canon: everything changes
It was a rainy, nasty night. Cold and wet as Gwen walked through the throng of police officers, peering over people's shoulders to get a look at the body in the alley, illuminated in the rain by lamps. A police officer walked by with coffee in a cardboard holder. She snagged one with a smile, "Aw, thank you
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The pale, wet face stares back at him, uncomprehending, but the calm voice and its question seems to reduce the panic, just a little.
"...John. John Tucker."
"Okay, John. Not long now." And hell knows that's a cruel thing to say, but it doesn't seem worth it to lie to this man, not right now, and Jack keeps his voice level. It's hardly the first time he's spoken to a trauma victim, though thinking about then never helps much. He knows how to say it, but what?
"Who are you?" asks John plaintively, so confused and still terrified.
"Captain Jack Harkness." He hesitates, then goes on. If this were a living person he'd be in advanced shock, but of course he isn't now.
"Tell me. What was it like when you died? What did you see? John, tell me what you saw."
Jack had tried to keep his voice steady, but urgency creeps through - what if this is the only chance to know he'll ever have? - as Suzie distantly says ten seconds.
Finally, "Nothing. I- I saw nothing. Oh my god- there's nothing!"
"Shit!" says Owen, as the body that had been John Tucker a moment ago collapses limply back into Suzie's hands. "Told you it was stupid," he grouses at Tosh.
Jack sighs slightly, getting slowly to his feet. "We told the last corpse he was injured, he spent the whole two minutes screaming for an ambulance. "Maybe there's no right way of doing it."
And he looks up, directly into Gwen Cooper's distant eyes, and shouts,
"What do you think?"
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She runs towards the street, stopping next to some phone booths, glancing at the occupants as she struggles to catch her breath, tilting her head back in the rain.
She somehow makes it back to the station, mind reeling with what she's witnessed, and changes into clothes that she keeps in her locker, grabbing a raincoat and heading home.
Rhys is on the couch when she opens the door, and setting down her purse and keys, she comes to sit next to him. They talk of what's on telly, what happened to the poor bloke downtown a ways. Was she involved in the case?
"No," She murmurs, shaking her head, "Nothing to do with me."
And Rhys takes it like that and continues his talking, rambling on about Banana Boat and diabetes and tea and Chinese food. Gwen waves off his attempts at feeding her and leaves him to the man on the teevee who has found his sister.
She doesn't sleep that night.
The next morning she goes into work and snags Yvonne, asking her to look up a Captain Jack Harkness for her, before making tea for the rest of the team.
She walks in on the murder investigation, keeping a keen ear open for information on the mysterious Torchwood organisation. Nothing.
The day wanes on and she and Andy report to a pub brawl, and in the car she asks him about Torchwood. His answers are short and it's clear he knows about as much as she does. "Bet you ten quid they're DNA specialists. It's all DNA these days." He says, "Like that CSI bollocks. CSI: Cardiff; I'd like to see that! They'd be measuring the velocity of a kebab."
It makes her laugh as they walk into the pub and she gets a knock on the head, which makes her...well, not laugh.
She gets all patched up and is walking out when she sees him.
Him.
Captain Jack Harkness, he's running up the stairs (why is he here of all places, how did he get in? Where were the rest of them? Why is he HERE of all places?!) and it doesn't take much for Gwen to run up the stairs after him, following him to a closed off area.
Well bugger. Why's it closed? No one seems to know, especially that porter. He wanders off and she wanders into the closed area.
And there is a man, a thing. Something. And it's standing there, with horribly snarling teeth and sunken eyes and hands that aren't natural. It has to be a prank. Students or something.
And suddenly, the porter's back, talking loudly and getting in the thing's face and Gwen's eyes widen as suddenly the thing grabs the man and rips at his neck--
(oh shit oh shit oh shit)
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But Captain Jack Harkness pushes the policewoman away, running down the corridor so she has no choice but to run too, or be dragged, shouting as loud as he can for her to go, go, go, go!
The others have got the spray on it, he sees in a fast glance over his shoulder, but she sure as anything doesn't need to see more, so he keeps her running, shouting Go! again as he releases her at the top of her stairs, then stopping and watching her run. Panic will take her away from their floor, give them time to get down and to the SUV.
Not perfect. But better than it could have gone.
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What the hell was that thing?! What was it doing in that closed off area?! And who the fucking hell was Jack Harkness?! And--
A car zooms past her. The Torchwood SUV...and almost hits her. She jumps out of the way, then whirls around to watch it go...before taking off. She gets in her squad car, leaving Andy in the dust as she races after them.
She gives the license plate number (Charlie, Foxtrot, Zero, Six, Foxtrot, Delta, Uniform) as she follows the car and learns that there is no registered name of Jack Harkness.
Except one.
And he disappeared.
In 1941 at the height of the London Blitz.
And then they're pulling into Road Dahl Pass and the SUV speeds off as Harkness and his crew walk away. Gwen gets out of the car, yelling for the Torchwood lot to stop moving, but is accosted by a security guard.
As they squabble, Gwen loses sight of the team, and suddenly they're not there anymore. Just...gone.
And then, while it rains, Gwen finds out that there is no such car registered, and none of this is making sense! None of it--
The door opens and in slides Andy, cross as ever. "I have walked." He snaps. "I have bloody walked."
Temple's livid, apparently, but Gwen could care less at this point. She explains what she saw and she knows that Andy doesn't believe her, not with that look in his eye. He offers to take her home, and she doesn't resist.
Rhys is cooking when she comes home, and she can't stand the fact that she lies to him, but she needs to figure this damned Torchwood thing out and with a murmured exchange of forgiving and a kiss, Gwen heads back to the Millenium Center.
She stakes the place out for a while, watching in the cold as nothing happens...and then...notices a pizza delivery person bike by...and gets an idea.
They don't cater to a Jack Harkness, a Captain Harkness, a J. Harkness and Gwen's about to damn well give up and go have a hot pot with Rhys anyway, when she wonders if someone in Torchwood could really be that dumb. "I don’t suppose you got a Torchwood."
The pizza boy looks suprised. "Oh yeah, we do them all the time. They're good customers."
Finally. Gwen wins at something!
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Ianto is making a cup of coffee when he hears the door open and goes to see who's come in.
"Oh hi," the woman says, looking nervous and slightly guilty, as if she knows she shouldn't be there. "Sorry I’m late. Someone ordered pizza."
"Who's it for?" he asks.
"I think it’s... a Mr. Harkness," she replies.
Ianto smiles as the outer door, caught by a sudden gust of wind, slams shut. Of course. He presses a button behind the desk and a brick wall swings open, revealing a winding corridor that leads god-knows-where. The professional mask nearly cracks when he sees her eyes widen in shock and he straightens a stack of flyers until it passes.
"Don't keep him waiting," he says, giving her a knowing smile. The woman hesitates, and Ianto urges her again. Go on.
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If Owen -- or any of Torchwood -- were to look up, he'd see what she sees: an underground hideout straight out of some sci-fi novel. With its dedicated employees -- sometimes too dedicated, in Suzie's case. Honestly, she probably sleeps with that glove under her pillow -- and its computers and machinery. Even with a hand bubbling away on the counter.
Upstairs, a door opens, and 'Mr. Harkness' walks out, a captain coming to survey his troops. Down the steps, walking right in front of the woman without appearing to acknowledge her existence.
Owen can feel her stare as she follows Jack, walking up the steps and then behind their workstations.
Then a laugh cuts through the surrealism, a snort and more chuckling follow. Laughing, Owen pushes back from his papers. "I can't do this, I'm sorry! I'm rubbish. I give up!" Tosh points an accusing finger at him. "He set me off!"
A few meters away, Suzie takes off her gloves, exasperated. "Well that lasted 0.2 seconds."
The woman glances about, confused, and Owen points at her. "Hmm. She's actually carrying pizza."
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Sort of.
"Come on, she was going to say 'here's your pizza,' and I was going to say 'how much?' and then she says 'oh I don’t know, whatever, 20 quid?' and I say 'Oh, I don't have any money...'"
He leans against the doorframe, raising his eyebrows thoughtfully.
"I was working on a punch line... I'd have got there... But it would have been good."
Gwen Cooper swallows. "There's your pizza, I think I'd better go."
Jack nods once. "I think we've gone past that stage."
Her eyes are as round as saucers as Suzie asks how long she'd been walking around up above the base - as if seeing their equipment, it was unlikely they'd have surveillance around the outside. She stepped in at the deep end, all right, but Jack's rather curious to see how she copes. So instead of doing the compassionate thing, and telling her it will be all right, he moves right on ahead. Let's face it, he'd be lying if he did say that.
"And before we go any further, who the hell orders pizza under the name Torchwood?"
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"Uh ... yeah, that'd be me. Sorry, I'm a twat," he says, before sticking his pen in his mouth and turning back to Gwen.
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"He's dead." Jack, of course, blunt as a sledgehammer.
"But theres no one gone missing."
At this, Tosh takes of her glasses which she puts on her desk and shifts in her chair so she's facing Gwen.
"We took the body, retrospectively changed the work rota, planted a false witness who saw him leaving the hospital, giving him an alibi for the next 48 hours, so when his body's pulled out of the docks next Tuesday night he's only been missing for three days."
Her reply is said very matter of factly and so casually, like this is an everyday occurance for Torchwood (it is).
"He was murdered," Gwen deduces.
"Yeah."
"And you covered it up," she adds accusingly.
Tosh shrugs. "It's my job."
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Jack looks at her, arms crossed as he steps closer to her. "What did you see?"
"You revived him."
"No." Jack states. "What did you see?"
"You resuscitated him."
"No." Jack says clearly. "What did you see?"
"You brought him back to life," Gwen says finally, flustered.
Jack nods, arms still crossed. "Yeah."
Gwen stares at the group of people like she can't believe what she's hearing and she can't, this goes against everything she's learned and been taught in schools. You cannot bring someone back to life! You just can't.
"Who are you?" She asks, a bit shrill.
Jack answers with one word: "Torchwood."
"What's Torchwood?"
This is Torchwood, Jack tells her, everything around her. And she takes that in, glancing at the Hub once more, shivering slightly. "And what happens to me?"
Jack looks a little flustered and glances behind him as he makes a soft noise.
"I'm police," Gwen interjects, "Constable Gwen Cooper." Each name is anunciated carefully. "You can't do anything."
His lip twitches slightly before he says loud and clear, "Right then, PC Cooper." as he moves to stand near Toshiko. "You want to come and see."
She looks up at him, fingers still clutching the pizza box. "See what?"
"You saw the murder," Jack drawls. "Come and see the murderer." With that, he walks off, leaving Gwen standing there with Toshiko and Suzie. She just stares after him.
Suzie leans forward and gently says, "Go with him."
And so Gwen does, setting the pizza box down and following Jack.
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"Are you coming?" he calls back, managing to sound impatient, and not as though he's loving every minute of this. She follows, and he doesn't look back again as he leads the way down into the cells; dark, depressing little prisons seperated from the two of them by flimsy-looking glass.
He stops at the right cell, and waits for a beat before flicking the lightswitch to reveal the creature crouching inside. The girl's - woman's, really, but when you're Jack, everyone seems young - eyes widen.
"It's all right," he says softly. "It's safe. Sedated." He beckons her closer. "It's called a Weevil. Or at least, we call them Weevils. We don’t know their real name 'cause they’re not too good at communicating, but we have a couple of hundred of them in the city - living in the sewers, living off... well. It’s a sewer, you can guess. But once in a while one of them gets rough, comes to the surface, attacks. Actually it’s been happening more and more and we have no idea why. But it’s alien."
He looks at her sidelong, big scared eyes in a pale face, and tries to think what it must be like. He can't imagine it, not any more.
"Look into it's eyes."
One hand reaches for a chair, back against the wall, and he plants it behind her, close to the transparent cell wall, pressing a hand lightly on her shoulder to make her sit.
"Here you go. Take your time... It was born on a different world, and it's real."
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The hard chair is a comfort.
His hand is oddly comforting too.
She swallows hard. The weevil stares back at her. Its eyes are fathomlessly sad. She almost feels sorry for it.
She glances back up at Jack for a moment.
Words don't come.
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The rest of the team come up to meet her as they emerge, and Jack briskly makes the introductions - Owen Harper, Doctor Owen Harper; Toshiko Sato, computer genius; Suzie Costello, second in command...
"...and this is Ianto Jones. Ianto cleans up after us and gets us everywhere on time."
He grins as Ianto nods politely to the increasingly confused Gwen. "Plus, he looks good in a suit."
And he may protest that it's harrassment with an answering smile, but the visiting PC can't see the funny side.
"But -- why are you telling me their names? I’m not supposed to know, am I, this is classified."
Way beyond classified. Jack can almost see the horrible fates she's envisioning behind those worried eyes - if they can dump a man in water and lie about his death, what will they do to her, who's seen too much?
And Jack has no intention of telling her. Not yet, anyhow. And ruin the surprise? "Okay, Tosh, finish that calibration tomorrow morning. Oh and first thing, Owen, get a hold of Chanla and Bell, because I think they're lying. Ianto, if he needs back up, you better be on standby. Suzie? I know it’s a pain in the ass but I need a cosine on the glove research and as for you," he gestures grandly at Gwen before turning on his heel and heading for the lift, "You’re coming with me, this way."
"I'm getting tired of following you," she mutters mutinously, but she does it anyway.
"No you're not," Jack answers, with certainty. "And you never will."
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Gwen sighs and stands next to him. He presses a few buttons on his wristband before reaching out and turning her around so she faces the same way he did. "Now, you came in through the front door." He grinned at her, "let’s take the scenic."
He presses a final button and the stone starts to move upward. Gwen shrieks softly and grabs his arm, holding onto him tightly. Suzie waves from the floor as they move higher and higher in the air.
They end up in front of the building, right where the water spills into the ground (where it trickles underground...into the Hub), and a woman and a man pass them, completely ignoring them.
"But… but they can see the lift. Why aren’t they… I mean." Gwen frowns, looking up at Jack, and quickly disentangling herself from him.
He clears his throat and shoves his hands in his pockets. He listens to her complain that they're there, in the open, where everyone can see them...and he yells at a person walking down the street.
No reaction.
Gwen gapes.
Perception filter, Jack says, shrugging, like it's the simplest thing ever, but to Gwen it's near impossible...and absolutely delightful. He steps off of it and speaks to a woman as she walks by and she gives him an odd look and keeps going.
"And lo," He sighs. "We are percieved."
"But...how does it work?" Gwen asks, stepping off the filter after him.
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Gwen looks at him like he's crazy. Oh, how he lives for those looks.
"Sounds kind of ridiculous, right? 'Invisible lift' has more of a ring to it."
It's a great speech, and what's ever greater is her power to squash it flat with something so picky as logic. So goddamn Welsh. He turns and starts walking with a melodramatic eyeroll, and Gwen - once again - runs after him.
Twenty minutes later, he's drinking his water and having an argument. "No, no, I'll tell you what I don’t understand: You’re going to rattle on with 'how can this be true?' kinda schtick. What's it going to take for you people? If you want evidence of aliens, how about that great big spaceship hovering over London on Christmas Day? What about the battle of Canary Wharf, Cybermen in every home?"
Terrorism. Drugs in the water supply. Mass hallucinations. Morons.
"So... you catch aliens."
"Yep."
"Catch aliens, for a living."
"Yes, we do."
"You're an alien catcher?"
"Yes, I am."
"Caught any good aliens lately?"
"Tons of 'em."
"That's an 'ell of a job!"
"It is!"
She still can't quite believe it - she's trying, she's accepted it, but the way she stares... Not that it matters. Jack sips his water, smiling faintly.
And here it comes. The research. She knows there's only one Captain Jack Harkness on record, and he disappeared in the 1940s. Wouldn't you know it? Well, she won't, not if he can help it, and there's more to talk about. They way they scavenge alien technology, keep seperate from the government. Governments change. Torchwood's outlived several and he'll keep it that way, thanks. Plus, a politician could use some of that stuff for their own ends. Messy.
"But so could you," she shoots back.
"None of it leaves the base. No-one's allowed to take anything outside."
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Owen might even have followed that rule (if he'd ... felt like it?) but then they'd picked up that spray. And really, the potential was just overwhelming.
So as Jack is telling Gwen all about the rules regarding alien tech, Owen is in his bathroom, grabbing a small vial of alien aphrodisiac. Getting ready to use it for his own ends.
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