Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or Torchwood, both belong to the BBC and their respected writers. But I do own Gaia! :b
A/N: Yes I'm still alive! ;) I'm sorry for the lack of update over the last 2 weeks, from either leaving school, exams and other rubbish I've only just got round to finishing this chapter. But now with nothing else to do and my muse for this fic returned updates should become much more regular. Also, I've reach page 100 on MS Word for this fic, woo! :) My longest fic to date! :)
Gaia leant casually on the quay railings, listening to the sound of the waves against the sea wall. It was incredibly relaxing standing out in the moonlight, whilst the city was winding down for the night… but that wasn't the reason Gaia was out on the quay. The reason she was out in the evening air was slowing approaching her at this very moment, trying and failing to go unheard.
"Hello Martha." Gaia said cheerfully, not taking her eyes off the sea. There was the sound of a slight whine from behind her and then the sound of more prominent footsteps as Martha came up and stood at her side.
"Do you ever get surprised?" Martha asked, her gaze now also over the sea in front of them.
"Nope." Gaia replied popping her `P` and turning to face the Londoner. Martha also turned to face Gaia with a slight eye roll. Both women ended up laughing and hugging one another.
"Oh, it's so good to see you." Martha exclaimed, pulling out of the hug.
"And you. Not to shabby though, Miss UNIT Medical Officer." Gaia responded with just as much enthusiasm and warmth. Martha blushed.
"Well…" Martha replied shyly, which was weird for Martha. When anyone else mentioned her new job Martha would be proud of it, the only person that had got her embarrassed with modesty was when her mother found out; she was surprised that Gaia seemed to have the same effect on her.
"You know, I guess it was his way of saying thank you." Martha commented, both of them knowing which `his` she was referring to.
"You still had to work for it though. Don't be so modest, you earned your job just as much as anyone else, if not more so." Gaia stated looking directly at Martha. Martha nodded shyly, still not quite believing what Gaia was telling her.
Gaia rolled her eyes at the young woman's reluctancy to recognise her own achievements. "Come on." Gaia encouraged, picking up Martha's heavy holdall with ease. "Jack will be over the moon that you're here." Gaia continued and led Martha into the Tourist Board.
Walking through the tourist board, Gaia introduced Martha to Ianto and let the Welshman and Londoner get introduced. Although Gaia didn't mention it at the time, she saw a hint of recognition and slight horror in Martha's eyes as she was introduced to Ianto. She decided to ask Martha about it later.
Now though the pair were walking down the corridor, Martha's eyes darting around at the new environment. "So this place runs underneath most of the city?" Martha asked.
"Yep." Gaia replied as she entered an 8 digit code into the panel next to the lift door. "It was built in the old underground system Cardiff use to have. Most of the tunnels go unused now-a-days, except for the occasional game of hide and seek." Gaia continued as she stepped into the lift, Martha right behind her.
"No doubt by you and Jack I gather?" Martha joked. Gaia pouted.
"Martha I'm shocked that you think that Jack and I get up to childish games in our top secret, state of the art, headquarters." Gaia said, mocking shock and disbelief.
"It is you though?" Martha continued, unfazed by Gaia's sarcasm.
"Yeah…" Gaia replied and both women bursted out in laughter.
As the lift neared the bottom, the women's laughter died down to silence and Martha took a deep breath in anticipation. Gaia gave her a soft smile in understanding; the hub could be slightly overwhelming when stepped into for the first time. When the lift did reach its bottom and the door did finally roll back, the pair found themselves at the centre of the Torchwood team's attention. "Miss Martha Jones." Jack introduced and gave Martha a wink.
"Oh, it good to see you Jack." Martha exclaimed, hugging Jack like she had done Gaia on the quayside.
"Owen, Gwen, Ianto… meet Martha." Jack said happily, pointing to each member of Torchwood in turn. Martha smiled at them before she grabbed her kit and bag, heading for the autopsy room.
"Uh, just a casual visit or…?" Owen asked, intrigued at Martha's sudden course for `his` autopsy room.
"I'm here to complete your post-mortem." Martha answered, getting straight down to business. Owen's eyebrows rose in shock at her answer, before her turn to his bosses for an explanation.
"Dr Jones is from UNIT." Jack answered and they all followed Martha over to the autopsy bay.
"Which one's UNIT?" Gwen asked confused as she followed the others over to the autopsy bay.
"Intelligence, military…" Gaia began.
"Cute red caps." Jack added and everyone rolled their eyes.
"…the acceptable face of intelligence- gathering on aliens." Gaia finished and Gwen nodded in understanding.
"We're more ad hoc." Jack added. "But better looking." He directed at Martha. Martha profusely ignored him and got on with the autopsy.
"I identified a pattern from UNIT's data on sudden deaths. Toxic shock. Nothing to link the victims. Different, ages, sexes, ethnic origins, occupations. But there was a statistically significant in South Wales." Martha explained as she began to examine the body.
"Come on Martha, be honest. You just came all this way to see me." Jack joked.
"Oi. What am I, invisible?" Gaia stated causing the young medic to chuckle.
"Still struggling to conquer your shyness Jack?" Martha commented looking at the bickering pair and Jack laughed.
Owen cleared his throat, trying to get back down to business. "So what about this pattern, then, Dr Jones?" He asked Martha.
"They were written off as suicides or accidents." Martha replied and opened the body's right eye lid. "Look. Puncture mark. Hypodermic needle. You'll find his blood stream was pumped full of ammonium hydroxide." Martha continued.
"Yeah, bloodstream. That was the thing I was going to do next." Owen muttered, looking at the punctured eye.
"Have you checked his medical records?" Martha asked seriously.
"Uh, no. I was just about to." Owen spluttered, caught out by the medic several years his junior.
"Well, let's give it a go. You never know, Owen, you might learn something." Martha replied with a smile. Gaia burst out laughing.
"Oh Martha, I have missed you." She declared, watching Owen bite his tongue from responding.
After trying and failing to find the body's medical records, the group spilt up: Ianto heading back to the tourist board, Owen to finish the autopsy, Gwen to continue to search for the missing medical records and Gaia, Jack and Martha conversing in Jack's office.
"How's the family?" Jack asked Martha, as he leant back in his chair. Gaia was perched on the edge of his desk and Martha in the other seat.
"Getting better. They send their love." Martha replied honestly.
"Give them mine." Jack replied. "So… end of the world survivors club." Jack continued.
"God, I am so glad to see you two." Martha exclaimed. Jack and Gaia smiled, although the latter felt their was something else to that. She had only met Martha the twice, on the moon and at the end of the universe, and while Gaia was close to all her humans it was not usually a mutual friendship.
Coming out of her thoughts Gaia heard Martha reply to Jack's question on looking for a job.
"I wasn't. This woman from UNIT rang out of the blue, said I was just what they needed, that I'd come highly recommended by an impeccable source." Martha answered. Jack pointed upwards.
"You mean…?"
"Well, who else would have done it?" Martha replied. Jack gave a sideways glance at Gaia, who shook her head, denying that she had anything to do with Martha's new found job. Jack then turned back to Martha.
"He must have though he owed you a favour. Guess we all do." Jack said thoughtfully. "So, do you think you could get me one of those red caps for personal use? I'm thinking Ianto might look good in it." Jack asked all seriousness out the window. Martha stood up sensing all serious conversation between herself and Jack had ended.
"You want uniforms, get your own. Now, am I going to get the guided tour?" Martha asked. Jack stood to attention and saluted, Gaia rolled her eyes.
"Yes ma'am, whatever you say, ma'am." Jack barked.
"Leave it." Martha waggles her finger.
"Unbelievable." Gaia commented and the trio laughed as they left his office.
As Jack pulled ahead in the tour himself and Gaia were giving Martha, Gaia took her chance to ask Martha a few questions. "So how do you know Ianto?" Gaia asked. Martha looked slightly startled at the question, but quickly regained her composure.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Martha replied. Gaia raised an eyebrow at the Londoner.
"Martha I know when someone's lying, in particular I know when a human's lying. I invented the human impulse to lie, so spill. How do you know our young Welshman?" Gaia commented, stopping Martha from continuing to walk. Martha took a deep shaky breath before replying to Gaia, her voice not as strong as it was.
"In the year, I walked through a passage of the Himalayas and he was there, on his own. He was starved and so I stayed with him that night, getting him warm and trying to get some food inside of him, but… he didn't make it through the night." Martha muttered, her mind relieving the horror of cradling the young ill Welshman in the middle of the freezing mountains.
Gaia pulled Martha into hug, letting the girl rest her head on her shoulder. "I'm sorry." Gaia muttered softly to Martha. Martha pulled out of the hug and wiped away the tears that were threatening to fall.
"It doesn't matter. He's okay now, that's what's important." Martha conceded and Gaia nodded. The girls then walked to catch up with Jack, neither of them mentioning the conversation they had just had.
After the tour and a failed artefact demonstration by Owen, Ianto came down and informed the others of another attack, this time with a surviving victim. Within the quarter of the hour Jack, Gaia and Martha were down the hospital.
"Yeah, but the doctors said they'd finished with me." Marie, the surviving victim stated as Martha took a blood sample.
"We're a bit different." Gaia reassured and Marie visibly calmed considerably as she said that.
"We know this is tough on you Marie, but did you recognise the man who attacked you?" Jack asked softly, shocking Gaia a bit. Jack wasn't well known for his empathy.
"I already told the police." Marie defended.
"We're different from them too." Gaia added.
"No, I never seen him before." Marie said answering Jack's question.
"Did he say anything in the course of the attack?" Jack asked.
"No."
"Open wide." Martha instructed and took a swab from Marie's mouth.
"Look, he just came towards me with a great big bloody needle didn't he? You know, my dog bit him and I kicked him in the nuts." Marie explained, causing Jack to laugh.
"Respect!" He exclaimed causing all of them to smile.
Now gathered around one of the monitors, the team went through all the facts they already knew. "Locally, we've got a murder victim and survivor. Both attacked with hypodermics, both with their medical records wiped." Jack began.
"And more cases across the UK. We think the point of the attacks is to destroy evidence of their medical condition." Martha added.
"Gwen, Ianto pursue the criminal investigation." Jack ordered.
"Okay, what about the medical records? We really need Tosh if you're planning on hacking." Gwen stated. Gaia waved the comment off.
"Tosh and Tommy are on a well deserved break, I'll do it." Gaia said and Jack nodded in agreement.
"That leaves Martha and Owen to follow up with the medical side." Jack finished and Owen agreed with a slight reluctance. "Do what you have to. We're not dealing with a freak with some needle fetish. This is a conspiracy." Jack stated and everyone nodded getting to work.
Sat at Tosh's workstation, which doubled up as the hub's central computer, Gaia began her search through for the mysteriously deleted medical records. This was until a police report appeared on her screen; there had been another murder, all with the same circumstances as the last. After informing Ianto of it, she quickly got back to work, delving into the list of the data and numbers.
Walking down the corridor a few hours later, after just leaving the kitchen after grabbing herself a quick coffee, Gaia ran into Martha and Gwen. "The attack took place in the woods, so no witnesses, no CCTV." Gwen stated as the trio walked back to the main hub area.
"Same as the others." Martha pointed out and they all nodded.
"Yes and I just checked for Barry's medical records, they've already been wiped." Gaia explained, her hands cradling the hot cup of coffee.
"And the puncture marks on the eyeball was identical to the other victims. I mean, Jack's right. These attacks are no random, they're clinical. Professional. More like assassinations." Martha said.
"Except Barry Leonard was a student." Gaia pointed out.
"Who'd assassinate a student?" Gwen asked, agreeing with Gaia's hypothesis.
"Student Loans Company." Martha answered in all seriousness.
"Yeah, I think you've just cracked it." Gaia joked and they all laughed.
Sitting back at the workstation, Gaia watched as Martha and Owen ran out of the hub; apparently Marie had had some sort of seizure. Not long after they left Gwen and Ianto made their leave to go and interview Mike, Barry Leonard's close friend and room mate. That left Gaia and Jack alone in the hub, where the latter had made himself scarce throughout most of the investigation.
Wondering where the Immortal had gone, Gaia left the computer running a long and tedious scan and walked up to his office. Not bothering to knock, she opened the door and was very surprised to find it empty. Furrowing her brow, she left his office and started to head back down the stairs, planning on heading towards the kitchen… that was until she heard the unmistakable sound of her mobile going off.
Bounding back up the stairs, Gaia headed towards her own office and when opening the door, was very surprised to see Jack sitting at her desk, her mobile in hand. "Who's River?" He asked a smile on his face.
"No one." Gaia retorted, snatching the phone off of him and putting it in her pocket.
"Right… aren't you going to read it then?"
"Decidedly not."
"Aww, why not? Could it be for the fact that she has kisses next to her name in your contacts?" Gaia ignored Jack's question.
"What are you doing in here?" Jack shrugged at Gaia's question. "You're insufferable." Gaia retorted and Jack winked.
With everyone back at the hub, the entire team contravened in the boardroom to collect all the information they had gathered. First up were Owen and Martha as they explained the medic's of the situation. "This, folks, is a molecular model of the drug we found in Marie's blood." Owen began, pointing to the diagram they had up on the large monitor.
"She called it Reset." Martha added.
"So what does it do?" Ianto asked.
"Well, think about when you run, you know, a virus scan through your computer, yeah? The software works its way through the files and when it finds a Trojan or a virus or whatever, identifies it and then it deletes it. That is what this stuff does to the human body. But it's not just viruses. It's harmful bacteria, toxins, even mutant cells, you name it. It's like the body's been turned back to its factory setting." Owen explained, seemingly in awe at the miracle drug.
"It's the ultimate magic bullet then. It supersedes anything and everything in the pharmacological armoury." Gaia stated and both medics nodded in agreement.
"But that would be the greatest medical discovery in history." Gwen stated.
"Exactly. Except, it comes bundled with a lethal alien parasite." Martha explained and changed the monitor onto a picture of the larvae.
"Ah, not so good a discovery." Jack commented and Martha nodded as she continued to explain.
"The parasite needs a healthy body until it's incubated. So the parasite egg incorporates this magic bullet, which puts everything in the system back to its factory settings."
"Reset. Does what it says on the tin. So who runs the Pharm?" Jack asked.
"Well, the public image is innocent enough. Private-public partnership between the government and a consortium of pharmaceutical companies. Researching and developing cutting-edge biotechnology." Ianto explained.
"Their IT systems are way more advanced than they need to be. Plus they've got seemingly unrestricted security clearance." Gaia continued.
"Which would explain the erased medical records." Martha noted and Gaia nodded in agreement.
"Okay, so who run's this outfit?" Jack asked.
"Institute director is Dr Aaron Copley." Gwen read and everyone turned to Gaia for her to add more information.
"Respected research scientist in biotechnology, studied at Harvard, did some of his research at Cambridge. Not married with no living family, his last job being a Harvard Professor of Molecular Pharmacology and he came to the UK to set up Pharm a few years ago." Gaia told them, searching through her extensive knowledge of the human race.
"Hmm, he's kinda handsome, too." Jack added, causing an eye roll out of most Torchwood members. "D'you think he'll like visitors?"
Gaia sat fairly casually next to Jack as they watched Aaron Copley go through the images. "Sorry you've had a wasted journey, Mr and Mrs… Harker." Copley said as he pretended to study the photos.
"Harkness." Jack corrected. "And we're not a couple. Also it's Captain, but you can call me Jack."
"Gaia. Not Harkness, just Gaia." Copley seemed to ignore Gaia's introduction, although seemed slightly unsettled in his chair as the woman spoke.
"Captain?" He began. "Where did you park your boat?" Jack laughed at that, although it's very clearly put on.
"I like a man with a sense of humour." Jack stated.
"I agree, know any good gags about clinical trials?" Gaia added and again it seemed Copley ignored her.
"Well, Jack, none of these faces mean anything to me. And as institute director, I would have met them personally, had they been our trial subjects." Copley stated and Gaia started to fume.
"Dr Copley…" Gaia began.
"Professor, actually." Copley interrupted, his tone condescending. Gaia stood up and spread out the photos of the last 3 victims.
"See, this is a little awkward. Two of these people were murdered. Another died of a parasitic infection of alien origin and one of the victims mentioned your organizations name shortly before she died." Gaia stated, her tone fierce causing Copley to shrink back in his seat slightly.
"Alien Origin? That's preposterous." Copley argued, although his argument sounded slightly weaker than before. Owen then takes this moment to interrupt.
"Uh, Professor, when I was writing my MD thesis, your published works on immunology were very helpful, so thank you." Owen stated, giving the man his dues where he deserved it.
"I'm glad to be of service." Copley replied, his tone much different now that he was talking to another male. That seemed to infuriate Gaia even more and she was finding it incredibly hard not to rip into his mind and find what the hell was going on here herself.
"Now, if there was a drug that could restore the human body back to its factory settings, as it were, you would know about it." Owen continued, snapping Gaia out of her violent thoughts.
"You're right, I would. But nothing like that exists." Copley replied, his pokerfaced incredibly lax.
"I always despised liars." Gaia stated and Copley's smile vanished as he stood up.
"I'm already late for my next appointment." He stated.
"You go ahead. We'll have a look around." Jack said also getting to his feet and standing next to Gaia who looked like she was going to strangle the man.
"Well, obviously our research suites are classified, so we can't grant you access to those, but we'd be delighted to give you the PR tour." Copley suggested. Jack wasn't buying it.
"Normally, Aaron, we go where we like."
"Not here, actually. Ask Whitehall. We're fireproof."
"Yeah, we had a bad experience with a politician recently. We tend not to list to Whitehall any more." Gaia stated her anger only fuelled at the memory of what the deranged Timelord from Whitehall did to her planet.
"Let me get someone to guide you back to your vehicle." Copley said and made a call to security.
Now back at the hub, everyone gathered around Gaia as she attempted to break into the Pharm IT system. After typing several security codes and each one giving the ACCESS DENIED sign on her screen she turns to Jack in semi-defeat.
"I can't hack in there, Jack. And if I keep trying with a brute-force approach, they'll know they're under attack." Gaia stated and Jack nodded.
"I know, but we still need a way in there." Jack replied, his chin resting on his fingers.
"There's always the fact that Pharm are in the market for volunteers." Gaia stated.
"Then one of us could go undercover." Gwen realised and turned to Jack.
"No, we don't know enough about the workings of that place. Too many things could go wrong." Jack argued, although his argument was lacking any real fire.
"Unless you were to put a medic in there. Someone who knew what to look for." Martha added, seeing Gwen's idea.
"Yeah, but I can't do it. They know me now don't they." Owen said, not realising what Martha meant.
"I know it's hard to believe, Owen, but I wasn't thinking of you." Martha retorted and turned to face Jack and Gaia, the former shaking his head.
"No way." Jack argued.
"Jack, she's been in worse places and done harder jobs." Gaia said softly. Jack sighed as he thought about it.
"Okay." He gave in.
No more than 3 hours later, Martha's undercover operation had ended badly. With her communication contact lenses unresponsive and the Pharm hit man deceased, the Torchwood team took it as their chance to get in. "Gwen, Ianto check out zone A." Jack ordered. "We're going after Martha. Let's go!"
Bursting into the room Jack ordered Copley to put his hand above his head as Owen and Gaia ran the convulsing Martha's side. "What have you done to her?" Jack shouted, his gun pointed at Copley. As Owen noticed the IV, it's Gaia who recognises the parasite manifesting in Martha's body.
"It's Reset. The parasite is accelerating in growth." Gaia stated as she scanned Martha's body.
"She's survived the larval stage, the only subject ever to do so. Fascinating." Copley begins, his deranged mind spilling out garbage. Cutting Copley off, Gaia turns to Jack.
"Jack I can get it out of her, but it involves doing the thing…" Gaia said, not really sure what to call her control of all Earthly beings. Jack looks between her and the frantic Owen who has no real idea what to do.
"Do it what you need to." Jack stated and Gaia nodded.
Leaning down next to Martha's ear, Gaia whispered instructions to her in the old and beautiful language only know truly by her. As soon as the last word left her lips, Martha's body stilled. "What did you do?" Owen shouts in disbelief as all the alarms seem to fade. Gaia doesn't reply, but raises her finger signalling him to be quiet. Surprising Owen did just that. Martha's mouth then opened and a swarm of mayflies flew out. They amassed in a giant cloud above everyone's head before dropping to the floor, dead.
There was a moment of silence as everyone's attention returned to Martha who was still on the bed. Leaning back down Gaia whispered more words into the Londoners ear and in an instant Martha gasped for breath, wrapping her shaking arms around Gaia. "I've got you!" Gaia reassured as Martha continued to gasp and pant. Jack was instantly at Gaia's side and helped lift Martha.
"Let's get her out of here." He stated and they made there way out, with Owen not far behind, all of them ignoring the shocked Copley as they left.
Now outside, Gaia supported Martha under the arm as she watched Gwen finish destroying the Pharm data base. Ianto was stood a few meters away, his gun pointed at one of the Pharm's physician's head; Jack was behind him rounding up other workers from inside the building.
"I am prescribing rest and recuperation for you madam, and a few days in bed, preferably under my supervision." Owen joked as he gave Martha a quick once over with the medical scanner. Owen didn't understand what Gaia had done in there, nor did he particularly want to know, but whatever she did it had worked and Martha was all clear of any parasites.
"Owen, I don't know how to break this to you- I've got a boyfriend." Martha admitted, although her smile hadn't vanished at Owen's shameless flirting.
"Yeah, but has he saved your life like I did?" Owen continued, although he knew full well he didn't do much saving.
"Um, yes, actually." Martha answered and Owen's grin faltered a little.
Leaving Martha in Owen's capable hands, Gaia walked over to the laptop and took over from Gwen. "Do it." Jack ordered and Gaia began the lock down process. Alarms rang out from inside the facility and personnel came flooding out. Once the lock down was complete Gaia shut the laptop and turned to Jack. "Okay, let's go." He ordered and everyone started towards the SUV. That was until the voice of Copley rang out behind them.
"Did you really think I was going to let you just walk away?" He began his speech directed at Martha. Owen, very heroically, stepped slightly in front of her. If Gaia hadn't been so caught up in the moment of Copley's threat, she would have realised that she should have stepped in front of Martha and not let Owen try and play the hero against a gun and bullet. "You've ruined everything I've worked for." Copley continued his gun still trained on Martha.
"Now, let's not be stupid. Okay?" Owen says calmly, amazingly calm for someone being held at gunpoint. Gwen and Jack pull their guns out, both of them trained on Copley. "We're both rational men, scientists." Owen continued as he slowly moved closer to Copley, his intent on disarming the man. "I know you don't want to shoot."
BANG!
Before Owen could take another step, say another word, breathe another breath, Copley had pulled the trigger and the bullet embedded itself into Owen's chest. "NO!" Gaia shouted and instantly Copley curls up in pain, clutching his head. Gaia is instantly at Owen's side, cradling what she knew to be his dying body. Everyone instantly crowded round Gaia and Owen, all of them trying to help, all of them ignoring the groans of pain of the murderer behind them. It's not long until he himself if silent in death.
"Owen, stay with me." Jack encouraged and Martha tried to inject adrenaline into Owen's chest. Unfortunately Gaia knew it was already too late and Owen's body falls limp in her arms.
"He's dead." Martha stated and no one said a word.
A/N: Dead Man Walking up next and it has a slight twist.