Dirty big secret [fic]
Title:Dirty big secret
Author:
shadowbyrd
Rating(s): PG-13
Warning(s): Post series two.
Word Count: 4057
Summary: Torchwood is exposed to the pulic. And the press.
It starts with a phone call at three am. Jack takes his mobile upstairs and into his office, seating himself behind his desk before he answers. No one calls at three am unless it’s very bad news.
It’s Martha. Her voice sounds heavy and tired. "They’ve let me be the one to tell you," she says, not bothering with "hello". "I think for a while everyone forgot - it’s been pandemonium around here with everyone trying to figure out what to do -"
"What’s happened?" Jack asks, rubbing his eyes and trying to wake up. Trust her to ring right in the middle of his half-hour of sleep.
"Oh, sorry. It’ll probably be all over the news tomorrow in one form or another." Jack listens with growing trepidation as she takes a deep breath. "Early this evening one of the UNIT commanders had his car broken into and a laptop was stolen. We’re hoping it was kids or petty criminals, but… well, it’s not looking good."
"And this is a heads up, a warning to keep a low profile over coming weeks?" asks Jack. Say yes, please say yes.
There’s a long pause at the other end of the line and Jack can just see her chewing her lip, thinking how best to break it to him. Finally she comes out with, "There were documents on the hard drive with information about Torchwood." Jack freezes. "How much detail they go into is a bit sketchy at moment, but we’re working on it."
Jack rubs his eyes and doesn’t say anything.
"Jack? Jack, are you still there?"
"Yeah."
"I just thought you should know as soon as possible. I’ve given orders that you’re to be informed immediately when we know for sure what kind of information was on it."
"What was he doing with this information, exactly?" asks Jack, doing his best not to sound annoyed. She’s had the decency to inform him of the situation. It’s not her he should be annoyed with.
"Oh, Jack don’t start -"
"I know, I know. But I’ll need it answered at some point. We’re not officially affiliated, we don’t have rights to each other’s information."
Martha sighs. "I know. I told you, when I know you’ll know."
She sounds so tired Jack can’t help but sympathise. "How are you holding up?"
She laughs. "Me specifically or the organisation as a whole?"
Jack pretends to give it some thought. "Both. I don’t play favourites."
She laughs again and this time it’s a little more genuine. "Everyone’s running around like headless chickens at the moment. It’s hard to tell who’s getting what done. If anything. And me, I’ve no idea if I should be worrying about terrorists, foreign governments or the media. And then I heard about those files and I panicked a bit. I mean, we’re semi-public, though no one knows about most of the work we do, but I know how you lot like to keep a low profile and any kind of attention would just be…" She peters out and sighs again. "God, I’m so tired. And God only knows what we’re going to do about all of this."
"Get some rest," Jack advises. "It sounds like you’re going to be needing it the next couple of days. And no skipping meals - emergency situations, breakfast’s always the first thing to go."
"Yes, mum," says Martha sarcastically.
Jack pauses. "Martha?"
"Yeah?"
"Thank you."
He can just see her face lighting up. "You’re welcome."
"Good. Now, off to bed with you."
She sniggers, sounding her age for the first time this conversation. "I hope Ianto can’t hear you."
"What?" asks Jack oh so innocently. "You need your beauty sleep. Call me again soon, yeah?"
"Will do. Love to Ianto!"
"And Tom. Buh-bye."
"Bye."
He snaps his phone shut and sighs.
"What did Martha want?"
Jack looks over his shoulder and smiles wearily at Ianto, standing by the porthole. "Bad news, I’m afraid."
The following morning is a newspaper journalist’s worst nightmare; a story that’s broken too late for the morning headlines. It remains unclear who has stolen the laptop, but whoever it is has leaked the contents to the press in great detail. Jack and Ianto watch it break over News 24 in the boardroom while they wait for Gwen to come in, details of covert operations and diplomatic missions scrolling across the bottom of the screen.
"There have been mass attacks before, with Christmas day and Canary Wharf," says Ianto, faintly desperate. He’s been wide awake ever since Jack relayed the news to him. "And the Slitheen coup. Abaddon - people debunked it all."
Jack shakes his head slowly. "Not this time. It’s one too many, and so close after one another. They might not be able to ignore it this time." He allows himself a small smile. "Bet the conspiracy theorists are going crazy."
Ianto sighs, running a hand through his hair. It’s starting to stand up, and he hasn’t put a tie on.
Below in the walkway they hear Gwen calling for them. She appears in the doorway, breathless. "On the news - have you heard?"
Jack waves a hand at the screen. Ianto pulls a chair out for her and Gwen collapses into it with a grateful noise.
"They’re completely exposed," says Jack. "The Great British public now know UNIT’s true function."
"They could say it’s some kind of hoax, though, couldn’t they?" asks Gwen, still trying to get her breath back.
Jack simply turns the sound up.
"…several documents make mention of elaborate ruses and cover ups. One particular file talks about an attempted alien invasion which was made to look like a series of terrorist attacks, while another file references a case dating as far back as the sixties in which the residents of a suburban area which came under alien attack were told that their water supply was poisoned by Welsh nationalists -"
Jack rubs his eyes while Gwen stares hopelessly at the screen.
Ianto stands. "I’m making tea. Who wants tea?" He doesn’t bother to wait for answer, retreating to the kitchenette and the TIC, currently closed and boarded up. Ianto apparently doesn’t feel up to dealing with the public today.
Gwen turns to Jack. "How bad is all this?"
Jack just nods at the screen. "As bad as they make it."
Eventually they have to get on with work as usual. Jack and Gwen take to the streets, while Ianto remains at the Hub, monitoring the stories, now breaking once an hour as yet more papers are handed over to the media. He also checks online to see exactly how crazy the conspiracy theorists are going. After the incident with Mary and the rather detailed information she had been able to access Tosh had managed to delete certain websites, and was keeping tabs on individuals she knew to have frequented them. To Ianto’s dismay it seems some of them have since figured out that she was tracking them and have been able to prevent him from continuing. They’re really going to feel Toshiko’s absence the next few days.
Jack and Gwen don’t make it back to the Hub for another four hours and end up having to leave again almost immediately. There’s always so much work to be done, more than enough for the five of them and now there’s only three.
Ianto gives up on their conspiracy theorists after a while when a certain news item catches his ear - the very bit of news he had been hoping not to hear.
"…we’ve received word of another organisation, similar in function, referred to in the files as "Torchwood". However, whilst being a purely British organisation, they do not in any way seem connected to the government. The extent of this organisation and where it might be getting its funding is not yet known, but it is clear that these documents are only the tip of the iceberg."
If UNIT is going to be dragged out of hiding and into the public eye, it seems Torchwood is going to follow them.
Jack and Gwen are running around Cardiff like headless chickens trying to wipe out anything that could lead back to the Hub, or any of them.
Ianto continues to monitor the news; television, papers, news sites. For a day or two it all just reiterates what was said first time around, with reactions from members of government, police and military chiefs. None in the know actually let slip about anything thank God, and Jack receives an encouraging phone call from Martha telling him that the have managed to intercept some of the files. Nonetheless Ianto keeps to Toshiko’s chair, monitoring the information as it comes on screen. He even manages to find a few communities of theorists who will allow him in to listen to their thoughts.
It’s here he finds the first mention of Toshiko.
At first he’s sure that they’re just rumours. Chinese whispers by people who have no idea -
Martha assures him that no, UNIT does not have files on any of Torchwood’s staff aside from a few clearance forms when the two organisations have liaised, and those most certainly wouldn’t be on the stolen laptop.
Ianto thinks back to what Toshiko told him about all the information Mary had been able to get on her. Maybe that’s all it is; somehow one of them has heard she’s died - from one of her neighbours, perhaps. He thanks Martha, apologising for bothering her and wishes her luck with UNIT’s cover ups.
And then, as he’s sat back, having a break with a cup of tea and an ancient kitkat from the back of the fridge Toshiko’s face appears on Sky news. He tunes into the audio and after a few moments drops the chocolate and the cup of tea. He watches, feeling violently sick as his dead friend’s shy, smiling face is splashed about for all to see; the innocent civilian, the powerless, useless victim sucked into the intrigues between UNIT and Torchwood against her will, paying for it her life.
Ianto can’t stay sitting, he can’t stay standing. He can’t think, can’t bring himself to speak to inform Jack and Gwen of the situation.
She was a hero. She died to help save a city. She gave her life for these people proclaiming her some girl off the street who wandered through by chance and was thrown in front of a bullet.
He retreats to the kitchenette and returns to the computers dry-eyed and calm. Though it will take him a while to straighten out the kitchenette again.
He texts Gwen to let her know and includes a link. Nine and a half minutes later when the lift descends with a confused Gwen and a furious Jack and in his head, Ianto stops a stopwatch.
Jack strides to him, drags him out of the chair and sits down. "Show me."
Ianto runs the film. By the end of it Gwen is in tears and Jack has his head in his hands.
"All over the news -" Gwen hiccups. "I can’t believe - how did they get hold of this? For God’s sake, look at me!" she screams at Jack, still hunched over.
Jack straightens slowly, takes a deep breath in and out again. He’s on the verge of tears himself.
"I need to talk to UNIT," he says.
"It said that they held her as a political prisoner," says Ianto accusingly. "What did they hold her for?"
Jack looks from one to the other and sighs heavily, burying his head in hands again. He straightens once more and turns to face them both. "About five years ago there was an underground organisation - people we thought we’d gotten rid of in the early eighties. Toshiko was working with a plant developing weaponry, affiliated with the MOD and UNIT." He looks up at them. "You can guess why they might want her in their employ. They approached her. She turned them down. They kidnapped her mother. She changed her mind. Unfortunately by the time UNIT caught up to them, she had stolen plans for a sonic modulator and constructed it. They saw her as a mole and imprisoned her."
Gwen and Ianto stare at him, horrified. Jack smiles weakly. "And you think we’re bad." He coughs and takes it up again. "Thing was, I happened upon the modulator she’d constructed. Waiting to meet with UNIT bosses - it gets boring, y’know? I also happened upon the plans she’d used to build it." He shakes his head. "God, I really don’t understand how they missed it. See, the plans she’d used - they were wrong. But the modulator she’d constructed worked perfectly. I switched it to its highest setting - died about three or four times. And I offered her a get out; if she came and worked here for at least five years, she could walk free."
"You kept her here?" Gwen asks.
"We had an understanding. Same way you and I had an understanding," he adds to Ianto. "For all I knew she could have been a security threat. Turns out she wasn’t. This last year, if she wanted to go, I’d have let her go."
"And that’s why her file’s -" Gwen can’t finish.
Jack just nods.
"We should call her family, her parents at least," says Ianto. "Them seeing their dead daughter splashed around like this…"
Jack shakes his head. "I already filled them in on it, back when I had to go and tell them -" He clears his throat. "And I called them earlier, in case her file was in the computer. They were prepared."
Gwen looks up at the screens, disgusted. "Nothing could prepare you for this."
For a few days following that, the news calms down. They continue to chronicle the shock waves from the discovery of UNIT’s true activities, have been trying to get personal responses from Toshiko’s friends and family, though UNIT has been able to limit the amount of contact that they have had with them.
"Another favour?" Ianto asks Jack.
Jack shakes his head. "Damage control. They’re just covering their asses."
Ianto buries his face in his hands. "How much longer before they follow her back to us?"
"Never, if I have anything to say about it."
"Do you have anything to say about it?" asks Ianto. He looks tired. They all are these days, not even sure if they are walking on eggshells.
Jack smiles thinly. "Y’know, I’ve got no idea."
The next week they receive a call from a Torchwood One flunkey, reporting that they have been fending off a number of hackers since the story about UNIT broke. He spends a great deal of time talking up their efforts, which only confirms Jack’s fears that they have bad news concerning Ianto’s files. It takes a little while for him to come clean about it, though.
"…files on personnel surviving the battle have been hacked," he confirms somewhat reluctantly. "Though our IT staff were able to prevent them getting hold of Ianto Jones’ files, they were able to extract some information about him."
Jack rubs his eyes, trying to will the anger away. "What kind of details, exactly? Address, medical records anything like that?"
There’s a long silence over the phone. The plastic creaks as Jack squeezes the handset, forcing himself to be calm, be calm.
"They have date of birth, names of next of kin," he coughs. "We were able to prevent them from getting his address, but they - I say "they", we don’t really know it’s even the same person -"
"What have they done?" Jack asks, just about keeping his voice even.
"They now know about Torchwood Three. And they er, they are aware that Ianto Jones works there."
Jack swallows. It doesn’t quite work. "If there’s nothing else, then kindly inform your superiors to expect a call from me at some point in the next few days." He slams the phone down and activates his comm. "Ianto, get back here ASAP. Gwen stay where you are."
"What’s happened?" she asks.
"Security at Torchwood One has been breached. Someone has Ianto’s name and knows he’s in Cardiff. Assuming you don’t want to wind up on the front page of The Sun I suggest you get back here pronto," he adds to Ianto.
The minute Ianto returns Jack pushes a number into his hands. "Call them, they can explain exactly what parts of your file have been compromised. They have names of your family, so you should call them too, fill them in on what’s going on." Jack climbs onto the lift. "I’m going to take over with Gwen, if you keep at least one line open, we might need your hacking skills ourselves at some point."
Later that night Jack return to the Hub with a subdued Weevil and a bag of Ianto’s things.
"I figured it might be a good idea for you to keep a low profile," he says by way of explanation.
Ianto laughs bitterly. "What, a lower profile than usual, you mean?"
Jack sits next to him and rubs his arm. "How are you doing?"
"Where to begin?" Ianto asks of the ceiling. "Two of our colleagues and friends died not two months ago. We’re three people trying to do the work of five, including a medical professional and a computer expert. All this media hoo-ha has been getting in the way of us doing our job, because we’re too busy trying to keep it extra quiet. And now someone’s got hold of my name and could flash it around the news tomorrow like they did with Tosh -" Ianto stops short. "And I’ve just had to explain to my mum, over the phone, that I do work for the secret organisation that’s all over the news, I was in the battle of Canary Wharf, and that Lisa did actually survive it, under the delusion she was a murderous alien and that I’m now sleeping with my male boss, who is fifteen years older than me at least." He sighs. "I’ve probably taken ten years off her life with that phone call."
Jack blinks. "You managed to tell her all of that?"
Ianto rolls his eyes. "Mum - you can’t really edit what you tell her. She knows when you are. And she’ll never be satisfied until she’s got the whole truth out of you. I don’t think either of us have ever been so glad Dad’s dead. If he’d had to hear all that I don’t know what would have got him first, heart attack or alcohol poisoning."
Jack laughs quietly. "You can be more honest with her now, though. Talk with her more. That’s something, isn’t it?"
Ianto gives him a grim look. "She wants me to bring you around for dinner, once all of this has "died down"."
As it turns out, Ianto isn’t the one who ends up on the front page of The Sun.
"They’re outside the house - everywhere!" Gwen tells Jack over the phone. "One of them tried to force the back door ten minutes ago."
"Have you called the police?" Jack asks carefully. He and Ianto can’t really help her; aside from the fact they are but two men, the longer they can all stay secret the better.
"Yeah, they started coming a few minutes ago. I had Yvonne on the phone just now; they reckon someone I used to work with heard all the stuff flying around about Torchwood and went to the papers about me."
"How are you both holding up?"
Gwen sighs. "Rhys is bloody furious. I’m starting to worry he’s going to attack one of the reporters. Then again, that might put the rest off." Her laugh is weak, but good to hear nonetheless. "I’ve already been promised by a number of officers that when they find out which bastard did it their life won’t be worth living."
Jack smiles. "And how have the family taken it?"
Gwen sighs again and for a moment doesn’t answer. "Haven’t heard from them yet. Or any of my friends. I’m not sure at the moment whether that’s a good sign or not."
Jack can’t think of anything to say to that. Gwen coughs.
"While they’re here - I mean, they’re not going to be on the lookout, are they? You and Ianto should use the time while you can."
Jack nods, even though she can’t see him. "We’ll do our best. Good luck with it, and say hi to Rhys if my name’s not in the bad books."
"Not your name specifically," she mutters. "Tell Ianto "hello" and I’ll see him later, yeah?"
"Okay, bye."
They hear Gwen’s address to the press whilst they’re having a quick bite to eat in the SUV.
She berates the papers and news programmes for parading her dead friend and co-worker around for all to see and stresses that Toshiko Sato died a hero in the defence of the city of Cardiff. She also decries the media’s behaviour in probing into UNIT and Torchwood’s affairs, which has forced both organisations to put more manpower into covering their tracks rather than do the job they were set up to do. She stresses that what happens in both organisation is strictly need to know and that to operate otherwise would hinder their ability to do their job in the first place.
When questioned she answers that no, Torchwood Three has nothing to do with Torchwood London and is no way responsible for the battle of Canary Wharf.
No, they do not deal exclusively in aliens; they also deal with time fractures within the city of Cardiff and the surrounding area.
And no, she’s not in any position of authority within the organisation - if they wanted someone who could answer those kinds of questions, then they shouldn’t be mobbing her front lawn, should they?
Jack covers his eyes, though can’t quite help the smile. "London’s going to have our guts for this."
"Good," says Ianto, finishing off his sandwich.
Gwen’s impromptu press conference has some rather dire consequences.
Rather than the press taking it and leaving more, and more have camped outside her house, with some hailing from Europe, America, even as far away as Australia, China and Japan. She’s received a lot of criticism from the Great British public as to whether or not their work should be strictly need to know, especially given that she herself claimed not to be in a position of authority.
She has also apparently forced Torchwood One’s hand; the next morning the head of the London branch gives a more organised, more official press conference. It’s a PR coup, Jack can’t deny, and one he’d probably appreciate more if he didn’t have to stand in the background along with Peregrine McLean of Torchwood Two the whole time.
The ripples continue for months. Certain members of Torchwood Glasgow (now with a staff body of three - Pip’s going to go mad with power on them any day now) and all of Torchwood Cardiff are now having to use alien cloaking devices to go about the majority of their work, but things are definitely picking up.
It’s three years since the Torchwood Institute was exposed before the rest of the world, and there is considerably less excitement surrounding them. The public, aware from the news broadcasts that most of the time they really want to stay out of Torchwood’s way, tend to leave them to it, aside from the odd chase or fight that spills out into the streets. They no longer have to operate in secret, though questions are continually asked about when the technology they have discovered will be developed to benefit humanity and how much they can be trusted when not connected to any government etc.
Torchwood Three now has a team of seven, including Jessica Stevens, their PR woman, formerly a Torchwood One damage control agent. She seems happy with the changes in the Institute though, remarking it feels good to finally be able to tell the public the truth. Even if she can’t quite get through to Jack that flirting with every journalist to approach him does bad things for their image.
There remain some, however, who maintain their negative view of the Institute. Like the old lady who huffily points them after yet another drugged-up, joyriding blowfish.
"Bloody Torchwood!"
Author:
shadowbyrd
Rating(s): PG-13
Warning(s): Post series two.
Word Count: 4057
Summary: Torchwood is exposed to the pulic. And the press.
It starts with a phone call at three am. Jack takes his mobile upstairs and into his office, seating himself behind his desk before he answers. No one calls at three am unless it’s very bad news.
It’s Martha. Her voice sounds heavy and tired. "They’ve let me be the one to tell you," she says, not bothering with "hello". "I think for a while everyone forgot - it’s been pandemonium around here with everyone trying to figure out what to do -"
"What’s happened?" Jack asks, rubbing his eyes and trying to wake up. Trust her to ring right in the middle of his half-hour of sleep.
"Oh, sorry. It’ll probably be all over the news tomorrow in one form or another." Jack listens with growing trepidation as she takes a deep breath. "Early this evening one of the UNIT commanders had his car broken into and a laptop was stolen. We’re hoping it was kids or petty criminals, but… well, it’s not looking good."
"And this is a heads up, a warning to keep a low profile over coming weeks?" asks Jack. Say yes, please say yes.
There’s a long pause at the other end of the line and Jack can just see her chewing her lip, thinking how best to break it to him. Finally she comes out with, "There were documents on the hard drive with information about Torchwood." Jack freezes. "How much detail they go into is a bit sketchy at moment, but we’re working on it."
Jack rubs his eyes and doesn’t say anything.
"Jack? Jack, are you still there?"
"Yeah."
"I just thought you should know as soon as possible. I’ve given orders that you’re to be informed immediately when we know for sure what kind of information was on it."
"What was he doing with this information, exactly?" asks Jack, doing his best not to sound annoyed. She’s had the decency to inform him of the situation. It’s not her he should be annoyed with.
"Oh, Jack don’t start -"
"I know, I know. But I’ll need it answered at some point. We’re not officially affiliated, we don’t have rights to each other’s information."
Martha sighs. "I know. I told you, when I know you’ll know."
She sounds so tired Jack can’t help but sympathise. "How are you holding up?"
She laughs. "Me specifically or the organisation as a whole?"
Jack pretends to give it some thought. "Both. I don’t play favourites."
She laughs again and this time it’s a little more genuine. "Everyone’s running around like headless chickens at the moment. It’s hard to tell who’s getting what done. If anything. And me, I’ve no idea if I should be worrying about terrorists, foreign governments or the media. And then I heard about those files and I panicked a bit. I mean, we’re semi-public, though no one knows about most of the work we do, but I know how you lot like to keep a low profile and any kind of attention would just be…" She peters out and sighs again. "God, I’m so tired. And God only knows what we’re going to do about all of this."
"Get some rest," Jack advises. "It sounds like you’re going to be needing it the next couple of days. And no skipping meals - emergency situations, breakfast’s always the first thing to go."
"Yes, mum," says Martha sarcastically.
Jack pauses. "Martha?"
"Yeah?"
"Thank you."
He can just see her face lighting up. "You’re welcome."
"Good. Now, off to bed with you."
She sniggers, sounding her age for the first time this conversation. "I hope Ianto can’t hear you."
"What?" asks Jack oh so innocently. "You need your beauty sleep. Call me again soon, yeah?"
"Will do. Love to Ianto!"
"And Tom. Buh-bye."
"Bye."
He snaps his phone shut and sighs.
"What did Martha want?"
Jack looks over his shoulder and smiles wearily at Ianto, standing by the porthole. "Bad news, I’m afraid."
The following morning is a newspaper journalist’s worst nightmare; a story that’s broken too late for the morning headlines. It remains unclear who has stolen the laptop, but whoever it is has leaked the contents to the press in great detail. Jack and Ianto watch it break over News 24 in the boardroom while they wait for Gwen to come in, details of covert operations and diplomatic missions scrolling across the bottom of the screen.
"There have been mass attacks before, with Christmas day and Canary Wharf," says Ianto, faintly desperate. He’s been wide awake ever since Jack relayed the news to him. "And the Slitheen coup. Abaddon - people debunked it all."
Jack shakes his head slowly. "Not this time. It’s one too many, and so close after one another. They might not be able to ignore it this time." He allows himself a small smile. "Bet the conspiracy theorists are going crazy."
Ianto sighs, running a hand through his hair. It’s starting to stand up, and he hasn’t put a tie on.
Below in the walkway they hear Gwen calling for them. She appears in the doorway, breathless. "On the news - have you heard?"
Jack waves a hand at the screen. Ianto pulls a chair out for her and Gwen collapses into it with a grateful noise.
"They’re completely exposed," says Jack. "The Great British public now know UNIT’s true function."
"They could say it’s some kind of hoax, though, couldn’t they?" asks Gwen, still trying to get her breath back.
Jack simply turns the sound up.
"…several documents make mention of elaborate ruses and cover ups. One particular file talks about an attempted alien invasion which was made to look like a series of terrorist attacks, while another file references a case dating as far back as the sixties in which the residents of a suburban area which came under alien attack were told that their water supply was poisoned by Welsh nationalists -"
Jack rubs his eyes while Gwen stares hopelessly at the screen.
Ianto stands. "I’m making tea. Who wants tea?" He doesn’t bother to wait for answer, retreating to the kitchenette and the TIC, currently closed and boarded up. Ianto apparently doesn’t feel up to dealing with the public today.
Gwen turns to Jack. "How bad is all this?"
Jack just nods at the screen. "As bad as they make it."
Eventually they have to get on with work as usual. Jack and Gwen take to the streets, while Ianto remains at the Hub, monitoring the stories, now breaking once an hour as yet more papers are handed over to the media. He also checks online to see exactly how crazy the conspiracy theorists are going. After the incident with Mary and the rather detailed information she had been able to access Tosh had managed to delete certain websites, and was keeping tabs on individuals she knew to have frequented them. To Ianto’s dismay it seems some of them have since figured out that she was tracking them and have been able to prevent him from continuing. They’re really going to feel Toshiko’s absence the next few days.
Jack and Gwen don’t make it back to the Hub for another four hours and end up having to leave again almost immediately. There’s always so much work to be done, more than enough for the five of them and now there’s only three.
Ianto gives up on their conspiracy theorists after a while when a certain news item catches his ear - the very bit of news he had been hoping not to hear.
"…we’ve received word of another organisation, similar in function, referred to in the files as "Torchwood". However, whilst being a purely British organisation, they do not in any way seem connected to the government. The extent of this organisation and where it might be getting its funding is not yet known, but it is clear that these documents are only the tip of the iceberg."
If UNIT is going to be dragged out of hiding and into the public eye, it seems Torchwood is going to follow them.
Jack and Gwen are running around Cardiff like headless chickens trying to wipe out anything that could lead back to the Hub, or any of them.
Ianto continues to monitor the news; television, papers, news sites. For a day or two it all just reiterates what was said first time around, with reactions from members of government, police and military chiefs. None in the know actually let slip about anything thank God, and Jack receives an encouraging phone call from Martha telling him that the have managed to intercept some of the files. Nonetheless Ianto keeps to Toshiko’s chair, monitoring the information as it comes on screen. He even manages to find a few communities of theorists who will allow him in to listen to their thoughts.
It’s here he finds the first mention of Toshiko.
At first he’s sure that they’re just rumours. Chinese whispers by people who have no idea -
Martha assures him that no, UNIT does not have files on any of Torchwood’s staff aside from a few clearance forms when the two organisations have liaised, and those most certainly wouldn’t be on the stolen laptop.
Ianto thinks back to what Toshiko told him about all the information Mary had been able to get on her. Maybe that’s all it is; somehow one of them has heard she’s died - from one of her neighbours, perhaps. He thanks Martha, apologising for bothering her and wishes her luck with UNIT’s cover ups.
And then, as he’s sat back, having a break with a cup of tea and an ancient kitkat from the back of the fridge Toshiko’s face appears on Sky news. He tunes into the audio and after a few moments drops the chocolate and the cup of tea. He watches, feeling violently sick as his dead friend’s shy, smiling face is splashed about for all to see; the innocent civilian, the powerless, useless victim sucked into the intrigues between UNIT and Torchwood against her will, paying for it her life.
Ianto can’t stay sitting, he can’t stay standing. He can’t think, can’t bring himself to speak to inform Jack and Gwen of the situation.
She was a hero. She died to help save a city. She gave her life for these people proclaiming her some girl off the street who wandered through by chance and was thrown in front of a bullet.
He retreats to the kitchenette and returns to the computers dry-eyed and calm. Though it will take him a while to straighten out the kitchenette again.
He texts Gwen to let her know and includes a link. Nine and a half minutes later when the lift descends with a confused Gwen and a furious Jack and in his head, Ianto stops a stopwatch.
Jack strides to him, drags him out of the chair and sits down. "Show me."
Ianto runs the film. By the end of it Gwen is in tears and Jack has his head in his hands.
"All over the news -" Gwen hiccups. "I can’t believe - how did they get hold of this? For God’s sake, look at me!" she screams at Jack, still hunched over.
Jack straightens slowly, takes a deep breath in and out again. He’s on the verge of tears himself.
"I need to talk to UNIT," he says.
"It said that they held her as a political prisoner," says Ianto accusingly. "What did they hold her for?"
Jack looks from one to the other and sighs heavily, burying his head in hands again. He straightens once more and turns to face them both. "About five years ago there was an underground organisation - people we thought we’d gotten rid of in the early eighties. Toshiko was working with a plant developing weaponry, affiliated with the MOD and UNIT." He looks up at them. "You can guess why they might want her in their employ. They approached her. She turned them down. They kidnapped her mother. She changed her mind. Unfortunately by the time UNIT caught up to them, she had stolen plans for a sonic modulator and constructed it. They saw her as a mole and imprisoned her."
Gwen and Ianto stare at him, horrified. Jack smiles weakly. "And you think we’re bad." He coughs and takes it up again. "Thing was, I happened upon the modulator she’d constructed. Waiting to meet with UNIT bosses - it gets boring, y’know? I also happened upon the plans she’d used to build it." He shakes his head. "God, I really don’t understand how they missed it. See, the plans she’d used - they were wrong. But the modulator she’d constructed worked perfectly. I switched it to its highest setting - died about three or four times. And I offered her a get out; if she came and worked here for at least five years, she could walk free."
"You kept her here?" Gwen asks.
"We had an understanding. Same way you and I had an understanding," he adds to Ianto. "For all I knew she could have been a security threat. Turns out she wasn’t. This last year, if she wanted to go, I’d have let her go."
"And that’s why her file’s -" Gwen can’t finish.
Jack just nods.
"We should call her family, her parents at least," says Ianto. "Them seeing their dead daughter splashed around like this…"
Jack shakes his head. "I already filled them in on it, back when I had to go and tell them -" He clears his throat. "And I called them earlier, in case her file was in the computer. They were prepared."
Gwen looks up at the screens, disgusted. "Nothing could prepare you for this."
For a few days following that, the news calms down. They continue to chronicle the shock waves from the discovery of UNIT’s true activities, have been trying to get personal responses from Toshiko’s friends and family, though UNIT has been able to limit the amount of contact that they have had with them.
"Another favour?" Ianto asks Jack.
Jack shakes his head. "Damage control. They’re just covering their asses."
Ianto buries his face in his hands. "How much longer before they follow her back to us?"
"Never, if I have anything to say about it."
"Do you have anything to say about it?" asks Ianto. He looks tired. They all are these days, not even sure if they are walking on eggshells.
Jack smiles thinly. "Y’know, I’ve got no idea."
The next week they receive a call from a Torchwood One flunkey, reporting that they have been fending off a number of hackers since the story about UNIT broke. He spends a great deal of time talking up their efforts, which only confirms Jack’s fears that they have bad news concerning Ianto’s files. It takes a little while for him to come clean about it, though.
"…files on personnel surviving the battle have been hacked," he confirms somewhat reluctantly. "Though our IT staff were able to prevent them getting hold of Ianto Jones’ files, they were able to extract some information about him."
Jack rubs his eyes, trying to will the anger away. "What kind of details, exactly? Address, medical records anything like that?"
There’s a long silence over the phone. The plastic creaks as Jack squeezes the handset, forcing himself to be calm, be calm.
"They have date of birth, names of next of kin," he coughs. "We were able to prevent them from getting his address, but they - I say "they", we don’t really know it’s even the same person -"
"What have they done?" Jack asks, just about keeping his voice even.
"They now know about Torchwood Three. And they er, they are aware that Ianto Jones works there."
Jack swallows. It doesn’t quite work. "If there’s nothing else, then kindly inform your superiors to expect a call from me at some point in the next few days." He slams the phone down and activates his comm. "Ianto, get back here ASAP. Gwen stay where you are."
"What’s happened?" she asks.
"Security at Torchwood One has been breached. Someone has Ianto’s name and knows he’s in Cardiff. Assuming you don’t want to wind up on the front page of The Sun I suggest you get back here pronto," he adds to Ianto.
The minute Ianto returns Jack pushes a number into his hands. "Call them, they can explain exactly what parts of your file have been compromised. They have names of your family, so you should call them too, fill them in on what’s going on." Jack climbs onto the lift. "I’m going to take over with Gwen, if you keep at least one line open, we might need your hacking skills ourselves at some point."
Later that night Jack return to the Hub with a subdued Weevil and a bag of Ianto’s things.
"I figured it might be a good idea for you to keep a low profile," he says by way of explanation.
Ianto laughs bitterly. "What, a lower profile than usual, you mean?"
Jack sits next to him and rubs his arm. "How are you doing?"
"Where to begin?" Ianto asks of the ceiling. "Two of our colleagues and friends died not two months ago. We’re three people trying to do the work of five, including a medical professional and a computer expert. All this media hoo-ha has been getting in the way of us doing our job, because we’re too busy trying to keep it extra quiet. And now someone’s got hold of my name and could flash it around the news tomorrow like they did with Tosh -" Ianto stops short. "And I’ve just had to explain to my mum, over the phone, that I do work for the secret organisation that’s all over the news, I was in the battle of Canary Wharf, and that Lisa did actually survive it, under the delusion she was a murderous alien and that I’m now sleeping with my male boss, who is fifteen years older than me at least." He sighs. "I’ve probably taken ten years off her life with that phone call."
Jack blinks. "You managed to tell her all of that?"
Ianto rolls his eyes. "Mum - you can’t really edit what you tell her. She knows when you are. And she’ll never be satisfied until she’s got the whole truth out of you. I don’t think either of us have ever been so glad Dad’s dead. If he’d had to hear all that I don’t know what would have got him first, heart attack or alcohol poisoning."
Jack laughs quietly. "You can be more honest with her now, though. Talk with her more. That’s something, isn’t it?"
Ianto gives him a grim look. "She wants me to bring you around for dinner, once all of this has "died down"."
As it turns out, Ianto isn’t the one who ends up on the front page of The Sun.
"They’re outside the house - everywhere!" Gwen tells Jack over the phone. "One of them tried to force the back door ten minutes ago."
"Have you called the police?" Jack asks carefully. He and Ianto can’t really help her; aside from the fact they are but two men, the longer they can all stay secret the better.
"Yeah, they started coming a few minutes ago. I had Yvonne on the phone just now; they reckon someone I used to work with heard all the stuff flying around about Torchwood and went to the papers about me."
"How are you both holding up?"
Gwen sighs. "Rhys is bloody furious. I’m starting to worry he’s going to attack one of the reporters. Then again, that might put the rest off." Her laugh is weak, but good to hear nonetheless. "I’ve already been promised by a number of officers that when they find out which bastard did it their life won’t be worth living."
Jack smiles. "And how have the family taken it?"
Gwen sighs again and for a moment doesn’t answer. "Haven’t heard from them yet. Or any of my friends. I’m not sure at the moment whether that’s a good sign or not."
Jack can’t think of anything to say to that. Gwen coughs.
"While they’re here - I mean, they’re not going to be on the lookout, are they? You and Ianto should use the time while you can."
Jack nods, even though she can’t see him. "We’ll do our best. Good luck with it, and say hi to Rhys if my name’s not in the bad books."
"Not your name specifically," she mutters. "Tell Ianto "hello" and I’ll see him later, yeah?"
"Okay, bye."
They hear Gwen’s address to the press whilst they’re having a quick bite to eat in the SUV.
She berates the papers and news programmes for parading her dead friend and co-worker around for all to see and stresses that Toshiko Sato died a hero in the defence of the city of Cardiff. She also decries the media’s behaviour in probing into UNIT and Torchwood’s affairs, which has forced both organisations to put more manpower into covering their tracks rather than do the job they were set up to do. She stresses that what happens in both organisation is strictly need to know and that to operate otherwise would hinder their ability to do their job in the first place.
When questioned she answers that no, Torchwood Three has nothing to do with Torchwood London and is no way responsible for the battle of Canary Wharf.
No, they do not deal exclusively in aliens; they also deal with time fractures within the city of Cardiff and the surrounding area.
And no, she’s not in any position of authority within the organisation - if they wanted someone who could answer those kinds of questions, then they shouldn’t be mobbing her front lawn, should they?
Jack covers his eyes, though can’t quite help the smile. "London’s going to have our guts for this."
"Good," says Ianto, finishing off his sandwich.
Gwen’s impromptu press conference has some rather dire consequences.
Rather than the press taking it and leaving more, and more have camped outside her house, with some hailing from Europe, America, even as far away as Australia, China and Japan. She’s received a lot of criticism from the Great British public as to whether or not their work should be strictly need to know, especially given that she herself claimed not to be in a position of authority.
She has also apparently forced Torchwood One’s hand; the next morning the head of the London branch gives a more organised, more official press conference. It’s a PR coup, Jack can’t deny, and one he’d probably appreciate more if he didn’t have to stand in the background along with Peregrine McLean of Torchwood Two the whole time.
The ripples continue for months. Certain members of Torchwood Glasgow (now with a staff body of three - Pip’s going to go mad with power on them any day now) and all of Torchwood Cardiff are now having to use alien cloaking devices to go about the majority of their work, but things are definitely picking up.
It’s three years since the Torchwood Institute was exposed before the rest of the world, and there is considerably less excitement surrounding them. The public, aware from the news broadcasts that most of the time they really want to stay out of Torchwood’s way, tend to leave them to it, aside from the odd chase or fight that spills out into the streets. They no longer have to operate in secret, though questions are continually asked about when the technology they have discovered will be developed to benefit humanity and how much they can be trusted when not connected to any government etc.
Torchwood Three now has a team of seven, including Jessica Stevens, their PR woman, formerly a Torchwood One damage control agent. She seems happy with the changes in the Institute though, remarking it feels good to finally be able to tell the public the truth. Even if she can’t quite get through to Jack that flirting with every journalist to approach him does bad things for their image.
There remain some, however, who maintain their negative view of the Institute. Like the old lady who huffily points them after yet another drugged-up, joyriding blowfish.
"Bloody Torchwood!"