8.
Jack found Houghton on the ground floor in the kitchen, thoughtfully pouring himself a cup of tea. He looked strangely out of place in the homey kitchen, wearing his green uniform and military demeanour. When he noticed Jack, he gave a tight smile, his brown eyes remaining serious. "Tea?"
"No, thank you," Jack answered with a frown and crossed his arms. "I see you already made yourself quite at home here."
Houghton's expression became stony and he glared at him. "We've been here since the small hours of the morning, rescuing your agent by the way. I think I'm entitled to a cup of tea."
Jack pressed his lips together, but conceded to the point.
Houghton shook his head, his boyish face becoming tired and drawn. "Apologies, Captain, I'm … " He grabbed a manila folder off the kitchen counter and handed it to Jack. "I've been receiving reports from HQ in London." Jack took the folder and opened it, encountering several pages of scanner readings he couldn't hope to understand without Tosh and then a short summary. While he was still reading it, Houghton already said, "There's more than the Big Five. Ten epicentres, they say. The five we knew about and five we didn't."
Jack closed the folder and and looked at Houghton coolly. His thoughts strayed to the fact that Archie had placed emergency beacons at each of those five epicentres … that without the quakes today, they still wouldn't know that he'd been hiding them all these years.
Houghton sipped his tea. "The suggestion was made to find the rest and establish bases there. I'm sure we can rely on your support in this."
Jack put his hands on his hips, pushing back his coat a bit to do so to let Houghton see his gun. He could already guess what kind of request would come next and he wouldn't give in without a fight. "What would you need?"
"The Rift Manipulator in your base is much more fine-tuned than everything UNIT has, they say. We would need readings off it to see where exactly we should dig for the sources. Also, professional support by Miss Sato wouldn't go amiss." He sipped his tea and leaned back against the counter, regarding Jack challengingly.
"I'll think about it," Jack replied.
Houghton's mouth tightened in annoyance, but the rest of his expression and body language didn't give anything away. "That Rift Manipulator … I read reports on it, heard stories. I'm not one for science, Captain, but even I understand that it's very advanced. Where'd you get your hands on something like that?"
Jack shrugged. "Found it."
"What? Lying on the street?"
Jack slapped the folder onto the counter closest to him. "You'd be surprised what we find in Cardiff." There was no need to let UNIT know that the manipulator was Torchwood Four technology. Jack himself wished it wasn't. He cleared his throat. "Surely, finding the other epicentres isn't top priority right now."
"Oh, no," Houghton answered with a shrug. He sidled closer to the fridge, taking one of the biscuits on the plate set out next to it. Jack resisted the urge to slap it out of his hand. "We're looking at getting this crisis resolved before we start looking. It's not a pressing matter at all."
Jack nodded in agreement. "So what's the plan?"
"At the moment, we are recovering McIntyre's body. If you want to, I can inform you and give you a moment with him before we transport him away."
Jack crossed his arms. "He will be brought to Cardiff and stored with the other Torchwood agents killed in the line of duty."
Houghton hesitated. "I would have to clear that with my superiors."
"No, you don't. This is a Torchwood facility and Archie was a Torchwood agent. He will be laid to rest where he belongs."
Houghton sighed. "Fine." He put the mug in the sink. "You're welcome to stay as long as you like, go through the records and make a copy for yourself. Once you're done, UNIT will be happy to take over."
Jack frowned quizzically. "Take over what?"
"The base."
Jack scoffed. "Yeah, like hell!"
"Captain-"
"Captain," Jack interrupted him, "as I just said, this a Torchwood base."
"It is now, but who will run it? You're only five people and as far as I'm aware, you can't spare anyone long-term."
"I'll recruit someone."
"UNIT is happy to assist while you're doing that then."
"UNIT won't set foot into the secure archives of this base!" Jack shouted. Houghton stared at him in surprise and Jack took a deep breath, calming himself down, and raised a hand. "Sorry."
Houghton nodded at him.
Jack took a deep breath. "Your help is appreciated, but Torchwood will continue running this base."
"Captain," Houghton said calmly and stepped closer, "I will respect that, I just doubt that it's very practical. Torchwood's funding will be cut down to zero soon." He looked even younger close-up and Jack wondered how old he was. Just like Torchwood, UNIT recruited the youngest and brightest, so there was no doubt in his mind that Houghton was quite capable and good in his job – no matter that his father was in UNIT as well.
He narrowed his eyes. "Torchwood's funding is not yours to worry about." He took another deep breath. "I'm going out for some fresh air. Keep me informed on when Archie's body is recovered."
Houghton nodded. "We're still waiting for the radiation to die down completely. We will be able to enter the chamber then."
Jack accepted that without another word and left.
xxx
The B&B was located above a pub that Archie had frequented, in one of the oldest houses on the street. Jack had rented a room there once or twice when he'd managed to acquire company over night and didn't want to take them back to Archie's flat. He remembered that the rooms were small, but comfy, with big beds and knick-knacks on every available surface.
The pub was just as traditional: Warm and quiet at this time of day, with heavy wooden chairs and tables and a huge bar stacked with everything guests might ask for. The personnel was friendly, serving lunch specials to the few guests who had come here. Jack knew that the pub was busier in the evening.
Now, it was easy to locate Ronson sitting at one of the tables tucked away in a corner. She was drinking coffee, the remains of her lunch on the table next to her. Jack sat down opposite her. "So," he said, "let's talk."
Ronson looked at him. "Are you hungry?"
"No," he answered. "I want to know what you meant when you said that you're here to set things right."
Ronson leaned back in her chair. "Right down to business. I see. Archie was right about you." She sipped her coffee and made sure that nobody was close to them before she said, "Archie wasn't the person you thought he was, just like I'm not the person UNIT thinks I am. I'm also not the person Torchwood Four took me for." She smiled at him, but her expression was sad. "You need to understand that I'm just trying to do right by everyone involved, as did Archie, but … Earth is on a tipping point. It can go both ways from here on and I'm afraid, Captain, that you will be the one to tip it. Archie was here to make sure you would tip it in the right direction … I am here to finish what he started."
Jack took that in for a moment. "Why did he never tell me?"
"I'm sure that you of all people understand that some missions need to be carried out with utmost discretion. If you would know that you were being manipulated, you would do everything in your power to stop us."
Jack rubbed his forehead. "Yeah, you see, there's the problem I have with your story right there. Discretion is all well and good but you just told me everything."
"Because things developed in a manner that we hadn't foreseen."
"The Rift quakes?"
"Yes, the Rift quakes, among other things. There are people on this planet Archie tried to protect. He kept them shielded for decades. We trusted him to do so. The quakes changed everything. His death was unexpected and what's even worse, the measures he took to protect his charges revealed them to you. Apparently, he trusted you to take over when he was unable to and there is no way that their existence and the importance of them can be explained to you without revealing everything about us."
Jack folded his hands on the table, signalling that he was ready to listen. "Who are you then?"
"We're the ones who see everything," Ronson said. "Time and space. Future and past. Each and every life in this universe, like threads weaving through empty space, crossing, knotting together, separating ..."
Jack stared at her. He needed a moment to connect the dots, but when he did, his eyes widened. "You're a seer. Like a little girl in Cardiff I know. Or at least, she disguises herself as a little girl."
"Oh, no!" Ronson said with a smile. "She is a little girl. She has been for a very long time. You get to see her real form, she changes the perception of others, makes them see her as an adult."
Jack swallowed. "Why am I so special that I can see her real form, then?"
"You're a fixed point in time, Jack. Seers are unable to disguise themselves from people like you – and no, you are not the only one, but that is a story for another day."
Jack cleared his throat. "So, you're a seer, but you didn't see the Rift quakes coming?"
"I'm not a seer, Jack, not directly. You know, seers … they are our children. They inherited the eyes that can see beyond this time but they didn't inherit the skill to actually manipulate time." She smiled when Jack tensed. "Oh, you know about that. Time Agent. I guess you could say that we are Time Agents as well. Setting right what went wrong. On a much bigger scale."
His heartbeat picked up a bit. It had been a while since he'd left the Time Agency but he still remembered that he hadn't left peacefully and for a long time, he'd been worried they'd send someone to arrest him. "Are you from the Shadow Proclamation?"
Ronson shook her head. "No."
"Time Lord?"
Ronson chuckled. "Time Lord? We're older than their race, more powerful. Time Lords … they're like children."
"Who are you?"
She ducked her head. "You could call us time's police. The universe's judges." When she lifted her head again, the irises of her eyes had turned a bright red. "I would call us Gods, but we're all too mortal." She settled back in her chair. "I'm a Reaper, Captain Harkness. And you want to know the really interesting thing?"
Jack nodded, too stunned to say anything.
"Archie McIntyre was one, too."
