Author's Note: I think that, quite possibly, one of my all-time favorite things is Seo being brave. Same way I love watching the Doctor be clever. There's something kind of wonderful about Seo being in the middle of horrible danger, and still managing to be brave despite everything.

She's not perfect. And she does make a lot of mistakes and get really afraid a lot more than either of her parents. But Seo tries so hard. It's kind of awesome.


Ianto had really just been there to investigate the cafeteria food. Which had very clearly been drugged. No doubt about that.

But then he'd noticed a few other things that seemed wrong. Suspicious. He'd snooped around, a little more. Noticed a secret door, in the basement of the school, that had been shielded using a holographic generator that he remembered should be in the Torchwood Three archives.

The sound of an alien gun, at his back, stopped him where he stood.

"Don't move," a woman's voice commanded him.


"Torchwood," muttered the man — no, not man, he was a bit too tall and thin to be human, his features all a little off. Wrong. "All this time, we thought it was 88719. And it was just Torchwood!"

Ianto had been tied to a chair, in the center of the sealed-off section of the basement. Was now trying to look like he was every bit the defenseless human being they believed he was, as he covertly attempted to untie himself.

"Careful, Wtarfich," said the woman, calmly, studying Ianto as she leaned against the far wall. "Just because he's Torchwood doesn't mean she is."

"The tracker has been extracted," said Wtarfich. "In Cardiff. At Torchwood. Whoever and whatever she is, she has something to do with them."

"She's an alien. Torchwood hunts aliens. They picked her up. It's only natural." The woman kept her eyes fixed on Ianto. A frown creasing her face. "The girl's biology was unique, remember? Genetically altered to be imperceptible to scans. That's classic 88719. Besides. You remember what we were told. The girl matches the description to a tee."

"She's not human, but this one is," said Wtarfich. He aimed his gun right at Ianto's head. "And he knows too much. One shot, Tpytere. One shot, and—"

"—you'd have every Torchwood agent down here, after us," said Tpytere. She walked over to him, took the gun out of his hands. A small smile crawled up her lips, as she continued to study Ianto. "No. No, don't kill him. If Torchwood's holding the 88719 spy in their custody — I think this human could work to our advantage."

Ianto had nearly finished undoing the ropes.

"You want to arrange a swap?" said Wtarfich.

"Oh, nothing so mundane," Tpytere dismissed. She knelt down by Ianto, so she was looking right into his eyes. "I think we should tell him the truth. About who we are. What we're doing, here." The smile grew a little wider. "And when we're done… I'm guessing he'll want to help us."


"We have to help them," Ianto said, on the phone. "There's something malfunctioning — a propulsion system. And, unfortunately, we'll have to fix it for them. I see no alternative."

Jack was starting to get the feeling that the best thing, for all of them, was to jump in the Torchwood van and race off to London, so they could dismantle the bomb themselves before this got out of hand.

"Yan," said Jack. "I know what they're planning. They're—"

"Building an inter-dimensional bomb," said Ianto. "To destroy an entire planet, and kill everyone on that planet's surface. They told me."

"So why—?"

"Because the planet they're trying to destroy," said Ianto, "isn't Earth."

Jack said nothing.

"The bomb's already built and armed," Ianto continued. "The propulsion system is the last thing they need to remove it from Earth. If we help them, the bomb is removed from the planet. Everyone here survives. If not…"

"Then every second we wait, we're risking our own extinction," Jack said.

"Exactly."

Jack didn't speak for a long moment. A very long moment.

"Sir," said Ianto. "They also told me who they are. Where they came from. Why they want revenge. And… I think they're just desperate enough to set off that bomb, themselves, here, if we don't tell them everything."


"What?!" shouted Gwen. "Help them destroy a planet? You can't be serious!"

"They captured Ianto," Tosh reminded her.

"And let him go!" said Gwen. "Ianto's fine. But Seo's been standing up to torture to stop them from doing this, and I think she's right. I don't care if it's Earth or not. We're not destroying any planets."

Jack stood, nearby, his arms crossed. Leaning against the far wall. "I know what they are," he confessed. "Who they are. Ianto's right. Earth shouldn't be involved in this. It would be better to just let them have the information they want. And let them get on with it."

Buffy put an arm around Seo's shoulders, protectively. Leveling a dark stare at Jack.

"I agree with Gwen," said Buffy. "We can't do this, Jack."

Beside the two of them, Alison was sleeping the peaceful sleep of the recently retconned. Jack knew he had to get her out of here before she woke up.

But he had time.

Tosh looked away. Not answering, but clearly not wanting to go through with this, either.

"Who are the aliens?" asked Seo. A curiosity shining through her, cutting across everything else. "Where are they from? Why are they desperate?"

"They're called the Vvaptroshurn," Jack said. "Their planet just went through a massive civil war. A war that was only won because one side almost completely annihilated the other. The two Vvaptroshurn we're seeing here were from the losing side. They must have managed to escape, using the Cardiff rift. Arrived on Earth, and began plotting their revenge against the people who'd murdered their families."

Gwen sat down on the bench. Taking all this in.

"The people still living on Vvaptroshia aren't innocent," said Jack. "The people on this planet are. We have to remember that."

"Those two Rapture-Shorn things tortured my daughter," Buffy gritted, through her teeth. "A child. Nothing makes that okay. Whatever they want — I'm not giving it to them."

Jack didn't answer.

"Oh, thank you, Buffy," said Owen. "Whole planet's at risk because of an alien revenge scheme that shouldn't involve us, at all, but… no, you're right. These aliens are evil. We all just better stick to our morals and not help them, leaving this planet to die, instead."

Buffy's eyes narrowed, but she didn't reply to this.

"Seo found out what they were doing, and sabotaged the bomb," Jack added. "They think they've undone whatever she did, but it's anyone's guess if they actually gotten all of it."

"Which means we've got a world-destroying bomb on our hands," said Gwen, "that could go off at any second. And isn't working the way it should be."

"This keeps getting better and better," Owen muttered.

"Couldn't we agree to help them?" Tosh offered. "Then reprogram the propulsion system to take the bomb somewhere else?"

"And risk it hitting a planet that's equally innocent and undeserving?" Jack asked. He shook his head. "I'm not doing that." He shrugged. "Besides. These two Vvaptroshurn Ianto found are already twitchy enough about Torchwood. They'd be looking over our shoulders the whole time. And if they saw anything suspicious…"

"Kerpow," said Owen.

Buffy hugged Seo to her, a little tighter.

"So that's our choice," Gwen muttered. "Destroy our planet. Or destroy theirs."

Jack didn't answer.

His eyes trained on Seo.

His entire body rigid. Unmoving. Almost not daring to breathe.

Tosh began packing up her things. "I'll go," she said. "Take the risk. I'm certain I can figure out some way to make this work to our advantage, or—"

"But they didn't ask for you," Seo whispered. "Any of you." Her eyes turned on Jack. "Did they?"

Everyone stopped. Looked at Seo.

"Seo," Jack warned.

"I'm the supposed alien spy," said Seo. "And they don't know how clever Tosh is. They think humans are primitives. Or they'd have considered Torchwood a threat from the very beginning."

Tosh hesitated.

"They're not bargaining for Torchwood to help them," said Seo. "Torchwood hunts aliens. That's its reputation. They want you lot… to get me to talk. Then hand me over." She let herself out of Buffy's grip. Stood up, straight and tall, eyes fixed on Jack. "So. I'm ready to talk. Hand me over."