so we are both telepathic for a time" Ianto replied as Owen gaped.
"Jack?" Owen said quietly, "You are a Riftling too? How?"
"51st Century, we all have some form of mutancy" Jack shrugged, "By then, after the Great War the Famine Years and then the Time of Healing, people all started to interbreed. Riftlings became…well. Us."
"So…you are telepathic?" Owen snorted, "You bastard, that's why you always win at cards, you fucker!"
"Told you" Ianto added to the conversation, "He cheats. He always cheats."
"Right" Jack said, slapping his hands down on the table, "Ianto and I are fighting about whether we can trust another secret to you and we have decided you are one of us so it's stupid not to share, but we need to get something sorted first."
"If you're gonna shag, is this where I tell you I sneak into watch?" Owen asked, then cackled at Ianto's look of horror and Jack's look of delight. "Joking, ahhhhh, Yan your face!"
"Bastard" Ianto huffed, then smiled as he realised he would have seen him anyway.
The klaxons sounded as Tosh entered and Owen made room for her, pulling over a couple of chairs and Ianto shook his head, "Not Suzie."
"Why not?" Owen frowned.
"This is Riftling business" Jack said as they settled and Owen stalled out, slowly turning to gape at Tosh.
"Toshiko Sato, AKA Tanya Smythe" Ianto said calmly, "Born here in Cardiff and has lived here her entire life. No family, no connections other than those in the underground. Us."
"But…your mother and Unit…"
"Bullshit" Jack spat out, then grimaced. "They made it all up so they could scoop her up from the University. She kept her gift so well hidden but then she messed up, unable to resist correcting the professor on something that even he hadn't figured out yet. He was the one who handed her in. Spiteful prick."
"Yes, he was" Ianto said softly, shifting in his chair as he reached out to pat Tosh's knee, "I made sure he saw the error of his ways. I was so relieved when Jack picked up on the report I sent through 'by mistake' from T1."
"How!" Owen asked, "You were not cleared at T1 to send….shit. Ianto?"
"One of the guards was a techie" Ianto shrugged as he used the Riftling name for one who could control technology and he glanced at the one sitting beside him in her chair, "Easy to fall against him while walking from the water cooler and then sit back and use the ability as I saw fit. Yvonne had no idea."
"You bastard!" Owen sighed happily, "So… these trips you take every month?"
"That's another thing" Ianto sighed, "For another day. Look, I have a weird feeling around Suzie. She is not one of us and I sometimes wonder if she had a Purity Pin hidden somewhere in her clothing."
The Purity Movement was committed to wiping out the mutant strains, their rallies and protests almost zelot-like. Even mentioning it made them shiver.
"I agree" Tosh whispered, "And that glove, it only seems to excite her more."
"I forbade her from playing with it" Jack assured them. "I said I would feed it to the furnace if she didn't stop."
Ianto shifted in his seat and Jack swung to stare at him, "You didn't!"
Ianto shrugged, "You said if she touched it again…."
"So you waited with evil glee until she did and then you did it without my authorisation" Jack growled, surprising both others as he reached for Ianto, cupping his cheek lovingly, "You little shit."
"Well, Ferddi was hungry" Ianto pouted and Owen watched as Jack relented. It was a moment of clarity as Owen saw that Ianto not only had Jack around his little finger but Jack seemed to like it there.
"She is gonna have a cow" Jack shrugged as he accepted it and Ianto sighed theatrically as he rose to fold up the empty wrappers.
"You think that's a problem…the knife went too"
"Awwww Tiger!"
"Ooops?"
.
.
.
.
"He burnt it too?" a small voice asked as she nodded, "He tooked it away from the crazy hair one."
"Yep" she grinned, "He knew the Grup was gonna use it for the bad things, the evils that Grups do."
"He saved them" another nodded with the knowledge tht last time he said it he had been right.
"He tried" she smiled softly, "But…we have to remember…."
"The magic" they all sighed softly.
"Yes!" She settled her skirts to continue the story as more slid from the shadows into the light.