Footnotes -- The Monsters Inside
Title: Footnotes
Chapter Two: The Monsters Inside
Date Written: 11/5/08
Rating: PG-13/T
Word Count: 1,240
Fandom: Torchwood/Doctor Who
Characters/Pairings: PC Andy, Gwen, Jack, Ianto
Spoilers: For the Ninth Doctor Adventure novel The Monsters Inside
Warnings: Slightly gruesome imagery
Author's Notes: Thanks so very much to my darling betas totally4ryo and katestamps. I did NO writing yesterday. None. Nada. Too distracted. But to celebrate the elections being over (in the US, that is), here's a PC Andy story.
Summaries for the books can be found at Wikipedia, at the Doctor Who wiki, and at Doctorwhoguide.com.
Previous chapters found here.
Andy Davidson let his empty pint glass hit the wooden bar with a dull, echoing 'thonk'. "Another," he said, gesturing towards his glass.
The bartender, a pretty young girl who was probably working her way through uni, looked over at Gwen and raised a questioning eyebrow. Gwen, in turn, gave her a friendly smile and nodded her ascent.
"You need to take it easy, Andy," she warned as the girl set a fresh glass of bitter in front of him and palmed the empty one. "Can't save Cardiff when you're recovering from a hangover, yeah?"
"They gave me the rest of the week off," the PC replied, gripping his glass. He was surprised at how bitter he sounded. "A reward for cracking the case."
Since Gwen's transfer to Torchwood, Andy had sort of become her unofficial source in the Cardiff PD. Odd things happened, they called Andy, who called his former partner.
Who usually took him for granted, but that wasn't really anything new. Andy always played second fiddle.
So when bodies started turning up in Cardiff bearing what the medical examiners called "inventive mutilations", Andy had called Gwen, figuring it was one of those Torchwood things. Cardiff PD, however, had refused to hand over the high-profile case, wanting the glory for themselves. Torchwood had agreed to bow out, but Gwen told Andy in confidence that they were running a parallel investigation and would appreciate any help he could give. It made him feel... special. Important.
It was sheer dumb luck that Andy stumbled over the killer. Just a kid, really; Jacob Moore, aged nineteen. There'd been a disturbance of the peace call from his parents' house and when Andy had knocked on the door to tell him to keep it down, he'd been met with a gun.
PCs were unarmed, so Andy had no choice but to obey the kid and follow him up into the attic. He'd had another person, a middle-aged woman tied up and bleeding and sobbing hysterically. Calm as you like, Moore had tied Andy up as well, freely admitting to his crimes. He obviously relished having an audience, someone held captive by force as well as by his words.
Then Torchwood had blown in, Gwen and Ianto Jones and that damn Captain Harkness, guns drawn. They captured the murderer and saved the world, all in a day's work. Then, while they were waiting for the ambulance and backup they'd called in, they had turned Moore over to Andy and let him take the credit for the Cardiff PD.
It was then that he realized what it meant. Ever since the near-destruction of Cardiff, Andy had been one of the few who knew exactly what Torchwood was up to now. Alien threats to humanity. Sometimes he wished he could just go back to believing that terrorists were putting psychotropics in the water supply.
"I don't get it," he said after a long pull of his bitter. "There are -- " he lowered his voice despite the music and background noise. " -- those... Weevil things in the sewers that eat people. But that monster today was... is human."
"There's good and bad in nearly all species," Gwen told him, trying to be reassuring.
"He did it because he liked to hear them scream," he continued as if he hadn't heard her. "There's a woman in A&E who probably won't ever speak again because of him. Her kids won't hear her voice ever again."
"But she's still alive," Gwen pointed out. "You helped save her life. Andy, you gave those kids back their mother. You're a hero, PC Davidson."
"Is this what Torchwood does?" he asked, looking over at her. "Do you do this every day?"
Gwen sighed. "No." She picked up her own glass and took a drink. "There were days when I was on the beat that I'd think dear God, we're no better than animals. I mean hell, remember the second week we were out together? The triple homicide?" She shrugged. "I thought when I joined Torchwood that humans were the ones that were noble, that the aliens were bad." She took a deep breath. "Now? I don't know. The shades of gray are all just one big blur. We just take what victories we can."
"Any chance that Jones bloke has a rocket ship?" Andy half-joked. "Jail's too good for that kid. He'll have plenty of chances to make people scream there. A real punishment would be to send him to some rock where there's no one else about and he can only hear his own screams."
Gwen chuckled. "No, Ianto doesn't have a rocket ship, although I'm sure he could find one in twenty minutes if we asked nicely." She took a sip of her drink. "There is this one planet system though," she said after a moment. "It's sort of mentioned in passing, but I remember it."
"Yeah?" Andy asked, wiping a drop of alcohol off his glass and licking his thumb.
"It's called Justicia,” Gwen replied, stirring her beer in her glass. “We don't really have all that much information on it, but as far as we can tell it's a huge penitentiary. Six prison planets."
"How soon can we get him there?" Andy asked.
Gwen laughed a little. "I don't even know where it's located," she told him. "Until then, he's got to make do with what he's gotten himself into here on Earth."
Andy sighed and tipped back the rest of his pint. Gwen patted him on the shoulder. "C'mon, let's get you home. City hero pulled over for drunk driving won't look good in the papers tomorrow."
-----
Andy awoke with one hell of a hangover, on top of his own sheets and fully dressed -- he was even still wearing his trainers, for God's sake! He groaned and rolled over, frowning when he heard something crumple. He reached behind his back and pulled out a crumpled up sheet of paper.
A yawn blindsided him as he unfolded the page, and he winced when he felt his jaw crack. Oh God, he needed aspirin. A truckload of aspirin. And enough clean water to fill the Bay. Twice.
He had to rub his eyes to clear his fuzzy vision, frowning as he tried to place the handwriting. Oh! It was Gwen's, he knew that loopy, super-girly handwriting of hers. She'd even dotted her i's with little hearts because it drove him mad.
Congrats to the hero of Cardiff! You got so drunk last night, mate. I didn't think you were going to make it up the stairs!
Try not to think so much about what happened. It did, and we have to move on. I know you'll call it being 'hard', but if we don't move on, we drown in our guilt. Concentrate on the good. You saved someone's life.
I'll call you later this week. No pubs though, you're heavy!
Gwen
Andy sighed and threw the page aside, putting one arm over his eyes. He could just kick his shoes off and curl up under the covers and hide from the rest of the world until someone pulled him out of bed.
He turned his head to peer at the sheet of paper. After a few moments he pushed himself up into a seated position and ran his fingers through his hair.
Maybe humanity would look a bit better after a shower and some dry toast.
Chapter Two: The Monsters Inside
Date Written: 11/5/08
Rating: PG-13/T
Word Count: 1,240
Fandom: Torchwood/Doctor Who
Characters/Pairings: PC Andy, Gwen, Jack, Ianto
Spoilers: For the Ninth Doctor Adventure novel The Monsters Inside
Warnings: Slightly gruesome imagery
Author's Notes: Thanks so very much to my darling betas totally4ryo and katestamps. I did NO writing yesterday. None. Nada. Too distracted. But to celebrate the elections being over (in the US, that is), here's a PC Andy story.
Summaries for the books can be found at Wikipedia, at the Doctor Who wiki, and at Doctorwhoguide.com.
Previous chapters found here.
Andy Davidson let his empty pint glass hit the wooden bar with a dull, echoing 'thonk'. "Another," he said, gesturing towards his glass.
The bartender, a pretty young girl who was probably working her way through uni, looked over at Gwen and raised a questioning eyebrow. Gwen, in turn, gave her a friendly smile and nodded her ascent.
"You need to take it easy, Andy," she warned as the girl set a fresh glass of bitter in front of him and palmed the empty one. "Can't save Cardiff when you're recovering from a hangover, yeah?"
"They gave me the rest of the week off," the PC replied, gripping his glass. He was surprised at how bitter he sounded. "A reward for cracking the case."
Since Gwen's transfer to Torchwood, Andy had sort of become her unofficial source in the Cardiff PD. Odd things happened, they called Andy, who called his former partner.
Who usually took him for granted, but that wasn't really anything new. Andy always played second fiddle.
So when bodies started turning up in Cardiff bearing what the medical examiners called "inventive mutilations", Andy had called Gwen, figuring it was one of those Torchwood things. Cardiff PD, however, had refused to hand over the high-profile case, wanting the glory for themselves. Torchwood had agreed to bow out, but Gwen told Andy in confidence that they were running a parallel investigation and would appreciate any help he could give. It made him feel... special. Important.
It was sheer dumb luck that Andy stumbled over the killer. Just a kid, really; Jacob Moore, aged nineteen. There'd been a disturbance of the peace call from his parents' house and when Andy had knocked on the door to tell him to keep it down, he'd been met with a gun.
PCs were unarmed, so Andy had no choice but to obey the kid and follow him up into the attic. He'd had another person, a middle-aged woman tied up and bleeding and sobbing hysterically. Calm as you like, Moore had tied Andy up as well, freely admitting to his crimes. He obviously relished having an audience, someone held captive by force as well as by his words.
Then Torchwood had blown in, Gwen and Ianto Jones and that damn Captain Harkness, guns drawn. They captured the murderer and saved the world, all in a day's work. Then, while they were waiting for the ambulance and backup they'd called in, they had turned Moore over to Andy and let him take the credit for the Cardiff PD.
It was then that he realized what it meant. Ever since the near-destruction of Cardiff, Andy had been one of the few who knew exactly what Torchwood was up to now. Alien threats to humanity. Sometimes he wished he could just go back to believing that terrorists were putting psychotropics in the water supply.
"I don't get it," he said after a long pull of his bitter. "There are -- " he lowered his voice despite the music and background noise. " -- those... Weevil things in the sewers that eat people. But that monster today was... is human."
"There's good and bad in nearly all species," Gwen told him, trying to be reassuring.
"He did it because he liked to hear them scream," he continued as if he hadn't heard her. "There's a woman in A&E who probably won't ever speak again because of him. Her kids won't hear her voice ever again."
"But she's still alive," Gwen pointed out. "You helped save her life. Andy, you gave those kids back their mother. You're a hero, PC Davidson."
"Is this what Torchwood does?" he asked, looking over at her. "Do you do this every day?"
Gwen sighed. "No." She picked up her own glass and took a drink. "There were days when I was on the beat that I'd think dear God, we're no better than animals. I mean hell, remember the second week we were out together? The triple homicide?" She shrugged. "I thought when I joined Torchwood that humans were the ones that were noble, that the aliens were bad." She took a deep breath. "Now? I don't know. The shades of gray are all just one big blur. We just take what victories we can."
"Any chance that Jones bloke has a rocket ship?" Andy half-joked. "Jail's too good for that kid. He'll have plenty of chances to make people scream there. A real punishment would be to send him to some rock where there's no one else about and he can only hear his own screams."
Gwen chuckled. "No, Ianto doesn't have a rocket ship, although I'm sure he could find one in twenty minutes if we asked nicely." She took a sip of her drink. "There is this one planet system though," she said after a moment. "It's sort of mentioned in passing, but I remember it."
"Yeah?" Andy asked, wiping a drop of alcohol off his glass and licking his thumb.
"It's called Justicia,” Gwen replied, stirring her beer in her glass. “We don't really have all that much information on it, but as far as we can tell it's a huge penitentiary. Six prison planets."
"How soon can we get him there?" Andy asked.
Gwen laughed a little. "I don't even know where it's located," she told him. "Until then, he's got to make do with what he's gotten himself into here on Earth."
Andy sighed and tipped back the rest of his pint. Gwen patted him on the shoulder. "C'mon, let's get you home. City hero pulled over for drunk driving won't look good in the papers tomorrow."
-----
Andy awoke with one hell of a hangover, on top of his own sheets and fully dressed -- he was even still wearing his trainers, for God's sake! He groaned and rolled over, frowning when he heard something crumple. He reached behind his back and pulled out a crumpled up sheet of paper.
A yawn blindsided him as he unfolded the page, and he winced when he felt his jaw crack. Oh God, he needed aspirin. A truckload of aspirin. And enough clean water to fill the Bay. Twice.
He had to rub his eyes to clear his fuzzy vision, frowning as he tried to place the handwriting. Oh! It was Gwen's, he knew that loopy, super-girly handwriting of hers. She'd even dotted her i's with little hearts because it drove him mad.
Congrats to the hero of Cardiff! You got so drunk last night, mate. I didn't think you were going to make it up the stairs!
Try not to think so much about what happened. It did, and we have to move on. I know you'll call it being 'hard', but if we don't move on, we drown in our guilt. Concentrate on the good. You saved someone's life.
I'll call you later this week. No pubs though, you're heavy!
Gwen
Andy sighed and threw the page aside, putting one arm over his eyes. He could just kick his shoes off and curl up under the covers and hide from the rest of the world until someone pulled him out of bed.
He turned his head to peer at the sheet of paper. After a few moments he pushed himself up into a seated position and ran his fingers through his hair.
Maybe humanity would look a bit better after a shower and some dry toast.