"Just put that box in the corner of the bedroom, thanks." It was boring work, moving into this apartment. I was just glad I didn't have to do any of the actual moving.
The morning Ianto had taken me to meet the land lord, I was approved immediately. The land lord was a short little balding Italian man. "You give me first and last month deposit, yeah?" He didn't have a lot of guidelines for the apartment, just have my money in on time each month. He didn't even ask who Ianto was to me.
We had gone furniture shopping the following day, Ianto and I. He was definitely good company. A nice mix of sarcasm and seriousness with the ability to make objective decisions on decoration.
Similar to how my furniture was slowly trickling to my apartment, the Rift had also started to dump things out again. Most of the things that came out were relatively boring; bits of alien technology, a couple of things we couldn't find and a very confused "solar surfer" who had three eyes and a couple tentacles coming out his back.
Jack kept finding excuses for me not to go out with the team to do the pick ups. He kept saying that I needed to learn the computer systems, or had paper work for me or even would just send me to my apartment early to set up and move in. It was quite frustrating.
I knew it was because of the outburst I had when Owen was getting attacked by the Weevil. He wanted to wait until we discovered more about me. It took a couple of days for Owen to be released from the hospital. After that, he was put on cases and cover-ups and I was swept to the side.
I shoved the box cutter in the cardboard box that held my bed set. The mattress and box spring had arrived a couple days ago, so I was finally no longer sleeping in the Hub. Today was the bed frame. Jack had seen my out like a father sending his daughter off to college, only a lot less teary.
This was a lot more difficult than the book case I had put together. Thinking about work was just making this even more difficult. This stupid box isn't coming apart. I used (probably) an unneccessary amount of force ripping the box open. The blade slipped and cut my thumb. "FUCK!" I yelled at no one in particular.
I felt so useless. Jack was afraid of me and I was slowly becoming the office secretary and I couldn't put this damn bed set together! It was too heavy and bulky and I needed another person. I felt like kicking it, but knew that would only make me even more angry.
Twenty minutes later, I glanced down at my thumb and noticed the cut was gone. At least I didn't have to worry about first aid anymore. I was also not making any progress on putting the bed together. I'd have to suck it up and ask someone at work to help me.
I flopped down on my mattress and stared at the ceiling. I'd have to confront Jack in the morning about my place at work. I had no objections to finding out what I was capable of. It would give me peace of mind, not to mention get me out of the office.
Ianto was right about it being close to the office. It was only a couple of blocks from the main square. It almost was a crime for the price I was paying.
As I walked out of the apartment hallway the next morning, the land lord was there, sweeping the sidewalk. "Gooda morning," he said with a smile. I smiled back and waved.
I was about a block away when I stopped mid stride. Why was he sweeping the side walk in the middle of winter? I shook my head and kept walking. I shouldn't complain if he took pride in the cleanliness of his property.
On my short walk to work, I passed by a quaint little cafe. Ianto's coffee was good, but I decided to stop in anyway. I could use a chai tea latte if they had it.
A middle aged woman worked behind the counter. "What're ya havin' this mornin' darlin'?" She said in a heavy Welsh accent.
"Do you have any chai tea?"
"Ah, a foreigner. Sorry, we don't have any. How 'bout a nice espresso?"
"Sure," I said. As she started working her machine, I kept talking, "I'm actually Welsh believe it or not, I grew up in America though, after my parents passed. I moved back lately. I'm living right down the block," I pointed in the direction of my apartment.
"In Mrs. Farly's old apartment buildin'? Well, ya prolly wouldn' know her if ya jus' moved in. She was a sweet ol' lady. Came in e'ry Tuesday and ordered a cuppa. Sat in here and jus' chatted a way. Wasn' that long ago, mind you. About a couple o' weeks ago she passed. Here's your espresso, love."
"Thanks," I said and paid. "I'll see you around," I waved as I went out the door.
The espresso was quite good. I decided to take the long way and enter through the tourist entrance. The espresso was quite good and I wanted to savor it. I finished just as I got to the walkway to the tourist office.
"Mornin'," Owen came up behind me.
I half smiled at him, still a bit frustrated with how he had been treating the team.
"I never did get a chance to thank you for saving me. I don't remember much, but Jack told me what you did." He seemed a bit cheerful this morning. I felt skeptical about it.
"You're welcome. It was just a reflex," I said.
"Jack said you think it might be linked to your device. I'd like to get some more information on it today if you don't mind, before you go full Hulk mode."
"That's fine. If it helps, I cut my thumb with a box cutter trying to open up some furniture last night and it healed in about 20 minutes," I looked down at my hand. There wasn't so much as a scar.
Owen took my hand and examined it, "You are a freak of nature. I can say that much," he smiled. We got on the elevator. "How's that going, by the way? Moving in?"
"Swimmingly," I rolled my eyes. "To be honest, I could use some help. Some of these things need two people to put together,"
"Well I could give a hand if you need," he said. That definitely seemed out of character for him, but I guess it was his way of thanking me for saving him. "Although, I have a hard time believing our resident super human can't do the work of two people."
I laughed, "Well just remember, I am still human and unless we discover I have extendo-arms or something, I'm just as capable as putting furniture together as the rest of you. I think I'll take you up on that though, thanks. Could you come over tonight?"
"Shouldn't you at least buy me a drink before you ask me to come back to your place?" he smiled again, "After work then."
We entered the Hub together. Jack was hanging over Toshiko's computer. "Uh oh, they're both smiling. They must be planning a mutiny. Toshiko, man the special arsenal." Jack sauntered over to us. "JUST In time in fact. Owen, Toshiko's been getting a couple reports in of strange deaths at a couple A & E units. I'd like you to go visit and get some detail on them. Teegan, how's that spreadsheet coming?"
"Actually, Jack, I was planning on doing some more research on her this morning. So we can get her back in the field, you know." Oh thank God, Owen . This would save me from a potentially hazardous conversation with Jack.
Jack looked taken aback. He crossed his arms. "What other doctor do we have to research these people?"
"Well, you can do it, Jack. Unless people need medical attention, you're just as qualified as I am. And I'm sure Teegan isn't thanking you for making her the office secretary."
"You did tell me last week that we needed to learn more about myself, Jack," I said gingerly. I didn't want to spark anything.
"Fine. Use the shooting range. We don't want another Weevil incident. Just hope she doesn't go nuclear. Ianto, with me."
Wow, that was easier than I thought it'd be. For some reason, Jack still seemed upset, like he was afraid Owen was going to unlock something hidden. For all I knew, he would be right.
"Let's get on it then. Toshiko, Want to help out with the data collection?" Owen asked.
"I'll be monitoring the room from here. There's some unusual energy spikes that I'm trying to pin point. I think they may be related to the hospital reports, but it's too hard to tell right now," she smiled and went back to typing on her computer.
"Well then, let's get to it Teegan," he indicated for me to go ahead of him.
"Be careful," Tosh shouted after us.
"Yes, mum" Owen saluted at her,
"You're in a cheerful mood today," I remarked to Owen.
"Oh, aren't I sunshine all the time? I just need to grab my gear. Can you give a hand?"
Owen and I lugged all the medical and monitoring equipment down to the shooting range. It was still cleared out, so we didn't have to move anything. We set up at the far end of the tunnel. I sat on a stool while Owen prepped the equipment.
"Now here comes the fun part. Lift up your shirt."
"Shouldn't you at least buy me a drink first?" I said back to him. He laughed. He had a nice laugh, I thought. It'd be nice if he was this cheerful all the time.
He projected a 3D model of the device on my back on the wall. It was strange, I had never been able to see it this well before. It was relatively flat and mimicked my spine. Where each vertebrae were two colored pieces of glass or what looked like glass, embedded into the metal exoskeleton. It looked at though some of the colored pieces had some kind of liquid behind them. Some of the glass pieces were broken or completely gone, probably by the fall I took. At the top of the spine, there was what looked like part of a metallic ball.
"I have this theory," Owen explained to me as he rubbed alcohol on my back, "that each of those colored pieces is a different ability. You can see behind some of the intact pieces a bit of liquid. Well, when you first came in, I scraped some of the residue out of one of the broken ones. The results were spinal fluid mixed with some unknown compound. I think that liquid acts as a sort of fuel for your ability, which is why you can see the level in some of them and can't in others.
"This diagram was made when you first came in. If you look at that window, on the bottom left side," he pointed at it using a laser pointer, "the liquid is almost depleted. I have a strong suspicion that, if I'm right about this theory (which I normally am, by the way), that that one would be the window to control your healing. You took quite a few days to heal when you came in, it wasn't instantaneous, so it means you have limits. If your injured faster than that "fuel" can replace itself, you could die. It's probably safe to say that applies to the rest of your abilities. If you use faster than it can be replaced... well you get the idea."
"Don't let Owen take full credit for that theory," Toshiko came over the intercom, "I came up with a lot of it."
"Right, so if it's completely wrong, it's all Tosh's fault." Owen said. "Alright, this is going to work just like before. Im going to shove one of these electric probes in your back and pulse electricity through it. If you need to stop, or you feel like something is going wrong, just shout ok? I could really do with not losing a limb or something today." I nodded my head and braced myself.
"Just try to relax. The more you tense up, the worse it'll hurt," he assured me. "1, 2, 3..." he shoved the needle in my back. Despite him telling me not tense up, it was hard not to. My eyes started watering with the pain.
"Remind me to never get a tattoo on my back," I said. I could hear him smirk behind me.
"On the count of three, I'll turn the electricity on, the same as before. Just report what happens. Remember, some of these probably won't have full reactions because they're happening under the surface, like with the healing. Or they might just be broken. Ready, 1," I squeezed my eyes shut. I had a sick feeling in my stomach, and it wasn't coming from the pain of the needle. "2... 3..."
Everything lurched as soon as he turned on the electricity. It was like the electricity was running through my whole body. Everything was on edge, My heart started racing. When I opened my eyes, everything was in sharp focus. My muscles were tensed and I realized I was standing up. I could feel my eyes darting around in my skull, looking for something to lock in on, but I wasn't sure what.
"Turn... Turn it off!" I shouted. I didn't know what was going to happen next and to be honest, I didn't want to know. It made me feel like I had an itch to pounce on something and tear it apart. Like the predatory instinct I had with the Weevil, magnified 1000 times.
As soon as the electric stopped, it felt like someone had turned off a switch. Everything went back to normal and I sank back onto the stool. I put my head in my hands and could feel a headache starting right behind my eyes.
I turned to look at Owen, he was staring at me arms crossed and eyes wide. "Well, what the hell was that?"
"I think... I think that was Hulk mode," I said, my voice quivering. Owen motioned for me to continue. "It was... it was like fight or flight times a thousand. Like at that Weevil fight club, only more intense. Everything was sharp and in focus. I felt like I could've ripped a phone book in half."
Owen was listening to his ear piece, a look of worry went across his face. "How did you feel though?" he asked.
"I just told you how I felt..." I didn't know what else to say or what he wanted me to say.
"Did you feel..." I could tell he was dreading the answer to the question he was about to ask, "did you feel yourself? Were you in control?"
"You mean, were my thoughts my own? Or did I suddenly want to eliminate the human race?" he nodded, a worried smile on his face. "No, I was me. A hyped up, PCP version of me, but I was in control." Relief crossed his face. I still felt sick though. I might be in control, but I was still worried. My mind kept flashing back to when the Lorian controlled my body. I could still think, but my body was not my own.
"Can you keep going? Your vital signs are alright, but..."
"I'm alright, let's keep going," I was worried, but I wanted to know more about what I was capable of.
"Alright, two down, twenty- two more to go. The main pieces of the device are connected to your toracic vertebrae in case you were wondering. It does, however, extend up and down to your cervical and lumbar vertebrae, respectively. You know, in case you were wondering."
"I think you just wanted to show off your doctor knowledge." I said as he removed the probe to put it down another spot. I gripped the fabric of my jeans as he moved it, my eyes were watering up again.
"Ready? 1, 2, 3..." he shoved the probe into the next spot. I grunted with the pain.
"Fuck..." I mumbled under my breath. "I don't think you realize how much that hurts."
"It could be worse. It could be Jack doing this. Ready for the next round? It's on me."
"Ha ha. You know, after all this poking and prodding, you better buy me a drink. Or if we're going by pain ratio, a boat. But, yes, I'm ready."
"Great, just like last time. 1...2," I could feel myself tensing up again, out of worry and anticipation of what was to come. I wondered what Owen was thinking. Here we were, testing out the unknown where literally any flip of the switch could cause me to go nuclear (and the sad part was I didn't know if that phrase could be literal or not yet). "...3."
I heard the flip of the switch. And then suddenly I could hear everything else as well. I covered my ears with my hands, but it didn't help in the slightest. I should've been able to guess this one was coming. Super hearing. The only problem was I could hear literally everything physical. Owen's breathing, my breathing, his heart rate, my heart rate. All the machinery around us. The pipes. Sounds I couldn't even identify. It was a bit overwhelming.
I closed my eyes and tried to focus. I turned to face Owen and tried to focus, to drown everything out. When I opened my eyes, Owen had his eyebrows raised expectantly again. I tried to focus my hearing on him. Gradually, most things faded to the background until I could just hear his heart rate.
"Well?" His voice boomed. "I'm going to guess it's something with your hearing?" he half whispered.
I just nodded my head. If his voice was this loud from this close, I could only imagine what my own voice would sound like. I motioned for him to cut the machine off, but he was scribbling something on his paper. Well, it sounded closer to him carving on the paper with a jack hammer.
He clicked the pen (I swore he did it as loud as he could on purpose) and turned off the machine. "Super hearing. Pretty straight forwards. Remind me to never turn it on if I have a hangover."
"Duely noted. Want to keep-"
"Owen, Teegan," Toshiko called over the loudspeaker. "I know you're in the middle of something, but you might want to come see this."
"I suppose you're probably going to need a break after that anyway. We'll get you something for the inevitable headache. Let's go see what Toshiko wants," he yanked the needle out of my back as he said this. I put my hoodie back down and gave him a dirty look. "What?"
"You could've warned me. Or at least been a little bit more gentle."
He smirked, "Had to rip off the band aid one way or another."
We went back up to the main area of the Hub where Toshiko was standing by her computer with her arms crossed.
"What was so important that you had to pull us away from that, Tosh? We were just on the edge of finding out she could shoot lasers out her eyes."
"You know that spike we had a little over a week ago? The big one that we had thought turned out to be a dud. Well I don't think it was. Jack just confirmed those deaths at the hospital were definitely unnatural."
"Unnatural how?" Owen asked.
"They were sucked dry." I raised an eyebrow as Toshiko pulled up pictures.
"What, you mean of blood? Like a vampire?" Owen questioned again.
"Not quite. They don't have a drop of moisture left in them. Blood plasma is gone, but the platelets are still there. No water, anything like that left."
"So why call us up here?" I asked, "You could've just told us when we were finished."
Toshiko half smiled, "Well it's more you I wanted to speak to Teegan. You see, all these people live within two blocks of each other," she pulled up a map where a couple of city blocks were highlighted. "And, well, you're located in this area." I could feel my eyes widen. "The first reported incident was the day after that big spike. Her name was Ms. Andrea Farly, the owner of the apartment building you're now living in Teegan."
"You have got to be shitting me," Owen said, "Seriously, what are the chances of that?"
I just stood there in shock. Could nothing in my life be normal from now on? "There's more," Toshiko said. "The reason your apartment was so cheap... I don't know if I should tell you," she looked away. "One of the victims was murdered in there. I guess the new land lord figured no one would want to live in it if they found out."
"Well, there's definitely no evidence of a murder in there," I said.
"What about this new land lord, who is he?" Owen asked.
"His name is Antonio DiFano. I already did a full background check on him. Nothing really out of the ordinary. Immigrated from here with his family about five years ago. After Ms. Farly passed, he immediately bought the building.
"Why don't we scan Teegan's apartment. There might not be any evidence you can see, but there could be imperceptible traces left behind."
"I'll call Jack," Owen picked up his cell phone.
"Teegan, help me get the portable equipment. We'll take the SUV."
It only took a couple minutes to gather everything. We took cases that contained computers, scanners and swabs. "Toshiko?" I prompted.
"Hm?" she responded as we rode up the elevator.
"You don't think I'm in any danger do you? Living there and everything. You don't think the murderer will come back?" I didn't think getting all the moisture in my body sucked out would be a very nice way to die. For some reason, I doubted my body could heal from that.
"You should be. I doubt whatever it is would strike in the same place twice. Even if they did, you could just shoot them with your laser eyes right?" she smiled.
"Well we're not there quite yet. Just some super hearing and whatever it was I did the other week."
The elevator landed on the ground floor. "I think Owen and Jack are taking bets on whether you can shoot lasers," she said. I just rolled my eyes.
"It's all fun and games until I shoot a hole in someone."
"Oh, so you did develop lasers," Owen came up behind us. "Tell Jack he owes me fifty quid."
"Not yet," I informed him, he just pulled an overly disappointed look.
"Just make sure you tell me if you do," he gave me a stern look.
I gave a nervous laugh. He may have thought I was joking, but I was at least halfway serious. I had a feeling if Jack were here, he wouldn't have been laughing. He seemed to be the only person in Torchwood who saw me as a real threat.
We left the Hub in the SUV, Owen driving after a quick game of rock, paper, scissors between him and Toshiko. I gave directions from the front seat, it wasn't a very long drive. Had we not had the equipment, we could've walked it.
No one was on the street when we arrived. "I have to say, I'm a little jealous about how close you are to the city center. I could save a fortune on taxi fare if I lived here," Owen said.
"Yes, well you also don't have a weird water sucking alien prowling around your neighborhood," I answered, hauling one of the cases up on the steps. I lived on the third floor and right about now, I really wished I had an elevator.
"Point taken," he said, stopping outside my door. I set the case down and got out my keys. I had cleaned up a bit before I left, anticipating someone coming over to help me with my room. I just hoped I hadn't forgotten and left anything embarrassing out. The last thing I needed was Owen seeing my tampons or underwear. It might be different if it was just Toshiko or Gwen.
As soon as we got in the living room, Owen and Toshiko started unpacking the gear. Toshiko handed me a scanner. "Here, go over your room with this. If this number goes above 10, call us in."
"Why? What does that mean?"
"All sorts of things. It detects anything that shouldn't be there. Radiation, bodily fluids, bone dust, chemicals, alien-"
"Alright, alright," I cut in, "I get the point."
"Yeah, we'll be able to see if you've already broken in that mattress or not," Owen said, winking.
"Gross, Owen." My face started to burn. "Plus, not like I could get intimate with anyone with this thing anyway." That fact just dawned on me. Not that I had a whole lot of action back in school, but now my dating options were seriously limited. No, it was more than that, I would probably never be able to date again. I'd have to explain the exoskeleton to them, and that was a whole can of worms that no one would want to deal with. Talk about baggage.
Owen and Toshiko seemed to sense the drop in my mood, they just looked at each other, obviously unsure of what to do.
I half smiled to reassure them, "I'll go scan my room," I turned to enter my room, when just then, there was a knock at my door.
I just looked at Toshiko and and Owen. I had no idea who it could be, it's not like I had any friends around here.
"Gwen's at the hub and Jack and Ianto should still be at the hospital," Toshiko whispered, eyes wide. I knew what she was thinking, we all did.
Owen pulled out a gun and hid it behind his back. He motioned for me to answer the door.
We were probably over reacting. Like hearing a twig snap in the woods after telling ghost stories. That thought, however, didn't help comfort me. I could feel myself tensing up as I turned the door handle.
"Gooda afternoon," it was my land lord. He was standing there smiling with his hands clasped behind his back. "I would lika to checka your plumbing, yeah?"
"Sure, what for?" I glanced behind me where Owen and Toshiko had relaxed.
"Oh you have friends over, yeah? I come back later, yeah?" he promptly turned and left before I could say another word, hands still behind his back.
I closed the door and turned to look at the others, my eyebrows raised. "Well that wasn't creepy at all.""Toshiko, you might want to double check that background check of yours," Owen said. I could feel a shiver working its way up my spine. I just sighed. Why can't any part of my life just be normal?