Sleeping Dragons 03.16
SLEEPING DRAGONS
Episode 03 - Smiths & Joneses
by Soledad
Author’s notes: For disclaimer, rating, etc. see the secondary index page.
This is the last instalment of Episode #3. The “Sleeping Dragons” series will be continued in Episode #4: Atonement.
CHAPTER 16 - EPILOGUE
Jeannie McKay was getting more excited and nervous by the minute. Today was going to be her first day at Torchwood Three, and while she was happy to go to work again, she couldn’t deny having a healthy amount of fear of what might be waiting for her.
She knew there would be familiar faces, which was good. Everyone at Torchwood London had known Ianto Jones and his magic coffee - at least every scientist, that is - and he’d regularly visited her ever since she’d ended up in Providence Park. In fact, she strongly suspected Ianto having pulled a few strings to put her in such a good care, although she couldn’t prove it.
Trevor Howard, formerly from Cybernetics, was an old acquaintance, too, working with poor Rajesh Singh at the end, when that Void Ship appeared through the spatio-temporal anomaly above Torchwood Tower. They hadn’t exactly been friends, but they had a good professional understanding; and Trevor had visited her, too, whenever he could. And Toshiko Sato, whom Jeannie had met at various scientific workshops sometimes, was simply amazing.
But Captain Harkness had a notorious reputation; and even though he no longer was the leader of Torchwood Three, Jeannie got a little anxious whenever she thought about the man. Men like Jack Harkness, he ones who blazed through every place like they owned it, had always intimidated her.
Sure, Ianto had promised to tell him to cut back on the flirting and the innuendo, but Jeannie had her doubts about the affectivity of that. Even if Ianto was, surprisingly enough, the director of the Torchwood Institute now.
Surprisingly, not because she would doubt that Ianto could run what was still there of Torchwood. Archivists were notoriously good at logistics and organisation; it more or less came with the job. But she’d never have expected him to apply for such a visible leading position. He’d always worked behind the scenes best. That was what Archivists generally did; why they had always been so valuable for the Institute.
On the other hand, it was hard to say no when Her Majesty the Queen requested something. Especially if the alternative was being Retconned back to one’s diapers.
Jeannie sighed and glanced at her wrist watch. Seven more minutes. She wanted to get the first encounter with her new colleagues behind her as soon as possible. First encounters were always awkward, and her currently low self-esteem complicated things even more. Knowing Ianto as she did, however, she could be sure that he’d be on time. Punctual to the second. Even if she’d want him to be early, just this one time.
And indeed, at the same moment the clock hand reached the number 12, there was a knock on her door. It opened without waiting for her answer and in came Ianto Jones, in a sharp suit and an aubergine shirt, his tie in a perfect Windsor knot and his dress shoes so high-polished she could see her reflection on them. Only the fact that he was leaning on a cane ruined the image of that perfection a little.
“Ready?” he asked with a smile.
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Jeannie admitted. “Ianto, I’m not sure I can do this - being among people again.”
“Nonsense,” Ianto replied sternly. “You won’t be crowded. The Hub is huge, the team is small, you’ll have your own lab, and you already know the people you’ll be working directly.” He limped over to her and offered his free arm. “Let’s go before you get cold feet and try to back off. That won’t do.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Jeannie smiled nervously but took the proffered and, and they slowly made their way to the parking area of the hospital. There stood a large black SUV, with the word TORCHWOOD painted all over it; with letters so large they were probably visible from the planetary orbit.
“You certainly know how to hide in plain sight,” Jeannie commented sarcastically. Ianto shrugged.
“I assure you, it wasn’t my idea. My predecessor had a hang to a theatrical entry. When I took over, people had already gotten so sued to seeing the Torchwood SUV that removing the name wouldn’t have helped. When I need to go somewhere unnoticed I simply take my own car.”
“Your predecessor - that was Captain Harkness, wasn’t it?” Jeannie asked.
Ianto nodded. “He still behaves as if he were the boss most of the time,” he said with an indulgent smile, “but pay his antics no head. That’s who he is, larger than life; but he’d never harm someone of his own.”
Jeannie gave him a doubtful glance. “Yeah, but am I one of his own?”
“You’re one of the team now, therefore you are,” Ianto knocked on the side of the SUV with his cane. “Mickey, do you mind…?”
A young black guy in casual clothes got out on the driver’s side and opened the car doors for them. Jeannie wondered why that would be necessary… until she saw Ianto’s knee gave in unexpectedly. The driver caught him with practiced ease and practically lifted him onto the back seat. Then he turned to Jeannie to help her into the car as well, and she saw his face for the first time.
A shockingly familiar face. One that brought back memories of Canary Wharf.
“Samuel?” she asked in surprise.
What was Rajesh Singh’s assistant doing here? Neither Ianto nor Trevor had ever mentioned him.
“Actually, the name’s Mickey,” the young man replied apologetically. “Mickey Smith. I was… erm… infiltrating Torchwood One at the time. It’s a long story, Doctor McKay, but I’ll tell you later if you wanna hear it.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Jeannie wasn’t really sure that she wanted to hear any stories that could be connected to Canary Wharf, so she let the topic drop. She got into the SUV, next to Ianto, and Samuel or Mickey or whatever his true name was drove them across Cardiff to the Millennium Centre - slightly faster than she’d be comfortable with. Ianto noticed her slightly panicked expression and smiled.
“Believe me, he’s holding back now,” he said. “Next time I’ll send Andy; unfortunately, today he wasn’t available.”
Nonetheless, they reached Roald Dahl Plass without causing an accident. Mickey parked the SUV, helped them out and left to take the car to the garage.
“We’ll take the lift; it’s faster that way,” Ianto said. “You aren’t afraid of heights, are you?”
Jeannie shook her head, a little bewildered when Ianto instructed her to stand close to him on a particular slab of pavement stone and to hold onto him tightly. The reason for that became clear when the stone began to sink with them slowly. She shrieked in surprise, holding to Ianto’s suit jacket with both hands, but even so, she noticed that the passers-by of the Plass were going after their business as if nothing had happened.
“They can’t see us,” Ianto said; then he added as an afterthought. “Perception filter.”
“I see,” Jeannie knew what a perception filter was, although she could have sworn that not even Torchwood would be able to actually create one. Not even with all that alien technology at their disposal. “But how did it get here?”
“The Doctor parked his TARDIS on that very spot a couple of years ago,” Ianto explained. “Jack says that its dimensionally transcendental chameleon-circuit placed welded its perception properties to the Rift… which is directly under us.”
“Useful,” Jeannie commented as they were slowly descending into the large open are that was Torchwood There’s underground base.
She tilted her head back to look up and up to the ceiling that was getting higher and higher above them by the second. It was arched, made of rough stone, giving way to smooth brickwork as they sank further down, and then to metal, of which the handrails, walkways and the grated flooring were made.
All of this was very different from the clean lines, chrome surfaces and up-to-date labs of Torchwood One; very Victorian. As if it had been built using part of an underground railway line. Or of an old sever, if the faint musky smell lingering over the place was any indication. It wasn’t too unpleasant, though; and the water running smoothly down a massive tower in the middle was an unusual touch.
There were obvious sings of the twenty-first century, too. Like the continuous hum of hidden machinery, for starters, or the beeping of the computers in the open work areas - computers that seemed advanced beyond even what she was used to from Headquarters. The individual workplaces in the open area of the upper level were separated by glassed surfaces, and bundled lengths of cables ran up to them alongside the metal stars. The whole base had a definite Bat cave look, Jeannie decided, but she refrained from saying it loud. The others may have taken offence.
Ianto led her to the middle of the main Hub area, where the team had already gathered to welcome their new co-worker. It was indeed a fairly small team, with several familiar faces, and Jeannie released a breath she hadn’t been aware of holding. There weren’t many of them, and they seemed friendly enough. Perhaps Ianto had been right. Perhaps she could really do this.
“All right, let’s do the introductions,” Ianto said. “As you all know, this is Doctor Jeannie McKay, formerly of Torchwood One. She’ll work with Tosh and Trevor in the afternoon shift. Jeannie, you already know the two, of course; and also Mickey, it seems. Jack, Owen and PC Andy are on a retrieval mission at the moment; you’ll get the chance to meet them later.”
Jeannie secretly hoped that the mission will take time. Lots of time. She didn’t feel up to the challenge to face Jack Harkness just yet.
“This,” Ianto gestured at a tall blonde woman in a white lab coat, “is Doctor Sara Lloyd, formerly of the SOCO lab; she’s our biochemistry expert and runs our alien DNA lab. Doctor Tom Milligan,” that was the proverbial ‘tall, dark and handsome’ man in his early thirties standing next to Lloyd, “is our second medic. Rhys Williams is our logistic expert and general go-to-guy; whatever you may need, ask him. His wife, Emma, is my personal assistant and helps me in the Archives.”
Rhys was a big, good-natured teddy bear of a man who could make one feel safe by his mere presence. Emma looked like a proper little wife from one of those ridiculous 1950s films, including vintage clothing, but there was a sharp intelligence in her pretty eyes, belying the guileless expression of her smooth, doll-like face.
“You’ll meet our Rift technician, Sally Jacobs, when she comes in for the night shift, as she’s usually early,” Ianto continued; then he gestured at a willowy black woman with a gentle face. “And this is Beth Halloran. She runs the cover shop, gets us caffeinated and helps a little with the paperwork and the filing. So, that would be everyone, I think.”
“And what about me?” somebody asked a little accusingly. It was a young blonde girl with a ponytail, wearing jeans and a red tank top under her black leather jacket.
“Oh, sorry,” Ianto leaned heavily on his cane and seemed rather dizzy for a moment. “Jenny Smith, our freelance tech expert. She’ll help you in the lab, Jeannie. Now, if you’ll excuse me… I think I need to sit down for a moment.”
Jeannie watched, wide-eyed, as Samuel… Mickey… whoever helped Ianto to the couch in the middle of the main Hub area and Ianto all but collapsed on it.
“What’s wrong with him?” she asked Jenny in concern.
The girl pulled a face, looking vaguely guilty for some reason. “Neural damage due to an alien attack. He’s recovering, but it’s a slow process. Now, come with me, I’ll show you the lab.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Like most labs, the one assigned to Jeannie was on one of the lower levels, but the air was clean and dry in there and the equipment impressive. She recognized a few instruments as having belonged to Torchwood One - they still bore the symbol and the code numbers - but some of them were tools she’d never seen before.
“This lab has been specifically equipped to examine the energy sources of various pieces of machinery that had fallen through the Rift during the last two hundred years,” Jenny explained. “There’s a huge backlog of such things, as the Torchwood Three team has always been a small one and there was usually something more urgent to do. Ianto wants the uncategorized old founds checked, to see if there’s any use of helping them. If not, they’ll be melted and recycled.”
“Recycling alien tech?” Jeannie laughed in shocked disbelief. “Yvonne would get a fit, could she hear that.”
Jenny shrugged. “Well, a lot of it’s just junk, so why clutter the base with it? I’ve started sorting them out a few days ago, but it’s like a drop in the ocean. You’ve got yourself a lifelong job here, I’m afraid.”
Jeannie hoped that it wouldn’t be so. That in time, she’d get well enough to do actual research again. But until then, it was alien tech, and it was work that she could actually do, and for that, she was grateful. Plus, Jenny seemed a nice and competent girl to work with.
She looked around in the lab - her lab - with something akin to pride. It wasn’t much, but it was all hers; and it was a step in the right direction. Further steps would hopefully come; one day she might even become close enough to her former self to work full-time again.
As she was admiring her new workplace strange item caught her eye on one of the working tables. It looked like a coral - a fairly large chunk of it - and it seemed to glow from within with a faint golden light.
“What’s that?” she asked.
Jenny followed the direction of her look and frowned.
“That’s a piece of coral from the planet Gallifrey, or so Jack said; a gift from him. But... I can be wrong, but it seems to me that it was just a tad smaller when I brought it down here… and it definitely didn’t glow.”
She flipped out a small, hand-held scanner and approached the coral with it. The scanner beeped frantically. Jenny studied the readouts with narrowed eyes - then realization hit. Jeannie could almost literally hear the pennies dropping in rapid succession. Then the girl pocketed the scanner again, pulled out a Bluetooth device and put it in her ear.
“Jack,” she said, touching the earpiece to activate it. “Yeah, it’s me. Listen, Jack, the TARDIS coral you gave me… it’s awake!”
~The End~
Episode 03 - Smiths & Joneses
by Soledad
Author’s notes: For disclaimer, rating, etc. see the secondary index page.
This is the last instalment of Episode #3. The “Sleeping Dragons” series will be continued in Episode #4: Atonement.
CHAPTER 16 - EPILOGUE
Jeannie McKay was getting more excited and nervous by the minute. Today was going to be her first day at Torchwood Three, and while she was happy to go to work again, she couldn’t deny having a healthy amount of fear of what might be waiting for her.
She knew there would be familiar faces, which was good. Everyone at Torchwood London had known Ianto Jones and his magic coffee - at least every scientist, that is - and he’d regularly visited her ever since she’d ended up in Providence Park. In fact, she strongly suspected Ianto having pulled a few strings to put her in such a good care, although she couldn’t prove it.
Trevor Howard, formerly from Cybernetics, was an old acquaintance, too, working with poor Rajesh Singh at the end, when that Void Ship appeared through the spatio-temporal anomaly above Torchwood Tower. They hadn’t exactly been friends, but they had a good professional understanding; and Trevor had visited her, too, whenever he could. And Toshiko Sato, whom Jeannie had met at various scientific workshops sometimes, was simply amazing.
But Captain Harkness had a notorious reputation; and even though he no longer was the leader of Torchwood Three, Jeannie got a little anxious whenever she thought about the man. Men like Jack Harkness, he ones who blazed through every place like they owned it, had always intimidated her.
Sure, Ianto had promised to tell him to cut back on the flirting and the innuendo, but Jeannie had her doubts about the affectivity of that. Even if Ianto was, surprisingly enough, the director of the Torchwood Institute now.
Surprisingly, not because she would doubt that Ianto could run what was still there of Torchwood. Archivists were notoriously good at logistics and organisation; it more or less came with the job. But she’d never have expected him to apply for such a visible leading position. He’d always worked behind the scenes best. That was what Archivists generally did; why they had always been so valuable for the Institute.
On the other hand, it was hard to say no when Her Majesty the Queen requested something. Especially if the alternative was being Retconned back to one’s diapers.
Jeannie sighed and glanced at her wrist watch. Seven more minutes. She wanted to get the first encounter with her new colleagues behind her as soon as possible. First encounters were always awkward, and her currently low self-esteem complicated things even more. Knowing Ianto as she did, however, she could be sure that he’d be on time. Punctual to the second. Even if she’d want him to be early, just this one time.
And indeed, at the same moment the clock hand reached the number 12, there was a knock on her door. It opened without waiting for her answer and in came Ianto Jones, in a sharp suit and an aubergine shirt, his tie in a perfect Windsor knot and his dress shoes so high-polished she could see her reflection on them. Only the fact that he was leaning on a cane ruined the image of that perfection a little.
“Ready?” he asked with a smile.
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Jeannie admitted. “Ianto, I’m not sure I can do this - being among people again.”
“Nonsense,” Ianto replied sternly. “You won’t be crowded. The Hub is huge, the team is small, you’ll have your own lab, and you already know the people you’ll be working directly.” He limped over to her and offered his free arm. “Let’s go before you get cold feet and try to back off. That won’t do.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Jeannie smiled nervously but took the proffered and, and they slowly made their way to the parking area of the hospital. There stood a large black SUV, with the word TORCHWOOD painted all over it; with letters so large they were probably visible from the planetary orbit.
“You certainly know how to hide in plain sight,” Jeannie commented sarcastically. Ianto shrugged.
“I assure you, it wasn’t my idea. My predecessor had a hang to a theatrical entry. When I took over, people had already gotten so sued to seeing the Torchwood SUV that removing the name wouldn’t have helped. When I need to go somewhere unnoticed I simply take my own car.”
“Your predecessor - that was Captain Harkness, wasn’t it?” Jeannie asked.
Ianto nodded. “He still behaves as if he were the boss most of the time,” he said with an indulgent smile, “but pay his antics no head. That’s who he is, larger than life; but he’d never harm someone of his own.”
Jeannie gave him a doubtful glance. “Yeah, but am I one of his own?”
“You’re one of the team now, therefore you are,” Ianto knocked on the side of the SUV with his cane. “Mickey, do you mind…?”
A young black guy in casual clothes got out on the driver’s side and opened the car doors for them. Jeannie wondered why that would be necessary… until she saw Ianto’s knee gave in unexpectedly. The driver caught him with practiced ease and practically lifted him onto the back seat. Then he turned to Jeannie to help her into the car as well, and she saw his face for the first time.
A shockingly familiar face. One that brought back memories of Canary Wharf.
“Samuel?” she asked in surprise.
What was Rajesh Singh’s assistant doing here? Neither Ianto nor Trevor had ever mentioned him.
“Actually, the name’s Mickey,” the young man replied apologetically. “Mickey Smith. I was… erm… infiltrating Torchwood One at the time. It’s a long story, Doctor McKay, but I’ll tell you later if you wanna hear it.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Jeannie wasn’t really sure that she wanted to hear any stories that could be connected to Canary Wharf, so she let the topic drop. She got into the SUV, next to Ianto, and Samuel or Mickey or whatever his true name was drove them across Cardiff to the Millennium Centre - slightly faster than she’d be comfortable with. Ianto noticed her slightly panicked expression and smiled.
“Believe me, he’s holding back now,” he said. “Next time I’ll send Andy; unfortunately, today he wasn’t available.”
Nonetheless, they reached Roald Dahl Plass without causing an accident. Mickey parked the SUV, helped them out and left to take the car to the garage.
“We’ll take the lift; it’s faster that way,” Ianto said. “You aren’t afraid of heights, are you?”
Jeannie shook her head, a little bewildered when Ianto instructed her to stand close to him on a particular slab of pavement stone and to hold onto him tightly. The reason for that became clear when the stone began to sink with them slowly. She shrieked in surprise, holding to Ianto’s suit jacket with both hands, but even so, she noticed that the passers-by of the Plass were going after their business as if nothing had happened.
“They can’t see us,” Ianto said; then he added as an afterthought. “Perception filter.”
“I see,” Jeannie knew what a perception filter was, although she could have sworn that not even Torchwood would be able to actually create one. Not even with all that alien technology at their disposal. “But how did it get here?”
“The Doctor parked his TARDIS on that very spot a couple of years ago,” Ianto explained. “Jack says that its dimensionally transcendental chameleon-circuit placed welded its perception properties to the Rift… which is directly under us.”
“Useful,” Jeannie commented as they were slowly descending into the large open are that was Torchwood There’s underground base.
She tilted her head back to look up and up to the ceiling that was getting higher and higher above them by the second. It was arched, made of rough stone, giving way to smooth brickwork as they sank further down, and then to metal, of which the handrails, walkways and the grated flooring were made.
All of this was very different from the clean lines, chrome surfaces and up-to-date labs of Torchwood One; very Victorian. As if it had been built using part of an underground railway line. Or of an old sever, if the faint musky smell lingering over the place was any indication. It wasn’t too unpleasant, though; and the water running smoothly down a massive tower in the middle was an unusual touch.
There were obvious sings of the twenty-first century, too. Like the continuous hum of hidden machinery, for starters, or the beeping of the computers in the open work areas - computers that seemed advanced beyond even what she was used to from Headquarters. The individual workplaces in the open area of the upper level were separated by glassed surfaces, and bundled lengths of cables ran up to them alongside the metal stars. The whole base had a definite Bat cave look, Jeannie decided, but she refrained from saying it loud. The others may have taken offence.
Ianto led her to the middle of the main Hub area, where the team had already gathered to welcome their new co-worker. It was indeed a fairly small team, with several familiar faces, and Jeannie released a breath she hadn’t been aware of holding. There weren’t many of them, and they seemed friendly enough. Perhaps Ianto had been right. Perhaps she could really do this.
“All right, let’s do the introductions,” Ianto said. “As you all know, this is Doctor Jeannie McKay, formerly of Torchwood One. She’ll work with Tosh and Trevor in the afternoon shift. Jeannie, you already know the two, of course; and also Mickey, it seems. Jack, Owen and PC Andy are on a retrieval mission at the moment; you’ll get the chance to meet them later.”
Jeannie secretly hoped that the mission will take time. Lots of time. She didn’t feel up to the challenge to face Jack Harkness just yet.
“This,” Ianto gestured at a tall blonde woman in a white lab coat, “is Doctor Sara Lloyd, formerly of the SOCO lab; she’s our biochemistry expert and runs our alien DNA lab. Doctor Tom Milligan,” that was the proverbial ‘tall, dark and handsome’ man in his early thirties standing next to Lloyd, “is our second medic. Rhys Williams is our logistic expert and general go-to-guy; whatever you may need, ask him. His wife, Emma, is my personal assistant and helps me in the Archives.”
Rhys was a big, good-natured teddy bear of a man who could make one feel safe by his mere presence. Emma looked like a proper little wife from one of those ridiculous 1950s films, including vintage clothing, but there was a sharp intelligence in her pretty eyes, belying the guileless expression of her smooth, doll-like face.
“You’ll meet our Rift technician, Sally Jacobs, when she comes in for the night shift, as she’s usually early,” Ianto continued; then he gestured at a willowy black woman with a gentle face. “And this is Beth Halloran. She runs the cover shop, gets us caffeinated and helps a little with the paperwork and the filing. So, that would be everyone, I think.”
“And what about me?” somebody asked a little accusingly. It was a young blonde girl with a ponytail, wearing jeans and a red tank top under her black leather jacket.
“Oh, sorry,” Ianto leaned heavily on his cane and seemed rather dizzy for a moment. “Jenny Smith, our freelance tech expert. She’ll help you in the lab, Jeannie. Now, if you’ll excuse me… I think I need to sit down for a moment.”
Jeannie watched, wide-eyed, as Samuel… Mickey… whoever helped Ianto to the couch in the middle of the main Hub area and Ianto all but collapsed on it.
“What’s wrong with him?” she asked Jenny in concern.
The girl pulled a face, looking vaguely guilty for some reason. “Neural damage due to an alien attack. He’s recovering, but it’s a slow process. Now, come with me, I’ll show you the lab.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Like most labs, the one assigned to Jeannie was on one of the lower levels, but the air was clean and dry in there and the equipment impressive. She recognized a few instruments as having belonged to Torchwood One - they still bore the symbol and the code numbers - but some of them were tools she’d never seen before.
“This lab has been specifically equipped to examine the energy sources of various pieces of machinery that had fallen through the Rift during the last two hundred years,” Jenny explained. “There’s a huge backlog of such things, as the Torchwood Three team has always been a small one and there was usually something more urgent to do. Ianto wants the uncategorized old founds checked, to see if there’s any use of helping them. If not, they’ll be melted and recycled.”
“Recycling alien tech?” Jeannie laughed in shocked disbelief. “Yvonne would get a fit, could she hear that.”
Jenny shrugged. “Well, a lot of it’s just junk, so why clutter the base with it? I’ve started sorting them out a few days ago, but it’s like a drop in the ocean. You’ve got yourself a lifelong job here, I’m afraid.”
Jeannie hoped that it wouldn’t be so. That in time, she’d get well enough to do actual research again. But until then, it was alien tech, and it was work that she could actually do, and for that, she was grateful. Plus, Jenny seemed a nice and competent girl to work with.
She looked around in the lab - her lab - with something akin to pride. It wasn’t much, but it was all hers; and it was a step in the right direction. Further steps would hopefully come; one day she might even become close enough to her former self to work full-time again.
As she was admiring her new workplace strange item caught her eye on one of the working tables. It looked like a coral - a fairly large chunk of it - and it seemed to glow from within with a faint golden light.
“What’s that?” she asked.
Jenny followed the direction of her look and frowned.
“That’s a piece of coral from the planet Gallifrey, or so Jack said; a gift from him. But... I can be wrong, but it seems to me that it was just a tad smaller when I brought it down here… and it definitely didn’t glow.”
She flipped out a small, hand-held scanner and approached the coral with it. The scanner beeped frantically. Jenny studied the readouts with narrowed eyes - then realization hit. Jeannie could almost literally hear the pennies dropping in rapid succession. Then the girl pocketed the scanner again, pulled out a Bluetooth device and put it in her ear.
“Jack,” she said, touching the earpiece to activate it. “Yeah, it’s me. Listen, Jack, the TARDIS coral you gave me… it’s awake!”
~The End~