Exiting the TARDIS, Matt and Ripley glanced around their new surroundings.
The moment they exited; the salty air touched their noses. Overhead, the sunlight slowly raised from behind the salt damaged buildings.
There's no people out, just the three, and Jack specifically chose this time for the pair to arrive, to avoid the unnecessary run-ins with the locals.
Morning's just begun from the looks of it, but due to the town near the ocean, it's hard to tell what season it is.
Jack made sure they came in the day, because of the problem they're having.
All the attacks happened at night.
He also wanted time to go over what they knew about the problem and give the pair time familiarize to their surroundings.
Jack motioned with his arm for them to follow him and Ripley locked the TARDIS door before following Matt and Jack.
As they walked, Matt and Ripley spotted more buildings that suffered salt damage from the heavy salt in the air over the years. Stains from the rain and the fog that's always constant at times muddled the colours.
There's even a distinct fish smell in the air, too, the closer they were towards the barges.
Apparently, the town used to export countless fishes, but due to overfishing, the stock depleted heavily and further caused the decline.
Jack gave them another rundown of Montreal, familiarizing them with the town so they know know what to expect during this journey.
It's not the Montreal one expected, different one, a seaside town that made living on the bay in a completely different country. In a completely different universe. It's complicated, Jack didn't have the time to go into details on how or why he's dealing with issues not in his universe.
Times changed and the bay isn't making money like it used to, causing people to migrate for jobs.
The ones who stayed, became dock workers for ships from companies that dock at the bay before journeying to the destination at Harbor Anne at the freight yard.
The population bleed's not helping with the delicate matter at hand, because already people started becoming suspicious about the deaths happening.
Jack and his team tried to quell them from knowing anything about the deaths except when they need to know.
Last thing him and his team needed was people staking other people because of the belief they're vampires.
There was a case a while back that caused some issues that resulted in people hurting each other over the misconception they're immortal.
Jack wasn't happy with his team assigned to deal with that mess. A few of his followers nearly hurt some of his teammates and that wasn't something Jack easily forgives, but he's fortunate nobody was seriously hurt. Well, just the faith healer he shot in the leg, but he digresses.
Since then, Jack held a nasty grudge towards self-proclaimed faith healers who promised factious things to people who didn't know better.
Getting back to the point at hand, Jack wanted to avoid that happening again and keep the locals in Montreal in the dark as much as possible.
To keep the locals unaware but on their guard, Jack put out a public statement saying the first killings were the work of a serial killer.
Doing this resulted in a drop of people outside at night and helped locate the originator faster.
Then came the second killings and he had to give the statement that it's a copycat and that him and his team were working on catching them.
Well, catching the copycat's not the word Jack would've described his team's efforts, but he couldn't just tell people what they really planned to do.
Less people out, but there's still the people who need their cheap fixes. Drinking, gambling, drugs, and therein. Not always in that order.
"Always at night, never in day," Jack told them what him and his team figured out about their suspect.
The originator worked both day and night, surprisingly. Which further helped Jack's team in locating and neutralizing the originator.
This one exclusively killed at night.
Harder to capture evidence at night.
Explaining to them, Jack told them his team set up cameras everywhere to try to capture the suspect, but it didn't turn out the way they hoped.
Night after night, in known areas of the attacks, nothing on the cameras. They tried moving them around, but it just doesn't seem like they're doing much. It bothered Jack as he stated he lost hours of sleep trying to rack his brain over this conundrum.
"What about witnesses?" Ripley inquired as she followed the men.
Jack responded and said that's the first thing they did when the first killings started. That's how they found the originator of the previous killings. He socialized with his victims and that caused his downfall.
When they killed him and the killings continued, nobody's seen anything since, well, nobody alive.
"He was sloppy," Jack explained how they tracked the originator. "He tried to tongue me, you know."
Jack noticed looks by the pair before moving on as he told them what happened.
"When we killed him, we thought it was the end of it. Then the killings started again. There's nothing on the cameras this time around and there's no witnesses," Jack frowned as he neared the end.
When Ripley caught on, he affirmed that any witnesses of the recent killings haven't turned up in one piece.
Tracked down and systematically killed.
Didn't stop there, if they talked to anyone about witnessing the attacks, it'd hunt them too.
"The originator only drank blood, but he was clean about it. It tipped us off something went wrong when we found the fresh bodies, what's left of them," Jack winced as he regaled the story.
When Jack and his team dealt with the originator of the first killings, he only drank blood of his victims and left bodies in hard to find places.
After his death, the killings resumed, but with a changed MO and it worried Jack.
Blood's still the primary motive, but the execution wasn't clean and grisly instead. Torn throats and everything, no attempt to hide the bodies unlike the originator.
Asked about when the recent killings started, Jack frowned as he estimated they happened a little after Vena's body went missing from the morgue.
Jack knew what it sounded and already did the math and the logistics, so it's all said and done. However, it didn't hurt to have a second opinion.
He knew they were thinking the same thing, it's in his nature to read people, it's his job
"Before you even suggest it, I think so, too," Jack stopped them before they even got a word out.
One of the examiners didn't clock out a few nights after Vena's body went to the morgue. Jack went to look for him and found him, what remained of him, and Vena's body gone.
A bloodbath, blood spewed everywhere, the poor examiner's throat completely opened, his eyes wide so the attack caught him off-guard. He died instantly from the ensuring attack, which considering, better than the other victims that cropped up since the attacks started again.
"How is this even possible, why no one else?" Matt asked Jack about other potential infected and Jack shrugged.
Explaining to them as they walked along the corridors, Jack said that after Vena's body went missing, he checked the other bodies from the previous attacks. They're accounted for and it baffled him.
"Something happened," Ripley summed as she went up the steps.
Nodding, Jack said that he hasn't figured out what happened to cause this bizarre incident.
Going by what she knew about vampires, Ripley asked if it's possible that the originator might've given her some of his blood or at least accidentally.
It's outlandish to say, but considering what the pair deal with on a day-to-day basis, the fact of the matter, Ripley needed to cover her bases and going by old myths and legends be damned.
Jack stopped for a moment and turned around.
"We found defensive wounds on her hands, so we knew she fought him. He had a bloody busted lip when we caught up to him," Jack told her what occurred during the autopsy.
Vena had defensive wounds on her hands, scraps, and cuts, she got into a fight with the originator before he overpowered her.
It's possible part of his blood got into her veins when he bit her.
"But we didn't see this happen anywhere else," Jack sighed in frustration.
Matt listened and as he did, he asked about the originator in detail, about turning humans into it, and if there might've been a reaction caused by his blood ending up in Vena's blood.
Jack pondered his question before responding that he's positive that because of the originator feeding on humans, it might've caused anomalies in his blood. He'd have to build up resistance to diseases carried by some humans.
When Jack's team tested the originator's blood, they found accuse anomalies, but they never would've guessed them to cause anomalies in humans.
"So, if what you're telling us is true, then we have no choice to destroy her, whatever she became, then," Ripley frowned as she concluded that there's no way for them to save her.
Effectively, Vena died and nobody comes back quite the same when they do, especially when they're infected by the blood of a space vampire.
As a famous man once said, sometimes, dead is better.
"Yeah, that's why I needed your help. Lee can't find out about this. He means well, but there's no way we can save her. She's as much the same as the originator," Jack heavily sighed as he turned around to walk again.
He informed them that his team's operating under the assumption of a copycat killer and that as far as they're aware, Vena's still it the morgue pending her transfer to a funeral home.
Jack couldn't send Lee home despite him wanting to, because he didn't want Lee getting any ideas.
Lee's always wanting to impress the institution and while Jack's humble, he can't risk Lee's life.
So, Jack came up with a way to keep him out of the loop and from finding out what he and his team were really doing.
"You had him go back to drag?" Ripley raised a brow at Jack's plan to send Lee back to his club to scope out any suspicious parties. He's not alone, Jack sent someone with him, and he made sure Lee came back to the institution before sundown.
Jack stressed he didn't want to do this, but it's the only way he knew to keep Lee from finding out and keep him in the dark until they catch Vena and destroy her.
"How're we going to do that?" Matt asked him.
He wished he didn't ask.
"Well, I was hoping you'd help me bait her out of hiding," Jack admitted.
Always a catch.
Matt crossed his arms as he stopped walking, "You want us to bait her"
Jack gestured as he smiled unconvincingly.
"Well, you're the Doctor, right?" Jack tried to say Matt shouldn't have any trouble with that. It's much as his job as is Jack's, in his line of thinking.
"I don't suppose you'll give us a rundown on how you expect us to do that, right?" Ripley raised a brow at Jack.
Jack gestured as he admitted that he didn't think some things ahead, but he promised the pair he won't let anything happen to them.
Be a crime to lose a big help like the Doctor to a vampire!
The trio made their way to a shack by the bay, nets stacked near the wooden door, and Jack opened it for them.
He motioned them to go inside and they did.
"Bit crowded in here," Matt noted the shack wasn't big enough for all three people to stand inside.
Jack made a comment, "It's bigger on the inside, promise!"
He pulled a hidden lever and warned the pair to stay together as the floor under them slowly recessed into the ground.
Matt held onto Ripley as they looked up, the light disappearing as the floor's sealed to keep the illusion.
Slowly, the lift made its way down the automated rails and came to a stop, locking into place.
In front of them a massive metal door and Jack hurried to the console near it. He pushed a button and the light from the camera came on as he exclaimed, "Hi, honey, I'm home!"
There's an audible groan and someone said, "What do you want?"
Jack gave a short summary and the massive metal door slowly opened as Jack took point.
He smiled as he turned his head to the pair.
"Welcome to Torchwood!" Jack exclaimed.
Jack toured Ripley and Matt through Torchwood. He introduced them to his team.
Gwen, Ewen, his twin Owen, Stephen, Ianto, of course, and Jack!
"Small team," Ripley commented on the small team.
Jack acknowledged it and said that he likes to keep the team small for conventional reasons. Too many cooks in the kitchen spoil dinner, he thinks.
A cohesive team with rhyme and reason.
Going through their roles, Jack summed.
Gwen's the communications officer, she keeps the team up to date during their missions and handles messages from the main office.
Ewen's the team medic, always handy to have one, and his favorite past time's bird watching. He looks grumpy, act grumpy, but believe Jack, he is grumpy without his morning coffee.
Owen, Ewen's twin, worked as a field medic for the team while Ewen stayed back at the base. He likes reading and forced to wear glasses because of him reading so much, so Jack says.
Stephen, he's the muscle of the team, if they need crates or other moved out of their way, he's the man to do it. Despite him looking like a bodybuilder from Russia, he's actually nice and hardly raises his voice. He even likes knitting on his day-offs.
Ianto, the love of Jack's, tracks everything and everyone from the team to the world at large, security details, authorizations, he's the one in charge of it all. He also snores.
Then came Jack, the captain of this team, he does a mix of everything and the one who keeps things together. Well, Ianto does that most often than not, but Jack tries nevertheless!
"But don't worry, one hit of a button, we'll have plenty of backup if things get hairy," Jack assured them that he had plans in case something happens.
In seconds, armed men and women arrived and that's all she wrote for whatever the situation called for. It's handy, but Jack didn't like using them much on the account his goal's to keep things on the lowdown. Out of mind, out of sight. No chance of anyone unintentionally hurt because Jack became brazen with the use of the button.
He reserved it for specific occasions.
Occasions where he and his team weren't capable of sorting on their own and they need backup pronto.
Worked out for him, there's been a few times he needed backup, but other times he's able to deal with it.
"What about Vena?" Ripley asked if her presence meant Jack would've needed the button.
Frowning, Jack admitted that because of her hostility, he'll have no choice to use backup to subdue her. There's no way he can reasonably use just his team.
Jack specified in the conference call he needed them with night and heat vision, short- and long-range firearms, and in case something happened, a knife or two for close range.
"It's the only thing we can do for now until we can find and kill her," Jack told them.
Showing them around the space that's Torchwood, Jack showed the large computers that his team uses to track missions and anything of that nature.
While Lee's working his old job, the screens showed locations where Vena appeared and the distance between them. They made sure to account for everything when they calculated the distance between murders.
"So far, she's doing things on her own terms. No real pattern, whoever she crosses," Jack summed.
The originator had a pattern, that's how Jack and his team found and dealt with him. Vena didn't and now they're in a pickle because they don't know where she goes from her latest kills.
"Why do you insist on keeping things disorderly?" Ianto complained about Jack's inability to organize the paperwork as he shuffled papers in his hand, trying to fix them.
Jack flinched as he tried to defend himself that he has an order for everything and Ianto shot him a glare as he held up the disorganized paperwork.
"You know some of us would like to order more paper clips without sorting through DoD orders," Ianto tapped his thin finger against the lettering for one document and compared it to the one for bulk ordering.
Jack turned his head to Ripley and Matt and said, "Who needs an organizer when I have one?"
Ianto then added as he stepped close to Jack, "Who needs nine thousand rounds of paper clips?"
Matt got in between them and asked for Jack to explain what they're supposed to do with the situation.
Nodding, Jack bid Ianto a swift farewell as he led Ripley and Matt to his office where he sat at his chair as the two sat in the chairs in front of his desk.
"I figured if you knew what to do in this situation, you'd give us a brief," Jack looked at Matt for guidance.
While Jack normally had plans, they didn't cover the chances of his recruit's girlfriend becoming a vampire and descending on unsuspecting people at night.
Matt nervously looked towards Ripley for her guidance and she silently conversed with him before he gave his two pence.
"If there's nothing you can do for her and killing's her the only option, you're going to either have to find where she's hiding and burn it down. Or draw her out and kill her, then," Matt summarized his idea.
If Vena's vampirism can't be cured and there's no chance she'll ever recover, then destroying her's the only option, be fire or bullets.
There's no humane way of doing it, but Matt figured that since Vena's turned, killing her in someway's humane than letting whatever in her turned her into a vampire fester.
Jack nods, it's as simple as that.
"Did you get a report on all the warehouses?" Ripley asked him.
Nodding, Jack told her that he did, but there's so many that seen better days, it's a good guess as any.
"Why not use a tracker?" Matt brought up a good point.
This all said and done with a tracker and while Jack agreed, it didn't work out the way he hoped.
"She ripped it out of her own skin and tossed it in the sea," Jack told them about their attempt at tracking Vena.
Jack shot a track into Vena's leg and hoped it'd led him and his team to her hiding spot. Unfortunately, Vena tore it out of her leg and threw it in the sea near the docks.
While they didn't track her, they did get clump of her flesh they used to study the changes done to her from the mutations.
That's how Jack found out that there's no chance to save her.
Her DNA's completely changed and ravaged, if the projection held, she's not even human, anymore. Further, she won't even be a hybrid, either. She'll just be like the originator, but feral.
"As you can see, it's difficult," Jack sighed.
His team needed to ensure the public weren't endangered by their plans and ensure that no one else's attacked by Vena.
"If we lure her out, can your people kill her?" Matt asked him.
Jack chewed on his bottom lip before saying that he made sure they're using ammo that explode on contact. However, they have a very short range to avoid unnecessary destruction of public property and the chance of hurting someone.
It took time, but Jack fought for the management to allow him to use the ammo. They complained it'll take too much time and money, but safety's Jack's priority above all.
"What if this plan doesn't work?" Ripley asked Jack.
Frowning, Jack told her that he doesn't know what else to do, that's why he went through the trouble to call the TARDIS and have it come pick him up to find and bring the Doctor to their location.
"Please, Doc, I don't know what else to do. I'm up to my neck in regulatory paperwork and I don't want anymore deaths happening," Jack pleaded with Matt.
