Torchwood Three

John Hart entered the infirmary. A computer notification told him Steven was awake. The updated medical information was good. It didn't explain the weapon used or his injuries. One puzzle in a growing list. When he recovered, they needed to focus on accessing the situation. Either they had bad information or another group was manipulating time also.

"Nanogenes didn't work?" Steven sounded weak.

"Partly," John stopped next to Steven's cot and reviewed the scan readings. "Your injuries had residual energy that interfered."

"Is the kid safe?"

John could only hope. "The Sisters didn't provide details."

"Of course not." Steven groaned. "That would be sane."

"Would your new friend be willing to answer questions?"

"What happened?"

John had no idea what was happening. Which was the problem. "Someone is feeding this office information about a network of researchers and possibly human-traffickers. It's possible that group is retaliating. Someone sent London HR a fake domestic violence report. The same day as the fake hostage situation. It included a fake porn video with Jack edited into it."

"How is tad-cu coping?"

"Him and Jack are having issues." John suspected it affected Jack's self-confidence.

Steven grimaced, pushing himself up. "How does anyone have the information necessary? When I joined Torchwood, their relationship was viewed inaccurately. It was later that tad-cu's accomplishments were publicized."

"Torchwood black ops. Anyone who's worked with Jack could know it's more than a casual relationship."

"It's more than that. Targeting tad-cu's insecurities…" Steven trailed off. "He worked at the Institute. Someone he knows."

"How many people survived the Cyberman attack?" John never had any reason to look it up, and Anwen only mentioned it in passing. It happened years before she was born.

"Not many." Steven paused to think. "Black ops went underground after the attack. Some used it to fake their deaths."

"Genetic experimentation in Cardiff suggests an attempt to create or research Rift abilities." That didn't fit with the missing women, John thought, unless the researchers were looking for specific genetic traits. He explained what he found in Gwen's investigation files.

"Manchester?" Steven shakes his head slightly. "Nothing connected to genetic research. But it wasn't until Anwen took over London that I got a seat at the table."

"We were sent here for a reason. And probably told what we needed to hear." John took a moment. "Why us?"

"I've asked myself that repeatedly." Steven laid back down. "I don't have an answer."

"When you're able, we need to review everything about the current situation. And figure it out."

Steven paused to think. "One possibility is that Anwen trusted us. She got paranoid in the end."

John doubted it was that simple. "Or she knew us. Anwen could have easily predicted our behavior in varied situations." Which meant she knew Steven wouldn't be able to cope. Which reminded John to ask about the child rescue situation. "Why did the Sisters contact you?"

"For information on missing women in the last six months."

"The prostitutes?"

Steven looked like he missed something. "No. Attacks on domestic shelters. Each had a child in care."


Hughes Flats; Cardiff, Wales

Gwen Cooper walked into Jack's flat. "Owen went home."

Anwen set a box down in front of the bedroom and walked out. Gwen watched her daughter wondering what she was missing. She looked around the main room and realized there were a few boxes and a garment bag hanging on the office door.

"Is Anwen helping Ianto redecorate?"

"She volunteered to help Ianto move in before I changed my mind." Jack's tone was hard to read.

Gwen suspected that had something to do with what she said to Jack earlier. It wouldn't fix their problems, it would likely make them worse. Mentioning it wouldn't help. All she could do was hope she was wrong. Their relationship never made sense to her.

"A contact on the Manchester PD called back. I told him I was interested in the number of missing." It was worse than she originally thought. "The first attempts to file missing persons reports were three months ago. The police didn't take it seriously." She exhaled sharply. "The media found out this morning from an anonymous source. A new tabloid site claims a mass grave was found in London and cited the Moss-Probert murders as a cover-up." Pause. "It could be an attempt to force the police to investigate the missing women."

"Or cooperate with us."

That was another issue. "I had more than one contact tell me I had to request information through formal channels. London Metro said all requests had to come from Torchwood London. They received a memo that they can't provide information to regional offices." She shook her head. "I called Torchwood and asked. The person said she didn't know anything about it and would get back to me. It's been four hours."

"Did Ianto mention HR?"

Anwen entered carrying another box with Ianto behind her. Gwen waited until they left again. "No."

Jack explained the fake HR report and the video. "It might have been taken seriously."

"The timing." Gwen wondered. "Is it possible we're caught in the middle? Someone is directing our attention toward the researchers. The fertility clinic had an anonymous caller. Alien tech was left at the cleaning company. Attacking your, or our, credibility could be an attempt to deflect our investigation."

"Cory said a businessman contacted him for a networking event. It went south because he knew me." Jack paused. "Percy Heitt. Cory said he was based in Russia."

Gwen explained what she'd discovered about Lake and Starkie's cars. "What are we dealing with?"

"This could be part of the future's manipulations. Intentionally or not."

"Another team? Would John have mentioned it?"

"Or he might not know. It could have been done with cells. Like terrorists. A group only knows what they need to. Including conflicting missions."

"How would someone plan that?"

"I don't know."

Anwen returned and set a blender on the counter. "Is John still at the hub?"

"What? Gwen asked.

"John, is he at the hub? Ianto needs furniture moved. With Jack, John and dad, it won't take all night."

"Steven's still in the infirmary," Jack said.

Anwen smiled at her mother. "I guess you're moving furniture. I'll go get dad."