Leah leaned back on her seat. The comm bug by her head relaying information. The team left to handle a spilled lorry, full of a mysterious meat. Leah happily declined going along. Not that she had been, but Jack smiled at the gesture anyways.
"Urgh, it stinks. No bones. Just dense flesh." Jack complained.
"It's not like any flesh I've ever seen." Owen reported.
"What is it?" Gwen asked.
"Can any of you give me a visual on it?" Leah asked.
"Here." Tosh replied. Leah heard a camera flashing.
Leah typed on her computer. It pinged with the new photo. Leah's first instinct was to gag at how disgusting the red meat looked. Her second was to lean forward for a better eye. Her classes back at the Academy covered a wide variety of subjects. Alien biology hadn't been one of them yet.
"That's disgusting." Leah eventually answered.
"Well, as there haven't been any giant cow sightings, I suggest we take a sample back to the Hub." Jack suggested. "Leah, you good for that?"
"Owen can handle it perfectly fine on his own." Leah replied.
"You can shut up." Owen replied. Leah and Jack laughed.
"We need to confiscate the contents of the van. Confiscate it till we've done further investigations." Gwen replied.
"Did you find out where it came from?" Jack asked.
"All I've got is that it was a Harwood truck." Leah replied.
"Lorry." Her aunt corrected.
"I forgive you." Leah replied.
"Oh, that's Rhys' firm." Gwen cheered.
"That'll help us, yeah." Leah replied dryly. Did Gwen not get it? They would need to investigate Rhys' firm for alien activity. The team would treat Rhys like an enemy until they knew for sure he was innocent. Not exactly a reason to be cheery.
Leah would be concerned.
Leah was concerned.
"Right, done." Owen reported.
"All finished here." Chloe confirmed.
"Let's go." Jack ordered.
Leah started digging more into Harwood. Torchwood would need proof fast that Rhys wasn't connected to anything. Leah doubted that Gwen Cooper would be engaged to a man mixed up with anything nefarious.
Then again, Gwen did sleep with Owen.
Leah typed faster.
==ILWAS==
The meat stank even from a distance. Leah stayed at her desk, typing away. She tried to turn off her olfactory nerves. Leah needed more practice in that skill besides.
"There is evidence of a vertebral column but its genetic make-up isn't compatible with any known animal." Owen explained. "Oi Leah! Does it look alien?
Pulled from her work, Leah glared. She walked from her desk over to the medical pit. She stood beside a stoic Gwen.
The meat collected wasn't long strips, like bacon. Or ground beef for hamburgers. The meat still looked like a giant wet red brick. The smell reminded Leah of the spare pizza slices Owen left in his desk for too long.
Something about the smell filled Leah with revulsion. More than just that it had gone off after hours out of a freezer. Her mind kept trying to drag up darker images. Images Leah saw before, and would rather stay buried.
"Oh yeah. Back on my home planet, they had a whole semester on meat so I could identify the inner meat of other species." Leah snarked. She kept focusing on her nose, on shifting off that nerve. Breathing worked fine, thank goodness. "I can totally tell the species from a red meat brick."
Owen glared at her, unamused.
"Any idea what it is?" Jack asked Owen.
"I'll have to scan it." Owen pulled up a threadbare sheet. "But whoever's farming this meat knows it's dodgy. See this? Official vet stamp, fit for human consumption. It's fake. It's good, but it's fake."
"Tosh, get onto the haulage firm." Jack ordered. He climbed up from the medical out towards Gwen and Leah. "Find out where that meat is from and where it's heading."
Leah nodded.
"Why does it have to be Rhys' firm? It's a bit too close to home." Gwen asked.
"Want to stand down?" Jack offered.
"No, I want to find out what's going on." Gwen replied. Ianto held up a cup of tea. "Thank you, Ianto."
Ianto held out a second for Leah. She grabbed it, taking a breath of it. The smell of the tea helped distract her from the smell of rotting meat. Pity the two smells still mixed. Leah tried again to shut off her olfactory nerves.
Tosh typed in the phone number. The automatic greeting echoed in the Hub.
"Harwood's. You won't be sorry with a Harwood's lorry!" A chorus of men sang.
"Catchy." Ianto commented.
Chloe hummed. "Clever too."
"Do you think the haulage firm are in on it, too?" Tosh asked Gwen.
"Rhys? No. He doesn't know what goes in the vans. He just hires them out." Gwen answered, stern and firm.
"The driver must have seen it loaded." Ianto pointed out.
"That doesn't implicate Rhys. He's the most honest man I know." Gwen stated. Like her fiancé's goodness was a certified fact.
"Have you got his direct line?" Tosh asked. Gwen glared. Tosh just kept smiling.
"I've got it." Leah walked over to the computer. She typed in the phone number for it to call.
Gwen stepped over to her side. She sipped her tea. "Hold on. How do you know it?"
Leah pressed the dial button. "It's public information, I can look it up.
"Or steal it from my phone." Gwen countered.
Leah rolled her eyes. "Hack into your phone one time and I'm branded for life."
"More than once."
"Twice, then."
"Try ten." Gwen stated.
"Consider this the tenth try then." Leah replied. "So dramatic."
Jack snickered, smiling over at Chloe and Ianto. The other two hid their smiles.
The phone connected.
Leah nodded to Tosh. The woman nodded.
"Harwood's Haulage. How may I help you?" The receptionist spoke softly, hesitantly, as if knowing exactly who was calling and was nervous of being blamed.
"Hello." Tosh greeted. "This is the police."
The call muted for a moment.
"Hello?" His voice came out from the speakers. Leah recognized it from the last time- when he screamed for answers about Torchwood or for Gwen, just before he died.
"Is a Rhys Williams there?" Tosh asked.
"Yeah, speaking."
"There was an accident this-" Tosh began.
"Yes, I'm aware of the accident." Rhys replied, snippy and impatient.
Jack stood at Leah's side. She calmly sipped her tea, thinking. He nodded at the screens. Leah shook her head.
"It's a firm is called Harries and Harries. They came to us about two months back. It's a weekly contract." Rhys explained.
"Are they licensed?" Tosh asked.
"Yeah, of course they're licensed." Rhys replied, short still.
"Could you give me their address?" Tosh asked.
Rhys paused before answering. Gwen refused to meet anyone's eye, focusing instead on the medical pit. "Hello? Sorry. All I've got is a service station on the A470, fifteen miles from Cardiff."
"Do you have a contact number?" Tosh asked.
"No, there's no contact number, either." Rhys answered. Stern. Annoyed. Frustrated? From the questions, or the lack of contact number? It made Leah curious. His reactions were just as telling as Gwen's.
"Can you tell me where your driver took the meat?" Tosh asked.
"Yes, he was taking it to Caerwen Abattoir. It's a processing plant. Just a general meat suppliers." Rhys answered.
Jack nodded to Leah. Leah went to her desk, typing the location on her computer. She got the
"What time did the driver leave base?" Tosh asked.
"Signed out at ten to one. Can I ask what this is about?" Rhys asked.
Leah looked up at Ianto. He nodded, pulling up the route on CCTV.
"I can't release that information, sir. Thanks for your cooperation." Tosh replied.
"Yeah, but I'm the manager-"
Tosh hung up on him.
"Got him." Ianto called out. He leaned back to show Leah and Jack the feed. The video showed a large truck going into and out of a tunnel.
"Forty minutes later, he's coming back." Leah stood up. She sat on the edge of her desk. "Meat that big...twenty minutes to load. Gotta be a ten mile radius."
"Jack!" Owen shouted.
Jack walked back to the medical pit. Chloe and Gwen followed. Leah stayed back with her tea.
"Yeah?" Jack asked.
"The scan shows it's definitely alien meat." Owen answered.
"Where the hell would they get it from?" Jack asked.
"If it was going to a processing plant regularly, that means it's going into food. Pies, burgers, pasties, everything." Chloe reasoned.
"That means people have been eating it for months." Gwen realized, grimacing in disgust.
Leah couldn't understand the human palette. Why would they enjoy something that smelled this bad, and probably tasted worse?
Ianto held up his phone. Leah snorted softly, snickering. She couldn't wait to see Owen's face.
"Well, the DNA traces are stable." Owen explained. "There are some signs of animal sedative, but no diseases or residues. My guess is it's good to eat."
"Would you eat it?" Gwen asked.
Ianto hopped over to the medical pit. "Pizza's arrived. I presumed it would be a late one."
"What did you get me?" Owen asked.
"What else but your usual?" Leah called out. "Meat Feast."
Owen grimaced. "Lovely."
==ILWAS==
Leah snacked on a salad. She'd been there when Ianto ordered, making sure she got something decent. She couldn't stomach pizza in this state.
"Leah and I've narrowed it down to three potential areas." Ianto informed the team. He straightened out his large bip. It kept any of the pizza from his suit. "Only one warehouse is unoccupied. It's just outside Merthyr."
"Makes sense. Who knows what goes on there?" Owen remarked. He took a bit of the pizza- still Meat Fresh. Not even the rotting red brick could change his mind on it.
"We've got to shut the operation down, neutralize whoever's doing this and identify the alien meat." Jack stated. "Leah, you can coordinate." Leah gave him a thumbs up.
Gwen held up her phone. Leah took a big bite of her salad. "I have to slip home and check on Rhys first."
Jack took a bite of pizza. "Good idea. Find out how much he knows."
"That's not what I meant." Gwen glared at them. She grabbed her jacket, storming out.
The humans of Torchwood flinched at her tone.
Leah stayed with her salad.
==ILWAS==
Leah pressed a button. Six voice boxes appeared on her screen. All perfectly labelled, all perfectly stuck.
"Check one. Check two. Jack, do you copy?" Leah spoke up. "Jack. Do you copy?"
Jack's laugh came over the feed. "You're still checking these? Don't they work perfectly?"
"They were. Then you decided to play 'fetch the bug' with Joey the Pterodactyl." Leah scolded. She pressed more buttons on the computer, shifting the sounds to a more even level.
"You love running tests on them." Jack pointed out.
"Never wanted to test their reactions to dinosaur stomach acid." Leah countered. The others in the team snickered on their ends. It made it easy for Leah to fix them all at once. "Is Gwen back yet?"
"Just walking up now." Jack replied. Leah opened her mouth. "You know she left with her bug."
"Yes but Fiver isn't on. Could you tell her?"
Jack laughed.
Leah pressed buttons on the computer. She could hear Ianto and Owen arguing about who would drive. Tosh and Chloe reported that they were already on the road.
"She's hot." Jack informed Leah. "Also Fiver is awake."
"I can and will replay that for Ianto." Leah warned.
"He'd agree." Jack countered.
"It's alright." Gwen replied. Leah rolled her eyes. "It's not doing any-"
"How's the boyfriend?" Leah cut her off. "Sorry. Fiancé. How's he?"
Gwen cleared her throat. "Like I thought. He has no idea what's going on."
"Would you care to accompany me to the slaughterhouse?" Jack asked her.
"Have you ever eaten alien meat?" Gwen asked.
"Yeah."
"What was it like?"
"He seemed to enjoy it." Leah could hear Jack's wink.
"See your problem is, you think you're funny." Leah told them.
"I've been called 'cheesy' in the past.'" Jack countered.
"And it was a compliment?" Leah argued. Jack laughed.
Leah checked the cameras on Jack and Gwen's bugs. She caught something in the background, zooming in on it.
Hmm...interesting.
"Uh. Guys we have a-"
"Leah. We get it, no more of Jack's jokes. Can we keep comms clear?" Gwen asked.
Fine. Fine, they didn't want a warning? They wouldn't get one.
==ILWAS==
Leah kept careful watch of the team. As she switched between feeds, she kept a careful track of their pathings. For Gwen and Jack, each check showed Rhys' car following behind.
"Ianto, Owen, Chloe, Tosh." Leah began. "Jack and Gwen are on route. How are things looking at the slaughterhouse? Are you in position?"
"Yes, it's all quiet here. There's a deserted access road to the side. We won't get noticed. I'll direct Jack in." Ianto offered.
"Good, good." Leah replied. "Chloe?"
"We're still searching for a good spot to hide." Chloe reported. "Just until they get here."
"Okay. Keep me posted." Leah instructed.
"Ianto, nearly there." Jack reported.
"Take the second turn. Park on the left. No one will see the car there. There's a main entrance." Ianto explained. "It's the only one open. The rest are padlocked and alarmed."
"How many are in there?" Jack asked.
"Can't tell. There aren't any windows." Chloe reported.
"I've got blueprints." Leah told them. "Check the central area. It's the only room big enough for the meat."
"So Leah. Wish you were down here?" Tosh asked.
Leah pressed buttons. It switched to Jack's bug. She spotted Rhys in the background still, following behind in his car. "Nope. I like my front row seat."
"You don't know what you're missing." Ianto remarked dryly. It made Leah snort.
"According to the sensor, there's a heat signature across the entire building." Tosh informed the group.
"That's a lot of meat." Gwen noted.
"Ianto, Owen, you take the left. Chloe, Tosh, take the right. Gwen and I will go in the front." Jack instructed. "We don't want any casualties. We stun gun whoever's in there and put a stop to what they're doing. Let's go."
Leah leaned back in her seat. "I'd do another recon check first."
"What- there's someone there." Jack realized.
"It's Rhys. It's Rh- What's he doing?" Gwen asked.
"Did you not notice?" Leah asked. "Jack's cheesy ass had a-"
"Leah not now!"
"Alarm deactivator going." Tosh reported.
"Did you bring the alarm deactivator?" Ianto asked. Leah heard a small gunshot sound. "Well, that's one way of doing it."
"He must be in on it." Jack decided.
"No-" Leah tried.
"Never. No." Gwen shook her head. "Leah, what's he saying?"
Leah gave the screen a deadpan stare. "Rhys doesn't have a bug on him. I can't hear what he's saying."
"Then give him mine!"
"No!" Leah replied. "Like it or not, he's on his own! Torchwood, stand down! I repeat, stand down!"
"He told me he didn't know what was going on. He wouldn't lie to me." Gwen insisted.
"He also said he didn't know where they were based, but he did." Jack argued.
"There's something wrong. There has to be."
"Gwen, no. No. No."
Leah eyed the screen. Jack, in trying to stop Gwen, pushed her up against the wall. At the same time, two men drove up and forced Rhys to walk inside the building.
"I just have to get him out."
"What, by charging in there? What then? You gonna knock them out? You can't just go in there. You have to do as I say. We wait until he comes out."
Leah pressed on her keyboard. "If you look at Jack's ass, you'll see a huge fucking tail on it. One that's been there since we fucking started."
"You didn't say-"
"Next time, Gwen Fucking Cooper, when I am talking to you, try to remember that I have eyes where you don't." Leah scolded. "That I might be warning you about this very fucking thing."
"What happened?" Jack ordered in his 'Captain Jack' voice.
Leah shifted in her seat. That voice always made her angry, furious at being treated like a fucking child instead of a Time Lady with superior mental facilities than these humans. "Rhys followed Gwen to see you and her together. He's followed you since you left the Hub."
"You did try to warn us about it." Jack realized. "We made you shut up. Next time? Tell us anyway. Got it?"
Leah huffed. "Got it."
They watched the facility for a good long while. Then, Rhys was walked out by the same two men as before. Rhys climbed in his car then drove off. The whole Torchwood team followed behind him.
Leah reached for her backpack. She needed to make another bug. She should start making a lot, just for spares.
==ILWAS==
Things were awkward now.
On catching up to him, Gwen met Rhys at their flat to have a fight. The fight went on for a good long while. Gwen called about bringing Rhys to the Hub.
Gwen brought Rhys to the tourist entrance. The rest of the team went inside to wait. Jack and Leah stood off to the side, having a silent conversation. The others got out drinks.
Ianto drank some beer. "Well, this is unprecedented. The fiancé finding out."
Tosh finished pouring Chloe's wine. "Mainly because we're all sad and single."
Chloe snorted as she took a sip.
"Speak for yourself. I am better off without all that kind of hassle." Owen replied.
"Is that what you're calling it these days?" Chloe asked. "Thought it was just that none of the ladies like you."
"I'll have you know, I'm very popular." Owen argued. Chloe giggled. "Shut up."
"Maybe the answer is to go out with someone who knows what you do." Tosh offered.
"Look around you, Tosh. Only we know what we do." Owen dismissed. He walked over to the medical pit, finishing off his beer.
Chloe turned to Tosh. Tosh tried smiling, looking hopeful. Chloe met Ianto's eyes. The two quietly drank.
Across the room, Jack and Leah were still whispering. Ianto couldn't hear the conversation. By Jack's expression, it was intense. Leah kept a cool mask.
Ianto wanted to be terrified that Leah could hide her feelings. That a person could so completely shut themselves off like that, as her kind apparently could. Instead, Ianto was jealous. Leah made it look so easy.
Jack narrows his eyes. Leah blinked, keeping her face annoyingly blank.
"We can't."
"If we don't, the situation will happen again." Leah warned him.
"It's the policy. He has to be retconned after." Jack reminded her.
"Because that's always worked in the past."
"I know that this is a big thing with you. That doesn't change it. He'll need to forget."
"Yeah. Yeah it is a 'big thing with me'. It is for you too. Erasing memories should be as bad for you as it is for me."
"We don't have a choice here."
"No. I don't have a choice. That was decided for me. I lose my memories whether I want to or not. I won't let you do the same to Rhys."
Jack thinks his lips, clenching his jaw. He turned, looking out at his team. Leah raised her eyebrows, waiting.
"I hate when you bring that up."
"Because you know I'm right."
"It's not safe for him to remember." Jack cautioned.
"We haven't retconned anyone in months." Leah told him. "New Torchwood."
Jack sighed. "New Torchwood."
Leah nodded.
The elevator activated. Leah and Jack looked up. It started to descend, revealing a grinning Gwen and awed Rhys.
"We still need a plan." Jack reminded her.
"We both know the only plan." Leah told him.
Jack nodded. The two of them started walking down towards the elevator level. The elevator reached the bottom. Joey the Pterodactyl screamed. He swept around the elevator, flying back to his perch.
"Oh! That looked so real." Rhys cheered.
"It was real." Gwen told him.
"He!" Chloe called out.
"Joey is real." Gwen corrected.
"They're extinct, Gwen." Rhys told him.
Gwen exhaled. "Oh, boy."
"In your timeline, yes." Jack stepped forward. Leah smiled at his back. "Captain Jack Harkness. Thanks for dropping in, Rhys."
Gwen gestured to the others. "This is the rest of the team. Owen and Toshiko. Chloe and Leah. Ianto."
Rhys waved. "Pleased to meet you." Rhys turned to Leah. As soon as he spotted her, his eyes went wide in concern.
'We've met before. You just don't remember.' Leah thought.
"Welcome to our headquarters." Jack greeted, formal and polite.
"It's a bit bigger than mine." Rhys tried to joke, unable to stop glancing at Leah. Jack laughed. Nobody else did. "Sorry. Isn't she a bit young to catch aliens?"
"Perfectly fine age." Leah shook her head. Technically, in the age of her people, she should still be in the Academy. She could keep that fact to herself. "And it's not just me working. We're a team, after all."
"There's a Rift through space and time runs through Cardiff, Rhys, and stuff slips in from other timelines and planets, and it's our job to monitor it." Owen explained.
Rhys leaned towards Gwen. "Are you sure they're not some kind of weird cult?"
Gwen whacked his shoulder. "You saw that alien in the warehouse. Go on."
Leah moved forward, side-stepping Jack to get closer to Rhys. "Tell me about that alien. What did you see?"
Rhys shook his head, confused. He turned to the adults in the room. None of them gave him help. Jack even went as far as to nod at him. "It was like this huge, shapeless beast, filling the space. Like a mound of flesh."
"It's only one, not thousands?" Leah asked. She thought about the meat brick rotting in their cold storage. "That could make sense. Owen, what was in that last report? About chloride?"
"Not just chloride, but high levels of it." Owen informed her. "So it probably lives in the water. I reckon it came through the Rift, into the sea and its beached itself."
"Like a giant alien manatee." Jack stated.
"Or a space whale." Leah offered. She remembered hearing about space whales. Well they had more official names, long ago, but then humans started calling them that...it became universal. "No, no, the warehouse wasn't big enough for that."
"It's only 50 metres long." Ianto agreed. "But how did they get it there?"
Leah could think of a few reasons. Maybe they'd built the warehouse around the alien. But she threw that out, the warehouse had signs of existing long before this operation. The other option was too fucking brutal to imagine.
"Maybe it was smaller when they found it, because they said it's growing." Rhys replied.
Leah blinked, reeling back.
Jack recovered faster than her. "It's not dead?" Jack asked.
Oh my stars.
Rhys shook his head. "No, it's breathing. It's eye opened."
Oh. My. Stars.
"So the protein chains regenerate despite the mutilation." Owen reasoned. "So not only is it replenishing its own flesh but it's increasing it, giving them a brand new meat supply."
"It could last them for years, then." Tosh realized. "If we understood how it worked, we could feed the world."
"'It' is still alive!" Leah yelled at them. "You would think after being attacked by a cannibal city, you would understand what it means to be eaten alive!"
The whole team winced.
"I'm sorry, you did what?" Rhys asked.
"We need to save this creature!" Leah insisted. "They are suffering."
Jack stepped forward. He held Leah's arm, trying to calm down the Time Lady. "Before we get ahead of ourselves, we're talking about dodgy pies in Merthyr, okay?"
"They're alive, Jack." Leah hissed.
"I'm choosing to focus on the fact that we could have put a stop to it already if it wasn't for him." Jack glared in annoyance at Rhys.
Rhys straightened his shoulders back, buffing his arms and raising his chin. "I thought my fiancée was in danger."
"You believed your fiancée was a police officer. She would constantly be in danger. Why do you only bother now?" Leah snapped.
Rhys opened his mouth then closed it. He was unwilling to say the thing in his head.
"All you did tonight was mess things up." Jack scolded. "Now we have to think of a way to get back in and, thanks to you, they'll have tightened security."
"Well, if you stopped and asked me what I saw in there, instead of showing off around the place-" Rhys snapped.
"Do I show off?" Jack cut off Rhys, turning to the team.
Ianto hummed. "Just a bit."
Leah rolled her eyes.
"You'd know I got out by telling them I wanted a job as a delivery boy." Rhys revealed. Leah's eyes lit up. Rhys stormed up, marching into Jack's fierce face. "So rather than cock things up, I've found you a way to get in. But if you can't handle that, big boy, then you can stuff it."
Jack lost the anger in his face. He smirked at Gwen. "This is quite homoerotic."
"You are still dating Ianto." Leah reminded him.
"No, no, no, no, no. Jack, he is not getting us in." Gwen warned him. "Leah, you get the idea out of your head!"
"Team meeting. You, too." Jack ordered.
"Jack." Gwen called out.
Leah wrapped her arm around Rhys. She walked him away.
==ILWAS==
Leah brought out the blueprints for the warehouse. Rhys was instructed to give a layout of the interior.
"That's where the thing is. That's the sedatives room. That's where they hang and pack all the meat." Rhys tapped each room on the map.
Leah marked the rooms in her brain.
"That's good to know." Owen commented.
"Yeah, that is good to know, but he's not driving us in." Gwen warned.
"They're expecting me." Rhys reminded Gwen. "You lot can hide in the back of the van."
"What is this, Scooby-Doo?" Gwen scoffed. "Absolutely no way is he getting involved!"
"Oh, where was I when you decided to get involved?! Did you give me a thought!?" Rhys shouted.
Owen rolled his eyes. "Oh joy, a domestic."
"Rhys is right." Leah told Gwen. "He's our best- No, our only way in. Stun guns only- I won't risk this creature being hit by us."
"We've handled bigger than this. Why don't we just storm in, guns in the air, and arrest them?" Owen asked.
"Those men aren't organised criminals. If we go in, guns blazing, they'll kill the evidence and run." Jack reminded him.
Owen silently huffed, rolling his eyes. "I wasn't suggesting blazing, just waving."
"The last thing we need is a bloodbath." Jack gave a hard look towards Leah.
Leah tilted her head, challenging Owen to say anything. If he dare suggest encouraging a bloodbath, Leah would call Lawrence and Anthony so the vampires could kick his ass in sparring.
Owen realized the threat. Even better, he knew she would mean it. And the two vampires would kick his ass for trying to encourage a bloodbath. "Point taken."
"I know that." Gwen snapped at them all.
"Once Rhys has loaded up, he can clear. You don't have to come. You can stand down." Jack suggested.
"It might be better." Tosh added.
Chloe nodded. "Safer, for everyone."
"You love him. Makes you vulnerable." Jack cautioned.
"He's not going in there without me." Gwen stated.
"That's your decision." Jack warned.
"Yes, it is."
"You both have to live by it."
"Oh, come on. You and me, a team." Rhys told Gwen. The idea probably sounded a lot more like compromise in his head.
"Damn it, Rhys! This is for real." Gwen scolded him. "Do you understand that? This is for real. And if you mess up, I will kill you."
"So. We stun-gun everybody." Chloe began. "Then we put the creature out of their misery?"
Leah gawked at her aunt. Leah straightened her own shoulders back, making her feel bold. "We will not. We're letting them go. We make sure they can handle the trip, before sending them through the next opening in the Rift."
"Jack?" Owen asked.
Jack nodded. Owen grunted.
Ianto sipped his tea. "Guess who'll have to look after them in the meantime."
"Tell me exactly how are we going to use it to arm ourselves against the future?" Tosh asked.
"We can always hide behind it." Owen offered.
"Why shouldn't we save it? Because they're an alien?" Jack told them. He gave a pointed look towards Leah. Leah crossed her arms, glaring at them all. "They need our protection."
"You didn't hear its cry. Heartbreaking." Rhys admitted.
"Listen to Ahab." Ianto grumbled.
"Jack, Leah, it's growing." Owen reminded them.
"Because they are alive." Leah countered.
"Well, we'll find a way to stop it mutating." Jack reasoned. "We are doing this. That's an order."
Owen huffed. "Fine."
Ianto stood up. "I'll stock up on plankton." He walked out of the group room.
The team walked out. Gwen paused, looking at Jack and Leah.
"So you do have a heart." Gwen mused.
"We see enough death." Jack replied. Gwen left. Jack turned to Leah.
Leah squared back her shoulders. "Thank you."
Jack shook his head. "Basic kindness. No need to thank me for doing what needs to be done."
"No. I think it's rare for humans to be like that." Leah replied. "So I'll praise it when I see it."
==ILWAS==
Leah and Jack were going over the next stage of the plan. Of coordinating every step to keep everyone safe. Leah was pointing out all the ways to get it out of the warehouse, of the most likely location of the next Rift.
She offered to fix the manipulator even- to connect it to a bigger portal to better transport it.
As she explained the mechanics of this, Jack glanced out his office window. Leah followed his gaze. Gwen and Rhys sat on a couch- talking about...whatever. Something about their relationship and how these secrets were finally bubbling over.
"Jack." Leah began.
Jack turned back to her. "I'm listening."
"No. What are you doing? I thought things were working out with Ianto." Leah wondered.
Jack smiled. "They are."
"Yeah?" Leah asked. "Tell me about it."
Jack snorted. "You're asking about my dating life?"
"Yeah." Leah sat down at his desk. "How's it going with Ianto? Take him on that office date yet?"
Jack chuckled. He walked away from the glass wall to sit at his desk. "We cleaned that chair after."
Leah rolled her eyes. Still, she stood up from the chair. Maybe her clothes would need to be washed twice, later. "You're being good to him?"
"Not gonna ask if he's being good to me?" Jack replied.
Leah gave him a look. "Ianto is the nicest human man on the planet. You knew my future self. It's more me being worried about what she taught you about dating."
"She invited herself in." Jack winked. "So. Any real reason you're interested?"
Leah changed her mind. Her clothes would be washed three times. "Don't break his heart. Nobody in this place makes a better cup of tea."
Jack saluted her. "Ooh. I like it."
"Stop!"
==ILWAS==
The three of them were in the car. Rhys and Jack sat in the front seats. Leah sat in the backseat. They stopped at Rhys' work. Leah kept playing with a device in her hands. She went back and forth between the device, and a small creature in her hands.
They parked.
"Alright. Let's get movin'." Rhys reached for the door handle.
Jack kept it locked. "Boss lady. Gear him up."
"With pleasure." Leah leaned forward in her seat. She held up a small bug toy. "This is your new best friend." Leah explained. Rhys stared at her, confused. "Forget Gwen. This thing is all you need."
Jack patted Rhys' shoulder. "She's just like that."
"This is VIILiams." Leah explained. She tucked the small bug into Rhys' shirt collar. The bug stuck himself to the underside. "He's my eyes and ears to everything you do. You step one foot outside of the plan, VIILiams'll know about it. The team can come in and save you."
"Is it a wire? They'll know if I'm wearing one of those." Rhys reminded her. "And why does it look like a toy?"
"It is." Leah answered. "A kids toy, I mean. And it's not a wire, it's a bug. They won't be able to tell it's got a two way comm system. Normal humans can't even see it as anything but a toy. VIILiams doesn't have the options everyone else has- such as you being able to hear us."
She pressed a small, pinky sized bandaid behind his ear.
"I was working on a prototype for this situation but...you're too green for them to be effective." Leah explained. She stepped away from Rhys. "This is your Comm. Connects to your brain by...well you don't need to know. You'll be able to hear us." Leah instructed. "But do not reply. Do you hear me? Never answer back. Do you understand?"
"Why am I getting told off by a little kid?" Rhys asked Jack.
"Cause us humans are idiots." Jack explained.
Leah glared.
"But...isn't she human?" Rhys asked.
"Fine. Be cut off from us and die a horrible death." Leah argued, crossing her arms over her chest. "See if I care."
"No, I'll do it." Rhys insisted.
Jack unlocked the doors. "Sure about this?"
"Yeah." Rhys nodded.
"Because once they ring, there's no turning back." Jack replied. Rhys nodded again. "Alright. Leah, would you actually stay in the car?"
"No."
"Yeah. Come on."
The three of them climbed out of the car. Leah started pushing buttons on her little device, twisting knobs and the like.
Rhys walked them into his offices. Jack and Leah followed.
Inside the office, the assistant stood up to greet them. Jack smiled, warm and friendly. Leah stayed a step behind. She focused on her device.
"Morning." Rhys greeted her.
The assistant smiled brightly. "You just missed the advert."
"Yeah? Just popped in for my jacket and to sign for a van." Rhys replied. He walked past her, towards where they kept the keys.
Jack looked around the office. Leah ignored them. She needed to code VII-lliams to Rhys specifically. The bug needed to adjust to Rhys and his brain waves.
After Quill tossed Gwen's bug, Leah wanted to avoid a repeat. The comm behind his ear would help that along. Thought-mail was so useful. Why did humans stop using it? Sure it had the side-effect of keeping a copy of the human consciousness alive for an extended period of time after death, but Leah's bugs were too small to hold anything real. That would be fine.
Rhys would be a guinea pig with VII-lliams. If it worked on him, it would work on the rest of the team. Leah would enjoy this. She loved taking care of her bots, and other alien life. Yeah keeping the humans alive was a nice bonus. But the tech. It was beautiful.
"That was, that was horrible. That was the most horrible thing I've ever seen."
Leah winced. She fought off the headache. She hadn't wanted that today. Or any day.
"Here's your tea. And I got you a Danish, your favorite." The assistant cheered.
"I'm in the wrong job." Jack joked.
If you asked, Ianto would do all of that. Leah thought to herself.
"We have got job vacancies." The assistant told Jack.
Jack grinned, leaning in. "Maybe you could fit me in."
She giggled. "I'd be delighted to."
Leah went back to her device. The brain waves coming from Rhys made her very excited. VII-lliams was gonna be so advanced when Leah was done. She loved today.
"Would I need a licence for trucking?" Jack asked.
"Yes. It takes four weeks, and then you can go long distance." The assistant
Jack grinned at her. "That wouldn't be a problem."
The assistant beamed.
The office phone began to ring. Leah could see Rhys' brain waves changing. "It's them."
Jack nodded.
Rhys picked up the phone. "Yeah, hello?"
==ILWAS==
Leah sat back. She started working on the code update for the rest of the bugs. The hardware could be added later. The code would need fixing first.
"Why her? Out of all the women you could have chosen." Rhys asked. He kept his voice lower than before. He probably thought Leah wouldn't hear him then.
She could.
Like, come on. Only human ears were that weak.
Jack glanced in the rearview mirror. He could see Leah's flat stare. It made him grin. "She chose us. Kind of stumbled upon us."
"So did I. Doubt you'll be asking me to join." Rhys countered.
"We needed someone with police skills." Jack excused.
Leah believed differently. Gwen's police skills were great, yes, but they weren't why she was hired. Jack must believe it too- he told Gwen as much. Gwen was hired for a different reason. She still had hope in humanity. Gwen saw their value, and demanded the team see it too.
Jack couldn't exactly tell Rhys that. 'Oh your future wife works for us because we're all assholes and she's making us better.' Leah reasoned that Rhys would agree with the assessment, before falling straight into a thought loop of worrying for Gwen. Gwen could handle herself.
"Could have chosen anyone. Did you ever think about us? You know, me, her parents, people who love her, who want her safe?" Rhys asked.
"They tried." Leah told him.
Jack looked at her. Leah met his stare. Rhys startled, not expecting Leah to have heard him.
"She kept coming back." Leah went on. She kept her eyes locked with Jack. "We both did. You've seen them, they're idiots. They'd die without us."
"We would." Jack agreed.
"What about your family?" Rhys asked.
"Aunt Chloe said it was fine. My parents do too." Leah supplied. Rhys gawked. "It looks great on a CV. Besides, I never go out on missions. I stay behind manning the computers and comms."
Rhys shook his head. Jack just laughed. He thought fondly of her first few days. Of the ways that Leah and Gwen challenged Jack and Torchwood, challenged their way of doing things. Leah, who was like Terra in so manys ways and yet so different. Like the different versions of the Doctor. Jack could see all three Terra's, see the things that made them all shine.
Made her shine.
"Can't you see it?" Rhys asked Jack. "You're putting this little kid in so much danger!"
Quill grinned without joy. She grinned the way Hannibal Lecter would grin. "Did you know she screamed for you? At the end?"
The Master, boasting to Jack about how his team died. Violently. Painfully. All of them, lucky not to remember. Jack held onto the hope that Leah wasn't one of them.
The look on her face as Jack tried to slip her retcon for the first time. The utter hatred, contrasting with the love that Terra always showed him.
"Leah's persistent." Jack laughed. "She makes us better. They both do. Their first day, they told me off for being too clinical."
Rhys made a face. He hated that he could picture it- Gwen yelling at Jack. But Rhys could and was picturing a lot of other things too. "She doesn't hold back, mind."
Jack agreed. "Stubborn as hell."
"Tell me about it. Yeah, she's an amazing girl. I'm a lucky man, Jack." Rhys reminded him. Gwen could work with Jack all Jack liked, but Gwen would still go home with Rhys.
That's how it sounded to Leah. Humans thought they were so complex. All that they were boiled down to the same things. A want of love, of community, of someplace to call home. Rhys wanted those things too.
And it's like Suzie said. The clever ones still remember.
Rhys was mostly stupid, but so was every human. Leah reckoned some part of him remembered it. The last time he'd been Retconned. Gwen revealed her cheating. Rhys must remember it- even a vague feeling of Gwen with someone else. Leah didn't know the exact wording, but maybe Gwen mentioned a coworker, so Rhys assumed it was Jack.
A reasonable conclusion, unless you really looked at Jack.
"Yeah, you said it." Jack replied to Rhys.
"I just wish you were a bit uglier." Rhys sighed. Jack grinned. Leah fake gagged. "You're not gay by any chance, are you?"
"No. And neither is his boyfriend." Leah supplied.
"Leah."
"What, not ready to go official yet?" Leah asked, confused and annoyed. Those two just needed to put a label on it. "You've been in Ianto's pants for months."
"He is?" Rhys asked. "Really?"
"Yeah. They keep thinking nobody notices when they sneak of to-"
"Leah!"
"-go on a date, what? Why are you shouting at me?" Leah asked.
Jack sighed. He shifted his shoulders, trying to get back into work mode.
Rhys laughed.
==ILWAS==
They parked Rhys' van in an alley. Leah brought out her tablet. She watched over VII-lliams readings.
Rhys and Jack walked out. The team climbed out of the Torchwood van. Leah walked over.
"I brought you a Danish, your favorite." Gwen held out the pastry. Leah walked by all of them. "I know what you're like on an empty stomach."
Rhys took the food. He said nothing about just getting one from his secretary. "Cheers."
"Get out as soon as you can, remember?" Gwen explained to Rhys.
Rhys waved her off. "Yes, yes, yes." He opened the door to the van, letting the team climb in. "Where is Leah going?"
"Back in the van." Chloe ordered. "Because she's not coming."
"I never do!" Leah cheered. She held up her tablet. "Keep VIILiams safe for me!"
Safe. You don't say saved. Nobody says 'saved'.
Leah blinked. She pushed back the memory. It fought back, pushing and pushing in her head. She had an alien to save.
Nobody says 'saved'. Nutters say saved. You say safe.
Leah pushed it away again.
"I love you." Gwen told Rhys.
Leah climbed into the car. She settled in the driver's seat. The tablet got propped up on the dashboard. Rhys' voice came out from the tablet, along with dips and rises in his mind. Leah loved to see it.
"I love you, too. Now, stop fussing and get in the back of the van. Go on."
Rhys started the truck up. He backed out of the alley, leaving Leah alone with the van.
Leah reached in her pocket.
==ILWAS==
The tablet woke back up. Leah, glancing away from the road, clicked on the notification. They were in range of the meat packing plant. Leah switched on their comms.
"Comms are hot." Leah told them. She changed lanes, trying to get around a smaller van. "Can you hear me?"
"Never stop." Jack replied.
The smaller van honked at Leah. Leah flipped them off.
"Wait where are you?" Chloe asked.
"Nowhere." Leah lied. The small van honked again.
"Are you driving the van?!"
"You were the ones that left it in the alley!" Leah reasoned. She sped up, driving past the small van. She searched for her exit. "I'm the reasonable one- keeping us from being jacked!"
"When did you learn how to drive?" Owen asked.
"During my gap year."
The comms were quiet.
Leah spotted her exit. She changed lanes again. "Owen. Did you get the chemical notes I sent you?"
"Yeah, I know how to make an antidote to ketamine." Owen replied.
"Of course you can, champ." Leah slowed at a stoplight. She used the time to check her tablet. Rhys had an elevated heart rate- probably just from nerves. "Just made a little patch."
"You rewrote the entire formula."
"Okay, a big patch." The light was still red. Leah tapped on her tablet, activating certain buttons on VIILiams. "You gotta admit mine's better."
"I don't have to admit a thing!"
"Kids, keep the comms clear." Jack reminded them.
Leah huffed. The lights were still red. She flipped a button on the tablet. "Rhys. It's me."
The heart rate spiked.
"No, no. Stay calm. I told you about this." Leah reminded him. "We are getting ready. You should be arriving at the warehouse soon. Remember: you are just a driver. All you are doing is driving an empty truck."
The light changed.
Leah sped up the van. "Your heart rate is elevated. Don't worry, that's fine. A bit of pre-show jitters make it more believable. Just stay calm enough to avoid looking like a nervous wreck. You're gonna do great. Everything's gonna be fine."
Leah kept driving the van off. She avoided returning to the Hub. It would be highly unlikely for these alien abusing bastards to have hacked into cameras to track Rhys' path from his job, see this van, and follow the van path to their next stop. While believing that, Leah took no chances.
Garfield helped her see that much. During the Year.
'No such thing as too paranoid.' Garfield used to say. 'We're dealing with a man that would stop at nothing to destroy everything. Any suspicious activity will be followed and stopped by a Toclafane.'
He helped teach Leah how to drive the van. Though they were few and far between, being in the van brought up good memories. Garfield helped her drive around in it. He even helped her disguise it, as the Master and his Toclafane recognized it.
Leah watched the team drive off in it, to the airplane. Leah tried to find them and stop them- only to find a plane in flames and Toclafane laughter. The van was miraculously untouched. Her mum drove it for Leah. To the Hub. A Toclafane followed them back. Leah lost her team and her moms and her whole new world in one day.
Leah would never risk such a thing again. No matter how unlikely.
==ILWAS==
The van got parked in a car park. Leah forced herself to relax in her seat. Just as Rhys needed to stay a certain level of calm, so did Leah. She learned during the Year That Never Was to keep calm. It was the best way to avoid Flashes.
Flashes during that Year were-
It'sallatrapIt'sallatrapIt'sallatrap
-bad. They got bad.
Leah took another deep breath. Garfield helped teach her tricks to block the memories.
How did you learn, she asked.
My dad worked on the mental abilities team. Garfield explained. Taught me everything he knew.
At the time, Leah tried to remember faces from Torchwood One. Any face. She might've met Mr Logan. Then she quickly stopped. What would be the point, for any man she met there tortured her. Better for her and Garfield to forget it.
Leah got quite good at ignoring the future. Or thinking about the past. She hadn't wanted to relive or pre-live either.
Leah pulled out her phone. She saw old messages from Garfield. Dozens of texts bantering about a new movie. One of the rubbish rom-coms, one step above a hallmark movie. Garfield loved poking fun. Leah liked the good memories- the good moments to keep back the bad.
Garfield never let her down for those.
Jack's voice cut threw her thoughts. Leah started in her seat. Her phone clattered to the floor. She grabbed the tablet, turning up the sound.
"Gwen, Tosh and I will take the main area. Owen, Ianto, Chloe, cover the corridors and the small rooms. You okay?"
"What do you think?" Gwen replied.
"I've got Rhys." Leah promised. "He's gonna be fine."
"You can't be sure." Gwen argued.
"Yeah I can. You picked him, after all." Leah could even understand Gwen's hesitation. Last time Rhys got dragged into Torchwood business, he was horribly ripped apart.
Gwen seemed to be holding onto that memory tight. It probably flashed in her mind the entire drive. Leah saw little point in focusing on that. The moment came from an aborted timeline that was never meant to exist. A complicated week of twisted moments and tragedy that hadn't happened. Still. Human empathy, Leah supposed.
Maybe Gwen needed to remember something different. They all just went through a tragedy. Even though their human minds couldn't remember it, maybe deep down they did. Gwen died in the Year, but Rhys hadn't.
Leah kept her distance. Unwilling to risk Rhys, on Gwen's behalf. But Leah kept watch. Rhys hadn't been well after Gwen died. Rhys built a community, in the slave house with others that lost their loved ones in the Decimation. Rhys was still so broken and hurt.
If she thought it would help, Leah would tell Gwen about it. About Rhys during the Year. Only...none of them needed to know the horrors of that time.
She would need a new plan.
"Let's go."
==ILWAS==
Rhys pulled the truck into the plant. Leah saw on the tablet as the team snuck out of the back. Two men approached the truck. Rhys climbed up.
Leah turned up the volume from Rhys.
"Yeah, I just need your boss to sign this, mate. I don't want any questions asked, see." Rhys told the worker.
The worker nodded, annoyed but understanding the concern. He walked off.
"You couldn't get us a cup of tea, could you?" Rhys asked the second. The man walked off to get tea.
Leah blew out a breath. She couldn't exactly fault Rhys for trying. Rhys would have no way of knowing how stealthy the team could be when they wanted.
"Team enroute to target." Leah warned him.
Rhys was startled. "But-"
"DO NOT REPLY!" Leah reminded him.
His mouth closed with an audible click.
The silence came on time. The first man returned, Dale the boss following behind.
Leah focused VII-Liam's lens. The man looked normal. A classic man in a warehouse. Annoyed exhausted face, a shadow of a beard, well worn work clothes. Nobody would expect a thing off with him. To Leah, he made her stomach turn.
"Where do you want my autograph?" The boss asked.
"Er, just on there, mate." Rhys tapped on the clipboard.
The boss took it up. He even handed Rhys a pound. "Here's a oner for your trouble. Count it, if you like."
"No, no, it's fine, mate. I trust you."
The worker stepped up. "When you get to the abattoir, ask for Graham. Him and the boys clean it up and process it."
"All right." Rhys glanced back to the truck.
Leah took a breath. She wouldn't kill a human today. She was protecting the van, and protecting everyone else. None of her people were dying today.
She checked in on the team. They should be close to the creature by now. The feed for HarkSix took up half the screen.
"Any sign?" Leah asked.
"You know, I used to be in charge." Jack recalled.
"Then you hired me." Leah replied. "So where are you?"
Jack laughed. "Almost there."
Sound came from the tablet. A low, deep cry. Echoed three times over from each of the comms. It broke something deep in Leah. A deep, delicate part that she would prefer to hide.
Because she knew the sound.
It came from her favorite toy as a child.
The cry never came with this intense agony.
"Oh, my God. It's amazing. How did it get here?" Gwen asked.
"Imprisoned, chained and drugged. Welcome to planet Earth." Jack remarked.
Leah let out a breath. A choked wheeze, unconsciously echoing the creature.
"It heard you. It's sentient." Toshiko realized.
"Jack." Gwen told him. "Oh, that's disgusting."
"What have they done to you? What have they done to you, my poor friend?"
Leah gasped, choking on air. She was better than this. She should be better than this. It wasn't gonna happen again. Jack promised. He said he would never lock her away. Why was she shaking?
"Everyone, they're armed." Owen warned them.
"Rhys!" Gwen gasped.
Leah sat up. Still panting and gasping, she grabbed her tablet.
'Ignore it,' the voice in her head said. Garfield's voice. 'Ignore the pain. Push it away. You don't need it.'
"I don't need it." Leah repeated to herself.
'If you pay it attention, it can control you. Give an inch, it takes a mile. Ignore it completely.'
"Give an inch." Leah swallowed. She typed away on the tablet. "Take a mile."
'Yeah. Exactly. You can ignore it. Your mind, it's incredible. It can ignore those pesky feelings. You can focus on work- cry when it suits you.'
"Focus on work. Cry on my own time. Leah gasped again, forcing an inhale even though her body didn't want it. She pressed a button on the tablet. "Rhys. These guys are starting to get stressed and worried. Keep your head on."
Rhys was slowly being surrounded by more and more people.
Leah sat in the seat. She shifted the van into gear. "I've got ya." Time to get back to fucking work.
==ILWAS==
"What is that?" Ianto asked.
The group of men- Dale (the boss), Greg (a workman), and Vic (creature drugger)- found that they were being invaded. They captured Rhys first as he was obvious. Ianto came next. Chloe third. They knew others were around, but not the exact amount.
Their prize was obvious. The creature was massive indeed. A large, heaving weight of red meat that filled the warehouse room. Grayed skin wrinkled and curled, heaving in labored breaths. A giant eye stared out, staring but unseeing. After so long in this dark warehouse, constantly in a drugged dazed pain, the being tuned themself out of reality. The lights were on, and nobody wanted to be home.
It didn't help that this creature was tied down with heavy steel cables. Or that the humans imprisoning them kept carving on their side. A large, emptied space, like a walk-in closet. A gutted pig that could survive the gutting. A cow that needed no grass or pastures. A fat lump of money, waiting to be opened up for human consumption.
Probably why Dale added this for Ianto. "The lads call it the Cash Cow." He pressed his gun to Rhys' skull.
Vic, becoming pale and panicked, jumped. "Dale, what are you doing?!"
"They couldn't bear to see us making money, Vic. Fancied some for yourselves, eh?" Dale snapped at Rhys. The lorry driver winced, but kept himself quiet. "Thought we'd be a pushover?"
Rhys paused before answering. "Mate, you're so out of your depth." He strained his ears, hoping to hear the voice again.
"Funny, I was just thinking the same about you." Dale snarked.
"Dale, don't be an idiot." Vic warned.
"Show yourselves or I shoot the delivery boy." Dale called out.
Gwen immediately stepped out. "Okay! There's no need to make any threats."
Rhys, along with Ianto and Chloe, expected to hear a loud grunting and curse ridden shouts from their comms. Ianto expected the sort of thing from behind Leah's comms, especially if someone on the team was exceptionally stupid.
Nothing came from their bugs. The thugs did check for them, being unsuccessful in finding anything. Leah made effective bugs.
But now, only silence reigned.
It made Rhys nervous.
It made Ianto and Chloe beyond worried. As it hadn't occurred to them until this moment, that in the past few minutes they heard everyone on the team except their youngest member.
Chloe feared what she would tell Leanna.
"It's just the three of you, is it?" Dale taunted Ianto. Ianto kept his face clear, trying to do as Leah did. He failed miserably, showing his concern and worry for his teammates. "Gun down. Kick it over."
"I don't have a gun." Gwen held up her hands. She made the slow walk over.
"They had ones, so you must have." Dale snapped.
Gwen pulled her weapon out. She tossed it on the ground, kicking it over. "Okay, okay."
"Any more of you? And before you answer, have a proper think, because if you lie-" Dale leveled the gun at Gwen. "I will shoot you."
"There's just me." Gwen lied.
Dale nodded his gun. "Get against the drum."
Gwen agreed. She walked towards it, keeping watch of the gun and it's spatial relation to Rhys. "We can help you out, Dale."
"Yeah, help yourselves, more like." Dale grabbed Rhys' arm, tossing him forward. "Come on, stand next to her. You, too."
Ianto walked over.
The grunt in the rafters- Greg- shouted. "Dale! Two more. Far corner. They can't get out. It's locked."
Jack and Tosh huffed.
"Take out your weapons, stand where I can see you." Dale ordered.
Jack and Tosh held up their hands. As they walked out, Jack narrowed his eyes.
"Drop your weapons." Dale ordered.
Jack did so. Tosh obeying immediately after. Jack opened his mouth to speak.
Out of nowhere, a man fell from the rafters. He dropped just behind Dale.
Dale whirled around. "G-Greg?!"
"Do you know what you've got here, Dale Lloyd Ryan?" The familiar voice asked. Her voice projected all around the warehouse room. It echoed and boomed, digging right into the parts of the brain where nobody wanted it.
Dale tried to point his gun at them. With no sight on it, he wildly stuck his gun around. "Shut up now!"
Jack looked up to the rafters. His team did too. All of them were looking for Leah.
"You've got an alien and I've spent the past two days trying to find out which kind. I finally figured it out when I heard him cry." Leah explained. She kept herself hidden, ducked behind equipment and the structure. No human could see her. "A space whale. From about hundreds of years in the past- your kind only get to know them in one, two centuries? It's still growing, you know. They can grow large enough to carry whole countries on their back. And you've been using them for meat."
Dale locked his jaw. "No. No way."
Leah laughed. Dale thought he spotted the direction. He pointed his gun, seeing more empty space.
"Look at the poor baby. They're a baby, and you've been gutting them." Leah snapped. "An alien space whale, and you decided it would be the perfect- what did you say? Cash cow?"
"Is she with you?!" Dale snapped at Jack, aiming his gun back at the man.
Vic, startled, stared at the creature he had been drugging. "It can't be. Can it?"
"Look at what you did." Leah snapped.
The space whale let out a keening cry.
"You heard her." Jack spoke up. He wanted Dale's attention off Leah, off looking for Leah or shooting her. "Look at it."
"It's just meat, that's all." Dale dismissed.
"Funny. So are you."
Something large and metal hit Dale. The back of his head. He cried out in pain, flinching his arm around to feel his head. His aim fell away from Jack.
A figure dashed out from the rafters. She fell behind Dale.
Dale whirled around, hearing the sound.
Leah quickly lashed out, going for a throat punch.
Dale choked, trying to aim his gun at her.
Leah karate chopped a joint on his arm. The gun fell with a clatter.
Dale groaned. He threw a punch.
Leah dodged. Dale stumbled, having thrown all his weight into the punch. As he tried to regain his footing, Leah took a stance.
When Dale turned around to see her, Leah kicked up. Her foot collided with his face.
He made a pathetic sort of whimper, falling to the ground in a heap.
Leah lowered her leg. It ached something awful. Kicking a man in the face after dropping twenty feet would put strain on anything.
Leah dusted herself off. She turned to Vic. The man whimpered, cowering from her.
"Sorry- Sorry! I didn't- I didn't do anything!"
"Don't you lie to me." Leah warned. Her tone was so dangerous and low, no human moved. Jack cautiously approached. "I heard you. Increasing their ketamine dosing? This child is going to be addicted to the damn stuff. You- Victor Scott- are as to blame for their state as anyone in this fucking building!"
"Leah." Jack spoke up.
"Don't interfere." Leah ordered, glaring at Jack from over her shoulder. "I'm handling it."
Jack put on his most charming smile. "Owen could use help with the sedative."
"Then one of you should do it." Leah snapped.
Jack never liked it when Leah's voice got this cold. Not Leah, who shined so bright and full of such good. When she sounded this angry and cold, it never ended well. For her target or Leah herself. It was so anti-Terra that it confused Jack. He could only ever see Terra- either Terra- as friendly and brilliant. Deadly, to an extent yes, but never cold.
Even after Terra killed the Master, she hadn't been cold. If anything, that version Terra was stuck with a smile on her face. Good or bad. Jack's Terra always came with a crooked grin with a snorting laugh.
Leah...Leah could get angry. In ways that reminded Jack completely of the Doctor. His U-boat Captain self, or of the extremely handsome man after.
And if Leah reminded Jack of the Doctor, that definitely meant Leah shouldn't be killing anyone.
Jack stepped closer.
Leah held no weapon in her arms. She could kill regardless. Jack could only suspect the things she needed to do to survive in the Year, or of her upbringing. The Time Lords, raising her and casting her out. Growing up with Leanna, fearing for a next attack. And even now, sparring regularly with two vampires. If she really wanted it, Leah could kill Dale with her bare hands.
When she raised her arms at him, Jack didn't flinch. If he died, Leah would have let her aggression out. He wouldn't mind. Leah would though, once the haze of rage cooled off.
"Don't stop me, Captain." Leah cautioned.
Jack shook his head. "You know I have to."
Leah clenched her jaw. "They were hurting a child! Do you know how precious children are to space whales? Just a child. A little, tiny thing. And you humans couldn't resist. You took them and then drugged them-" Her amber eyes watered with rage filled tears.
"Leah." Jack held out his arms.
"-tortured them! Carved them up! Like it was right to abuse them! Like they know how it would feel being torn open-"
"Leah." Jack stepped closer. He moved his arms.
Leah lashed out.
Jack was faster. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling Leah close. He felt tears through his shirt.
"-it's not fucking right!" Leah hiccuped. She punched at his arms, kicked his legs.
Jack wouldn't let go. "I know."
"It wasn't fucking right!"
"I know. I know, Leah." Jack brushed on her hair, soothing and reassuring. He meant these words. It wasn't right. It would never have been right.
As this happened, the rest of the Torchwood team moved about. Ianto cuffed Vic, the man still watching Leah in fear. Chloe and Tosh grabbed Greg's unconscious bruised body, seeing evidence of a blow dart in his neck.
Gwen nudged Rhys into her arms. She held her fiance close. Rhys tried to pull back only to be pulled back down into a passionate kiss.
Leah cried again.
Chloe paused. She glanced at Jack. Her boss gave a gentle shake of his head.
"Leeeeee."
Leah gasped. Jack turned them both to the creature.
The creature wheezed again. "Leeeee."
Leah pulled away. Jack cautiously let her go. The Time Lady walked up to the space whale's side.
His big eye blinked at her. Leah touched his cheek.
"Leeeeee-" He wheezed. "-ahhhhh."
She fell to her knees. The space whale whined again, leaning towards her.
Leah pressed her face to the space whale. Both of them cried out. They sang, and it was such a sad song.
==ILWAS==
Owen came twenty minutes later with the antidote. With him and Vic working, they created the formula to Leah's specifications. As much as Owen hated to admit it, the girl made it perfect. Reversed engineered it from the doses of ketamine still deep in the meat slap they owned.
Shame that Leah couldn't brag about it. She'd cried herself into a numb state, slumping at Jack's side.
The space whale sang again. A beautiful, haunting melody. Beautiful in their tragedy, tragic in their beauty. Their cells grew back at a ridiculous rate. No wonder they kept having to carve into them. When they finished healing hours after being cured, the creature flew up into the sky.
As they left, they sang out their freedom.
And years later, unbeknownst to the Torchwood Team or any human on Earth, the space whale met the only other space whale out there. They shared the stories of Earth, of the humans that hurt them and saved them.
And when they were in need, that space whale came for them. To repay a debt owed by their kind.
But that's a story for another day. There's a Time Lady crying in the back of a van that is our priority.
==ILWAS==
Back at the Hub, the team gathered around to share victory beers. Everyone gave a toast to Owen.
"Hero of the hour." Tosh praised him.
"He got help. That's cheating." Ianto reminded her.
"Oh come off. Let him have it." Tosh replied.
Gwen kissed Rhys' cheek. Rhys held tighter to her side. "Are you alright?" Rhys asked her.
"I am now that you are, yeah." Gwen told him.
Rhys looked up at Jack. The Captain watched them all, barely sipping at his beer. "Are they alright?"
"Leah packs a strong punch." Jack replied. "They won't say another word."
"So they got away with it?" Rhys asked. He could grind his teeth. He'd hated seeing the warehouse the first go around. Hearing that space whale cry...sharing that bit with Leah? It made it worse for Rhys. He couldn't stand the idea that they wouldn't pay for any of it.
Jack shook his head. "There's a group that specialize in...secret arrests, like this. I gave them a call. They're locking them all away as we speak."
"Really? Aren't aliens our thing?" Owen asked.
Jack shook his head. "This time, I passed it on to the red caps."
"And the creature? That- that space whale?" Rhys asked.
"Owen and Vic patched them up." Jack explained. Gwen and Rhys left early, with Gwen worried about anyone else showing up to hurt Rhys. So Rhys hadn't been there for a lot of that clean up. "They flew away."
"And Leah?" Rhys asked.
Jack's smile was charming as ever. "Better."
Yeah, like Rhys bought that shit. "How is she?"
Jack turned to Gwen. "Gwen. I need a word."
Gwen glanced at Rhys. After checking that he would be alright for a minute, Gwen pulled herself from his side. "Sure." She kissed Rhys before going after Jack.
==ILWAS==
Leah sat in front of Janet's cell. The Weevil hummed and sang. Leah harmonized, cooing and lilting like the best of them.
Chloe leant against the wall. Jack and Gwen walked in. Gwen's eyes widened at seeing Leah.
The teen girl looked wrecked. Her ash brown hair turned into a beheaded mess on her head. She wore baggy dark green pajamas, and fuzzy socks. From that, you could assume she just had a sleepover. But then you spotted the dirt on her elbows and pants. And the tears stains on her cheeks, or how bloodshot her eyes were now.
Gwen wanted to weep for the poor girl. Like this, Leah looked her real age.
Jack braced himself. "The rules say you have to retcon him."
Gwen locked up. She glared at Jack, but she was ready to hear it. Gwen and Rhys talked on the drive back to the Hub, in between snogs and a quick fuck in the truck. Rhys talked about seeing the world differently now. He saw the worst examples of aliens and humans, but Rhys said that the next time he looked in the sky he would think about the aliens and planets out there. He looked up and saw hope. He wanted to make a scrapbook of the aliens that Gwen saw.
He was even okay about Jack. Because, according to Rhys, he knew Gwen would come back home to him.
Gwen could never rob him of that again.
"A lot of other people know about Torchwood." Jack reminded Gwen.
The police officers that called Torchwood when things got weird. The teams of UNIT. Leanna and Thelma Luna-Johnson knew, because of their relation to Leah. Hell, the past two prime ministers knew about it. It would be hypocritical to make Rhys forget.
"Exactly. So why can't Rhys?" Gwen asked. She got a bad feeling about whatever Jack would say next. "What? Everyone else can know except my fiance? Why doesn't he matter? He matters to me, Jack. My future husband? I won't do it to him. I've lied to him for long enough."
"Gwen-"
"He was brave today, Jack." Gwen snapped. "Braver than any of us. Because we signed on for this. But he didn't!"
"Gwen."
"He did it because he loves me, and I won't take that away from him. I won't!"
"Gwen."
"And if that means I have to quit or you Retcon me or whatever, then fine. Fine."
"Gwen." Jack stressed. "We're not making you retcon him."
Gwen blinked. She checked at Chloe and Leah. Both of them continued on, as if Gwen hadn't been there at all. "Oh."
"I was gonna make you do it. But then Leah said something that stuck." Jack admitted. "We're a new Torchwood. You and her, you've changed us for the better. The old clinical Jack, he would retcon Rhys without blinking."
"And now?" Gwen asked, tense.
Jack looked at Leah.
Leah looked back. She hummed again. Janet crooned, leaning into it.
"Bye Jack. You...you were better."
"We need to be better." Jack stated. "So that's what we'll be."
Gwen smiled. She nodded at Jack, happily rushing back out of the room.
Jack looked back with Chloe. "How's our girl?"
Chloe gave a half shrug. "I don't know. She's not said a word since it went flying."
Jack nodded. "Could I?"
Chloe understood the order. She left the room.
Jack knelt down on the ground. He watched the humming Weevil, and the Time Lady supporting her. "We should talk about it."
Leah sang louder.
Jack laughed. He expected that. "I gave you my word, Leah Luna-Johnson. It'll never happen again."
Leah narrowed her amber eyes. She lowered her voice, but still hummed. Janet appreciated it.
"You have nothing to fear from Torchwood." Jack promised. "Except coming into my office. That's where Ianto and I have date night.
"You're disgusting." Leah groaned. She pressed her hands over her face, hiding there.
Jack gave himself a moment of pride for getting her to talk. "He really likes the swivel chair-"
"Stop talking." Leah stretched out her leg, kicking him. "I don't wanna hear this."
"You wanted us together. You gotta suffer things like this."
"If I'd known you'd be this annoying, I would've ignored it."
"No you wouldn't have."
"...I hate you." Leah sat up. Jack saw her eyes were wet again. "I really do."
Jack reached over. Leah braced herself. She took his hand.
"I wasn't gonna do it." Her voice cracked.
Jack squeezed her hand.
"I was-" Leah swallowed. "I wasn't."
"It's okay."
"I just wanted-"
"I know. I understand what you're going through."
"No you don't." Leah sniffled. "It- you don't." She looked up at Janet's cell.
Jack squeezed her hand again. Leah sighed. She shifted, curling closer to his side. Jack kept holding her hand. His other arm wrapped around her, pulling her in for a comforting hug.
"Torchwood did it to me too." He admitted.
And there, in the Torchwood dungeons, Jack shared it all. Those first few years with Torchwood, how they tested and tested his powers. To see their limit- if there was a limit. To see how far his human mind went with it. He shared it with his best friend. She held him through it, hugging him as he held back tears. As the night wore on, Leah shared her experience as well. Of the five months trapped in a Torchwood cell, the only link to Torchwood's most hated enemy.
As they talked, both would admit to feeling lighter. That it felt good to share the stories. To acknowledge them, expose them to the air. They pulled out the infectious roots from where they'd been burrowed in their hearts.
Leah thought she could finally breathe. Maybe Garfield was wrong about some things...because this was the first time looking back hadn't hurt.
==ILWAS==
Later, something came through the Rift.
It touched Jack.
Everything changed.
==ILWAS==
AN: This chapter should not have been so hard. I really love this episode- you all probably did too, if you watched it. I just fell in love with it and wanted it to be great. Did I do it?
Next up is Adam which is like...one of the reasons I made this whole series in the first place. I can have so much fun in Adam.