Chapter 1

"Owen and Ianto, you're staying here; I need up to the minute information, CCTV coverage and all the help you can get us. Tosh, Gwen, with me!" Jack was already running.

Gwen was still outside, Tosh had just gotten in; Jack was already revving the SUV and both his team-mates had to make a run for it. Owen was watching the monitor with undisguised envy.

"He usually takes you; your ruffled hair makes him want to protect you this morning?" Owen's remark was as sarcastic as usual, but without the bitterness nowadays. Ianto had given him a proper talk, in the worst of his rebellion against his dead-living status, and Owen had grown to respect the young man; not that he would ever tell him. In fact, his remark was two-fold; teasing his colleague and hoping to find out why Jack had taken the two girls and not Ianto.

Ianto didn't even lift his head away from his computer. He checked the communication equipment with a simple question.

"Guys, do you all hear me?"

He waited for three acknowledgments from three different voices; he then directed them toward the heart of a construction site. Something big and heavy had been thrown from the rift into their world, and Ianto was worried that the early construction workers would encounter it first, whatever it was.

"Owen, get on the horn. We need some police forces to stop the crew from entering the site!"

Owen felt like telling Ianto off, but now was not the time. He grabbed his cell phone and started dialling and ordering people around.

"Tosh, I'm sending data to your PDA; I fear radiation. Put your suits on. And Jack, too! Hear me, Sir!"

Jack couldn't help a chuckle from escaping his lips.

"Those Welsh vowels and that tone; yes, Ianto, I'll put my radiation suit on". What Jack didn't add was, if I have the time, I will, if I have the time.

By the time they reached the construction site, in the heart of the downtown financial district, the police were blocking all entrances.

Gwen and Tosh, wearing protecting gear, walked ahead; Jack was putting his own on. Gwen had thrown it at him with a very stern glare.

"Torchwood!" assertively announced Gwen. "Has anyone been in?"

The towering and older constable facing Gwen told her, "Not that we're aware of. We came as per our orders; early enough that no one ought to be in yet. We don't know for sure."

Jack heard the last of the conversation as he hopped on one foot and finished putting the light radiation suit on.

"No one, you hear me, no one must follow us in here. Understood?"

"Yes, Sir!" the constable neatly saluted the Torchwood leader.

Gwen in the lead, Tosh side by side with Jack, they entered through a side door. A hole in the ground on the left, a mound of dirt on the right, trucks and heavy equipment here and there. The foundation was nearly completed

. This was just the beginning of a high rise; that it would house offices and small private businesses. Tosh held a radiation detector ahead of her as Ianto directed them towards the high peek of what his screen detected.

"The lot of you - be careful!" bellowed Owen.

They walked softly, carefully; Jack was staying safely behind the girls, gun at the ready, making sure no one or nothing was coming at them.

"More to your left, Tosh," guided Ianto.

"It's just a hole, Ianto, filled with water," Gwen responded.

"Are you sure? It's right ahead of you."

Jack finally reached the edge of the dirty water filled hole where Gwen and Tosh were standing.

"How the hell are we going to find anything in there?" he asked no one in particular.

Ianto screamed loudly, all of a sudden: "Get back, get out of there. NOW!"

Jack pushed the girls away, grabbing Tosh tightly by the arm and dragging her with him. Gwen, taller, could almost keep up with them. They had gone a mere five meters when the water started to spew towards the sky in a strong straight plume. Jack turned his head slightly and saw a fair-sized box flying up into the sky. "Ianto, do you see what's happening?"

"Yes, Jack; sending the entire coordinates to Gwen's PDA". A small chuckle, followed by: "It's still going straight up. Can you jump that high, Jack?"

"Ianto, we're heading back to the Hub, unless there is something else here?"

"No, sir, the site is clear. I'll let you know if that strange box comes down. Owen, you want to take over or make coffee?"

All the team heard was Owen growling.

"So you're sure of it?" Jack was repeating the same question for the third time, sipping coffee, while watching Tosh explain once more.

"Yes, Jack. That box went into orbit, circled twice, and landed right back in Sully, by the beaches. The radiation level is gone."

Tosh had spent the previous day and the whole night in analysis upon analysis. She was getting exasperated with the boss at this point.

"Jack, you should have gone with Gwen and Owen, if you don't believe me!" Her tone left no place for argument.

At that, Jack smiled. He knew Tosh, trusted her with all their lives. As there was no radiation, the danger to the population was lessened. He had sent Owen and Gwen, keeping Ianto by his side and Tosh for her technical expertise. Ianto had slept over the previous night, although they had just slept side by side. Jack searched for his lover: Ianto was gathering up the dishes in the main area, cleaning and softly humming a song.

"I believe you, Tosh. Why don't we all go for lunch, you, Ianto and me, my treat? You chose, Tosh."

Ianto, hearing that, stopped what he was doing immediately and in a soft voice, suggestively asked Tosh, "Pick that Japanese restaurant we went to for your birthday last year, Tosh. It was very good."

Jack spit his last sip of coffee. That place had cost him an arm and a leg and he had sworn he would not even take Ianto there, ever.

"Really, Jack, do you think that's all I have to do in Torchwood? Replacing your coffee stained shirt?" admonished Ianto with a light laughter.

Jack had no time for repartee; the alarm from Tosh's computer was blaring.

Ianto turned to the communication console and called Gwen immediately.

"Gwen, what's wrong?"

"Ianto, we're in trouble."