Jack checked the wallet in his hands. Owen and Chloe went out earlier to retrieve a body. Jack noticed a disturbing type of pattern with recent bodies, and a phone call to a friend proved that others noticed the pattern too.
Chloe stood with Owen, watching the autopsy.
"Documents on the body identify the victim as Meredith Roberts." Jack stated. He showed the wallet to Leah.
She hummed, looking down at the body.
"No obvious signs of violence." Owen noted.
"So not a Weevil?" Chloe teased.
"Give me a chance, Miss Johnson. I've only just started." Owen replied.
Chloe snickered.
Jack grinned at Leah. She kept her focus on the dead body.
Ianto's voice came from over the Hub's speaker. "Jack, your VIP visitor is here."
Jack perked. Without waiting, he rushed off to the official entrance to the Hub. he heard his team joining him. Curious little things, his team. They were going to love Martha. One of them in particular was going to have a great time with this.
"I didn't realize we were having a visitor." Gwen commented.
Jack stopped at the stairs. He grinned as the door lit up. It started to roll away. "Suddenly, in an underground mortuary, on a wet night in Cardiff, I hear the song of a nightingale."
The door rolled away. A very familiar, confident, intelligent, and beautiful friend walked into the Hub. Jack grinned his giddiest down at her. He wasn't able to do anything else.
"Doctor Martha Jones." Jack praised. Terra emailed him the news. He couldn't confirm it was her, but he could tell all the same. No other person knew the connection between him and Martha. The only other person would've never reached out.
Martha walked up to Jack. He held up his arms for her. "Oh, it's good to see you, Jack." She welcomed the hug.
Their first hug was on the desolate planet at the end of time, Jack recalled. He'd died again to wake up in her arms. Jack appreciated her bedside manner a lot more than the Doctor's. Terra, on the other hand, was the perfect nurse.
He could count on one hand the times he died around the Time Lady- twice, on Utopia. When he got electrocuted to death, she joked and teased him until Jack was ready to fuel the ship. The second time was after the stet radiation, and by then Terra was long gone.
The first time came by Dalek. And those screams haunted Jack's nights for centuries.
But he knew- like how one knows the sun comes up. If Terra were ever beside him as he died, she would be the best nurse of his life.
Leah on the other hand, had been around Jack constantly after his death. Her reactions were more typical of the Doctor. Time Lord prejudice, he explained. Leah stayed distant from his physical space after he'd been shot. It took her months to wear her down. Now, when he died, Leah came to his side to provide comfort. It wasn't the same as Terra, but he liked to think the sentiment was there. The bits of Terra deep down inside Leah, coming through for his sake.
Jack walked away from the hug. He gestured to his team. "Toshiko, Owen, Chloe, Gwen, Leah, Ianto, meet Martha."
"Ianto?" Martha teased, smiling at Jack. She remembered Terra's request as Jack ran off.
Jack smiled back, winking. While he appreciated Terra's approval, he hadn't been looking for it.
(He was)
Martha turned to each of the people. She smiled politely at each of them. She didn't even pause at Chloe or even Leah. It should've been a big deal. That there wasn't a reaction made Jack curious. Once that was done, she picked her bags back up. She made her way to the medical pit. Jack followed after her.
"Just a casual visit, or?" Owen eyed Jack and Martha.
"I'm here to complete your postmortem." Martha told him, passing by Owen with nothing more than a quick glance.
"Doctor Jones is from UNIT." Jack explained to them.
Martha descended into the pit. Jack leaned against the railing, watching her go.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Sorry, I get a bit confused. Which one's UNIT?" Gwen asked.
Leah joined Jack. She stared into the medical pit. Her focus completely on Martha. It wasn't the same stare Terra gave Martha, the way the Doctor stared at Rose. Leah stared at Martha like she was the missing lyric of an earworm.
"They're ah-" Leah grimaced, for a small second. She blinked, trying to get her brain on track. Jack grinned at her. "Military intelligence force."
"Cute red caps."
Normally, Leah rolled her eyes at Jack's comments. This time, she kept on talking without missing a beat. "It's a more socially accepted face of intelligence gathering on aliens. If something big happens in London or on a global scale, UNIT is not too far behind."
"We're more ad hoc, but better looking." Jack said, leaning over the railing. He gave Martha a side eye.
Martha opened up her briefcase. The briefcase served as a portable scanner, full of dials and digital levels for monitoring. She grinned up at Jack's teasing. "I identified a pattern from UNIT's data on sudden deaths."
She put on a pair of gloves. Owen watched her, arms crossed over his chest.
Jack glanced at Leah again. From what he could tell, Leah hadn't looked away from Martha even once.
"Toxic shock. Nothing to link the victims. Different ages, sexes, ethnic origins, occupations." Martha explained. "But there was a statistically significant concentration in South Wales."
Leah kept staring. Was she even blinking? Jack decided to keep pushing. Maybe then it would become obvious for Martha.
"Come on, Martha, be honest. You just came all this way to see me." Jack teased.
Martha snickered, smiling at him. "Still struggling to conquer your shyness, Jack?"
Jack laughed.
Martha grabbed a magnifying glass. She brought it to the body.
"So what about this pattern, then, Doctor Jones?" Owen asked.
"They were being written off as suicides or accidents." Martha checked the toes, and up by the face. She showed off an eyeball to Owen. "Look. Puncture mark. Hypodermic needle. You'll find his bloodstream was pumped full of ammonium hydroxide."
Owen hummed. "Yeah, bloodstream. That was the thing I was going to do next."
"Have you checked his medical records?" Martha asked.
"No. I was just about to."
"Let's give it a go." Martha tucked the magnifying glass away. She grinned at him. "You never know, Owen, you might learn something."
Leah audibly gulped.
At that, Jack laughed. This was gonna be a blast.
==ILWAS==
Owen brought up the reports. "One Meredith Roberts, age 45."
No records on file. Nothing listed on the NHS.
"Leah?" Owen prompted.
Leah paused.
"Leah?" Owen checked again.
"Huh? Oh!" Leah went to the computer. Owen stepped aside. Leah typed away. "There's reports of a crash on NHS system, but-"
"But?" Tosh asked.
"It doesn't make sense." Leah typed again. "Doctor Jones, your- your uh- cases?"
"Their records were all wiped as well." Martha confirmed.
The Time Lady was stuck staring at the doctor again. "Yes. They- yes."
Jack grinned. This was beautiful to watch. Terra had it bad for Martha too. To see it go to another incarnation made him chuckle. The Doctor was worse with Rose, for sure, but Terra gave him a run for his money.
The rest of the team began to notice the behavior too. Owen eyed Leah, confused. As he glanced between Leah and Martha, it came together. He exchanged a grin with Jack. Tosh smiled, turning her head away to hide it.
"Leah. System crashed?" Owen prompted.
"Uhh. Right. NHS system crashed. The data, it's not just been deleted. It was-" Leah turned to Owen, seeing Martha standing right behind him. By her face, Leah's brain was going through the same problem as the NHS. "-reset."
"On purpose?" Owen asked. Leah mutely nodded.
"Could you look into it?" Martha asked.
"Yes." Leah replied.
Martha nodded. As Leah went to the computer, Martha paused. "You're young for Torchwood."
Leah began to type, searching the code. "...yes."
"How long have you been here?" Martha asked.
Leah kept typing. "Since...Canary Wharf." Was all she gave away.
Martha's face fell for a moment. "Oh. I'm sorry. I lost a cousin that day."
Leah paused. She glanced up at Martha, a confused look on her face. "A cousin?"
"Yes."
"Did-" Leah winced. She focused on the computer, typing away like it'd kill her otherwise. "Sorry. It- it was a bad day. For everybody."
"Yeah." Martha dragged off, a sad look on her face.
Jack didn't much like that look. Even worse, Jack didn't like the look on Leah's face.
"Martha." Jack bobbed his head towards his office. "Let's have a chat."
Martha agreed. She walked away. The only sign Leah noticed was a small pause in her typing.
Owen glanced at Jack. The look in his eyes made Jack wink at him. Tosh stepped forward to help Leah research.
==ILWAS==
In their office, Jack reclined at his desk. Martha started exploring the office, eyeing the various artifacts he displayed.
"How's the family?" Jack asked.
Martha hummed. "Getting better. They send their love."
"Give them mine." Jack sat up. He glanced out the window of his office. Leah typed like the coding offended her. "So, End of the World Survivors Club."
Martha grinned with glee. She rushed over to sit in front of Jack. "God, I am so glad to see you, Jack!"
"See, you did come all this way just to see me." Jack joked. "It's the jaw line. Once seen, always yearned for."
Martha laughed. They laughed together.
"Do you miss them?" Jack asked.
Martha shook her head. "No. I made my choice."
Jack doubted that. He missed them. All the time. Any day he woke up, he thought about Terra and the Doctor. Whenever he saw apple pie, or stared too long at a bottle of vodka, he remembered her. The color purple used to be a reminder. Now it was bowties and the color pink.
He thought about Terra every action. In surviving Torchwood, he thought about her warnings of the future. In times of strife, her laugh echoed in his mind. After the disaster, of thinking Rose dead, Jack waited by the phone for a call. Any call.
Then came the Master.
Not missing Terra after that? Impossible. And Jack hadn't even spent the Year with her. For someone that stayed by her side, Jack was sympathetic and jealous.
Leah, just outside, was different. A new joy. A new take on something nostalgic and familiar. To leave Terra was a struggle, but knowing that Leah waited for him made it easier. Leah reminded him of what he fought for- helped set him back to rights and restored his humanity. All the while, she pushed his team to be better. To be the best of humanity, as if they were all her companions.
Maybe Leah hadn't noticed it yet, but that's what it was. A ragtag group of humans, brought together to save the future. Leah constantly challenged them, made them show the great people they were while not ignoring their pitfalls.
It's something she'd always done best.
It could even make her proud of her own future.
Maybe she already was.
Martha caved. "Maybe sometimes."
Jack grinned, victorious. "Ah!"
"Tiny bit. Tiny, tiny. Then I come to my senses again." For her that's not how it was. She still held wounds from her crush on the Doctor, and from Terra's actions during the Year. The very real, very inescapable fear of knowing what she traveled with.
The Doctor, to Martha, was the brightness. On the moon, he'd been the craziest part of the day but the most exciting. The only person seemingly capable of saving the day- of thinking Martha could save the day. Martha constantly dealt with problems in her family- the divorced parents, bickering all the time that made family gatherings difficult. Martha always fixed those, without thanks. The Doctor praised her- in between thinking about Rose and giggling with Terra.
On the moon, Terra used a gun. Regularly. All those years, a gun constantly at her hip. The Doctor told off everyone else for guns and violence all the time. For Terra, he let it slide. She got all of that attention- all of those praises and kind words from the Doctor- then dismissed them with hardly a care. Even in her human form, Caroline avoided John like the plague. Meanwhile Martha fought tooth and nail for even a small bit of the Doctor's attention.
Terra's face as Father-of-Mine revealed the TARDIS chilled her bones. Terra was good at that. Terra was the darkness. She hid so perfectly that few noticed it until it was too late. Martha would've been fooled too. She had been fooled. The Year helped teach her otherwise.
Martha leaned back in her seat. "Anyway, I've got plenty to occupy me."
Jack grinned. Jumping out of his seat, he smirked at her. "Oh, yeah, Miss Highfalutin'. What is it? Medical officer?"
"Oh, yes."
"So do I have to call you ma'am?" Jack teased.
Martha snorted. "No. Just follow my orders to the letter."
Jack laughed. That's so exactly like Terra, it made his chest warm up. Did Martha even realize how much she picked up from the Time Lady? Or was Martha already like that, and the Time Lords just brought it to the surface? "You should have called me if you were looking for a job."
"I wasn't." Martha admitted. "This woman from UNIT rang out of the blue, said I was just what they needed. That I'd come highly recommended by impeccable sources."
Jack pointed at the sky. "You mean-?"
"Well, who else would have done it?" Martha asked.
Jack grinned. "That's very her."
Martha made a face. "What do you mean?"
Jack gestured to his office. "Remember what I said about Torchwood, about why I worked there?"
"A little."
"I only got this job because of her." Jack replied. A technicality- he got this job because Terra warned him of a darker future, one that she wanted to change. Jack strove to be that change. "She's special like that."
"But what about him? Sources- plural." Martha pointed out.
Jack gave her a raised eyebrow. "He's never been good at telling her no."
Martha blinked, leaning back to stare. "He said no all the time."
"Did it ever stick?" Jack countered.
And that, Martha couldn't argue.
"If she asked, he would do it." Jack smiled, fond. "We all do."
From Jack's perspective, she saved the world. She took a stance against the Master. Martha stood by her, and he'll never stop thanking her for it. Terra killed the Master herself. When Terra killed something, it stayed dead. The whole planet owed her.
Martha realized she couldn't share her side. From the moment she met Jack, he glued himself to Terra's side. A long lost companion returning to the fold. Terra's prodigal son. Jack never said any word against Terra, and likely took poorly to any attempts otherwise.
"So do you think you could get me one of those red caps for personal use?" Jack asked. Martha rolled her eyes. "I'm thinking Ianto might look good in it."
"You want uniforms, get your own." Martha stood up. She straightened out her jacket. "Now, am I going to get the guided tour?"
Jack stood upright. He saluted. "Yes, ma'am, whatever you say, ma'am! Huah!"
Martha laughed. She walked out from his office. "Leave it."
==ILWAS==
When Leah was working on a project, someone needed to be dying for her to be pulled away. Jack could come back, but it's bad luck to die in front of guests. Jack asked Gwen to come help on the tour.
"So that's the hot house. Tour continues this way, ladies, please. No dawdling." Jack started walking off to the next section.
Gwen spoke up to keep Martha behind. "Er, so, you know Jack pretty well, then?"
Martha paused. She'd expected conversations of how she and Jack met. "Oh, we were only together for a few days, but it was pretty intense."
Gwen's eyes widened. "You mean..?"
Martha understood immediately. "Oh, God, no! Not me. No, not that sort of intense. Nothing like that." The two women laughed. "Why, are you and him-?"
"No, no, not at all."
"I thought him and Ianto-"
"They are. They are! Blimey they are." Gwen shook her head, fond. Those two were pretty perfect for each other. As perfect as Rhys was for Gwen.
"We must be the only two people on the planet." Martha joked.
"No, Leah too." Gwen laughed. "What are we all doing wrong?"
"I know one too, except she's not on the planet." Martha explained. "I think we've got it right."
Jack finally decided to interrupt the conversation. "Oi, you talking about me?"
Gwen and Martha smiled to themselves. They switched to straight faces for Jack. "No, no, we were just discussing alien flora, weren't we?"
Martha nodded.
"Oh, yeah? She's no fun." Jack knew their game. He'd let them think they won. "Raise your game, girls."
==ILWAS==
Downstairs, Leah and Tosh were still at work on the computers. Jack finished his tour, letting Martha take a moment to appreciate the Hub in its entirety.
Martha glanced at a small contraption. Shaped like a handheld scanner, with a dial and a cone. "You've got some well weird kit. What's this?"
"Be careful." Jack stopped Martha before she could touch it. "It's an alien artifact."
"Yeah, there's a lot of argument about this, but for my money it's got to be a surgical instrument." Owen told Martha.
"And Leah said it was." Gwen reminded him. Chloe snorted. Owen turned to glare, Chloe pretended to be interested in the paperwork in front of her.
"Really?" Martha asked.
"Leah's usually on the money." Jack replied.
"Right, well, I call it a singularity scalpel." Owen prepared the experiment. He fixed up the experiment. A small crumpled piece of paper inside a paper coffee cup. "See, what it does is it concentrates energy on a tiny fixed point without damaging anything on the way. It's brilliant."
"It's amazing." Martha agreed.
"Yeah, do you remember the last time you did that, Owen?" Gwen teased.
"My ears remember." Chloe teased back.
"Yes. Right." Owen replied, dismissive. He started calibrating the scalpel. "Now, all we're going to do is, we're going to vaporize this paper without even scorching the cup."
Jack shook his head. "This is going to end in tears."
Martha smiled. It'd been so long since she saw an experiment like this. A piece of alien tech, being used instead of just tested endlessly. Some of the science went over her head, that didn't mean she didn't love it.
"Okay." Owen switched on the scalpel's screen. He turned the dial, getting it to focus on the paper. He flipped a switch.
At the exact same time, a cup blew up. This cup happened to be across the room, made of glass, and right behind Leah Luna-Johnson.
"BY THE TWIN SUNS!" Leah jumped back, screaming.
Chloe, Gwen, and Jack laughed. Martha stared at Leah, something at work behind her eyes.
Owen winced. "Er, I haven't quite got the calibration right yet."
"Didn't I tell you to stop touching that thing?! One wrong twist of that dial, you blow up a kidney!" Leah scolded. She stormed over to snatch the device from Owen's hand.
He let her. "You said you fixed it so it wasn't as sensitive-"
"It's a surgical device. They're all sensitive!"
"It's not the only sensitive thing here." Owen grumbled.
Leah narrowed her eyes. She slowly twisted the dial.
"Okay." Jack stepped in. "Leah. You got anything?"
Leah continued to glare- amber eyes burning in rage. Owen moved to be standing behind Jack. Leah's eyes followed.
"Yes. Another attack by a hypodermic needle. This one's different." Leah began.
"How?"
"You know how they all die? This one didn't." Leah reported. Jack blinked, surprised. "Woman, age 27, medical records wiped. She's in the hospital now."
The team moved. They grabbed their bags, walking towards the exit.
"Don't forget to-" Leah called out.
"We've got our bugs!" Owen held up his tiny toy creature. "Never take them off!"
"Good!" Leah walked over to her desk. "You finally learned something!"
The team laughed again. Martha stayed silent, but put up a smile for the Torchwood people. Her focus stayed back on the teenager walking away from them.
==ILWAS==
Martha drew the blood. She focused on the routine, on the procedure. If she stayed focused on the case, on these murders, she would forget that feeling in her gut. She managed to ignore it during the drive over. Now that she was alone with Jack and Gwen, Martha found it a lot more difficult.
The bugs were hidden on them. If Martha hadn't watched it herself, she would've missed them completely. Two tiny little toys hidden on their bodies. Jack, under his coat collar. Gwen, under her jacket lapels. Bugs designed to work as body cameras, and as trackers. The ultimate safety feature. Martha asked about those during the drive. Jack boasted about their better tech. Again, from Leah.
Leah Luna-Johnson. Tech genius. Amber eyes that could kill a man with a single look. Called out about the twin suns. Martha knew about only one planet with twin suns.
The patient, Marie, watched them with concern. "Yeah, but the doctors said they'd finished with me."
Martha pocketed the blood sample. "We're a bit different."
Jack watched them both work. He gave a small nod of his head as they worked.
"We know this is a bit tough on you, Marie, but did you recognize the man who attacked you?" Gwen asked.
"I already told the police." Marie reminded them.
Jack grinned. His classic, charming grin. "We're different from them, too."
Terra used to bend over backwards for that grin. Martha thought to herself.
Marie caved to it too. "No, I've never seen him before."
"Did he say anything in the course of the attack?" Gwen asked.
"No."
"Open wide." Martha took a cheek swab.
"Look, he just- he came towards me with a great big bloody needle, didn't he?" Marie sighed slumping into her hospital bed. "You know, my dog bit him and then I kicked him in the nuts."
Jack laughed. "Ha ha! Respect."
Martha smiled again, trying to hide her real thoughts.
Terra taught her dog how to do that
==ILWAS==
Back at the Hub, Owen and Martha ran tests on the evidence collected. As they waited for results, Owen started up a conversation.
"So you and Jack go back a long way?"
"Forward and back, really." Martha replied, mind elsewhere.
"What brought you together?" Owen asked.
Martha smiled to herself. "Let's say, we were under the same Doctor."
"So you knew that special girl too, then?" Owen asked.
"Special girl, huh." Martha's smile was less happy now. "Yes, I know her."
"What are they like?" Owen asked. "Like, like who are they?"
Martha went back to the DNA. "These killings, why the ammonium hydroxide? It's a weird way to kill someone."
"Yeah, it's gross. It's like injecting them with bleach." Owen replied.
Martha's eyes lit up. "Unless the objective isn't just killing."
Owen understood what she was getting at. "It's destroying something in the victim's bloodstream."
"It's getting rid of evidence." Martha realized.
==ILWAS==
Jack stood in front of the screens. They showed off the compiled evidence from Martha and Owen. "Locally, we've got a murder victim and a survivor. Both attacked with hypodermics, both with their medical records wiped."
"And more cases across the UK. We think the point of the attacks is to destroy evidence of their medical condition." Martha explained to the team. She glanced over to Leah and Chloe.
Chloe handed Leah a cup. Leah grabbed it, keeping her focus on the tablet in front of her.
"Gwen, Chloe, pursue the criminal investigation." Jack instructed.
"Okay." Gwen and Chloe went off to start working.
"Martha, Owen will follow up with the medical side." Jack instructed.
Owen huffed. "Fine."
"Leah, Tosh, any luck in retrieving those medical records?" Jack asked.
Leah looked up from the tablet.
"Not yet." Tosh told Jack.
"I've got a lead." Leah replied. "The system will have some gaps of memory from the removal. It's a lot like a human mind that way."
"Completely illegal, of course." Tosh pointed out.
"So is murder." Leah countered. "So I think that clears us."
"Do what you have to." Jack told them. Leah and Tosh nodded. "We're not dealing with a freak with some needle fetish. This is a conspiracy."
"See?! Jack gets it!" Leah cheered.
Martha winced. She walked off without a word or glance in Leah's direction.
Not that Leah noticed. Nope. Leah looked somewhere else. She wasn't paying attention to Doctor Martha Jones. That would be ridiculous.
==ILWAS==
Another body was reported. Gwen and Chloe went out to investigate it. The new body was just a young college student.
"The attack took place in the woods, so no witnesses, no CCTV." Gwen explained to Martha.
"Same as the others?" Martha asked.
"I asked Leah." Chloe replied. "Leah said his records were wiped."
"The puncture mark on his eyeball was identical to the other victims." Martha reasoned. "I mean, Jack's right. These attacks are not random, they're clinical. Professional. More like assassinations."
"But Barry Leonard was a student." Chloe reminded her. "Who'd assassinate a student?"
"Student Loans Company." Martha replied.
Gwen and Chloe laughed. "Yeah. Yeah, I think you just cracked it. But why delete medical records? You know, what did all these people have in common?"
"Owen's analyzing Marie's test results now. I'm hoping that'll give us an indication." Martha said.
Gwen sighed, shaking her head. "So we've still in the dark, no idea where the killer will strike next and the attacks are getting more frequent."
Martha tried to give Gwen a reassuring smile. Chloe reached over, squeezing Gwen's arms. "We keep looking, Gwen, we'll find something."
Leah's voice came on from Gwen's shirt. "Doctor Jon- uh. Martha, the hospital called about Marie. She's suffered a seizure."
Martha started running. She went off to the analysis desk. "They want us at the hospital. Marie's collapsed."
"Yeah? My money's on this stuff." Owen pointed at the screen. A file of Marie's DNA showed up on screen. There was something on the DNA, latched onto it. "From Marie's blood. It's a new one on me."
"Yeah, me too. Have you run an isoenzyme analysis on it?" Martha asked.
"No, not yet. What are you thinking, parasitic infection?"
"Could be."
"It's got to be down to this stuff, because otherwise I haven't got a clue what's wrong with her." Owen admitted.
"Yeah. No infections, no deficiencies in organ function, perfect cholesterol levels, ideal blood pressure." Martha listed.
"Yeah, exactly. She's so normal, she's abnormal." Owen mused.
==ILWAS==
Leah eyed the image on screen. A DNA fragment of the chemical picked up in Marie's blood. Martha and Owen called everyone together for a meeting. They needed to explain what they found.
"This, folks, is a molecular model of the drug that we found in Marie's blood." Owen explained.
Leah stood up from the table. She went up to the screen, eyeing the chemical and the analysis beside it.
"She called it Reset." Martha reported.
"So what does it do?" Ianto asked.
"What do you mean? It's right there." Leah pointed at the screen.
Owen rolled his eyes. "Not all of us have a computer for a brain."
Leah scoffed. "Ugh."
Owen gave her a tight smile. "I'll explain it. Then you'll tell me how I did."
Leah held up her hands. She sat back down on the large table. Jack grinned at their antics.
"Right, think about when you run a virus scan through your computer, yeah? The software works its way through the files and when it finds a Trojan or a virus or whatever, identifies it and then it deletes it. That is what this stuff does to the human body. But it's not just viruses. It's harmful bacteria, toxins, even mutant cells. You name it. It's like the body's been turned back to its factory settings." Owen explained. He gave Leah a look.
Leah nodded. She glanced at the team. "He's right."
"It's the ultimate magic bullet." Martha added. "Supersedes anything and everything in the pharmacological armory."
"But that would be the greatest medical discovery in history." Gwen commented.
"Exactly. Except, it comes bundled with a lethal alien parasite." Martha revealed.
Leah sat up. She narrowed her eyes on the screen, expression thoughtful.
"Ah, not so good a discovery." Jack mused. "Leah?" She hummed. "You got something?"
Leah pointed at the screen. "They sound like Thricketts."
"Thricketts?" Tosh asked.
"Yeah. 'Thrick' is an Onunion word for 'cleansing'." Leah explained. "It's a large parasite insect that lays its young in dead bodies. Usually dead. Helps purify them for burial. Sometimes, rarely, it ends up in someone alive. Just until incubated. There's a- I guess you'd called it a protective shell over the egg that cleanses the body it gets placed in. Cleaned all of it. Like they've never been sick a day in their lives. It's how they know someone's a host. For most of the Onun people this works, until-"
"Until the parasite is ready to hatch." Chloe finished.
"Yes. Usually, they perform surgeries to remove the eggs-"
"Eggs?" Martha asked.
"Yes. They're born in clusters." Leah seemed to realize all at once she was speaking to Martha again. "It- Umm. Like- like bees. Queen bees. They fight to the- the death for who's strongest. The fight- it's what kills. Also the- the chest bursting. That would do it." She awkwardly laughed. "'Ett' means death."
"Cleansing death." Jack nodded. "Much more dramatic than 'Reset'. So, who runs the Pharm?"
"Well, the public image is innocent enough." Ianto showed Jack the information. "Private public partnership between the government and a consortium of the pharmaceutical companies. Researching and developing cutting edge biotechnology."
"Their IT systems are way more cutting edge than they needed to be." Tosh added in. "Plus, they've got seemingly unrestricted security clearance."
"Which means they'd have the capability to erase medical records if they wanted to." Martha reasoned.
"And that they're the kind of people who notice when they get hacked." Leah added. "A drug with that much potential? They can't risk their people finding out this many test subjects have died from the hatching process."
"Who runs this outfit?" Jack asked.
"The Institute director is a Doctor Aaron Copley." Gwen stated.
"Yeah, I know his work. He's one of the most respected research scientists in his field." Owen told them.
"Harvard graduate." Chloe read off the man's biography. "Researched at Cambridge. His last job was as Harvard Professor of Molecular Pharmacology. He came here to set up the Pharm."
"Hmm, he's kind of handsome, too. Do you think he'll like visitors?" Jack asked. When nobody replied, Jack stood up. "Owen, with me. We're going on a field trip."
Owen nodded. He grabbed his coat, following after Jack.
"Leah, keep trying to get inside." Leah opened her mouth. "No excuses. Try until you can't. Understood?"
"Yessir." Leah pouted. She slumped in her seat. Gwen patted her back on the back.
The team dispersed. Most went to do their respective jobs. Leah sighed, lifting up her tablet. Martha walked over to Leah.
"You know your stuff. About aliens." Martha noted.
Leah paused. She glanced around the room, realizing they were completely alone. "Well. Uh. Like I said. Torchwood. Been here for three years, so I- Uh. I picked it up."
"That's good." Martha nodded. "Except, hold on. Canary Wharf was two years ago."
Leah hid a wince. She was so flustered she forgot to subtract the Year. And it was such an obvious mistake, what with...well because of what she...because of Mar- "I uh- was in Torchwood before. Actually. Canary Wharf was when I started working, like, for real."
Martha tilted her head. "What were you here for if not work?"
"Bring your kid to work day." Leah replied easily. Her smile cracked. She could see it. Martha didn't believe her. She was really, really good. No wonder the Master was so scared of her. Now Leah needed to work damage control. "Was great. Got to see- just- just a whole lot. Then, I guess, long story short, I got the job."
Martha stared. "Why did they hire you, especially so young? Don't you want to be out there doing- I don't know. Kid stuff. Why choose to be here?"
Leah tensed her jaw. She shifted in her seat, sitting upright. She looked away from Martha, frowning down at her tablet instead. "...I saw something I shouldn't. Instead of Retconning me, they sent me here. There wasn't really a lot of choice involved."
It would've worked on anyone else. Hell, maybe even on the team themselves. Martha, though, was cut from a different cloth. "So Jack thought you were...special."
The word curdled Leah's stomach. A headache started to form between her eyes. Fierce. Harsh. Cold. "Is that enough? Or can I go back to doing my job?" Leah mumbled.
"No, no. It's alright. You can." Martha walked out of the conference room. "Sorry for distracting you."
Leah watched her go. She grimaced, grunting in pain. She reached a hand up to her head. She grunted and groaned. All at once, a lost look came over her. She stared blankly down at her tablet. The screen long since gone black.
==ILWAS==
Jack and Owen returned from the Pharm. The Pharm was everything promised and more. Only problem? Aaron Copley refused to allow Torchwood entry. They weren't left with a lot of choices.
"Leah. Tell me you have something." Jack asked.
Leah was staring, vaguely, off in the distance. Specifically, the distance between her and Martha.
"Leah?" Jack prompted again.
"Huh?" Leah sat up. Jack raised his eyebrows. "Oh! Right. No. I hate to say it, but no. The Pharm's got encryption levels deeper than hell."
Jack sighed.
"I could make it through but it's gonna take time we don't have." Leah told him.
Jack shook his head. "An alien life form is preying on the human bloodstream. I need a way in there."
"Well if you want that...Ianto!" Leah called out.
"On the screen now." Ianto called back.
Leah turned the screen to Jack. "See?" She pressed on a link. It brought her to a page for the Pharm. "A place with this high a kill count-"
"-is always in need of volunteers." Jack nodded. "Thank you, Ianto!"
The man just gave Jack a small grin.
"Then one of us goes in undercover." Gwen suggested.
"No, we don't know enough about the workings of that place." Jack shook his head. "Too many things could go wrong."
"Unless you were to put a medic in there. Someone who knew what to look for." Martha suggested.
Leah's head snapped over to her. "Absolutely not."
"Aww, you do care." Owen teased.
"Drop dead. They saw your face- you can't go undercover. Martha, you can't go." Leah argued.
"No way." Jack agreed.
"Come on, Jack, I've been in worse places and you know it." Martha gave him a pointed look.
Jack thought about it. Leah saw his reply before he even said it.
"Okay." Jack replied.
"Jack, you can't!" Leah stood up from her seat, lowering her tablet to the desk.
Jack tensed his jaw. He walked off towards his office. Owen and Leah exchanged a look. Together, they went after him.
"Jack, can we have a word?" Owen began. Jack was quiet. They took that as an invitation. "I know you're big buddies from way back whenever, but you can't just send her in like this."
"It's not the usual sorts of missions she's used to with UNIT. This is a real, life threatening danger." Leah insisted. "Not even if she gets found out. If they give her the Reset, she'll be a ticking time bomb."
"Trust me. She's more than capable. I'd rely on Martha if the world was ending." Jack replied. He started to walk away. He stopped, turning back to them. "In fact, I did."
Leah bit her lip. "I know."
Owen stared at her. Leah shook her head. "Give us a minute?" Owen nodded. He left, hoping that Leah could get Jack to change his mind. "Jack, you can't send her in. Give me a little more time, I can crack into their systems- Or even send me in!"
"Absolutely not. Martha comes highly trained. The best of the best." Jack replied. "I can't give you all the details but-"
"She traveled with the Doctor and my future self, I know." Leah stated. Jack stared, lips curling in a curious grin. "You aren't subtle."
"Then you know what she-"
"I survived the Year too, you know." Leah interrupted.
Jack sighed. He looked up, staring into Leah's eyes. She stared back- her voice barely trembling and jaw twitching. "I do, yeah. It's not something we talk about."
"He made broadcasts about her." Leah told Jack. "Of what would be done to anyone found to be holding her or Lady Terra Johnson. Martha wandered the entire globe in a year, and still won. Of course I know how capable she is."
"Then why coddle her?" Jack replied.
"She's already saved the Earth. How can we ask her to go again?" Leah crossed her arms over her chest, squeezing her elbows.
"Martha volunteered. None of us asked her to do anything." Jack explained. "She knows the risks, and is ready to face them."
Leah bit her lip. She wanted to say more, say a whole lot more. But if she did, if she revealed what she Saw...what would Jack think of her then? "I'm worried bad memories will come up."
"For her, or for you?" Jack countered
Leah steeled herself.
"She's our only choice, and you know it." Jack countered.
Leah sighed, and Jack's own chest ached at the sound. She sounded a breath away from sobbing.
"Hey." Jack stepped forward. He squeezed Leah's shoulder, trying to reassure the Time Lady. "How about you help me keep her safe? She's gonna need a way to communicate with us-"
Leah ran off. She yanked herself out of his hold, and ran away from Jack.
==ILWAS==
Ianto and Martha were in the medical pit. Ianto showed off the blueprints, as well as other important documents.
"Okay, these are the plans for the Pharm's buildings." Ianto explained. Martha dutifully nodded, paying close attention. "From what Jack and Owen saw, they reckon that the main house contains Copley's office, medical research suites and the accommodation for the clinical trials subjects."
"What about the buildings at the rear?" Martha pointed at their designs.
"Restricted area, fenced off, armed security." Ianto answered. "Jack thinks that's where the readings of alien life forms came from."
"Cool." Martha nodded.
"But you don't need to go anywhere near there." Ianto replied.
Martha grinned at him. "Spoilsport."
Ianto grinned with him. "The first thing you need to do is get yourself accepted as a clinical trials subject. Don't try too hard. Don't draw too much attention to yourself."
"Be invisible. I can do that." Martha smiled, fond memories coming back. She was so used to being invisible that sometimes Martha forgot why. Luckily for her that Terra helped-
Martha cut that thought off. This investigation already reminded her too much of Terra, of a trip to New York to hunt a weapon. She needed to keep all thoughts of Terra out of her head.
"Once you're in, we need you to gain access to the Pharm's IT systems, close down the system firewalls and security protocols." Ianto explained. "That way Tosh and Leah can gain access to the files and see what they're really up to."
"Industrial espionage. It's very civilized." Martha mumbled.
It was supposed to be civilized, Martha thought. Instead Terra decided to-
"Once you've done that, get out. Don't take any unnecessary risks." Ianto instructed.
Martha nodded. "Understood."
"Cool." Ianto closed up the files and documents. He started to walk out of the pit.
Martha was grateful. Her head started to spin, dragging her back to those memories. To Terra's violent rampage in that science lab. She needed a distraction. Something- anything- to make her forget.
"So, Jack asked me if I could get you a UNIT cap to wear." Martha blurted out.
Ianto paused on the stairs. "Did he? Well, red is my color."
"So am I right in thinking that you and he..?" Martha eyed him, smiling with a forced giggle. She needed to make herself laugh, to feel joy, to shake off the dread in her stomach.
Ianto smiled back, curious. "Me and him. We...dabble."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
"So what's his dabbling like?" Martha asked.
At that, the Torchwood agent laughed. "Innovative."
Martha stared. "Really?"
"Bordering on the avant garde." Ianto admitted.
'Give Ianto a kiss for me!'
"Wow."
Ianto nodded, fond. "Oh, yeah."
"Did he-" Martha paused. "Did he ever mention that- that special girl?"
Martha kept close watch of Ianto's reaction. He shifted on the stairs, rising up a step. He stared at Martha, then up towards the Hub. "Huh. So shall we get your cover story sorted?"
She should stop. She should really, really stop. It wouldn't help her at all to ask those kinds of questions. Reminding herself of Terra only ever made things worse.
"Absolutely."
==ILWAS==
They moved into Jack's office. Ianto, Jack, and Leah sat around his desk. Martha sat in front of it.
Ianto held up an ID badge. "Fake ID. First name Samantha, thought the Jones would be safe."
Martha took it. "Okay. How do I stay in touch?"
"A bug." Leah answered.
"They'll notice." Martha pointed out.
"We still want to monitor you at all times." Jack told her.
"But it's a toy." Martha replied.
"You need it." Leah insisted, sternly. She held it out.
Martha flinched back.
Leah paused. Jack took it from her hand, giving it to Martha. Martha accepted it from Jack's hand.
==ILWAS==
Martha watched the screen.
Leah typed away on her tablet. Soon, an image appeared on Tosh's desk screen. It showed off an angle of the computer in a long loop. Martha tilted her head. The view tilted with it.
"I'm a camera!" Martha cheered.
"As Chris Isherwood once said to me when we were cruising the Kurfurstendamm." Jack joked. Owen and Chloe rolled their eyes.
Leah huffed. "My bugs are special. Disguised as toys, nobody pays them any mind. My bug will attach and be able to communicate with you. Well and us."
"How?" Martha asked.
Leah typed on the tablet. "Like this."
At least, Martha heard her say it. She stared at Leah, confused.
"It- I borrowed it." Leah swallowed, shifting again in her seat. "They're thermoelectric-"
"Body heat." Tosh supplied.
"-so they work when attached. It can hold energy for at most two hours, before powering down." Leah explained. She wasn't going to repeat the incident of what Quill did to Gwen.
"Meaning: wear it everywhere anyway." Owen supplied.
Martha nodded, taking it all in.
"In case of emergency, we can speak directly to you." Jack nodded at Leah.
Leah typed away again. Martha heard words again. Not aloud, she realized, but in her head. "This tablet connects to every bug I've ever made. It sends thoughts directly into your mind. Call it thought-mail. Bypasses the human auditory system directly to the brain. Totally harmless- I promise."
Martha blinked, trying to get used to the feeling. The words in her brain echoed with Leah saying it outloud. "But...can't those signals be intercepted?"
"Normally. Unless you happen to have access to alien tech to work around the EPR paradox." Leah replied. She smiled at Martha.
Martha looked away. The little tiny bug- painted a dark red with darker blue streaks. It stuck to her lapel. She wasn't thinking about it. She could ignore it. "Oh, quantum entanglement of remote particles? Okay, cool."
Leah's cheeks went pink. Owen, Tosh, and Ianto stared at Martha.
Jack laughed. "Did I mention she was brilliant?"
"What's the nickname?" Owen asked. Martha turned to him. "She gives 'em all little names. Like they're her pets."
"HarpFour, Three-iko, IanTwo-"
"HarkSix." Jack winked at Leah. She was still staring at Martha, with bright pink cheeks. "And Rhys had VII-Liam's, so Martha would have-
"I didn't give her one." Leah admitted. "It's- Martha. Just Martha."
Jack continued to laugh.
==ILWAS==
The whole team watched Martha's every move. She'd driven the whole way to the Pharm without issue.
Leah fidgeted with a tablet pen.
Martha made it into the building. As Martha walked, her stress rose. Staying calm took every part of her self control. She wanted to help Martha- offer advice and tips. It wouldn't be warmly welcomed.
Though Leah wanted to think otherwise, she couldn't argue the truth. Martha figured out who Leah would be. Since learning it, Martha avoided any sort of contact with Leah. It made no sense. Martha walked the whole globe with Leah's future self. Why did learning about it make Martha so distant? So distant, in fact, that she would rather sneak into the Pharm than stay close with Leah?
Leah thought about it. Then, she remembered that very brief, very...informative vision. It made Martha's very obvious distance make sense. Hell, Leah wanted distance from herself.
Terra only ever hurt the people she was closest too.
Leah was glad she'd never be around to see it.
The Pharm people took Martha to a medical area. They took her blood. Twice.
The pen fell- hit her own leg-
"She's imperfect, but she tries-" She was rubbing a stain remover pen on her skirt. A dark red dot on blue. Martha wasn't looking at her. Back to ignoring Terra, the American Who Uses Guns. "-she is good-"
"She's good." Owen reported.
Leah exhaled. She picked the pen off the ground, spinning it in her hands.
"It's standard procedure to take two blood tests." The head nurse explained. "One of them will be analyzed overnight. Thank you, Nurse." The other nurse walked away with the blood samples. The head nurse sat down in front of Martha's patient bed. "So tell us the places you've been to, Samantha."
"Well, I had a great time in North America, France and Germany. Australia." Martha listed.
Australia: I heard that week was after Japan burnt down
France & Germany: the first two months, that's all I heard about. Terra and Martha, hiding around Europe.
North America: ...my vision. She was- they were both in New York.
Leah frowned. She tapped the pen to her lips, trying not to think about anything else but the here and now. Maybe going through those mental exercises that Logan recommended would help her think.
"What about the Third World? Africa, Latin America?" The head nurse asked.
"No, but I'm sure I'll get round to it." Martha answered.
They'd given Samantha Jones history in those first countries, and not any of the others. Leah had been...stressed when she wrote the list, shall she say.
"Travel off the beaten track can be a bit of a problem for us. If you had some exotic tropical disease, there could be unexpected side effects, and volunteers' welfare is our absolute priority." The head nurse assured her.
Behind Leah, some humans snickered. Gwen even scoffed.
"I don't think there'll be any problem with that. And I'm very conscious of health issues."
The whole team tensed. Even the head nurse eyed Martha oddly.
"My mum's a nurse." Martha quickly supplied
Leah went to the computer. She needed to add that detail in before they finished her background check. When she was finished, she looked back at the screen to see Professor Copley walking up.
"This is Professor Copley, Samantha. Institute director."
Copley held out his hand. "Hi, Sam. Nice to meet you."
Martha shook it. "Hello."
"Tell her to get close to Copley." Jack instructed Leah.
Leah typed that out.
"I see you're a postgraduate student at the moment." Copley commented.
"That's right."
"Studying what?" Copley asked.
"Creative writing. So I really need the cash." Martha insisted.
Leah thought to type a compliment. She stopped herself from typing it out.
Copley shook his head. "I'm sure you'll understand, Samantha, that we have a lot of applicants."
"Tell her not to lose him." Jack insisted.
Leah wrote out an idea. 'It's a cure-all and they need to prove it.' Before she could hit send, Martha stood up.
"We'll let you know in due course-"
"Actually, there's something I should have told you." Martha began.
Copley turned back to her. "Oh, yes?"
The team tensed up. Leah breathed out in relief.
"It'll show up in the test results anyway. I did have a hepatitis infection."
Owen scoffed. "No, no, no, she's bullshitting. It's her way in."
"She needs something impossible to cure." Leah confirmed.
"I mean, I'm fine now, but it stays in the blood. Strictly speaking, it's incurable, right?" Martha asked.
Copley and the head nurse exchanged a look. "That puts a different complexion on things. We could use a subject with hepatitis. Are you available to start right now?"
Martha held up her bag. "Well, sure. I've brought my overnight things."
"Then all we need is your signature on this confidentiality agreement." Copley brought Martha over to the desk, showing her the form.
"She's in." Leah said, more to herself than to the team.
"As Chris Isherwood also said, it's not the getting in, it's the getting out." Jack pointed out.
"So what sort of drugs will you want me to take?" Martha asked.
"We have various products at the clinical trials stage. You'll be given a full briefing once we've finalized the programme, and, of course, we won't proceed unless we have your informed consent." Copley assured, lying through his teeth.
"Come on, Martha." Jack mumbled.
"Let her settle in. It's gonna be a long night ahead." Owen reminded Jack.
==ILWAS==
Leah: Hey, Garfield? Can you talk?
Garfield: Course we can! What's up?
Leah: Things are weird at Torchwood
Garfield: I'm shocked
Garfield: What kind of weird?
Leah: There's been a string of murders. The bodies are clear of all toxins, viruses, etc.
Leah: Jack called in an old friend. She hates me.
Garfield: Well I like you.
Leah: She knows who I become
Garfield: Oh
Garfield: Are u ok?
Leah: No. She hates me
Garfield: Because of what you become? You didn't even do anything!
Leah: and I didn't even do anything! Yeah!
Garfield: You don't deserve that
Leah: Maybe I do. What my future self did to her is horrible
Garfield: You aren't her. She won't ever be you.
Leah: Martha was supposed to be her friend.
Garfield: Did you wanna do something later? We could watch one of those new movies that came out?
Leah: You sound like Jack. We're in the middle of an operation. If I leave now, Martha will get hurt. Or one of the others. But he still made me go. Picking up fucking pizza like a life isn't on the line.
Garfield: Leah. Be honest with me.
Garfield: Did you have a vision about that?
Leah: Yes
Leah: And I freaked out so hard that Jack made me leave to get food. Even though I'm way more useful sitting at that computer keeping Martha alive but NO I should PICK UP THE FUCKING PIZZA!
Garfield: Well Jack is an idiot. I'll do better in the future
Garfield: So how are you gonna stop them from getting hurt? You got that vision for a reason, after all.
Leah: When I know, you'll know.
Garfield: We developed telepathy?
Leah: No. I will actually text you.
Garfield: Thank you.
Garfield: Whatever you do, I bet Terra never would've. You're way smarter
(Ten minutes later)
Leah: ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?! TOSH FINALLY ASKED OUT OWEN! THAT'S WHY TOSH ASKED ME TO LEAVE AND I REFUSED SO JACK ORDERED ME TO GO! ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!
Leah: FUCKING TORCHWOOD!
==ILWAS==
They watched as Martha walked out of her room. The lights at the Pharm were out. Martha snuck around the halls. At each turn and stairwell, Leah's hearts thumped.
Martha reached a restricted access door. The only lock came from a passcode.
Leah started hacking it the moment Martha spotted it.
"Tosh, can you get us past this?" Owen asked.
"Looks like Leah already has it under control." Tosh replied.
The first number came. Leah typed it out.
Martha glanced away. The signal kept going. Leah got what she needed. But the sounds coming from the bug were footsteps. And chatter. Security guards.
They had one minute- two tops.
Leah typed out the next three numbers. The fifth digit put up a fight. At the last one, Martha slipped inside. The flashlights of the security guards came by as the door shut.
The team exhaled.
Martha went to the closest computer. Copley's, by the look of it. It auto-filled the username.
"Password." Leah typed out a message. "Keep...staring."
"You helping her into the system?" Owen asked.
"Yes."
"Do we have the time?" Tosh asked.
"We don't." Jack stated. "I want her out of that office."
"Well, if I can get her to-" Tosh reached for the keyboard.
Leah yanked it back. "No! I've almost got it."
"How did you do it?"
"I'm clever." Leah let out a breath. "There. -72zqyfq."
The team watched Martha type it. Jack stepped closer to Leah, ready to yank away the keyboard if necessary. The password worked. Jack patted Leah's shoulder.
Leah shrugged his hand off. "Tosh. I'm gonna walk her through giving us remote control of the computer. Can you-"
"Yes." Tosh started working on a computer.
Leah and Tosh worked together with Martha. In a matter of moments, the computer and all files inside belonged to Torchwood. Mission successful. Now, Leah just needed to make sure it was completed.
As the data transferred, it popped up on Martha's screen.
"The life cycle of the parasite. They call it the Mayfly." Martha said.
The images showed a large insect. It more resembled a mosquito than a mayfly. About as parasitic too, if Leah were honest. Humans were terrible as the whole 'naming new species' thing.
Gwen went over to her desk. "Wow. We've never seen a species like that before."
"It's beautiful." Tosh agreed.
"It's lethal." Owen corrected her.
You want to date this person, Toshiko? Leah thought to herself.
"But what is Copley doing with them?" Jack asked. He leaned over. Leah pressed a button to activate the comm. "Martha, now we've got control, we can download all of this and go through it here. Get out of there pronto."
Martha's camera moved up and down. A nod, interesting and dizzying. She started moving to the exit.
"Tosh, do you have that code breaker software?" Gwen asked.
"I'm sending a patch through now." Tosh said.
Gwen nodded. "Thank you."
Martha snuck out of the office. Leah mentally checked out the mental map of the Pharm. There was a clear path to the exit, if she only avoided the security guards.
An alarm went off.
Leah cursed.
"Break out in Zone A. All patrols to Zone A immediately. Breakout in Zone A. Break out in Zone A. All patrols proceed with extreme caution. The escaped creature is extremely dangerous."
Martha started running off. Leah tried coming up with a new path- a new, safe way out.
'There's a window up the hall to the left. You'll reach the ground.' Leah advised.
Martha hesitated.
'GO!'
Security guards began walking by. Leah wanted to scream- or yell. Things were getting worse.
Jack grabbed his bug off his neck. "Martha go!"
Martha jumped out the window. She climbed down off the foot, hitting the dirt running.
"Jack, I've got the list of the clinical trials subjects here." Gwen called out. Jack left Leah alone.
Leah needed to be fast. Tosh was working out the information, decoding it and sorting it. Leah needed to save Martha Jones.
"Meredith Roberts, Marie Thomas, Barry Leonard. All the murder victims. Ooo, who's BD?" Gwen asked. "Executive actions?"
"Old CIA terminology for assassinations." Jack answered. "The Pharm are running their own hit man, which is kind of unusual for a medical research facility."
"Wait a minute, there's a name here that we haven't seen before. Elin Morgan? She hasn't been reported missing or dead." Gwen reported.
"She soon will be. Take Chloe and pull her in." Jack ordered.
Gwen and Chloe walked out after it.
At the Pharm, Martha made it to a locked gate.
Leah struggled to find a clear path out. She couldn't even figure out how they noticed Martha was out. They wouldn't notice the Jack yet, or the room being empty, or-
By the twin suns
'A THRICKETT IS LOOSE! DO NOT LET IT CATCH YOU!' Leah warned.
Martha ran faster.
"Do not attempt to approach the creature, is that understood? Stun and sedate only. The creature is highly dangerous!"
The gate opened for a group of guards. Martha snuck out behind them.
Leah blew out a breath, then took a deep inhale.
"What the hell is she doing?" Owen asked. "If the Pharm have their own hit man, God knows what they're capable of."
"Yeah, and I put her in there." Jack stated.
"Yes you did." Leah snapped. She worked on the bug, trying something- anything- to save Martha. If any human out there deserved it, it was Martha.
Martha ran down an alleyway, practically headed back into the facility. Leah recognized it from the blueprints. She typed out directions from that point to somewhere safe.
As she hit enter, a buzzy sort of growl came over the line.
"Fuck." Leah snapped.
"Shit." Owen agreed.
Martha turned back. A giant bug flew up to her. It stopped, just before reaching her. The best size comparison would be the size of the Torchwood jeep.
The Thrickett shrieked.
It fell to the ground. Leah watched guards run up behind it. One raised their stun weapon at Martha.
"No!" Jack shouted.
The guard fired. Martha fell back. The bug clung to her jacket, camera facing up towards the stars.
"We have to get her out of there." Owen insisted.
"That place is swamped in security. If we try and steam in, we'll be putting her at risk." Tosh warned him.
"We can't just leave her in there, can we?" Owen snapped.
"We've still got a live feed. We can keep track of her." Tosh replied.
"Anything could be happening to her in there while we're keeping track." Owen argued.
Meanwhile, Leah's brain was imploding. She stared at the computer intent. As if she could set fire to it with her mind. Maybe Time Lords were capable of that.
"Martha can handle herself. She's been in worse situations than this." Jack stated.
"No." Leah mumbled. "Not worse. She barely got out last time, and you threw her back in."
Jack didn't deny it.
Leah stormed away.
==ILWAS==
They took off her jacket. The Martha bug moved itself, the programming making it search for her body heat. Without notice, the bug stuck itself on Martha's hip.
It made everything easier. Watching what exactly the Reset process did to the test subjects.
The doctors and nurses belted Martha down to a table. The UNIT doctor was still unconscious. Leah monitored her vitals from the bug. There wasn't any danger for her yet. Yet. That dreadful word. There's no way to help Martha, not from this far. Taking out the Pharm would help.
Leah couldn't do that. Her future self could. She'd do it without hesitating. For Martha, Terra's priorities were exposed. While Leah didn't have that bond, that was still a human life on the line. A life that Leah helped expose. If Martha died, that's blood on her hands.
Gwen and Aunt Chloe collected the assassin. They saved a person. It mattered, only not at all. That life mattered, obviously. It just wasn't Martha. If that assassin helped them get Martha, then it was a success. Jack just needed to get answers.
For now, Leah watched the live feed.
Martha finally started to wake up.
"I'm here as a clinical volunteer. You can't treat me like this!" Martha shouted.
"You lied to us, Samantha." Copley chided.
"Can I just explain? I got bored stuck in that room, so I went for a walk, and first that thing attacked me, and then your heavies assaulted me." Martha lied.
"You don't owe any loyalty to Torchwood. Jack Harkness has treated you in a criminally irresponsible way." Copley scolded.
It irked Leah. Her younger self would've agreed with him. Torchwood never cared about the cost of their teams' lives. Not before Leah and Gwen joined the team. They made Jack learn that to care again.
"Who? I really don't understand."
"Don't bother. This is not an interrogation. Torchwood is irrelevant to us. Not even a nuisance. In fact, they've done us quite a favor putting you in here. We've analyzed your test results. You really are something special."
Leah shifted in her seat. "Fucking shit. Fucking shit fuck."
"What is it?" Tosh asked.
Leah threaded her hands in her hair, tangling and untangling the threads of brown. "Do you ever wonder why Time Travelers never spread new diseases every time they take a step?"
"Right. Because their immune system is so different, they are introducing new toxins to the past or bringing new ones from the future." Tosh nodded. "But what does that-"
"Say you were inventing a time machine. Not just for yourself, for all of your people for now and forever." Leah explained. "You would put in protocols to keep diseases away- to decontaminate during each trip and keep any disease from spreading through the various time zones. Now, for one or two trips you're fine-"
"Unless...you travel for months...in that time machine." Tosh glanced at the feed, showing off Martha Jones strapped to a table. A nurse was preparing an IV. "You get a stronger immune system because of it. "
"Her lymphocytes mutated because of that time travel." Leah snapped. "She should've been gone before they even realized what they lost. But now they've got a perfect test dummy for a miracle cure."
Tosh's eyes widened.
They turned to the screen. The IV was attached to Martha's arm. A reddish tinted liquid was slowly being tripped into her system.
==ILWAS==
The assassin ended up dying. He breathed in the larvae of a dying patient, getting eggs in his body before he'd even realized. That dead college student, probably. He died without giving them information on how to save Martha.
At the Pharm, Martha was given a double dose of the Reset. Her body started twitching and jerking from it. Her readings showed the fast rise of a fever, and her heart pounded in what could become a stroke.
Leah wanted to break something. Like, really break something. To cause pain. She wanted somewhere hurt and it didn't matter who it was. This dark, rising feeling sat all too comfortably in her chest. She should be scared at how easily this rage came. Instead, it brought her a righteous fury.
"Leah, what will they do with Billy Davis' body?" Tosh asked.
"Weapons testing." Leah replied. She narrowed her eyes at the Torchwood agent. "Why?"
"I've thought of a way we can use him to get us into the Pharm." Tosh tilted her computer screen for Leah to see. "Clever, huh?"
Leah stared.
And stared.
Then she smiled.
"If you weren't going out with Owen, I might've taken you out for dinner." Leah promised.
Tosh laughed. "Sorry. Aliens aren't my type."
==ILWAS==
The team left for the Pharm. Billy the Assassin was used as a Meat Puppet to drive the van. They'd let him in without question. Tosh controlled the body.
Leah stayed back at the Hub. Her mind rebelled against her. Every step towards the door brought her intense pain. Flashbacks of a future she hadn't lived yet flooded her. Martha Jones being offered emotion stickers. Martha Jones playing with a golden puppy. Martha Jones pointing at locations on a map. Martha Jones yelling at her for hurting people, for using guns, for just...existing.
That's what made Leah decide to stay.
She couldn't ignore it, though.
Somebody was still going to die. That, Leah saw on repeat. Either Martha Jones, or the sounds of gunshots and Tosh screaming.
Leah wanted to help. She wanted to stop it. Needed to save a life. No more taking lives. That's not what Torchwood is. It can't be what Leah becomes.
Whatever you do, I bet Terra never would've.
"Tosh, Gwen, Chloe, Ianto, check out Zone A. We're going after Martha. Let's go." Jack ordered.
Leah checked the tablet. All the little nicknames beside all the monitors. John-One, IanTwo, Three-iko, HarpFour, Fiver, HarkSix, and Leah's own Zero-Hero. The odd one out read as Martha.
Her heart rate beat chaotically- constantly thumping. It must be so painful. That fever spiked too.
Doors slammed open. Leah watched as Jack appeared in Martha's bug's camera. And she watched Martha appear in HarkSix and HarpFour. The sight brought no comfort. They were a long way from being done with this mission.
"Hands above your head! What have you done to her?" Jack asked Copley.
"Tell me that's not Reset." Owen snapped.
"Based on the timing and how much they gave her, she's in the larval stage." Leah reported. "That's the cannibalism stage."
"What's that mean for her?" Jack asked. "Is she alright?"
"She's-" Copley began.
"Not another word out of you!" Jack shouted. "Leah!"
"If there's only one left, then it's going to force it's way out." Leah warned. "We'd need to get it out."
"How? You said the Onunions removed it." Jack replied.
"They usually just cut the person open- the worst kind of Cesarean." Leah snapped.
"Put your hands above your head! Chloe. Ianto." Gwen's comm called out.
"Bloody hell."
"This is disgusting."
"What?" Leah started switching camera feeds.
"Leah no-"
The page switched over. A Weevil appeared on the tablet screen. A weak, pale Weevil. Wires connected to every limb, a steady stream of liquid pouring in and a steady stream being drained out. The Weevil's expression could only be described as pained.
The Pharm needed to die. Leah decided. She started up the process to kill it where it lived, tear it apart at it's very core. All of it- gone. They weren't allowed to exist anymore.
"Leah, this thing's killing her. I don't know what I can do." Owen pleaded.
"Owen. Check your bag!" Leah ordered.
"How is that- oh I see." Owen went to the bag. He pulled out the singularity scalpel. "Guess it's time to learn."
"What's happening here?" Gwen's voice came from the tablet.
"This is what the Pharm is all about. We farm captive aliens for the exotic chemical products they metabolize." The head nurse argued.
"What the hell do you get from a Weevil?" Ianto asked.
"Besides the proof that you're all sick." Chloe spat.
"Some pesticides, and a quite powerful chemical defoliant. But the Weevils aren't what's going to clinch the Nobel for us." The head nurse explained. "The Mayfly, our feedstock for Reset. Given time, we'll tweak the product for human use, and then it'll be bigger than penicillin."
"Jack, I can give you a report on Zone A." Ianto began. "They're holding dozens of creatures captive down here. They seem to be using them as test subjects."
"Understood, Ianto. Leah, go for total shutdown. This place is a torture chamber." Jack ordered.
"Already done." They got all the files they needed. Leah sent out a virus to the Pharm network. All of the research, quickly and perfectly deleted. Like the files never existed.
The Pharm was good.
Leah did it better.
"I don't need to debate medical ethics with you." Copley snapped.
"You abused the Thricketts. You turned them into parasites. They're meant to cure people!" Jack scolded.
"They still are!" Copley argued. "We didn't understand how they reproduce, that's all. We tried to limit the damage!"
"What, by murdering people?" Jack snapped.
"They were going to die anyway!" Copley replied. "We're on the edge of the greatest discovery in history. It's got to be worth a few sacrifices. You must understand that, Jack, you're involved in alien research."
"Not like this. I'm closing this place down." Jack snapped.
"In your dreams. This is a state of the art, official facility." Copley argued.
"Oh I'm not going to do it by sending a memo." Jack shook his head. He sneered at Copley. "We've got the biggest tech genius on the planet on our side. She's in your IT systems. As we speak, she's crashing your data banks, wiping your records."
"And closing their bank accounts." Leah added. "All of their funds are being silently donated to a thousand different charities. They'll do actual good. Owen, you got that thing ready yet?"
"Almost." Owen grumbling.
"Damn, hope you weren't hoping for any kind of Christmas bonus." Jack grinned. "She's got it going to charity."
"That's cyber terrorism!" Copley snapped.
Martha's vitals spiked in a bad way. Leah started checking them over, giving her quick scans. They weren't looking good.
"Owen. She's gonna need it sooner rather than later." Leah warned.
"That's her getting started. She's going to trip the systems of your fire, radiation and biohazard safety networks. The power will be cut, sprinklers will be activated, and a large part of this facility will be sealed and flooded with inert gasses."
"The aliens will die."
"They're already dying. This way they'll be put out of their misery."
"For God's sake, we're on the same side."
"No. Combating hostile aliens is one thing, but this is slavery, exploitation, a war crime."
"Jack, I need your help!" Owen pleaded.
Jack went over to Owen and Martha. Martha began shaking on the bed. The Thrickett was going to burst out soon.
Jack held Martha down. "What the hell are you doing to her?"
"Surgery." Leah supplied. "It's the only way to save Martha."
"It's never worked before! Are you sure it's safe?"
"I trust Owen." Leah stated.
Martha's belly began bulging. It pumped out and in and out.
"Good thing one of us does." Owen mumbled. "I think I understand how it works."
"Leah-"
"I trust Owen. He can do it. He's got me!" Leah reminded. "Owen, you need to focus on it. Not just on the dial, but you yourself! Trust yourself that you've caught it."
"Got it!"
Owen turned the dial.
Leah stared at the multiple angles. One- just one- needed to show the baby Thrickett was gone.
Martha shot upright. Owen and Jack flinched back. Leah leaned forward.
Martha fell back against the bed.
A long, flat beep.
"What have you done?" Jack asked.
"Shut up." Leah hissed. She checked the tablet. Martha's vitals were no longer spiking. They were...mellowing. "She's stabilizing."
Martha coughed.
Leah sighed, falling back in her seat. "See? Have a little faith in Martha Jones. It does wonders."
Jack laughed.
"Oh, bloody hell, it worked. Thank God for that."
"Let's get her out of here."
==ILWAS==
Owen helped walk Martha out of the building. Jack kept watch for any surprise guards. According to her checks, the rest of the team were making their way to the van. They were bringing along the head nurse.
Good. Leah had a plan for that lady too. Copley would be found soon, and then Leah would have her fun. Garfield would volunteer.
Leah was relieved. She'd done it. She saved Martha Jones, better than Terra Johnson ever did. Nobody was going to die. That makes the mission a success.
"I am prescribing rest and recuperation for you, madam. And a few days in bed, preferably under my supervision." Owen instructed.
"Owen, I don't know how to break this to you. I've got a boyfriend." Martha told him.
"Yeah, but has he saved your life like I did?"
"Er, no, actually."
Gwen shoved the head doctor towards the van. "Arms up on there."
The nurse obeyed. She climbed into the van. Chloe sat beside her, keeping her on lock.
"Leah. Do it."
Leah hit enter.
The gas began to release throughout the Pharm. One by one, the captured aliens were set free from the hell the Pharm forced on them. Her hearts broke to do this, but it was better this way. None of the aliens captured could properly process that kind of hell. Leah knew it first hand.
"It's done." She said.
Except, wait. No. Something wasn't right. What else was there? Leah avoided her vision. Nobody human died. The imprisoned aliens were euthanized for their own sake. They couldn't be saved. Was that not it?
"Okay, let's go." Jack instructed the humans with him. Leah smiled at them, especially Tosh. Tosh hadn't even screamed like in her vision.
Wait.
Tosh was never in that lab room. She went downstairs to Zone A. Why would Leah's vision have had her screaming if she wasn't in that room?
Leah sat up. Someone else wasn't in that room either. Not at the end, not in handcuffs like Jack wanted. She let him go because she wanted to make his life hell- make it impossible for him to go back to normal life.
She spotted him in Martha's camera.
"Copley look out!" Leah warned.
The team whirled around. Jack and Gwen raised their guns. Tosh jumped into the van for her's. Owen blocked Martha's body with his.
"Did you really think I was going to let you just walk away?" Copley raised a pistol at the team. He aimed a gun at Martha, at Owen. "You've ruined everything I've worked for."
No. No it can't be. No. Not like this- holy shit.
"Stop him. Somebody stop him!" Leah stood up from her desk. She shouted into her comm. She needed them to listen to her. Even just one of them needed to obey. "Shoot him now!"
"Now, let's not be stupid, okay?" Owen cautioned Copley. What were they, five? Leah scoffed at the stupidity and kindness of humans. Copley needed to die. They don't know what's at stake! "We're both rational men, scientists. I know you don't want to shoot her."
There was the sound of a gunshot.
Tosh screamed.