Time Doesn't Always Run Straight
Sleeper
Part 3
Sorry for the delay guys. Uni was just been terrible lately. Thank you so much everyone reading/favoriting/following. And thank you so much for those reviewing. For those not reviewing, please just a simple message would be amazing. I know tomorrow is going to be terrible and to wake up to an inbox filled with reviews would help me get through the day, please.
Disclaimer: If I owned Torchwood would I really be bothering with terrible group projects? Anything you recognise isn't mine and never will be.
Jestine joins the rest of the team in the conference room. They are silent, each processing what they had just witnessed.
"She's ok. Confused but she is alright. For now." Jestine tells them.
"What is she?" Gwen asks Jack, completely ignoring Jestine.
"A sleeper agent." Jestine answers.
"I realised when I saw the implant." Jack agrees.
"A sleeper agent? Who for?" Owen asks frowning.
"No-one knows much about them." Jestine replies. "They don't leave survivors."
"Official designation is Cell 1-1-4. They infiltrate planets, adapting their bodies, gather intelligence, sometimes for years, watching, until they're ready to take over." Jack continues the explanation.
"Okay, that's… creepy." Gwen exclaims.
"Hopefully she's the first." Jestine voices Jack's hope. "They send an advance guard to gather intel. Give them false memories so they blend in."
The team look over to the security monitor on the wall that shows Beth in the containment cell.
"Beth's not human. At least not what you would classify as human." Jestine informs them. "But she has no idea. What better disguise than one that doesn't know it's a disguise."
"By time they attack, they know every single thing about the planet." Jack adds.
He gestures to Tosh to give her report.
"The implant gathers information. Normal X-rays don't show it. She's projecting a false image. It's got all this data stored inside." The monitor behind her starts to swirl red and then images begin to flash by.
Tosh turns around her laptop so the team can see her readings. "This is a force-field generator, it creates an impervious layer above the skin, just a nanometre thick." She turns to Owen. "That's why you couldn't get the needle inside her."
"Right, well… God, look, they even know about us." Owen indicates to the monitor which is still flashing images, this time ones of Torchwood.
Ianto slams his fist on the desk. "They know more about this place than I do. Nobody knows more than I do." Jack gives him a reassuring squeeze to the shoulder.
"What if there are more of them? What are we gonna do about this?" Gwen asks.
"We need to tell her." Jestine answers. "Jack I want to tell her."
Gwen scoffs. "You couldn't even understand English after a knock to the head. How do you suggest you are going to tell someone their life is a lie."
Jestine glares at Gwen, her eyes a blazing fire. "When was the last time your world fell apart? When did you ever lose everything that made you you?"
"She is to be told her whole life is a lie. She will lose everything that she ever was, ever could be. She deserves to be told by someone who understands." Jestine argues.
"But Beth isn't real. You just said that yourself." Gwen glares at Jestine, suspicious at her suddenly show of caring.
"I said that it was a disguise, I never said she wasn't real. Tell me Gwen, you go on about humanity, what is this 'humanity' of yours." Jestine challenges Gwen.
"That isn't." Gwen gestures vaguely in Beth's direction.
"How?" Jestine demands. "You claim we have lost our humanity because we don't have anyone outside Torchwood. Because you don't consider us to know about love. Beth loves Mike. They have plans and dreams for the future. Isn't that what you claim humanity means."
"But she isn't human." Gwen slams her fist on the desk.
"That doesn't mean she doesn't have what you call humanity." Jestine spits. "You lot claim it like you know what it means. But do you really? With your petty fights amongst each other. Discriminating against other humans because they aren't like you. Humans don't know what humanity is."
"Enough. We need to be working out what to do, not squabbling like children." Jack yells.
"Jack, I want to tell her." Jestine once again tells Jack.
Jack hesitates for a moment, shocked at Jestine's outburst. "Fine but I'm going with you."
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"What's happening?" Beth asks as Jestine and Jack approach her cell.
"We need to talk about what happened during the test." Jestine explains as she opens the cell and moves inside. Jack watches warily, not liking the idea. "Can you please sit down?" Jestine pats a spot next to her.
Beth obeys, unsure of what was going on.
"We found a explanation for strange things that have been happening." Jestine starts.
Beth nods. "Ok, what?"
Jestine pauses a moment, not sure how to break the news. "You were the one who defended Mike and you from the burglars. Self-preservation." She explains. "You could because you're not human."
"What do you mean, not human?" Beth asks, puzzled. Jack has shown her an alien, she was nothing like that, she was human.
Jestine looks at Beth sadly. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. What I mean is, this.." Jestine gestures to Beth, "is not you. You are a part of a alien race. They become a part of the local people. Adapt to look like them, implant false memories. And they live, they live a normal everyday life. All while collecting information about the planet."
"What are you saying?" Beth asks, slightly hysterical. "That I'm not real. I'm some kind of alien trying to take over the world?"
Jestine sighs. "I really am sorry. Your memories as Beth were constructed as part of your cover. One day that cover will no longer be needed. You will activate and everything that was Beth will disappear." Jack can hear the sadness and regret in Jestine's voice. "You will send all information you gathered and a invasion will start."
Beth looks at Jestine in shock. She doesn't believe it, can't believe it, it's too farfetched like the plot of some movie, not her life.
"What does it mean? What are you going to do with me? You can't keep me locked up next to that thing." Beth gestures in the direction of Janet.
"We have to stop you." Jestine tells her bluntly.
"What do you mean by stop?" Beth looks at Jestine with slight panic.
"We don't know if you are the first or if there is more. Either way we have to stop you gathering data and make sure you don't activate." Jestine explains.
"What do you mean by that?" Beth asks, her panic rising. "Are you going to kill me?"
"We don't know yet what we need to do." Jestine answers honestly.
"But you will kill me if you need to, won't you." Beth asks, her eyes wide with shock. "Have you killed aliens before?"
Jestine nods sadly. "Only when we had no other choice. Only when it was kill or be killed. I can't promise that it won't come to that for you, but we will do everything we can to prevent that." Jestine knows better than to make promises she can't keep.
Beth turns away, unable to continue the conversation anymore. Jestine takes the hint and stands up. She stops at the door, looking back at Beth. "As soon as we know anything, anything at all I will tell you."
She doesn't dare look back as her and Jack leave.
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"What was that back there?" Jack asks as Jestine sits down on one of the chairs in his office.
Tosh was working on isolating the transceiver in preparation of the EM pulse and them freezing her. Owen and Ianto were preparing for the freezing and Gwen was off in a strop. There wasn't anything Jestine had urgently needed to do and Jack wanted to talk to her. Jack knew the team didn't always understand Jestine and didn't always consider her to have feelings. But it was becoming clear that there was something seriously wrong in Jestine's past. He wanted her to know that he and the team were there for her, even if they couldn't always relate to her.
Jestine glares at him. "I'm not having some deep sentimental moment with you. If that's why I'm here I'm leaving." Jestine rises from her seat.
"Sit back down." Jack orders. Jestine considers him a moment before obeying.
"Were Sleeper Agents what killed your parents?" Jack softens his tone in the hope of getting Jestine to open up.
Jestine shakes her head. "You don't remember."
"Remember what?" Jack asks.
"Remember when we dealt with the Sleepers on Tokl."
Jack frowns as he thinks back to the mission. "You weren't there."
"Think about it. How many Time Agents were there?"
"Four." Jack answers immediately.
"Name them." Jestine demands.
"Me, John, Jamala and…" Jack frowns as he can't recall the fourth member of their team. He was sure there had been four but he just couldn't recall who.
"Exactly. Someone didn't just take those two years of your memories, they also changed your memories of me." Jestine points out.
"Why? And what does that have to do with Beth?" Jack asks, his mind still whirling at Jestine's revelation.
Jestine shrugs. "No idea why. Not that it matters right at this moment."
"Then why point it out?" Jack frowns.
"To remind you that this isn't the first time I've seen something like that. And that I can handle myself. I've seen you looking at me all concerned. I don't need you to worry about me." Jestine insists.
"Owen told me about the nightmares." Jack admits, although he feels like Jestine already knows.
Jestine glares at Jack. "He had no right to. He shouldn't have."
Jack raises his hand to stop Jestine's tirade. "Yes he did. As leader of Torchwood I need to know if any of my team are suffering from something that could stop them performing at their best."
"It doesn't stop me "performing" at all." Jestine mocks Jack slightly.
Jack chooses to ignore her childish behaviour. "We just want to help you. You shouldn't have to have nightmares every time you sleep."
Jestine fixes Jack with her icy blue eyes. "It's my penance. I have massacred so many, destroyed so much. If I wake to their screams then so be it. It is less than I deserve."
Jack is left speechless again as Jestine sweeps out of his office.
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"Guessing it didn't go well then." Ianto comments as he enters Jack's office with coffee only minutes after Jestine had stormed out.
Jack sighs. "She is too stubborn for her own good."
Ianto chuckles. "Reminds me of someone else."
Jack mock glares at him. "I am nowhere near as bad as her."
"If you say so, sir." Ianto smirks, knowing exactly what saying sir like that to Jack does.
Jack growls. "If there wasn't a case on you would be getting it Ianto Jones." He warns.
"I look forward to the case ending then." Ianto practically purrs.
Jack shakes his head. "What would I do without you?"
"Go crazy from caffeine depravation." Ianto smirks.
Jack smiles at him before turning serious. "About what Jestine said earlier."
"It was in your past." Ianto interrupts.
"Doesn't mean it doesn't hurt you. We both know I have a lot of history. But that doesn't mean you don't mean anything to me." Jack struggles to convey his feelings.
Ianto favours Jack with a smile. "You seemed surprised when she said that." He observes.
Jack nods. "I honestly don't remember her at all. She thinks whoever took the two years of my memories also changed my memories of her."
Ianto frowns. "Why would they do that?"
"She didn't know why." Jack shrugs.
"Must be strange, not remembering someone who was such an important part of your life." Ianto muses.
Jack nods. "Even stranger when it turns out she knows me in the future."
Ianto raises an eyebrow. "You think there is more going on than Jestine is saying."
Jack shrugs. "A bit coincidental otherwise. But I don't think Jestine necessarily knows what is going on. She seems to be missing a lot of information too."
The two men sit in silence as they savour their coffees.
"We did this before." Jack remarks.
Ianto raises an eyebrow, inviting Jack to elaborate.
"Jestine and I. As a Time Agent I was a part of a team sent to eradicate some Sleeper Agents from a planet. Apparently so was Jestine." Jack informs Ianto.
"Could it help us with Beth?" Ianto asks curiously.
Jack shakes his head. "The invasion had already started. We had to kill them all."
Ianto moves so he can hug Jack from behind. "This time will be different." He sooths Jack.
Jack lets himself sink into the embrace, smiling as Ianto's heat radiates across his body.
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Jestine and Jack lead Beth up to the medical bay. Beth chatters away with nerves.
"We had a holiday booked. Nothing special, just a weekend away. Am I ever going to see him again?" Beth asks.
Jestine shakes her head. "You can't. You need to disappear quietly. It's not what Mike deserves but we never get what we deserve."
Instead of answering Beth stops and gasps as flashes of her fighting the men with her alien arm flash before her eyes.
Jestine and Jack look on in concern.
"Oh, my God, those poor men! What's happening?" Beth asks before the flash changes to bombs exploding.
Beth's breathing heavily as the flashes stop, shock written all over her face.
"It's the real memory. It's coming back and destroying your human persona." Jestine explains sadly. "The sooner we do this, the better for everyone."
Beth nods as Jestine supports her as they continue through the corridors. Jack follows behind, worried what the fall-out of this case would be for Jestine.
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Beth sits on the table in the medical bay while Owen gets the cryogenics chamber working. Tosh and Ianto are getting the EM pulse ready. Jestine places a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Jack and Gwen look on, Gwen scowling at Jestine.
Beth looks at Jestine. "Promise me something. If you can't figure out how to keep me human, then don't wake me up. Just turn the machine off. Just don't let me hurt anyone."
Gwen's glare deepens as Jestine nods. "I won't let you lose your humanity." Jestine promises.
Beth nods her thanks. "It's funny, I've always had this nagging feeling like I didn't fit in. Just…so desperate to have a more exciting life."
Jestine gives Beth a sad smile. "We wish for what is most unsuited to us."
Tosh walks up with a hand-held device. "I'm going to hit the transceiver with an EM pulse." She explains. "It'll take out the force-field generator, too, I'm afraid. So, I'll have to fry them both."
"Do it." Beth declares. "I don't want to be invincible." Jestine gives her shoulder another squeeze and small smile.
"After that I'm gonna sedate you, then we'll freeze you." Owen continues the explanation.
"None of the process will hurt." Jestine tries to give Beth some comfort. "The freezing will be similar to going to sleep."
"Only a bit colder." Owen adds.
"Bye Jestine." Beth tries to give a reassuring smile.
Jestine returns the smile before moving out of the way of Tosh and Owen, she leaves before the procedure is done.
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