You know Atlanta never looked the same after she burned to the ground.

[stopdropanddie]

[[OOC: Backdated to, uh... I dunno. A day or two after Riftpower Roulette. ONE DAY WE'LL POST THINGS THAT AREN'T BACKDATED. Mostly for Dmitri's sake, but, you know... Have at.]]

Jack's unsure of how he feels about being a guest on Torchwood's territory, especially given his relationship with them back in the other Rift, but he always felt the two

Comments

[nowinprint]

Dmitri has just turned into a serval. Then back into an angel... human... something. The universe apparently didn't think she had enough identity issues yet; it decided to throw an entirely unrelated species into the mix.

But she's back now, bipedal and opposable-thumbed, with what she feels are valid questions.

But first? An old friend.

Dmitri stealths up to the fifth floor and, though it's impossibly to really sneak up on Bristow or any of his spy kids other than Marshall, she at least manages to get sort-of behind him as he's examining an office.

"Bristle and Brimstone," she says, with the sort of too-edged cheeriness that suggests someone is in for either an Interview or a Discussion and oh, she's going to enjoy this. The target may or may not. "Sorry I didn't quite get to welcome you in; I literally didn't have shifter powers until you showed up. Imagine you kinda know how that feels. I'm guessing from the looks on everyone's faces that you didn't exactly plan this little jaunt to the next Chicago over, dùi bú dùi?"

[stopdropanddie]

Jack turns around when he hears someone enter and gives Dmitri a look that is... Not so much unlike the same look he gives most everyone. Internally- somewhere deep, deep internally- he might actually be glad to see her. She was one of those constants you just got used to.

"No, we didn't. Apparently, the theory of alternate universes based on that one is perfectly valid, although I was hoping when Lucius showed me the notes that it didn't mean that one day I'd wind up in one accidentally," Jack responds flatly. He considers something for a moment. "I honestly wasn't expecting to see you here, considering everyone thought you were dead. Faraday was a rabbit for almost a month in distress and the Doctor wouldn't stop apologizing, which is normal for both of them, but the sentiment still stands. Chicago was... A great deal quieter without you."

...That might secretly be an endearing statement.

[nowinprint]

"Hard to imagine Chicago being quiet," Dmitri says, wandering into the room. "Well, good news, bad news. I'm not dead. But this universe might actually have more problems than we did back home. Anyone give you the brief?" She suspects no one did. "The basics? We've got a happy friendly Neqa'el demon who gets his kicks solving plagues and stuff, Harkness pissed off Romana more than I thought it was possible to get pissed at him, Romana went crazy and killed one of Torchwood's kids and Fell and got killed by a demon, Harkness got his brain inverted and... terrorizedChicagoforawhile, and it might interest you to know that Sark is in jail. Also, there's no task force here for working on the Rift. We kinda all got downgraded."

Oh, how she longs for the old country.

[stopdropanddie]

Jack didn't get much of a brief, honestly. Just some standard 'oh you're in-' 'yes, I know' '...Okay then, BYE' conversation and whatever Marshall could tell him about the state of his team in this universe, so what Dmitri's giving him is news. He logs all of that away and just frowns deeply, because he's not in Kansas anymore and the road to Oz has turned out to be paved with horse manure, instead of yellow bricks

[anystranger]

And in one of those rooms, there's a robot.

Which notes Jack, scans him, and immediately drops into a ready pose. {Object not recognized. No identifier exists. Identify: Friend or foe?}

[stopdropanddie]

So Torchwood has a... Robot in this 'verse. Jack really wishes he could say that this comes as a surprise, but considering Sato and Marshall have been working in close proximity for God only knows how long, it's not really that much of a shock.

"Jack Bristow," he responds curtly. "And I'm really neither, but considering Cooper has no real problem with my presence at this moment and I have no intention of causing a problem, I suppose that puts me in the 'friend' category, doesn't it?"

Really, he's more of a "strategic ally," but that's because Jack has a special relationship with the concept of friends.

[anystranger]

Well, the robot relaxes. A bit. For a robotic sense of relaxation. {Identity logged: Jack Bristow. This unit will confirm with Torchwood Command. This unit identifies as Chula Antipersonnel Armour completion ID D1747ч.}

[girlorgun]

At some point after his conversation with Dmitri, Spydaddy gets a somewhat displeased young blonde woman leaning in the doorway. She moved in with the speed and silence one would expect from a very well-trained assassin. Her displeasure, amazingly, is not evident on her face.

It's possible she's doing something here other than the straight-out "don't mess with Julian".

"I haven't seen you here, before," she says, letting a hint of Russian into her accent.

[stopdropanddie]

Jack turns around, regards the woman for a moment. Not Torchwood that he knows, but Marshall's in Torchwood now, so clearly things are a little different here. Hell, they have civilians here so she might not even be Torchwood at all, but given the way she's looking at him, she's either someone in a position of authority wondering what the hell he's doing staking out rooms or she just hates newcomers. Either way.

I suppose that's because I've only just arrived, he responds in Russian for some inexplicable reason. Possibly he's being a jackass or possibly he just felt like it. Whatever. "Jack Bristow," he offers, slipping briefly out of the nearly-flawless Russian long enough to give her his name.

[girlorgun]

April purses her lips a bit. Sydney's father. She likes Sydney well enough (and so does Julian, though in a different way), and wouldn't want to hurt her. Interesting, how he apparently knew her back before he came through this rift. But then, so did Dmitri, and they're from the same universe.

"You may call me Malyshka," she says in completely flawless Russian. She sounds like a native speaker. But, y'know, being psychic and having lived in Russian-speaking areas for years will do that. "Would you care to tell me what you're doing?"

Hey, if he's going to think she's in a position of authority, she'll work with that. Show him what she's capable of, that he should be wary of her, and then let him know who she is and that she shouldn't mess with her brother.

[stopdropanddie]

"I intend to propose an alliance with Cooper when she's... Less distracted," Jack presses onward, filing the woman's name away. "As it stands, this building is mostly unoccupied and if I'm going to be staying here, my team needs a place to operate out of."

The fifth floor, as it stands, is far enough away from the floors that Torchwood is actively using. Possibly the whole 'asking permission after the fact' is something he picked up from Dmitri... Except no, Jack's always been very good at doing what he wants when it's necessary.

"A bit presumptuous of me, perhaps, but I intend to make my team's presence here worth Torchwood's while, and you can tell your superiors that if you wish." And he damn well means that. As best as he can see it, Torchwood and his team are in a position to benefit from each other. "Assuming, of course," he adds, "that you work for Torchwood."

She could be putting him on and he's starting to suspect there's something vaguely familiar about her and he can't quite put his finger on the what.