III.

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Best place to learn being a secret agent, innit?

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It was three am and Rose had been running around nonstop. She was tired and hungry and wired. She'd helped find more injured personnel and block off a good portion of the building from the press lurking around like vultures. She was also soaked as a light rain poured over them. By the time they were called into the drab olive green tent she was about ready to fall flat on her face. The Tower was under quarantine with all sorts of mounted police and security services wandering about.

Jake was already there, clutching a tin cup. Rose stood on tiptoes and saw a small corner laden with food. She pushed her way in and snatched what looked like bread and splashed anemic coffee on a tin cup.

"Where's Mickey?" she asked, wiggling her way to Jake.

"And a pleasant morning to you too, Tyler." Jake said, annoyingly cheerful. "He's out there somewhere talking to some techs."

"Shouldn't you be more cranky?" Rose muttered and eyed her bread dolefully. She could eat protein whatchamcallits all live long day but she drew the line at soggy things masquerading as bread. "You're the one who hasn't slept in 24 hours."

"I was - but then I had five cups of these energizers," he raised his cup, "and now I'm as spry as a bunny."

Rose chose to ignore that imagery and shifted as the tent became even more cramped. She looked around and spotted three men in tactical uniform talking to Ianto. She prodded Jake. "Those blokes operatives?"

"Nope. They're the Box," Jake informed her shaking his head like a wet dog. She stared at him blankly until he added, "Y'know, security services? MI5, the Five, homeland--"

She interrupted him before he went on. "You've been watching those movies again, haven't you?"

"Best place to learn being a secret agent, innit?"

"Don't tell me that's how you and Ricky started the Preachers."

The smirk he flashed her was a hundred percent smug. "It's the only way to start anything cool."

Rose rolled her eyes.

Ianto moved away from the MI5 blokes and went to the creaky wooden table. It looked ready to collapse with all the binders, laptops and blueprints strewn across it. Rose's heart sank when she realized the people in the tent, barring the few wandering around the Tower, were all that remained of Torchwood.

She didn't see the deputy director or any of the senior staff. In fact the only senior Rose could see was Ianto. Rose couldn't think of a more horrible way get promoted. Ianto looked like he didn't appreciate his promotion as well. He was usually so put together too. Now he looked as scruffy as the rest of them.

"What have we been telling the press?" Ianto said without preamble.

"We've issued the standard statement," a voice down the table said. "Terrorist bombing, not the Cybermen, etcetera."

Ianto pressed the heel of his palm to his left eye. "I'd be more reassured if we knew for sure." Someone passed a folder to Ianto, and he opened it one handed. "We have to do this thing fast. Andrews put together a team to do an initial investigation. I want to know what caused the explosions, why it happened and who or what was responsible."

Rose stood on tiptoes and saw Andrews, a big block of a man with ginger hair and graying temples, nod from across the table. Ianto continued reeling off instructions to different departments. Some tasks he was forced to give to three groups twice when they learned most people in a department were still MIA. She almost missed her assignment when she looked over to count how many Torchwood agents were still standing.

"Smith, Tyler, Simmonds, I want you three to make an inventory of everything's that's gone missing. Even if it's a pencil, I want to know about it."

Rose blinked before nodding. "Right, of course."

"Everyone clear with their assignments?" There was general nodding. Ianto looked around, solemn. He pulled a clipboard from under a blueprint and cleared his throat. "I've the list of names of the missing and dead."

No sooner were the words out of Ianto's mouth that a blanket of silence covered the tent. Rose could hear the rain bearing down on the canvas; the quiet ambient sounds of cars and people outside the tent; and the feel of elbows poking her ribs as everyone pushed in closer to hear Ianto as he began reciting the names the dead, the missing... colleagues and friends. People Rose saw everyday but barely knew.

She'd been in Torchwood for six months and besides a handful all the names Ianto reeled off were strangers.

"...Seth and dela Cruz. Those are the names so far," he said, voice drifting into silence. The solemn quiet was unexpectedly broken by a shout and a figure running past. He jostled them out of the way and then all but threw a piece of paper to Ianto.

Angry muttering followed the interloper but Rose was focused on Ianto and watched his expression shift from irritation to anger. "We just had a caller," he announced then turned to Andrews. "Bring me Duran."

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

UNIT

The room was dark save for the lights emanating from computer screens. Each analyst's face was bathed in blue light as they monitored the images satellites sent them.
The United Nations Intelligence Taskforce, or simply UNIT, was the Earth's first and last defense against alien threats. Assisted by one exceptional man who, on the occasions he was available, saved the world. But it's been years, decades since they've last heard of him. There were whispers of his involvement at the beginning of the Cyber War but it was eventually deemed hearsay. If it had been him the war wouldn't have happened. Millions wouldn't have died.

So, no, it couldn't have been him.

In time they realized, after monitoring a cosmic anomaly that changed the fabric of five far off galaxies, the stuff of legends, the Time Lord may never come again.
For the first time in a long while they were alone to fend for themselves. Between the Cyber War and the various alien incursions UNIT was stretched to the limit. Humanity itself was at the brink.

Major Henry Edwards surveyed the room and watched his monitor deliver minute by minute reports on the bombings in the Torchwood Tower and wondered what idiocy they had done now. Edwards knew it was a prejudiced view, especially since this new Torchwood was less prone to doing stupid things, like breaching dimensional barriers. But it was hard to let go of mistrust built by years of interagency rivalry.

A beeping alarm roused Edwards from his thoughts and he was off his chair even before he heard Tad shout, "Sir!"

"What is it?"

"The computers detected a signal coming from Torchwood--"

"What are those idiots up to now?" He knew it.

"I don't think they are aware, sir," Tad said, frowning at his bank of monitors. "The explosion earlier may've jostled an alien device."

"And what exactly does this signal do?" Edwards asked, to the point.

Tad looked down at one screen, his face bathed in blue light. "It's calling out, sir and something's responding."

"I can confirm," Sarah said, somewhere from behind. "It's big and it's coming to Earth."

Edwards stood straight, jaw working. "Can we contact the Brigadier or McShane?"

"Negative, sir they're out of range. The situation with the Yenoros was just coming to a head the last I checked."

Edwards frowned, glanced down at the monitors and came to a decision. "Call the President."

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

An hour later, Rose finally managed to escape. Investigations could wait - she couldn't put off learning about her father any longer. She arrived at the hospital and found Jackie asleep, holding Pete's hand. Pete looked bruised but seemed none the worse for wear. Rose approached Jackie and gently shook her.

"Rose?" Jackie asked blearily.

"Yeah, mum," Rose said softly. "Do you want to move to the couch?"

Jackie stood in answer then pulled Rose into a hug. "Oh, Rose, when I saw him like that--"

"It's all right, mum," she said, softly. "Sorry I wasn't here."

"It's all right, least I knew you were safe."

"How is he?"

"The doctors said he was lucky - a few bruises, a broken arm but his leg's bad..."

"I know." He was lucky. The others Rose found... "You should sleep, mum," she said, gently. "Use the sofa, yeah? Can't have you giving birth here now, can we?"

Jackie nodded and yawned. "Time is it?"

"Six thirty," she said, without consulting her watch.

"You should be the one sleeping!" she chided.

"Can't, not yet, mum." Rose said, "I'm helping with the investigations, 'sides I'm used to staying awake--"

"With the Doctor." She knew how tired Jackie was then - there was no note of reproach in her voice when she said his name.

"Yeah, him." Rose guided Jackie to the sofa.

"D'you have any idea who it was?"

Rose knelt beside the couch, stroking Jackie's forehead, "Yeah, a traitorous bastard called Duran."

She was surprised when Jackie's grip on her arm tightened. "I don't want you going near him."

"Don't worry, mum," she assured her, "I'm not part of that particular investigation, I won't be anywhere near him."

"Good," Jackie murmured, "Good!"

Rose watched as she drifted off to sleep, then she rose and kissed Jackie on the cheek. She went to Pete, held his hand for a long time then leaned forward and kissed him on the forehead. "I won't let anything happen to you again."

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Most of the debris was cleared away by the time Rose returned to Canary Wharf. The white Red Cross tents and the olive tent were still standing. She avoided the white tents, knowing the whole ground would be covered with body bags and peered in the olive tent instead. She was surprised to see it was empty except for the two people packing up.

"Where's everybody?" she asked the closer of the two.

"Some are in the lobby. I think the others are in basement level three. I think that's where they set up the HQ."

Rose looked at the building skeptically. "Isn't that a bit dangerous?"

"Not according to the engineers."

"Right. Okay." Who was she to argue with engineers? Rose entered the building and wrinkled her nose at the smell of smoke mingling with soggy furniture and whatever chemical the firemen had used to stop the fire.

"Identification, Miss," the security guard asked. He must have been day shift because he looked too awake to be part of the crew who'd helped out last night.

She brought out her ID card and was surprised when the guard studied it intently. "If you please, Miss, come this way."

"Uh, why?"

"I was ordered to, Miss." They didn't go far. The guard swiped his card on the door and escorted her in to a hall she'd never been to before. It was in the same condition as the outside, only it smelled of mildew because of the damp carpets. Her trainers made squelching sounds with every step.

They stopped by another door. This time he only ushered her in; she entered and blinked. The room was darker but a window on the other side flooded the room with light. She looked around the room as her eyes got accustomed to the dim lights and startled stares met her gaze.

"What are you doing here?" one of the men demanded.

She didn't know but she didn't want them to know either. "What do you think?"

A movement from the other side of the window jerked Rose's attention and she nearly let out a curse. It was the greedy selfish, sexist bastard himself. Tommy Duran.

"How'd they get him?" she asked.

"Caught him packing," she heard someone answer. "The idiot actually resisted arrest."

"It's not me," Duran shouted from behind the two-way mirror, pulling at his handcuffs. "You have the wrong man! I didn't do it!"

Rose studied him. He was cuffed to the table and was now sporting two black eyes and an ugly bruise on his jaw. He destroyed so many lives in one night. He wanted to be like John Lumic.

The door in the other room opened and Andrews entered. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, face pinched into a murderous scowl. "You've a lot of nerve to lie, Duran." He slapped a file on the desk. "We have surveillance photos, phone records all saying the same thing-- you are a traitor, a liar and a mass murderer."

"I didn't set the bloody bomb!" Duran shouted, "Yes, I sold schematics and alien junk but I never killed anyone to do it!"

Andrews grabbed Duran by the collar and hauled him to his feet. They were nose to nose, and Rose saw Duran's feet dangle a few inches off the ground. "Stop lying!"

Alarmed, Duran tried to push him off. It was as effective as punching a wall. "I'm not lying!"

Jake once told her that Andrews was Torchwood's best operative, a soldier from even before the Cyber War. He had no qualms using violence. It shouldn't have shocked her when Andrews backhanded Duran across the face.

Rose flinched. Duran was responsible for the last night's injured and dead, responsible for nearly killing Pete Tyler. And yet... "Isn't this police brutality?"

The people in the room stared at her. "Police what?"

"Brutality, doesn't he have rights?"

One of the men, Charlie, her mind supplied, replied "In Torchwood? We're beyond that stuff. Besides, he's a terrorist."

"Don't tell me," a woman Rose didn't recognize said, "You're one of the bleeding hearts, aren't you? Probably even one of those people who was soft on Cybermen."

"He isn't a Cyberman, is he?" she retorted.

The woman sneered but whatever she was about to say was lost when Ianto entered the room. "End this, get Andrews out of there."

"What?" Rose wasn't the only who snapped the question.

Ianto spared the interrogation room another look then said, in a clipped tone: "We have bigger problems. William, Lisa get your group together and meet me in the crisis room."

"What about me?" Rose asked just before he left.

He stared at her as if he'd just noticed her for the first time. "Continue with your inventory."

"I can help!"

Ianto scowled. "Then it's best you help by finishing the inventory."

"Then why did you have me escorted here?"

"I didn't." He turned and slammed the door shut.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

President Harriet Jones arrived with two people, her personal assistant and a statuesque brunette woman with cheekbones that could cut glass and sharp gray eyes like ice. Edwards met the President at the door and she instantly whipped out an ID. "Harriet Jones, President."

"Yes, ma'am," he said then instantly walked beside her. "We've a situation here."

"I know," she said briskly, then nodded to her personal assistant and finally to the woman beside her, "...and this is Diane Bridge, she will be the new Director of the Torchwood Institute."

Edwards froze. "Ma'am, I must object."

"You are both concerned with the welfare of this planet. I suggest both of your agencies start learning to play well with each other."

"Major," Bridge said, "I am unlike my predecessors. I believe we will work better together than against each other."

Edwards had heard that before, it was a party line every Torchwood Director came up with until they cut the bullshit and started hoarding secrets again. Besides, this wasn't his decision to make - but on the other hand every second they wasted meant certain invasion for Earth. He looked at the president but she only raised her eyebrows in expectation.

"Very well," he said, suppressing a sigh, "Just this once."

"Very good," President Jones said then nodded at him. "Lead on, major."

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"Are we really, really sure it's safe to be here?"

"Yeah," Mickey answered Jake. "We're cleared for this area, place is still structurally sound. Takes more than a bomb to take this building down."

He looked around, tables knocked around by the blast and walls once pristine white were now black-gray. The big hole where one of the blasts occurred had turned steel and cement into cinder.

"I thought the vault was impenetrable," Rose said from where she was crouching.

"It was, now it's not," he said with a shrug. He watched Rose approach the blast hole, examining it. Rose had that expression on her face again like at any moment she'd figure --

"Did you just sniff the wall?"

"Smells a bit of tangy under all the smoke."

His expression changed to revulsion. "You've picked up some weird-- Oh, that's just disgusting!"

Rose pulled away from the wall. "But it tastes like burnt copper."

"Did I just see you do what I think I saw you do?" Jake interjected.

"That depends, what did you see me do?"

"You licked the bleedin' wall!" Mickey gestured at her, "you licked the wall and it might have been contaminated!"

"Could be, but isn't. Scanned the wall earlier, Doctor used to do it. Thought it was a bit dodgy - always liked a little more Spock - but it's effective. "

"So, what, you adapt the Doctor's fetish now?"

As usual, she wasn't looking at him. She was fiddling with the scanner. "Mmhm..."

"To think I used to snog you," he said, appalled.

"Good thing you have Jake."

"What?" he asked, taken aback.

"What?" Jake said.

"What?" she returned, startled. Rose looked at him and blinked. "Sorry, wasn't listening."

Mickey's jaw worked as he frowned at her but she kept looking at him with the same blank expression. He didn't look at Jake. "All right, well, I'll just check something." He backed out the room. "Out there. Now, see ya."

Rose waited a few minutes until Mickey's footsteps receded into the background. "You mean it's been nearly four years and he hasn't caught on?"

"He isn't Ricky," Jake said, handing her another wire. "And the licking thing is disgusting."

"Bollocks," Rose said. "That hasn't mattered to you in years."

"The licking thing? That always mattered."

"The Ricky thing."

"Leave off, Tyler," he scowled. "Anyway, he's straight, thinks of me as his best mate and I don't want to ruin it."
"Mickey's just stubborn. You and Mickey are always off together, life and death crisis. That's bound to stir some feelings."

"Yeah? How did that work for you and your Doctor?"

It was Rose's turn to scowl. "Hand me that spanner."

"Thought so," he said, smugly.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

UNIT

"They're past the Mars line!" Tad announced.

A frisson of adrenaline shot straight through Edwards. Mars. The point of no return. It meant the aliens went from casual tourists to actually intending on setting foot on Earth. "ETA?"

"Two hours."

"Can we establish communications?" President Jones asked. "Find out what their objectives are?"

"We've been trying from the start, ma'am," answered Edwards.

"I suggest we assume their intentions are hostile," Bridge said, leaning forward. Edwards tried not to look annoyed. He had been just about to suggest the same thing.

President Jones wandered next to him then asked, quietly, "No sign of the code nine?" At Edwards astonished look, she added, "I've read up on everything, Major, don't be so surprised."

"No, ma'am." He hesitated, looked at Bridge to make sure she wasn't listening. UNIT was always aware of Torchwood's hostile agenda against the Doctor. He was glad the President had sense enough not to inquire about the Doctor loudly. "According to the Brigadier, the last time he and... The code nine spoke he mentioned something about a war. There's been no contact since."

President Jones regarded Edwards for a long moment. "Pity, I'd have liked to meet him." She nodded to the screen, and said louder this time, "I agree with the assessment, we should assume hostile intent until otherwise stated."

Edwards went into action immediately. "Attention all hands, we are officially at code red, I repeat, we are at code red!"