Chapter Twenty-Three
It was nearly two hours later that everyone converged in the conference room at Tosh's signal. Gwen wasn't looking as pale as she had done back in the autopsy room now that she had eaten and had some of Ianto's coffee. Owen had finished his autopsy and identified the knife as a common kitchen knife.
"Raven, what did you find?" Jack questioned.
"Max is probably around six three, six four." I answered. "Strong, and stocky." I answered.
"Right, Tosh?" Jack asked next.
Tosh handed out some papers from the file she had in front of her. "Pilgrim. A religious support group, more like a debating society. Meaning of life, does God exist, all that stuff. The point is, it was tiny, more like a hobby, run by Mark Brisco's wife, Sarah. She had all that stashed in the wardrobe. Handwritten and photocopied. That's why we couldn't find any records. She wasn't even online." It had annoyed her at first when she couldn't find anything on the internet, so she had gone back to the scene in an attempt to find anything.
"No mention of Suzie or Max?" Jack questioned with a frown.
"Not a word. She didn't even keep a register." Tosh responded, obviously disappointed.
"It wouldn't be our Suzie, though. She wouldn't go to that support group bollocks." Owen said with a scowl.
"How do you know? I mean, were you friends? Any of you? Who was her best friend in this place?" Gwen questioned, looking around at the original team.
"She sort of kept herself to herself." Owen answered.
"Well, then. If she needed to talk, maybe that's exactly where she'd go. A group of complete strangers." Gwen responded.
"I think our secrecy acts needs to be updated." I sighed.
This was getting ridiculous, if the employees couldn't talk with their team, or the boss then they needed someone to unload to. Family, husbands and wives. They could all sign a secondary Secrecy Act that was just for the close family. It would probably solve some of the problems they were having – especially with Gwen and her constant insistence to maintain her normal life while simultaneously ignoring it because she couldn't tell her soul-mark anything.
While doing that, I could probably work a secondary secrecy act for additional doctors and counsellors because Owen and I couldn't keep being the go too people – especially since Owen and Gwen wouldn't come and talk to me about their personal problems. Having someone bound by the confidentiality of their profession, and the additional Secrecy Act would mean that they had someone outside of Torchwood, a normal person, who wasn't family that the team could go and talk with.
Jack nodded at me, acknowledging what I had said and silently promising to speak it over with me later so that they could put a report to the Crown if they thought it was a feasible option. Jack then turned his attention to Gwen and the others.
"Could be. You've got a point, Gwen. Time we got to know our deceased colleague a little better."
The Lock Up's for old Torchwood personnel was located next to the docks. When I had first been here, helping Jack store Suzie's belongings he had explained that Torchwood owned several pieces of land, storage units and warehouses under different shell-corporations. This meant they could work legitimately within the law when doing some investigations, and own land without being looked into too deeply. It was something that the Queen had ensured when Torchwood started spreading from Scotland into London and Cardiff.
Suzie was storage unit 59, designating her as the 59th employee of Torchwood three to have been killed. That number was far greater for Torchwood one, and the employees there were buried with the rest of the population and their stuff handed out like normal once it had been checked. Torchwood one had grown to be too big to do as Torchwood three did, nor did they encounter as many alien artefacts as Torchwood three did. Jack sometimes wished that he didn't have to store his employee's belongings but he didn't have much of a choice in the matter.
"Have I got this right? When I die, you get to keep all my possessions? My whole life's gonna get stashed in a locker?" Gwen questioned as they stepped out of the SUV and into the rain.
"Rules and regulations." Jack responded as he stared at the storage unit. Trying to prepare himself mentally for going through Suzie's belongings for a second time. The first time he hadn't really looked at what he was putting into boxes in an attempt to maintain Suzie's privacy but now he couldn't even do that.
"What if I leave all my stuff to Rhys?" Gwen questioned with a thrown.
"We'll stash him away, too." Jack responded, not wishing to explain the processes involved in an agent's death. Gwen was one of the first employees of torchwood who had a living partner who wasn't part of the team.
"Tread carefully, people. With respect. This is the life of Suzie Costello." Jack said as the door opened and allowed the rest of the team to see the boxes that had been stacked inside the unit.
"That's all we are, in the end. A pile of boxes." Tosh said morbidly as she looked around with her flashlight.
I didn't say anything, silently searching through the boxes for the box of paperwork I had packed. I hadn't gone through it at the time, respecting Suzie's privacy, but if Suzie had a flyer it had most likely ended up in that box.
"Is her father still alive?" Gwen questioned having come across a photograph of Suzie and her father from when Suzie was about twelve.
"Don't know." Tosh answered. I found the box I was looking for and started going through the stacks of paper.
"But you must've looked him up to tell him his daughter was dead?" Gwen asked shocked that they didn't know.
"When Suzie left Torchwood, she was on the run. She wiped all her records. I couldn't retrieve her files. She was good at computers. Huh. She was good at everything." Tosh explained.
"She was good at murder, too. Laugh a minute that was Suzie." Owen chipped into the conversation, his voice dark and serious.
"What's that?" Gwen questioned Jack who had picked up a book.
"A book. Emily Dickinson. Poet." Jack explained putting the book back.
"Suzie had a pilgrim flier." I told them, joining the group with said flyer in my hand.
"That proves it, then. No choice. It's time Suzie came back." Jack said, his voice sounding tired, like he wished he didn't have to say the words but right now they didn't have very much to go on and they needed to know who this Max was before he started killing more people because of the Retcon Suzie had given him.
"Do we all get frozen? Torchwood staff. When we die, do we all get kept?" Gwen questioned when Jack brought Suzie's body into the autopsy room from cryo-freeze. Everyone had retaken their positions from before.
"Rules and regulations." Jack answered blandly.
"How long for?" Gwen demanded.
"Forever."
"Recording." Tosh said, catching Gwen's attention and stopping her from continuing her questioning.
"Have you got your stopwatch?" Owen asked Ianto, trying his best not to look at Suzie.
"Always." Ianto responded, holding up said item so Owen could see it.
"Any advice?" Gwen questioned. Jack looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Yeah, I know. Empathy. Even though she did try to kill me."
"You and me both." Jack muttered, reminding her that Suzie had actually shot Jack in the head without a second's hesitation.
Gwen put the glove under Suzie's head, and I got a brief spike of pain, corresponding with the blip in the heart monitor before it faded.
"Just memories. Nothing living. She's too far gone." Gwen said, breathing deeply as she stepped away from Suzie.
"What do we do now?" Tosh asked over the system.
"Nothing we can do. That's it. We're out of options." Jack said, relieved that he could lock the glove away. He had noticed Raven's quietness and her dislike of the glove. He didn't really like it either and if it wasn't for keeping the peace in the team, he wouldn't have let it be used again.
"There's always the knife." Owen suggested making Jack look at him sharply. Sometime he wished his team wasn't as smart as they were. "When she killed all those people, she always used the knife, it's made out of the same metal as the glove."
"We've seen it before. Metallic resonance, like the glove works better if the knife's part of the process, like closing a circuit." Tosh added.
"Then let's use it." Gwen said, after taking a steadying breath.
"Small detail. The knife was used to kill people. She's already dead." Jack reminded everyone.
"All right, so we kill her again." Gwen said with a glare.
Jack sigh before going to retrieve the knife from the secure archives.
"Ianto?" Owen asked when Jack returned, carefully holding the knife.
"Life knife." Ianto responded after a moment.
Jack carefully cut Suzie's arm in the hope that just the contact would be enough to bring her back.
"Anything?" Jack asked Owen and Gwen hopefully. But I knew the answer before Gwen spoke – I hadn't felt anything beyond a small jolt.
"No. There was just a sort of spark and then it was gone. I'm sorry, Jack. You're gonna have do it properly." Gwen said apologetically, but her emotions weren't as kind. They were determined and fixed, focused on nothing else but getting her answers.
"What the hell." Jack sighed before plunging the knife into Suzie's heart. The spark of the glove working was stronger than anything else I had felt. The pain forced me to my knees as I collapsed against the wall.
"Suzie? Listen." Jack said to Suzie who was looking around herself in a panic, not really taking anything in.
"I've got to go. I can't stay. They know. They know." Suzie sobbed in a panic.
"Just look at where you are. Think back. Try to remember. Suzie. Suzie! Look at me." Jack said sharply, and Suzie finally focused on her surroundings.
"Jack. Oh, my God. There's a knife in my chest. Did you kill me?" Suzie questioned, confused.
"You killed yourself, remember?"
"But. Oh, my God. I shot myself." Suzie said, her head falling back to the autopsy table.
"We've got to ask you about Pilgrim." Jack said, bringing Suzie to the topic they brought her back to discuss.
"No. Wait a minute. Didn't I kill you?" Suzie questioned.
"Never mind that. We need names and details." Jack prompted.
"Who's using the glove?" Suzie questioned, ignoring Jack.
"I'm sorry." Gwen apologised with a wince.
"Oh, wouldn't you know it. Gwen bloody Cooper."
"Thirty seconds." Ianto prompted in concern for the time limit.
"When you were in Pilgrim you gave the amnesia pill to a man, Max. Do you remember?"
"What? You brought me all the way back just for Max?" Suzie asked in a tone of disbelief.
"We need to find him. Who is he? What's his surname?" Jack questioned.
"He was just some loser." Suzie said weekly.
"We're losing her." Owen said, looking at his equipment in concern. I frowned from my position on the floor. All the other times Owen had mentioned that they were losing the patient, I felt a dip in the power of the glove. But with Suzie it was remaining a steady and strong stream of overwhelming energy.
"Stay here, damn you." Gwen growled.
"Don't force it, Gwen." Jack said, trying to Gwen to stop before she hurt herself.
"She's not getting away this time. Stay here. No!" Gwen was suddenly thrown back by an electric shock.
"I told you to stop." Jack went to help Gwen but Owen moved forward first.
"It's all right. I've got her, I've got her. Right, here we go. Hold on. Okay, pulse. Yes, she's all right. We need to get her out of here. Can you come and give me a hand?" Owen said, helping Gwen stand.
"It's the glove. I told you, they get hooked." Jack banished the glove, frustrated that another member of his team had nearly been consumed by it – again.
"All right, don't make a fuss. It's over now." Owen said comfortingly to Gwen.
"Er, excuse me. I'm still counting." Ianto said hesitantly, holding up his stopwatch.
"There's not much point. Suzie's dead." Owen dismissed without looking.
"No. According to the equipment, she's just unconscious." Ianto reported.
"What the hell's going on?" Jack demanded as Owen ran forward to check that the equipment wasn't faulty.
"Oh, my God. He's right. She's alive. Suzie's still alive. Look at her, she's bloody breathing." Owen said angrily.
"She can't be." Jack said, pulling the knife out of Suzie's chest.
"No. Still breathing. No stopping her. She won't die. One minute thirty and counting." Owen said in worry, looking at Jack in concern. Behind Jack, Owen saw me slumped against the wall. "RAVEN!" he shouted in shocked concern jumping up the stairs.
"What the bloody hell happened to her?" Jack demanded, spinning round and seeing that there was blood falling from Raven's nose and she was having trouble focusing on Owen.
"Her heart beat's too fast. Breathing's shallow. Conscious, but unfocused." Owen quickly ran through his assessment as Jack joined him.
"Ianto, could you put Suzie down in the integration room? Put her in a wheelchair. Gwen, go eat something and then sit down at your station to rest. Owen, is it safe for me to move Raven to an infirmary bed while you get your equipment?" Jack issued orders quickly before questioning Owen.
"Make sure her head is supported." Owen responded, getting up and running to get his equipment.
"Ianto, when you're finished, but the knife and glove in my office." Jack ordered as he gently lifted Raven into his arms and began walking from the autopsy room.
The further from Suzie and the glove Jack walked, while he carried me, the more aware I became of my surroundings. Blinking rapidly, I focused through the residue pain and emotions to focus on Jack. They had learnt that as my empathy got stronger, that Jack was capable of grounding me. His shield's and military background meant that he was good at staying calm in extreme situations, and his pheromones were uniquely him enough that they could surround me like a physical barrier. This meant, that by the time that Jack went to place me on the infirmary bed, I was completely aware of my surroundings.
"Don't put me down." I muttered into his shoulder, unwilling to find out if the distance was enough to shield me from the effects of the glove.
"Raven?" Jack questioned in concern, looking down at my face.
"I was overwhelmed. Please, don't." I responded, looking at him with a plea in my eyes. Jack's eyes widened in response, understanding what I had said. Sitting on the bed, he shifted so I was leaning comfortable against him and he could free his other hand to grab some tissues and whip my face.
"Jack, I want Raven on the bed, not both of you." Owen snapped in annoyance.
"If I let her go, she's going to revert to how she was back in the autopsy room. She needs grounding, and I'm the only one who can do it." Jack explained.
"Grounding?" Owen questioned in confusion.
"I told you Raven was empathetic?" Jack questioned. As the doctor of the team Owen had a right to know this information for reasons exactly like this one. However, they hadn't anticipated having to tell him until the current crisis was over and they had a calm couple of days.
"I remember you mentioning it and saying you would explain when we had a quiet day." Owen agreed, taking a seat and deciding to listen before he started running test since Raven seemed to be improving and focusing on the conversation well enough even if she was letting Jack explain.
"Since she joined Torchwood, her empathy has been getting stronger. Before, she could only read emotions of the people she spent a lot of time around. Now, she can feel emotions in a room, if it's strong enough. I don't know why, but that glove has overwhelmed her senses and we're lucky that I've been teaching Raven shielding otherwise we would have lost her to the storm of emotions." Jack explained.
"Shielding? That's why when Tosh had the necklace, you weren't affected." Owen realised.
"Yes." I was the one to answer. "I could feel her against my shields, and they nearly crumbled under the assault, but I was able to hold them." I explained.
"So what overwhelmed you in the autopsy room?" Owen questioned. "You were fine with the others until Suzie was revived."
"It hurt when the others were brought back." I admitted. "But I was able to focus through that. It was no worse than standing in the middle of a crowd that were all experiencing the same emotion. But when Suzie was brought back, it was ten times worse. I could barely focus and when Gwen tried to force Suzie to stay, it got worse. And then, the pain settled. With all the others, it had fluctuated, and then faded completely. But with Suzie, it steadily built to be stronger until it was like the feeling was fixed. Like she had anchored herself into life."
"Do you know how?" Jack asked, hoping that they might have an easy way of stopping Suzie.
"No, all I could focus on was the overwhelming sense of wrongness and the pain that caused." I admitted.
"How are you feeling now?" Owen asked, reaching forward to take my wrist so he could get my pulse.
"I'm a little tired, have a headache. But other than that, I'm fine." I responded easily.
"And if Jack were to move away from you?" Owen asked.
Jack hesitated a moment, before helping me to my feet. Then slowly and carefully, he let me go and started to step away. I closed my eyes, and focused on bringing my shield's up. The sense of wrongness and the pain was there, slowly increasing as Jack stepped away, but as I built a new shield for each step Jack took, I was able to remain in control.
"Raven?" Owen asked in concern when Jack got as far away as the room would let him and I still hadn't moved or opened my eyes.
"I'm okay." I answered, opening my eyes. "I can still feel that sense of wrong, but I've strengthened my shields. I'm not sure how they will hold up as I get closer to Suzie and the glove." I warned them. Knowing that it was a distinct possibility that the shields would take a battering if I got closer to the source of the problem.
"Right, there is some things I need to know before we return to the others." Owen said, as Jack returned to my side and we all sat down. "Is Jack the only one who can ground you? Is there anything I need to know about what I should or should not do if this happens again and Jack isn't close?"
"As far as we know Jack is the only one who can ground me." I answered. "If I zone out like I did earlier, then don't let me fall unconscious." Owen raised an eyebrow in question. "If I'm unconscious I can't fight back and I'll be trapped in whatever emotion is overwhelming me."
"Right. So, treat it like you have a concussion." Owen nodded his understanding drawing a correlation to something he actually had experience in treating.
"If Jack isn't close, then you need to get me away from what ever had caused me to collapse. If you can't identify what, just move me from the area and I should start coming to on my own unless you are bringing the thing with you. In which case, isolate me until I recover enough to tell you what the trigger was."
"Alright." Owen nodded his head. "Are you getting better at shielding?" Owen asked curious.
"Yes. Her shields are getting stronger. She should soon be able to withstand all but the strongest direct attacks within the next two months, and even then, she will still be able to put up a hell of fight." Jack said smiling proudly. "I've never come across someone who was able to shield their mind as easily as she can."
"Okay. And are there any physical differences to your brain structure that I need to know about?" Owen asked.
"I don't know." I answered after exchanging a questioning glance with Jack.
"Okay. Once we've dealt with the whole Suzie issue, I'll need to do a CT and CAT scan of your head and compare it with the ones I have on file. I'll want to do scans once every two months from now on to make sure that nothing is wrong and to get your baseline normal. I also want to try an EEG." Owen said.
As he was the official doctor on the team, and properly the only doctor on earth who was capable of handling something as different as this was, I bowed to his superior knowledge and experience. Owen truly cared about every member of the team in his own way, so when he ordered something to do with their physical health (even if it was something as simple as eating) the rest of the team knew it was in their best interests to listen to what he had said.
