Chapter three

Jack spent the remainder of the afternoon running around town. The rift computers had located a new alien presence. Blowfish were an alien race. They looked a lot like humans, but only below neck. The huge difference was in the fact that they had fins on top and on the back of their heads, thick lips, red scales all over and gills on their cheeks. So part human and part fish, hence their unflattering name.

While they chased this particular specimen Jack grit his teeth in annoyance. This race of aliens seemed so stupid to him. They served no purpose! The handful or so he had met were all petty thieves, causing mischief around them for the sake of what they called fun. This younger male had stolen a rather expensive car and crashed it into a city bus. And that was only before tea! Who knew what else he had done? Jack had stopped adding things to the list of crimes hours ago.

The shadows on the streets drew longer and longer. Torchwood still hadn't caught the agile blowfish, but being who they were and what their job was they continued chasing the damned alien into yet another street.

"Next street to your left, Jack. Gwen, if you take the alley coming up on your right then you may be able to cut it off." Ianto instructed over their headsets from inside the Hub. It was a good thing Jack hadn't allowed him to come on this particular mission. Now Ianto could trace the faint signature of the stolen alien technology the blowfish had with him and use it to guide them.

There it was! "Oh no, you stay away Torchwood." It snarled when Jack turned around the corner, only to stop dead in his tracks. To his annoyance the blowfish had just grabbed a young child. Her innocent eyes were filled with tears of fear for the scary monster, which held her at gun point.

"Please", her scared mother cried out. "Help her, anyone… please help her."

With a signal of his hand Jack let Gwen know to hold back and comfort the mother. He holstered his gun and held up both his hands, showing that he posed no threat. It was of course a lie, but it wasn't the first time he bluffed his way out of a situation. "Come on, let the child go. She's done you no harm."

The blowfish scoffed. "It is not her I need to protect myself from. You lot, you put us away and for what? Just let me be free and I promise I will behave."

Jack shared a look of disbelief with Gwen. "Sure, and I am not a handsome man at all." It was with great effort Jack didn't react to the snort coming over his headpiece. Once he returned to the Hub he had to kiss some sense into Ianto for sure!

"Okay then, let's say that I believe you." Jack stepped a little closer. "First things first though. Let the child go and we can talk."

Once more the blowfish weighed in his options with a nervous glance over the street around him. "Is this a promise, Torchwood?" Their name rolled off his tongue in an angered snarl of mistrust. It sounded to Jack like he masked his nerves with as much contempt as he could muster.

Knowing that now was not the time to unsettle a blowfish Jack decided to forego taunting him and only nodded his head. Once more he snuck closer, showing Gwen with another hidden signal of his hand to use her tranquilizer gun while he distracted it. They had to work fast, because with one squeeze of a finger the alien could kill the girl held at gunpoint. Last thing they needed was her brains splattered over the pavement. Even as he took another step he nodded to signal Gwen not to waste a second…

With a whimper and in a pile of lobes, fins and limbs the blowfish fell to the ground moments after a dart hit his side. Jack nodded once to Gwen in confirmation of the fact she'd done well to follow his order without question. At last the half man, half fish was dealt with and there was no more running to be done for his team.

Crying the little girl ran from where the blowfish had fallen. In mere second she'd clung her small hand to her mother's legs, who lifted her up in her arms to make sure her daughter was safe. "Thank you", she said to Jack before she walked away from the scene with her precious child on her arm.

In answer Jack winked to her, glad that at least he'd done right by mother and child. But as the onlookers walked off his eyes caught sight of the snoring mess of blowfish. Ah yes, the not so glorious side of being part of Torchwood; clean up duty.

The owner of the bed and breakfast welcomed Merlin with every bit of the bouncing energy he remembered from each previous time when he visited here. It was only because he knew she had celebrated her seventieth birthday last winter that he saw her as such. Most people would only give her sixty years at most. "Michael Cane!" A motherly kiss on his cheek stated her happiness. As always he couldn't help but blush a little at her enthusiastic greeting, even more so now with his friends watching.

"It's been too long. Have you been eating enough? Gosh, let me look at you, Michael. Still as lean and fit as ever, I see. You haven't aged one bit. How is that fair?" An endless flow of remarks came his way, words falling like rain.

When his firm, but amused look met her pale green eyes she faltered. At last she caught on to the fact that she had held on a little too tight in her enthusiasm. "Oh, you. Next time don't wait so long to come back for a visit", she admonished with no ill feelings for how he peeled himself out of her arms with a mock glare.

Merlin stepped back with a grin then to show her that they had company who knew nothing of how they'd met. Though to him it was but a blip of time for the elder woman it was a second chance in life, because his magic had restarted her heart and healed it. Ever since that day she'd ran her bed and breakfast to have some company and a new purpose in life. Merlin had been her first guest and, of course she would not hear of it, he never had to pay for his room during his visits since.

"I have not come alone this time. These two here are my friends, Arthur and Gwaine. Guys, this is Mrs. Hughes."

With the same ease as before she shook their hands. "I keep telling you, love… call me Emily, please. You and your friends are of course most welcome to stay, however I am almost fully booked. All I can offer the three of you is the family room, with one double and one single bed."

Merlin looked to both his friends and found no objections in their eyes. It seemed to him that they were just as happy as he was at the prospect of sleeping in a proper bed for once. After all the quests they had been on in the past and now their camping trip as well they'd gotten used to the others' snoring anyway.

Arthur voiced their thoughts, "We'd be happy to accept your kind offer." Merlin smiled when his friend accepted the keys from Emily with a shallow bow of his head.

"Follow me", she said before she led them to the family room. After showing them all the facilities, for Arthur and Gwaine's benefit, she left the three friends to it.

With a sigh of relief Merlin dropped his backpack on the floor and himself on the double bed. He watched as Arthur and Gwaine followed suit and started unpacking a few of their things. "First dibs on the shower." Before either Merlin or Gwaine could react to it Arthur headed for the bathroom with a towel and a change of clothes in his hands. In a flash the door shut out their complaints. "Always the King first", came the muffled excuse from the other side.

Merlin wasn't surprised to see Gwaine roll his eyes… and in his mind he agreed with the sentiment that someone had to set Arthur straight. A plan of revenge formed even as the first drops of warm water fell on the floor in the bathroom. "Wait for it", Merlin let Gwaine in on the fact that their revenge would taste sweet. For effect and to ensure that Arthur stood underneath the spray of the shower Merlin waited for a bit longer. "Here we go", with glowing eyes Merlin whispered a spell.

It was satisfying to hear Arthur yelp undignified when the hot water turned stone cold for a few long moments. "Merlin!"

Laughing Merlin and Gwaine fell back onto the bed. Maybe Arthur had first dibs on the shower but his two friends had already taken the huge, comfy double bed in his absence.

For once Ianto wasn't complaining to be left behind on a mission. There was something far better to do with his time then running after a blowfish. In spite of all the fun his friends made of his love for the Arthurian legends he just couldn't resist to figure out how much of all the stories was truth and if maybe, just maybe, he could find out where Camelot used to be.

Even though many before him had tried Ianto knew that he had an advantage they had not known; the Torchwood Archives. Over the last century or so their team and those before them had build the largest archive on Earth when it came to strange phenomena. So many reports, secrets and strange artefacts were locked within it. Often they were archived without anyone having the time to find out how it worked or where it came from. Ianto didn't know what he was looking for, but it didn't matter. The old fashioned way of searching was half the fun for him. Maybe it would take a lifetime, but he figured that in the end he was bound to find something… or so he hoped.

Most of the people who worked for Torchwood didn't like the archives much, but Ianto enjoyed the fact it was quiet down here. Shelves filled with boxes, each one marked with the Torchwood helix, rose up from the floor to the ceiling, going on in what looked like endless rows of piled up documents and whatnot. No one knew their way around the huge, dust covered room as well as Ianto did. It was with ease he walked over to the pile he had stopped his search the last time. A label marked the year; 1914.

Ever since Ianto found the newspaper with Merlin's photograph he had a feeling the man had crossed paths with Torchwood in that year. It was an educated guess at best or maybe nothing but wishful thinking on his part. Which ever it was though it was a fact that Merlin had been in the Cardiff area around then, because the newspaper was printed by a local publisher of the early 20th century. A trip to the city archives had confirmed it for him.

Once more Ianto looked at the blown up copy he made of the newspaper photograph. He had let a local historian confirm it to him that it was taken at the Cardiff Airport. From there many young men were taken to London to join forces with other British soldiers who were then sent to Belgium to fight for their country. Many believed they would be back home soon, but the sad truth was most young soldiers didn't return. Those who did were never the same again. Ianto wondered what the Great War had been like for the two men he knew. He could only imagine the things they'd seen and done, for he had a feeling neither would ever talk about it.

Browsing through old documents and some more photographs there were no answers to be found today. Hmm, strange. There was an old, bronze lying on the bottom of the now emptied out cardboard box. What was it for? Puzzled Ianto picked it up to stare at it. Only three inches long in size it seemed as ordinary as it was covered in spots of rust. Shrugging he put it to the side before he looked at the time on his watch.

Oops… as always he'd spent more time down here than he realised. He decided to go upstairs now and call the pizza delivery people. Jack and Gwen would be back soon and he bet they were hungry. Truth be told, he was too.

Jack and Gwen were still staring down at the mess on the pavement when a female voice cut into their discussion on how to deal with the blowfish. "Did anyone call for a proper alien expert?" The teasing in her voice rang loud and clear.

With a grin Jack turned around to greet her and answer her taunt. "Doctor Martha Jones, am I glad to hear your beautiful voice." To his amusement she only smiled at his welcome before she allowed him to wrap her up in a huge hug. "Don't tell me. This blowfish upset you lot of UNIT too?"

Smiling Martha nodded. "He stole something important. I can't go into what it is since it's classified and all. Well, you know how it works, right? Anyway we can't let this one go and we need to take him with us for interrogation." She turned to the two men who had come to Cardiff with her and ordered them to get to work.

Jack noticed that both men wore the cute red hats typical for the UNIT soldiers, but he decided not to beg her for one this time in favour of getting on with things. "Well… just because it is you then. Truth is that for once I am happy for your people to take trouble out of our hands. Our cells are getting too full as it is."

As he spoke the two men carried the blowfish into the back of the dark blue van which stood parked on the side of the road. A third man sat behind the wheel, his profile formed a shadow behind the tinted windows. It seemed to Jack like Martha had it the UNIT mission under control. "Do you have to go back with them or shall I ask Ianto to order a fourth pizza?"

For a moment Martha hesitated, "Another time, yeah?"

With a nod Jack understood. Seconds later the van sped away, leaving Jack and Gwen to stare at the tail lights. Looking at each other Jack grinned before he accepted Gwen's offered arm. Hooking their arms together they walked back to the Hub in the fading light of the mild tempered evening. They set a firm pace safe in the knowledge that Ianto awaited them with fresh brewed coffees and hot pizzas. It was the traditional end of a long day at Torchwood, and they looked forward to it.