Torchwood: Dragon Age Episode One "The End of Days"
Chapter 2: The Ripple Effect
CONTENT:
Rating: Mature
Flavor: Action/Adventure/Comedy/Drama
Language: bad
Violence: yes
Nudity: no
Sex: no
Other: none
Number of Gratuitous Jack Deaths: 0/1
Author's Notes:
Disclaimer: this takes place in the fictional world of Cardiff, not the real one. I tried consulting Google Maps to get the generalities, but in a toss-up between writing the story and doing geographical research... sorry, but writing the story won :X Cardiffians may lynch me by proxy, if it makes you feel better.
Special thanks to eatenbydragons and Ventisquear for continuity checking and beta testing.
The Ripple Effect
===#===
Toshiko pulled up a world map on the conference room monitors while Ianto handed out coffee - extra strong. After a late night chasing down Rift activity, the morning was too early. He took the empty seat next to Owen, across from the women. Jack remained standing, like a sentinel.
"Not all the data is in yet," Tosh explained as she punched commands on her laptop. "And some of it is a bit spotty. But when I interpolated it..." She looked up and the others followed her gaze to the screen. A series of lines fanned out over the map. All of them had their origin on a tiny island northwest of the European continent. Owen muttered a curse.
"So," Jack said, "this is all our fault." He shot a hard look at Owen.
The doctor slouched further in his chair, favoring his wounded shoulder. "My fault you mean," he said bitterly.
"Yes, that's exactly what I mean."
"Do I not get one break for the fact that I pulled your arses out of that anomaly and brought you back?"
"You forgot the first rule everyone learns when they get here: Do not mess with the Rift."
Tosh interjected, "Jack, that's not fair."
The captain didn't take his eyes off Owen. "And how many lives were lost, or destroyed, as a direct result of your actions?"
With a snarl, Owen pushed himself up out of his chair to face Jack. "Yes, I am responsible. Is that what you want me to say? I take full responsibility for my actions! But what about you?"
"Me?"
"You sent us those equations." Owen jabbed an accusatory finger at him. "And don't tell me Little Miss Meekers here defied a direct order not to send them." Toshiko flinched at his callous dismissal, but no one could argue the point. "What did you expect us to do with that info, Jack? Sit here with our thumbs up our arses?"
"All right," Gwen barked. "That's enough!" She glowered across the table at the two men. Sullenly, they quit snarling at each other and looked at her. "What's done is done. Blaming each other is getting us nowhere," she said with pragmatism. "The question is, what are we going to do now?"
Tosh spoke up. "Well... We haven't had any Rift activity here in Cardiff since 9:48 pm. Since then, these incidents-" she nodded at the screen- "have spread out not just geographically, but chronologically as well. It appears the Rift emitted a pulse. It's spread to the four corners of the world. And, as far as I can tell, disappeared."
"So it's over," Owen said.
"We can hope," Jack added darkly. "Tosh, keep an eye on it."
===#===
Not fifteen minutes later, the Rift alarms started blaring.
"Oh no," Tosh said, eyes widening at her screen. "No, no, no..."
"What is it?" Owen asked, dreading the answer.
"There's five- no, seven!- Rift openings, all over the city."
"Simultaneously?"
"It's worse than last night!"
Jack came down the stairs, scowling. "Is there going to be another ripple effect?"
"I can't tell yet," Tosh said.
Jack rubbed his face. "All right, divide them up- Owen and Ianto, you go west; Gwen, you're with me on the rest." He turned to get his coat from Ianto. "Alert the local precincts to be on the lookout for the 'unusual.' Then start calling the UNIT bases in Europe, tell them to be prepared."
The team scrambled into action.
===#===
"You didn't need to be so hard on Owen," Gwen ventured as they drove to their third target area. "I don't think you should have shamed him in front of the others." Jack didn't answer. Gwen took that as a good sign. Maybe he was actually listening for once. She debated whether one more sentence would push him over into obstinate mode, when her phone rang. She spoke briefly into it.
"That was Andy," she said after disconnecting. "They've got themselves a Roman centurion they want us to pick up."
"Huh." Jack grinned wryly. "Time was, a sweaty Roman centurion before breakfast was the start of a really good day."
Gwen rolled her eyes, but couldn't suppress a smile. As long as Jack kept his sense of humor, she was sure everything would turn out all right.
===#===
"I'm going to crack," Bannon said.
Zevran sighed in boredom. "That's the ninth time you've said that."
"I mean it this time!"
"And that's the eighth time you've said that." The assassin lounged on his back on the stone slab bench. One leg dangled over the side; he swung it idly.
Bannon paced the short length of their cell. "I admit it! This is the most fiendish, evil torture ever devised!"
"You're bored again?"
"I'm bored! Bored, bored, bored!"
"I told you twenty times how we can amuse ourselves."
Bannon ignored him, for the twenty-first time. "From now on, one of us has to keep a deck of cards hidden on his person at all times!"
The assassin's reply was forestalled by a noise at the end of the corridor. Instantly, both elves had their faces plastered against the glass wall like a couple of kids at a candy shop window, trying to see what was going on. There was a big commotion as several people were herded into a cell. Bannon thought he saw that shem who'd brought the food earlier. A few minutes later, they heard his voice.
"Weevil activity is increasing on top of everything else."
The voice that answered him sounded like the guy who'd shot Bannon. "Maybe they're sensitive to temporal disruptions."
"Are you sure it's safe to put them all in here?"
"They're social creatures, they'll be fine."
There was a roar, a screech, and a lot of hissing. It sounded a lot like darkspawn, but Bannon didn't sense anything. He glanced at Zevran, who gave him a questioning look. He shook his head.
The slavers retreated and the noise settled down. The elves stayed poised at the glass, sensitive ears cocked.
A few minutes later, the tall captain returned, carrying some kind of dog-sized animal past their cell. He was followed by the jailer the elves recognized, and a small woman with dark skin and hair. They all had the strange animals, something like a cross between a bear and a pig, with long, thick tails.
"I guess you didn't kill him," Zevran muttered to his partner.
"Sorry, buddy; I tried."
Zevran shrugged it off. "Was a woman who shot me anyway, no?"
"Open five!" the captain yelled down the hall.
"You can open ours, too!" Zevran added.
Of course, that didn't happen. Bannon was getting annoyed standing at this glass wall, unable to see what was going on, gawking like some desperate, helpless child. The shems presumably dumped the animals into the fifth cell. They paused a few feet down the corridor.
"Tosh," the captain said; "can you get these guys to take in a Roman centurion roommate?"
"I tried talking to them once," the woman replied. "They won't listen to me; I'm a girl."
"You can do that Mulan thing and try again?" the other man asked.
The woman rolled her eyes and left. The two men started past the elves' cell.
"Hey," Zevran called to the supposed leader. The man ignored the elves entirely. "Hey!" Zevran yelled again, incensed at being treated like nothing. He started again, trying to get the shem's attention with something really vitriolic, but Bannon put a hand on his arm.
"Don't waste your breath."
The second man, the jailer, shot a brief glance at Bannon. An apologetic look flashed across his face before he hurried off in the captain's wake.
"I wasn't going to waste my breath," Zevran growled. "I was going to give him a-"
"Shh!" Bannon leaned closer to the glass, straining to hear the voices beyond the corridor. Only the captain's was strident enough to make out.
"Open the other levels. All nine of them."
The elves looked at each other. "What was that about?" Zevran asked.
"The cells are full." Bannon frowned thoughtfully.
"Well, more slaves, more profit, no?"
"I don't know. Something very strange is going on."
===#===
The lower levels of the Vault had never been opened, not in all the years Ianto had been here. In fact, they'd only ever used the one wing of the top level. The others were normally closed up, which had allowed Ianto to use one to house the cybernetic shell of his former love, Lisa. He felt a familiar stab of guilt at recalling her name, her fate. If only he hadn't been so stupid! She could have been cured. Instead, she'd become a killing machine.
Ianto blinked and shook his mind free of such thoughts. He had a job to do, now. And by the look of things, it was only going to get bigger. As for what Torchwood would do with all these misplaced people once the crisis was over... Well, one thing at a time. Jack would handle it.
The weevils only got fed once per day. So onward with the lunch cart. Mr. Surly Viking, thank you so much for your patronage. Then it was those two elves. Ianto hastily put their bowls through the slot, but it was no use. They were waiting for him.
"What's going on?" the brunette asked, not unreasonably.
"I'm sorry, I can't ans-"
The blond one cut in. "You seem to be having difficulty with this 'Rift' of yours."
"For a bunch of slavers, you don't seem too happy with this big crop of prisoners."
Ianto blinked at the accusation. "Slavers? No- we're Torchwood. We're trying to help these people." Violent though most of them were. Well, all right- all of them. The non-violent ones probably went to ground and hid. It was the dangerous ones Torchwood had to contain.
"This does not seem helpful," the blond complained.
"Look," said the other elf reassuringly, "just let us out of here. We can find our own way."
"No, I can't," Ianto insisted.
"Why not?"
"It's too dangerous out there for you."
He was not convinced. "I think we can handle ourselves."
"I'm sorry, really." Ianto pushed the cart onward. "You truly have no idea."
Just then, the lights flickered and went dim. Ianto stopped and looked up curiously. He started to reach for his comm to ask Toshiko what had caused the brown-out, but froze as a figure came towards him out of the shadows at the end of the corridor.
She had smooth, dark skin, toffee-coloured eyes that sparkled when she smiled, like she did now. Lisa. His mouth formed her name, but there was no breath in his body to voice it. But Lisa was dead. Ianto licked his lips nervously. "Who are you? What are you?" He backed up a step as she came near.
"Ianto, it's me." Her voice was strong and melodic, like it used to be, before it had turned hard and mechanical.
"No," he said shakily. "Y-you're d-dea-"
She touched her fingertips to his lips. "Shh. Yes, I know. I can only be here a few short moments, my love." Her fingers trailed along his jaw, down the side of his neck. Her warm, soft lips pressed to his. Ianto couldn't move. It had to be a trick, a fae glamour, alien mind control, something!
But her body was so warm against his, the sweet taste of her lips, the very scent of her- it was all to real.
"I came to warn you," she said, reluctantly breaking the kiss. "The entire universe will tear itself apart; the strain is too great. You must open the Rift, fully, to release the pressure. Or we will all be destroyed."
===#===
Bannon and Zevran stared quizzically at the human, staring blankly into space. "Who are you talking to?" Zevran asked.
A pale old fellow stepped up to the glass wall. "He is communing across the Veil."
The two elves jumped back, startled. "Who are you?" Bannon demanded.
"I used to be the Guardian of the Rift," the man said. "Until my place was usurped." He smiled bitterly and raised his open hands upward, gesturing at the environs of the dungeon.
"You're a mage?" Bannon asked.
"I'm here to tell you how to return to your home. The Rift must be opened. Then you can step through and return to the exact place and time you left."
"But we're not mages," Bannon insisted. "How are we to open the Veil?"
"These people called Torchwood have the means," he replied. "All you need do is make sure they use it."
Zevran snorted. "That will not be so easy, stuck here as we are."
"There will be an opportunity." The mage pointed past them, into the cell.
The elves turned and found their weapons laid out on the benches. They pounced on the blades an began stowing the knives and daggers. When they glanced back, the mage had vanished.
The dungeon went pitch black for a moment, then the world was bathed in hellish red light. The elves grabbed their swords. The glass door swung open.
===#===
Alarm klaxons blared throughout the Hub. "What's going on?" Jack made his way swiftly down the steps to the computer center.
"We're going into automatic lockdown," Tosh reported breathlessly. Her fingers flew over the keyboard. "It's the Vault, it's been opened."
"Which one?"
"My God... all of them!"
"Ianto!" Had the archivist started his rounds down there? Jack ran for the Vault entrance. Gwen already had the same idea; she had her gun out. There wouldn't be any tranquilizing of lost souls this time.
Gwen got to the heavy industrial door and threw her weight against it. Despite its thickness, the sounds of screaming- alien and human- penetrated it. Jack shoved Gwen aside and tried to muscle the door open. It was no use; it wasn't humanly possible, even with a high dose of adrenaline.
Gwen got on the comm. "Tosh, we're here; open the Vault door."
"I can't! We've lost all power to the lower levels!"
"Owen," Jack shouted at the comm, "flood the Vault with knockout gas!"
"But-"
"Now!" This was no time for a discussion! They were slaughtering each other in there, and Ianto was unarmed in the middle of it. "Stay here," he told Gwen, and raced back to the computer center. "Get the power back up." Why the hell wasn't there some sort of command override for the lockdown? Oh, right, in case someone tried to do something stupid, like let a flood of homicidal prisoners into the Hub to try to save one man. The lockdown protocol wasn't there to protect the members of Torchwood, it was to protect the outside world from whatever deadly threat might be unleashed inside the headquarters. Jack slammed his fist down on the keyboard in frustration. "Get the power on and get that door open!" he told Tosh, uselessly, since she was already working on it as best she could.
Jack retraced his steps. "Owen! Where's that knock-out gas?"
The Torchwood doctor appeared from the med bay, hauling a crate in his arms. "Best we've got is this pacifying stuff for the weevils. No idea how well it's going to work. Grab that fan."
Jack turned, and another alarm started to blare. It was drowned out by an earth-shattering blast of lightning. It threw him off his feet, inundated the whole world with white. All his hair stood on end, and it felt as if little fingers were plucking at him. The edges of the white darkened to violet, and the sensation of pulling grew stronger. Hell, it was the Rift- it was opening right on top of him!
===#===
"Even the world beyond will suffer," Lisa said, stepping back. "Help us, Ianto." She disappeared as the lights blinked off and flashed red. The cell doors swung open. The four samurai boiled out of their cell with a battle cry- and armed! How did they get their swords?
Ianto ducked down behind the scant cover of the serving cart, but not before one turned in his direction. The others were quickly engaged with those bearcat creatures.
Ianto shoved the cart at the samurai. It staggered him only momentarily. The Welshman couldn't make a break for it; the Viking taking on nearly twenty weevils was blocking the other end of the hall. Ianto ducked the katana's blade, but he wasn't going to be able to dodge for long. His only hope was that the strobing emergency lights would foul the samurai's aim.
In the next flash, he saw the blade coming at his face. He threw himself backwards to the floor. A spark ignited as the katana met another blade, a straight sword. One of the elves was there. He flipped the swords up then stuck a second blade into the samurai's exposed armpit. The elf planted a boot on the samurai's hip and shoved. The Japanese warrior went down, bleeding.
It was that dark-haired elf. Ianto heard the Mediterranean accent of the other one from further up the hall. "That is the wrong direction."
"Come on," the dark-haired elf told Ianto.
He scrambled to his feet. "Not that way. Get back in your cell."
"Hah!" scoffed the blond.
"The back door is open," Ianto tried to explain.
The brunette shot a glance in that direction. "The hell."
"It's unlocked," Ianto clarified. "The next hall is not full of-!" He gave up trying to be reasonable and talk over the building screams and roars. He just shoved past the elves, into the cell, and pushed the iron door open. They followed.
The back hall led them to the side of the Vault entry chamber. The weevils had flooded it, and were taking on all comers. The place was a bloodbath. Beyond the carnage lay the door. Ianto could see the lockdown bars were engaged, but they could be manually overridden. He wondered if he dared. The point was moot, however. "You can't fight them all," he pointed out to his elven companions.
"He has a point, amore."
Just then, a weevil noticed them. With a hiss, it attacked.
===#===
This was not a good time to get flung off into some random place in time. Jack lunged in what felt like the opposite direction of the pull and grabbed onto something. It felt like one of the iron railings in the Hub; he still couldn't see a thing. He clung for dear life as the purple vortex tried to suck him down. There was a horrible rending noise as the universe tore open.
With as much abruptness as it had begun, the Rift closed up again. Reality slammed back into place. Stunned, Jack fell heavily to the floor, still retaining his deathgrip on the rail.
A figure darted past him. Toshiko moved to help Owen up, calling his name. The doctor and his crate were lying on the floor at the feet of a tall silver robot. A Cyberman!
Jack scrambled to get his feet under him. "Get away! Don't let it touch you!" Toshiko hauled the doctor to his feet, and they stumbled away, the cyborg taking up pursuit. "Run!" Jack pulled out his gun. He knew it was useless against Cybermen, but all he needed to do was distract it. He aimed carefully at the thing's head, knowing the shot would ricochet off.
He pegged it three times before it stopped and turned back. "Resistance is futile," it said.
"You've been watching too much Star Trek," Jack griped, and then wondered how he was going to keep this thing from killing him- or worse, 'upgrading' him. If his body were dead, but his brain were still alive... It didn't bear thinking about.
Jack skipped back out of the Cyberman's reach, drawing it further away from his team. Owen and Tosh fled up the steps to the overlook.
===#===
Something tore through the center of the Hub, drowning out even the thinning screams behind the Vault door. Gwen didn't know what it was, nor whether she should abandon her post. Abandon Ianto. She stood fast. A few minutes later, gunshots from the center of the Hub made up her mind for her. She ran back to the others.
She skidded through the archway and halted, noticing Owen and Tosh fleeing for the stairs, and that silver robot menacing Jack. She leveled her firearm.
"Don't shoot!" Jack yelled, catching sight of her. "Gwen, look out!"
She whirled, and a huge, hairy, bloody Viking was bearing down on her, swinging a battle axe. She tried to bring her gun up while simultaneously jumping back, resulting in the axe missing her head and vitals, but grazing her arm and slamming the gun out of her hand. She fell, hard.
The Viking pressed the attack. Gwen rolled quickly, and the axe slammed down right next to her, slicing a long hole in her jacket. With a growl, the Viking hefted his weapon to try again. Gwen tried to scramble back, but he followed with relentless strides, raising the axe.
===#===
There was no way Gwen could dodge the next blow. Jack took swift aim at the Viking and fired. As he did, the Cyberman swiftly closed and swiped at his arm, knocking his aim off. The bullet gouged the floor not far from Gwen's head. Dammit!
The Viking's back arched sharply as he held the axe poised at the apex of the swing. His roar of triumph turned into a gurgle of blood fountaining over his wild red beard. The Viking dropped to his knees, axe clattering to the floor beside him, then he pitched forward. Gwen was still scrambling away; he fell heavily over her legs. The blond kid- it was that elf!- yanked two swords out of the Viking's back. His partner hopped deftly over the fallen battle axe, and both of them ran straight towards the Cyberman.
Jack dodged another clumsy swing from the cyborg and jumped aside as the elves attacked it. He ran towards Gwen, but another figure appeared and was already helping her up.
"Ianto!" she called in surprise and relief. Both of them ran for the stairs, Jack following closely behind.
Owen took Gwen aside to see to her injured forearm. "It just grazed me, thank God," she said. Ianto pulled off his tie and handed it to the doctor, who started wrapping Gwen's arm.
"Tosh, help me with this," Jack said, grabbing the corner of a heavy antique filing cabinet. Together, they wrestled it to the top of the stairs and heaved it over. It was wide enough to block the stairs.
Ianto looked over just as they tipped it. "Not the 1850 to 1920 micro-" the cabinet wedged against the stair rail, and the drawers shot open, spilling thousands of black plastic flimsies down the stairs; "-fiche!" He put his hands to his head.
Owen said, "Don't worry, mate. Think of it as job security, all those months you'll have to spend sorting it all out again."
This was even better than a solid barricade. The slippery plastic sheets covered the stairs, promising treacherous footing that would foil any cyborg trying to climb it.
Owen asked Ianto if he were hurt. Though his suit jacket was ruined, the archivist reassured them none of it was his blood. They had a bit of a breather for now, but there was still a crisis to deal with. The captain moved past them to the rail and watched the two elves battling the Cyberman. They were fast and agile, keeping easily out of reach of the cyborg. One would hit the thing with his swords, enticing it to turn, then the other would dart in and slash at the Cyberman's unprotected joints. They could have easily cut their enemy to ribbons- except that their blades had no effect on it whatsoever.
"You can't hurt it," Jack yelled at them.
The elves were coming to the same conclusion. "Up!" yelled the dark-haired one as he broke and ran for the court below the mezzanine, sheathing his blades. The blond one followed swiftly, the Cyberman lumbering after them.
Darkie turned below the center of the overlook and laced his fingers together into a stirrup just as Blondie leapt to plant a boot in his hands. Darkie launched him up and he caught the railing, kicked off the concrete, and vaulted over top. He didn't stop, but grabbed the lower rail and slipped under it, sliding to the edge of the walkway with his legs extended down. At the same time, Darkie took two steps towards the Cyberman, turned back, and sprang up at the rail. There was no way he could jump up and reach it, but Blondie caught him on his shins, right under the arms, and swung his legs up. With that extra boost, Darkie snagged the railing and somersaulted over. Blondie got to his feet.
The Cyberman marched over and looked up at the assembled people. "Human," it assessed Jack and his team. "You will be upgraded." It paused, turning to look at the elves in some confusion. "Not human," it decided. "You will be eliminated." The two elves simultaneously flipped the cyborg an obscene gesture.
Unmoved, the man-shaped machine turned and stomped off.
"I don't understand," Blondie said, panting to catch his breath. "I know I hit him; the poison should be working."
"Anborn said, with armor, you need to use a hammer," his companion replied. "Bash him around inside it."
"It's not armor," Jack interrupted. They looked over at him. "It's metal all the way down."
"Oh, a golem?" Darkie shrugged, unconcerned. "Crushing still works. Just... drop a big rock on it. What's your ceiling made of?" He looked upward cannily.
"We can't drop the ceiling on it," Owen objected.
"No...," Ianto said slowly. He turned to the others. "But we do have a really big door."
"Right," the pessimistic doctor agreed sarcastically. "All we have to do is show him out. After, of course, we release lockdown and get the bloody door open."
Toshiko, who'd been listening but watching the cyborg said, "What's it do-? Jack! It's going for the Rift controls!"
Shit! Jack turned to the elves, but they were already gone. They'd spied a coil of steel cable, ran over, grabbed it, then leapt over the rail and back into the fray. The Cyberman was just reading for the control panel when a loop of cable closed over its wrist, and the elves hauled it back. They kept it off balance as they darted around it, tangling it up further.
But bare steel cable was not a good idea to use against electrical defenses. Jack looked at his team. "Ianto: heavy duty rubber gloves!"
The archivist flicked through his mental catalogue. "Med bay."
"Go get them; Gwen, Owen, you too. Tosh!"
"Door! On it!" The tech knew her job.
The three of them started to pick their way down the slippery stairs as quickly as possible. Jack simply vaulted the rail and landed heavily on the main floor. Blue-white light flashed in the center of the Hub, and someone screamed.
===#===
Zevran grinned as he and Bannon danced around the golem. It was slower and clumsier than any shem- it was hopeless against the elves, metal, flesh, or otherwise. They snared its limbs and pulled it back towards the open center of the floor where they could maneuver better.
Then magelight flared, and electricity crackled over the golem and down the cable in Zevran's hands. His arms went painfully numb, and his feet left the ground briefly as the spell's impact threw him back. He fell heavily, unable to catch himself. His entire body shook uncontrollably.
The golem had managed to seize Bannon's arm as the elf moved in to cinch the ropes tighter. Blue-white light surged over the golem's skin and burst around the elf like a halo. Bannon screamed.
The lightning flared and died out. Bannon fell bonelessly to the floor. Zevran felt the breath squeezed out of him; he could not shout. He tried to scramble to his feet and move forward, but his limbs wouldn't obey his will. All he could do was thrash helplessly, like a rat with its neck crushed in a trap. His heart tried to crawl up his throat.
Then he coughed convulsively. His heart slammed back into place and he regained some control of his shaking limbs. It wasn't graceful, but he scampered to his partner's side. "Bannon!" The thief didn't move. Zevran grabbed him by the arms and pulled him against his chest. "Don't you dare leave me here alone!" The assassin spiraled into panic. "Bannon!"
===#===
Jack grabbed the trailing cable the elves had dropped and yanked the Cyberman away from them. He had a few moments before its defenses recharged. He looped the cable over the thing's head and hauled it off its feet. If he could just secure the legs...
===#===
Owen saw the kid electrocuted and jumped onto the stair rail to slide down it like a child on a banister. He just hoped he didn't lose his balance and break his fool neck. He hit the floor, stumbled a bit, then raced to the two teens.
"Set him down," he told the distraught blond fellow as he knelt. "I'm a doctor, I can revive him."
"You're a healer?"
"Yes, but you have to set him down," Owen insisted forcefully. He pressed two fingers to the dead kid's carotid just to conform that yes, he was dead. He put his hands on the kid's chest, one over the other, and started CPR.
===#===
Jack started to cinch the last loop tight when the Cyberman unleashed another burst of electricity. It arced into his hands, making them clench, then ripped through his body, lighting up his nerve endings like a city at night. A hundred thousand points flared in white hot pain, engulfing him, tearing a scream from his throat.
===#===
The blue-white glare cut out, leaving vague ghosts on the retina. The smell of ozone and singed hair filled the Hub center as the leader of Torchwood collapsed. Owen surged halfway to his feet, stopped by the blond guy's grip on his arm.
Gwen darted past. "Stay with him, Owen; I've got this!"
"You know CPR?" He didn't remember that on her file.
"Yes!"
The blond guy was gripping Owen's arm so rightly, his fingers were digging into the tricep. "If he dies," the young man threatened direly, "so do you."
Owen pinched his mouth into a frown line. He knelt back down, shoving the guy off of him. "You threaten your physician, you get lousy results," he growled, resuming compressions on the dead guy's chest. "Not to mention huge bills."
===#===
Gwen went to Jack's fallen body and rolled it onto its back, shoving it as far away from the downed cyborg as she could manage. She knelt down so her body blocked Owen's view and put her hands on Jack's chest, just like she'd seen on the telly hundreds of times. She hoped she wasn't hurting him. Of course, he was dead, but she couldn't quite wrap her brain around that. She knew he'd wake up in a few minutes, so it seemed to her that he was just unconscious, and thus somehow still able to register pain.
She performed the chest compressions as well as any actress, then, hoping Rhys never found out about this, bent and closed her mouth over Jack's.
===#===
The dark-haired kid twitched and started coughing. Owen jumped back. The blond guy grabbed his friend and pulled him to half sit on his lap. "Easy," Owen warned. "Give him some air."
"Zevran?" the brunette gasped.
"I'm here, amore. It is all right."
Owen got up and moved over to Gwen and Jack. Ianto was hauling the cyborg away by himself, face flushed with exertion, but Owen had medical matters to attend to. He skirted around the whole mess to come up on Jack's other side. "Gwen, how's it-"
She reared back, her eyes startled wide. Just then, Jack gasped and floundered about a moment. Owen crouched and gave him a quick once-over. "Well, there doesn't seem to be any residual damage. Good job, Gwen." He helped the captain sit up.
Jack blinked, a somewhat confused look on his face. His eyes shot to Gwen. She ducked her head and swiped the back of one hand across her lips. Owen rolled his eyes. For God's sake, the so-called 'kiss of life' wasn't like actual snogging!
Jack opened his mouth to ask something, but whatever it was going to be was drowned out by a horrid metallic screeching. The tooth-grinding, chalkboard-scraping noise rose in volume and pitch, making everyone slap their hands over their ears.
The sound broke with a deep CRUNCH, then started over again, revving up to an ear-splitting volume. This repeated three times as everyone else, Torchwood and 'other' alike, staggered up to see what it was.
Ianto stepped away from the huge cog door as the sound faded with a weakened whine. He removed the heavy duty gloves from his hands. "Well," he said, "that's one Cyberman decommissioned. Whether our door still works remains to be seen."
"Good job," said Jack, looking around at his team.
Gwen said, "We need a conference." She shot a pointed look at their leader. "Jack?"
"Agreed."
Owen wondered what the hell was so bloody important to talk about when they had a number of messy situations still up in the air. It wasn't for him to decide, though, was it? He went upstairs, grabbing the nearest medkit on the way. He could at least bandage up Gwen's arm properly and give Ianto his ruined tie back.
===#===
Jack grabbed something from the clutter around the computer consoles, then turned to the two aliens. "I need you guys to stay put a minute," he told them as he dropped a portable prison at their feet. It almost didn't work. They couldn't possibly know what the device was, but as soon as the words 'stay put' were out of his mouth, they sprang away from it. The energy bands caught them and threw them back against each other. They scrabbled against the prison walls, the look of panic on their faces downright comical.
Jack didn't laugh; he had to feel sorry for them, though they were handling it better than most humans in their situation- tears in the Veil, cyber-golems, they seemed to take it all in stride. "It's not going to hurt you," he assured them. "Just wait here." They glowered at him.
He followed his team up into the conference room. Owen was rebandaging Gwen's arm. It looked horribly bruised. Before Jack could check on her, she turned to him. "Tell them," she insisted.
"We're not here to discuss this."
"You tell them right now, or I will." She pulled her arm out of the doctor's grip, leaving him cursing underbreath in frustration. Jack clenched his teeth as Gwen faced him squarely, looking up at him as if she were tall enough to cower him. "Owen was going to leave off tending that man to help you, Jack."
"That's protocol," Owen said. "He's our leader; he has priority."
"That's right," Gwen agreed, not taking her glare off Jack. "But there might be other lives in danger."
"All right!" Jack raised his hands. "New protocol: if I get killed, anyone else hurt or injured gets priority."
Tosh frowned. "That makes no sense." She glanced between Gwen and Jack, puzzled.
"That's bollocks," Owen clarified.
Gwen narrowed her eyes and Jack tried to brace himself. "That could have been any one of us, Jack. That could have been me out there, and Owen would have left me to die to help you. And for what? For no reason!" The others were giving her odd looks.
This time, Jack really did have to give in. "All right." He looked at each of his team in turn, hoping this wasn't one giant mistake. "I can't die," he confessed.
Tosh, Owen, and Ianto looked at each other. Owen said, "But you did die. Didn't you?" He turned to Gwen. "Why were you doing CPR on him if he wasn't dead?"
"He was dead. And... I don't actually know CPR. I didn't revive him."
"Okay, more specifically: I can die," Jack interrupted with a grimace. "I just get better."
Owen's brow wrinkled. "You were dead," he clarified, "and Gwen didn't revive you. You just 'got better'?" Jack nodded. "How's that work, exactly?"
"Don't ask me, because I haven't the faintest idea."
They all stared at him. So far, so good, but...
"Are you even human?" Owen asked.
"Yes, I'm human."
Hesitantly, Ianto added, "Are you from this planet?"
"Yes," Jack insisted. "Look, something happened to me," he explained. "I... died. But then somehow, I was brought back to life." He shrugged helplessly. "Since then I've been this way. Now you know as much as I do."
"How long ago was that?" Ianto asked, his face still creased in worry.
Jack shot Gwen a glare; this was all her fault. "Uh, a while."
Tosh said, "You can't be simply from the 1800's or something. You're too... I don't know, technologically savvy. And that thing," she pointed to his wrist strap. "That's definitely advanced technology."
"You're from the future!" Ianto gasped, everything falling into place.
Jack raked one hand back through his hair. "All right, fine!" Who trained these people? Oh, right. He might as well spill the whole thing, then. "Yes, I'm from an earth colony in the future. The 51st century, to be exact. No, I don't know who wins the World Cup this year or any other year coming up."
Ianto gave Jack a level stare. "So... you're from another planet, from far in the future... who came to Earth some time in the past... and you don't stay dead."
"Yeah."
"Oh. That's going to be a problem."
Jack tensed up with worry. "Why?"
Ianto got up and went to a cabinet. He pulled a folded card from a drawer. "None of those options were listed in the betting pool."
Jack gaped at him. "You bet on me?" He looked at each member of his team, one at a time.
Gwen shrugged sheepishly. Toshiko said, "You were so enigmatic, what did you expect?"
Jack palmed his face. Only the nuts of Torchwood 3 would be more concerned with their betting pool than the insane history of their leader. "All right, can we get back to business here? Those two elves: I think we should bring them on board."
"Elves?" Owen said. "You want to hire elves?"
Toshiko added, "But they're... well, not human."
"What is this, Santa's workshop?" the doctor griped.
Jack said, "They speak English. They have a pretty good grasp of what's going on here. They could be useful to us."
"They seem quite reasonable," Ianto added. "Well, given the circumstances. And they did save my life. Twice, actually."
"And mine," Gwen added.
"Yeah, well 'Blondie' threatened to kill me," Owen growled; "if I didn't save his buddy."
"That would have nothing to do with your winning personality and gregarious bedside manner," Ianto quipped dryly. Owen raised his lip at him.
Jack said, "Look, you saw them out there against that Cyberman. And the Viking. We could use that kind of help. Does anyone disagree?" He let them chew it over a minute, and what they were thinking was clear. Was Torchwood going to give up on containment and resort to fighting? Jack hoped not, but against things like the Cyberman? They'd have to. The others looked up to him. No one voiced any argument. "All right," Jack said. "I want you to be careful dealing with these people. They aren't like us, they come from a different culture."
"Essentially, aliens," Tosh said.
"Essentially, yes," Jack agreed. "Now they're not fae, but they are elves, which may be closely related. That makes them quick, clever, and very cunning. They're very beautiful and can be charming. If you find yourself strongly attracted to them, be very careful."
"Well that leaves you out of it," the snarky doctor commented.
Jack just shot him an acerbic look and led the way back down to the elven prisoners. Behind him, Owen, Ianto, and Tosh continued the all-important discussion about the betting pool.
"There's one box we didn't fill in," Ianto said pragmatically.
"Give it up, Ianto," Owen said. "He clearly likes twinks- no offense- that means I win."
Toshiko said, "He flirts with plenty of women. And they all like him."
"Women always go for the gay ones!"
Ianto's voice of reason insisted," There's nothing indicating that he's not bisexual."
"And the only one he's bangin' on is you, tea-boy."
"Th-That-That's not-" Ianto stuttered, momentarily losing his composure. "That doesn't preclude it, either!"
Jack stopped and turned to them. "In fact, I'm omni-sexual. We have a whole lot more variety in the 51st century."
They gaped, even Gwen, who had abstained from the conversation. Of course, she had probably bid on 'straight,' and that went out the window the first time Ianto had finally decided to respond to Jack's advances.
Tosh said, "That means I win."
"You put in 'bisexual,' the same as I did," Ianto pointed out, checking the card.
"Actually, I believe my exact words were, 'anyone, anything, any time.'"
Jack grinned and tipped his hand towards her. "Tosh wins!"
Ianto sighed, but marked the card with a pen. "Duly noted." He tucked it into an inner pocket as the group continued on to the main floor. "But since this is Earth, 21st century, and we only have two sexes- unless you're doing something with those weevils-"
"Ugh!"
"-then that technically means you are bisexual."
"Are you?" This came from the blond elf as the Torchwood team fanned out in a semi-circle around the portable prison. He draped an arm around his companion's neck and smiled alluringly. "So are we." His amber eyes sparkled.
Jack gulped audibly, suddenly distracted by the unbidden thought of two sleek, muscled, and well-oiled- he shook his head sharply to dislodge that thought. Fortunately, everyone else was too busy gaping to notice.
Owen broke the awkward silence. "Am I the only one in this room who doesn't like blokes?"
The chestnut-haired elf shrugged off the friendly blond and said, "I don't like humans." Then he glanced over at Toshiko and Gwen. "Human men, I mean." The women blushed like schoolgirls.
"Look," Jack said, trying to regain some control. "Again, I sincerely apologize for all this." He gestured at the forcefield. "You may have noticed we've been having some problems. You seem quite capable; we'd like you to work with us."
The dark-haired elf threw his hands up. "Oh, that's just typical!"
His comrade actually laughed. "We fall through a tear in the Veil and get stranded, and they need our help."
"You can't possibly be surprised."
The humans of Torchwood looked on rather bemused. To sweeten the deal, Jack said, "Once this crisis is over, we'll be able to help you properly. So. Will you work with us?"
The elves looked skeptical. Blondie leaned over and said something to his companion. It didn't sound like English. The other elf turned to him and replied, a little louder, apparently not so concerned about being overheard, trusting that the humans didn't know the foreign language.
Jack said aside to Ianto, "Can you tell what they're saying?"
"Not sure," the Welshman murmured back, "but I think they're calling you a big fat liar."
Jack shrugged. He'd been called worse. Most of it true... at least at one point in time. He refocussed as the elves turned back to him.
The blond one seemed to defer to the other elf most of the time, though not in any rigid hierarchical sense. Or else Darkie was the usual mouthpiece, while Blondie snuck up on people with knives.
"If we choose to decline your generous offer, I suppose it's back to the dungeon?"
Jack held out his hands in a shrug. "It's for your safety."
The elves made disparaging noises. Then Darkie said, "Fine. We'll do it."
Jack didn't know whether to be worried about the quick and unnegotiated surrender, or just be glad they didn't dally around. Either way, he'd handle it. He stepped forward to release them.
"Hang on," Owen said. "That's it? You're just going to trust them?"
"What do you want, a signed contract?"
The doctor huffed in annoyance. Jack went to the coin-sized forcefield generator. This was a quick and easy test: to release the elves, he had to crouch down, quite vulnerable, within reach of those swords. He glanced at each one first; they just waited. So he bent and retrieved the controller, flicked the forcefield off. He paused briefly, but they did not take the opportunity to decapitate him. So far, so good.
He stood up and pocketed the portable prison. Though when he noticed the brunette avidly watching, he palmed it to stow somewhere else later. "I'm Captain Jack Harkness, as you may recall," he said, brusquely returning to where he had been standing. "You'll be taking orders from me." He paused to assess their reaction. The elves only stood, still waiting patiently. "This is my team: Doctor Owen Harper, Ianto Jones... Toshiko Sato, Gwen Cooper." Each member of the team nodded or waved to their guests, as suited their personality.
"My name's Bannon," the brunette said. "This is Zevran."
"Welcome to Torchwood."
===#===
"Toshiko, check the readings from the Rift. Start tracing any pulses around the globe. Gwen, get power back to the Vault and bring the monitors up." Jack frowned. "The rest of us are going to be an cleanup duty." He glanced to Ianto. "We'll probably want coveralls." The archivist nodded and set about to fetch them. "Owen... fire up the incinerator."
"The power's on downstairs," Gwen reported.
"That was fast." Jack moved behind her to look at the monitors.
"It came on by itself already," the policewoman explained. She punched up the video feeds, cycling through all the cameras. "My God," she breathed. "It's a massacre." Each screen showed piles of the dead, splashes of blood.
Jack slowly clenched his teeth, keeping his expression neutral. All those people, the creatures they'd been trying to help- they'd killed each other in a frenzy.
Owen came up by his elbow. "Hang on, I think I see movement. I've got to get down there."
"It's dangerous!" Gwen warned as the precipitous doctor turned to grab his emergency medkit.
Jack turned around. "You two," he said to the elves; "you're armed. Escort the doctor into the Vault." They nodded and jogged off after the Torchwood medic, drawing their swords. That went well; they seemed used to taking orders. Jack turned back and met Gwen's worried gaze.
"You think it'll be all right, sending him alone with them?"
"They're on our side." He shrugged. "At least until they get a better offer."
He was spared her scathing analysis of his threat assessment and recruiting techniques by the arrival of Ianto with an armload of coveralls. Jack grabbed the biggest one and started putting it on. Quickly, Gwen and Ianto followed suit.
"Good job with the rubber gloves," Jack told Ianto.
"Thank you, sir."
"What happened down there?"
"I'm not exactly sure," Ianto said, his fingers slowing on the coverall zipper as he thought back. "I... I don't know. Everything suddenly went black. Then the emergency lights and alarms came on, and all hell broke loose."
"Did you see anything strange?"
"No."
"We're glad you're safe," Gwen told Ianto, touching his arm. This seemed to snap him out of his reverie, and he pulled his clothing straight.
Jack tried to catch his eye, to convey a more personal expression of relief, but Ianto didn't look at him before heading towards the Vault. Gwen followed. The captain took a moment to check on Tosh.
"It's very early, but... yes, it looks like the effect is rippling outward again." She turned away from the monitors, her eyes big behind her glasses.
"Collect all the data you can," he told her, his voice level and reassuring. "The more we understand about what's going on, the better the position we'll be in to stop it."
She nodded, confidence returning to her face. Jack turned away before she could spy any doubt in his. The Rift had never behaved this way before. None of this was supposed to be happening; humanity's introduction to the greater universe at large happened much later in the 21st century.
He'd just have to trust that this crisis would get solved, and without destroying the Earth.
===X===