"Where's Mr Jones going?" Tanya asked.

They looked up at her and then out of the window. The rain was hammering down again, like it would never stop, and no one was outside if they didn't have to be. A lone figure hurried through it, dodging past deep puddles with shoulders hunched against the cold. Charlie peered closer and wiped condensation from the glass. "Is that who it is?"

"Looks like he's heading for the old changing rooms," Ram said. "They've not been used in years, though. Not since the new buildings went up. What does he want over there?"

"Maybe he is hunting for aliens," Matteusz suggested. "If I was an alien, I would choose somewhere nobody goes."

Charlie shrugged. "I wouldn't. It must be cold, and probably damp. And probably no WiFi."

"Probably. Did your planet have WiFi?"

"Something like it," he confirmed, with only half his attention on her and the rest of it on movement out by the old brick buildings. "Much more advanced by the time..." He swallowed and changed the subject. "Can you see a van over there?"

"I don't know." Tanya wiped at the glass too and pressed her forehead against it. "Yeah, I can. And is that a light on inside?"

He nodded. "Why would it have electricity, though?"

Ram gave him his favourite dismissive look. "Oh my god, we had electricity 20 years ago. Just because we're not as advanced as you…"

"I'm not stupid, Ram. I just don't see why you'd leave it connected if you weren't using it. Especially if they were going to knock it down or something."

"They probably meant to convert it," Tanya explained. "They've been promising new science labs since before the new building was finished, after all."

"Is good idea. Then we can explode things," Matteusz murmured. "For science, I mean."

They all stared at him and then shrugged at each other. "I don't think that's what they're doing now," Tanya said at last, turning back to the window. "I think..."

They waited until Ram growled. "Oh come on, Hermione. Enough with the drama."

"Sorry. I was just trying to work it out, but didn't you say that Mr Jones said..." She glanced around them and leaned closer, then finished in a loud whisper, "Said that Torchwood are going to set up a base here. To protect us."

"I think he did," Charlie confirmed. "I was a bit worried about that, to be honest. I mean, what if they decide they don't want to allow any aliens?"

"They already did. They had a referendum about it." Matteusz squeezed his hand. "Mr Jones says that as long as you do your homework, you can stay."

He laughed and nodded. "You're right, as usual." Charlie's face softened as he looked at Matteusz the way it always did. "If I have to pretend to be human..."

"You've got no hope, mate. You're the least believable human I've met," Ram scoffed.

Charlie ignored him. "But we should probably keep them on side."

"Yeah. Maybe we should go round later," Tanya suggested. "Introduce ourselves and stuff. Actually... You know the thing with the phones?"

"You mean that dozens have been nicked over the last few months? Yeah, I'd noticed." Ram eyed her. "Wait… you're not about to suggest that it might be aliens."

She bristled at him. "It could be. I mean, it does seem a bit weird."

"It does," Matteusz agreed. "Unless someone can steal a phone in the library and then take one out of someone's bag in C block five minutes later."

Tanya thought it through. "You could do it, at a run. But you couldn't do it without getting caught."

"No." They looked at each other and then out of the window as they all came to the same conclusion.

Rain ran down the back of Ram's neck and soaked his hair to his head. He glared at Tanya, because she'd been the first one to say what they were all thinking and it was therefore Her Idea, and raised his hand. "Last chance to back out." No one said anything, so he knocked on the door and stepped back into the group.

For a long while all that happened was that the rain, somehow, got heavier. They'd got to the stage of looking at each other awkwardly and wondering if they'd imagined it all by the time the door finally opened, and a tall, dark haired man leaned on the doorframe to look them up and down. "Sign says no minors," he pointed out, indicating the yellow hazard notice on the door. "Sorry."

Tanya folded her arms. "We're looking for Mr Jones. Is he still here?"

The stranger straightened up, with an expression that was 10% stern and 90% trying very hard not to laugh. "Mr Jones," he called back over his shoulder. "I think some of your students are here." There was a muffled response and he opened the door wider. "You'd better come in."

They exchanged glances and then followed him in, through the foyer and past the changing rooms - girls on the left and boys on the right - and into the office at the back. Everything was coated in dust and the air was heavy with it and the smell of fresh paint and plaster. The office was sparse, with four desks and a laptop on each, six rickety plastic chairs, and a coffee machine, kettle and herd of mugs on a pasting table against the wall. Mr Jones was leaning over the shoulder of a younger man, looking at something on the screen. "Be with you in a minute," he assured them. "Luke, send me that report, will you? I'll have a look at it whilst my first years are doing their test."

Ram glanced at Tanya again and shrugged. The guy who'd shown them in picked a mug up off one of the desk and leaned against it. "You must be our alien hunters. And alien, of course." His eyes settled on Charlie and creased at the corners when Matteusz, predictably, stepped in front of him. "Ianto was right."

"Ianto's always right," Mr Jones said, finally straightening up. "What was I right about this time?"

"Your boys are sweet." He smirked into his mug. "Do they remind you of us?"

He snorted. "Kids, this is my husband, Jack. Who I had to stalk to even get a job," he added, "so no, no fond memories here."

Tanya looked up at Ram. "So… this is Torchwood? Doesn't look like much."

"Neither do you. We're… getting established." Jack gestured around the room. "I mean, we only have one room at the moment, but I've worked with less. This is Luke Smith, our tech expert, his partner Ant is our medic, Ianto Jones is our top undercover operative…"

"I'm the archivist and the only one who could be spared," Mr Jones corrected him.

"He's also pretty good at going undercover. And I'm Captain Jack Harkness." He grinned. "I'm here to give them someone to make look good."

Tanya nodded. "So… Ant is your only girl."
"Nope." Luke grinned at her. "We're just that gay. We have a team of 24 back at the base, to be fair. It's just that if we four come, we only need two hotel rooms and Ianto is very cost conscious."

"Someone has to be." He rolled his eyes, but smiled anyway. "So you have backup now. We'll take it from here. There might be more of you, but we're better trained."

Ram scowled. "What, just like that? Don't you think you're a bit late?" He pointed back at the school. "Do you know how many people have died there before you turned up? We've been bleeding and dying - literally! And now you're just going to swoop in and tell us it's all fine now, you've got it covered, and expect us to accept it. But we know. We know what's out there. You lot in some junk office isn't going to make me sleep at night."

"Mr Singh…"

"Don't 'Mr Singh' me." He glared up at him. "What can you do to keep us safe, really? Or are you just going to mop up the damage afterwards? Because if you can't promise me you can keep my mum safe, I'm going to keep doing it myself."
Jack stepped forwards and pushed him back. "You know what's going to keep you safe? Keeping your nose out of other people's business. Stop sneaking around school after dark, stop drawing attention to yourselves, and stop putting yourselves in the line of fire. Leave it to the professionals, and we will handle it."

Tanya caught his arm to hold him back. "We will, don't worry. But just so you know, the thing with everyone's phones going missing? It's definitely aliens."

"Yeah, figured that, thanks." Jack reached for the door. "We want to help. Ianto has some paperwork for Charlie to complete to get him some support, and we're going to arrange for all of you to have access to therapists who'll actually believe you. We're not the bad guys. Keep your heads down, do your homework, and don't bring your phone to school, alright?"

Dismissed, they trailed out into the rain. It was still hammering down, and Tanya felt even colder when she saw Charlie wrap his arms around Matteusz's waist under his jacket. "Mr Jones was right," she murmured, "you two really do make an obvious target."

Charlie had buried his face against Mattuesz's shoulder, so his voice was muffled. "The world can… go fuck itself next time," he grumbled. Matteusz rubbed a hand down his back and he pulled back with a visible sigh. "I'm all for leaving it to Torchwood, I really am. Maybe… maybe we can be normal. Normal for us, I mean."

"I'd like that."

"Yeah, me too," Tanya agreed. "If I never see another alien, I won't mind. And god, I think we all need that therapy. Can you imagine being able to tell someone what's actually happened to us?"

Ram draped his arm over her shoulders and steered her towards the school. "Yeah, you're right. Maybe this is what we needed."