Chapter Five

As night approached, Tosh, Owen and Suzie left. They hadn't been alerted by the rift, which Tosh informed me meant that they were taking a slow day to get through paperwork and any personal projects they may be working on (like Owen's improved Weevil Spray and Tosh's predictor program). Ianto was the last person to leave at eight, by which point I had migrated back up to Jack's office and swopped the rule book for some college work.

"What are you doing?" Jack asked after a while having sat listening to my rapid typing while he was working through the never-ending pile of paperwork on his desk.

"Researching for my ancient history essay. Once I've done it, I can take my exams. I'm hoping to book them for November now that I can pay for them." I told him, looking over the top of the laptop.

"You have to pay for your exams?" Jack asked frowning.

"I also have to pay to submit the cause work. Luckily I don't have to pay to access the work and criteria." I shrugged. That had annoyed me as well, the fact that only someone with disposable income could afford to take their exams and home school.

"Let me know what day your exams are and I'll have someone cover for you unless the worlds ending – think they'll forgive you if you skip the exam in that case."

"Yes, and I can put the re-sit down as expenditure because I only missed the initial exam because of the helping to stop 'the end of the world' problem." I teased back, making Jack laugh lightly.

"You're being very kind to me." I said, mildly suspicious. People were rarely kind without a reason.

"You're part of my team now. It's my responsibility to make sure you're happy and healthy. The basics, such as a place to live and money for food and clothes, are obvious. But your exams are a slightly less obvious necessity that I don't mind helping you get, especially since you are the youngest employee that we've ether had. You could decide you don't want to work here after a couple of days, in which case the exams would become vital for whatever you want to do after that." Jack explained seriously.

Before I could think of something to respond too such kindness with, Jack's screen caught my eye. It had been showing the bay outside of the base. Before now it had been empty, only a couple of lone passers-by appearing. But now Gwen Cooper had appeared on the screen and from the camera dark spots Suzie appeared.

"Jack." I warned him, not liking the feeling of sudden foreboding that had appeared in my gut.

He turned to face the screens and raised his eyebrow. "Gwen must have broken the Retcon." Jack observed.

"Retcon?" I questioned, standing and moving to Jack's side for a better view of the screen.

"Amnesia pill." Jack waved me off, frowning at the screen. "What is Suzie doing?" he asked suspiciously.

"…right. You told Jack we should liaise with the police. I was the only one who bothered so I was the only one who saw the report." I said, frowning at the screen as I tried to read Suzie's lips. I was leaning slightly over Jack's shoulder so that I had a better view of what was happening.

"You can lip read." Jack noted in shock. He had been shocked more times by Raven in the last twenty-four hours then he had been in several decades. Only the Doctor had manged to surprise him like Raven was doing now.

"Yes. Can't give you Gwen's side of the conversation though." I responded.

"What is she doing with the knife?" Jack asked frowning at the screen, growing worried about his second in command. He had a terrible feeling in his gut.

"They got a good likeness." I continued to lip read in the hopes of answering Jack's question. There was a pause as Gwen obviously said something. "I thought you might have seen it. And that can trip the amnesia, just one specific image, if you're clever. He said you were good. Anyway. It's not much good now, I can't really. But you're gonna put up a fight. So, I've got…" I paused as Suzie rummaged through her bag. When she finally dropped the bag, the knife had been replaced with a conventional hand gun.

"That's my cue." Jack said, jumping to his feet and drawing his own gun as he ran from the room.

While Jack was going to intervene, I continued to watch the scene playing out before me, hoping Jack would get there before Susie did something she would regret.

"There. That's better." I muttered, continuing to translate what was being spoken despite the fact that Jack couldn't hear what I was saying. "You had to come back." Susie looked terrified, there were tears in her eyes as she continued almost pleading with Gwen. "You're the only one who can make the link. Well, the only one in public. Torchwood's going to find out by morning, but I'll be gone. I don't know where. Far away. What am I going to do? I loved this job. I really loved it. And now I've got to run. Oh, Christ. How can you do any other job after this one?"

In an attempt to find out what Susie was on about I pulled up a second screen and hacked the police data base. When I found John Tucker's file there was a drawing of the murder weapon, with an exact likeness to the knife Susie had been holding a moment before.

"Cos it gets inside you. You do this job for long enough, and you end up thinking, how come we get all the Weevils and bollocks and shit? Is that what alien life is? Filth? But maybe there's better stuff out there, brilliant stuff, beautiful stuff. Just they don't come here. This planet's so dirty, that's all we get. The shit."

I frowned. I had only seen one good alien in my time – the Doctor – but he spoke with such joy about some of the things he had seen in the universe, even when he was crushed over the loss of his companion. Maybe very few good aliens came through the rift, but that didn't mean she should just cross themselves off.

"I wish I could forget." Gwen seemed to ask a question, probably about why she had killed three people. "For the glove. Just stay where you are. I needed the bodies. That's how it works, violent death. And it was so easy. To bring them back, I'd position myself behind the head, so they'd never see me twice."

I frowned. Those were the words of a remorseless killer, there was no way Susie had just been like this for the last five days (since the bodies started turning up according to the police file) she must have had the drive to kill in her before then. Torchwood just gave her the opportunity she needed to kill and a way of convincing herself it was the right thing to do – a personally motivated killer.

"It was the only way. The more I use the glove, the more I control it." Suzie continued her explanation, trying to get Gwen to understand why she had committed murder. "If I can get enough practice, then think what the glove could do. If I could get it to work all the time, on anything, beyond the two minutes, if it could work permanently, it could resurrect. Resurrection on demand for the whole world, isn't that good? Isn't it, though? Well, that's what I've been working for, all day and all night. The rest of them go swanning about, but I'm working."

From between Suzie and Gwen there was a slight flicker in the shape of a person. I wasn't entirely sure, but I thought it might have been Jack appearing via the 'scenic root'.

"You've got to get inside this stuff. Surrender yourself to it. I did, with the knife and the glove, and that's why the perception filter isn't gonna work on me." Susie swung her arm and shot the blur.

Suddenly Jack's body fell to the ground with a whole in his head. I gasped and frantically opened a couple of Jack's draws looking for a second weapon, while keeping an eye on the screen. Hoping I could get there before Suzie decided to kill Gwen as well.

"I can't let you go." Suzie said, steadying her hands. "I've got to."

Just as my hand found a second gun Jack's body twitched and started rising.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I've got to. I've got to. I've got to."

"Put down the gun." Jack ordered making Susie turned around and face him in shock as the last of the bullet wound healed. "Suzie, it's over. Now come with me." Jack held out his hand, pleading with his second to give up, and end this.

Suzie looked between Gwen and Jack before appearing to make a decision and shooting herself in the head. Gwen fell to her knees, obviously shocked about what had just happened. Jack stared down at Susie for a long moment before looking up at the camera.

"Could you please grab a body bag? There should be one in Owen's medical area." He spoke directly to me.

Taking a steadying breathe I went to the medical area. It took a couple of minutes for me to locate the body bags, but I managed it in the end. Since I didn't know how to activate the slab, I took the lift up to the tourist office before going around to find Jack hugging Gwen who was crying into his chest. From the faint blur I could see, Jack had moved Susie's body to the lift.

"Captain. What do you want me to do?" I asked letting him know I could deal with Susie if he wanted me to.

"Look after Gwen, I'll take care of Susie." Jack responded standing and passing Gwen over to me while grabbing the body bag.

"Are you sure?" I asked. I was the only one at Torchwood who didn't have an emotional connection to Susie.

"Yeah, it's my job." Jack responded. "Could you call the others? Tell them I want them to be in at eight tomorrow and if they have taken anything from the hub, they need to bring it in. You'll find their mobile numbers on their files." Jack gave his orders, while straightening himself up in an attempt to prepare himself for what he was about to do.

"Of course." I nodded my acceptance before leading Gwen back into the hub.

Once I had her settled in the kitchen with a cup of sugary tea and phoned the others, I went to find Jack. It took me a minute to remember the way to the 'morgue' where all Torchwood employees where frozen in cryo-stacies. According to Jack they had been freezing their employees since 1884 when they perfected the technology. They were the only Torchwood base who did so.

"Captain." I spoke hesitantly as I gently touched his arm to offer comfort and get his attention.

"I was the one who introduced her to Torchwood. She was my responsibility. I should have made sure she was okay. That she had someone to talk to." Jack responded to my unasked question, looking down at Suzie's body.

"It was her choice, Captain. She chose to kill those people. She chose to be resentful instead of seeking you out. You couldn't have stopped her." I told him softly.

"I should have limited her time with the glove. I noticed how she started changing when she was working on it, but I just put it down to stress." Jack frowned.

"It was her choice." I told him again, more firmly this time. "You can't blame yourself." I repeated.

Jack closed his eyes a moment before closing the white sheet over Suzie and putting her into the cryo-stasis cupboard.

"Did you phone the others?" Jack asked as they left the cryo-chamber.

"Yes. They'll be in. I didn't tell them about Suzie." I informed him. It didn't feel right to tell them over the phone, especially since I was a new employee and therefore a complete stranger to these people.

"I'll tell them in the morning. Could you make sure Gwen makes it home and inform her I want her in at nine tomorrow. And…" Jack hesitated a moment before heading up to his office. "Thank you."

"Glad I could help." I smiled sadly after him.

It took an hour to get Gwen home and then return to base. By which time Jack had finished packing away Susie's things into boxes. Jack himself was sat in his office, nursing a glass of whiskey.

"I'll have to go to her apartment tomorrow, pack the rest of her things." Jack told me when I came to lean on his desk.

"I'll help you." I promised him.

"You don't have to." Jack shook his head.

"And you don't have to do it alone." I countered; I wasn't going to leave him alone in his grief. It was hard enough that he had been forced to shoot Suzie in order to save a woman who was virtually a stranger, let alone go through her life and pack it away. And on top of that he now had to come to grips with what his employee, his friend, had done.

"Thanks." Jack smiled slightly, realising that I wasn't going anywhere when I leant against his desk. I silently topped up his glace of whiskey and waited patiently. Grief took many forms, but in a man like Jack there was only two responses: anger or reflection. Considering how he had acted so far, I was leaning towards reflection, if he was going to respond with anger, he would have done that down in the cryo-chamber once he'd moved out of 'task mode' which had seen him through Suzie's take down and clean up.

"I recruited Susie three years ago." Jack said after a long moment of silence. "She was very stubborn…"

Once he had started talking Jack didn't stop. He explained how Susie was recruited, what he saw in her and what she did for Torchwood. All those little things you remember about a co-worker and friend only after they were gone.