fic: All the Myths are True [PG] 10/? Torchwood/Abney Park crossover
Title: All the Myths are True
Author: A Lanart
Fandom: Abney Park/Torchwood
Pairing: None
Characters: Abney Park circa 06-08 - Robert, Kristina, Magdalene, Finn, Nathaniel, Jean-Paul, Daniel. Torchwood Team
Rating: PG
Warnings/Spoilers: crack!fic Mid S2 in the Torchwood scheme of things. Pre Reset.
Summary: Abney Park are a steampunk band with alter-egos as Airship Pirates. It just so happens that in this universe, all the myths are true; this is the story of one Captain Robert, his merry band and how they acquired the Airship Ophelia from a certain top-secret government agency, and then had to explain it decades later...
Disclaimer: None of this is mine except for the freaky plot bunny. I even nicked the title from Abney Park - it kind of seemed appropriate.
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five
Part Six
Part Seven
Part Eight
Part Nine
~10~
*
Initially Gwen thought she had drawn the short straw in having to accompany Captain Robert and Finn to the home of the Cardiff radio station they’d chosen, but she soon changed her mind. She’d had to bite the inside of her cheek more than once to stop herself from laughing while listening to the interview Robert and Finn gave. It wasn’t so much that they were funny - though they both were in their different ways - it was the fact that the presenter obviously thought they were giving the interview ‘in character’ when they were actually telling the literal truth. Talk about hiding things in plain sight! Then there was the added bonus of Finn demonstrating some of her dance moves for the radio webcam which drew a veritable crowd of people outside the studio to watch her twist and shimmy and twirl. It became evident that there wouldn’t need to be much tweaking of either available information or the memories of the radio station personnel; in typical Cardiff fashion they all remained stoically disbelieving of the truth that was laid out before them. Gwen settled back and allowed herself to enjoy her assignment; she bet Owen and Ianto weren’t having half as much fun clambering around in the damp and windy weather as she was. It helped that she found she actually liked the band’s music, which had been kind of unexpected as it wasn’t really what she’d describe as her sort of thing. She was also more than half tempted to ask Finn to give her a lesson in belly dancing - all for Rhys’ benefit of course. Maybe when they got back to the Hub…
*
The trip out to Flat Holm, and the Ophelia, didn’t take long but to Ianto it seemed to be taking an age. Seeing the Ophelia with his own eyes filled him with a sense of gleeful anticipation and he could almost feel the weight of the years that had passed after his discovery of Peter Nichols’ journal lift from his shoulders. It was like the clock had turned back and he was once again that carefree young man who had chanced upon the journal in an out of the way and near forgotten part of the Torchwood One Archive, before the daleks and the cybermen destroyed his world and almost his life.
“Quite a sight, isn’t she? Even battered and broken like this.” Ianto hadn’t noticed Nathaniel joining him at the rail and he turned to give the man a smile.
“She’s beautiful.”
“Just wait until you get aboard, you’ll fall in love with her even more,” Nathaniel said with a smile of his own and a playful nudge to Ianto’s shoulder.
“I’m sure I will,” Ianto replied, meaning every word and wondering just what would meet his eyes on the inside of the ship. The boat drew closer and Ianto knew he would soon have his answer.
*
Nathaniel, Ianto reflected, had been completely right. He’d fallen in love with the Ophelia at first sight. She was a thing of beauty, an exquisite amalgam of form and function without one being sacrificed to the detriment of the other. Ophelia was beautiful in the same way a hand built clock or watch was beautiful, but she was alive in a way that no piece of simple clock-work ever could be. His reverie was interrupted by a chuckle from Owen of all people. Ianto raised an enquiring eyebrow in Owen’s direction.
“You should see your face. I wonder how Jack would feel about playing second fiddle to a time-travelling ship?” Owen paused, frowning. “On second thoughts, don’t answer that; he’d probably want to watch or join in or something. Kinky bastard. And that goes for you too. God knows what you hide under those suits, and I have no inclination to find out either.” Ianto cleared his throat and endeavoured to look as innocent as possible.
“I was only going to suggest that you accompany Daniel while I work with Nathaniel.”
“Oh.” Ianto smirked a little at the expression on Owen’s face. So Owen thought he was a kinky bastard did he? He would no doubt find out that his suspicions were entirely correct at some point - but it wouldn’t be today. He gave Owen a more normal smile and nudged his arm with an elbow.
“Come on, work to do,” he said, before turning to join Nathaniel and Daniel who were both grinning fit to split their faces.
*
As the information began to flow in from the Ophelia, the schematic became more and more detailed. Tosh was impressed at how the motley collection of supposedly impossible things came together as a coherent and working whole, and moreover one that was strangely beautiful - almost like the Cardiff version of Torchwood. Her terse observation of this to Kristina got them talking and soon they were chattering like old friends about steampunk, music, clothes and whatever else took their fancy. Tosh grinned at Kristina.
“You know, I think I rather like the idea of being an airship pirate.”
“You’d miss your computers,” Kristina said.
“Maybe, but Ophelia is a living piece of mathematical genius and I think I’d be too busy to notice the lack of a ‘normal’ computer.”
“I don’t think your Captain would be very pleased with us if we stole his technician.”
“He’d be jealous *and* he’d want to come along too.” Their shared laughter echoed round the board room.
“Well instead of stealing you, maybe we should give you a taste of steampunk and being an airship pirate.” Kristina frowned in a thoughtful looking fashion and Tosh found herself feeling a little uncomfortable under such scrutiny. “Would either of your team mates be able to estimate your size?”
“Ianto would; he has a good eye for that sort of thing.”
“In that case, just give me a minute to make a call…”
*
By the time Ianto, Owen and the others returned laden with boxes, Robert, Finn and Gwen were back from the radio station. They all looked rather pleased with themselves but Jack looked like he was being hard pressed to keep a straight face. Ianto couldn’t help but be curious as to why.
“I take it everything turned out in a satisfactory manner?” He asked. Gwen grinned at him.
“Oh, miles better than satisfactory, but I’ll let Robert explain. I need to escape with Finn for a while.” Without any further explanation she grabbed Finn’s hand and they dashed off, giggling. Ianto glanced after them, and then toward Jack who had lost the battle with the grin that had been threatening since they arrived back.
“Do I really want to know?” Ianto asked. Jack’s grin grew wider and Ianto found himself almost dreading the answer, even as he felt his own mouth twitch in reaction.
“Let’s just say I think Gwen was appreciative of Finn’s - ah - method of distraction at the radio station and decided she needed a few pointers for herself.” Jack gave a happy but wistful sounding sigh. “Wish I’d been there now.”
“As her nicely and she might give a repeat performance,” Robert said with a smile. Ianto tried to conceal the grin that was sneaking over his face; he knew what Jack’s likely reaction was going to be…
“Great!” Jack threw Robert a brilliant smile and hurried to catch up with Finn and Gwen. Robert stared helplessly after him.
“I didn’t mean right this second though,” he muttered.
As Robert glanced over to him, Ianto hastily schooled his face into something approaching a professional demeanour instead of the expression he had been wearing. He noticed that Owen didn’t bother - and neither did Daniel or Nathaniel.
*
Robert gave a long suffering sigh. He was used to Daniel and Nathaniel but Jack Harkness was even more a law unto himself than they were on a bad day and it seemed that Owen Harper was made from the same cloth. Ianto Jones at least *appeared* to make an effort though Robert suspected he was just as bad as the others when he wanted to be.
“Give me some good news, guys,” he said. Nathaniel and Daniel looked at each other and shrugged.
“There’s not as much damage to the Ophelia as we first thought,” Nathaniel offered.
“And most of the complicated work can be done here instead of on board,” Daniel added.
“And that will keep us *all* away from prying eyes - which can only be a good thing,” Ianto concluded.
“I assume the ‘complicated work’ happens to be in the boxes?” Robert asked.
“Ummm. Mostly,” Nathaniel said evasively. Before Robert could demand a further explanation, Kristina burst through the doorway that let into the corridor leading in the direction of the conference room with Toshiko close behind her. Ianto’s face lit up and he passed Kristina the box he had been guarding zealously since his arrival from Ophelia; he was rewarded by a peck on the cheek from Kristina and another from Toshiko, then they disappeared again.
“I don’t suppose you’d care to explain what that was about, would you?” Robert asked.
“Not really,” said Ianto with a grin and flick of a glance in Nathaniel’s direction. “But I’m sure you’ll find out soon enough.” Nathaniel gave him an answering smirk, which made Robert almost worry about what they’d been planning.
“And until then I guess we should make a start on these.” Nathaniel nudged the stack of boxes with a foot, before grabbing one and heading for the conference room. With wordless grumbles, Owen and Daniel heaved their respective loads back into their arms and followed.
“Shall we?” Ianto asked, selecting another box from the pile. Robert nodded, trailing after the others once he’d grabbed a box of his own.
Author: A Lanart
Fandom: Abney Park/Torchwood
Pairing: None
Characters: Abney Park circa 06-08 - Robert, Kristina, Magdalene, Finn, Nathaniel, Jean-Paul, Daniel. Torchwood Team
Rating: PG
Warnings/Spoilers: crack!fic Mid S2 in the Torchwood scheme of things. Pre Reset.
Summary: Abney Park are a steampunk band with alter-egos as Airship Pirates. It just so happens that in this universe, all the myths are true; this is the story of one Captain Robert, his merry band and how they acquired the Airship Ophelia from a certain top-secret government agency, and then had to explain it decades later...
Disclaimer: None of this is mine except for the freaky plot bunny. I even nicked the title from Abney Park - it kind of seemed appropriate.
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five
Part Six
Part Seven
Part Eight
Part Nine
~10~
*
Initially Gwen thought she had drawn the short straw in having to accompany Captain Robert and Finn to the home of the Cardiff radio station they’d chosen, but she soon changed her mind. She’d had to bite the inside of her cheek more than once to stop herself from laughing while listening to the interview Robert and Finn gave. It wasn’t so much that they were funny - though they both were in their different ways - it was the fact that the presenter obviously thought they were giving the interview ‘in character’ when they were actually telling the literal truth. Talk about hiding things in plain sight! Then there was the added bonus of Finn demonstrating some of her dance moves for the radio webcam which drew a veritable crowd of people outside the studio to watch her twist and shimmy and twirl. It became evident that there wouldn’t need to be much tweaking of either available information or the memories of the radio station personnel; in typical Cardiff fashion they all remained stoically disbelieving of the truth that was laid out before them. Gwen settled back and allowed herself to enjoy her assignment; she bet Owen and Ianto weren’t having half as much fun clambering around in the damp and windy weather as she was. It helped that she found she actually liked the band’s music, which had been kind of unexpected as it wasn’t really what she’d describe as her sort of thing. She was also more than half tempted to ask Finn to give her a lesson in belly dancing - all for Rhys’ benefit of course. Maybe when they got back to the Hub…
*
The trip out to Flat Holm, and the Ophelia, didn’t take long but to Ianto it seemed to be taking an age. Seeing the Ophelia with his own eyes filled him with a sense of gleeful anticipation and he could almost feel the weight of the years that had passed after his discovery of Peter Nichols’ journal lift from his shoulders. It was like the clock had turned back and he was once again that carefree young man who had chanced upon the journal in an out of the way and near forgotten part of the Torchwood One Archive, before the daleks and the cybermen destroyed his world and almost his life.
“Quite a sight, isn’t she? Even battered and broken like this.” Ianto hadn’t noticed Nathaniel joining him at the rail and he turned to give the man a smile.
“She’s beautiful.”
“Just wait until you get aboard, you’ll fall in love with her even more,” Nathaniel said with a smile of his own and a playful nudge to Ianto’s shoulder.
“I’m sure I will,” Ianto replied, meaning every word and wondering just what would meet his eyes on the inside of the ship. The boat drew closer and Ianto knew he would soon have his answer.
*
Nathaniel, Ianto reflected, had been completely right. He’d fallen in love with the Ophelia at first sight. She was a thing of beauty, an exquisite amalgam of form and function without one being sacrificed to the detriment of the other. Ophelia was beautiful in the same way a hand built clock or watch was beautiful, but she was alive in a way that no piece of simple clock-work ever could be. His reverie was interrupted by a chuckle from Owen of all people. Ianto raised an enquiring eyebrow in Owen’s direction.
“You should see your face. I wonder how Jack would feel about playing second fiddle to a time-travelling ship?” Owen paused, frowning. “On second thoughts, don’t answer that; he’d probably want to watch or join in or something. Kinky bastard. And that goes for you too. God knows what you hide under those suits, and I have no inclination to find out either.” Ianto cleared his throat and endeavoured to look as innocent as possible.
“I was only going to suggest that you accompany Daniel while I work with Nathaniel.”
“Oh.” Ianto smirked a little at the expression on Owen’s face. So Owen thought he was a kinky bastard did he? He would no doubt find out that his suspicions were entirely correct at some point - but it wouldn’t be today. He gave Owen a more normal smile and nudged his arm with an elbow.
“Come on, work to do,” he said, before turning to join Nathaniel and Daniel who were both grinning fit to split their faces.
*
As the information began to flow in from the Ophelia, the schematic became more and more detailed. Tosh was impressed at how the motley collection of supposedly impossible things came together as a coherent and working whole, and moreover one that was strangely beautiful - almost like the Cardiff version of Torchwood. Her terse observation of this to Kristina got them talking and soon they were chattering like old friends about steampunk, music, clothes and whatever else took their fancy. Tosh grinned at Kristina.
“You know, I think I rather like the idea of being an airship pirate.”
“You’d miss your computers,” Kristina said.
“Maybe, but Ophelia is a living piece of mathematical genius and I think I’d be too busy to notice the lack of a ‘normal’ computer.”
“I don’t think your Captain would be very pleased with us if we stole his technician.”
“He’d be jealous *and* he’d want to come along too.” Their shared laughter echoed round the board room.
“Well instead of stealing you, maybe we should give you a taste of steampunk and being an airship pirate.” Kristina frowned in a thoughtful looking fashion and Tosh found herself feeling a little uncomfortable under such scrutiny. “Would either of your team mates be able to estimate your size?”
“Ianto would; he has a good eye for that sort of thing.”
“In that case, just give me a minute to make a call…”
*
By the time Ianto, Owen and the others returned laden with boxes, Robert, Finn and Gwen were back from the radio station. They all looked rather pleased with themselves but Jack looked like he was being hard pressed to keep a straight face. Ianto couldn’t help but be curious as to why.
“I take it everything turned out in a satisfactory manner?” He asked. Gwen grinned at him.
“Oh, miles better than satisfactory, but I’ll let Robert explain. I need to escape with Finn for a while.” Without any further explanation she grabbed Finn’s hand and they dashed off, giggling. Ianto glanced after them, and then toward Jack who had lost the battle with the grin that had been threatening since they arrived back.
“Do I really want to know?” Ianto asked. Jack’s grin grew wider and Ianto found himself almost dreading the answer, even as he felt his own mouth twitch in reaction.
“Let’s just say I think Gwen was appreciative of Finn’s - ah - method of distraction at the radio station and decided she needed a few pointers for herself.” Jack gave a happy but wistful sounding sigh. “Wish I’d been there now.”
“As her nicely and she might give a repeat performance,” Robert said with a smile. Ianto tried to conceal the grin that was sneaking over his face; he knew what Jack’s likely reaction was going to be…
“Great!” Jack threw Robert a brilliant smile and hurried to catch up with Finn and Gwen. Robert stared helplessly after him.
“I didn’t mean right this second though,” he muttered.
As Robert glanced over to him, Ianto hastily schooled his face into something approaching a professional demeanour instead of the expression he had been wearing. He noticed that Owen didn’t bother - and neither did Daniel or Nathaniel.
*
Robert gave a long suffering sigh. He was used to Daniel and Nathaniel but Jack Harkness was even more a law unto himself than they were on a bad day and it seemed that Owen Harper was made from the same cloth. Ianto Jones at least *appeared* to make an effort though Robert suspected he was just as bad as the others when he wanted to be.
“Give me some good news, guys,” he said. Nathaniel and Daniel looked at each other and shrugged.
“There’s not as much damage to the Ophelia as we first thought,” Nathaniel offered.
“And most of the complicated work can be done here instead of on board,” Daniel added.
“And that will keep us *all* away from prying eyes - which can only be a good thing,” Ianto concluded.
“I assume the ‘complicated work’ happens to be in the boxes?” Robert asked.
“Ummm. Mostly,” Nathaniel said evasively. Before Robert could demand a further explanation, Kristina burst through the doorway that let into the corridor leading in the direction of the conference room with Toshiko close behind her. Ianto’s face lit up and he passed Kristina the box he had been guarding zealously since his arrival from Ophelia; he was rewarded by a peck on the cheek from Kristina and another from Toshiko, then they disappeared again.
“I don’t suppose you’d care to explain what that was about, would you?” Robert asked.
“Not really,” said Ianto with a grin and flick of a glance in Nathaniel’s direction. “But I’m sure you’ll find out soon enough.” Nathaniel gave him an answering smirk, which made Robert almost worry about what they’d been planning.
“And until then I guess we should make a start on these.” Nathaniel nudged the stack of boxes with a foot, before grabbing one and heading for the conference room. With wordless grumbles, Owen and Daniel heaved their respective loads back into their arms and followed.
“Shall we?” Ianto asked, selecting another box from the pile. Robert nodded, trailing after the others once he’d grabbed a box of his own.