A/N: So "episode" 2 is up! Hope you enjoy it. I only mean to say this for the comfort of your reading. The name "Aoife" is pronounced here "Ifa" (like Eva just with an f).

Episode 2: Another Captain

Jack materialized in a small alleyway between a shop and a fast food restaurant, judging by the smell coming from the trash bins. Aoife appeared just after him and cursed the minute she realized that something was wrong.

"That's no way for a lady to talk," Jack commented.

The girl glared at him with her one eye. The other one was hidden behind a metal patch. Nobody knew why she had both her eye and arm replaced with mechanic ones. She had just come back from a mission one day and had a robot arm instead of a human one.

"What's the mission this time?" Jack asked, a bit annoyed. Work was the only thing he could talk about with her.

"There are two orders: retrieval and assassination," Aoife said quickly. "But we have a problem."

Jack raised his eye brow. He never liked the sound of that, particularly if it came from Aoife's lips. She was the kind of person who just took everything seriously, work especially. She would always be prepared for any malfunction.

"There's a rift running through this town."

Jack looked at his partner. He never bothered with reading the instructions when going on a mission with Aoife because she would always be prepared but this time he regretted not knowing anything.

"It interfered with our teleports. We have no energy left for another leap. We have to wait for them to recharge."

"And how long will that take?" Jack asked, both relieved that it wasn't anything more serious and annoyed at the thought of being stuck on Earth, especially in Cardiff.

"Approximately one week for me," the girl said, "and probably twice as long for you."

"Why does mine take longer to recharge?" Jack was already annoyed.

"Yours is bigger," the girl explained. "It uses up more energy."

Jack wanted to say something but thought better of it. He didn't want to risk another quarrel with his temporary partner. She had much more experience and her word was worth a lot more than his in the Time Agency. And she obviously hated him - that was the reason why they were partners so often. She was the only person in the whole Agency that wouldn't give in to his flirts or even his jokes.

"Well, it'll be more fun this way," he said and once again was ignored. He waited patiently for a reaction but got nothing. "At least tell me more details!" he said seeing how his partner was already walking away.

"Last time Nathan was here, on this planet, he left something of his and it got into human hands," the girl said. "And it's a couple hundred years too early for humans to have it. They stored it in a bank of some sort."

"Great, and what is it that Nathan lost, and why isn't he the one retrieving it?" Jack asked.

"Nathan proved himself to be incompetent." There was no emotions in the girl's voice.

Jack gulped. 'Do you mean that he...?" He wasn't able to finish the sentence. The rules in the Agency were quite strict but he never imagined a death penalty for something as trivial as losing an object.

"No," the girl figured out what he wanted to say. "But he will go through the basic training again..."

Jack let out a sigh of relief.

"With Major Thomas Brown," she finished.

"Ouch! That's harsh." Jack commented again. "And what did he lose this time?"

"He lost Fluffy."

"You mean he lost his pet?" Jack was truly surprised. "That metal ball that used to follow him around?" The girl nodded. "He called it Fluffy?" he asked after a few seconds of silence. Another nod.

Jack decided to let the matter go. The Time Agency was made up of all kinds of people but it had some principals. Looking at Nathan one put all of them into consideration. He was a walking ball of pacifism, optimism and pure happiness. He had no guns or weapons yet whatever the mission was he always got it finished. And he never had a partner other than that metal ball of his, Fluffy.

"So when your teleport is charged you will..." Jack returned to the former subject. He knew what the answer would be but preferred to ensure himself in case he was miraculously be mistaken.

"I will leave you," the girl said naturally.

"Right, that was expected." Jack followed the girl out of the alleyway and into the street.

o*o*o

Tobey was sitting in his usual place in the lobby of the Cardiff police headquarters. His laptop was open on his laps and showing him the latest news. But he wasn't interested in that. He was waiting for somebody. He kept glancing at the door waiting for that policeman to come in. His name was Andy. Apparently temporarily working in the homicide department replacing for the ill detective Anderson. From today he was going to return to being a normal PC as Anderson had now returned to work.

It wasn't long when Andy came through the door. Tobey closed his laptop and packed it into his backpack as quickly as possible. He knew he should have just bought a newspaper like normal people do. He stood up and ran towards Andy.

"Hi Andy," he said before Andy could even stop and take a good look at him. "I just want to ask you a few questions concerning the man you spoke to the day before."

Andy looked clueless as to who was he referring to.

"I wanted to talk to you yesterday but you said you were meeting your friend, Gwen," Tobey continued.

"Oh, yeah, I was meeting Gwen," Andy remembered but it was just images that didn't make sense. "Although I don't remember what we were talking about... And I certainly don't remember you."

"Tobey Magpie, I work in IT," Tobey said, his voice slower and his eyes cautious. Something was wrong. "You see you were talking to a man called Ianto Jones the other day," Tobey tried again. "Could I ask you..."

Andy cut in.

"Is this a joke?" he asked.

"No, why would this...?" Tobey tried to understand what Andy had meant by that.

"The last time I saw Ianto Jones was nine months ago - he died."

"Yes, I know," Tobey was getting more and more nervous. "Could you keep it down, this isn't exactly a private conversation..." he said quietly. "I checked the files and it says there that Ianto Jones is dead. But he was here. I spoke with him - you spoke with him! Are you sure you don't remember?"

Andy shook his head confused. His memory seemed blank. "In fact... I don't really remember anything from the past few days. We were working on this case and it was a bit weird so I thought I'd ask Gwen and then... Oh no, she didn't..."

"Did what?" Tobey asked.

"But Ianto! It's impossible, Ianto is dead," Andy continued with his train of thoughts.

"I thought so too but I was evidently wrong. Come with me!"

Tobey pulled Andy towards the elevator. He led him to his cubicle, greeting everybody halfheartedly on the way and turned on his computer.

"Now look," he said breaking into the police security system.

"Is this legal? You're not exactly a police officer, are you?" Andy asked seeing how Tobey was going through all the holes in the firewalls.

"Well..." Tobey avoided the answer. He contributed to the system and this made him feel like he was allowed to "guard" it and occasionally look through it when he needed something.

He finally got to the camera recordings. "Look at this," he said and put on the video.

It presented the whole lobby. Tobey pointed at the reception desk. He fast forwarded a few minutes and played it normally when Ianto came by the desk. Andy watched as Ianto asked some questions and a few seconds later he saw himself talking normally to his dead friend. Tobey turned the video off.

"Oh my God..." Andy said.

"Do you want to know what he was looking for?" Tobey turned to face Andy. The PC nodded. "He wanted to know about Torchwood.

"But he..."

"He's from Torchwood, I know," Tobey continued. "But he seemed to have forgotten about it. I didn't know who he was at that time and just pointed him towards the bay – I had searched there earlier but found nothing so I thought what bad would it do? But then I saw he was from Torchwood and I tried following him. By the time I arrived there he was already gone. So I went back and I saw him on the street with this girl, Gwen Cooper, but I think you know her better then I do. She was in Torchwood as well."

"What are you trying to say..." Andy asked but he already knew.

"You forgot and Ianto Jones forgot..." Tobey started but couldn't finish. Andy suddenly stood up. "Hey, where are you going?"

Andy stormed out of the room and bumped into Detective Anderson.

"I'm sorry sir," he said and before he could continue he realized who he was talking to. "Detective Anderson!" he was clearly surprised to see his superior healthy. "Are you well now?" he asked.

"Yes," Anderson replied. Andy gulped awaiting what came next. The detective's eyes were emotionless as he told him he wasn't needed anymore.

Andy easily figured out that what he really meant was that he was no good and there was no chance for any future promotion.

Tobey watched this scene from the door. He followed Andy knowing he might lead him to what Torchwood really is. He had one connection and was not going to let it go now. He saw disappointment in Andy's eyes, carefully hidden from the detective. It wasn't hard to figure out he needed someone to talk to right now.

He looked at Tobey. "Care for something to drink?" he asked half smiling.

o*o*o

Andy brought two cups of tea and passed one to Tobey.

"So how did you get involved in Torchwood?" he asked the computer expert.

"They kept hacking into the systems," Tobey explained. "I tried everything possible but whatever I did they were always one step ahead. So I started digging but although it seems that everybody knows about Torchwood nobody really has any concrete information. So I got stuck. It's like they exist but you never really notice them. They don't appear in the police network and only the higher-ups have any sort of information on them. But before I got anywhere close they were gone! There was no trace of them anywhere. And I was so close to finding them."

"Gwen used to be my partner, you know?" Andy said and took a sip from his bottle. "We were really close once. Then one day she became obsessed with Torchwood. Next thing you know, she's working with them, walking about like she's all high and mighty. They said she joined black-ops but Torchwood was so much more than that."

"Oh, no way!" Tobey saw right through Andy's annoyance. "You had a crush on her!" he said.

Andy tried riposting but his tongue-tied words just made his explanations seem more and more like lies. He finally gave up.

"But Rhys is fine," Andy said. "I never said it but he's really a nice bloke. I may have some objections against him but he does a great job as her husband."

"Does he know about Gwen's job?" Tobey asked returning to the former subject of Torchwood.

"I don't know. Knowing Gwen she would do anything not to tell him. She thinks she does everyone a favor..." Andy said quietly.

"So do you think she erased your memory - if that's even possible?" Tobey asked carefully. He wanted to know everything about Torchwood. He felt guilty about using Andy like that. But he thought he might also be doing him a favor.

"Oh it's possible, I'm sure of that," Andy said. "Otherwise it's a wonder how they managed to stay secret. And yes, Gwen would do that," he added before Tobey articulated his question.

Tobey swallowed before asking the next question. "Do you keep a diary?"

Andy shook his head. He was so resigned that it was hard for Tobey to look at him. The technician couldn't even start to imagine how Andy felt about being betrayed like that. Because to him it was betrayal. And not only did his former partner and best friend erase his memory he had just lost a chance for promotion.

"OK, I'll put it in a different way," Tobey said. He couldn't let this case go. "If something happened that Gwen Cooper wouldn't want you to know about would you suspect she would do something like this? Would you leave yourself a message?"

Andy raised his head. He looked at Tobey for a few times trying to figure out the answer. In fact he had known it since the beginning. He would. He wasn't as stupid as everybody thought he was. He just became resigned too quickly sometimes. In fact, the only reason why he didn't push Gwen about Torchwood was because he respected her. And he hoped for the same from her. He wasn't exactly angry with her but disappointed that she made him forget.

There was one place where he would leave himself a message like that: the cupboard. He didn't know why but he always stored all his important belongings behind the row of tea cups above the kitchen table.

He rushed into the kitchen and indeed, there was a letter addressed to him behind his colorfully stripped mug. It was even neatly closed and addressed with his clumsy writing.

"It's here," he informed Tobey.

He opened it while leaving the kitchen. It was definitely his handwriting.

"Dear Andy," it wrote, "I can't believe I'm writing to myself like this. I'm writing this because Gwen just called. She said she wanted to meet but I'm guessing it's something more than just that. She said she wanted to talk about it and she sounded dead serious and a bit sad as well. I'm guessing she doesn't want me to know or get involved anymore. So in case she does somehow erase my memory (if Ianto had his memory erased then why can't I?) I'm leaving the address to Mr. Murro (I don't even know how to spell his last name). Meet him. Love, You."

"Tobey? This is the address for the aquarium, right?" he gave him the letter with the address.

"Looks like it, yeah." Tobey was surprised by Andy's eagerness. He felt a bit guilty about this turn of events. What if he ruined Andy and Gwen's friendship? But his curiosity and egoism was stronger. If he could get closer to Torchwood even by one tip toe... as long as it didn't involve him getting hurt he would. He cursed his cowardliness because of which he didn't step any closer before, on his own.

"Then we're going out!" Andy said smiling.

o*o*o

Gwen entered the empty room. The lights were off and only the lamps in the fish tank were shining faintly. This room was closed for renovation - theoretically. In fact, she had arranged it so that they could hide the alien from both the police and people. The staff weren't allowed to enter this room.

Gwen had spoken with the alien only once before. For a very short time when she helped Andy transport him here. Andy kept nagging her about how it's not a bad person, but from her experience it was never as easy as that. Nothing ever was or would be black and white.

Only a fifth of the tank was filled with water. Although Murro was a water creature he didn't necessarily like to swim under the surface.

Gwen approached the creature. It swam towards her.

"Hello, Mrs Cooper," Murro said calmly.

"Hi." Gwen felt the tension rising. She could feel it becoming more and more nervous - probably because the alien felt most comfortable around Andy and now that he was gone it felt insecure.

"What happened to Andrew?" it asked.

Gwen felt abashed by the alien's straightforwardness. "I... I erased his memory of you," she said, feeling unable to fight against its questions. She was planning to tell a lie but she just couldn't do it.

"Why would you do that?" the alien asked again. Its calm voice made it seem even more angry and nervous.

"Because I can't get him involved," Gwen answered. "It's too dangerous."

"Did he have a say in this?"

"No, but if he had he wouldn't let me do it," Gwen tried to protect herself. "And I don't want anyone else to get hurt..."

Gwen felt weird. She felt like she could tell him anything. Her former caution disappeared and now she only felt trust towards the alien. But after years of working for Torchwood she learned not to trust odd feelings, especially around aliens. Murro was suspicious. He was doing something. No doubt about it. She had dealt with aliens long enough to know when something wasn't right. She wanted to keep those thoughts to herself but couldn't help saying them out loud.

"You're making me say this, aren't you?" Words escaped from her lips.

The alien didn't answer. Gwen looked at it with ambiguous feelings. She was mad at both the alien and herself. But most of all she was really furious with Jack. She remembered this feeling from when he disappeared that time. And this time her anger was even stronger.

She couldn't stand the growing tension. The alien knew exactly how to make her nervous and mad without actually doing anything. Gwen left without saying anything, fists clenched and guilt growing.

o*o*o

Ianto greeted Gwen with a cup of coffee when she got home. She smiled remembering this feeling from Torchwood. She asked him to make it on her way back and he finished the coffee at the exact time she came in. For the past few days he had been living with Gwen and Rhys and the baby. He kept convincing them that he will move out as soon as he gets a job and he went out every day to look for one.

"Thanks Ianto," Gwen said unconsciously using the same tone of voice she would use in Torchwood. "How's Alex?" she asked. Rhys had work and Gwen had some unfinished business to attend to, so Ianto was now the perfect babysitter - always available when needed.

"Sleeping," Ianto said.

Gwen couldn't take her eyes off of him. Ianto wore a suit only when he went job-hunting and in the house he usually wore more casual clothes. She still couldn't get used to the jumpers and jeans. She had explained it to Ianto earlier when he asked so he wasn't bothered by the curious gazes now.

He went back to the kitchen to finish his lunch and watch the news. He had become almost obsessed with learning about everything that had happened during the past five years. And he wondered why was it that whenever he had heard about something he found himself knowing that it had happened already.

Gwen wasn't surprised by his behaviour and didn't complain - she knew she would have done the same. She also suspected that he didn't just disappear to look for a job every morning but that he also searched for answers to his past. Anything that could unlock the hidden memories. She didn't tell him anything more though. Maybe Rhys gave him a few hints but nothing more than that. She kept her promise about not saying anything more about Torchwood. Guilt overwhelmed her but she had bared(had bared) it once before with Rhys so she could do it once more.

Alex was indeed sleeping and there was nothing worse than waking him up, so Gwen left the room as quietly as she came in and found Ianto in front of the television. It was quite loud but she couldn't hear it from the babies room up stairs. She smiled knowing that that was no accident but in fact Ianto's consideration for Alex.

"Last minute news," the speakers lady said gathering their attention, "there has just been a break into the Cardiff National Bank. The culprits are still inside the building and the police are on their way. According to a witness who phoned the police after seeing two suspicious looking people entering the bank. The culprits are a man and a woman in military clothing. First CCTV footage is just being sent over." The presenter did her best to speak calmly but she was obviously nervous about the sudden change of articles.

The screen did indeed show two people standing in the bank. One of them - a woman - was operating a computer that seemed to be attached to her arm and the man was standing in the middle of the main hall with two guns, possibly threatening the hostages. Gwen recognized the man's face immediately.

"No way..." she uttered. "That can't be..."

o*o*o

Andy and Tobey arrived at the aquarium. The parking was almost empty - it was neither the tourist nor the field trip season. They entered the building and saw a bored girl behind the ticket desk. She quickly hid the sudoku book as soon as she heard the opening door but she was just seconds too late and both of the men saw what was occupying the girl's free time.

"How can I help you?" she tried to hide her embarrassment.

Andy hesitated for a second. He didn't know what exactly to ask about. Thankfully Tobey had no such problem.

"We're with..." he started to say Torchwood but the girl interrupted.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said noticing Andy. "Go on ahead," she said talking directly to Andy.

"Thanks..." the policeman said and looked briefly at the name tag clipped on her chest. "Anne."

They went inside, Tobey noticed all the security cameras. There were two watching the lobby and obviously there were more of them in the maze of the aquarium. They didn't want to be perceived as suspicious standing in the middle or going the wrong way than they should.

There were two corridors each leading to the tanks full of water creatures. The arrow sign next to the first one stated "deep sea fish" and "sea mammals". The other corridor was leading to "water reptiles and amphibians" as well as "lake and river fish".

"We're going that way," Andy pointed at the second branch. Tobey looked at him, seeking an explanation. Andy pointed at the map in between the corridors. He pointed at one of the rooms that was supposedly displaying reptiles was labelled 'in renovation' and off limits to visitors.

The aquarium was nearly empty. In fact, there wasn't a ghost present where Tobey and Andy were going. Tobey was looking at the tanks full of fishes. He shivered seeing a swarm of piranhas circling around in one of them. At one point he went too close to the glass and one of the eels bumped against the tank scaring him. He jumped and accidentally pressed the speaker button and the computer started generating a narration about the nature of electric eels.

Andy couldn't even take a second to laugh at his colleague.

Tobey was startled. Andy on the other hand was completely terrified. Not by the fish but by the entire situation. The girl by the desk knew him and that only implied that something bigger was going on. And it was further proof that his memory was erased.

They took another right into a dark room behind renovation tapes. The lights were off and Tobey searched hectically for the switch. He found it after a few seconds.

"Oh my..." he whispered unable to find the right words for what he was seeing. He was shocked, terrified but his lips were curved into a slight smile. Adrenaline was rushing through his veins. This was that Torchwood was dealing with every day. Everything clicked now. The bizarre information he sometimes found about them which he thought were just a joke. His imagination was completely absorbed into connecting all the pieces of the puzzle called Torchwood he was trying to solve. The part of him that was still conscious looked at Andy.

The PC was shocked. But Tobey was well aware that it wasn't the creature, the alien behind the glass he was reacting to. Andy remembered everything. Just by looking at his eyes he could easily deduce that. He looked so sad he looked as if he was about to burst into tears any second. Tobey knew just what exactly did he feel. Betrayal. Did this always happen when somebody remembered what they forgot?

The creature behind the glass, although it could maybe somehow resemble a creature from Earth, was clearly of extra-terrestrial origins. It's upper body somehow resembled a human. It's face was clearly surprised.

"Hi Murro," Andy said bitterly.

"Good day," the alien uttered regaining his cool. There was a slight change in the air now. "Did something happen?"

"No, I just happened to be in the neighborhood," Andy lied reassuringly. "I decided to check up on you, see if everything is fine. I'm gonna go now."

The alien didn't answer. But when Andy was turning to leave he stopped him. "Who's your friend?" Murro asked.

"I'm Tobey Magpie," the programmer said more than eagerly. Andy didn't even have a chance to open his mouth. "It's a pleasure," he wanted to step forward and shake hands but because of the glass it was impossible. He waved instead.

Andy couldn't wait till the introductions finished. He could understand Gwen trying to hide this from him but to go to such lengths... He left the room almost silently. Tobey rushed after him. At first he didn't realize when his friend had disappeared from the room. He finally caught up with him near the exit.

"I think I'm going to walk home," he said after a few moments of silent following.

"If you could do that, thanks," Andy said.

Tobey opened his lips. He wanted to say he was sorry but he obviously wasn't. The only things he felt were excitement and lust for more information, more clues about Torchwood. He was fascinated now. He had never felt like this before. Only Torchwood seemed to evoke such fascination in him and make him go to such lengths to learn about it. And another reason why he didn't want to say he was sorry was because he knew he would drill into the subject even more from now on and if he didn't find anyone else to talk to about it, poor Andy would be feeling even worse than he did now.

They parted before the entrance. Tobey didn't hesitate before saying goodbye. He knew asking anything more was not an option.

Andy got into his car and the first thing he did was dial Gwen. He needed to meet her.

o*o*o

"Jack!" Aoife brought Jack back from his world in the clouds and to their main objective.

"What? You can't say he wasn't handsome!" he said, glancing one last time behind him at a man that was obviously taken by a girl, now holding his hand.

"He's not my type," the girl commented acting uninterested.

"What is your type then?" Jack asked more than curious. In fact he had never thought Aoife had a type.

"It's none of your business..." The girl looked at him piercingly.

Jack didn't answer but he certainly wasn't letting the subject go. They arrived at the National Bank and went inside through the sliding glass door. Jack noticed a few people looking at them. This wasn't really a surprise. It happened everywhere they went, whether they were recognized by people as Time Agents or not.

They didn't have weapons - yet. They looked at each other and both nodded. They had worked together a few times before and when it concerned work there was no need to use words to communicate.

They casually approached the two guards at the entrance and once they made sure they didn't look, Jack and the girl disarmed them and knocked them out in a blink of an eye. Aoife threw him the retrieved gun. Afterwards each of them continued with their part of the attack.

The girl first approached the security desk and closed the bank and the floor off. She then pressed a few buttons on the security computer and turned off the CCTV camera - probably a few moments too late but it was better than having enough footage to create a very clear picture of both of them. Afterwards she approached one of the workers' computers to hack into the bank's main server.

In the meantime Jack "took care" of the people inside the bank.

"Everybody down!" he shouted, gathering the people's attention. He displayed the guns and fired them to show it was loaded. Muffled screams echoed from every corner of the room. "If I could have everyone's cooperation, please? If you could all just stay down, don't move and let us do our jobs? Nobody will get hurt... right Aoife?" he asked his colleague who was struggling with the computer.

"We have a limit, yes," Aoife answered seemingly quietly but her voice was firm and easily heard.

"You see?" Jack continued. "The more damage done, the less salary we get," he explained casually. He sat on one of the desks and silently observed the people on the ground. A few of them were shaking, others were crying and a handful had in their eyes the desire to fight. He watched carefully not to let those with the will to fight notice each other.

Aoife continued to struggle with the computer. She kept glancing down at the young man who normally worked by the station who was now curled up under the desk. It wasn't helpful that he kept glaring at Aoife, her stolen gun and mostly: her mechanical arm.

Nobody in the Time Agency knew what exactly happen to her real arm but everyone knew what the new one could do. It was the first robot limb that was connected not only to the central nerve system but to the brain as well. A part of it served as a computer and that made Aoife the ultimate programmer and hacker. She didn't just read the codes. Once her arm was connected to the system it "felt" the information and could literary surf the computer, server or web. She still had to operate everything manually with her other hand but that wasn't a problem. The mechanical arm had another function - it stored memories and information and Aoife had never forgotten a single thing.

"What's taking you so long?" Jack asked but not for a second did he look in her direction. He couldn't. He was staring at the door, occasionally glancing at the people. The sound of sirens was getting closer. The police were coming.

"It's very stubborn, this one," an unfamiliar kindness appeared in Aoife's voice as she said that.

Jack rolled his eyes. "They're not even A.I.!" he commented. "Would you stop treating computers like living creatures?" He shivered at the thought. That was the most disturbing thing about working with Aoife. She would say the worst of things about a human being without any emotion in her eyes or wavering in her voice, but when it came to anything with circuits and codes instead of flesh and blood she sounded like a very nice nurse treating a child.

"I need to cross reference a few details to find the right deposit. They've got all of the information shattered across the server. Either a genius did this or a complete idiot."

"Great," Jack muttered seeing four police cars and two special force vans park outside the building.

A swarm of people soon surrounded the entrance and were pointing their guns at the bullet-proof glass of the door. Moments later the press arrived. In a matter of seconds the building's outsides were more crowded than in the biggest rush hours. Outside was noisy, but inside there was a tense silence. And in that silence a phone rang. Every face in the room except for Jack's and Aoife's turned to the source of the sound. The girl kept befriending the computer and Jack just smiled. He eventually approached the phone and answered.

"Hello," he said, his voice just a bit too cheeky and cheerful.

"You are surrounded," the voice in the speaker said. It was firm and met no denial. "It's best to just surrender before anyone gets hurt."

Jack laughed.

"Please, officer," he said. "Nobody will get hurt. That is, if you can just wait patiently until we finish off."

"So, are you saying you will start shooting the hostages unless we meet your demands?" the officer asked. Jack wasn't the sort of terrorist he dealt with normally.

"No, if you don't give us thirty minutes," he covered the speaker with his hand and turned to Aoife. "Thirty minutes is enough, right?" he got a nod in reply. He returned to his previous conversation. "If you don't give us thirty minutes I will start shooting," Jack said, confidence pouring out of him. He heard a few people start weeping even more. "I will be shooting your people, officer," he said.

"And how will you do that?" the person asked. "The glass is bulletproof. You will have to open the door."

Jack laughed. Lies easily slid down his tongue. "There's another person on one of the upper floors. Look up, officer. Some of the windows are still blinded, aren't they? One of the employees works for us. And tell your special forceS teams on the roof and in the back that they won't get in those ways."

Jack smiled. The silence on the other side made him certain that they believed him. He hung up, the smile never leaving his lips. "Aoife?" he asked.

The girl didn't answer. Instead she stood up and looked at Jack. It was enough an answer.

"I'll be back in ten minutes," she said.

"Take this," Jack threw her a device clearly resembling a gun except it looked like a science-fiction prop.

Aoife said nothing. She caught the weapon without any problems.

Now then, let's take care of the rest," Jack said seeing that his colleague disappeared behind the metal doors leading to the stair case.

o*o*o

Aoife went down the stairs to the cellar. Theoretically the only way to get to the volt was by the elevator but by unlocking it she would give other people in the building an opportunity to use it. Instead, she could just get through the basement making a hole in the wall.

She found just the right spot. The blueprints were inside her head and she knew where to look. It was behind one of the shelves in the archive. She already opened all the locks she needed from the main server and getting inside the room wasn't a problem.

The archive was right on the left after she had left the stair case. She found the shelve with the numbers from "099637" to "099701" and stood in front of it. The gun Jack gave her was a vital point. She aimed and shot. The wall before her dematerialized and she went through the hole. She turned around and with another shot the wall looked just the same as it did before.

The volt wasn't as large as she thought it would be; the slots as well. She searched for number "32" and she found it unexpectedly quickly. With the gun she made a smaller hole - just slightly bigger than her fist. But she didn't reach inside.

"Fluffy," she said quietly. Her voice was soft as if she were a mother talking to a child. "Fluffy!" she repeated a bit louder.

There was a creaking sound coming from inside. Moments later a small metal ball flew out. A small green light flickered with what could almost be interpreted as joy. Aoife brushed it slightly and it gave out soothing creaking sounds again.

"Come on," she said gently. She once again shot at the hole she just made and the metal returned to its rightful place. After repeating the process again with the wall she returned to the archives.

Aoife was now running. There was no telling what Jack could do when left alone. She burst out of the staircase and saw Jack preparing their escape. Thankfully, nothing went wrong.

Or so she thought at first. Jack was staring at a woman standing outside the building. Aoife followed his gaze. She gulped seeing what the look on the woman's face. She clearly knew Jack. How was that even possible? Aoife turned her gaze back to her partner. Jack seemed to show no recognition but he was clearly intrigued by the woman knowing him.

Aoife took a deep breath anxious that he wasn't focused enough. She almost called out his name but there was no need to do it in the end. Thankfully he turned around for a moment and looked at her.

Then, it all went off.

Jack is back! Part 2 will be up this weekend. Just want to take a part of space here to thank Ash-Varnei for beta-reading.