Welcome to Armageddon!
Author: Milady Dragon
Disclaimer: I don't own Torchwood, I would have treated it better.
Author's note: Here's the next chapter! Hope you enjoy. Thanks to everyone who are reviewing and alerting!
Chapter Three
Gwen hadn't been expecting to be joining the Horsemen and Apocalypse for their lunch meeting, but that was where she ended up.
The meeting room was on the one hundredth floor, where Apocalypse also had his own office. It was a large, well appointed room with its own small kitchenette and a picture window overlooking the great Veil Between Dimensions. The table was round, with five throne-like chairs interspersed around it, each one bearing the sigil of its owner. Five smaller chairs for the PA's were set against one wall, and they too were marked; Gwen easily found the Staff of Pestilence on hers.
Oh, and there was also a rather large vulture on a perch in the corner of the room, overlooking the gathering with black, baleful eyes.
"That's Myfanwy," Rose asked, to Gwen's unanswered question. "She's Apocalypse's."
That made a bit of sense for Apocalypse to have some sort of mascot but, "Myfanwy?" Gwen was surprised at such a Welsh name.
"She was a gift from Death, and he named her."
Death…was giving gifts to Apocalypse? That didn't sound very professional…but then, Gwen really hadn't seen much of that in the hours she'd been working for the department.
Death himself was the first to arrive. Ianto rested his large scythe against the wall near his chair, and then made his way to the kitchenette, where he began fiddling with the fancy coffee machine that took up residence on the short countertop. In short order the other Horsemen showed up; Gwen got her first look at Famine, who was a youngish man with curly blond hair dressed in a rugby jersey and jeans. She was inordinately proud of the fact that Andy Davidson appeared to be another countryman, judging from the team logo on his shirt.
And then, Apocalypse arrived.
If Gwen had thought Ianto Jones was yummy, then Jack Harkness was absolutely scrumptious.
The man was devastatingly handsome. Styled hair, piercing blue eyes, that jawline…and his clothes, which – if Gwen wasn't mistaken – were made up of period World War II pieces, including the greatcoat that swirled around him as he walked.
Now this was what she'd hoped for in a Horseman! He just looked every inch the hero and man of action that she'd hoped for.
Gwen was so caught up in watching Apocalypse that she almost missed the woman accompanying him. She was a small woman, Japanese, and she bustled past her employer so she could direct the caterers who apparently were responsible for lunch. In no time at all folding tables had been set up, and the delicious smells of what Gwen recognized as Chinese food were making her stomach remind her that she'd only had a slice of toast that morning for breakfast.
"Hello, ladies," Apocalypse greeted the PA's effusively. He hugged Donna, kissed Rose very enthusiastically, bussed Diane on the cheek…and then came to Gwen, who found herself completely and utterly tongue-tied as he took her hand. "Why, hello there," his voice seemed to actually go down an octave, and it sent a shiver down Gwen's spine. "Captain Jack Harkness…and you are?"
"Jack," Death warned, "stop it."
Apocalypse went from flirty to pouting in the blink of an eye. "I was just saying hello."
"If you say so," was the good-natured reply.
"Oi, Harkness," Owen piped up, "quit drooling over my new PA. That's my job."
"You always were a selfish bastard, Owen," Jack retorted, his face taking on a smirk that had Gwen a bit weak in the knees. "Welcome to Armageddon, Ms…"
"C-Cooper. Gwen Cooper." She inwardly cursed her stutter, but the man was completely knocking her off kilter. And he smelled fantastic, too!
"Ms Gwen Cooper." Apocalypse winked at her, then turned away. "Let's get this meeting started, people. Armageddons don't wait until we're ready."
There was a general stampede toward the food, and while that was going on, Gwen finally got to meet Toshiko Sato, Apocalypse's PA.
"Welcome to Armageddon," the Japanese woman greeted. "Please don't mind Jack; he flirts with anything with a pulse…and a couple of things without."
Gwen actually felt herself blushing. "It's fine. I just wasn't expecting it. Everyone's been too busy warning me about Owen."
Toshiko laughed. "I can understand that. Owen can be a bit of a prick. You're actually the fifth person he's hired since Katie left."
Gwen's jaw dropped open. "The fifth? I didn't know that!"
"Jack was about ready to assign him someone without giving him a choice. We're important to the Horsemen, and Owen really needs a good PA. None of them are all that organized – except for Ianto, and he's even more organized than Donna, if that's possible. In fact," she leaned closer, her voice lowering, "we really run the department, more than the Horsemen do. They'd fall apart without us. Only, you can't say that to them. They think they're in charge." She winked conspiratorially.
Gwen nodded, not wanting to show her surprise but was a bad enough actress to realize she couldn't. If she hadn't been under pressure before…
"Don't worry about it," Toshiko said. "You'll be fine. Just listen to what's going on, and ask if you have any questions. There's a lot that goes into this job, but I have a feeling that you'll be fine." She patted Gwen on the arm, then headed over to the food table.
She followed, knowing that she'd need to eat something if she wanted to keep up with things. This was just so overwhelming, her mind was still trying to catch up. Well, all she could do was the best job she could, and then when she got home, go nuts.
After everyone had a plate – the various PA's pulling their chairs up to the table so they had a place to rest their plates – Apocalypse called the meeting to order.
"Welcome to another Armageddon, boys and girls," Jack began. "Tosh, if you would…?"
Toshiko pressed something on her PDA, and one of the large window panels went opaque. It took Gwen a few seconds to realize it was like some sort of huge monitor screen, as it split to reveal two worlds. "Here we have Balyar and Tolen," Jack went on. "Now, I know Ianto and John have been monitoring both worlds closely…"
"I hadn't expected them to go Armageddon so fast," War leaned back in his chair, twirling a chopstick between nimble fingers. "I know they were both developing planet-buster weapons, but they should've been years away from testing, let alone implementation."
"That's because that's not what they're using," Death answered. He looked incongruous with a napkin tucked into his collar, in order to keep anything from dripping onto his suit. "I sent a memo to Owen about it…"
"Yeah well," Pestilence snapped, "I haven't exactly had a lot of help lately, have I?"
"And whose fault is that?" Ianto challenged, raising a single eyebrow in rebuke.
"Enough," Jack ordered. "So, you're saying it's biological?"
Ianto nodded. "Balyar has developed a fast-acting virus that they're planning to use on Tolen. The marked increase in deaths due to experimentation caught my attention."
"I'm sorry," Gwen raised her hand, not really wanting to draw attention to herself but feeling very confused. "I'm afraid I don't understand."
Jack smiled at her reassuringly. "Balyar and Tolen have been at war with each other for decades, over something even they can't remember. We've been monitoring them for a while now, just waiting to see what they have planned. They're the source of the Armageddon warning."
"So, Tolen is going to be destroyed by plague," Famine spoke up, and yes he did have a Welsh accent. "What about Balyar? Are they both going Armageddon then?"
"That's the indication, yes," Jack answered. "By the end of the day, both planets will be essentially dead."
That single proclamation about broke Gwen's heart. Two cultures…both on the road to killing themselves. "Can't we stop it?" she blurted before she even knew she'd spoken.
It earned her strange looks from everyone in the room, including the vulture.
"We're not in the business of stopping mortals from destroying each other," Apocalypse answered sharply. "That's up to the Guardians, and to a smaller extent Prophecy. Our job is to clean up the mess left behind. It's a hard job, and if you don't think you can be a part of this – "
"No!" Gwen exclaimed. "Sorry." She had no idea what had prompted her to even suggest such a thing. She was well aware of what they did in Armageddon, and she'd been the one to request the transfer. Although, it wasn't quite the job she'd thought she'd be getting…
"It's just a holdover from her time in Guardians," Death put in.
Jack raised a single eyebrow. "You came here from Guardians? Now, that's what I call a complete turnabout in jobs."
Gwen blushed. "I was bored there."
"I can understand that," Apocalypse laughed. "Well, you won't be bored here." He leered in her direction, and Gwen blushed even more.
"So," Andy went on, "what about Balyar?"
"From the indications Prognostication has been getting," Death answered, "the virus gets loose on Balyar as well."
"Hoist by their own Petard, then," War summed it up.
"Okay," Jack brought attention back to himself. "Looks like Owen and Ianto are going to be the busiest of us today. Do you have all the resources you'll need?"
Donna was already using her PDA, staccato tapping filling the room. Gwen pulled her own out, accessing the Angel register to see who was available to help out.
"We have thirty available Angels of Death on standby," Donna reported. "I sent a memo to Azrael in Angel Dispatch about it, too."
"Looks like there's twenty-seven available Angels of Pestilence open to help," Gwen answered, just a little unsure of what she was seeing. "Um…five more are coming off assignments, and could be ready if needed."
The wink she received from Donna told her that she'd gotten it right. Gwen wanted to preen, but not in front of the bosses.
The other PA's were also working on their PDA's. "Looks like the virus also manages to decimate large sections of the food chain," Diane said. "Anyone who happens to live past the virus will effectively starve."
"Plenty for me to do, then," Andy said, relaxing back in his chair.
"And since they were already at war to begin with…" John said, putting his boots up on the table and pushing his chair back on its rear legs.
"I've just got another alert," Toshiko piped up. "Looks like the virus doesn't stay confined to either world." The screen spilt again, this time into four more sections. Each one showed a different planet.
"Collateral damage," Apocalypse said. The term almost sounded like an insult. "Tosh, keep up on those updates. We'll need to know if this jumps again. Rose, Diane…see what Angels are available in your sections as well. Looks like we're going to be working overtime on this, people."
The meeting began winding down, once the other PA's cleared extra Angels for duty. Gwen could feel an excitement growing inside her, knowing that this day would either make or break her.