Time Doesn't Always Run Straight
Reset
Part 1
First chapter of Reset. Word of warning, I will be sticking quite closely to cannon, which does mean character death. Sorry for anyone that might have been hoping for something different. Please bear with me, there is a very long term plan that will take a while to develop but should make up for the pain ahead. Again thank you to my amazing reviewers. Please more people review, I just love to hear what you think about the story, whether it's something you loved or something you think needs improving. Thank you to everyone reading/following and favorting.
Disclaimer: Not making any money, anything you recognize isn't mine etc.
"Weevil alert." Tosh alerts the team.
"I'll go." Gwen volunteers.
"You're still on field suspension." Jack glares at her.
"Tosh and Owen take it." Jack orders.
Ianto looks at Jack in surprise. Generally it was the two of them that took the Weevil cases, especially with both Gwen and Jestine still on suspension.
"Expecting a friend." Jack explains.
Gwen grumpily watches Owen and Tosh prepare to head out.
"You still need to apologize to Jestine before you can go back on field." Jack points out to Gwen as Tosh and Owen leave.
"Why do I need to apologize to her? She punched me." Gwen whines.
Jack sighs. "We have been through this. I'm not arguing with you about it. Either you apologize to Jestine or you don't resume field duty."
"Last I saw she was in the firing range." Ianto comments.
Gwen huffs off. "And tell her to stop grafting her paperwork." Ianto calls out to Gwen.
"We probably should just be glad that any of it is done." Jack mutters. Upon inspection Ianto had found that Jestine hadn't completed any of her paperwork. It had been a struggle convincing her that it was important and each sheet seemed to take her ten times longer than it should have.
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"That's um, good shooting." Gwen tells Jestine as she cleans the handgun she had just been using.
"Don't normally see you here." Jestine comments.
Gwen shifts uncomfortably.
Jestine raises a questioning eyebrow.
"Jack says that I have to apologize to you before I can resume field work." Gwen huffs.
"Cause words will make everything better." Jestine mutters as she packs up the gun.
Gwen frowns at her. "They do if you mean them."
"Do you?" Jestine retorts.
Gwen glares in reply.
"Go tell Jack you've done it, I really don't care." Jestine walks across the room towards the door.
"Wait." While she doesn't want to have to apologize, she didn't trust Jestine to not tell Jack that she was lying.
Jestine turns and impatiently waits for Gwen to walk over to her.
"I'm sorry." Gwen tells her.
"Great." Jestine mutters before turning her back on Jestine.
"Aren't you going to apologize to me." Gwen demands.
"I'm not a child. I'm not going to apologize because someone got sad." Jestine glares.
"I apologized." Gwen yells indignantly.
"Well good for you." Jestine sneers condescendingly. "Why don't you go and tell Jack what a good girl you were."
"Just because I'm being an adult about it, maybe you should try it." Gwen stomps her foot in frustration.
"You would actually be sorry for what you did if you were actually being an adult about it. Instead you gave a terrible apology in order to get rewarded." Jestine points out.
"How can I be sorry about telling the truth? You are a monster." Gwen hisses as she pushes past Jestine.
"You think I don't know that." Jestine huffs.
Gwen turns around in shock.
"You really think I have no idea about morals?" Jestine leans against the shooting range door.
"Then why not change?"
"I might not want to be a monster but sometimes it's what I need to be." Jestine replies.
Gwen shakes her head furiously. "There is never a reason for being a monster."
"It's a matter of perspective." Jestine muses. "From your prospective you are doing the right thing but from the Weevil's perspective you're the one who rips them from their family and keeps them captive or kills them."
"But I have to do it. If I don't they will kill people." Gwen defends herself fiercely.
"Perspective." Jestine reaffirms. "To you good, to them bad."
"But when you shot Beth that was bad." Gwen points out. "You didn't need to do that."
Jestine rolls her eyes. "We've been over this. From your perspective it might have seemed bad but from my perspective it seemed either kill Beth or let her kill you. And you are occasionally useful so couldn't have that happen."
Gwen isn't sure whether to take it as a compliment or insult so brushes the comment off. "What about all those aliens you've killed that you told us about?"
"Morality isn't as simple as you think it is." Jestine replies. "Sometimes you do bad things in order to prevent badder things from happening."
"Who gives you the right to decided?" Gwen challenges.
"It's not a right, it's about who is willing to make the hard decisions." Jestine answers.
"Aren't you worried that one day you will have to answer for your crimes?"
Jestine gives a snort of derision. "I'm already paying for my crimes. Have been since before I was born." Jestine answers before heading towards the main hub.
Gwen stands puzzled for a moment before hurrying to catch up. "What about what I did for Rhys?" She quires, not sure why she needed Jestine's approval. "He was in danger, I was only trying to protect him."
"And in doing so you put the rest of the team in danger. But if you want to justify it to yourself go ahead." Jestine sneers.
"What should I have done instead? You really think you could have stood by while the person you loved was in danger?" Gwen challenges.
Jestine suddenly turns and crowds Gwen against the wall. "I would shot them myself if I needed to." Jestine hisses in Gwen's face before storming off.
Gwen watches in stunned silence.
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"Guessing the apology didn't go well." Ianto muses as he watches Jestine strop into the main area of the Hub.
Jack sighs. "I don't expect them to be friends but they need to learn how to work together."
Ianto goes to reply but Jack holds up his hand. "Sorry, Tosh." He explains before turning his attention to his Bluetooth. "Right, ok, bring it in. We'll wait for our guest before doing the autopsy."
Jack turns to Ianto. "They found a body during the chase. Not sure if it's the same MO as UNIT has identified but going wait for our guest."
"Who should be here soon. I'll go wait for them." Ianto gives Jack a quick peck on the lips before making his way up to the tourists information centre.
Jack grins while watching him, enjoying the view. He then turns back to deal with Jestine and Gwen.
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Ianto looks up at the sound of the door opening. In walks a woman of mid-twenties and rich chocolate skin in professional wear. Not your normal tourist.
"Sorry we're closing." Ianto tells her.
She smiles politely as she extends her hand. In her hand is an I.D. pass.
Ianto immediately stands up straighter. "Sorry ma'am." He apologizes as he presses the button to open the secret door. Internally he grins. While Ianto was aware Jack hadn't told him everything about that had occurred while he was away, he knew enough to be eternally grateful to both Martha and her family. But professionalism first.
Martha grins as the wall slides open to reveal a secret passageway.
Ianto leads the way through.
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The remainder of the team minus Jestine stand around the autopsy bay as Owen works on the body.
"Documents on the body identify the victim as Meredith Roberts." Jack explains as he holds the Driver's License. Tosh stands next to him.
"No signs of violence." Owen tells them as he prepares to start on the body. Gwen stands on the other side.
"Are we saying it wasn't the Weevil?" Gwen asks.
"Does it look like a Weevil attacked it?" Owen snarks. "I won't know for sure what it was until I can do the autopsy but I think it's safe to say it wasn't a Weevil."
Gwen sulks. "Well why don't you hurry up and do it." She snarks back.
"Waiting for Jack's VIP." Owen smirks back.
"Jack, your VIP visitor is here." Ianto's voice sparks from the speakers.
Jack rushes out as Gwen looks perplexed.
"I didn't realize we were having a visitor. Who is it?"
Owen shrugs. "Some UNIT personal."
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"Suddenly, in an underground mortuary, on a wet night in Cardiff, I hear the song of a nightingale." Jack grins as they wait for the cog to roll back.
"Miss Martha Jones." Ianto announces as they enter.
Jack winks at her before pulling her in for a hug.
"Who?" Gwen asks Tosh.
Martha and Jack break their hug. "Oh, it's good to see you, Jack." Martha grins.
He laughs before introducing the team to her.
"Toshiko, Owen, Gwen, Ianto…" He pauses, looking around for Jestine, Ianto waves hello. "..met Martha."
"The women who walked the earth, former companion of The Doctor and UNIT officer. Not many others can claim such an impressive list of achievements." Jestine's voice echoes across the Hub as she descends from the one of the overhead walk ways.
Martha raises an eyebrow at the dramatic entrance. "And you must be Jestine. The Brigadier warned me about you."
Jestine smirks. "Did he really? I hope he didn't ruin all the surprise."
"You know the Brigadier?" Jack asks in surprise.
"How else do you think I faked my records? Easier to get him to make the changes than to try and hack into the system myself." Jestine answers.
"He wouldn't say how he knew you." Martha informs her.
"Mutual friend." Jestine supplies. "I asked him to be discreet about my connections. Timelines and such."
"You must know someone high up if he was willing to forge UNIT records for you." Martha can't help but be a little impressed by the strange women in front of her. The Brigadier had been very discreet, only warning her to keep her guard up around the mysterious Jestine.
"Very high up." Jestine smirks.
"So casual visit?" Owen asks as he looks at Martha's bag.
"I'm here to have a look at your dead body." Martha replies. "If you would lead the way."
The ream head to the autopsy bay with various levels of confusion over both the guest and Jestine's mysterious friend.
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"Oh, um, sorry, sorry, I get a bit confused. Which one's UNIT?" Gwen asks as they get to the autopsy bay.
"You should know. Ianto explained it yesterday." Jestine rolls her eyes at Gwen.
"Well we don't all have friends who forge official records for us." Gwen sneers.
"Intelligence, military, cute red caps – the acceptable face of intelligence-gathering on aliens." Jack interrupts the developing argument. "We're more ad hoc." He grins at Martha. "But better looking."
Martha shakes her head with a smile at Jack's description. She puts her kit down and opens it. As she talks she puts on her coat and gloves.
"I identified a patter from UNIT's data on sudden deaths. Toxic shock. Nothing to link the victims. Different ages, sexes, ethnic origins, occupations. But there was a statistically significant concentration in South Wales." She takes out a magnifying light.
"Come on Martha, be honest. You just came all this way to see me." Jack grins.
She checks the body's left big toe. "Still struggling to conquer your shyness, Jack?"
Jack laughs. "So what about this pattern, then, Dr Jones?" Owen ignores the two's jokes.
"They were being written off as suicides or accidents." Martha explains as she checks the body's right eye. "Look. Puncture mark. Hypodermic needle. You'll find his bloodstream was pumped full of ammonium hydroxide."
"Yeah. Bloodstream. Will confirm that now." Owen prepares the materials in order to get a sample.
"Did you get a chance to look at his medical records?" Martha asks/
"Not yet. Jack wanted us to wait for you." Owen replies.
Martha nods. "Let's have a look now then."
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They gather around Tosh's desk as she searches through the Royal Cardiff Infirmary Records database.
As they wait for the results to show Tosh mutters to herself. "I know there's been a major crash on the NHS system. Wiped a shedload of files."
"Including all the victims I flagged up from the UNIT data." Martha comments.
"And now yours." She mutters as the computer flashes up that the data is irretrievable.
Jack shakes his head.
"A computer crash wouldn't delete data so cleanly. This is deliberate. Let me look into it." Tosh starts to look into it.
"Probably dealing with people with some power and/or tech skills but not hacking professionals." Jestine comments. "Normal people can't get access to the database to delete it, so either they are paying for it, forcing someone to do it for them or have the knowledge to do it themselves. But if they were professionals then they would have done a better job."
"How, they wiped they information we need?" Martha argues.
"Yeah, but we know there is something deleted. If they were professionals we wouldn't know there was anything missing."
"But who would do it and why?" Ianto asks.
Jestine shrugs. "Depends on what is missing. Although at a guess could be something to do with drugs, or some kind of medical testing, otherwise I doubt they would bother with the medical records."
"That was a theory we were following up." Martha adds.
"Well have a look into it Tosh." Jack encourages his tech.
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Jack smiles as Martha enters his office. She looks around at the strange things he has in his office.
"How's the family?"
"Getting better. They send their love." Martha gives a small smile. It was true, her family was slowly healing, but they still had a long way to go before they were better. She was pretty sure though that they were never going to be normal again after everything they had been through.
"Give them mine." Jack gives her a small smile back.
"So what do you think of the team?" Jack asks.
"Pretty much as you had described." Martha smiles. They hadn't had much time to talk while dealing with The Master but afterwards they had shared a few stories about their lives. "Although Jestine, she's a bit.." Martha trails off, not sure how to describe her.
Jack sighs. "You don't know the half of it."
Martha gives Jack a sympathetic look. "Not working out?"
"We've had a few issues." Jack confesses.
Martha waits for Jack to tell her if he wants to.
"Her morals are ambiguous at best." Jack explains. "She shot an alien that was holding Gwen hostage, narrowing avoiding Gwen and threatened to gut a guy alive."
Martha is gobsmacked at Jack's information. "Why haven't you gotten rid of her?"
"It's complicated." Jack replies.
Martha gives a snort of derision. "I traveled with The Doctor."
"We don't know the whole story but she had a rough childhood. Neither of her parents were in the picture." Jack enlightens.
"That's awful." Martha sympathizes. "But still not a reason for her to act like that."
"That's just the start of it." Jack mutters. "She was part of the Time Agency when I was there."
"So you invited her to join Torchwood?" Martha asks in surprise. Jack hadn't said a lot about the Time Agency but enough for her to gather he wanted nothing to do with the organisation or its agents.
"I don't remember her." Jack informs Martha. "Along with the two years missing memory, I'm also missing all memory of her."
"That's troubling." Martha comments.
"I know. We only found out because my ex-partner at the Time Agency turned up a couple hours after I got back here." Jack tells Martha. "And she knows me from my future."
"That really is complicated." Martha remarks.
"Do you know who this mysterious friend of Jestine's is?" Jack asks.
Martha shakes her head. "The Brigadier wouldn't tell me anything. Initially I thought he knew her directly."
"But who would have that sort of power and influence?" Jack muses.
Martha's eyes widen. "You don't think…?"
"No… No, The Doctor wouldn't have anything to do with someone like her." Jack shakes his head verminously but a nugget of doubt has already taken form in his mind.
Martha shrugs. "Who knows with him? You started off pretty rough before you knew him."
"But I changed." Jack protests. "She's never mentioned him before."
"Like she said Timelines." Martha shrugs. "Maybe you should ask her."
Jack shrugs in return. "Maybe." They lapse into silence.
"So UNIT. You should have called me if you were looking for a job." Jack had to admit he had been a little hurt when he had found out Martha had gone with UNIT instead of asking him.
Martha has to hold back a smile, she knew Jack was jealous that she hadn't gone to him. "I wasn't. This woman from UNIT rang out of the blue, said I was just what they needed, that I'd come highly recommended by an impeccable source. So it seems he has form."
"Are you sure it was him?" Jack doesn't like the idea of Jestine knowing The Doctor. It seemed like she was already tangled up with his life enough without adding The Doctor to it.
Martha shrugs. "Well, who else would have done it?"
Jack nods thoughtfully. "He must have thought he owed you a favor. Guess we all do. So, do you think you could get me one of those red caps for personal use? I'm thinking Ianto might look good in it."
Martha rolls her eyes, still the same old Jack.
"You want uniforms, get your own."
Jack pouts.
Martha just ignores him. "So you and Ianto, did you get your arse into gear and ask him out?" During their talks it had been obvious that Jack had serious feelings for his archivist and what she had heard from Tish had made it even clearer.
Jack grins, a dopey grin as he thinks of his Welshman. "Yeah, even got a chance to go on a couple of them.'
"Well good for you." Martha smiles. He had been through a lot, not just with The Master but also The Doctor, he deserved some happiness.
"So is it serious then?" Martha was always a sucker for gossip.
Jack nods. "We spend most nights either here or at his place." Jack confesses.
"Good for you." Martha beams. "Time for that tour?"
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