Chapter Six

****August 12th 2007****

The next day was rather subdued. Owen and Tosh handed in the artefacts that they had taken from the base. Jack was disappointed in the two of them but since the things they had taken weren't harmful he didn't do more than give them a disappointed look. While Owen, Ianto and Tosh stayed to monitor the rift, retrieve a couple of weevils and artefacts they had gotten a call about, Jack and I went to Suzie's flat and started packing it away.

As we worked Jack told me stories of Torchwood and the alien life he had encountered. He knew that I saw him come back to life and I had met the Doctor, so he told me some of the tales from the 51st Century (when he was born) and from his time with the Doctor. Distracting himself with more happy stories meant that neither of us dwelled on the fact that we were packing away the life of Susie Costello.

As the sun started to set, we returned to base. Gwen wasn't due to start her first day till the next morning so it was just the old team and me.

"Jack. I tried to find Suzie's family. But she's whipped her file. I can't get it back." Tosh informed them.

"Right." Jack sighed. "Was there any activity while we were gone?" he asked not wishing to talk about Suzie with the rest of the team. He wanted to get back to the normal working of the team as soon as possible, and that would mean not talking about Suzie as they got used to having Raven and Gwen on the team.

"No." Just as she responded an alert came from her computer. "Hold on." She turned back and started typing away.

"What we got?" Owen asked coming up from his lab having heard the alert.

"Some kind of comet." Tosh responded.

"Let's go." Jack said, sending a text to Gwen to let her know she was coming in early.

They all piled into the SUV. Owen was driving, Jack in the passenger seat. Tosh and I were in the back seats so that we could use the computers to get more information. They picked Gwen up from outside a restaurant and she took the seat between Tosh and me.

"This is a simple locate and clean-up operation." Jack informed them. "Find that meteorite before anyone else gets their hands on it. Good to see you, by the way." He turned around to smile at Gwen.

With everyone in their seats Tosh and I allowed the computer keyboards to slide down in front of us. Tosh immediately started hacking CrimInt while I hacked NASA to see if I could track the trajectory of the meteorite, it was the most useful thing I could think about doing at the time.

"Tosh, you found it yet?" Owen asked since he needed direction on where he was going instead of a general direction.

"You got enough kit?" Gwen asked sarcastically.

"Basic tracking and surveillance. Got the crash site. With this we can tap into CCTV networks, national databases." Tosh responded to both Gwen and Owen in one go as she sent the co-ordinates to the on-board GPS.

"I think it's cool." I smiled over at Tosh, amused by her ability to answer both Gwen and Owen. She smiled back, pleased to have another technical analysis on the team even if Raven wasn't at the same level as her, she was good enough to help her out when she needed it.

"Is this CrimInt? This is the police computer system. You shouldn't have this." Gwen demanded, realising what Tosh was using.

"Might wanna stop saying you and start saying we." Jack advised.

"Crash site is one hundred metres ahead." Tosh informed them having finally got its exact location.

"Army made it here first." I told them, looking at the alert that had just come through on my computer.

"Shit." Owen swore as they pulled up on the dirt track a few minutes later. "Even the amateurs are here." he said referring to the police who had the outer perimeter. It was the army who had the inner perimeter though.

"All right, usual formation." Jack ordered opening his door.

I didn't know what the formation was, but I wasn't going to question Jack. Instead I grabbed the briefcase Tosh passed me and fell into step on Jack's right while Tosh fell into step on his left. Owen was on Tosh's left with Gwen pestering him with questions.

"What's the usual formation?" Gwen questioned, trying to be discreet and failing.

"It varies." Owen responded. I didn't need to look to know that he was smirking in amusement – I could hear it in his voice.

We entered the curtained off area where the meteorite was burning in a crater. Jack was about to start giving orders when he realised that Gwen wasn't with them. With a roll of his eyes he left the tent to go and get her. While he was gone Tosh and Owen opened their kits and started examining the scene. Tosh passed me a scanner to test the air.

"So, let's see what we came for." Jack said when he returned with Gwen behind him. "What do we know?"

"Bog standard space debris. That's a technical term." Owen responded before smirking at Gwen.

"Yeah, thanks." Gwen muttered sarcastically.

"So, take all the readings and let's get out of here." Jack ordered throwing some tools to Owen.

Since I was recording the readings on the equipment in a little book to be compared later, Tosh started carefully scraping from the surface of the meteorite to run tests on when they got back to the hub.

"Make yourself useful, sweetheart. Pass us the big chisel from the toolbox." Owen asked, when he put his stereoscope down. He was trying to determine if it was a meteorite or a spaceship. The easiest way to do that was to determine if the inside was hollow and whether there was something in it.

"Not sweetheart, Gwen. One syllable. Sure, you can manage it." Gwen snapped back as she bent down to the tool box.

"Not sweetcheeks? Freckles? New Girl?" Owen asked, pleased that there was someone on the team he could wind up. The others had become practically immune to him. Raven didn't seem to mind his blunt sarcastic mannerism and in the couple of conversations they had actually been able to hold so far, proved that she could be just as sarcastic.

"It's a shame your tool's not big enough for the job, darlin'. Catch." Gwen threw the chisel point first, obviously angry with Owen's comments.

"Don't!" Owen shouted trying to grab it but he wasn't quick enough and it pierced the meteor. "Shit." Owen swore as gas started rising. The monitor in my hand went crazy as the air was polluted.

"Owen, catch. Put this on." Jack said throwing everyone a gas mask. Since I was closest to him, he pulled the gas mask on to me instead of throwing me one. I was somewhat grateful for this since my hands were occupied with the monitor which I didn't want to drop since it was necessary in order to know when the air was safe and they could analysis the readings when they got back to the base to find out what the hell they had just released.

Once the pink gas had cleared the area, the monitor in my hand returned to normal levels and I motioned to Jack to let him know it was safe.

"It was a spaceship, not a meteorite." Tosh said the obvious as they packed the equipment.

"We need to get back to the hub, find out where it went. And what it is." Jack ordered as he swept out of the tent.

"I'm sorry." Gwen said for the hundredth time as they entered the hub.

"Seriously, stop saying that." Jack said, annoyed. He was aware that mistakes happen and right now they had bigger things to worry about then who was to blame. He needed to find the gas creature, contain it and then go and make some phone calls to reassure people that there was not a hostile alien loose in Cardiff (not necessarily in that order).

"But I am. I mean, really. I am really, really sorry. God, I can't believe it." Gwen said looking around at everyone.

"Didn't they teach Health and Safety in the police?" Owen asked sarcastically as Jack placed the containment case on the autopsy table.

"You two chucked tools at each other, so I…" Gwen tried to explain.

"We didn't miss." Owen cut her off.

"I'll sort it. Whatever's happened, I'll deal with it." Gwen promised.

"What do you think has happened?" Tosh asked, looking to Jack to see if he had seen this before. Sometimes, Jack would have quite a bit of knowledge about the aliens they came across and the debris left behind, but by the look on Jack's face, Tosh guessed that this wasn't one of those times.

"I mean, it was just gas, wasn't it? That can't be too bad, can it?" Gwen asked naïvely. Even I knew that this wasn't good and I was only seventeen! I was starting to wonder what skills Jack saw in Gwen beyond her curiosity and experience with the police system.

"Right, because gas never did anyone any harm." Owen said sarcastically.

"On the plus side, we've got good evidence, relatively undamaged." Jack cut in, pulling the chunk of meteorite out of the container.

"On the downside, there's an alien on the loose. We don't know where it is, why it's here or what it's going to do." Owen reminded them, shooting a glare at Gwen.

"Give her a break." Tosh finally spoke up.

"God, this has been the worst first day ever." Gwen muttered.

"We all make mistakes. Get over it. Now, we find and recover whatever came out of there." Jack said, trying to be comforting and keep everyone on track.

"Ahem. This might help. Nightclub death been phoned into 999. Circumstances sound a little unusual. Might be connected." Ianto appeared at the top of the stairs to the autopsy bay with a clip board.

"Oh my god." Gwen muttered in disbelief when she read what had happened.

"Torchwood." Jack said to the police officers outside the nightclub. He didn't stop, just moving into the pub with Owen and Tosh on his heels. I paused long enough to thank the police officers on duty for securing the scene, before moving into the club.

According to the report a man had been turned to dust in the girl's bathroom. Tosh and I took samples of the powder but the machines couldn't identify anything specific about it. But the equipment we had brought with us (according to Tosh) wasn't as sophisticated as the stuff they had back at the base.

"This is all that's left?" Gwen asked, once again trailing in behind everyone else after Jack had called for her to hurry up with a role of his eyes.

"How's that possible?" The bouncer – Banksy – said. He had been the one to call in the murder.

"The question is, how did you know this used to be a body?" Jack asked looking to the man who blushed.

"I... uh… was watching." He admitted. "Bit of a shock, I tell you." He said after clearing his throat.

"We need to see that CCTV." Jack said, not making the man admit why he was watching on the CCTV or explain why it was in the bathrooms. That wasn't part of their job (didn't mean there wouldn't be an anonymous tip to the police about the indecent placement of camera's in a public space).

Living on the streets for two years made me rather desensitised to seeing other people have sex. But that didn't mean I didn't find it odd actively watching a couple have sex and not leaving the moment I realised what was happening.

"Wow." Jack commented when the man reached his climax and then turned to dust.

"My God." Tosh muttered at the same time.

"He just…" Gwen trailed off unsure how to say it.

"Came and went." Jack finished.

"Now that's the way I'd like to go." Owen finally spoke up.

"I'm sure we could arrange it." Tosh bantered with a smirk.

"How can that be? It doesn't make any sense. It's not possible." Banksy said in disbelief.

"Do you know the girl's name? Did the two of them arrive together or did they meet in the club? Is she a regular? Would any of the other staff know her?" Gwen said fulling back on her police training.

"I dunno. We get hundreds of people here every weekend. I don't keep tabs." Banksy shook his head.

"Thanks for your help. We've got all we need." Jack interrupted and allowed Banksy to leave.

"What are you talking about? We haven't got a clue. We don't even know her name." Gwen disagreed while Tosh took the CCTV footage.

"We'll need a body from the cryo-chamber, close match for the dead guy's appearance. Disfigure the face, dump it someplace remote, and make it look like a suicide attempt." Jack ignored Gwen as they left the night club.

"You have a stash of bodies?" Gwen asked in disbelief while I threw Jack the scanner that I had programmed to detect the same readings found at the crash site. He nodded his head in thanks while he went around the building to see if he could find out where the girl was possessed.