A/N: My word count for this story is all over the place! Sorry if that's annoying you, but I break the chapters up where it feels right so that they don't drag on and feel long winded.
Chapter Eleven
****September 5th 2007****
I had been an official member of Torchwood for a month. In that time, I had grown to know the team well.
Ianto was quiet, hiding his pain behind a calm façade and suits. I didn't know why he was in so much pain, but from the way he would shift uncomfortable when Gwen brought up the topic of soul-marks, I believed it was because he had lost his own recently (most probably during the battle of Canary Warf which I had learned he was present for). The task of reorganising the archives and Torchwood data base had seemed to given him a new purpose, and he started interacting more with Tosh and myself, and sometimes our conversations would come away from the organisation to other areas. I could see that it was helping Ianto, but sometimes he would look so guilty about something, and would clam up about himself.
Tosh was also quiet, but when I convinced her to have a movie night with me, she was a good laugh. She was kind, caring and helpful. But she was also hiding pain and dark secrets in her past. I didn't push her for those secrets, I just made sure she knew that I was there when she needed me. When Ianto brought the project for the archives to her, Tosh had been frilled. Apparently, the Torchwood data base (for all 5 institutes, even though one was lost and another two fallen) was a complete mess and she had been dying to sort through it, but some of the information was incomplete because the second half to it was in the archives. During the process of setting up the new system and going through the information, Tosh broke into several rants in her native tongue since she thought faster in Japanese. Ianto would always look on amused, not understanding what Tosh was saying but getting the gist from Tosh's tone that she wasn't happy, while I would take notes off some of the creative cursing and language Tosh was using for later reference (or use).
Owen was brash, cynical and sarcastic. Unwilling to open himself up to other people for the fear that he might lose them. He thought that by closing himself off, he wouldn't grow attached and when they eventually left him it wouldn't hurt so much. But I wouldn't let him close himself off from me, using the weekly blood taking as an excuse to get him talking. I nether pushed too far, but Owen new I wasn't going to let him hide from me. I also started pushing him to speak with Tosh more often outside of work; I would take them out for drinks with Ianto and then leave early. This normally worked since Ianto rarely accepted the offer to go out for drinks and when he did, he never stayed more than a couple of hours. I knew that they were each other's soul marks, but neither of them where brave enough to tell the other because they feared being hurt. They felt that they were better of being friends and co-workers.
Gwen, despite having been a police officer for four years and then working for Torchwood this last month, was very naïve. She believed that there was goodness in everyone and everything and that there was always something that we could do to help. She was always trying to get the team to open up and discuss their personal lives and history with her, but she was too persistent and Owen normally ended up snapping at her while Tosh retreated into her work. She rarely acknowledges Ianto as part of the team, and saw me as some kid who had gotten in too deep. She spent a lot of time at the hub, trying to catch Jack's attention while ignoring her soul-mark who was waiting patiently for her to come home every night.
Off all the team, Jack was probably the most complex. During our nightly conversations Jack had explained some of his past. He explained how he met the Doctor when he was thirty three, travelled with him for a while before he faced the Daleks in the year 5 billion; how that was the first time he died. He didn't know what happened, but he was brought back and he was brought back for good. But he had been abandoned on the Game Station, forcing him to use his Vortex Manipulator. He had been aiming for the 21st century, but it burned out and he was stranded in the 19th century. He'd lived the last one hundred and fifty years, waiting for a Doctor that corresponded with his time line. Helping where he could while he waited. He was sad, angry, confused but also forging a life for himself from the ruins that the Doctor had left.
Despite the astronomically good pay I got from working for Torchwood, I still slept on Jack's sofa. The others thought that I was just the last to leave and the first to arrive, since I was up and ready by the time Ianto arrived at seven. Because neither Jack nor I actually did a lot of sleeping, he didn't say anything about me staying at the hub – especially since he also lived there. If there wasn't a rift alert and they weren't working on a case, Jack and me would spar before the others got in. Jack hadn't had someone to practise with for nearly thirty years, so it felt good to get back into shape since he couldn't always rely on his gun to get him out of trouble.
According to Tosh's predictor program there wasn't meant to be a rift alert that day, and everyone had finished their paperwork (including Owen). Jack wanted to do a team bonding thing by going to the local pub (despite the fact that I wasn't legally allowed to drink for another month). They were playing basketball to see who was buying the first rounds. It was Owen and Gwen against, me, Tosh and Jack.
"Okay. Come on, Gwen. Gwen, this is for you, baby. Come on." Owen shouted from up on the catwalk, throwing the ball down to her. But Jack intercepted it.
"Just get it off him. Take it out of his hands. Oi." Owen shouted, moving so he was above the basket. Gwen did as instructed, and bounced it out of Jack's hands and threw it back to Owen.
"Oh, come to Daddy." Owen released the ball. "Yes! First round's on you, boss. Girls, get your handbags."
"Of course, that was an illegal move." Jack complained good-naturedly, grabbing his coat.
"Totally illegal." Tosh agreed.
"Yeah. Keep telling yourself that, yeah? Losers Buy." Owen smirked.
"Good afternoon, Ianto." I greeted the archivist with a kiss on the cheek before following the others out of the hub.
He had taken the older brother role in my life, which was odd since I had always been the oldest (if only mentally). He made it his mission to make sure that I had eaten probably and that I hadn't sustain a serious injury when out with the team, and in turn I tried to include him as much as I could in the team and always acknowledged his presence. Normally, I would greet him with a smile or a wave but Ianto had been looking particularly pale the last few days and I was trying to get him used to friendly physical contact instead of the professional or violent contact he was use to (something Jack had also been trying to do in his own, flirty, way).
The team were in a good mood since they didn't get quite days like this very often and they had just come from a very hard case, where they had nearly lost Owen to an alien who had the technology to take over people's mind. Jack had trapped the alien in his own body before allowing himself to be drowned while Tosh and Ianto contained Owen in the base, and Gwen had been out trying to help the police maintain the flood barriers and keep the people safe, while I had been forced to swim from the bay to the base while dragging Jack's dead body behind me.
"He's never seen a live rugby match." Tosh was telling Gwen in disbelief.
"I have other things to do with my time." Jack defended himself.
"I've never seen a match on TV, let alone one live." I put in, looping my arm through Jack's in support.
"Rhys knows a bloke whose cousin works at the Millennium Stadium. We should all go to the next home international." Gwen proposed.
"Yeah, like we're actually going to have the day off." Owen rolled his eyes with a scoff.
The teasing and jokes continued as they made their way to the pub. Owen tried to convince me to get an alcoholic drink, but I refused and just stuck with a cola.
"When you turn eighteen, I'm taking you out to get pissed." Owen declared when their drinks arrived.
"Owen, I'm not going out to get drunk with you. One of us needs to be able to drive." I told him with a roll of my eyes.
"Oh, yeah, how are those lessons going?" Jack asked curiously.
"Good, Ianto's a brilliant teacher. He's booked my driving test for next week." I told him, pleased that I would finally be able to drive around the place.
"That's brilliant, Raven. Congratulations." Gwen raised her glass and the others mimicked her.
The conversation quickly moved on, and Jack started telling some of his stories. They had been at the pub for maybe thirty minutes when they were called back in.
"UFO sighting over Cardigan Bay. Seven calls to the emergency services." Tosh said, reading it from her phone which she had set up to receive any information about alien reports. Jack had the rift alerts set to his vortex manipulator. Because it didn't go off the UFO must have gotten to earth the normal way which made it easier to send it on its way.
"Oh. Can we at least finish our drinks, please?" Owen complained since he still had a whole pint left.
"Sure. Take ten seconds." Jack said, knocking his back. Owen rolled his eyes and just got up to leave.
Since the pub they had chosen was only five minutes from the bay, it didn't take long for them to arrive at the base. They were all in a good mood despite being called in and Tosh was complaining good naturedly about the fact Owen always drove the SUV when they left Ianto at the base.
"All I'm saying is, once in a while I'd like to drive."
"And all I'm saying is no." Owen responded, opening the door to the tourist office.
"Why not?" Tosh asked, annoyed.
"Look, I've shared cars with women before. I know what'll happen. There'll be an emergency. We're all raring to go. I jump in, what do I find? Seat's in the wrong position, the rear-view mirror is out of line and the steering wheel is in my crotch. Time it takes to sort it all out, Aliens'll have taken Newport." Owen informed them.
"Besides, Tosh, why would you want to drive? All the cool gadgets are in the back." I said, making her laugh.
"And I wouldn't trust any of the others to use it." Tosh agreed, seeing where I was going with that. Although Ianto, Owen and Jack had a basic understanding of several of the systems they used, and Gwen could use CrimNet, only Tosh and I could use the more sophisticated systems and tech (although I still struggled to grasp the truly advanced stuff, Tosh was mentoring me when we came across something I didn't understand).
"Tosh, call up the radar within a fifty-mile radius of the Bay for the last six hours. Gwen, check with that man. Neil, I think his name was, voice like Sean Connery, at Jodrell Bank. See if they picked up any chatter around the time of the sightings. Owen, access the airspace provision over Cardigan Bay. Also, any RAF flight plans. See if it's just a case of mistaken identity." Jack ordered, all business as they entered the hub. "Raven, could you check conspiracy sites, see what they've got?"
"Sure." I smiled, moving over to my desk.
"Ianto. Would you work some coffee magic?" Jack said, caching sight of the archivists stood by the kitchen.
Everyone paused when the light's flickered.
"What's happening?" Gwen asked, hanging up the phone.
"Internal power drain." Tosh responded, rebooting her computer.
"We've got independent generators, don't we?" I asked confused. When the rest of Cardiff's electrical power had been affected by the severe storms caused by a ship trying to get though the bay, the Hub had stayed online and working perfectly. The generators were something that Jack had updated over him time, supplying them with different sources that he hadn't explained which meant they would still be able to access power even if the rest of the world stop generating electricity for some reason.
"Yeah, must have been something big to drain that amount of power. Tosh, run a system diagnostic." Jack said, leaning on the back of Tosh's chair to watch her work.
"Actually," Ianto spoke up, drawing everyone's attention. "We've been having generator problems all evening. I was down there checking earlier. Couple of bits of cabling have come loose. I thought I'd fixed it. Let me have another look."
"Fine. Go check." Jack agreed.
"Want some help?" Gwen offered, while I watched Ianto in concern. He seemed very pale and skittish, like something had scared him.
"It's fine." Ianto shook of the offer and disappeared to the basement.
While Ianto was checking the power, we all turned back to our tasks. Tosh had pulled up some footage that a civilian had taken of the UFO.
"That's a UFO?" Gwen asked shocked.
"Only just." Owen responded.
"Arkan leisure crawler, first generation." Jack identified the ship. "Collectors' item. Don't see many of those around these days. Tosh, send a polite message saying great to see them, but could they please get the hell out of our atmosphere, they're spooking the locals."
"Done." Tosh said, typing rapidly on her computer.
"Raven, could you work on cover up?" Jack asked.
"Sure." I shrugged, before accessing the main conspiracy websites and typing away a cover story. Sending an email to UNIT and the journalist they had on pay roll to let them know what they were saying.
"Shouldn't we be apprehending it? Investigating it?" Gwen asked, confused as to why they were just sending the aliens away.
"Oh, please. You interrogate an Arkan, you'll be in there for a month. And that's just the first question. They are so boring. Besides, they're mostly made of liquid. The cells would be a mess." Jack brushed her off.
The power dropped out again and everyone looked up to the ceiling.
"There it goes again." Owen observed.
"Ianto, we've got another dose of darkness. You found anything? Ianto, I need to hear those beautiful Welsh vowels." Jack said, trying to contact Ianto over the internal coms that they were all wearing because they were on duty.
"Power's draining to the storeroom at the bottom of the building. Looking for human heat signals. We've got…" Tosh said bringing up a map of the hub.
"Two signals?" Owen asked sharply.
"So assuming one's Ianto, who's the other?" Tosh asked concerned.
"I'm thinking we're under attack. Security's been breached. We assume battle protocols." Jack ordered, pulling his gun from its place at his hip.
"That's impossible. Nobody can get in without triggering seven separate alarms." Tosh disagreed, checking their security systems.
"Yeah? Well, looks like our system needs to be upgraded." Jack responded, going over to the weapons storage he kept on the main floor and passing out guns.
