Commentfic
Commentfic that wouldn't fit in the comments, yey!
Fandom: Torchwood/Animorphs
Characters: Jack, Tobias ("Tobin"), Suzie, Owen, Tosh, Ianto, Rachel, Jake, Marco
Spoilers: None
Words: 1278
Rating: PG-13 for some language
Prompt: Animorphs/Torchwood, Jake/Tobias, Jack, I caught a bird
Jack leaned over his desk, sorting through the mess of papers that he needed to finish with (but none of them were planet-threatening urgent, so it was okay. Well, most of them weren't) and searching for the phone number given to him by the President of Guatemala or the Prime Minister of Niger or some other pseudo-important person like that. He tended to get them confused.
There was a sharp rap on the doorframe and Suzie's head poked into the room. "Jack, I caught a bird."
Jack didn't look up, shifting a whole pile of reports from 2006 (oops) over to the side as he continued his search. "Is it an alien bird?"
"No. Standard Earth hawk, as far as we can tell."
"Okay." He planted his palms on the desk surface, raised his head to look at her. "And?"
"It talks."
"It what?"
-
"Buteo jamaicensis, red-tailed hawk. Widespread throughout North America, distinctive for its brightly-colored tail feathers. Judging by the weight this one is male. No signs of anything unusual, nothing that would give it the ability to speak." Owen frowned at the bird glaring back at him from inside the cage. "But what is one doing here?"
"Maybe it flew," Jack suggested, only half-jokingly.
"Birds of prey aren't good long-distance flier, especially over water. No way this hawk could get over the Atlantic. So, how did it get here?"
"Hitched a ride?" Suzie asked, shrugging. "Or maybe it escaped from a zoo or something."
Jack moved over to look more closely at the bird. "Has it spoken since you found it?"
"Not a word."
"Right. Tosh, take a look through the computer and see if anything like this has ever come up. Suzie, you check for any reports of escaped hawks recently. Zoos, pets, whatever. Ianto, coffee, please. And Owen, you and I are going to see if we can get this bird to talk."
-
Thirty minutes later, no progress had been made, unless one counted Ianto's coffee. Tosh and Suzie came up blank and Owen and Jack were still trying out different tactics to get the hawk to speak up.
"Stubborn little bastard, isn't he?" Owen muttered, poking a finger through the bars of the cage only to snatch it back moments later as the sharp beak flashed towards it.
"Cheeky, too." Jack squared off against the bird, returning the keen golden glare with a look equally fierce. "Tell us where you're from and we can try to get you back there."
< Like you don't know, Yeerk. > Obviously tired of listening to Jack yammer, the hawk spoke up, his voice full of menace that sounded just the slightest bit forced.
"Shit. He talked." Owen looked in surprise at the bird.
"That's what I've been telling you," Suzie called from somewhere in the main hub.
"Shh!" Jack shushed them quickly, turning back to the caged hawk. "What do you mean? What's a Yeerk?"
"Looking it up now," Tosh called from her computer. "Give me a second."
< Please. > The hawk's feathers ruffled. < I'm not an idiot. I know what you are. But you'd better do it soon, it's almost been two hours. I'm not going to be much use to you in a few minutes. >
"Got it," Tosh said, squinting at the computer screen. "Nothing definitive, just a few vague mentions . . . something about possession."
"What, like a demon?" Suzie's mouth quirked, remembering the last time they'd run into a demon-like creature.
"No, I don't think so. It says parasite."
< Good act, > the hawk interrupted. < Very good. All this tech, very impressive. What I don't get is why. If you want me to talk, all you have to do is shove one of your slimy friends inside my ear. I don't have more than five minutes left so you'd better hurry. > His voice was taunting, mocking. And Jack didn't like to be mocked.
"Okay, look. I don't know what you are or what you think we are, but we just want to help you."
< Help. Okay. Sure. >
"Just tell me what you are."
< I think your doctor's already told you that. >
"You're more than a bird."
< Sure. But not for long. >
"Listen. We're not like other humans. We--"
< Damn right you're not. >
Jack sighed, pinched the bridge of his nose. He reached for his coffee mug before realizing that he'd finished it fifteen minutes ago and hadn't asked Ianto for a refill yet. "How can we make you trust us?"
< You could leave that poor human whose body you've stolen alone. And while you're at it you can let me out of this fucking cage. >
"That I can do." He didn't move. "In exchange for your name and species, and a promise that you won't hurt anyone on my team."
< What if that's not a promise I can keep? >
"Then in the cage you stay."
< Fine. Okay. I'm an Andalite. My name is Tob-- Tobin. Tobin-Aximili-Cassil. I promise I won't hurt your team. Let me out. >
Jack didn't move. "I've had a lot of practice telling when people are lying to me, Tobin."
"I've got the search results on Andalites," Tosh called from the main hub. "No visuals, but there are some recordings of their speech patterns. It's called thought-speech; it uses psychic resonance to transmit specific thoughts from one mind to another. And they've got some amazing tech that I'd love to get my hands on."
< How long are you going to keep this up? > Tobin sounded weary. < Either let me out or get it fucking over with. >
With a great show of reluctance, Jack reached over and unlocked the cage. Tobin hopped out, fluffed his feathers, stretched his wings.
< Can I go now? > He sounded more annoyed than suspicious.
"It seems so. You can take the lift." Jack pointed at the platform and it began to rise, a square opening up in the ceiling above. Tobin cast a final suspicious glance at the team before spreading his wings and making a break for it.
The staff had enough self restraint to stay where they were until the lift had closed up behind him, when they rushed over to cluster around Tosh's screen as she pulled up the CCTV. They watched in curiosity as he met up with five underdressed teenagers in the darkened plass above. One of the boys seemed to be complaining, and though the CCTVs couldn't detect thought-speak there was a long enough pause that Jack could guess that Tobin was talking. A tall blonde girl held out her arm and he landed on it as she demanded, "Where the hell have you been?" Another pause for Tobin to answer and then the biggest boy said, "Morph, quickly. There's no one around. We've got work to do." Tobin flew away into the nighttime shadows, where the CCTV couldn't pick anything up, and didn't return, but instead a sixth teenager appeared, blonde and most definitely not dressed for an autumn Cardiff night. The six teens vanished into a mess of deserted streets and darkened corners where Tosh couldn't pick them up on the CCTV, and the Torchwood team exchanged a startled glance.
"Well that was odd," Ianto said finally, breaking the silence. "Anyone want coffee?"
"Please," Jack said with a nod before returning to his office. He slumped down at his chair, gazed at the papers spread across his desk in an even larger mess than they'd been in before he'd started his search, and sighed.
Fandom: Torchwood/Animorphs
Characters: Jack, Tobias ("Tobin"), Suzie, Owen, Tosh, Ianto, Rachel, Jake, Marco
Spoilers: None
Words: 1278
Rating: PG-13 for some language
Prompt: Animorphs/Torchwood, Jake/Tobias, Jack, I caught a bird
Jack leaned over his desk, sorting through the mess of papers that he needed to finish with (but none of them were planet-threatening urgent, so it was okay. Well, most of them weren't) and searching for the phone number given to him by the President of Guatemala or the Prime Minister of Niger or some other pseudo-important person like that. He tended to get them confused.
There was a sharp rap on the doorframe and Suzie's head poked into the room. "Jack, I caught a bird."
Jack didn't look up, shifting a whole pile of reports from 2006 (oops) over to the side as he continued his search. "Is it an alien bird?"
"No. Standard Earth hawk, as far as we can tell."
"Okay." He planted his palms on the desk surface, raised his head to look at her. "And?"
"It talks."
"It what?"
-
"Buteo jamaicensis, red-tailed hawk. Widespread throughout North America, distinctive for its brightly-colored tail feathers. Judging by the weight this one is male. No signs of anything unusual, nothing that would give it the ability to speak." Owen frowned at the bird glaring back at him from inside the cage. "But what is one doing here?"
"Maybe it flew," Jack suggested, only half-jokingly.
"Birds of prey aren't good long-distance flier, especially over water. No way this hawk could get over the Atlantic. So, how did it get here?"
"Hitched a ride?" Suzie asked, shrugging. "Or maybe it escaped from a zoo or something."
Jack moved over to look more closely at the bird. "Has it spoken since you found it?"
"Not a word."
"Right. Tosh, take a look through the computer and see if anything like this has ever come up. Suzie, you check for any reports of escaped hawks recently. Zoos, pets, whatever. Ianto, coffee, please. And Owen, you and I are going to see if we can get this bird to talk."
-
Thirty minutes later, no progress had been made, unless one counted Ianto's coffee. Tosh and Suzie came up blank and Owen and Jack were still trying out different tactics to get the hawk to speak up.
"Stubborn little bastard, isn't he?" Owen muttered, poking a finger through the bars of the cage only to snatch it back moments later as the sharp beak flashed towards it.
"Cheeky, too." Jack squared off against the bird, returning the keen golden glare with a look equally fierce. "Tell us where you're from and we can try to get you back there."
< Like you don't know, Yeerk. > Obviously tired of listening to Jack yammer, the hawk spoke up, his voice full of menace that sounded just the slightest bit forced.
"Shit. He talked." Owen looked in surprise at the bird.
"That's what I've been telling you," Suzie called from somewhere in the main hub.
"Shh!" Jack shushed them quickly, turning back to the caged hawk. "What do you mean? What's a Yeerk?"
"Looking it up now," Tosh called from her computer. "Give me a second."
< Please. > The hawk's feathers ruffled. < I'm not an idiot. I know what you are. But you'd better do it soon, it's almost been two hours. I'm not going to be much use to you in a few minutes. >
"Got it," Tosh said, squinting at the computer screen. "Nothing definitive, just a few vague mentions . . . something about possession."
"What, like a demon?" Suzie's mouth quirked, remembering the last time they'd run into a demon-like creature.
"No, I don't think so. It says parasite."
< Good act, > the hawk interrupted. < Very good. All this tech, very impressive. What I don't get is why. If you want me to talk, all you have to do is shove one of your slimy friends inside my ear. I don't have more than five minutes left so you'd better hurry. > His voice was taunting, mocking. And Jack didn't like to be mocked.
"Okay, look. I don't know what you are or what you think we are, but we just want to help you."
< Help. Okay. Sure. >
"Just tell me what you are."
< I think your doctor's already told you that. >
"You're more than a bird."
< Sure. But not for long. >
"Listen. We're not like other humans. We--"
< Damn right you're not. >
Jack sighed, pinched the bridge of his nose. He reached for his coffee mug before realizing that he'd finished it fifteen minutes ago and hadn't asked Ianto for a refill yet. "How can we make you trust us?"
< You could leave that poor human whose body you've stolen alone. And while you're at it you can let me out of this fucking cage. >
"That I can do." He didn't move. "In exchange for your name and species, and a promise that you won't hurt anyone on my team."
< What if that's not a promise I can keep? >
"Then in the cage you stay."
< Fine. Okay. I'm an Andalite. My name is Tob-- Tobin. Tobin-Aximili-Cassil. I promise I won't hurt your team. Let me out. >
Jack didn't move. "I've had a lot of practice telling when people are lying to me, Tobin."
"I've got the search results on Andalites," Tosh called from the main hub. "No visuals, but there are some recordings of their speech patterns. It's called thought-speech; it uses psychic resonance to transmit specific thoughts from one mind to another. And they've got some amazing tech that I'd love to get my hands on."
< How long are you going to keep this up? > Tobin sounded weary. < Either let me out or get it fucking over with. >
With a great show of reluctance, Jack reached over and unlocked the cage. Tobin hopped out, fluffed his feathers, stretched his wings.
< Can I go now? > He sounded more annoyed than suspicious.
"It seems so. You can take the lift." Jack pointed at the platform and it began to rise, a square opening up in the ceiling above. Tobin cast a final suspicious glance at the team before spreading his wings and making a break for it.
The staff had enough self restraint to stay where they were until the lift had closed up behind him, when they rushed over to cluster around Tosh's screen as she pulled up the CCTV. They watched in curiosity as he met up with five underdressed teenagers in the darkened plass above. One of the boys seemed to be complaining, and though the CCTVs couldn't detect thought-speak there was a long enough pause that Jack could guess that Tobin was talking. A tall blonde girl held out her arm and he landed on it as she demanded, "Where the hell have you been?" Another pause for Tobin to answer and then the biggest boy said, "Morph, quickly. There's no one around. We've got work to do." Tobin flew away into the nighttime shadows, where the CCTV couldn't pick anything up, and didn't return, but instead a sixth teenager appeared, blonde and most definitely not dressed for an autumn Cardiff night. The six teens vanished into a mess of deserted streets and darkened corners where Tosh couldn't pick them up on the CCTV, and the Torchwood team exchanged a startled glance.
"Well that was odd," Ianto said finally, breaking the silence. "Anyone want coffee?"
"Please," Jack said with a nod before returning to his office. He slumped down at his chair, gazed at the papers spread across his desk in an even larger mess than they'd been in before he'd started his search, and sighed.