Chapter 4: Aubrey & Victor
The team quickly found out why Crystal had been in such a hurry to get back to the hub. Jack could seriously cook! Ronaldo joined Torchwood - unofficially, mainly because Jack had absolutely zero idea where all of the paperwork was - And Lila agreed to work with them on occasion. Crystal offered to help Aaron learn to control his abilities, mentioning that she had to learn similar techniques when she first came here, so as not to use her voice's natural sonic resonance properties constantly, as it really was fairly disconcerting to most people when she did.
They also found out that Crystal had some minor Psy-kinetic talent as well. Nowhere near Aaron's level, of course, but, when combined with certain sonic resonance techniques, definitely a force to be reckoned with. At this point, it mainly consisted of fully inhuman speed - which explained how she was calming down a pterodactyl one second, yelling at Owen in the medbay the next second, and blocking Jack's path to the door in the next - and a knack for altering existing Psy-kinetic energy fields (which basically meant that she could keep Aaron from burning down the Hub when he was practicing). In time, however, she thought she might even be able to hone her abilities to the point of creating small, basic energy fields - simple telepathy and possibly even minor telekinetic skills.
The four of them quickly grew to become great friends, and eventually even started their own little team. The jokes about what they should name said team were obviously all parts of the punchline to some larger reference, but only Crystal and the rest of Torchwood seemed to understand it.
"What about… Excalibur?"
"No, Blizzard!"
"How about -"
Owen was sharply cut off by Gwen slapping a hand over his mouth at this point, sending both Jack and Crystal into fits of laughter, and even eliciting a chuckle from Tosh. The rest of the team figured that the rest of that sentence was probably something they didn't want to know about.
"What about Enterprise? Or Runaways?" Ronaldo and Lila shot Aaron an annoyed glare, and Crystal started laughing again.
"How about… The Outsiders? You know, as in 'outside' normal society?" Lila chipped in.
"You know, I kinda like that."
"Yeah, sounds pretty cool.
"Okay, I like the sound of that. Has a nice ring to it. 'Outsiders'. Fits, too, because, well," Crystal gestured to the group in general, then to each individual person. "We've got a reluctant spy, a thief with a thing for challenges, a guy who can start a fire with his mind, and an alien from the other side of the galaxy. Yeah, I think 'Outsiders' fits perfectly."
"Crystal," Aaron said, a bit nervous but mostly curious, "just out of curiosity, where are you from? Like, what planet?"
"Um… I don't think you could pronounce it. The simplified version would be T'rilliau*, but even that's probably a bit difficult."
"Not really. It sounds a bit like Romulan. T'rilau, right?"
Crystal tried not to laugh as Aaron almost mangled the name. "Pretty close, for a first try. I'm sure you'll get it with a bit of practice."
"Speaking of practice, I think we've still got time for a training session before we hit the hay. Wanna head downstairs?"
"Sounds good to me. You guys cool up here?" Both Ronaldo and Lila nodded, gesturing to the two of them to head off.
"Yeah, the quicker you guys get to mental training the quicker I don't have to worry about waking up with the room frozen over or a literal firewall in the doorway 'cause Mr. Magic over there had a rough night."
Ronaldo had a bit of a problem with the room assignments at the moment, but - though he'd never admit this out loud - he wouldn't dare leave Aaron alone at night. Aside from the nightmares, it had only been a couple of weeks since Aaron had been kidnapped by his former employers, and Ronaldo was still paranoid that it might happen again. No one but Ronaldo knew that he slept with a knife under his pillow for this exact reason. Aaron was his best friend, and he'd be damned if he was going to let him go through that again. But the Hub was the first place that Ronaldo had felt safe in a long time. And maybe, just maybe, with a little time and a bit of patience, things could get back to normal again.
Well, as normal as things ever got when you were an Outsider.
*t-RHIL-ee-ow, roll the R slightly