Disclaimer: I do not own Torchwood and Dr Who, no copyright infringement intended. If you still want to sue, bring Ianto back to Jack first.
Warnings: Spoilers for almost everything except novels and comics. Not beta-read and English's not my native language, sorry in advance for eventual mistakes. Constructive criticism is appreciated. Bit of gore, but mostly just mentioned.
Civil servants' cold war
The Queen was furious.
She had to call forth all of her self-control to keep up the collected appearance she was famous for, but even after She had put down the receiver of Her phone, Her eyes were still blazing. What She had just heard not only was outrageous, but also put Her in a really difficult position: on one hand She needed to protect Her underlings, on the other hand She also completely lacked the political and technical power to do so.
It wasn't just a matter of accidental lack of knowledge on the matter on the Government's side, She was almost certain that whoever was behind the mess She'd just been informed about wanted to damage Her persona along with Torchwood and this was a problem that dated long before Her reign, since Queen Victoria decided to retain the alien problem within her hands.
This small detail made Her even more responsible for what had happened to Her men, especially to Her favourite captain.
Jack Harkness had always been nice and loyal for as long as he had served under Her reign and also the previous ones. The only times he had failed, in Her eyes, were the two times in which he had disappeared, one of which had brought for the first time in years the Torchwood Cardiff department to its end.
Nevertheless, when the strange but reliable man had come back and explained what had happened to him to make him come to such a drastic decision, She had seen in his too old eyes actual honesty and real pain, so She had graciously forgiven him and accepted all his requests.
She held enough power to bring the whole Cardiff branch back and reinstall as new boss someone as trusted as Harkness was, but She discovered soon how She could not erase the suspicions of betrayal from the people around Her, and even less the thirst of power from people who had lost everything because of their egoism.
And there wasn't just that.
What had always been dormant under the surface, with barely some little dispute they were left to sort out by themselves, this sort of cold war between Her Torchwood and UNIT, without Her knowledge seemed to have now escalated in a much more dangerous confrontation that somehow managed to include the Government itself.
Even worse, she could bet it had been the Government that eventually had brought them at this point, meddling at the apex of the UNIT organization to bring down Her Torchwood once and for all.
Considering the predicament Her organization now found itself in, all of this needed to end as soon as possible.
She wasn't their mother and, moreover, She believed that a little bit of tension between agencies could make both organizations work faster and better. Everything was fine when it involved adults trained for war and emergencies and when lives weren't put at stake. Unfortunately, now the circumstances had become way different, since also children and civilians had been involved and Her most trusted man had been sent to get himself mauled along with his lover to prevent some alien prisoners to break outside their confinement and erase Cardiff's population.
It wasn't the first time tricks at Torchwood expenses became dangerous in these last two years, but the last time She had clearly reminded to the Government that there were also two young mothers in the group and that there was no excuse to put in their games also unharmed civilians. How all of this could have been forgotten in front of the desire to hold more power She simply couldn't understand.
She walked firmly towards the room where She had summoned the heads of the Government and opened the high wooden door by Herself in anger, in front of the worried eyes of the dark skinned young girl that was supposed to be attending Her needs. She was extremely disappointed when in front of Her there was only the head of the energy department, fretting inside the big meeting room with a young boy.
"I hope you gave back Torchwood Cardiff its power in the meantime, sir." She stated coolly, fighting to not make a face in front of the scared man sent to answer Her call and his assistant.
The man made himself even smaller seeing the old and usually calm woman so deadly furious.
"The blackout is everywhere, your Majesty-"
"Torchwood has its own power supplies and generators, separated from the others in case of such emergencies, are you trying to tell me those went malfunctioning by themselves too? Do I really need to ask for the power supplies logs?"
"Certainly not, your Majesty" He said hastily, seeming more panicked as the seconds passed, especially seeing the Queen's attendant ready to make the call the Queen had mentioned. "But we needed additional power in case of some emergency, the Governmental installments need to be kept ready to operate and…"
"I do understand." She said with a slight edge of sarcasm hidden in her otherwise grave tone. "And I do realise also how preventing aliens from running free around Cardiff doesn't seem a prerogative for the Government. May I know why is London even involved in this? Torchwood is mine, but Wales has its own set of laws for such occurrences"
"Well, London is the capital and we thought that getting help from other components of the empire would have been fine…"
"Why not Glasgow, then?" The Queen pointed out, ready to call his game. "Both Torchwoods are currently active. If you sent an e-mail to each of them they might have shared the due amount of power needed between each other instead of depleting only Cardiff! You didn't even warn them!"
"We thought it would have been fine, because… it's night?"
If the situation had been less of a predicament, the Queen would have found herself amused by the statement, but She had an image to maintain, so She tried Her best to contain Her mirth.
"Yes, obviously, we never had alien invasions during the night." She told him mirthlessly with a hint of sarcasm. "You do realize that the reason why Torchwood pays well is that you need to be ready to work 24/7, don't you"
"Your Majesty" He said with a little bit more confidence. "You must acknowledge that Cardiff is not reliable. Too many things are off! All they do is hide behind Your power!"
"Torchwood is a Crown project and answers only to Me for very important reasons." The Queen pointed out. "No one has the rights to interfere with what they are doing. If they are still operating, it means that everything they do is guaranteed. By Me"
"The people want answers for the 456!" He insisted, visibly out of sensible answers for the angry Queen.
"Torchwood was one of the casualties of those monsters, and please, do not make me remind you that such a predicament wasn't by the monster's hand but the Government's!"
"You can't really believe all those stupid stories Harkness told everyone!" He yelled in panic. "What about the real facts we see!? Should we just accept that officer Jones is back to the livings after four years of deleted records?"
"Officer Jones had been reinstalled two whole years ago and Cardiff was already operative back then" She pointed out calmly. "Just in time, I'd like to say, considering how UNIT was beginning to have its hands full with all the activity from the Rift that had been dormant until then"
"But the people-"
"My people needs to be protected, and I won't let your stupid grudges putting them in danger!" She got even closer to the fretting man and stared at him seriously. "Torchwood emergency power supplies are alien technology. We deemed them safe to work for Torchwood because Torchwood was rebuilt entirely using that same alien tech, but we don't have any certainties that our machinery won't be infected by something. We've currently Glasgow working on it, but with the amount of new technologies it's hard for them telling if something won't just explode or show a life of its own."
The man paled visibly.
"Despite your arguments against Torchwood, sir, the most dangerous problem I see at the moment is the one you created." She continued. "If something happens to My people because of those little kindergarten grudges, you can most certainly say goodbye to your job. I bet I can find plenty of ways to have you removed"
The man's eyes widened and he rushed out of the room to follow the Queen's orders. His secretary though, still lingered in the doorway lost in his own thoughts and staring impolitely at Her Majesty.
"If you have something to say speak up, boy." She snapped unceremoniously.
He unsurely walked towards her, biting his lips, his shoulders hunched forwards in submission.
"Why would you keep things secret? If Torchwood is really innocent, why things cannot be explained to the people?"
"People are still not ready to confront the reality Torchwood fights on daily basis." She answered shortly. "And at the moment secrecy is the only thing that will help the organization doing its work. The only thing you, the Government and the people need to do is to trust me, as much as all I can do is to trust them"
"How can you know you can trust them, if you can't even explain the weird things around them! I actually don't think is a bad idea testing them once in a while… This will help the truth to come out if-"
"Boy!" She interrupted him brusquely. "At the moment, your superiors bright idea only managed to put an old man, a civilian woman and three children in danger. Two of them are barely one year old! Moreover the kid's parents are on the front line in front of dangerous aliens that were already taken into custody, and one of my most trusted men is currently being mauled along with his lover to get those parents enough time to find a way out to save their families"
"I'd like to add" She continued even more dangerously calm. "That if the monsters break out from there and Torchwood can't stop them in time, your bosses will have half of Cardiff souls on their name, because those aliens won't be stopped so easily and without the right technology"
The boy swallowed, finding difficult not to stare at the determined woman in front of him.
"I'll warn you" She told him in a more motherly tone. "You're not the first inexperienced kid they will try to use only to have around someone that cannot understand what's going on until it's too late. And you will not be the last. You kids have to be smart enough to understand who you can trust by yourself. Your mind is your own"
After giving the young boy Her admonishment, the Queen turned on Her heels and walked slowly outside the cold room, planning to send someone to make sure that everything was settled in Cardiff and, with a little bit of luck, to bring back Jack Harkness for a more detailed explanation of the events. As she passed near her attendant, she noticed how the young girl's worried stares kept switching from Her to the scared assistant, but She decided to say nothing.
Only when She was already a few feet outside the entrance of the room, She decided to call out for Her attendant. "Lois! Be quick girl, we don't have all night"
Lois finally stopped staring at the concerned boy and rushed to the Queen's side.
"Your Majesty, I could talk with him"
"You could but you won't, Lois darling. Not at the moment"
"Your Majesty?"
"He saw you, so he knows who he has to look for if he wants to know the truth. If that happens, you are allowed to explain what Torchwood does just enough to make him understand where his loyalties must lie"
The young girl smiled warmly at the stoic Queen and looked at Her intrigued. "If I may, am I wrong or this is Torchwood's recruitment method? I remember it from the first time I met them"
The Queen's lips curled in a smart smile, but She still kept Her gaze in front of Herself. "It seemed to work well enough for them, I thought it could prove to be useful for us too"
Glad to hear the Queen's opinion on the matter, Lois chuckled and then tried to resume a more professional stand next to Her.
"Do you have any order for me?" She asked, hoping to please Her and to be helpful to her friends.
"I wish for you to get ready to leave for Cardiff" The Queen ordered with a disheartened sigh. "As soon as I arrange the meeting, I need Harkness here in London"
"Until further notice, then" Lois offered respectfully. "I'll try to put my hands on everything that could help them"
"Thank you, Lois" The Queen answered defiantly. "He will need all the help he can get. We need to put an end to these games right now"
Inside the hub two more hours had to pass before the light finally came back and they could actually do something productive to subdue the aliens inside the vaults. Thanks to Jack and Ianto's sacrifice, the aliens were currently hauling in pain from the shots and their continuous beating on the door had slowed down considerably in force, even thought they were still doing their best to get out. God only knew how much time they had left before the double steel door ended up smashed down to pieces.
"Finally they did something…" Gwen said almost to herself, relaxing visibly as the suffuse glow of the emergency lights was on.
Donna was even more nervous than before, thought. "What are we going to do now!?" She yelled at her companion.
"Keep your mind focused, Donna." Gwen told her with a determinate stare. "We're going to need everything ready before opening that door, I need you with me"
Keeping an eye on the door and the gun pointed at it, she took some steps back.
"Rhys!" She called. "Get everyone else out and seal the door with the shut-down emergency code! Shaun, I need you to get the sleeping gas bombs from the basic archives!"
Both men scurried away to follow her orders, in front of Toshiko's worried stare.
"I can go and see how they are" She proposed nervously. "They must have seen the light coming back."
Gwen turned to face her and swallowed, considering if she could actually say no to her proposition and hoping that Toshiko was conscious, deep inside herself, that the 'they' she was speaking about had to be their alien residents, as the only alive things inside the vaults along with Owen. In the end she hardened her stare and simply nodded to her.
"Wait! What happened to Ianto and the Captain?" Sylvia asked frantic as Rhys tried to lead her outside.
"Naah, nothin' bad." Gwen told her with a forced smile on her lips. "They just died. We'll get them back soon"
Sylvia's eyes widened in shock as she was literally dragged away by Rhys.
"Great, now my mum will think I work with a madwoman" Donna snorted friendly at Gwen.
The Welshwoman considered her words, but eventually she decided she didn't mind them at all.
"It's not like I'm alone in this." She told Donna with a smirk and a wink that were promptly answered back.
Shaun joined them soon, and they lowered the guns a bit, still ready to fire as they made slowly their way towards the door.
"Tosh, you're there?"
Instead of Tosh, it was Owen who passed through the door, looking if possible even paler than his usual ghostly self.
"This is bad, girls" He said in a whisper, staring unsurely at the two women.
"I'm doing the retrieving then." Gwen stated coolly. "I've seen worse."
All the other three stared at her, suspecting this to have something to do with what happened during the whole 456 ordeal, that still was the only argument no one ever had enough guts to explain in every sordid detail. Anyway now somehow the words "They made Jack explode along with the hub" used by Gwen to describe the beginning of that mess now held a very different weight in their mind.
"Shaun, you throw those smoke bombs inside, we'll have your back. Owen, try to get Tosh out of there and stay with her… I guess she will need human touch- Well, actually ghostly touch, after this one. I'll check by myself though the peep-hole when they are all asleep and then I'll get inside to put them inside the vaults, the gas won't last much. Donna, you keep having my back in case of an emergency happens"
Everyone nodded and then got ready to follow her orders. Owen disappeared inside the vaults first, reassuring Toshiko with his presence and distracting the monsters at the same time, so that when the moment finally came for Shaun to throw the gas, they completely paid no attention to him.
Also thanks to the white smoke that couldn't affect them anymore but was disturbing anyway, eventually the medic managed to drag a shaken Toshiko outside. He gave Gwen a small nod as she passed by her to make her know that the gas was working, and then lead his trembling friend up to Jack's office for a private talk and some well needed hugs. She looked near to faint despite her being a ghost.
Gwen let some more long minutes pass and then took a quick glance inside to be sure that the gas had worked fine, but she closed the peephole as quickly as soon as she had opened it as she noticed the two carcasses that she knew to be her friends. She leant on the cold metal door and took a deep breath, repeating inside herself that even like that they were going to be alright in the end and closing her eyes to shut out of her mind what she had seen.
Donna took a few steps towards her, but as she heard the other woman approach, Gwen regained her cool blood and nodded in her direction to signal her that she was fine.
"I'm getting inside now" Gwen said with a barely audible voice "You stay ready out here, in case something happens"
"Shouldn't I get inside with you to have your back? We'll be quicker together"
"If something happens to me inside, we'll need to contain things from outside. If Rhys doesn't know the procedures, I bet Owen or Tosh can help. Besides…" Gwen needed a second before continuing, giving her the ghost of a smile. "It's not nice to see"
Gwen checked again to be certain that the gas had subsided inside the vaults and that every alien had fallen asleep, and opened the door. As soon as she'd opened it, a shadow passed right next to her, so quick that she could barely feel the air move around her, even less see what it was.
Donna quickly targeted it and some of her shots certainly hit the creature, but they were no help in stopping it. Gwen joined her as soon as she had recovered her gun, but by the time she had a clear view of the alien's eyes and shot targeting them, the thing had cracked through the roof right next to the lift, leaving them to admire Cardiff's starless sky. Myfanwy, after a first moment of surprise seeing her territory invaded, let out a loud screech and went after the disappeared flying alien.
"That's quite a problem." Donna stated for lack of better things to say.
Gwen took a deep breath and tried to list the priorities in her head.
"Ok, let's stay calm!" She almost shouted, not sounding calm at all herself. "Priorities… We have people that can see the base from outside, our boss is currently dead along with the most reliable of us, the gas won't let the weevil sleep for much longer, we have another alien on the loose and a pterodactyl furiously running after it"
She considered what she had listed and somewhat the initial worry and hysterics were replaced with mad amusement. "Not bad for a night without rift alert"
"Look police girl, keep focused, will you?" Donna reprimanded her, pointing to the hole on their roof. "I think there was a protocol to follow about damages like that one"
"Uh, yeah, protocols" Gwen told her sarcastically, crossing her arms on her chest. "There's only one person who actually knows all of them… and I can tell you he's currently dead and he's not Jack"
As if on cue the girls finally realized a strong smell coming out from forgotten open door of the dungeons. As much as they tried to not to assume things too quickly, they couldn't prevent themselves from thinking that seemed suspiciously rotten flesh.
Gwen felt cramps clutching her stomach, but after the cannibals she had learnt how to control herself. Donna, instead, just run for the bathroom. Shaun stoically resisted a few feet from them, but his dark skin was turning slightly grey.
She threw her mobile at him, trying to look cooler than she actually felt. "Call Andy and tell him that the police has to secure off the entire bay. We're dealing with an emergency. Donna has Ianto's phone, make her call UNIT to tell them we've got an alien on the loose but we can't deal with it at the moment, so we sent out our pterodactyl instead. They should keep an eye out for both. I'll go and fix things in the vaults, just… Don't look inside if you hear them scream"
Shaun did everything Gwen had told him, but both he and Donna found themselves hard pressed to just stay there waiting when they heard the loud screams as the two immortals came back to life still not completely healed. It just happened once, and soon the cries had stopped right after two loud gunshots: they had no need to think too much about it to know what Gwen must have done to end their sufferings.
The three members of the original Torchwood team stayed closed shut inside the dungeons for what seemed to the others to be an awful load of time. In the meantime, Rhys came back to the hub after bringing home the kids and Donna's family and after meeting up half-way with Andy, who had told him about the damages to the structure. Once back inside he had consulted with Donna and Shaun, but they both knew nothing about the security protocols needed.
"Have you thought about asking Tosh and Owen?" Rhys said at a certain point. "They were here even before Gwen and Ianto, they must know something!"
The other two simply stared at him, surprised about not having thought about that before, and then all the three of them went up to Jack's office, hoping that the two ghosts remembered the procedure to follow.
Once inside, they stared unsure at the couple: Toshiko was lightly sobbing, holding tight to Owen's chest, while the medic tried to somewhat comfort her even though he didn't look much better himself. Somehow it seemed improper to disturb them.
Their doubts were broken by Owen himself, who tightened his grip on Toshiko to keep the girl from fretting away in front of the acquired public, but stared up the newcomers with a worried frown on his face. "What happened?"
"We…" Donna began, glancing insecurely at the two men behind her. "We were wondering if you remembered what to do to cover up the damages to the roof until we repair them... Or something like that"
Owen smirked up at her with an unreadable expression on his face.
"Jack promoted me as second in command when Suzie died" He began, staring amused as Donna breathed out in relief. "Which is after the tea boy came around."
Donna frowned at him. "Are you trying to say that you never bothered to know the protocols?"
"Not even Jack bothered" Owen pointed out shrugging. "He had everything written down in that small book of his."
"And where is the book?" Donna countered, about to lose her patience.
"How would I know! I'm not the butler here."
"How did you even survived here without Ianto!?" Rhys broke the banter astonished.
"You need to insert the correct access code after opening emergency protocol twenty-six." Toshiko's small voice interrupted their argument. "If they didn't change it, it should be Minerva."
"Minerva?!" Owen complained, as Donna rushed for Jack's computer to follow Toshiko's instructions. "Jack really has a thing for Roman goddesses!"
"Well, the goddess of defence and wisdom is not a bad password choice for a protocol that must protect Torchwood secrecy." Shaun stated, gaining three pair of eyes staring at him. "What? You did not know which one was Minerva?"
Toshiko simply shook her head and winked at Shaun appreciatively. "At least we've some new recruits with a bit of background culture"
After her comment, Donna found suddenly what she was doing with the computer really interesting, Rhys looked down at his feet ashamed, and Owen simply stared at her mildly offended.
After some time, finally the last letter was entered and the command kicked in. All of them, both the fully alive ones and the pseudo-ghosts, went back to the main chamber and stared with their jaw open as the roof moved itself to close the hole. When the gap was finally completely invisible, the sound of machinery going kept on for a while more.
Wondering if she had written something wrong, Donna run to the nearest computer and entered the CCTV channel to check the outsides, only to see the very same rearranging process that had repaired the interiors of the hub, was automatically fixing the Plass too.
"This protocol in incredible" She said, staring transfixed at the screen.
"By the way, why they don't' need the eye scan to run the protocol like us when we tried to open the rift?" Owen argued with Toshiko, finally finding something to use against her.
"Owen, eye scan for everyone is for the first three protocols only, which should be top secret except for the Torchwood leader." Toshiko explained, surprised at his lack of knowledge. "From the fourth to the tenth, they are also for the second in command to know and you need at least half of the authorised personal's eye scan. From ten onwards everyone should know and you don't need scanning because they are considered basic maintenance"
Owen just stared at Toshiko intently, his voice void of inflection. "Ianto knew we needed to activate the first emergency protocol to open the rift and also the password."
"Ianto knows everything" She snarled at him in the same tone. "That includes us having a basement"
Rhys had to laugh at Toshiko's serious statement. "You did not know you had a basement?"
"Yeah, yeah. You laugh now, country-boy" Owen reprimanded him. "You wouldn't have found it amusing if you were with us that time, just ask your wife"
Seeing that everything was fine also on the outside, Donna considered calling Andy again to make him drop the securities around the bay, but first she consulted with Toshiko about how safe her idea would have been. The computer genius was glad to have finally something else to focus on, and kindly explained her that the alien technology involved made the repairing real and were not just holograms, so her idea was actually safe play.
They were all beginning to discuss how to move forwards from there, when finally the door to the vaults opened and a very shaken Gwen came out, walking uncertainly on her unsteady legs. Rhys saw her reddish eyes and soon rushed at her to hold her, kissing her on her forehead. She let him take care of her, finding no more strength to do the even easier thing.
"Gwen? Are they…" Donna tried to ask warmly.
Gwen swallowed and nodded. "They're fine. Shaun? They need clothes, could you please bring some of theirs from the bunker under Jack's office?"
"Love, please, hear me out" Rhys told her gently as Shaun went upstairs. "You and Donna need to go home. She can bring you at ours and then you all can stay there with the kids. Have all together a nice sleepover and let us do something useful here for a change"
Gwen stared dubiously at him and then at all the others, staring eventually at Tosh, who smiled kindly at her. "We'll keep an eye on them, Gwen, now go home. The worse is handled and soon Jack will wake up"
Donna moved forwards and entered the dungeons, kneeling unsurely near the half naked bodies of her friends to check their vitals. She breathed out in relief as she felt the slow but perceptible pulse under her fingers.
"They're breathing" She whispered, closing her eyes as she thanked each deity known on Earth for the gift they had given them.
"Yeah, they've finally healed, but the process was too draining and they fell asleep soon after they revived the last time" Gwen told her, sighing tiredly as she snuggled closer to Rhys's chest. "I guess that we can really call this a day"
After a moment to let Gwen restore her energies, the girls eventually made their way outside the hub, but before exiting the cog door Donna stopped suddenly and turned to throw Ianto's mobile at Shaun. "Before he wakes up check with UNIT and the Queen, they both need to be informed about how the situation is evolving"
"Honey?" He stopped her, before she could move away again. "What happened here tonight, do you think… Is it finished like this?"
Donna and Gwen exchanged looks, unsure themselves about what was the actual meaning behind the events of the night.
"Last time we lost everything" Gwen stated coldly in the end, just a hint of anger discernible in her voice, and then stared back at Toshiko and Owen. "But this time Torchwood is ready again. This time… It ends or this is war"
Toshiko and Owen simply nodded. They did not need to have lived the 456 to understand what had meant for the organization they had lived for and that had given them a new meaning. Ghost or not ghost, mortals or immortals did not matter, because now Torchwood had learned his lesson. They knew that they could trust no one, not even their fellow colleagues and superiors.
They knew when the casual accident ceased to exist and when the real civil servants' war began. Let it be cold or hot, Torchwood was ready to face everything together.
T.B.C.
