The Unexpected Rise of Director Jones
by Soledad
Summary: Jack is gone, and the rest of the Torchwood Three team must see how they manage without him.
Author's note: Trevor Howard is the nameless extra seen as Dr. Rajesh Sing's assistant in "Army of Ghosts". He appears in "Eye-Witness" first. Sally Jacobs had an appearance in "The Christmas Invasion". And yes, I brought Mickey back a little earlier, because I needed him.
This story is not beta read. All mistakes belong exclusively to me. *g*
Chapter 10 – Reunions
Visiting the Palace the second time wasn't a tad less intimidating than doing so for the first time, Ianto found. He'd often been teased for his deep-rooted loyalty for the royal family. Supposedly, a proper Welshman ought to feel differently. But he'd joined Torchwood One at a rather impressionable age, and training at Headquarters included a thorough conditioning to do everything in his power for Queen and Country – and to be grateful for being allowed to do so.
Brainwashed by Yvonne's lackeys Jack had called it in very obvious disgust, although he loved and respected Her Majesty personally… despite his seemingly disrespectful custom of referring to her as Lizzie. Of course, knowing that he had once bounced the little princess on his knee explained that in hindsight.
Besides, most people believed Jack to be American, which made them forgive him for his apparent lack of manners. Clearly, even snobbery did have its advantages sometimes.
Ianto, on the other hand, had been raised to show respect to those above his own status, and thus his stomach had the size of a shrivelled lemon in the next afternoon when they were once again picked up at their somewhat shabby hotel and delivered to the Palace.
Another one of those impeccably clad, exchangeable employees – Ianto remembered Jack having called them drones – welcomed them at the side entrance and led them through a true maze of corridors to Prince William's private office. The Prince himself wasn't present yet, but Sir Archibald was, and with him a gentle-faced, middle-aged woman with shoulder-length brown hair, wearing a neat trouser suit, a pretty blonde in an elegant black-and-white tea dress and a bespectacled man in his early thirties, with a shaved head, wearing an ill-fitting suit and a tie that was tied so awkwardly that Ianto's fingers began to itch to redo it at once.
Until the young man spotted him, jumped to his feet and hurried to intercept him with a huge, ear-to-ear grin all but splitting his face, that is.
"Jonesy!" he cried in delight. "By the iron arse of every Cyberman, is that really you?"
Ianto laughed and hugged the man briefly. This was certainly not what – or rather whom – he'd expected to find in the Palace.
"Trevor Howard! It's good to see you again, mate. It's been too long."
"Way too long, if you ask me," Dr Trevor Howard, once junior researcher in Torchwood London's cybernetics department, then the assistant of Dr Rajesh Singh, the very first unfortunate victim of the Battle of Canary Wharf, agreed. "It wasn't my fault, though. I did my best to find you when you stopped coming to the support group, but you did the vanishing act on me. I didn't even know you ended up working for Three until Archie contacted me, less than a week ago."
"Sir Archibald," Ianto corrected.
"Hey, he was the one who told me to call him Archie," Trevor protested.
Ianto nodded. "He does that frequently. It still isn't proper. He's the senior Torchwood leader now, and that deserves respect."
Trevor gave him a fond grin. "You really need to wind down a bit, Jonesy, before you break your spine from all that proper posturing. Besides, Archie tells me that you are the boss now, so you can stop sirring everyone and do a bit of the lording over the unwashed masses yourself."
"Somehow I can't imagine Mr Jones displaying pretentious behaviour," an amused voice said and in walked Prince William, this time wearing his RAF duty uniform, which made Gwen staring at him with her mouth hanging literally open.
The prince crossed the room, shook hands with Ianto and Archie in his usual charming manner and then looked at the Torchwood Two leader expectantly.
"Well, Sir Archibald? Would you mind to make the introductions? I assume you're the one who knows everybody here."
"Aye that's th' truth o' it," Archie agreed. "Now, where shouldae I begin…"
"Ladies first," the prince suggested, the corners of his eyes crinkling in amusement.
"Right," Archie cleared his throat. "Well, in that case it's an honour t' present ya Sarah Jane Smith, long-time companion o' th' Doctor –two different versions o' him in fact! – an' now a freelance journalist an' a good friend o' both Commodore Sullivan an' Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. Ms Smith, this is Ianto Jones, th' new Torchwood Director."
"I've heard a great deal about you from Jack," Ianto said, shaking her hand. "It's good to finally meet you in person."
"The pleasure is all mine," Sarah Jane Smith replied warmly. "it's a relief that the Cardiff Rift remains in the hands where it belongs, instead of the warmongers of the military. Present company excused, of course," she added with an apologetic glance in Prince William's direction.
The prince just smiled indulgently. Ianto smiled, too.
"You're welcome to join us and keep us in line, Ms Smith," he said.
The resolute journalist shook her head and laughed.
"Sarah Jane, please. And the last thing you'd need is an elderly woman, sticking her long nose in your business and telling you every other moment how to do your jobs, just because she happened to travel with the Doctor. Besides, I've got my own work here in London, and that's enough to fill my day – and more."
"Forgive me, but why are you here, then?" Ianto asked.
"To meet you," she replied simply. "And to offer my help. I've got resources as a former companion not even UNIT is aware of. Human resources, mostly, and information, thanks to my network of ex-companions; but also some technology that can prove useful in the time of need. I wanted to tell you that you can count on me… and on the others, too, as far as they still can actually do something. Most of them are quite old by now, I'm afraid. And, of course, I need to speak with you about public relations."
"About what?" Ianto was honestly confused, but she waved him off.
"Later. In private. Let's Archie do his thing first, shall we?"
"Of course," Ianto inclined his head politely towards the Torchwood Two leader. "Do forgive me, Sir Archibald. And please go on."
The man in the kilt rolled his eyes a bit but went on with the introduction nonetheless, continuing with the pretty blonde with the calm observant blue eyes.
"The bonny lass is Miss Sally Jacobs, currently workin' as a communications technician for th' UNIT headquarters under th' Tower o' London but wantin' a bit more o' th' real action, it seems."
"Err… not exactly," Miss Jacobs corrected. "Captain Magambo said I should study, cause I've got a good head for maths, but Colonel Mace doesn't want another scientist at Headquarters. He wants a glorified telephone operator, apparently."
"And you think transferring to Torchwood would give you the time to study?" Gwen laughed in disbelief. "We're lucky if we can eat our takeaway pizza without a Rift alert interrupting our lunch break," she gave Miss Jacobs's elegant dress and low heels a patronizing look. "Your pretty wardrobe wouldn't last a day. Hunting down aliens in the sewers is a dirty, smelly, dangerous job; not for pampered little girls who know nothing beyond their comfortable offices."
"Does being mind-controlled by an alien influence and standing poised to jump off the roof of the Tower of London as a result count?" Miss Jacobs asked calmly. "Because I've done that during the Sycorax invasion last Christmas."
"Oh!" Ianto said with sudden understanding. "Blood type A-positive, aren't you?"
The pretty blonde nodded and gave him a calm, understated smile.
"Aside from that, I'm also damn good at my job, too. I was the technician on duty when the invasion began. I was the one who spotted that the Sycorax signal came from 5000 miles above Earth, not from Mars, which led to the realisation that there was a warship in orbit, long before the military would take notice."
Ianto nodded. UNIT had watched the space around Earth with advanced scanners, enhanced by alien technology, thanks to an earlier incarnation of the Doctor who had been their scientific advisor for a while. Those were ingenious instruments but needed a great deal of skill and a general understanding of the scientific principles to handle them If Miss Jacobs could do that, she had to have a good head on her shoulders indeed and might be able to handle Mainframe as well.
However, mere scientific knowledge wasn't enough for someone to survive at Torchwood. Not even for the usual short while.
"Can you use a gun?" he asked.
Miss Jacobs nodded again. "UNIT insists on civilian personnel being rained at the shooting range as well as in unarmed self-defence practices. I don't have a black belt or anything, but I'm fairly good at aikido and kickboxing."
"Interesting choices," Prince William commented.
Miss Jacobs shrugged. "I thought aikido would come in handy when all I can find to defend myself with was an iron bar… or the broken leg of a table. Kickboxing allows me to use my own body as a weapon when not even those are at my disposal."
"It all sounds very promising," Ianto was impressed and made no attempt to hide it. "But you'll understand, Miss Jacobs, that I'm a bit reluctant to take over anyone from UNIT. Especially one who used to work for Headquarters."
"Cause the brass have been trying to push into your territory ever since the fall of One?" Trevor Howard asked with a mirthless grin.
"That's the main reason, yes," Ianto replied.
"You can relax around Sally, then," Trevor told him. "She's OK. I'll vouch for her… unless you think me untrustworthy, too, just cause I've been rotting in a UNIT lab for the last year and a half."
"Don't be ridiculous!" Ianto snorted.
"You're ready to trust him just 'cos he was at Torchwood One with you, aren't you?" Gwen fumed. "Are you out of your bloody mind, Ianto Jones? Those jerks at One unleashed the Daleks and the Cybermen on the world; no wonder Jack didn't want anything to do with their leftovers."
"I see you've talked to Owen about things," Ianto said with a bland smile that would cause everyone with the smallest morsel of survival instinct to shut up and back off.
Unfortunately, Gwen was not one of those people.
"Well, yes, I needed to know what was the big deal about the murderous female robot you were hiding in the basement, and Jack wouldn't explain anything, as usual," she replied blithely.
Everyone in the office winced at her callous reference to an innocent human being who'd been turned into a monster against her will, Even Prince William, who had done his homework with the help of the Brigadier and Commodore Sullivan, learned the full and ugly truth about the destruction of Torchwood Tower.
"That female robot," Ianto said in a flat, emotionless voice, "used to be my fiancée. A brilliant, beautiful, warm-hearted, living, breathing person whom I loved and who loved me. You do know what that is, right? After all, you're the only one among us with a life outside Torchwood, as you frequently remind us – not that you'd value it, or that poor, delusional fool whose only wish is to marry you and carry you on his hands. If you did, you wouldn't cheat on him by every chance."
He paused for a moment, but Gwen was too furious to say anything, just stood there, opening and closing her mouth haplessly.
"Lisa and I wanted to marry, too, you see," Ianto continued. "I even bought the ring. So did Gareth and Adeola, and many of the bright young people working for One."
"And some of us, like Jeannie or Rajesh, had kids whom they hoped to give a better life, thanks to the paychecks of Torchwood," Trevor added grimly. "There were over eight hundred people working for One, Miss I-Can-Judge-People-Though-I-Don't-Know-Shit. Most of them didn't have anything to do with the ghost shifts. Do you know how many of us survived? Twenty-seven."
"Twenty-seven of us were still breathing when everything was over; not in counting in Lisa," Ianto corrected. "Six of them chose to be Retconned back before Torchwood Tower had been built. Four of the rest have committed suicide in the meantime because they couldn't live with the memories. Five has been lying in coma ever since, damaged beyond help, though their families cannot bear to disconnect the life-support machines; and we both know what happened to Lisa, don't we?" he added with an icy glare in Gwen's direction. "You were the one to put bullets in what was left of her."
"She was a monster!" Gwen screeched. "She killed people! She almost killed me!"
"And everything just has to be about you, hasn't it?" Ianto asked tiredly. "Yes, I know that she got overwhelmed by her programming in the end and caused the deaths of Dr Tanizaki and that poor Annie. But my Lisa wasn't responsible for that. No more than you were responsible for the deaths of those fourteen men killed by the gaseous alien you've accidentally released. Or fort he fate of the poor girl who was taken over by the alien and is still sitting in Providence Park in a vegetable state."
All eyes turned to Gwen in interest and she began to feel very uncomfortable.
"That's not the same!" she protested.
"No," Trevor agreed grimly. "You killed a dozen or so people cause you were stupid. Jonesy caused two deaths because he wanted to save somebody – which, by the way, was also fairly stupid," he added bluntly, and Ianto didn't even try to defend himself.
"I know that – now. But back then I believed that when Yvonne could keep her humanity despite a full conversion…"
"Yeah, but Yvonne could have stopped the Earth rotation by sheer willpower," Trevor said. "And besides, she only kept herself or a few minutes before getting killed for good. It's not the same."
"Tell me something I don't know," Ianto muttered unhappily; then he retuned to the actual reason they were in the Palace for. "So, since you're here, can I assume that you'd be willing to work for Torchwood again?"
"It depends," Trevor grinned. "Is Miss Sato still working for Three?"
Gwen couldn't believe her ears. This bloke knew Tosh? Tosh had connections to One? Did Jack know that or was she going behind his back, the sneaky little traitor?
"Of course," Ianto grinned back at his old mate. "We'd be lost without her. With Suzie dead and Jack gone, she's the only one who can deal with Mainframe. And she'd welcome some help. She'd been run ragged during the last year."
"Then I'm in," Trevor said. "God, Jonesy, I thought you'd never ask! Do you have an idea what a dull life I've led since the fall of One?"
"What? I thought UNIT took you over!"
"Yeah, but they didn't trust me with anything important. Apparently, having survived an all-out alien massacre instead of dying with the rest makes you dubious. I've been wasting my life away with menial tasks any low-grade lab technician without the slightest experience with alien technology could have performed blindfolded and with one hand tied to their backs."
"Why didn't you quit then?" Gwen asked with a shrug.
The former Torchwood researcher rolled his eyes. "You really are a little stupid, aren't you? I not only am a survivor of Canary Wharf; I worked with Dr Singh at the end, in the very lab where the Void Ship was kept. I saw how it opened and millions of Daleks were released. I know the full truth behind Canary Wharf. They'd never allow me to go; not with my memories still intact. And by the amount of Retcon I'd have needed to forget everything I saw in the ten years working for One, I'd have ended up an empty husk, most likely."
"Fortunately, transferring to Torchwood would solve that problem… wouldn't it?" Prince William asked.
Archie nodded. "Aye, Yer Highness, it will. I wouldae hired the lad meself right away; he's a bright one. Alas, there's no need fer a scientist o' his calibre in Glasgow. He'll go on swimmingly with Toshiko, though."
"And I'll be more than happy to have him on the Cardiff team," Ianto smiled.
This time it was an honest, relieved smile. Having one of his old colleagues from One to work with again would be a blessing. He studiously ignored Gwen's angry scowl. She'd just have to deal with the sudden increase of competence at Three, even if it made her look even more stupid than usual – not a small feat on a good day, he thought, a little nastily.
He was only ever human, after all.
"What about the other survivors of Canary Wharf, though?" Prince William asked. "If I've counted correctly, nine of them are still uncounted for."
"I've been in contact with the others; discretely, of course, as UNIT didn't exactly encourage it," Trevor replied. "Most of them were in administrative positions or low-grade technicians. They ended up in government offices or UNIT labs… well, with the exception of poor Jeannie McKay, of course."
"That Canadian scientist?" Archie asked. "Yvonne kept braggin' about how bright she was an' how Torchwood wouldae beaten th' ESA in space exploration, once th' lass has built up her team an' started her research properly."
"Yeah," Trevor agreed. "She's absolutely brilliant. Two doctorates – one in theoretical astrophysics and one in mechanical engineering – and a Master's degree in computer sciences. Had been working for one barely a year before everything went to hell. Those… things put her into a cyber-conversion unit – I'm sure you can relate," he added, looking at Gwen, whose only answer was a scowl.
"Anyway," Trevor continued, "the Doctor did his trick before the process could have started, but she'd been in there for a while. And she knew what was going to happen – she had the questionable delight to watch people being transformed before it would be her turn."
"That couldn't bode well with her," Prince William said.
"No," Trevor sighed. "Though at first we all thought she'd bounced back rather remarkably. She even worked for UNIT for a short while – only God knows how she managed it, but again, she was brilliant – but when that bastard husband of hers left to go back to Canada and took their little daughter with him, she finally lost it."
"Small wonder," Ianto murmured. "She loved little Madison so much. Where is she now?"
"In a psychiatric hospital, on suicide watch seven-twenty-four," Trevor answered grimly. "I know what you're thinking, Jonesy, or at least I think I do, but it won't work. She's too far gone."
"That remains to be seen," Ianto said. "But even if she is, I won't leave her to rot away among strangers. She's still Torchwood, and therefore my responsibility."
"Perhaps so, but what do you intend to do?" Trevor asked doubtfully. "She does need professional help."
"I understand that," Ianto replied. "I know what that's like. My mother spent the last years of her life in a mental institute with increasingly worsening depressions. Which is why I know just the right place for Jeannie. A place where I can keep an eye on her and where we can visit her regularly."
"You wanna move her to Providence Park?" Gwen asked incredulously. "Are you out of your bloody mind? Torchwood is Special Ops, fighting aliens and retrieving dangerous alien technology, not a nursing home for crippled ex-agents. We don't have the time to play Mother Teresa!"
"And that coming from the woman whom Jack hired for her humanity and compassion," Ianto commented dryly.
The silence following his comment was deafening. Gwen blinked several times in confusion. What was their problem anyway? All she'd done was pointing out the glaringly obvious. It was bad enough that Jack had insisted Torchwood would pay the bills for Carys Morgan's ongoing therapy at Providence Park; now they were supposed to mollycoddle the damaged Torchwood One survivors, too? She couldn't believe that no-one else would protest against such waste of Torchwood resources that were supposed to be used to protect Cardiff from whatever the Rift chose to spit out at any given time.
After what remained eternity, Prince William cleared his throat.
"Well, if you think Dr McKay would be helped best when moved to Cardiff, then by all means, do so, Mr Jones. I've studied the files of all Torchwood One survivors, and I must admit that I was impressed by hers. She would be a valuable asset to your team; if she can be healed, that is."
"Thank you for the support, Your Highness," Ianto said earnestly. "I know the chances are slim; but I have to give it a try. She deserves to be taken care of. All survivors do. What happened at Canary Wharf wasn't their fault. Nor was it strictly Yvonne's, to be honest. She meant no harm. All she wanted was to find a new, clean, dependable energy source to curble on the economics of the country. She couldn't know what she was dealing with – neither of us could."
"She should have listened to the Doctor," Sarah Jane said dryly.
"According to Tosh, she actually did," Ianto replied. "She had the ghost shift stopped in the last minute. Unfortunately, Mickey Smith had already touched the Void Ship by accident, priming it due to the Void energy that had saturated his cells cos he'd been in that alternate dimension – and from that point on, there was no way back. Adeola and the others, controlled by the cyber-earpieces, opened the rift above the Tower, and that was that."
"Are you saying that the release of the Daleks was Mickey's fault? Sarah Jane demanded angrily.
Ianto gave her a bland smile.
"Actually, it was the Doctor's fault; he was the one who dragged Mickey with him to that other dimension, wasn't he? If we're about to put blame, let's make sure we put it where it truly belongs."
"You're very hostile towards the Doctor," Sarah Jane remarked sadly.
"I've got my reasons," Ianto replied. "But how comes that you know about Mickey and his trip into an alternate dimension, Ms Smith? It's not exactly common knowledge; were Tosh not present at Canary Wharf, not even I might know about it."
"Mickey told me," she said simply. "He's back; has been for a couple of months, actually. We met at the garage where I take my car for repairs, and he recognised me at once. We first met when I was investigating the Krillitane infiltration of Deffry Vale high school, a year and a half ago."
"And he works in a car garage?" Trevor asked, raising a surprised eyebrow. "After having assisted Dr Singh, no matter for how short a time?"
Sarah Jane shrugged. "Well, he is a car mechanic; and he has to eat somehow and pay the bills."
"Interesting," Ianto said languidly. "He must be bored out of his head, after having fought Daleks, the Slitheen and the Cybermen, and that in two different dimensions. Perhaps he'll be interested in a more… exciting job. One more fitting for an ex-companion."
"Ianto, you can't do this!" Gwen hissed. "You can't fill the Hub with strangers! That's not what Jack would want!"
"Oh, and all of a sudden you're concerned what Jack would want?" Ianto returned, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Why start now? You never cared before. But actually, I think Jack would welcome Mickey quite happily. He doesn't really speak about his adventures with the Doctor, but it's clear that he valued those times greatly – having another ex-companion to share memories with would be a delight for him, I think. Especially if it's Mickey."
"What? Jack's met this… this Mickey character?"
"Yep, during the Cardiff earthquake – not the one we caused, the previous one, after which Mayor Blaine vanished without a trace. Actually, I think it was a younger version of Jack who met him Back when he was still travelling with the Doctor… and still mortal. But he also learned about Mickey's later exploits and was impressed. Well… as impressed as he could be with anyone when no sex was involved," Ianto added with a mirthless grin; then he turned to Sarah Jane. "Do you think you could arrange a meeting? I'd like to offer him a job as a field agent with Torchwood Three... if His Highness is in agreement, that is."
Prince William waved off his concern.
"I won't interfere with whom you intend to hire for your team, Mr Jones. It's your team now. I just wanted to be here today because I was curious," he, too, looked at Sarah Jane. "Please, do arrange the meeting, Ms Smith. By all due respect for Her Majesty Queen Victoria, I personally believe that an ex-companion would make a good field agent for Torchwood. Especially if running is involved," he added, grinning.
~TBC~