Again another chapter. I'm on a roll :)
Bella sat in the conference room with Jack and Ianto, Tosh and Owen watching the news. Everything was going wrong since Owen opened the rift. Jack called Gwen in, and Bella tried to calm down her mother over the phone.
"Mum, I don't know what's happening. I promised you that I wouldn't get in involved with Torchwood." She lied. "Just stay indoors and be careful." She hung up and sat at her workstation; she put her head in her hands and sighed.
"Okay, I've been fielding calls all night. The government, UNIT, the CIA ...half the western world and a good portion of the Eastern are asking the same question: Is this anything to do with us?" Jack said walking out of his office.
"And is it?"Bella said raising her head to look at him.
They all made their way to the conference room. Tosh walked up to the screen and tapped in a few commands. "I've run a profile on every reported temporal anomaly and tracked any physical or temporal pattern." On the screen was a world map. Their location was shown by a red dot which had many lines coming from it.
"Shit!" Bella whispered. She didn't need this plus her hand was hurting a lot from where she used the rock to cut it back in 1941.
"The cracks in time trace back here to the rift. This city - this Hub – is the center. What you're seeing around the world are ripples and aftershocks. The rift is splintering because of you." Jack said and looked directly at Owen.
"What?" Owen said.
"You opened the Rift without knowing what you were doing. You've caused the temporal cracks to widen. Time is seeping through." Jack said angrily.
"If it wasn't for me, you two would still be in the 1940s. So are we going to sit around crying into our lattes, or shall we do something about it?" Owen said rising from his seat.
"Bring those who've fallen through time back here, into the vaults." Jack suggested.
"And do what with them?" Owen shouted.
"We'll deal with phase one first, then I'll tell you about phase two." Jack said calmly.
"You can't control time. You can't send them back! What are you gonna do?" Owen said but ended up shouting at the end.
"We'll think of something!" Jack shouted and everyone quieten down.
"Hey, this is not the end of the world." Jack said softly and looked at everyone in the room. "I'm certain of that." The computer in the corner beeped, Ianto got up and checked it.
"Priority one attendance requested at the hospital. Mortality rate's gone through the roof. They're sealing off the area and designating it a hot zone." Ianto said. Owen put his earpiece on and stood up.
"I'll go." Owen offered.
"Tosh, go with him." Jack said.
"Uh, no, thanks, I'm fine on my own." Owen protested,
"And you'll be even better with me alongside. Shut up and come on." Tosh said pushing him toward the door and took one last look at Bella who gave her a small, sad smile.
"Did you have to pick on him in public like that?" Gwen said harshly glaring at him.
"All our actions have consequences." He said and noticed Bella was sitting forward in her chair staring at her hands that were resting against the table.
"And all your staff have feelings, Jack, even Owen." Gwen pointed out, but Jack wasn't really listening to her. "He brought you back. Would you rather be stuck in World War II?" She said as her phone rang. It was Andy telling them that they had a Roman Soldier in one of their police cells.
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"He's not dressed as a Roman soldier, he is a Roman soldier and he's shouting in Latin." Jack said looking through the peep hole in the cell door.
"Only word I could pick out was Gelligaer." Andy said
"There's a Roman Fort out at Gelligaer. Built around 75AD." Gwen said to Jack.
"So, he was on his way there, time splintered, he ends up here." Jack said to her.
"Excuse me?" Andy said confused, both of them looked at Andy forgetting that he was there. "Hi. Any time you feel like talking sense..."
"That soldier came through a crack in time." Jack said bluntly to him.
"He's not serious, is he?" Andy laughed looking at Gwen.
"We'll take him off your hands." Jack said and filled up a syringe.
"Careful, Jack." Gwen said and Jack slipped inside the cell and the door slammed shut behind him.
"Everyone's saying it, you know - in work, on the streets. Do you think this is the end of the world?" Andy asked her.
Gwen smiled at, "Oh, Andy, don't be silly. Do you think the world's gonna end on your shift?"
Andy just looked at him but didn't believe a word that she said, "I've seen you use that smile on a lot of people."
"What smile?" Gwen asked.
"The smile you use to reassure people when deep down you know everything's gone to shit."Andy said crossing his arms over his chest.
A doctor, Owen and Toshiko were dressed in Biohazard suits and were moving quickly through
the hallway of the hospital.
"This was the first one to die. No ID on her. She just appeared in the middle of A&E. Nobody saw her come through the doors. She didn't register at the desk." The Doctor said to them.
"So what happened?" Tosh asked as Owen was in his own little world at the moment.
"She started coughing up blood. We moved her into isolation immediately. An hour or so later, the staff started presenting similar symptoms." He said and they entered the room with the patient's body lying on the bed.
"Which were?" Tosh said still taking over.
"Bite-like bumps on the skin, chills, fever, headaches, along with black patches on the skin." He explained. Owen sort of jumped back into action when he saw the body.
"Indicating bleeding into the skin and possibly other organs." He said looking at the black patches but not getting to close.
"From the staff, it started spreading into other patients who'd been in reception when she came in." The Doctor told them. Tosh checked the patient's clothes from the plastic bag.
"These aren't contemporary clothes." Tosh told Owen.
"Her teeth aren't exactly modern-style, either." He said leaned in a little to check them, "Shit."
"As soon as we realized the rate of infection, we closed down the whole area." The Doctor informed them. Owen took a couple of deep breaths and started head out.
"How many others are infected?" He asked.
"Thirty, maybe forty." The Doctor said.
"All quarantined off?" Owen asked looking around.
"We think so."
"Then have their clothes and sheets destroyed immediately." He instructed, the doctor nodded and left. Owen went to another patient and lifted the sheet. The patient had the same black patches on their arm. He sighed and put the sheet back over the patient.
"What is it?"
"That woman isn't from this century. More like the fourteenth. It's the...It's the fucking...Black Death, Tosh. She's infected Cardiff A&E with the plague...and it's my fault." Owen said quietly. Tosh shook her head as the doctor joined them.
"The team are instigating procedures."He told the pair. Owen and Tosh started to leave.
"The infected will need 30 milligrams of Streptomycin and Chloramphenicol plus two of Tetracycline." Owen explained,
"That's plague medicine. Standard issue for bubonic." The doctor said shocked. Owen headed back to the doctor,
"Well done, House. That's what you're up against." He said nearly shouting.
"So what are you gonna do now?" The Doctor asked.
"Well, you're a hospital. You've got procedures, haven't you?" Owen said.
"Yes, but everybody said Torchwood would sort it out. What if we get more carriers appearing out of the blue?" The doctor said.
"We're working to stop that." Tosh reassured.
"We waited for you! You've got to stop this! You've gotta do something!" He shouted, scared.
"No, you've gotta do something. People are dropping through time and they are going to bring every disease in history through your doors. So you'd better be ready." Owen shouted back.
"Owen ..." Tosh warned him.
"You scared enough yet? Cos fuck knows I am!" Owen said and headed out the door, "Come on, Tosh!"
"Make sure they get the medicine. Call us if things get worse." Tosh said to the doctor.
"How much worse can they get?" He said.
Toshiko looked at the doctor over her shoulder. She turned and followed Owen out. The doctor
remained standing in the hallway. She exited the quarantined area through the plastic. Her biohazard helmet was off. She couldn't see Owen anywhere.
"Owen?" She shouted, "Owen!" She turned around and saw a Japanese women standing in the middle of the hallway. She immediately knew who it was. It was her mum. She started having a conversation with her in Japanese. It was about something coming out of the darkness and they needed to open the rift. Then her mum vanished. Behind Tosh Owen appeared.
"Tosh! Come on, stop pissing about." He said and left, Tosh followed slowly.
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The unconscious Roman Soldier was on the floor and not moving while Jack was scanning him
with a hand-held scanner emitting a bright green light. Gwen stood in the doorway.
"If Owen managed to open the rift to get you and Bella back, can't we do the same thing for these people? We've still got the rift manipulator." Gwen asked.
"There's a world of difference. We're talking about taking control of time, not bringing two people back from the past. Besides, look at the damage Owen caused. We mess with it further; we'll put the planet in danger. Have I ever let you down?" Jack said.
Gwen looked at him with a very small smile on her face. She turned and headed back through the corridor. When she heard someone calling her name, Gwen stopped. She turned and found Bilis Manger sitting on a bed in one of the cells. Although she heard his voice, his lips weren't moving. He apologised to her, Gwen continued to stare.
Jack looked and saw Gwen standing in the hallway, unmoving. "Gwen!" But she doesn't move or answer him, "Gwen!" he tried again. She then turned to look at him. Gwen turned and looked back in the cell. Bilis Manger was gone. She stepped into the cell and looked around. It was empty. Spooked, Gwen stepped back out of the cell and left.
The Roman Soldier was unconscious in a dirty cell. Gwen talked with Jack. "Are you sure it was the same guy?" Jack asked.
"It was definitely him. Bilis, the caretaker of the dance hall." Gwen said.
"That's all he said, "Sorry?"" Jack asked.
"Uh-huh." Gwen nodded.
"What's he got to be sorry for?" He wondered.
The door opened and Ianto walked in with a handcuffed weevil. "Coming through!" The weevil growled. Ianto sprayed it and subdued it. He put the weevil in a cell. Bella followed behind with another.
"Thirteen more reports of Weevils on the loose. We can't keep up at this rate." Bella said after she put her weevil away.
"Everything's on the increase." Jack said.
"Can you stop them making that noise?" Gwen asked.
"If you've got any ideas how." Ianto said.
"Maybe they're time sensitive. This disturbance may be too much for them." Jack suggested.
"We're now full in all vaults across all nine levels. Do you want me to activate the vaults below? It's just we've never used them since I've been here." Ianto asked.
"Do it. Gwen, maybe you're right. Let's run a search on your dancehall buddy. We need to find him." Jack said.
"Okay." Gwen said and she, Jack and Bella left the room. Ianto stayed behind. The weevils moan in their cages and turned to look at the side. Ianto also turned and saw Lisa standing at the end of the hallway.
"Hello, Ianto." She said to him and she walked towards him.
He quickly had a flashback to the last time he saw Lisa, "What do you want? Why are you here? This isn't happening."
"There's only one way to stop this, before things get worse. People will die, Ianto. Thousands of people. Unless you open the Rift." She said.
Ianto closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened his eyes, Lisa was gone. The weevil howled. The ceiling lights flickered. Spooked, Ianto looked around. Lisa was gone. The weevil hissed. Ianto panted and caught his breath.
Owen and Tosh returned and meet Jack, Gwen and Bella near the workstations.
"Owen. How was the hospital?" Jack asked.
"Laugh a bloody minute." He said. Toshiko returned to her workstation. She was still stunned by seeing her mother and non-responsive. "They've got an outbreak of the Black Death."
"What? Oh, my God!" Bella said shocked.
"Have they got it under control?" Jack asked Tosh, she didn't respond. Jack hit the desk with his hand. Toshiko snapped out of it and looked at him. "Tosh! How are they coping?"
"Um, Owen got the place quarantined and organized treatments for those who've been infected." She said.
"Only consolation is, it's treatable in these days. But you know, what happens when the next carrier comes through, Jack? Someone carrying smallpox or Ebola, or something from the future we don't even know about? What do we do then?" Owen said.
"Yeah, well, it's not doing us any good standing around speculating." Jack said and headed for his office. Owen blocked his path.
"We need to be prepared. We're helpless. All we're doing here is putting sticking plasters on gaping wounds!" Owen shouted.
"What do you suggest?" Jack argued back.
"I suggest you lead us and you tell us what the instructions are." Owen said,
"Owen…" Bella tried.
"No, come on. You're all thinking it too. You're the big man here. You keep all the secrets. Well, now's the time to tell us a few and tell us how the hell we're gonna get out of this!" Owen said.
"You want to know a secret? There is no solution. I can't fix this. Because this was never meant to happen. The first thing you learned when you joined Torchwood was 'Don't Mess with the Rift'. But you disobeyed those orders and now everything that's happening is down to you." Jack said.
"I only disobeyed instructions to get you back." Owen shot back.
"And now people are dying."
"What? So I shouldn't have bothered?" Owen said. Jack didn't say anything, so Owen got even angrier, "Who the fuck are you, anyway? Jack Harkness? You don't even exist. We've looked. So if you're not even a real person, then why should I follow your orders?"
"Get out."
"What?" Owen said.
"Get out! I'm relieving you of your duty." Jack said.
"No. You can't do that!" Tosh joined in.
"Bollocks, you are!" Owen said.
"Jack, wait." Gwen tried.
He walked up to Owen, "You're done here." He then walked back to his office.
"What, so that's it? The whole world is going to shit and you're going to fire me?" Owen scoffed.
"For God's sake! Both of you! We need to stick together on this." Bella screamed.
"If I can't rely on you, if I don't have your complete trust, you don't belong here. That goes for the rest of you. Anyone who agrees with Owen, leave now." Jack said. Owen looked at everyone, but no one moved.
"So now we know how it is. So that leaves me 24 hours to savour the good times." Owen said.
"What are you talking about?" Gwen said.
"Think about it, Gwen. Nobody leaves this place intact. Sometime in the next 24 hours ... I get Ret-conned. All my memories erased. I don't know where or when, but he'll get me." Owen explained.
"Jack, this has gone far enough." Gwen said but Jack didn't back down.
"So I guess this is goodbye." Owen said and put his gun on the nearest table. "Good luck with the end of the world. " He took a couple of steps to leave, then turned around and looked straight at Bella, he was trying so hard not to go up to her and kiss her. Even with the end of the world she still looked so beautiful. "I would say thanks for the memories…"
Bella couldn't take it anymore, "Dad, for God's sake!" Owen turned and left.
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Gwen and Jack walked through the Arcades. "Okay, guys, Bilis' shop is coming up twenty meters on your left'." Ianto said over the radio. Jack and Gwen entered the shop. There were timepieces everywhere – all with varying times.)
"Wow." Gwen said. Jack closed the door behind them. "Some of this stuff must go back centuries."
"He scavenges antique pieces from the past, brings them here, sells them for a profit. Not a bad business plan." Jack said, looking around.
"We all have to earn a living." Bilis said coming down the staircase. He was holding an open box.
"You're from 1941." Jack commented.
"As you were." He said, then turned to Gwen, "Hello, again." He then walked to his desk.
"How can you be in two time zones at once?" Gwen asked.
"I can step across eras, like you'd walk into another room. At first, it was the most incredible gift. Now I know the reality ... it's a curse." He explained.
"Why?" Gwen asked him.
"I can see the whole of history, but I don't belong anywhere within it." Then started talking to Jack, "So, your return to this time had a price. Time's splintering. This city exists on a rift in time. The only way to make it right is to fully open that rift - let it suck back what fell through."
"No way. It's too dangerous." Jack said shaking his head.
"Can we even do that?" Gwen asked.
"Of course you can. Isn't that right, Captain?" He said, Jack didn't answer. Gwen turned and looked at him.
"Jack?"
"You've seen what happened. If we open that rift fully, millions of lives will be at risk." He finally said.
"And yet, if you don't, more will fall through. Lives will be lost." Bilis said.
Jack chuckled and took out his gun. He pointed it at Bilis, who raised his hands, "You know so much, you're coming back with us."
"I'm sorry." He said shaking his head, and then he was gone.
"Damn it!" Jack said putting his gun away. "Trace the temporal activity around this location." He said over the radio, then to Gwen, "We need to find out where he is. Come on."
Jack ran out of the shop. Gwen lingered, slower to follow Jack. She looked around at the clocks hanging on the walls. They chime even though they're on different times. Gwen turned to leave and stopped abruptly. Bilis was standing in her way. He looked at her. She turned to the door and he stopped her from opening the door.
"I am not your enemy." He said.
Gwen backed away from him, "In the cells, why did you say you were sorry?"
"Sometimes it's better to live in ignorance ... unless ... Do you really want to know?" He said.
"Know what?"
"Hold my hands. I'll show you." He said and held her hands for her.
"Okay." She moved and put her hands on his. And she saw Rhys lying in a pool of blood. She gasped and let go of his hands.
"I'm sorry!" He said,
Gwen edged to the door as she stared at Bilis. "What did you just show me?"
"The future."
Gwen ran out of the shop, and caught up with Jack, "What took you so long?" She didn't answer him and ran past him. "Gwen?"
Jack started running after her. She didn't stop. "Gwen!" Gwen turned the corner and Jack stopped running after her.
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Owen sat at the bar counter, nearly at the bottom of his third glass. When he looked up and saw Diane standing near him. She started telling him that she was lost, asking him to bring her back by opening the rift. Then she disappeared, Owen gasped and cried. He closed his eyes for a moment as he got a hold of himself. He thought about what he needed to do.
Gwen looked in one of the cells where she put Rhys. Rhys was lying on the cell bench. Gwen
was startled when he woke up gasping. "Woah. Take it easy." She said.
"What's going on?" Rhys said looking around the cell, "Am I dreaming?"
"This is where I work." Gwen said.
"You work in a prison?"
"These are just the cells." Gwen explained.
"You locked me in a cell? What the hell are you playing at?"
"I was just trying to keep you safe."
"I was safe at home!"
"No, you weren't. You really weren't."
"Listen here, Gwen, you'd better tell me exactly what's going on cos I've taken some shit over the past few months. What's all this?"
"Rhys, listen to me, I need you to trust me. Okay, it may not seem like it at the moment, but I'm just trying to take care of you. I love you, sweetheart."
A loud moan echoed in the vault, which startled Rhys. "What the hell was that?"
"Just try and relax and I'll come back for you."
"What do you mean? You're not going to leave me down here!" She said and turned to leave, "I'm sorry." Rhys shouted after her.
Gwen returned to the hub. Toshiko, Ianto and Jack were grouped together. Bella was on the phone.
"OK, Jason slow down. What happened?" She said voice shaking a little.
"Is she ok?" Bella said worried.
"Um...why me?" She said pacing round the hub while everyone was staring at her.
"Right...um...s-sure I'll be right there, just apply pressure to the wound and keep her talking." She said hanging up the phone and running down to the autopsy bay. She grabbed a few things and shoved them into a bag then ran back to the main level.
"Where you going?" Jack asked her looking worried about her.
"Jason's. Andria was attacked by what Jason described by a weevil." Bella said trying to keep her voice level but failing. "I need to go."
"God, yeah go. We'll be fine make sure that's she's ok." Jack said and she ran out of the hub.
Jack turned back to Gwen, "Did he wake up?"
"Yeah. Yeah, he did. Tosh, can you bring up the CCTV of the vaults? Er, just leave it on the screen, I know it sounds crazy, but…" Gwen asked.
Tosh offered her a small smile, "Sure, no problem."
"Thank you ... for helping me bring him here." Gwen said.
"I can't understand how Bilis was able to show you that vision." Tosh said.
"It was so real, Tosh. I was in my flat. It smelt like my flat, it had all the sounds of my flat. I touched the blood. I can still feel it on my hands. Rhys's blood." She said then stopped.
"It's not gonna happen." Jack said to her. Gwen took a breath and calmed down. Ianto and Toshiko were both spooked by their own experiences and were very quiet. Jack looked at everyone. Gwen nodded. "Come on, there's still work to be done."
Jack started to move when the lights shut off and the klaxon sounded. "What's going on?" Ianto said.
"We've got a security breach." Tosh said and she and Ianto headed back to the workstations.
"All right, nobody panic." Jack said.
Gwen didn't listen and ran back to the vaults, screaming for Rhys. Jack ran after her.
Part 2...