Chapter 1 – Weevil Hunting

Jack paced up and down the conference area by the glass window looking down at his team working. All of them had their heads down working hard. It was what he had hired them for but a part of it worried him. He knew that the majority of the team would die within the next couple of years, if not all of them. It was not a thought conducive to happiness.

The light above him flickered again and he frowned up at it. He would have to get Ianto to fix that light. Ianto; now there was an interesting subject. He had been working with the team for the last two months and Jack had never met anyone before in his long life, or perhaps existence was a better word, who worked as hard or as efficiently as Jones, Ianto Jones. Yet, there was something not quite right about the young man that Jack just could not put his finger on. Of course Jack was ever so slightly attracted to him, so that might be clouding his judgement a little. Who was he kidding, he was really attracted to Ianto, but Jack still felt that something very small, probably insignificant, was wrong.

An alarm sounded in the Hub and the team sprang into action. It was a weevil alert and Jack quickly ordered Tosh, Owen and Suzie with him. He turned to Ianto, saying with a wink, "No sense in mucking up that handsome suit of yours."

Ianto returned in a purposefully bland voice, "That's sexual harassment, sir," just as he always did, before turning to the screen and bringing up the information to send to the team on the way to the weevil which was presently terrorising the population of Cardiff. He slipped his ear piece in, his eyes following the team as they made their hurried way down the stairs, to the garage. He sent the information to the car's computers and then hurried down to the basement.

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The alley was dark and the team cautiously made their way down it, guns raised. Jack always said that weevils were really only dangerous if you didn't know what you were doing. The rest of the team were ninety per cent sure that he was joking and ten per cent sure that he was deadly serious and had absolutely no marbles to speak of. Tosh in particular had never been able to get used to weevils. They were loud and animalistic and unpleasant, much like the rest of the team, so she could understand how they had grown accustomed to the great beasts much more easily than she had. Tosh was quiet and unintrusive and often much more comfortable in the company of machines than people, because machines were simple and always did what they were supposed to do. She had never considered herself brave, but she was not afraid to die, she just had a wish that her death would not be painful and messy. Long ago she had accepted that being part of Torchwood gave her a much shorter life expectancy and she was ok with that, because she would not have missed having the life she had at Torchwood for the world.

Tosh, who had been momentarily lost in her own head, jumped as the large weevil loomed towards them in the dark alley. Owen reached over and caught her arm, giving her a knowing grin that made her in equal parts want to smack him and kiss him. She steadied herself and prepared for the fight that she knew was to come, taking a deep breath.

Remarkably, the weevil stumbled. Although weevils are lumbering and slow-thinking creatures, which despite this could move at surprisingly great speeds, none of the team had ever seen one stumble before, in all the time they had worked for Torchwood. It fell back again and appeared to be retreating from something. Jack shone his torch a little ahead of the creature and there was a little figure, dressed from head to toe in black which appeared to be making threatening gestures at the weevil. The weevil then charged forwards and the figure was gone only to appear seconds later right behind the weevil. Whoever it was, they were extremely fast. There was a flash of silver in the torchlight and the weevil let out a howl of pain. It turned and the figure danced out of its reach, before quickly slipping past it. It turned again and this time the figure caught the arm thrown at it and pulled the weevil down, getting in a few jarring blows as they tumbled together onto the ground. They rolled several times, struggling to gain the upper hand. The knife in the figure's hand was thrust into the weevil's neck and the reeking stench of weevil blood filled all of their nostrils. The weevil's arms flailed around for a few seconds before dropping to the ground.

The figure rose slowly from the still warm weevil corpse and as if seeing the Torchwood team for the first time cursed. It turned quickly and ran down the alley.

"Owen, Suzie, after him," Jack ordered, and the three of them followed the figure, down the alley, leaving Tosh to clean up the remains of the weevil.

The figure hit a dead end in the alley, cursed again and turned to face them. Owen, hot-headed as ever, charged at the figure straight away, not thinking that the person had just taken down a fully-fledged weevil with only a knife for company. The figure dodged his charge and caught his arm, twisting it until they all heard the sickening pop of his shoulder dislocating. Owen's knees buckled and he cried out in pain.

Jack took a step towards the figure, his gun raised threateningly, "We mean you no harm."

"The gun would suggest otherwise," the figure ground out.

Jack almost smirked at the tone. He lowered his gun, knowing that Suzie still had hers' raised behind him and took a step towards the figure standing over Owen, who was now panting in pain. "We don't want to hurt you. We just need to talk to you," he said in a gentle, calming voice.

The figure looked slightly taken aback. It dropped Owen's arm and he fell to the ground. It took a step forward. "Jack," it asked in a quiet voice.

Jack then realised that he had heard the biting tone in that voice before, that he had seen those fighting moves time and time again, that the person before him was no stranger. "Mary?"

Mary pulled off the black balaclava, shaking her long brown hair out of her eyes. "Long time no see," she murmured. Then she abruptly turned to Owen, still curled up on the ground in pain and exclaimed, "Oh my God, I'm so sorry." She gently helped him sit up and then said, "On three, ok?" He nodded, taking a deep breath. "One. Two…" She wrenched his arm back into place, making him cry out again, "Three." She then pulled him to his feet by his good arm. "You're Owen Harper, then? and Suzie, I didn't recognise you with your hair so long."

Suzie smiled at her. It had been five years since she had last seen Mary, and the second-in-command was definitely pleased to see her old friend. Jack took a step forward and embraced his long-time friend. Then he kissed her, passionately. "Jack," she exclaimed as she pushed him off her and punched him hard in the arm. He laughed loudly and ruffled her hair affectionately.

Owen continued to look slightly confused, as they had never been introduced before. "Forgive me," she said to him, seeing the look on his face, "I used to work for Torchwood. I'm Mary, Mary Williams."

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During the car ride back to the Hub, Mary took the time to get to know Toshiko and Owen, and catch up with Jack and Suzie. Jack had informed Ianto that they were bringing a guest, who was human in nature and also a weevil corpse.

When they arrived back at the Hub, Ianto was back at his station with his fantastic coffee ready for everyone. But when he saw Mary, he nearly dropped the tray. She gently took it from him and put it on the bench.

"Hi Ianto."

Ianto didn't reply. He just pulled her into his arms, just as he had done when she had found him and Lisa after Canary Warf and helped him hide Lisa from UNIT. Mary wouldn't tell anyone if she felt a few tears hit her shoulder in that moment, holding Ianto in Torchwood's kitchenette.