Martha and Gwen both gasped, and Jack simply smiled. He had thought that she and Ianto had had a few telepathic conversations, and explained why Ianto had looked ill and haunted a few seconds ago; as he had obviously seen what they had put Mel through via her memories and feelings. He didn't say anything about it, simply nodded. However Gwen asked, "Isn't telekinesis the ability to move things with your mind?"
Ianto simple gave her the raised questioning Eyebrow, while smirking. Of course he had expected Jack to know about such things as he had probably come across it a time or two. And he was sure that Martha would know what it was even if she hadn't seen it first hand, or so to speak. Gwen blushed and said, "What I do know about some things! For your information, Rhys loves those X-men DVDs and he always makes me watch them with him. He used to watch the cartoons a lot when we were dating as well. That Jean Grey woman has telepathic and telekinetic abilities!"
Everyone chuckled about that. "That's right Gwen. I'll show you what I mean!" As she spoke, Jack had been going to pick up his coffee cup and blinked as it began to move away from him. Next thing he knew was that the coffee cup was hovering a few inches above the table and was heading toward him. She grinned as it approached his mouth so that he could drink from it; he grabbed it so that the hot liquid wasn't poured over him or straight down his throat. He winked at her over the rim of the mug, she simply smiled shaking her head.
But Ianto was frowning, while murmured, "That's right Gwen, plus wasn't she taken over by a phoenix in the cartoons as well as the movies." He turned to Mel with a frown, and asked "Mel, did you ever meet Stan Lee?" She blushed, until her face resembled her hair. "Ok, so maybe I did! I thought it rather flattering that he based her on me. Anyway back to your original question, Jack."
Everyone knew that she was avoiding the question, but they let her get away with it. Jack couldn't help but grin. He thought he had a pretty good idea why Stan would base or dedicate a character around Mel, and by the way she was blush, he'd bet on it! Gwen and Martha simply looked at one another, storing it away in their memories. It would come up during one of their girly gossip seasons, and they would make sure that Mel was present for that particular session. Ianto could only smile and shake his head wryly.
She cleared her throat and continued, "Torchwood One wanted to see if there was any chemical reason for my psychic abilities. If there had been then they would have created a synthetic chemical and given it to some of their troops which would mean that they would have had an advantage over UNIT. They soon realised that it was nothing to do with chemicals, but how my brain had evolved in order for me to use these powers. No other Thetan has my abilities, only me. They would have killed me to dissect my brain to see the difference between my brain and a human's if I hadn't have put all the scientists who had tested me into a comatose state! They considered me a danger then so drugged me in order to do their other tests – but only enough for my mind to temporarily loose my psychic abilities."
She fell silent again, and Jack sensed that what she had to say next would shock them all – except for maybe Ianto. He was itching with curiosity and saw Mel smile as she detected it, so he decided to ask the question. "What was the other reason for Torchwood One doing tests on you?" He was glad now that Torchwood One had been destroyed in the Battle of Canary Wharf, and that he had enough influence over them to stop it from ever being like that again.
He jumped as she said, "Don't worry Jack. Torchwood will never be like that again, because if I find out it is then I will come back and burn it to the ground. That includes this team, but I would let you all escape before I did because I know that you are at least different." She paused for a few seconds, looked Martha in the eyes and said, "The same goes for UNIT!" This caused them all to shiver with a sense of foreboding. She waited for that statement to sink in before continuing, "And the other reason they tested me was because they found out from one of my old travelling buddies that I was unique. More special than I appear to be! I'm a ... I'm a...!" She hung her head, shaking it, and couldn't finish the sentence.
Ianto took a deep breath, squeezed her hand tight and said in a quiet shaky voice, "She's a phoenix!"
She was a Phoenix!
Jack felt his jaw drop! He had of course heard of the legendary phoenixes that would fly from dead world to dead world in order to breed and create new life on the planet before leaving in their small family groups to wonder the galaxies again. But he had thought them simply to be a legend and not steeped in fact like other creatures. He looked over to Martha and Gwen who were sitting opposite Mel and Ianto, and would have laughed if he hadn't been so shocked, because their eyes were like saucers and their mouths were hanging open.
"But how can you be a phoenix? I thought they were celestial beings who roamed the galaxies looking for dead planets to revive and breed on?" Jack asked in utter confusion, amazement and awe. He felt humbled to simply be in her presence, if she was in fact a phoenix.
She looked at him, smiled a slightly crooked smile and asked, "Do you want to talk directly to her Jack? I would ask the rest of you as well, but it kind of knocks you out for a week straight. Ianto did it last time we met, but it totally wiped him out because he was unconscious for a week and susceptible to illness for nearly a month afterwards. And I know that you're immortal Jack, so you should be ok."
"You can really do that?" asked Martha in a quiet voice. Gwen was still staring at Mel in awe.
"Yes I can but Jack will have to be lying down and I'll have to sit next to him. Plus I can't have Sable flying about, as he can't be hurt at any point during Jack's talk with the phoenix because it will seriously hurt me and could kill Jack – and I mean permanently!" She squeezed Ianto's hand and untangled her fingers from his, stood up and walked into the doorway of the boardroom and shouted, "Sable stop playing about and come here! Jack wants a word with Aurora, and he can't if you're being chased by that pterodactyl. Now come on!"
Jack was about to ask who Aurora was when Mel suddenly catapulted backwards and landed against the far wall with a sickening thud after flying a foot above the table. She crumpled into a heap on the floor, her head flopping forward.
Hi guys! just quickly changed this. i suddenly realised how similar Jen Grey and Mel were! it was not intentional, i swear. so i thought i'd have some fun.