This chapter signals the start of the end.
It Begins.
After Jack had left, Phoenix had started to prepare. Laying her clothes out on the bed, she gathered her cleaning things together and almost the rest of the bottled water and took it outside and standing behind the hut and using her abilities, Phoenix heated the water and had a shower, raising the bottles into the air with her mind, washing every trace of Jack off of her. She didn't want to, she liked his smell on her but she had to. The bottles of water now empty and herself washed from head to toe, Phoenix wrapped herself in a towel and took everything back into the hut and got dressed.
She stood in the centre of the hut and looked around, making sure that she hadn't left something behind in case that someone found it in the future. Phoenix looked at her watch and it was 0300hrs and Jack had left at 1150 the night before. She still had time to go and see the people that she needed to see so she left the hut and made her way to the makeshift cemetery that she had made. She walked along the graves, saying prayers for them as she walked. She then made her way to the grave that she needed to be with and she sat down at the foot of it.
Phoenix spent a few minutes talking to the little girl in the grave, she was the most important one there. If it hadn't been for her, she would have been dead already and all this from a 7 year old girl. She had nursed Phoenix back to health after that almost fatal night but when she had needed Phoenix, Phoenix hadn't made it back in time. Today would be the day that Phoenix took the little girls revenge for her. Once Phoenix had finished her talk, she said a prayer and sat quietly. She thought about what she had to do, what she had to get other people to do and then about The Devourer.
She looked at her watch again and she saw it was nearly time to meet the troops so she got up off of the floor and made her way to the hut. Phoenix makes sure that everything is laid out as she needed, coat across the bed, bags by the door of the hut. Phoenix made a quick check making sure that she had picked everything up. The last thing she did before she left the hut was to pick up the letter that she needed to give Captain Matthews. She folded it in half and slid it into her pocket as she left the hut and dialled up the co-ordinates for the meeting with the General and the two Captains. The Vortex appears in front of her and she walks through it.
General Stanley, Captain Matthews and Captain Terry were sat in a tent complete with communications, maps, everything needed to run this project. Phoenix was escorted into the tent by a very nervous looking Private, realising who he was escorting. On the way through all the troops, everyone had saluted her and she hated it.
"Who's great idea was it to get every soldier here to salute at me because however it was, needs to take that order back or I'm going to start to slap people up side the head," Phoenix tells them as she arrives inside the tent, the Private being dismissed and then leaves.
"Is everything ready?" Phoenix asks them as another Private offers her his chair but she shakes her head at him with a smile.
"Everyone is in position. They are awaiting the arrival of Torchwood and yourself with them we can move into position and wait for The Devour and it's minions to arrive," General Stanley replies for them all.
"I leave it in your capable hands then. I just want to have a walk round. Captain Matthews, would you join me?" Phoenix asks him and he joins her as she leaves the tent.
"How are you feeling about this Captain?" Phoenix asks him as she checks the troops and their positions.
"Nervous Phoenix but we have the best on our side," he tells her as they walk.
"Please don't blow smoke up my arse. You really don't need to. Are you ok with your personal orders?" she asks him and he looks at her.
"My team will back Torchwood up but on your mark, you will move up through the minions and I will follow, you providing me cover. You will then give me instructions and I leave, you still providing me that cover," he tells her and she smiles as he said the orders back to her.
"I just want to thank you for what you are doing for me," Phoenix tells him and he smiles at her.
"It is an honour mam and that's not me blowing smoke up you arse. It is an honour to work with you and for you," he tells her and he salutes her and she raises her hand as though to go and slap him but she salutes him back and they smile.
"I will leave you to get your men in position and I will make sure that Torchwood is here on time but they still have no idea what is going on," Phoenix tells him and he smiles.
"Will do mam," he tells her and he salutes her again and she smiles as he walks away and then she remembers the letter.
"Captain Matthews, I forgot something," Phoenix tells him and he turns around.
"Yes Phoenix. What can I do for you?" he asks her and she goes into her pocket and pulls the letter from her pocket.
"When you give Captain Harkness the other things, can you give him this letter but don't give it to him until I have gone," she tells him handing him the letter and he takes it, putting it in his vest pocket on his chest.
"My pleasure mam. Not until you have gone. Got it," he tells her and smiles as she walks off.
It was 0452 hrs and Phoenix walks into the hub with a huge bag in each hand, wide in her stride as she walked through the hub, dropping her bags in the sofa area and she sits down on the sofa. Ianto pops his head out of the office and looks at her but she doesn't look at him, she just looks straight ahead. His head pops straight back into the office for a second and then he walks out of the office and makes his way to the kitchenette, briefly stopping at Phoenix.
"I'm going to put some coffee on. Do you want some Phoenix?" he asks her, her gaze not shifting.
"Thank you Ianto," she replies, meaning for more than the coffee.
"Your welcome Phoenix," he tells her and he carries on to the kitchenette.
As he makes the coffee, Jack stands at the office door and watches her as she closes her eyes,
"Is there something I can help you with Captain Harkness?" she asks him with her eyes still shut.
"Your going back to calling me Harkness. Typical. Did nothing I say, nothing we did last night mean anything?" he asks her, her eyes still closed.
"Don't you dare Jack. Last night meant more to me than it did to you so don't you dare Harkness," she tells him, her eyes closed but enough venom in her voice.
Just as Jack was going to reply, the cog door begins to slide back, the lights flashing, the siren going and the team walks in, a deadly silence between them. They made their way to their work stations, none of them seeing Phoenix to start with as she was so quiet but then Owen turned to Tosh and saw her.
"Didn't see you there Phoenix," Owen tells her and she feels everyone looking at her.
"Owen, Tosh, Gwen," Phoenix simply replies as she sits there with her eyes closed.
Ianto walks over with the coffee's, each member of the team taking their cup until there were only two left. Ianto holds Jack's out as he comes out of his office, Jack taking it and then Ianto holds Phoenix's out and she takes it, her eyes still closed. The hub remained silent of the next 15 or 20 minutes before the silence was broken. The phone rings and makes everyone jump but Ianto answers it.
"Yes. A moment please," Ianto replies and looks at Phoenix.
"Phoenix. It's for you. It's General Stanley and he only wants to talk to you," Ianto tells her holding out the receiver to her as her eyes jump open and she gets off of the sofa and goes to Ianto, taking the receiver.
"Yes General Stanley. The Doctor is there. Yes. Torchwood will be there at 0700hrs. See you then General Stanley," Phoenix says and then puts the phone down.
"Why is General Stanley calling here looking for you and why is he talking to you and not me?" Jack asks her as she goes back to the sofa and sits down.
"Does it matter. We are to be there and ready for 0700hrs. The Doctor is there already preparing. I would suggest that you start getting ready at 0600hrs. Weapons are in the range and the armour is wherever you left it. I need to get ready too," Phoenix tells Jack closing her eyes again.
The team go back to drinking their coffee and they start to chat, talk about what they are going to do when this is all over. Phoenix can't stand to hear it anymore so she gets up from the sofa and grabs one of her bags and walks away.
"Where are you going Phoenix?" Jack asks her as she slips past Ianto.
"Going to get ready," she tells him and she makes her way to the range for some quiet.
Phoenix makes her way to the range and lays her bag on the ground. One by one, she takes her things out of the bag and lays them on the table. First were her weapons followed by the belt to hold them and then came the other things that she needed. She picks up her necklace with her silver cross on it, she always wore it to battle. It had been her adoptive mothers and one of the only things that she had left of hers so she only wore it in battle to give her strength. She placed it around her neck and ran her finger across the cross pendant, saying a silent prayer.
She then put her rings on, one from her adoptive mother and one that Jack had once given her, he didn't know that she still had it. Once the rings were on, Phoenix picked up her trade mark black, fingerless gloves and slipped them on. She interlocked her fingers and stretched the gloves out, wiggling her fingers so that she had the flexibility in them. She then took her weapons belt and put it around her waist under her coat, fasting it at the front of her. She was only going to take her most favourite and loyal weapons so she picked up her swords.
Phoenix unsheathed the swords and lay them on the table. She made sure that they were clean, sharp and not damaged in any way. She then did what she usually did before a battle and she took one of her swords and said a prayer holding it. A prayer asking for her sword to be swift and destroy as many of the enemy as it could with ease. She then sheathed that sword and added it to her belt and then taking the second sword and doing the same with that before she sheathed the sword and put it in her belt. She then picked up two of her specialised weapons, ones that she had created and gave them a silent prayer as they were for hand to hand combat.
She fastened them to her belt as she couldn't wear them yet, not when she was to shake peoples hands, the blades were quite sharp. They were gauntlets that she was to slip over her fingerless gloves. She had made them when she was at Torchwood so they meant a lot to her. How that she was prepared weapon wise, she started to prepare mentally, saying a prayer and asking for everything to go as she intended. Help kill the minions, protect the troops, protect Torchwood and destroy The Devourer. This was her routine, a routine she always did at the beginning of a battle if there was time.
"I see that you still do the same routine before a fight," Jack tells her standing at the range door looking at her.
"Hasn't let me down so far Jack," Phoenix tells him as she gathers the weapons up for the team into the bag and heads for the door.
"Is this how we are going to leave it Phoenix, like nothing happened last night?" Jack asks her as she reaches the door.
"What did happen last night Jack? We had sex and then you tried to get me to promise you something I can't promise and then you went back to your lover. That's all that happened last night," she tells him as she is about to walk through the door but he stops her. "Why are you being like this? Being so cold?" he asks her and she looks up at him, her eyes almost dead.
"Make it easier on yourself Jack. Forget last night," Phoenix tells him and pushes past him and carriers on to the main hub area.