Primeval crossover fic 06

by Soledad

Author's notes:

Chapter Six takes part during the Primeval episode 4.04. There are some lines of dialogue that are taken from that episode. The rest is all mine. *g*


Chapter Six

About a week after the near-disaster at the ARC, Jack was summoned to the Diogenes Club – for 'debriefing', as Mr Holmes's gorgeous and enigmatic personal assistant put it. He took Ianto with him (with Mr Lester's reluctant permission), as Ianto was capable of keeping all important details in his photographic memory; such abilities came in handy when someone didn't want to take notes. Notes that could be looked into or even stolen by third parties.

When they entered the eerily silent reading room of the club, with all those sour-faced fossils immersed in their newspaper and drinking tea, Jack was glad for having listened to Ianto (again) and wearing a suit. Even if he felt naked – and not in a good way – without his greatcoat and the Webley. Although the truth was that even properly dressed, he stood out of this environment of noble boredom like a sore thumb.

The fact that the grumpy old men continued ignoring him didn't help a bit.

Only one of them – a still robust senior with dramatic sideburns that had been out of fashion for at least half a century – looked up and gave them a barely visible wink. Without his ever-present uniform Jack needed a moment to recognise him as Commodore Sullivan, formerly of the Royal Navy, later Deputy Director of MI5 and, more importantly, a former companion of the Doctor.

Of a much earlier incarnation of the infamous Time Lord than the one(s) Jack used to know, but still an ex-companion, and one that had parted ways with the Doctor in good terms at that.

Sullivan's presence changed Jack's first opinion about the Diogenes Club immediately. There must have been much more to the institution than just a bunch of senile old men refusing to catch up with the twenty-first century. He had to admit that it was an excellent disguise, though.

He and Ianto were led to the Strangers' Room – the only room in the entire building where talking was permitted – by an elderly man in a suit. Mr Holmes and his gorgeous right hand were already waiting for them; and so were tea and biscuits, which was a courteous gesture, even though both Jack and Ianto preferred coffee. This time, however, the polite thing would be to accept the generous offer.

Besides, no-one could have come even close to Ianto's supreme blend anyway.

'I'll be mother," Mr Holmes announced, pouring tea for everyone. Except for his personal assistant, of course.

Jack bit the inside of his cheek to suppress his grin, because there couldn't have been a less maternal sight on the whole planet – or beyond it – than Mycroft Holmes, in his three-piece Saville Row suit and antique fob watch, the gold chain of which was threaded through the buttonhole of his waistcoat. Still it was courteous of him to serve them with his own hand.

So courteous that Jack became a bit suspicious at once. Paranoia might not be an attractive trait, but it could save one's life, in his experience. Besides, he had enough attractive traits to even out the odds, hadn't he?

"I've read your reports," Mr Holmes said conversationally, aiming his words at Ianto, which proved how well-informed he was. Jack always rolled off such unpleasant bureaucratic tasks to Ianto. "I must admit that I am mildly concerned."

Had Jack or Ianto ever worked for the Home Office, they would have known that when Mycroft Holmes was 'mildly concerned', heads would roll very soon, because national security was endangered and quick and ruthless actions were required. Since they didn't have the necessary background knowledge, though, they simply waited for their boss to elaborate.

"I was never sanguine about giving Philip Burton complete authority over security measures at the ARC," Mr Holmes continued. "However, he had the Minister completely in his pocket and – unfortunately – sometimes a mere title counts more than expertise or real power."

"Meaning that you were simply overruled," Jack grinned; then, seeing the sour expression of his buss, he hurriedly added," sir."

Mr Holmes nodded with a certain air of resignation.

"The nature of my power requires being very subtle and discreet by exercising it. Letting the Minister know what I can do would undermine my position. I cannot afford that. I need to be able to handle without delay in the case of a country-wide emergency, so I have to choose my battles carefully," he gave them the shadow of a sarcastic smile. "I trust you have studied thoroughly the reports from the old ARC's last active year, haven't you?"

Ianto nodded. "Yes, sir. I've read every single one and summarised the most important events for the others."

"Excellent. In that case you will be aware of the actions of a certain Miss Christine Johnson – and the consequences of said actions."

"Yes, sir. She appears to have been a remarkably ruthless individual."

"That she was," Mr Holmes agreed. "Unfortunately, she was absolutely right in her judgement concerning the Minister. It is a good thing that Captain Becker's… let's call it indiscretion got her off Mr Lester's back; but it still left us with the same Minister as the nominal superior."

"One that can be bought by flattery or money – or both," Jack summarised.

Mr Holmes nodded again, his sour expression not changing a bit.

"Indeed. And the fact that Philip Burton created a security system only he would be able to control makes me very suspicious about his true motives."

"Hopefully, he has learned from his own mistake while nearly causing his own death," Anthea commented.

Ianto shook his head. "Not according what he told Tosh on their dinner date. He's about to talk the Minister into having the entire menagerie euthanized."

"And since not having to feed the creatures would save money, he'll most likely succeed," Mr Holmes said.

"Over Abby's dead body," Jack replied, grinning.

"That, too, could be arranged," Mr Holmes said coldly. "Not killing her, of course, but she could be accused of having endangered the entire operation by not keeping her pet lizard securely in the menagerie. That could get her fired, if she's very lucky; arrested, if she is not."

"That would be disastrous," Ianto said with a frown. "She's a real asset to the team. She knows a great deal about animal behaviour; and she never looses her head in a fight. A year in the Cretaceous can do that to a person, I reckon."

"But as we've already discovered, Mr Burton cares very little for the creatures yet very much for the anomalies themselves," Anthea pointed out.

"Which is why we must learn, at all costs, what this New Dawn project of his is supposed to be," Mr Holmes added.

"We're working on it," Jack promised. "Burton seems to be interested in winning Tosh for the project. I told her to play hard to get, but we can't really keep her working as Miss Parker's ersatz without blowing our cover. She's simply too brilliant for that."

Mr Holmes nodded in agreement.

"One would imagine that Mr Burton would want her to work for him," he said. "Her and Mr Temple, too. However, we need to thread carefully. I am fairly certain that Doctor Sato won't be easily seduced to Mr Burton's side, whatever side that might be. But Mr Temple is a different matter. He seems to be very responsive to flattery – which is understandable in his position – but given his talent, he can be dangerous."

"We know," Jack agreed. "He might be the one who helps Burton to reach the final breakthrough in that mysterious project of his; and that might be the global disaster Matt Anderson has been sent back to prevent – or so he states."

"Do you still doubt his statement?" Mr Holmes asked.

Jack had, of course, immediately sent a report about his discovery concerning Matt's (supposedly) true identity, so their boss knew what he was hinting at.

"So far, I haven't found any proof that he'd be lying," he replied now with a shrug. "I just never heard that the Time Agency would recruit people as far back as the twenty-sixth century, is all."

"Actually, we did," Anthea interfered calmly. "The very beginning of the Time Agency lies in the twenty-fifth century; only that the first agents used the anomalies, as they didn't yet have the technology to travel through time at will. It was easier to recruit people who came from those times and were already familiar with them."

Jack stared at her in absolute shock. "You're one of us, too?"

She shook her head. "If you mean whether I'm a Time Agent, then no, I'm not. But I do come from the future, too – from a possible future. In my own time, in the twenty-ninth century, I used to work for the Torchwood Institute, as part of the team that studied the anomalies and tried to keep track of the various timelines. Until I got stranded here during a field trip, some eleven years ago."

"And you never wanted to go home?" Ianto asked.

She shrugged. "Wanting would get me nowhere. Even if there would be an anomaly opening to my own time, I couldn't go through just yet. Not before we've dealt with whatever mess is supposed to happen in the near future. I might find a completely changed twenty-ninth century otherwise; one on which I never existed."

"Time travel is tricky," Jack admitted; then he looked at Mr Holmes. "Are we supposed to take sides in Philip's agenda of putting the menagerie down?"

"Actually, it isn't such a bad idea," Mr Holmes said, a little coldly. "I don't really think that the butterfly effect should be taken under consideration concerning them; and those creatures are risky as well as dangerous. Unless you have an alternate idea?"

"There is a private zoo just outside Cardiff, where we send harmless alien creatures," Ianto suggested. "They're well equipped to deal with the most exotic animals. Not a T-Rex, perhaps, but most definitely the smaller creatures – and the mammoth. UNIT could take care of the transport; they usually do."

"That could work," Mr Holmes allowed. "If the zookeepers are willing – and able – to take the menagerie."

Ianto smiled. "They have a small, time-displaced tribe of Neanderthals working there. I'm sure they'll manage."

"They'll be ecstatic about the mammoth," Jack added. "And since one of them actually studied comparative zoology at the Open University, they're best suited for the task."

"All right," Mr Holmes said after a moment of consideration. "Do it; if only to show Philip Burton that he doesn't quite own the ARC yet."


Unbeknownst about the decision made by higher powers, back at the Arc Philip Burton was breaching the project to the rest of the team roughly at the same time.

"Realistically, how many of them, do you think, will ever make it home?" he argued.

"Most of them," Abby replied confidently, clearly believing it.

"But not all of them," Philip pointed out. "They'll be forced to live a miserable life in a world they don't understand. I think we seriously have to consider putting them down."

Both Abby and Connor stared at him in shock. Tosh, who had already heard about Philip's idea, was watching them with detached interest, noticing that Abby appeared to be a great deal more shocked. Of course, she was the kind of person who frequently protected animals, even at the cost of human lives, if the files of the old Arc could be trusted.

"It's the only humane solution," Philip went on, clearly undisturbed by the shocked silence. "It's the safest, kindest course of action. What do you think, Connor?"

The ARC's resident nerd was obviously shocked by the fact that his idol wanted him to take sides because he opened and closed his mouth like a traumatised goldfish, without actually producing any sound. Abby, on the other hand, had already found her voice again.

"Hang on!" she hissed, glaring at Philip who was giving her his best puppy-eyed routine. "All of them? Even Rex?"

Which was the most idiotic think she could have asked, Tosh thought. After all, wasn't Rex the very reason that Philip had almost died a week ago? Well, that and his own fault regarding the information he chose not to share with them, but that was beside the point. A mistake like that would never happen again. Tosh had already seen into that; all three Torchwood agents as well as Matt, Jess and Becker had been given proper authorisation to lift lockdown in the future.

Philip – who had yet to learn about that fact – was still giving Abby that earnest, soulful haze than any woman with a grain of experience could identify as the surest sign of a blatant lie.

"I'm glad we've had the chance to talk this through," he said. "Thanks. I… I feel better."

With that, he gathered his briefcase and left. Abby stared after him in a strange mix of shock and outrage. Knowing her sometimes volatile mood, Connor made some lame attempt to placate her.

"Listen, I'm sure we can…"

They never learned what he wanted to say, due to the anomaly alert going off. Jess – today wearing high heals and an eye-wateringly garish mustard-coloured dress with generous cleavage – ran to her equipment and started locating the anomaly, rattling down coordinates, distance and directions.

Abby and Connor ran down the corridor, continuing their argument; such as it was, since Connor was the only one actually trying to argue, while Abby just hurled accusations and verbal abuse at him. In the end, she even refused to go with them, and as Becker was calling for Connor, the boy had no other choice but leaving her behind.

Tosh shook her head in dismay. The girl really needed to have her head screwed on right. Abandoning her team-mates, just to save her pet lizard – all right, the entire menagerie, but still… – wasn't what Tosh would consider the right priorities.

"Give me a black box," she said to Jess. "It won't do for them to arrive a man short; and I am a trained field agent," she accepted the locating device and added. "And Jess… should Abby want your help with anything, don't do it until you've talked to me."

"Why to you?" Jess asked.

"Because you might need my help, either way," Tosh said calmly. "And I have more practice in cover-ups. Now, do your job and find us the bloody anomaly!"


As it turned out, the anomaly opened in the canteen of a local school and some really nasty creatures had already come through. Unfortunately, the school wasn't as empty as it ought to be – three students had detention, and the teacher who was supposed to watch them had already been killed… in a rather bizarre manner.

"Why is the arm purple?" Becker wondered, examining the bloody remains of what had been a human being less than an hour ago.

"The creature must have used some toxic venom to bring him down," Matt, who had arrived just in time to join them, replied.

Tosh resisted the urge to ask whether he knew of any non-toxic venom. Barely

Their problems were multiplied by the fact that somebody – or something – triggered the security locks and the various members of the team got trapped in various sealed areas of the building.

"This is becoming a pattern," Tosh muttered angrily as she found herself separated from the others. "Jess, could the anomaly be interfered with the locks?"

They were magnetic locks, after all, and the anomalies did act as giant magnets. She wished she knew more about the dratted things. Like all true scientists, she hated not knowing all available facts. She could almost understand why Philip was so much more interested in the anomalies themselves than in the creatures. Almost.

The anomalies were the true mystery here. The creatures were just consequences. Rather deadly ones, in the current case, but still just consequences.

"Looks like the system's crashed," Jess answered her. "All the doors that were shut at the time are locked. You won't be able to get to the anomaly," her usually so cheerful voice was flat with tension. "There seems to be some interference with the CCTV…"

"Both Connor and I can reboot the system manually," Tosh reminded her. "Where's the server?"

"First floor, admin office," Jess replied. "Connor's got a clear path."

"Then he'll have to do it," Matt said via headset. "Becker and I are going to go after whatever did this. Can Doctor Sato join us?"

"Unlikely," Jess said grimly. "There are several blocked doors between you and her. But she could get to the anomaly if she takes the longer route, although that might prove risky. I'll give you directions on a separate channel, Tosh."

"Understood," Tosh acknowledged. "On my way."

"Be careful, both of you," Matt warned. "The creature uses a toxic venom to paralyse its prey."

"Toxic venom, copy," Connor replied crisply.

Once again, Tosh managed not to point out that as a rule all venoms were toxic. But it was hard.


In the meantime Abby managed to make an already tense situation even more complicated by distracting Jess, trying to win her cooperation with whisking the menagerie away from the ARC.

"All I need is twenty minutes," she argued. "Just order Security to clear out the loading bay while I get the creatures out."

Jess shook her head in exasperation. "What are you going to do with the mammoth? Put it on a leash?"

"I'll tranquilise it and put it on a low loader and drive it out," Abby replied promptly.

She clearly believed that it was doable, which made Jess wonder whether she had truly escaped the Cretaceous with all her marbles still intact.

"Abby, I don't think this is a good idea," Jess tried desperately to follow the team's progress while attempting to talk Abby out of whatever hare-brained plans she might have been forging.

But Abby didn't listen to her.

"Thanks, Jess," and, assuming that Jess would do her bidding, she was already out of the room.

Jess, uncertain about what to do now, contacted Tosh through a separate channel.

"Tosh? Abby is planning to flee, together with the entire menagerie. She wants me to clean out the loading bay for her."

"And where does she want to take the creatures?" Tosh asked, her voice remarkably calm.

"I don't know," Jess confessed. "I don't think she knows, either. She just wants to save them. What should I do?"

"Nothing!" Tosh replied sharply. "I'm on my way."

"But the team might need your computer skills!" Jess reminded her.

"They've got Connor; he'll just have to deal," Tosh said. "I'll clear it with Matt and call for reinforcements. You inform Mr Lester. He needs to know."

"I don't want to betray Abby!" Jess protested.

"Tough!" Tosh replied acerbically. "She needs to be stopped before she gets the rest of the team killed. We have a team-mate with a similar attitude, back in Cardiff. On her first day, fourteen people died because she made a stupid mistake – but at least she was a rookie then. Abby has been with the ARC for how long?"

"Three years, if we don't count the one spent in the Cretaceous."

"She ought to have set her priorities straight by now," Tosh said. "If she can't do that, she's a danger for the rest of the team, and I for my part won't let anyone die, just because she wants to save her pet lizard. Go and help the team. I'll deal with Abby."

With that, the connection was broken and Jess was on her own again. With a despondent sigh, she switched back to the team to help them navigate the pitfalls of a school infested with prehistoric monsters.


The first thing Tosh did was to alert Jack and Ianto and call them to the school.

"I need to return to the ARC before Abby does something spectacularly stupid," she explained. "She's obviously planning to flee with the creatures Philip wants to put down."

"That would be a fatal mistake indeed," Jack agreed. "The menagerie has already been taken care of; I've just spoken to Dr N'go. They're willing to take in all the harmless ones."

Tosh grinned in relief. "I knew you'd think of something. Will you inform Mr Lester about this or should I speak with him?"

"No need for that. Mr Holmes will see into it. Go and stop that stupid girl; we'll see you back at the ARC."

"Okay. Thanks, Jack," Tosh switched channels. "Matt? Tosh here. There's a serious problem building up with Abby at the ARC. I must go back and deal with it. Jack and Ianto are on their way to you and will be there shortly."

"What kind of problem?" Matt asked warily.

As much as he liked Abby, her headstrong nature often irritated him.

"Later," Tosh replied. Mr Lester is being informed as we speak; I can deal with the rest. Your priority is to deal with the intrusion now."

She broke the connection before Matt could have said anything else and began to look for a way out of the school building.


When she got back to the ARC, she found Jess in chalk-white, wide-eyed shock. The girl was trembling uncontrollably, her hands clammy.

"What happened?" Tosh asked.

"I… I just watched the creature kill a girl," Jess whispered. "Oh God, Tosh, she couldn't have been older than thirteen! I can't understand how Abby could protect them still…"

As if on clue, the phone rang. Tosh picked it up for the still petrified Jess. As she assured, it was Abby.

"Jess, evacuate the loading bay," she demanded, without as much as checking if she was talking to the right person. "I'm going to start bringing the creatures out."

She waited for a moment, and as there was no answer, she pressed on. "Jess? Are you there?"

"Sorry, Abby," Jess answered via her headset that linked directly to the phone net. "These creatures are too dangerous. I've just been handed a major reality check. I'm sorry."

Abby, however, blindly determined to carry out her plan, showed little understanding for Jess's dilemma.

"I'm just going to have to do this on my own then," she snapped and hung up.

Jess looked at Tosh pleadingly. "What am I supposed to do?"

"Have you spoken to Mr Lester?" Tosh asked.

Jess nodded mutely.

"Then you've done all you could for Abby. Keep monitoring the team; they might need your help yet."


Jess returned to her actual work and – as if fate had wanted to prove Tosh right – soon discovered three more creatures (Matt called them therocephalians – half mammal, half reptile) entering the canteen through the anomaly.

Fortunately, Connor had managed to reboot the security system and unlock the doors stopping them by then; and at the same time Jack and Ianto finally arrived at the school. Tosh could afford to go down to the loading bay and see what Abby was doing.

As expected, Abby was packing carrier boxes in the empty loading room and preparing the tranquiliser gun to deal with the mammoth. Which was the moment when Lester entered the room.

"Abby, you have to stop this, now," he said in a deceivingly mild voice. "Please don't make me call security," he folded his arms before his chest calmly. "There's no chance whatsoever of you getting those creatures out of here."

"How did you know?" Abby demanded. "Has Jess told you?"

"Don't blame Jess; she was frightened of you getting hurt," Lester answered. "Besides, she didn't decide on her own."

"On whose then?"

"Mine," Tosh stepped into the room. "I told her not to do anything before talking to me; and I sent her to Mr Lester. I knew you just won't let things alone."

Abby shook her head despondently. "This is wrong! No human being in history has seen these creatures alive before us. We've been given the most amazing gift. And how do we repay for this privilege? By killing them because they're inconvenient?"

"They are a bit more than just inconvenient," Tosh reminded her sharply. "We already had two fatalities at the latest location. Innocent bystanders who had nothing to do with the ARC; one of them a thirteen-year-old girl."

Abby gave her a decidedly unfriendly look. "I'm not at all surprised that you'd support Philip's decision. You're one of her groupies, after all."

"No, I'm not," Tosh corrected. "I'm a scientist who's capable of understanding – and appreciating – his genius. You, on the other hand, should get off your moral high horse and rethink your priorities. You've abandoned your team today to save your pet lizard, If anyone of them, it will be your fault; at least partially. Be glad you don't work for Torchwood. For a stunt like that you could end up fired and mind-wiped in one fell sweep."

Abby still wasn't giving up. She looked at their boss beseechingly.

"Lester, after all we've done here, is this how we're going to be remembered?"

Lester shook his head. "If right or wrong, this wasn't your decision to make. You should trust me to know what I'm doing. I usually do."

"You haven't done anything!" Abby said accusingly.

Lester raised a sarcastic eyebrow. As a rule she gave Abby a lot of leeway because that was how she worked best, but he was getting fed up with her attitude.

"And you came to that conclusion – how exactly? Just because I'm not running around with a tranquilising gun like a headless chicken it doesn't mean that I don't have my methods."

"So what are you going to do?" Abby demanded.

"What needed to be done has already been done," Lester answered simply. "We'll discuss it in due time. Right now we've got more pressing issues to deal with. I just got a call with Captain Harkness; the entire school is swarming with those creatures and Captain Becker is down."

"Do they need back-up?" Tosh was already on her way out but Lester stopped her.

"Jess has dispatched another team; and medics. Apparently, Connor has mixed up something in the science lab to knock the creatures out; if we're very lucky, they won't wake up before reinforcements arrive."


Fortunately for them all, back-up and medics did arrive on time. Beckett got his antidote in the last possible minute, thanks to Matt's rather crude methods to treat his wound (which had bought him precious time) and the still unconscious creatures were unceremoniously shoved back to their own time through the reopened anomaly.

"Very good," Lester nodded in satisfaction after having listened to Matt's report. "Now we'll have to deal with the fallout."

"You mean the dead creatures?"

"And Philip," Lester said sourly.

"You need my help?" Matt offered.

"Oh, I'd love it," Lester confessed, "But I doubt that the presence of witnesses would be particularly helpful in this case."

~TBC~