Torchwood - Dark Stranger
Chapter two : Divided we fall.
Gwen sat trembling in the passenger seat as Jack drove them back to the Torchwood hub.
"Who is the Doctor?" she asked.
"He's...an old friend. A very old friend." replied Jack, seeming deep in thought. Gwen could only catch glimpses of his face as it was lit up by the street lights they passed.
"Does he have any enemies?"
Jack let out a quiet laugh. "Lots, but I'm not sure why you should have had a dream about him."
Owen and Toshiko were outside when Jack and Gwen pulled up. Jack parked the SUV next to the new addition. It was a perfect replica of the larger fountain, but was about eight feet tall.
"Well, what is it?" Jack asked them.
"Er, well, we can tell you what its not." replied Owen, laying down a scanner that looked like a hairdryer. "It's not real water running down it."
"It seems to be a projection of some sort." Toshiko added.
"That's all?" asked Jack.
"Well, I suppose it could be something like the invisible elevator." said Owen.
Jack froze. "What?" he said quietly.
"I said, it could be something like...Jack?"
But Jack was already moving. He ran back to the car, grabbed a pair of binoculars from the glove box and sprinted back to the others. Holding them up to his face, he adjusted the focusing on them and held a pair of 3D glasses in front of the lenses. He studied the smaller fountain, turned the 3D glasses upside down and then gasped at what he saw. The fountain image was definitely a mirage - Jack saw a million images trying to be displayed at once - including a blue police call box.
"It's a chameleon circuit." He told the others. "Which can only mean one thing."
"You mean a TARDIS? You mean the Doctor, right?" said Owen, but was cut short by a stern look from Jack.
"Everybody inside." Jack ordered.
They packed the stuff up and went back inside the hub. Even before they got to the bottom of the elevator, they could see something had happened down there. Half the computers were smashed, files and documents were strewn everywhere.
"Someone was looking for something." said Jack. "Owen, see if you can find Ianto with the bio-tracker. Toshiko, find me the CCTV logs from last night. I want to know who or what did this."
The others got to work as Jack headed for his office, Gwen following. Jack's office was in the same state as it usually was, so it was hard to tell if the intruders had been in there or not.
Jack sat down on the old battered leather chair, which he had to set back on its worn castors first. Sighing he looked around. The only thing that had did not seem to have been disturbed was the shelf which held the severed hand, twitching in its bubbling liquid. Next to the hand's jar was the remote control device that had mysteriously turned up at the door.
Suddenly, a thought hit Jack so hard he nearly fell off his chair. How could he have missed it? Jumping up, he grabbed the remote control and ran back to Owen and Toshiko.
"Got anything yet?" Jack asked.
Toshiko, under her workstation, gave him a grunt. "Almost."
"I've got nothing from the tracker." reported Owen. "All the satellites can tell me is Ianto is on planet Earth. Maybe."
Jack smiled to himself. "Yeah, a chameleon circuit does things like that. Bet the military would love to get their hands on the technology."
"Got it." said Toshiko, sitting back on her chair. Her computer screens flickered and the pictures steadied to show the CCTV images of the hub. A darkly clad figure was moving systematically from one desk to the next, tipping things over and searching desks for something. Toshiko froze the picture and tried to zoom in on the man's face.
"I know that man. He...he seduced me last night." She said with surprise.
"Me too." Said Owen. The others turned to look at him. Turning bright red, he continued "Er, I mean I know him too. He delivered a Pizza to my apartment last night. He kept asking about the Doctor."
"He couldn't have been." said Toshiko, "We were...awake all night." Now it was her turn to blush under the gaze of the others.
"Shame we don't have a CCTV at your place!" laughed Owen. Toshiko glared at him.
"That's the man from my nightmare." Said Gwen quietly. Jack turned to her and saw she had turned very pale. She looked into his eyes and burst into tears, burying her face in his overcoat.
"Can you get the CCTV up for the night before, when Ianto found the package outside the main entrance?" Jack asked Toshiko.
"Yeah, I think so."
After a moment the picture on screen changed to a view of the main door. A large man dressed in an overcoat, a wide brimmed hat which hid his face and a long flowing scarf appeared, carefully placed a package on the doorstep and pressed the doorbell, then walked quickly away.
Jack smiled. There was only one person that could be. He was trying to send Jack a message, but what was it? He looked at the image of the fountain's replica on Tosh's screen. Making a decision, he held Gwen at arms length by her shoulders.
"You alright?" He asked. Receiving a nod, he turned to Tosh and Owen. "Arm yourselves well. I'm not sure what we may find. We already know the man in there seems to be able to be in several places at once."
They nodded and started collecting things they might need, including a few non-standard issue items from Torchwood's armory.
They assembled next to the elevator a few moments later, Owen weighed down with what looked like a small rocket launcher.
"Is that really necessary?" Asked Jack.
"Well, no maybe not." Said Owen, laying the weapon to one side and pulling out his pistol to check it.
Everyone checked their own weapons and nodded to Jack.
"Let's go." He said and stepped onto the elevator.