Here's the next bit. I hope you enjoy. I'm sorry if the characters seem a little OOC, but the Torchwood characters are very hard to keep in context with I think, anyway, I hope I didn't do too badly. I don't own Torchwood or any of the characters, though I wouldn't say no to owning Ianto and Jack!
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Southerndown Ghosts
Zoe Michaels leaned back on the couch, "You know, with exams over, we should get away from the city for a while," She looked at her flat mates to see their opinions, "Oh, come on Keely... Astra?"
Astra shrugged, "I'm broke."
"I don't know, I'm not really in the mood," Keely said.
"Bollocks... We need to get away for a while. Away from this flat and school and Cardiff!" Zoe insisted.
"Like I said, I'm broke," Astra insisted, while rummaging around in the fridge.
Keely sat down next to Zoe, "And go where?"
"Well, my Aunt owns a hotel in Southerndown. It's not the greatest place, but it's nice and it would solve Astra's money problem."
Both girls heard Astra sigh from the kitchen, "It might not be a bad idea, beach and fun," Keely said, suddenly siding with Zoe.
Astra glared at the two of them, "Well, you two can go if you want..."
"No, all of us. You too. You need to get away from here. Ever since that night you came home and couldn't remember anything, you've been obsessing over the guy who killed Crystal. Sweety, we're not going to find him. The Cop's can't even find him," Zoe said, defiantly, "Come on, we can all unwind and have some fun, we deserve it."
Astra sighed, "Fine... Southerndown it is."
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"I was thinking, it's time we had a break. Right Jack?" Ianto asked.
Jack laughed, "There's never any rest for the wicked Ianto," Jack said before biting into his Pizza.
Gwen grabbed a slice and took her seat around the briefing table, "So, whats our next job?" She asked.
"Ooh, I know!" Owen piped up, "We're going somewhere exotic for another sex monster!"
Tosh hit him, "Grow up!"
"Ow!"
"Children, Children! How about the beach in Southerndown?" Jack chastised, "A lady who runs an old hotel there says she thinks it's haunted. Not really our thing I know, but Ianto checked out the reports, they seem credible for some sort of activity," Jack reported.
"The beach, sweet!" Owen grinned.
"Ok, when do we leave?" Tosh asked.
"After lunch."
-T-O-R-C-H-W-O-O-D-
They arrived at Shoutherndown in the early evening, 'Southerndown Bay Hotel' was their location and accommodation for their time there. The team walked in carrying their bags, the place looked old, probably built in the Victorian era. Just as they were about to talk to the woman in charge of the place, three young women came downstairs.
"Dinner is of the essence you know!"
"Don't be stupid, you're always hungry Keely!"
"Oh, shut up, both of you! There's more to life then food, like the guy that was checking you out? Huh Zoe?" Ianto and Jack recognized the last voice as that of their regular pizza girl.
Jack sighed in desperation, them being there, odd happenings, it would undo the work of the Retcon on Astra, but she passed by them with her friends, without noticing them. The girls left the building, allowing Jack to check the team in.
"Excuse me?" He called.
A lady came out to the Reception desk, "Oh, Hello, I'm Aunt May. More visitors? My niece started a trend."
"Yes, we'd like two rooms," Jack said.
"Right, Ok, here you go. Second floor, rooms three and five. The only others here are those girls you saw and they're in room one. If you need anything you can find me or ask Zoe and her friends."
"Thank you ma'am," Jack said, before leading everyone upstairs. Jack handed one of the keys to Toshiko, "Settle in, then we need to talk."
A few moments later, Gwen and Tosh entered the guys' room, "That wasn't really..." Gwen started.
"It was," Jack interrupted, "We all know too much exposure counteracts the Retcon, make sure you don't do anything that will trigger her memory."
Ianto sighed, "She still comes to reception every time we order Pizza. She knows me."
Tosh pulled her laptop out of her bag and placed it on one of the beds, "I'll see what I can find on alien activity."
"You know, those girls had a point, dinner would be nice!" Owen remarked.
"Owen, we're here to work," Jack said.
"Yeah, but we'll work better with full stomachs!"
"Oh get him some food so he'll shut up," Gwen said.
-T-O-R-C-H-W-O-O-D-
That night, Jack didn't sleep. He didn't need to sleep, so he sat in his bed and watched Ianto and Owen. While watching, he listened. The building had old fashioned gas pipes, they creaked during the night. Toshiko's scans had picked up nothing during the day, but she'd left one running during the night, hopefully that would prove something.
In the room next to the guys, Gwen and Toshiko slept soundly and neither noticed when Tosh's computer came to life with a reading on alien activity.
In the other room, the University students were mostly asleep. Astra had been kept awake by the sounds of the creaking pipes. Zoe was used to it and Keely didn't care as long as she got her beauty sleep, but Astra found the sound creepy.
Morning arrived and the girls trudged downstairs to find Aunt May, "Aunt May?" Zoe called. There was no reply.
The girls searched the reception area, the dinning room and the kitchen, "Where is she?" Keely asked.
"I don't know, Astra, can you check upstairs, Kee, the office and I'll check her room," Zoe said. The girls headed off. Astra ran into Jack on her way up.
"Morning," He said with his cocky grin.
"Oh.. Hi..." Astra looked at him curiously, wondering where she'd seen him before, but it didn't come to her.
"You're from room one right?"
Astra nodded, "Yeah, look sorry, I-" She was cut off by the sound of one of her friends screaming. She took off in the direction of the office, Jack in close pursuit. Zoe arrived just as they did.
"Keely?" Astra asked.
They entered the small room to find their friend in the corner pointing at the body of Aunt May, behind the desk, "Oh my God! Aunt May!" Zoe cried.
Jack motioned for the girls to leave the room. Astra lead Zoe and Keely out and after sitting them down in the dining room she returned, "Umm... Sir, you... Uhh..."
"We all spoke to her yesterday right?" Jack asked looking up at her.
Astra nodded.
"Then why does she look like she's been dead for several days?"
Owen and the others, had heard the screams and arrived in the office as Jack asked his question. Owen moved past Astra and knelt next to the body, "That's at least four days of decomp..."
"Tosh said her program found something," Gwen said, looking at the body.
Ianto came and lead Astra out to the other girls, she looked at him, "Ianto?"
He nodded, "Yeah... So much for vacation huh?"
"Yeah.." She stopped walking and looked back to the office. Something about the scene bothered her. These people watching them hover over the body, she was suddenly hit by a massive head ache.
"The twenty-first century is when it all changes and we've got to be ready," Jack said as they sat in the bar, "That's what we do. We protect earth against these things..."
She shook her head, Ianto looked at her concerned, "Are you Ok?"
Astra nodded, "Yeah fine..." She left him and went to comfort her friends.
He walked back to the office, "So much for not jogging her memory... She remembered something..."
Jack sighed, "Well, there goes that idea. We can't Retcon her again. We saw the effects of what happened to people who are over exposed."
"How could we have spoken to this woman yesterday, if she's been dead for four days?" Gwen asked.
"That's what we're going to find out. Gwen, go talk to the girls. Astra's too familiar with me and Ianto," Jack ordered, "Ianto find Tosh and find out what her scan showed."
Owen looked at the body, "I don't get it Jack. Gwen's right, how the hell did we talk to this woman if she's dead?"
Jack looked at him, "I have no idea."
Gwen sat sown across from the girls, "I'm sorry, but I really need to ask you some questions," She said sympathetically.
They nodded, "Ok..." Zoe said softly.
"When did you check in here?"
"The day before you," Keely answered.
Gwen jotted that down, "Did you notice anything off when you arrived?"
"I don't really know Aunt May..." Zoe said. She looked up at Gwen, "I just wanted to get away from the city. Away from the memories of Crystal... To get my friends away from all that!"
Astra gave a supportive squeeze to her friend's hand, "Miss Cooper?"
Gwen looked up at her, Astra shouldn't have remembered her name after the Retcon. Ianto was right, she was remembering, "Yes?"
"Shouldn't we call the police?"
"I think this one fits under special ops," Gwen said, "I'll be right back," She went into the office, where Owen was still going over the body with Jack, "Astra wants to call the police and..."
"And what Gwen?" Jack asked.
"She knew my name. I didn't introduce myself. There's no way she could've known that unless she remembered it from that day in the hub..."
"But nothing's really happened yet..." Owen said, "How could she remember? It wasn't till Suzie tried to kill Gwen that she remembered anything."
"Gee, thanks Owen..." Gwen muttered.
Jack stood up, "Just be careful around her... The Retcon doesn't seem to be working on her and I won't giver her another. Not after what happened to that guy that Suzie overdosed."
-T-O-R-C-H-W-O-O-D-
The Torchwood team was gathered in the dining room of the old hotel, "Ok, so the scans picked up some unusual readings during the night," Tosh said, showing the group her laptop, "Here's a layout of the building, but the only readings I got, don't make sense." She pointed out the locations of the activity, "In the walls and of course Aunt May's office..."
"The walls? How small is this thing?" Owen asked.
Tosh shook her head, "It's not small, it take up the walls..."
"The building had old gas pipes," Jack said, "What if it's gaseous?"
"Possible," Tosh agreed, "Probably the most likely actually."
"Well, Aunt May had no visible signs of Trauma on her," Owen said, "No injuries, or signs of asphyxiation, she just died... So my guess would be, without a regular autopsy, heart attack."
"Ok, The uni kids showed up the day before us. May's been dead four days..." Gwen started, "She dies of a heart attack, all alone in this place, then her body gets inhabited by a gaseous alien?"
"I'll go with that," Jack said.
"Oh, great, and you're going to tell her niece that how?" Gwen asked, "She took her friends here to get away from weird deaths, if you recall their flatmate was killed by some weird guy that never got caught."
Ianto, who'd remained silent suddenly decided to speak up, "We need to convince them to go home."
"Zoe and Keely won't be hard... but Astra... She questions too much..." Jack said.
"It's worth a try," Gwen said. She got up and went to their room, "Girls, can I come in?"
"Door's open."
Gwen entered and found a pitiful sight for a group of kids on vacation, Zoe was asleep, though she looked like she'd cried herself to sleep, while the other girls were packing up, "You going home?" She asked.
Keely nodded, "Yeah... We're taking Zoe home, she's not doing well..."
Gwen nodded, glad she didn't have to suggest it, "I'm so sorry about your holiday."
Keely shrugged, "Maybe it's for the better," She glanced over at the sleeping form of Zoe, then to the ever so silent Astra, "We should be gone by tonight."
Gwen nodded, "Ok. Drive safely."
-T-O-R-C-H-W-O-O-D-
The girls were on their way to their car when Astra spotted the Torchwood SUV, she paused, staring at it. Wondering where she'd seen it before, when she was hit with another terrible headache, grabbing the first thing in sight so she could stay standing, she found herself up close to the SUV.
She watched as the team cornered the odd beast, with it's wrinkled face and sharp teeth. Most would've been scared by such a hideous creation, but she was intrigued. The team subdued the beast and lead it off to their SUV. Astra strapped on her helmet and started her motor cycle. She followed the team back to the Millennium center, where she watched most of them exit the car and walk towards the water tower.
Her fingers traced the engraving on the car, As the invisible elevator came to a stop, Jack suddenly stood behind her, "So, your curiosity got the better of you?"
"Huh?" Astra spun around to face him, "I... What is this place?"
"It's Torchwood."
She glanced at the letters, 'TORCHWOOD' She'd been plagued with dreams, visions and unforgiving headaches for as long as she could remember, but there was something different about these ones. Something dangerous and close.
"Astra?" She looked up to see Zoe calling for her. She made her way over to her friends but said nothing, "You Ok? Not another headache?"
"Uhh, yeah... You know, I think I might stick around... I won't be any help driving anyway..."
"But..." Keely started.
"I'll find a bus back. Don't worry about me. Just take Zoe back to Cardiff," and with that she grabbed her bag and walked down the road, hoping to find somewhere else to stay so that she could watch the people in the hotel closer.
Keely and Zoe stood by the car watching their friend walk off, they knew it was no use when she got like this, but it didn't stop them from worrying.
Inside, the team had been to busy with trying to figure out what could be occupying the hotel, that they never noticed Astra break away from her friends.
"Ok, we've got a gaseous life form, that what? Likes the gas pipes and dead bodies?" Gwen asked.
"It's quite possible," Jack said, "Tosh can you pull up the Torchwood interface?"
"Of course," She said, logging them into the mainframe back in Cardiff.
"Search up all gaseous life forms," They watched the results pop up on the screen.