Chapter five. You know, in case you hadn't already figured that out. Enjoy! Disclaimer-...I had a really good one. And I've went and forgotten it. Oh well. I don't own Torchwood or Doctor who. What a shame.

In Which There Are Dead Ends, The Secrecy Of Torchwood Is Disputed Upon, and Owen Inadvertently Tempts Fate

~oOo~

"So, basically, what you're saying is that we're dealing with a completely new race of aliens." Said Owen, sounding entirely annoyed at the situation.

"Yeah." Jack replied.

"That we know nothing about, seeing as how they've never bothered to show up before."

"Yep."

"And now these aliens can apparently manipulate the Rift to turn up whenever they want to."

"Yes."

"And we have no way of knowing whether we're dealing with Weevils or these new things."

"Seems like it."

"And, these things can potentially change their energy signature into pretty much anything we can imagine so that we never know what we're dealing with."

"That's about the size of it." Jack concluded.

"Well that's real helpful." Owen said. "That's bloody great, Jack."

The Immortal leaned against Toshiko's desk, looking to his team.

"I know." He said. "Trust me, I know. We need to figure something out here. Anything. " He looked back to Owen. "Owen, the one we've got, it's still got that thing on its wrist, right?" He asked. The medical doctor nodded.

"Ah, yeah. Contraption strapped tp its wrist. Haven't really done anything with it, though."

Jack pushed off the table and started towards the medlab.

"Come on, let's go get that thing off." He said, working his way over to the stairs all the while.

With the exasperated sigh of someone whose been working on the same thing for too many hours straight, Owen followed.

oOo

thirty-seven minutes later

Toshiko set the device that Owen and Jack had retrieved on her desk.

"It's dead, Jack." She told the Captain. "Completely dead. Can't get it to turn back on or anything."

"Nothing at all?" Asked Jack.

"Nothing." Toshiko confirmed. "It's off, and, as far as I can tell, it's going to stay off. I think it was connected to his life signals or something like that. Only thing I can come up with right now."

"….Alright then." Said Jack. "Keep working on it. See if we can learn anything about them from it." He said, turning away. The Immortal walked back down to the medlab where Owen continued to pour over medical reports, trying to piece his puzzle together.

"Find anything yet?" He inquired, moving over to the medical doctor, who glanced up from his papers to Jack for a split second.

"No." He replied, exasperated. "Still stuck. Face it. We can't get anymore info on these things unless we get someone up here who really, really, knows what they're doing.

"No way." Jack denied immediately. "It's not happening."

Owen out his hands up in surrender.

"Okay….Fine. Just am idea." He said, submitting to what Jack had ruled. "But really, what are we going to do with the Doctor?" He asked, genuinely curious as to what Jack's answer would be."

"I've got him locked up in the holding cells for now." Jack replied, carefully treading around Owen's question.

"Yeah, I got that. But locking him up isn't exactly a long-term solution to our problem, now is it?" Owen asked, though it wasn't a question so much as it was a statement.

Jack let out a breath.

"No, it's not. But it's the best thing I've got right now. We'll figure something else out later." He replied.

Pause.

"I really could use his help though, if he's half as good as you make him sound."

Jack chuckled slightly at this, though without humor.

"He's better than I make him sound, Owen. Way better. But he also killed this person. He might as well have gone mad." He rubbed at his eyes some with the palm of his hands. "I can't just let him out…."

"We can't just keep him in there forever either." Said Owen.

"I know that. Owen!" Jack snapped. "I don't know what the hell to do though!" He exclaimed. Owen studied his boss for a moment and sighed.

"I need to go talk to him, Jack. There's a;ways the chance that he's figured something out. I'll just go down to the Weevil cells and check it out. He might talk some."

Jack snorted some.

"Good luck with that." He muttered.

Owen shot a glare but said nothing in response, instead starting up the stairs and making his way towards the holding cells.

He knew that, most likely, the Doctor wouldn't talk to him. That he would get ignored, or maybe insulted at best. But it was worth a try, he thought. There was always the slightest chance that he would get lucky that there could be a breakthrough.

Owen stepped into the hallway that was lined with cells, walking down the corridor until he reached the end, turning to face the thick glass-like wall in front of him.

The Doctor sat in the far right corner of his cell, head resting against his knees, completely still, save the very slight raising and lowering of his chest and he breathed. He had wrapped his trench coat around himself, throwing the bottom over his knees.

"….What do you want?" The Time Lord, if Owen was remembering correctly, eventually asked. Owen was silent a moment, slightly thrown by the directness of the question.

"Have you figured anything out about those aliens yet?" Owen asked, deciding to adopt the same 'let's get to the point' attitude the Doctor was using.

"….Why?"

"'Cause we have no idea what we're working with." Owen admitted, figuring honestly was his best option at the moment. "And I thought that you might have figured something out by now."

"Because my first priority right now is obviously helping you people." The Doctor said,still not bothering to raise his head as he spoke. "Congratulations, You've figured it out; all I really want to do is help Torchwood do their job while I'm down here." He said, words practically dripping with sarcasm.

Oh well.

At least Owen had tried.

"It's not as if you've got anything better to do with your time right now. I mean, you're sort of stuck down here until Jack says otherwise." Owen pointed out.

"….Fair enough." Said the Doctor.

"Which, to be honest, could be a good long time. He's pretty pissed at the moment."

The Doctor scoffed.

"Yeah, I could tell when he broke my ribs. Even I can't miss a message as clear as that,

Silence.

The Doctor muttered something under his breath, quiet enough that Owen couldn't quite make out what was being said.

"I'm sorry?" He asked.

"It's not like Jack's a saint either." The Doctor repeated, clearer this time around. "He was a con man when I met him. Almost destroyed London for some quick cash. He can't exactly act like he's better than me."

Owen pressed his lips into a thin line.

"I don't exactly agree with what he did..." He said cautiously. "But..." He trailed off. "Oh, bloody hell. Why can't there just be something simple going on? Plasmavores, maybe. Stop some of them and then we can all be on our merry ways, none of this other crap happening."

Neither man said anything for a moment.

"They're going to come back, Owen." The Doctor mentioned after a few seconds. "Those three, they were just scouts. There will be more where they come from."

Owen stared at the Time Lord for a short second.

"And how fucked up is it that that's the most reassuring thing I've heard all day?"

oOo

"Are you planning on staying?" Jack asked Martha as the pair half-way conversed by the staircase. Martha nodded.

"I am now." She replied. "I'm not just going to leave you and the rest of your team to deal with this." She reached inside her front pocket and retrieved her mobile. "I've been meaning to call Tom, actually. Let him know what's happening."

"That would be pretty good." Jack agreed, nodding.

"I'll be in your office, Jack." Said Martha, starting up the stairs.

"What are you going to tell him?" Jack called.

"Exactly what's happening." Martha replied.

"You can't just tell him that you're at Torchwood and explain everything that's happening!" Jack sputtered. Martha raised an eyebrow.

"I can too. Do you want my help or not, Jack?" She challenged. Jack hesitated slightly.

"Fine. Tell him what you need to."

Martha nodded.

"Thanks. Do you mind if he stops by?" She asked hopefully.

Jack did in fact mind if Martha's boyfriend stopped by the top-secret government agency that saved Earth at least once a week, but he submitted anyways.

"It's fine, Martha. Just make sure that Tom doesn't go blabbing the location of Torchwood to all his friends."

For what was possibly the first time all day, Martha smiled.

"He can keep a secret, Jack." She assured, amused. "Besides, half od Cardiff already knows where Torchwood is, I don't think he can do all that much damage."

Jack cocked his head to the side indignantly.

"Half of Cardiff does not know where we're at!" He argued hotly.

"Oh, please." Said Martha. "Have you heard the way people shout at you when you're driving down the road?" She asked, a skeptical look written on her features. She shook a fist, acting as what was apparently supposed to be a passerby. "There goes bloody Torchwood again! You! With the coat! Learn how to drive!" Martha laughede and finished climbing the stairs, entering the office and turning her back on Jack, who didn't reply, as he was ar too busy imitating an open-mouthed fish.

oOo

Tom's phone rang only twice before he picked up.

'Hey, Martha' He greeted. 'How are you?'

"I'm good." Martha replied. It wasn't a lie, after all. She herself was fine. It was just the current situation that left something to be desired.

'That's good.' Tom said, clearly pleased with Martha's answer. 'You're still in Cardiff, then?'

"Yeah."

'Any idea on when you'll be back?'

"Um...No, actually. The case yesterday was a bust, but some other stuff came up and I'm not sure when I'll be back."

Martha could practically see the confusion written on Tom's face when he spoke.

'What's happened?'

There was a pause as Martha struggled to formulate what was happening into a sentence that was at least somewhat coherent.

She promptly discovered that such a sentence did not exist.

"...You remember that guy, the Doctor?" She started carefully.

'That bloke you traveled with?'

"Yeah. Him."

'What about him?' Asked Tom, voice light. Martha had told him about the Doctor before, and from what he'd heard, the DOctor was a good guy, running around and saving the universe being his main pastime.

"Well, he uh, showed up today."

Martha said rather cautiously.

'And? Is everything alright?' Tom inquired, alarmed by Martha's change of tone.

"...It's...Really hard to explain, actually." Martha responded. "Do you think it would be possible for you to come down?" She asked, a slight edge of anxiousness working its way into her voice.

'To Cardiff?' Tom asked incredulously.

"If possible..." Martha said, carefully hopeful.

'Well what for?' Tom questioned.

"Like I said, I really don't know when I'll be back." Martha explained. "And as much as nobody here wants to admit it, I think that we could use as much help as we can get right now."

'...Where are you?'

"This place called Torchwood."

'Never heard of it.' Tom noted.

"Yeah, you wouldn't have." Said Martha.

'What's that mean?'

"Nothing. It's just...Not many people know about it."

'...Right then. I guess I can come down. Where's this place at again?'

"Bit hard to explain. If you could just get us a place to stay for a while, I'll explain everything later. I promise."

'...Okay. I'll text you later, alright?'

"Alright."

'...Talk to you later. Love you.'

Despite herself, Martha smiled a bit.

"Love you too, Tom. Bye."

oOo

"How are you doing there, Ianto?" Asked Jack, stepping into the Hub's archives and fixing his gaze on the Welshman who was surrounded by piles upon piles of papers.

"Haven't found anything yet." Ianto replied, standing up and brushing himself off.

"Yeah, neither has anyone else. We're pretty positive that we haven't encountered them before now." Jack said, staring at the, admittedly impressive, even for Ianto, stacks of information.

"I see..." Said Ianto, trailing off.

"You hungry at all?" Jack asked abruptly. "I mean, you haven't eaten all day."

"Neither have you." Ianto pointed out. "Or Owen, or Tosh, or Gwen, or Martha, or-" He broke off suddenly, leaving an unspoken 'or the Doctor' hanging in the air between the two men.

"Right then." Said Jack, not particularly concerned about the Time Lord's current physical status. He knew full well that the Doctor could, and often did, go for days on end without eating.

"Is pizza good with you?" The Immortal asked.

Ianto gave an amused snort.

"Would I still be working here if it wasn't?" He questioned, not expecting a proper answer.

"Pizza it is then." Jack concluded, the slightest of smiles flashing across his face. He whipped his mobile from his coat pocket and flipped it open, punching numbers into the keypad and holding it up to his ear.

'Hello?'

The voice from the other end was just barely audible to Ianto, who stood only about five feet from Jack.

"Hello yourself." Jack replied.

'How can I help you?' The other person, a girl, Ianto could tell, asked, a sigh in her voice but sounding slightly amused nonetheless.

"I'd like to order a pizza." Jack said.

'Right. What do you want?'

"Your number, for one."

'On your pizza.' The girl pressed.

Jack smiled some and glanced at Ianto unashamedly.

"Pepperoni fine with you?" He inquired. Ianto nodded.

"Pepperoni." Jack said, speaking back into the phone now.

'Alright. Delivery?'

"Yup. To Torchwood."

'Okay. Your pizza will be there soon.'

"Thanks." Said Jack. He flipped his phone shut and put it back in hos pocket. "Food's on its way." He said.

"And some degree of order has been restored to the universe." Ianto concluded.

oOo

'Of all the places I could have landed,' Thought the Doctor, 'I had to end up in bloody Torchwood.'

He shouldn't be here. He should be in the TARDIS, drifting through space. He shouldn't be wounded and stuck in a holding cell like some animal.

He was the Doctor, the Oncoming Storm, Last of the Time Lords, former president of Gallifrey, the 'Mighty Warrior'; he was known across the universe, two actually, as the man who brought death and destruction in his wake, irregardless of where he was or whoever happened to stand in his way.

And he was trapped.

He groaned inwardly , reached inside of his coat's pockets, and rummaged around for a few moments. He pulled it out, it being a small cubish shaped contraption, all flashing lights and exposed wires. It was supposed to be used to detect time disturbances; Paradoxes, energy signals that were out of their time, and the like.

But, with some time (which there was a surplus of), and a little bit of time-space mechanical knowledge (also something of which he had considerable reserves), it could be repurposed to detect time-space disturbances.

Like the ones that came from the Rift.

After all, he expected to be down here for quite a while. It wasn't as if he would be given information as to what was happening. This would both give him something to do and let him know if there was anything of interest occurring with the Rift.

The Doctor scowled at the lock on the door to his cell as he took his sonic screwdriver from his pocket.

Deadlock sealed.

Otherwise he would already have been out.

Selecting a setting on his screwdriver, the Doctor eventually found the one he was looking for and started in on his work to what was soon to be a Time-Space Disturbance Detector with a sigh.

He was going to be down here a while.

oOo

"So what do we do now?" Asked Gwen, swallowing her bite of pizza, looking expectantly at Jack.

"He said that these things were going to come back." Said Owen, distracting the attention from the Captain. "The Doctor, that is." He mentioned, clarifying. "He said that the ones who came through were just scouts of sorts."

Jack shrugged.

"That may be true. It probably is, actually." He said, nodding slightly. "I was thinking the same thing myself. But we can't exactly do anything about it now. We'll just have to wait until something happens."

Silence.

"Actually, I've got a thing we can do." Owen declared. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm getting tired of calling these things these...things. Gets sort of redundant after a while, you know?"

"We need to come up with a name for them." Toshiko finished.

"Exactly." Agreed Owen, motioning to Tosh. "We need to come up with a name."

"I've got nothing." Gwen said.

"Neither have I." Jack admitted.

"Don't look at me." Said Martha.

"Nope." Owen said.

Ianto shook his head in negative response.

Owen glanced around the Hub some, leaning back in his chair some.

"We'll think of something." He said after a moment. "We've got plenty of time."

Contemplative looks with various levels of hostility were promptly present on all of Torchwood's faces.

"Dont."

There we are. I'm actually going to take some time and respond to reviews today. Here we go.

Guest- Thanks for the reviews, they encourage me to keep writing this tory.

Torchwood Cardiff- Yeah, I couldn't bring it upon myself to have Owen and Toshiko be dead. Love their characters way too much to do that. They had to stay.

ImastrawberryIchigo- First. You pen name. Awesome. Second, I already have the end of this story planned out. Yes, the Doctor will get better. It's going to take a while. A very long while, but slowly he'll get better. I promise. And, oh yeah, at the end of this story I'm going to break everybody's hearts. So stay on the look out for that.

Everyone- Thanks for reading! On your way out, why not leave a review? Plot ideas, characters, just telling me how you think I'm doing in general, anything! Check in next week, but until then, have a fantastic day, and DFTBA!