Primeval crossover fic - 05
PRIMEVAL CROSSOVER FIC 05
BY SOLEDAD
Author’s notes: Chapter Five takes part during the Primeval episode 4.03. There are some lines of dialogue that are taken from that episode. The rest is all mine. *g*
Both Babur’s and Gavin at Windows are really existing restaurants in London.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
CHAPTER FIVE
Ianto had almost reached Cooper Street when Jess’s call came in. He quickly pulled the car up to the kerb and groaned in despair. He hated it when Jack died. Yes, he would bounce back to live eventually, but dying was still as painful for him as for everyone else; and coming back was even worse.
At the moment they had the additional problem that no-one at the ARC knew about Jack’s immortality, with the possible exception of Mr Lester. Ianto could only hope that he could divert the attention of the guards and pretend that Jack had not actually been dead, just knocked out. It was fortunate that the team didn’t have a medic, as foolish as it had first seemed.
The guards attempted to stop him, arguing that whatever had killed the captain must have been in the theatre still, but Ianto ignored them. As Lester’s personal assistant he had the necessary authority to override them, and that was exactly what he did. Or tried anyway, ‘cos Becker’s men were trained to protect civilians; against their will, if they had to. Even those who outranked them.
Especially those who outranked them.
Fortunately for him, Becker himself arrived only moments later, with Abby and Connor in tow - and glared at him in disapproval.
“What are you doing here?”
“Jack called me; he said somebody - or something - was still inside, but no-one would listen to him.”
“You know he is…” Becker trailed off.
“Dead?” Ianto shook his head. “I heard that, but I think it’s not true. It takes a lot to kill Jack; so far he’s always bounced back, no matter what,” he turned to the guards. “What happened?”
“Broken neck,” one of them answered glumly. “And believe me, I can tell a dead man from a live one. He wasn’t bloody breathing anymore!”
“It happens when he’s in deep shock,” Ianto said calmly; that was an old excuse for Jack appearing dead. “I’m sure things aren’t as bad as they seem. Now, why don’t you go and search for the creature while I go and look after Jack?”
“There’s nothing you could do for him,” the same guard as before said. “Not even an ambulance could help him anymore.”
“Let me be the judge of that,” Ianto said evenly. “He’s been believed to be dead plenty of time before.”
“Let him,” Becker said. “We’ve more important things to do. It’s bad enough that we’ve lost all radio contact with the ARC.”
“Matt, too,” Abby supplied helpfully.
Becker rolled his eyes. “Great. This means we’re on our own and don’t even know what are we dealing with,” he tapped his earpiece, frustrated. “Jess? Talk to me.”
There was no answer… unless one counted the eerie howling of some creature far above their heads.
“Whatever it is, it’s above us,” Becker said. “Perhaps on the rooftop.”
“Tree creepers,” a female voice said behind them. Turning around, they saw the mysterious woman who had fled from the hospital enter the theatre with Matt in hot pursuit. “More than one, most likely; this is the sound with which they call each other.”
Ianto looked at her with interest. “You know these creatures?”
She nodded. “It'll make for the highest point, get its bearings and then go on the attack. Fortunately, they don’t hunt in packs.”
“Which means we’ll have to hunt down each of them individually,” Matt pulled a face. “All right, Abby, Connor, Becker, you stay with Mr Jones and search the auditorium and the backstage area. I'll take the one on the roof.”
“I'm coming with you,” their mysterious visitor declared.
Matt gave her an odd look. “Or what?”
“I'll be forced to hurt you,” she said matter-of-factly - and she clearly meant it, too.
“Again,” Matt corrected. “You'll be forced to hurt me again.”
She just stared at him stubbornly, and he gave in, not wanting to waste any more time. “Okay, but stay out of sight. “
They ran out, heading for the rooftop where one of the creatures was still howling abysmally. Abby, Connor, Becker and Ianto continued to search for Jack - and for possible other creatures inside.
It was Ianto who succeeded in finding Jack - unsurprisingly, as he had his Torchwood-issue scanner locked on to Jack’s wrist strap.
“He's here!” he called out, sitting down on the floor next to Jack’s lifeless body and taking Jack’s head onto his lap. Feeling around the back of Jack’s neck he found the telltale signs of broken vertebrae; at least it had been a quick and painless death - this time. Jack would be coming back any minute now.
“Don't move!” he heard Becker’s low, tense voice, and he froze. “On the count of three, dive.”
Ianto did as he was told and could feel the air sizzle mere inches above him with the simultaneous discharges of three EMDs. He wasn’t sure whether his hair had been singed or not; but he didn’t care, because in that very moment Jack gasped back to life.
There was the usual short moment of confusion and panic; then he recognised Ianto and smiled up to him. Not his trademark, thousand megawatt grin but a small, private smile that was for Ianto alone.
“You are here,” he murmured.
“Always,” Ianto replied quietly. “I’ve promised, haven’t I? Can you get up? We’re still not done here.”
“I’m fine,” Jack clambered to his feet and felt his neck with a grimace. “That blasted thing wrapped its tail around my neck; the closest thing to hanging I can imagine.”
He was the authority in the area; hanging was one of the many, many methods the Master tried on him during The Year That Never Was. Ianto, realising that he was about to get lost in those painful memories, squeezed his hand encouragingly.
“Come on,” he said. “We gotta go. There’s at least another one of these things on the roof, and Matt might need back-up.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Back at the ARC Tosh was startled out of her concentration by Philip’s panicked voice.
“Toshiko, stop the scan. There's a creature loose in here. Stop the scan!”
Years of working for Torchwood had taught Tosh to act in such situations first and ask questions later - assuming there was a later. But as fast as she reacted, she was still half a second late. The computer had already taken over fort hem.
“Incursion detected,” the pre-recorded voice announced emotionlessly. “Lockdown procedure commencing. Evacuate. Evacuate. Evacuate. Evacuate. Locked gate activated. Lockdown. Lockdown. Lockdown. Lockdown. Lockdown.”
Tosh watched in something akin to a shock as the ARC technicians ran off before the heavy security doors would slam down, isolating the operations centre from the rest of the world hermetically. She had no idea what to do.
“Lockdown complete,” the computer announced.
Jess seemed to be on the verge of panic. “What have you done?” she asked accusingly-
“Me?” Tosh snapped out of her shock. “It isn’t my fault that our esteemed leader forgot to tell me that the scan was linked to emergency lockdown! What kind of idiot gives someone a job to do and doesn't even brief them properly?”
“I can still hear you, you know,” Philip said from the lab where he was trapped, together with the little green lizard.
“I don’t care!” Tosh snapped at him. “It’s your fault, so you better help me fix it. How do we unlock lockdown?”
“You can't,” Philip seemed close to panicking, too.
“Nonsense,” Tosh said. “Every system has a back door; all we have to do I to find it.”
“I should be able to disarm lockdown,” Jess offered. “I've got clearance.”
“Not any more,” Philip shook his head. “I designed the scan so that only the most senior staff would have access to the controls.”
“Senior staff being who?” Jess inquired.
“As of this precise moment, me,” Philip admitted. “You can't override the controls without a retinal scan, which I can't do because I'm stuck in here!”
Tosh didn’t lose her calm, although the whole situation uncomfortably reminded her of the time when Suzie had them trapped in the Hub. Only this was worse. Somehow she doubted that reciting Emily Dickinson to Philip’s system would help.
“So we get you out,” she sad.
“You can't!” Philip replied.
She gave him an arch look through the bullet-proof glass wall of the lab. “Watch me!”
Then she turned to Jess. “There must be some other way that we can get him out of there.
What about the ceiling?”
Jess shook her head. “It's an isolation zone. Reinforced doors, nothing gets in or out.”
“That’s what they always say,” Tosh replied archly. “Until I show them the error of their ways.”
“I designed this system to neutralise any creature threat,” Philip was breathing heavily. “Permanently.”
“Well, you’re not the only computer genius in this building,” Tosh looked at Jess. “He sounds rather… odd.”
Jess was becoming stark white. “The air is being sucked out of the room,” she whispered.
Tosh shook her head in exasperation. “Fantastic! This is just getting better and better! Amateurs!”
“How long do I have, Jess, before the air runs out?” Philip wheezed.
Jess, obviously familiar with the specifics, made an unhappy grimace. “Twenty minutes until you lose consciousness.”
“That’s plenty of time,” Tosh declared, more self-confidently than she actually felt. “Come on!”
“Where are you going?” Jess asked nervously.
“I'm going to go and do something… unorthodox,” Tosh opened the case that Jack jokingly called Tosh’s-little-blue-box-of-know-things and took out a mobile interface that did originate on Earth - only a hundred or so centuries in the future. “Is there an external diagnostic outlet in this room?”
“Yes?” Jess clearly had no idea what Tosh was up to but produced the item in question nonetheless.
“Perfect,” Tosh connected her interface to the outlet Jess had just wheeled in. “Right, thank you. That should work. Turn it on.”
“Okay,” Jess did as she was told and Tosh tried to get into the system, but all her attempts were repelled. “Anything?”
Jess shook her head nervously. “Nothing. Can you really do this?”
Tosh gritted her teeth. “This would be the first time that I fail. Ever. Go check if the generator's on safety.”
“Toshiko,” Philip wheezed while Jess went to check the generator. “Speak to me.”
“I’m a bit busy here right now,” Tosh replied absently. “Don't worry, though, I am going to get you there. Of course that means that you’ll owe me dinner tonight - and I don’t mean take-out or the next best fish and chips shop. I want something really classy.”
Philip didn’t see the situation quite so optimistically. “It's impenetrable, Toshiko!”
“No system is impenetrable,” Tosh replied. “Not for me. You’re good, I’ll give you that, but I’m better. You’ll see. Just wait.”
“No time… for that. Toshiko… There are some things I haven't told anybody about; a special project called New Dawn. I need you to listen to me very carefully…”
The mentioning of New Dawn made Toshiko freeze for the moment. Wasn’t that the very thing Mr Holmes had mentioned? The project Philip had briefly spoken of to Connor but refused to tell more when Connor asked? Oh, yes, she was paying proper attention now!
Unfortunately, Philip had just lost consciousness.
“Yes, well, now is not a time for last words anyway,” Tosh said to Jess briskly. “It's not over yet. The problem is, though, that everything I try and do, I just keep hitting another firewall. Let’s try another approach. This is supposed to be Connor’s system, isn't it?”
“Well, it was once,” Jess allowed. “But it's apparently been modified out of all recognition. I don’t remember the old ARC having anything this… extreme. I mean, I wasn’t actually there, of course, but I’ve read all the records and saw the blueprints and…”
“But the foundations should still be there,” Tosh interrupted her babbling. “Do you have a copy of the original version?” Jess nodded mutely. “Great. Load it onto a laptop and let me take a look… quickly, before our boss would suffocate for good.”
To Jess’s credit, she found and loaded the required program in record time. Tosh connected her alien iPod to both the laptop and the mobile interface and started the program.
“What is this?” Jess asked, meaning the alien iPod.
“A very useful piece of advanced technology that enables me to hack into the… wait a minute!” Tosh interrupted herself. “I don't need to. I’ve found the trap door the boy built for himself. We should be able to get into the system through that. He’s really good.”
“Too good,” Jess commented unhappily, indicating at the large letters blinking on the laptop’s viewscreen: PASSWORD REQUIRED.
“That’s a problem,” Tosh admitted. “Especially as we’ve lost contact with the core team. But perhaps I can reach Jack via the Torchwood satellite.”
“Wait!” Jess stopped her. “I’m sure it would have been something to do with Abby. Connor has always been smitten with her.”
“Abby, okay,” Tosh typed the name in the field in a great hurry, her fingers a blur. “Come on.”
ACCESS DENIED, the system told her. TWO ATTEMPTS LEFT BEFORE SYSTEM SHUTDOWN.
“That's not it?” Jess said, disappointed.
“Yeah, I can see that,” Tosh returned a little testily and thought about the program for a moment. “What’s Abby’s family name again?”
“Maitland,” Jess supplied; then she added in surprise. “You didn’t know?”
“Jess, I’ve just met a building full of previously unknown people a few hours ago; you can’t expect me to remember all the names,” Tosh typed ABBY MAITLAND into the field and waited anxiously. Philip could already be dead, and they were wasting their time with the stupid password!
ACCESS DENIED, the system told her. ONE ATTEMPT LEFT BEFORE SYSTEM SHUTDOWN.
“Dammit!” Tosh was thinking furiously. “Think, Tosh, just think. It would have been something obvious… oh!”
An idea occurred to her, based on the selfish-child-personality ARC’s resident young genius had displayed all the previous years. Yes, it was risky, but it was the only thing she could think of.
With bated breath, she typed into the field ABBY TEMPE, knowing that if she was mistaken, there would be no way to save Philip.
There was a moment of tense silence, then the loudspeakers started blaring again.
LOCKDOWN TERMINATED. LOCKDOWN TERMINATED. SYSTEM REBOOTING.
“Thank God!” Tosh said with a relieved sigh. “Let’s go and see how Philip is doing.”
“Medics!” Jess cried, but didn’t wait for them to arrive. Instead, she followed Tosh who was already rushing into the lab where Philip had been trapped and started with CPR and chest compressions as soon as she got there.
“Don’t worry,” she assured Jess. “I’ve been trained at first aid. My former job made it necessary.”
And indeed, a few minutes later Philip began to cough. The medics arrived, too, with the oxygen tank and took over his care.
Jess beamed at Tosh. “He's okay. You didn't kill him.”
Tosh laughed tiredly, the enormity of the situation just catching up with her now.
“Nicely put. Although, to be accurate, it was the green lizard that almost killed him. That and his own stupidity.”
“I can… still hear you…” Philip wheezed behind the oxygen mask.
Tosh gave him an arch look. “Good. Perhaps next time you’ll remember to brief me properly before you let me initiate a new system. And don’t forget that you owe me dinner, somewhere nice. Your treat.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Philip laughed weakly, but it turned into a cough again.
“Ssh, don’t try to speak!” Jess warned him. “Let the medics take you to the sick room and check you through.”
“You’ll be right as rain within the hour, sir,” one of he medics promised as they helped him to his feet and steered him out of the lab.
“I think we should take Abby’s pet back to the menagerie,” Jess suggested.
Tosh nodded. “You do it. I’ll call Jack and see how the team’s doing.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
“We’re all right, Tosh,” Jack answered her call. “The situation is contained, the creatures are dead, and Matt’s mystery woman showed up, too. In fact, she helped us to deal with these… these tree-creepers, as she calls them.”
“She did?” Tosh was surprised. The woman had nothing in common with the female officers of UNIT who were trained to deal with monsters and aliens on a daily basis.
“Yeah, she and a few others have apparently lived in the same time period where these things belong; even hunted and ate them,” the disgust was clearly audible in Jack’s usually carefree voice. “I don’t envy them; these are nasty buggers. But it’s over for now.”
“You’ve still died, though,” Tosh said quietly.
Jack sighed. “Yeah, I have. It was a relatively easy death this time, though. I got away with a broken neck, clean and simple. And Ianto was there when I came back.”
“You still died,” Tosh repeated stubbornly. “Ianto isn’t the only one who hates when you die, you know. Who’s afraid that this would be the time when you don’t come back.”
“I know, Tosh,” Jack replied gently. “But I am back for now, and Ianto has managed to make the rest of the team believe I was just in shock.”
“That won’t always work,” Tosh warned. “You should be more careful, Jack. We’re moving on foreign territory and can’t be sure whom we can trust.”
“I know,” Jack said, his voice grim now. “Which is why I’m gonna having a long, friendly chat with our esteemed leader.”
“You mean Matt? Why so early?”
“Because I’m sure he isn’t exactly who - or what - he pretends to be,” Jack answered in the same grim tone.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Firmly believing in the direct approach, Jack went straight to Matt’s flat (address courtesy to Mr Holmes’s omniscient and highly efficient PA), sending Ianto back to the ARC with Becker and the rest of the team. Some investigations were better conducted alone.
To his mild surprise Matt’s abode turned out to be a penthouse on the top level of a very high building with a breath-taking view at the surrounding cityscape. Apparently, he wasn’t the only time traveller who enjoyed great heights.
This wasn’t the place where he’d have liked to live, however. It was airy and flooded with light, true, but also barren and minimalistic to the extreme, like an empty aquarium. Honestly, after that pretty stairway he had expected something more… classy. Of course that was before he’d get a look at the inside of the flat, the furniture of which consisted of an uncomfortable-looking bed, two mismatched armchairs, something like a bar counter with some odd plants under glass bulbs - and lots and lots of empty shelves.
It didn’t even look as if anyone would live here at all.
Matt was presumably surprised to see Jack on his doorstep, but - as usual - his stoic face showed no emotions.
“What are you doing here, Harkness?” he asked.
“We need to talk,” Jack replied.
Matt raised an eyebrow. “About what?”
“About that little tattoo behind your earlobe,” Jack said grimly. “You see, I happen to know what it means. I happen to have one, too. So I’d like to know what another Time Agent is doing here, in this same time period.”
Matt’s face remained expressionless but he stepped to the side.
“You better come in, then,” he said resignedly.
The reason for his resignation became clear when Jack entered the living-room and discovered the oddly-dressed woman from the anomaly sitting there.
“This is just getting curious and curiouser,” he commented. “Are the two of you working together on some hidden agenda?”
Matt snorted. “You’re being ridiculous, Captain!”
“Am I?” Jack measured them with narrowed eyes. “You clearly don’t belong to this time and apparently neither does she. So, out with it! What’s going on here? Where are you from? Or, more importantly, when are you from?”
Matt put on a mulish non-expression, but the woman apparently decided to cooperate.
“My name is Lady Emily Merchant,” she said with a sigh. “My home is London. I was born in 1840. I beg of you, let me go. I came through the gateway with a man. I need to find him. We must go back.”
“Why?” Jack asked, unimpressed. Time travel was an old hat for him, and the anomalies made it really simple-
“Because he’s dangerous,” she explained. “The people I travelled with - there were fifteen of us at the last count - were all damaged in their own way, being so far from home. Lost. Trapped. But Ethan is something else. He's different.”
“In what way?” Jack pressed. She sighed again, her expression troubled.
“It's as if there's something broken in him. Charlotte kept him under control and now that she's dead, none of us are safe.”
“Emily,” Matt interrupted, “whatever happens, I want you to know that you're safe here. I promise you that.”
But she just shook her head unhappily. “None of us are safe while Ethan's out there.”
Neither of the two Time Agents could have imagined just how right she was, but they exchanged worried looks anyway.
“We’ll have to look out for him,” John decided; then he aimed his next question directly at Matt. “And now to you. Where are you from? Because your DNA matches the humans of this era very closely, and I happen to know that the Agency never recruited people from this far in the past.”
“I’m not from the past,” Matt returned. “I’m from the future; from the not too distant future. Or rather from one possible future. I’ve come to prevent something from happening and make sure the future I came from never becomes reality.”
“What exactly must you prevent from happening?”
“I don’t know. I only know that it’s about to happen in the early twenty-first century. A dozen or so of us have been recruited to come back through the anomalies, because it was believed that we would blend in better than anyone from a more distant future. I never met another one until now.”
Jack shook his head. “I’m no one of those, nor have I come from your time. I’ve come from the very distant future and not by way of the anomalies. In fact, I’ve landed here rather by accident in the late nineteenth century.”
“And you’ve been here ever since?” Emily asked in surprise. “Will people be living such long lives in the future?”
“Not as a rule,” Jack replied. “I’m a special case; but that’s a story for another time. Let’s talk about Matt’s mission first; that’s more important.”
“What makes you think so?”
“Torchwood Three, the organisation I worked for before this assignment, had a leader who killed his entire team, back in 2000,” Jack explained grimly. “Then, before shooting himself, he told me that it’s the twenty-first century when everything changes, and that he killed the others because he wanted to spare them the future he’d seen.”
“But how could he have seen the future?” Matt frowned. “Do you think he went through an anomaly?”
Jack shrugged. “I have no idea. In the century and a half I spent in Cardiff I’ve never seen an anomaly like these… and there isn’t any mentioning of one in our Archives, either. We’ve got the Rift in Cardiff, of course, but that’s a different phenomenon.”
“Rift? What kind of rift?” Matt asked, but Jack shook his head.
“Sorry, you don’t have the clearance to tell you that. But if Alex saw your time, that’s a good thing because it means that you’ll succeed.”
“How that?”
“We didn’t know about any global catastrophe happening back in the twenty-first century in my time,” Jack explained. “So you must have prevented it… well, you will prevent it,” he laughed ruefully. “Time travel really messes up your tenses, doesn’t it?”
“God, I hope so,” Matt said fervently. “So, what will be happening now?”
Jack gave him a grim smile. “Now we’ll make sure you will succeed. I begin to believe that’s the real reason my team has been reassigned to the ARC, no matter what the Powers That Be might think.”
“Reassigned by whom? Lester?” Matt guessed.
“Oh, no,” Jack shook his head. “The orders came from higher, much higher. There are hidden powers in this country not even the government is fully aware of; fortunately for us, they work on keeping mankind safe. Usually, Torchwood answers directly to the Crown, but in this case…” he shrugged. “Nominally, we were sent here to watch Philip Burton and a mysterious project of his no-one knows much about, save for its name: New Dawn. But I’m getting the feeling that your mission and ours have a lot in common.”
“New Dawn?” Matt echoed thoughtfully. “He did mention it briefly to Connor when trying to win him over to work directly for Prospero.”
Jack nodded. “I know. But he kept it very hush-hush ever since. Hopefully, he won’t be able to resist the temptation of trying to approach Tosh likewise. If anyone, she’ll be able to find out what’s behind that name.”
“But will Doctor Sato be able to resist the temptation of working for him?” Matt asked seriously. “She’s a scientist - a chance like this only comes once in a lifetime.”
Jack smiled with almost paternal pride. “Don’t worry. My Toshiko knows where her loyalties ought to lie.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
“You were brilliant today, Toshiko,” having been patched up by the medics, Philip Burton was leaning casually against the doorframe of the small office. “I don't think anyone else on Earth could have broken through that firewall I set up. I underestimated you, and I apologise. I'm glad you're on the team.”
Tosh smiled at him shyly. “So am I. Working here is a different challenge.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” Philip smiled back at her. “About that dinner I owe you: how does Gavin at Windows sound? On Saturday evening?”
Tosh turned around and stared at him in surprise. “You can get a table at Gavin at Windows just like that? But the waiting list is half a year long!”
Philip grinned tiredly. “You underestimate the things money can buy. Well? Interested?”
“To be honest - no,” Tosh replied apologetically. “I wanted something nice, not overly posh; and I’m not particularly fond of French cuisine. If I had the choice I’d prefer Indian.”
“In that case what about the Babur?” Philip suggested. “What’s wrong?” he then asked, seeing her go stark white.
Tosh shook her head and pulled herself together. “Nothing is wrong. It’s just… I used to go to the Babur with a man who meant a great deal to me.”
“What happened? Did he break your heart?”
“No. He was the first to day at Canary Wharf.”
“I’m sorry,” Philip murmured uncomfortably. “We’ll find another place.”
“No,” Tosh said. “The Babur will do. It’s a wonderful place, and I can’t keep running from painful memories. Raji wouldn’t want that.”
“Raji?” Philip echoed, his tongue stumbling over the foreign-sounding name.
Tosh smiled sadly. “His name was Rajesh Singh. Doctor Rajesh Singh. He was a brave and brilliant man, but he’s dead and I’m alive, and life must go on.”
“How very true,” Philip grinned again. “Saturday evening then?”
“It’s a date,” Tosh agreed.
BY SOLEDAD
Author’s notes: Chapter Five takes part during the Primeval episode 4.03. There are some lines of dialogue that are taken from that episode. The rest is all mine. *g*
Both Babur’s and Gavin at Windows are really existing restaurants in London.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
CHAPTER FIVE
Ianto had almost reached Cooper Street when Jess’s call came in. He quickly pulled the car up to the kerb and groaned in despair. He hated it when Jack died. Yes, he would bounce back to live eventually, but dying was still as painful for him as for everyone else; and coming back was even worse.
At the moment they had the additional problem that no-one at the ARC knew about Jack’s immortality, with the possible exception of Mr Lester. Ianto could only hope that he could divert the attention of the guards and pretend that Jack had not actually been dead, just knocked out. It was fortunate that the team didn’t have a medic, as foolish as it had first seemed.
The guards attempted to stop him, arguing that whatever had killed the captain must have been in the theatre still, but Ianto ignored them. As Lester’s personal assistant he had the necessary authority to override them, and that was exactly what he did. Or tried anyway, ‘cos Becker’s men were trained to protect civilians; against their will, if they had to. Even those who outranked them.
Especially those who outranked them.
Fortunately for him, Becker himself arrived only moments later, with Abby and Connor in tow - and glared at him in disapproval.
“What are you doing here?”
“Jack called me; he said somebody - or something - was still inside, but no-one would listen to him.”
“You know he is…” Becker trailed off.
“Dead?” Ianto shook his head. “I heard that, but I think it’s not true. It takes a lot to kill Jack; so far he’s always bounced back, no matter what,” he turned to the guards. “What happened?”
“Broken neck,” one of them answered glumly. “And believe me, I can tell a dead man from a live one. He wasn’t bloody breathing anymore!”
“It happens when he’s in deep shock,” Ianto said calmly; that was an old excuse for Jack appearing dead. “I’m sure things aren’t as bad as they seem. Now, why don’t you go and search for the creature while I go and look after Jack?”
“There’s nothing you could do for him,” the same guard as before said. “Not even an ambulance could help him anymore.”
“Let me be the judge of that,” Ianto said evenly. “He’s been believed to be dead plenty of time before.”
“Let him,” Becker said. “We’ve more important things to do. It’s bad enough that we’ve lost all radio contact with the ARC.”
“Matt, too,” Abby supplied helpfully.
Becker rolled his eyes. “Great. This means we’re on our own and don’t even know what are we dealing with,” he tapped his earpiece, frustrated. “Jess? Talk to me.”
There was no answer… unless one counted the eerie howling of some creature far above their heads.
“Whatever it is, it’s above us,” Becker said. “Perhaps on the rooftop.”
“Tree creepers,” a female voice said behind them. Turning around, they saw the mysterious woman who had fled from the hospital enter the theatre with Matt in hot pursuit. “More than one, most likely; this is the sound with which they call each other.”
Ianto looked at her with interest. “You know these creatures?”
She nodded. “It'll make for the highest point, get its bearings and then go on the attack. Fortunately, they don’t hunt in packs.”
“Which means we’ll have to hunt down each of them individually,” Matt pulled a face. “All right, Abby, Connor, Becker, you stay with Mr Jones and search the auditorium and the backstage area. I'll take the one on the roof.”
“I'm coming with you,” their mysterious visitor declared.
Matt gave her an odd look. “Or what?”
“I'll be forced to hurt you,” she said matter-of-factly - and she clearly meant it, too.
“Again,” Matt corrected. “You'll be forced to hurt me again.”
She just stared at him stubbornly, and he gave in, not wanting to waste any more time. “Okay, but stay out of sight. “
They ran out, heading for the rooftop where one of the creatures was still howling abysmally. Abby, Connor, Becker and Ianto continued to search for Jack - and for possible other creatures inside.
It was Ianto who succeeded in finding Jack - unsurprisingly, as he had his Torchwood-issue scanner locked on to Jack’s wrist strap.
“He's here!” he called out, sitting down on the floor next to Jack’s lifeless body and taking Jack’s head onto his lap. Feeling around the back of Jack’s neck he found the telltale signs of broken vertebrae; at least it had been a quick and painless death - this time. Jack would be coming back any minute now.
“Don't move!” he heard Becker’s low, tense voice, and he froze. “On the count of three, dive.”
Ianto did as he was told and could feel the air sizzle mere inches above him with the simultaneous discharges of three EMDs. He wasn’t sure whether his hair had been singed or not; but he didn’t care, because in that very moment Jack gasped back to life.
There was the usual short moment of confusion and panic; then he recognised Ianto and smiled up to him. Not his trademark, thousand megawatt grin but a small, private smile that was for Ianto alone.
“You are here,” he murmured.
“Always,” Ianto replied quietly. “I’ve promised, haven’t I? Can you get up? We’re still not done here.”
“I’m fine,” Jack clambered to his feet and felt his neck with a grimace. “That blasted thing wrapped its tail around my neck; the closest thing to hanging I can imagine.”
He was the authority in the area; hanging was one of the many, many methods the Master tried on him during The Year That Never Was. Ianto, realising that he was about to get lost in those painful memories, squeezed his hand encouragingly.
“Come on,” he said. “We gotta go. There’s at least another one of these things on the roof, and Matt might need back-up.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Back at the ARC Tosh was startled out of her concentration by Philip’s panicked voice.
“Toshiko, stop the scan. There's a creature loose in here. Stop the scan!”
Years of working for Torchwood had taught Tosh to act in such situations first and ask questions later - assuming there was a later. But as fast as she reacted, she was still half a second late. The computer had already taken over fort hem.
“Incursion detected,” the pre-recorded voice announced emotionlessly. “Lockdown procedure commencing. Evacuate. Evacuate. Evacuate. Evacuate. Locked gate activated. Lockdown. Lockdown. Lockdown. Lockdown. Lockdown.”
Tosh watched in something akin to a shock as the ARC technicians ran off before the heavy security doors would slam down, isolating the operations centre from the rest of the world hermetically. She had no idea what to do.
“Lockdown complete,” the computer announced.
Jess seemed to be on the verge of panic. “What have you done?” she asked accusingly-
“Me?” Tosh snapped out of her shock. “It isn’t my fault that our esteemed leader forgot to tell me that the scan was linked to emergency lockdown! What kind of idiot gives someone a job to do and doesn't even brief them properly?”
“I can still hear you, you know,” Philip said from the lab where he was trapped, together with the little green lizard.
“I don’t care!” Tosh snapped at him. “It’s your fault, so you better help me fix it. How do we unlock lockdown?”
“You can't,” Philip seemed close to panicking, too.
“Nonsense,” Tosh said. “Every system has a back door; all we have to do I to find it.”
“I should be able to disarm lockdown,” Jess offered. “I've got clearance.”
“Not any more,” Philip shook his head. “I designed the scan so that only the most senior staff would have access to the controls.”
“Senior staff being who?” Jess inquired.
“As of this precise moment, me,” Philip admitted. “You can't override the controls without a retinal scan, which I can't do because I'm stuck in here!”
Tosh didn’t lose her calm, although the whole situation uncomfortably reminded her of the time when Suzie had them trapped in the Hub. Only this was worse. Somehow she doubted that reciting Emily Dickinson to Philip’s system would help.
“So we get you out,” she sad.
“You can't!” Philip replied.
She gave him an arch look through the bullet-proof glass wall of the lab. “Watch me!”
Then she turned to Jess. “There must be some other way that we can get him out of there.
What about the ceiling?”
Jess shook her head. “It's an isolation zone. Reinforced doors, nothing gets in or out.”
“That’s what they always say,” Tosh replied archly. “Until I show them the error of their ways.”
“I designed this system to neutralise any creature threat,” Philip was breathing heavily. “Permanently.”
“Well, you’re not the only computer genius in this building,” Tosh looked at Jess. “He sounds rather… odd.”
Jess was becoming stark white. “The air is being sucked out of the room,” she whispered.
Tosh shook her head in exasperation. “Fantastic! This is just getting better and better! Amateurs!”
“How long do I have, Jess, before the air runs out?” Philip wheezed.
Jess, obviously familiar with the specifics, made an unhappy grimace. “Twenty minutes until you lose consciousness.”
“That’s plenty of time,” Tosh declared, more self-confidently than she actually felt. “Come on!”
“Where are you going?” Jess asked nervously.
“I'm going to go and do something… unorthodox,” Tosh opened the case that Jack jokingly called Tosh’s-little-blue-box-of-know-things and took out a mobile interface that did originate on Earth - only a hundred or so centuries in the future. “Is there an external diagnostic outlet in this room?”
“Yes?” Jess clearly had no idea what Tosh was up to but produced the item in question nonetheless.
“Perfect,” Tosh connected her interface to the outlet Jess had just wheeled in. “Right, thank you. That should work. Turn it on.”
“Okay,” Jess did as she was told and Tosh tried to get into the system, but all her attempts were repelled. “Anything?”
Jess shook her head nervously. “Nothing. Can you really do this?”
Tosh gritted her teeth. “This would be the first time that I fail. Ever. Go check if the generator's on safety.”
“Toshiko,” Philip wheezed while Jess went to check the generator. “Speak to me.”
“I’m a bit busy here right now,” Tosh replied absently. “Don't worry, though, I am going to get you there. Of course that means that you’ll owe me dinner tonight - and I don’t mean take-out or the next best fish and chips shop. I want something really classy.”
Philip didn’t see the situation quite so optimistically. “It's impenetrable, Toshiko!”
“No system is impenetrable,” Tosh replied. “Not for me. You’re good, I’ll give you that, but I’m better. You’ll see. Just wait.”
“No time… for that. Toshiko… There are some things I haven't told anybody about; a special project called New Dawn. I need you to listen to me very carefully…”
The mentioning of New Dawn made Toshiko freeze for the moment. Wasn’t that the very thing Mr Holmes had mentioned? The project Philip had briefly spoken of to Connor but refused to tell more when Connor asked? Oh, yes, she was paying proper attention now!
Unfortunately, Philip had just lost consciousness.
“Yes, well, now is not a time for last words anyway,” Tosh said to Jess briskly. “It's not over yet. The problem is, though, that everything I try and do, I just keep hitting another firewall. Let’s try another approach. This is supposed to be Connor’s system, isn't it?”
“Well, it was once,” Jess allowed. “But it's apparently been modified out of all recognition. I don’t remember the old ARC having anything this… extreme. I mean, I wasn’t actually there, of course, but I’ve read all the records and saw the blueprints and…”
“But the foundations should still be there,” Tosh interrupted her babbling. “Do you have a copy of the original version?” Jess nodded mutely. “Great. Load it onto a laptop and let me take a look… quickly, before our boss would suffocate for good.”
To Jess’s credit, she found and loaded the required program in record time. Tosh connected her alien iPod to both the laptop and the mobile interface and started the program.
“What is this?” Jess asked, meaning the alien iPod.
“A very useful piece of advanced technology that enables me to hack into the… wait a minute!” Tosh interrupted herself. “I don't need to. I’ve found the trap door the boy built for himself. We should be able to get into the system through that. He’s really good.”
“Too good,” Jess commented unhappily, indicating at the large letters blinking on the laptop’s viewscreen: PASSWORD REQUIRED.
“That’s a problem,” Tosh admitted. “Especially as we’ve lost contact with the core team. But perhaps I can reach Jack via the Torchwood satellite.”
“Wait!” Jess stopped her. “I’m sure it would have been something to do with Abby. Connor has always been smitten with her.”
“Abby, okay,” Tosh typed the name in the field in a great hurry, her fingers a blur. “Come on.”
ACCESS DENIED, the system told her. TWO ATTEMPTS LEFT BEFORE SYSTEM SHUTDOWN.
“That's not it?” Jess said, disappointed.
“Yeah, I can see that,” Tosh returned a little testily and thought about the program for a moment. “What’s Abby’s family name again?”
“Maitland,” Jess supplied; then she added in surprise. “You didn’t know?”
“Jess, I’ve just met a building full of previously unknown people a few hours ago; you can’t expect me to remember all the names,” Tosh typed ABBY MAITLAND into the field and waited anxiously. Philip could already be dead, and they were wasting their time with the stupid password!
ACCESS DENIED, the system told her. ONE ATTEMPT LEFT BEFORE SYSTEM SHUTDOWN.
“Dammit!” Tosh was thinking furiously. “Think, Tosh, just think. It would have been something obvious… oh!”
An idea occurred to her, based on the selfish-child-personality ARC’s resident young genius had displayed all the previous years. Yes, it was risky, but it was the only thing she could think of.
With bated breath, she typed into the field ABBY TEMPE, knowing that if she was mistaken, there would be no way to save Philip.
There was a moment of tense silence, then the loudspeakers started blaring again.
LOCKDOWN TERMINATED. LOCKDOWN TERMINATED. SYSTEM REBOOTING.
“Thank God!” Tosh said with a relieved sigh. “Let’s go and see how Philip is doing.”
“Medics!” Jess cried, but didn’t wait for them to arrive. Instead, she followed Tosh who was already rushing into the lab where Philip had been trapped and started with CPR and chest compressions as soon as she got there.
“Don’t worry,” she assured Jess. “I’ve been trained at first aid. My former job made it necessary.”
And indeed, a few minutes later Philip began to cough. The medics arrived, too, with the oxygen tank and took over his care.
Jess beamed at Tosh. “He's okay. You didn't kill him.”
Tosh laughed tiredly, the enormity of the situation just catching up with her now.
“Nicely put. Although, to be accurate, it was the green lizard that almost killed him. That and his own stupidity.”
“I can… still hear you…” Philip wheezed behind the oxygen mask.
Tosh gave him an arch look. “Good. Perhaps next time you’ll remember to brief me properly before you let me initiate a new system. And don’t forget that you owe me dinner, somewhere nice. Your treat.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Philip laughed weakly, but it turned into a cough again.
“Ssh, don’t try to speak!” Jess warned him. “Let the medics take you to the sick room and check you through.”
“You’ll be right as rain within the hour, sir,” one of he medics promised as they helped him to his feet and steered him out of the lab.
“I think we should take Abby’s pet back to the menagerie,” Jess suggested.
Tosh nodded. “You do it. I’ll call Jack and see how the team’s doing.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
“We’re all right, Tosh,” Jack answered her call. “The situation is contained, the creatures are dead, and Matt’s mystery woman showed up, too. In fact, she helped us to deal with these… these tree-creepers, as she calls them.”
“She did?” Tosh was surprised. The woman had nothing in common with the female officers of UNIT who were trained to deal with monsters and aliens on a daily basis.
“Yeah, she and a few others have apparently lived in the same time period where these things belong; even hunted and ate them,” the disgust was clearly audible in Jack’s usually carefree voice. “I don’t envy them; these are nasty buggers. But it’s over for now.”
“You’ve still died, though,” Tosh said quietly.
Jack sighed. “Yeah, I have. It was a relatively easy death this time, though. I got away with a broken neck, clean and simple. And Ianto was there when I came back.”
“You still died,” Tosh repeated stubbornly. “Ianto isn’t the only one who hates when you die, you know. Who’s afraid that this would be the time when you don’t come back.”
“I know, Tosh,” Jack replied gently. “But I am back for now, and Ianto has managed to make the rest of the team believe I was just in shock.”
“That won’t always work,” Tosh warned. “You should be more careful, Jack. We’re moving on foreign territory and can’t be sure whom we can trust.”
“I know,” Jack said, his voice grim now. “Which is why I’m gonna having a long, friendly chat with our esteemed leader.”
“You mean Matt? Why so early?”
“Because I’m sure he isn’t exactly who - or what - he pretends to be,” Jack answered in the same grim tone.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Firmly believing in the direct approach, Jack went straight to Matt’s flat (address courtesy to Mr Holmes’s omniscient and highly efficient PA), sending Ianto back to the ARC with Becker and the rest of the team. Some investigations were better conducted alone.
To his mild surprise Matt’s abode turned out to be a penthouse on the top level of a very high building with a breath-taking view at the surrounding cityscape. Apparently, he wasn’t the only time traveller who enjoyed great heights.
This wasn’t the place where he’d have liked to live, however. It was airy and flooded with light, true, but also barren and minimalistic to the extreme, like an empty aquarium. Honestly, after that pretty stairway he had expected something more… classy. Of course that was before he’d get a look at the inside of the flat, the furniture of which consisted of an uncomfortable-looking bed, two mismatched armchairs, something like a bar counter with some odd plants under glass bulbs - and lots and lots of empty shelves.
It didn’t even look as if anyone would live here at all.
Matt was presumably surprised to see Jack on his doorstep, but - as usual - his stoic face showed no emotions.
“What are you doing here, Harkness?” he asked.
“We need to talk,” Jack replied.
Matt raised an eyebrow. “About what?”
“About that little tattoo behind your earlobe,” Jack said grimly. “You see, I happen to know what it means. I happen to have one, too. So I’d like to know what another Time Agent is doing here, in this same time period.”
Matt’s face remained expressionless but he stepped to the side.
“You better come in, then,” he said resignedly.
The reason for his resignation became clear when Jack entered the living-room and discovered the oddly-dressed woman from the anomaly sitting there.
“This is just getting curious and curiouser,” he commented. “Are the two of you working together on some hidden agenda?”
Matt snorted. “You’re being ridiculous, Captain!”
“Am I?” Jack measured them with narrowed eyes. “You clearly don’t belong to this time and apparently neither does she. So, out with it! What’s going on here? Where are you from? Or, more importantly, when are you from?”
Matt put on a mulish non-expression, but the woman apparently decided to cooperate.
“My name is Lady Emily Merchant,” she said with a sigh. “My home is London. I was born in 1840. I beg of you, let me go. I came through the gateway with a man. I need to find him. We must go back.”
“Why?” Jack asked, unimpressed. Time travel was an old hat for him, and the anomalies made it really simple-
“Because he’s dangerous,” she explained. “The people I travelled with - there were fifteen of us at the last count - were all damaged in their own way, being so far from home. Lost. Trapped. But Ethan is something else. He's different.”
“In what way?” Jack pressed. She sighed again, her expression troubled.
“It's as if there's something broken in him. Charlotte kept him under control and now that she's dead, none of us are safe.”
“Emily,” Matt interrupted, “whatever happens, I want you to know that you're safe here. I promise you that.”
But she just shook her head unhappily. “None of us are safe while Ethan's out there.”
Neither of the two Time Agents could have imagined just how right she was, but they exchanged worried looks anyway.
“We’ll have to look out for him,” John decided; then he aimed his next question directly at Matt. “And now to you. Where are you from? Because your DNA matches the humans of this era very closely, and I happen to know that the Agency never recruited people from this far in the past.”
“I’m not from the past,” Matt returned. “I’m from the future; from the not too distant future. Or rather from one possible future. I’ve come to prevent something from happening and make sure the future I came from never becomes reality.”
“What exactly must you prevent from happening?”
“I don’t know. I only know that it’s about to happen in the early twenty-first century. A dozen or so of us have been recruited to come back through the anomalies, because it was believed that we would blend in better than anyone from a more distant future. I never met another one until now.”
Jack shook his head. “I’m no one of those, nor have I come from your time. I’ve come from the very distant future and not by way of the anomalies. In fact, I’ve landed here rather by accident in the late nineteenth century.”
“And you’ve been here ever since?” Emily asked in surprise. “Will people be living such long lives in the future?”
“Not as a rule,” Jack replied. “I’m a special case; but that’s a story for another time. Let’s talk about Matt’s mission first; that’s more important.”
“What makes you think so?”
“Torchwood Three, the organisation I worked for before this assignment, had a leader who killed his entire team, back in 2000,” Jack explained grimly. “Then, before shooting himself, he told me that it’s the twenty-first century when everything changes, and that he killed the others because he wanted to spare them the future he’d seen.”
“But how could he have seen the future?” Matt frowned. “Do you think he went through an anomaly?”
Jack shrugged. “I have no idea. In the century and a half I spent in Cardiff I’ve never seen an anomaly like these… and there isn’t any mentioning of one in our Archives, either. We’ve got the Rift in Cardiff, of course, but that’s a different phenomenon.”
“Rift? What kind of rift?” Matt asked, but Jack shook his head.
“Sorry, you don’t have the clearance to tell you that. But if Alex saw your time, that’s a good thing because it means that you’ll succeed.”
“How that?”
“We didn’t know about any global catastrophe happening back in the twenty-first century in my time,” Jack explained. “So you must have prevented it… well, you will prevent it,” he laughed ruefully. “Time travel really messes up your tenses, doesn’t it?”
“God, I hope so,” Matt said fervently. “So, what will be happening now?”
Jack gave him a grim smile. “Now we’ll make sure you will succeed. I begin to believe that’s the real reason my team has been reassigned to the ARC, no matter what the Powers That Be might think.”
“Reassigned by whom? Lester?” Matt guessed.
“Oh, no,” Jack shook his head. “The orders came from higher, much higher. There are hidden powers in this country not even the government is fully aware of; fortunately for us, they work on keeping mankind safe. Usually, Torchwood answers directly to the Crown, but in this case…” he shrugged. “Nominally, we were sent here to watch Philip Burton and a mysterious project of his no-one knows much about, save for its name: New Dawn. But I’m getting the feeling that your mission and ours have a lot in common.”
“New Dawn?” Matt echoed thoughtfully. “He did mention it briefly to Connor when trying to win him over to work directly for Prospero.”
Jack nodded. “I know. But he kept it very hush-hush ever since. Hopefully, he won’t be able to resist the temptation of trying to approach Tosh likewise. If anyone, she’ll be able to find out what’s behind that name.”
“But will Doctor Sato be able to resist the temptation of working for him?” Matt asked seriously. “She’s a scientist - a chance like this only comes once in a lifetime.”
Jack smiled with almost paternal pride. “Don’t worry. My Toshiko knows where her loyalties ought to lie.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
“You were brilliant today, Toshiko,” having been patched up by the medics, Philip Burton was leaning casually against the doorframe of the small office. “I don't think anyone else on Earth could have broken through that firewall I set up. I underestimated you, and I apologise. I'm glad you're on the team.”
Tosh smiled at him shyly. “So am I. Working here is a different challenge.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” Philip smiled back at her. “About that dinner I owe you: how does Gavin at Windows sound? On Saturday evening?”
Tosh turned around and stared at him in surprise. “You can get a table at Gavin at Windows just like that? But the waiting list is half a year long!”
Philip grinned tiredly. “You underestimate the things money can buy. Well? Interested?”
“To be honest - no,” Tosh replied apologetically. “I wanted something nice, not overly posh; and I’m not particularly fond of French cuisine. If I had the choice I’d prefer Indian.”
“In that case what about the Babur?” Philip suggested. “What’s wrong?” he then asked, seeing her go stark white.
Tosh shook her head and pulled herself together. “Nothing is wrong. It’s just… I used to go to the Babur with a man who meant a great deal to me.”
“What happened? Did he break your heart?”
“No. He was the first to day at Canary Wharf.”
“I’m sorry,” Philip murmured uncomfortably. “We’ll find another place.”
“No,” Tosh said. “The Babur will do. It’s a wonderful place, and I can’t keep running from painful memories. Raji wouldn’t want that.”
“Raji?” Philip echoed, his tongue stumbling over the foreign-sounding name.
Tosh smiled sadly. “His name was Rajesh Singh. Doctor Rajesh Singh. He was a brave and brilliant man, but he’s dead and I’m alive, and life must go on.”
“How very true,” Philip grinned again. “Saturday evening then?”
“It’s a date,” Tosh agreed.