Story disclaimer: I own none of the following. Many of the references in this story are owed to the writers and the rest of the team(s) involved in the creation and production of Torchwood and Doctor Who. Without them, this story would not be possible. My character Teya owns me. I am making no money from this or any of my other fics posted on this site.
Scene Sixteen – Cardiff, Present Day
Teya drove as if possessed, her mind definitely not on the road or the other drivers around her. The scanner on the passenger seat was running a similar program to the one Ianto would soon be following. She knew well enough the ships used by her people, knew the cloaking technology. Though their homes were antiquated by human standards, Everlarth's were known for their space-faring vessels. They depended on off world trade for their survival, simply because there was too much in-fighting to exist on their own. Teya sighed as she remembered tedious trips to other worlds, listening to hours of negotiations over quantities and prices… Her father had been determined that she would learn everything she needed in order to run her territory. Had her life on her home-world come to something, she supposed that it might have been useful…
She was brought back to the presence by the blaring of a horn, suddenly staring at a green light. She screeched the SUV over the line, determined to pay more attention to her current surroundings. No use dreaming of what was done, she needed to focus on the here and now. It would do her people no good if she got herself killed aimlessly in a car accident. With a glance at the scanner, followed by the sat nav, Teya swung a right at the next set of lights. She was getting further from the city centre and closer to an old, disused mining facility.
Gwen followed Teya's signal out to a quarry, the old mining tower a shadow against the Sun. She left her car some distance away; Gwen approached the main buildings with caution, gun in hand. Pulled up outside what was little more than the skeleton of a once glass-fronted porch was the SUV. Skid marks in the drive way leading up to the entrance were classic signs of Jack's arrogant driving. Gwen frowned to herself, tapping her earpiece. "Jack?"
"Gwen." She could hear the rumble of an engine over the comm, yet the SUV's engine was dead.
"Where are you?"
"We're about two miles from your position, and heading straight for you." Jack answered after checking with Ianto. "Looks like we took the roundabout route."
"We were following the UFO's flight path..." Ianto protested, a comic note to his voice, as Gwen approached the Torchwood SUV.
"But the SUV... is here." Even as Jack launched into an explanation, Gwen went to the rear of the SUV, where she spotted a crucial difference in the number plate. Instead of their own CF06 FDU, was Torchwood London's LN03 TWD. Gwen frowned to herself, focusing once more on what Jack was saying.
"No." Jack smiled, suddenly remembering the day Owen, Tosh and he had searched through the abandoned Torchwood Tower in London. "Teya stole a Torchwood London SUV after the battle of Canary Wharf. Should've known that would come back to bite me in the ass. She'll know by now that we've followed her."
"You want me to start a recon?" Gwen asked, already knowing what his answer would be.
"Stay put for now, we'll be there in a couple of minutes."
Sure enough, a couple of minutes later, the SUV came screeching round a corner, and Jack brought it to a stop suddenly, a little too close to Gwen's car for her liking. Jack and Ianto climbed out, Ianto already measuring the neutrino levels as he stepped out of the car, slamming the door behind him. Gwen walked back a little way to greet them.
"So we're guessing that whoever these guys are, Teya's involved with them?" Ianto asked quietly, a sympathetic glance sent in Jack's direction.
"Perhaps." Jack was unwilling to admit even to himself that he could have been wrong about Teya. "She may have been oblivious as to their presence on Earth, until she overheard our discussion earlier. May have."
"But no guarantee." Gwen added her piece. "We need to proceed with caution. These aliens are killers, Jack, we know that for sure, but we don't know whether they're in league with Teya. We may have more than one enemy here."
"But then we might have a friend in there, Gwen." Jack was resolute in his determination to defend Teya it seemed.
He sent his two colleagues in through the front door, whilst he went round the back. It was their standard pattern these days, with him not exactly needing anyone to watch his back. He felt safer knowing Ianto and Gwen were together, protecting each other when he couldn't protect them. It was a comforting, yet somehow harsh thought, combining their friendship and loyalty whilst still acknowledging the gaping hole in their team. It was enough, Jack acknowledged, his heart wrenching at the betrayal of Tosh and Owens memories, if only just enough.
There were no alarm systems, not even CCTV that he could see. He walked through the deserted corridors, following the life signs on his vortex manipulator. Five Everlarths, one with a Torchwood tracer signal attached. Teya was here – as if the SUV out front hadn't been enough evidence of that. Jack continued towards the life-signs, his Webley loaded, cocked and preceding him all the way. As he approached the location of the Everlarths, Jack suddenly heard voices. He stopped, pushing his back against the wall, to listen.
Teya's heart was in her throat. They had found each other at last! Four of her father's men, his most trusted warriors… They were sat around a dying fire, warming their hands and talking in low voices when she had approached. Sensing her presence, one had looked up at her. He'd greeted her softly, warmly, but there was an edge to his voice that warned her all was not well. She'd greeted him in return, staying back from him despite her heart's yearning to rush and embrace him.
"Child." He came close to her, his movements graceful and masculine. His fingers raised her chin slightly. "You have grown. It is good to see you."
"Feroc." She breathed the name, staring at him, not daring to take her eyes from him in case he vanished as they so often had in her dreams. After a few moments, she transferred her gaze to the others, who had come to stand behind Feroc. "Leukon, Arkas, Dromak…" Arkas, the middle of the three, gave her a genuinely warm smile. He had always been one of her favourites. When she was a child, Arkas had often been given the task of minding Teya.
"Aranteya…" This was where Jack joined the conversation. Across the room, he caught the briefest glimpse of firelight reflected on metal, and he knew that Gwen and Ianto were there. Teya's eyes softened as she looked at her companions, and Jack was more convinced than ever that Teya had not been a part of the killings that had taken place in Cardiff, and that the aliens responsible for those same killings were also present. As if reading his thoughts, Teya's body stiffened again.
"We can't stay here, Feroc," Teya's voice, sounding fraught, "you have no idea how glad I am to see you, but Torchwood are on their way here, now. They would kill you if they could, or worse."
"Torchwood?" The voice was huskily male, presumably Feroc's. "What is Torchwood? You say the name like you fear it… you've become a coward, child?"
"Torchwood…" Jack heard Teya's hesitation, "he's here, or will be soon. He's ruthless, and you're killing in his neighbourhood."
Jack's heart broke with those words. At last, he understood exactly how accountable she held him for her time and torture in Torchwood London. No longer in her mind was Torchwood an organization, a group of people – to her, Jack was Torchwood. She had dismissed from her mind all other members, including Gwen and Ianto.
"No more." There was a self-satisfied tome if ever Jack had heard one. He heard footsteps, dared to peek around the corner to see a six foot six Everlarth pacing about Teya, studying her closely. To give the younger Everlarth her due, Teya was stood angrily, arms folded tightly across her chest, scowling at Feroc. "We have what we came for."
"And what was that?"
"You, little one." He smiled, his canine teeth sharp like a true vampyre's. "We came for you. Your father will be pleased that we have found you."
Teya gasped at Feroc's words. For the briefest moment that seemed to stretch into an eternity, Teya's breath was stolen from her. Her father lived? In all her fantasies, he lived still, yet she had never truly thought that it could be so. A beaming grin broke out on her face, stretching from ear to ear, and her eyes brimmed with shining tears. Her father lived. Her lands were safe, then? And her father's men had come here, to Earth, to fetch her home after all this time? She stepped forward to embrace her father's man, arms outstretched and welcoming.