Fic: Princess - Chapter 1
Title: Princess
Chapter: 1
Series: Torchwood
Characters: Owen, Jack, Ianto, Tosh, Gwen, OC
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Captain Jack Harkness (TW 1.12)
Disclaimer: I do not own Torchwood or the characters therein, they belong to the BBC and RTD. Any original characters and places are my property.
Summary: Torchwood goes out on a call, and while gone, something appears in The Hub.
Author's Notes: The beginning of a new series, with inspiration in a variety of ways. Comments are adored, and will keep the muses playing.
Princess - Chapter 1
“Damn it Jack! I’ve lost him.” The irritation in Gwen’s voice could be heard loud and clear over everyone’s Bluetooth.
“All right, everyone meet back at the SUV.” Jack’s voice seemed to plant itself straight into Owen’s brain. Owen shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts as he placed his heavy gun into the back waistband of his jeans. His leather coat fell down his back, concealing the weapon just as the subject of their search, Mr. “Freddy” McKenna, bolted past him.
“Bollocks,” Owen muttered as he pulled the weapon back out and tore after McKenna. Owen stumbled and looked down around his feet. There was McKenna’s brown sport coat on the cement floor. Owen looked ahead and saw McKenna’s tie, and McKenna’s shirt.
“Is his name Harkness?” Owen scrambled around the corner of the deserted cafeteria. Seeing McKenna half naked in front of him, Owen made a dive and tackled the man to the cold floor.
Ten minutes later Owen trotted up to the black Torchwood SUV, rotating his left shoulder. He often liked to forget what it felt like to plunge shoulder first onto hard cement, until days like today when he was reminded so vividly. On top of it, it had to be his left shoulder. It kept giving him trouble ever since Ianto… ever since Ianto.
“Where have you been,” Toshiko asked him, concern tingeing her voice. Toshiko Sato was a cute kid, for sometimes she could still seem as naïve as a kid. Owen knew she had feelings for him, he wasn’t a complete idiot. Yet all he could do was shove her away. Both of them, with the lives they led, deserved something normal, something that you get maybe once in a life. He had had his chance with Katie, and Tosh deserved that chance with someone way better than himself.
“You didn’t answer your comm,” Ianto stated as he indicated his own Bluetooth.
“Afraid I was shagging your boyfriend?”
Ianto shot Owen an exceptionally snarky glare. Ianto Jones was a man of many depths. For fuck’s sake, the man had shot Owen and tried to kill all of them with his sinister girlfriend in the basement, and yet he cleaned up all their shit and actually cared about Jack. Ianto was a man of mystery and so was Captain Jack Harkness, who was staring right at him.
Jack broke his stare and turned to the group as a whole. “Well, let’s get back to the Hub and see what we can find. Find out where McKenna could have gone. We’ll get him.” Jack cocked his head and smiled.
It was a reassuring smile that his little rag-tag band of misfits would solve the riddle in the end. Jack wielded that smile too easily. He believed in them, perhaps more than he should.
“Damn it! I just wish he hadn’t given us the slip,” Gwen growled.
Gwen Cooper was damn sexy when she was perturbed, especially when she growled. Owen had loved to make her growl, which is why Tosh should have nothing to do with him. He was down right piece of shit he was, or so Gwen would say every time she tried to give him up.
“Right, well good old Freddy boy really did give us the slip, big time.” Owen held up his right hand, dangling from it, the complete skin of Mr. Freddy McKenna. “I would bet if we popped by Mr. McKenna’s flat, we would find a very interesting body, or lack thereof.”
Jack shook his head. “I think that might be one of the most disgusting things I have ever seen.”
“God Owen, what happened?” Gwen just kept staring at the single piece of epidermis as it fluttered in the breeze off the bay.
“He ran past me and I tackled him, half-naked I might add.”
“Interesting,” Ianto interjected.
“As I grabbed him, it felt like he was slithering out of my grasp. It really wasn’t my grasp, it was his borrowed skin.” Owen held up the skin next to his head to make his point.
Suddenly the computers in the SUV started beeping three different alarms. Tosh looked in towards the vehicle with surprise. She slid into the rear passenger seat pulling the hidden keyboard out as she did so. Ianto ran around to the driver’s side, sliding into that rear passenger seat and looking at the computer screen in the seat in front of him.
“Tosh report,” Jack barked as he slipped into the driver’s seat.
“It’s massive Rift disturbance, give me a second,” Tosh stated as she stared at the screen, her fingers flying over the keyboard.
Owen popped open the trunk of the SUV and pulled out a large specimen container, depositing McKenna’s skin in it. He then popped on over to the passenger seat and got in, Gwen on his heels. Ianto stepped out of the SUV a moment and Gwen climbed into the back seat. Ianto closed the door with a bang as Jack started the vehicle and put it into gear.
“Tell me where I’m going Tosh,” Jack said.
Owen looked over to the captain, marveling at how well he channeled that intenseness and kept it out of his voice. Owen scrunched his face in thought as he buckled himself in.
“The Hub. The disturbance is centered in the Hub.” Owen looked back at her and saw Tosh’s serious face as she leaned closer to the computer.
“Are you kidding me,” Jack said as he peeled out of the factory district and towards their base of operations.
“No she’s not Jack,” Ianto filled in as he peered at Tosh’s screen across the seat.
Owen swore under his breath as he pulled out his gun and checked the cartridge. His eyes flicked over and looked at Jack. The man appeared calm, but Owen knew where to look. He could see it in the quiet intensity in the man’s demeanor and the slight tension in Jack’s knuckles.
“It looks like it’s centered in the main vaults, by Janet. I can’t pick up any definite readings about what it is and the CCTV has been disengaged by the activity.” Tosh’s fingers flew across the keyboard, the clacking filling up the inside of the SUV as it careened past other cars, it’s blue lights flashing on the front shield.
“What the bloody hell would flash out the CCTV and why is it in our vaults?” Owen griped.
“That’s what we’re about to find out,” Jack replied.
“I can get audio, but visual in the vaults is still out,” Tosh stated. She hit a button and the audio from the Hub came through the SUV’s speakers.
The team all listened as they could hear the Weevil growling. It was a low growl. Owen thought of the research he had been doing on Janet, as Jack liked to call it. He could tell the Weevil did not feel threatened. Whether that was good or not still remained to be seen. Then a giggle cut across the growls. It sounded so childish, so innocent.
“Jack, that’s a child,” Gwen said from the back seat.
“Just because it sounds like a child doesn’t mean it is,” Jack replied as he pulled into the Plass, by their secret base. “Tosh, you stay here and monitor us. We don’t know what it is, we may need someone on the outside.” Jack exited the vehicle and opened the holster on his belt, giving him easier access to his Webley firearm. He led the way to the tourist office, their front for Torchwood, and the rest of the team followed, Ianto bringing up the rear.
They entered and Ianto locked the main door behind them and hit the hidden button opening the secret door that led down into the Hub. The team took the stairs two at a time, and entered the main great room. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary there. Owen gripped the handle on his pistol, eyes scanning across their desks. He moved across the metal planking and came upon the open entranceway to autopsy. Holding his gun he peered around the corner and then looked down into the surgical pit.
Owen tapped his Bluetooth. “Nothing in autopsy,” he said as he looked back into the main Hub.
“Common area and hydroponics is okay,” Gwen piped in over the comms.
“The armory is secure,” Jack said. Owen grimaced at how integrated Jack’s voice still seemed to be in him.
“Archives appear to be undisturbed,” Ianto stated.
Tosh’s voice came through loud and clear from up top. “I am still getting the majority of the signal from the vaults. It appears that whatever it is has not moved.”
“Any new audio?” Jack asked as the team converged by the desk area.
“There were some more giggles, and…”
“What is it Tosh,” Gwen asked.
“It spoke a word. It spoke Japanese. It said, pretty.”
Owen looked at the others. “What in bloody hell comes through that Rift and knows Japanese?”
“That doesn’t mean its safe. We’ll split up and come in from either side of the vaults. Gwen and Owen will come in from the regular entrance. Ianto and I will cover the rear. Wait in position until everyone is ready and then we’ll enter at the same time, catch it in between us.” Jack cocked his weapon as he started to head for the back of the Hub.
“Jack, what if it is a child? We can’t go in all guns blazing. The Rift has grabbed innocent people before.” Gwen stood her ground, not even moving towards the vaults.
“Why hasn’t it dropped innocents on our doorstop before, Gwen?” Jack asked her as he turned around, facing her.
“I... I don’t know.” Gwen seemed confused for the moment.
Owen rolled his eyes. “It’s because, Cooper, there are enough security protocols of the usual and otherworldly nature that for something to get inside, it needs to know a bloody lot about Torchwood.” Owen cocked his gun. “Maybe not guns blazing, but I’ll be ready.” Owen started stalking towards the vaults.
Jack turned and he headed towards the vaults too, Ianto on his heels. Gwen let out an exasperated breath and followed Owen, holding her gun in front of her. Owen and Gwen quietly climbed down the stairs and stopped outside the closed door to the vaults. Owen could hear his heart beating in the silence.
Owen hit his Bluetooth and talked directly to Tosh. “Do you have any visual Tosh?”
“Nothing Owen, I’m sorry. Just more giggles on audio.”
“Thanks anyway Tosh,” Owen said as he glanced back at Gwen. He shrugged his shoulders at her.
“You two in position?” Jack crackled over both Owen and Gwen’s comms.
“Ready when you are, oh fearless leader,” Owen snipped back.
He inclined his head towards Gwen and moved to the bracket side of the closed door. Gwen moved forward, placing her hand on the door handle but not turning it, yet. She held her gun up and waited.
“All right. On the count of three. One, two…” The light on the door panel suddenly glowed green as Jack said, “Three.”
Gwen swung open the door wide and moved in, her gun in front of her, Owen covering her back. Across from her, at the other end of the vault he saw Jack and Ianto behind him, their guns trained straight ahead at her. Owen looked to the left and saw Janet the Weevil looking downwards. His gaze followed the Weevil’s, and so did his gun aim. Suddenly they were locked on a little girl, with long dark hair and big dark eyes.
There was a definitely female, definitely ear piercing scream that made Janet fall back to the far end of her prison. The little girl’s dark eyes suddenly seemed to glisten as tears began to stream down her face. Her little face scrunched up and her mouth opened as she let out a wailing cry.
Owen, Jack and Ianto exchanged quizzical looks across the hall. Owen then nudged Gwen forward as the little girl began to hiccough little sobs. Gwen turned and shot him a look. He responded by pointing at the girl and pushing Gwen forward.
Gwen put her gun away and crouched down in front of the little girl. “Hi there sweetie. It’s okay. Shush now. We can help.”
Owen rolled his eyes at Gwen’s sudden sweetness. If only they knew how well that innocent mouth of hers could swear like a sailor, and the not-so-innocent things it could do. He uncocked the gun and placed it in his back waistband. He could hear Jack talking to Tosh and telling her to come inside. Owen looked down at the little girl. From her size and development he would guess that she was about five-years-old. He noticed the style of her jeans, and long sleeve red shirt, along with the sneakers that lit up on the side, but she definitely had Asian characteristics. That could explain the Japanese Tosh heard. Yet, there was something familiar about her that Owen could not put his finger on. Owen looked up at the camera that monitored the room as he thought about it.
All of a sudden he felt a little hand take hold of his. It felt warm and soft against his skin. Owen looked down and those dark, big eyes looked up at him. The little girl sniffed her nose twice and swallowed down another sob. Her other arm then encircled his leg and she held on tight, burying her face in his jeans. Owen looked over at Gwen who just shrugged her shoulders.
“Looks like you have a fan,” Jack said as he sauntered over to the pair, his Webley already away.
“Why?” Owen asked.
The little girl mumbled something against Owen’s leg and squeezed his leg tighter. She then mumbled something else and slowly pulled away. She wiped her nose with her sleeve, and sniffed another time. She pulled herself away from Owen’s leg, but still held a tight grip on his hand. She regarded Jack, Gwen and Ianto with a steely, determined look.
“You’re not supposed to scare me. That’s mean,” the little girl said forcefully, like she meant business.
“We’re sorry sweetie,” Gwen said as she stood up and moved towards the little girl. “We didn’t know you were in here.”
The little girl looked up at Owen. “That wasn’t a fun way of being scared, Papa.”
Owen’s mouth dropped open. He eventually tore his eyes from her upset eyes and looked at Gwen. She didn’t say a word. He then looked at Jack and Ianto. Ianto just shook his head as he picked up a big metal box from next to him.
Jack came over and put his hand on the little girl’s shoulder, crouching down and looking her straight in the eyes. “We’re sorry. How about we take you upstairs and Papa can do some tests on you while we get you some milk?”
“Hot chocolate, please?”
“Sure, whatever you want.” Jack stood up, his hand still on the girl’s shoulder, and yet she did not relinquish Owen’s hand.
“Only if Ianto makes it. He makes it best. He gives me extra chocolate, and I still won’t tell Mama.” She smiled sweetly at Ianto.
Ianto looked from Jack to Owen, a crack in his unshakeable veneer. Owen chuckled on the inside that it took a five-year-old to make teaboy sweat. Jack shook his head.
“Sure thing, Ianto will make it for you. Why don’t we go upstairs?”
Before Jack could finish speaking, the little girl was practically dragging Owen up the stairs, her sneakers taking big step by big step. Owen hurried to keep up, her grip never slacking on his hand. The other three followed behind her.
They emerged into the main part of the Hub. The little girl looked upwards, but the immenseness did not seem to shake her. She let go of Owen’s hand and headed towards the kitchen area. She stopped by the doorway, her hands on her hips and looked back.
“Come on Ianto, I really want some hot chocolate please!” She ran back and grabbed Ianto’s hand and started pulling him towards the kitchen. Ianto was quick enough to deposit the big metal box on Gwen’s desk as he was dragged past.
“Have fun Ianto,” Jack called out.
A girlish giggle made it’s way back to the team. Jack followed them a moment, staring down at his open wrist-strap. He then shrugged his shoulders and flipped it closed.
“Jack, are you sure it’s safe for Ianto?” Gwen looked at him with her big eyes.
“Safe? I’m not sure about that, children are never safe. But, she is human, that I know.” Jack shrugged out of his coat and hung it up on the nearby coat rack.
Owen tore his coat off his body. “What the hell was that? Why the fuck did she call me Papa?”
“Owen! Language! There is a child around.” Gwen sat down by her desk, pulling open some bloody file on the computer.
“That child cannot hear me,” Owen snapped, throwing his coat down on the couch for emphasis.
“Something you need to tell us, Owen?” Jack asked, crossing his arms in front of chest and assuming a nonchalant stance.
“I do not have a kid,” Owen barked.
“What happened? What's in the Hub?” Tosh asked as she walked through the cog door. The yellow alert lights flashed off of the grimace on Owen’s face. No one said anything for a moment.
Finally Jack turned around and faced Tosh. “It appears that it is a human child. How they got in here or why we don’t know. She is in the kitchen with Ianto right now.”
“Okay. I started trying to track the Rift spike but it seems really odd.”
“Odd? In what way Tosh?” Jack moved next to Tosh’s desk as she set her laptop bag down and pulled her chair over.
“I don’t know exactly how to describe it, but for lack of a better word,” Tosh said as she put her glasses on and pulled a nearby keyboard over, clacking away. “Oh, um, it appears that it seems familiar.”
“Familiar? In what way?” Gwen looked up from her computer.
“I don’t care if it is so familiar to you, you have slept with it. I want to know where she came from.” Owen flopped into his chair, a scowl on his face. He picked up a blue pen from his cluttered desk and started tapping it against his temple in a staccato rhythm.
“I’m trying Owen. Give me some time.” Tosh looked away from him and stared at the computer screen right in front of her. “Sometimes you can be such an ass.”
“You better watch your language, or the constable will be on your back since there is a child around,” Owen chimed in, a glare following Tosh’s movements across the keyboard.
“You mean another child, other than you?” Tosh continued to type away, pulling up a 3-D schematic of the Rift spike.
“Stop it you two before I make you share a timeout, together, in one of the drawers in the morgue.” Jack paced back towards the couch, thinking, or so it looked like. He could have been figuring out how to get them out of this situation, or he could have been imagining how to get Ianto down to his lair for some fun with that new bubblegum flavored lube he had bought.
Owen shuddered, nearly dropping the pen. There are some things a person should never know about their boss, and what kind of lube they bought was one of them. Owen looked over at Gwen, who was biting her lower lip as she surveyed the metal box Ianto had placed on her desk. He saw her trying to open it and smirked as she was unsuccessful.
A movement to his right caught his eye and Owen looked towards the kitchen area. Ianto and the little girl quietly walked out, both barely making a sound. How well Ianto could sneak up on a person really creeped out Owen sometimes, especially when he was suddenly over your shoulder as you were looking at… She was smiling at him. The little girl was flashing Owen the most beatific smile he had ever seen. It was so full of love, it made his adam’s apple catch in his throat.
She held her cup of hot chocolate with practiced ease and climbed up into Tosh’s chair. The little girl opted to not use the handle, but rather clasped her hands around the cup, holding it like sweet nectar. Ianto had entered carrying a tray of coffee for each of them. He handed one to Jack, and placed one on Gwen’s desk. As soon as Ianto put the coffee cup on Owen’s desk, Owen snatched it up and gulped down some of the scalding liquid. Enough to make him feel again, even if it was only his throat being scorched and then soothed by espresso.
Ianto then placed Tosh’s mug next to her keyboard as she finished setting up a scan. She picked up the cup, cradling it in her long fingers, and inhaled the aroma. She took a sip from the side, holding the mug close to her body, embracing the warmth.
“Jack, I-“ Tosh turned around and stopped, face-to-face with the little girl.
The little girl’s face beamed and a huge smile spread across her face, even to her eyes. Owen sat up straight in his chair, feet planted firmly on the ground. It was almost like looking at someone looking at themselves in a mirror. Well, if their self was 25 years their junior and considerably shorter. His mind clicked as he realized who the little girl resembled. Yet, she had called him Papa. She just looked so much like Toshiko.
Owen hazarded a glance around the room and saw the same look of dreaded realization from the others. The little girl looked too much like Toshiko, way too much. Gwen’s head slowly turned towards Owen, and her eyes had a slight mist over them. Her eyes flicked between Owen and Tosh. Owen could feel the ice forming inside his gut.
“Mama! You’re back already! I’m glad the mission didn’t take long!” The little girl clambered down, not spilling a drop of her hot chocolate. She placed the cup on the seat of the chair and bolted over to Tosh, grasping her tight.
Edited to add header and for typos.
Chapter: 1
Series: Torchwood
Characters: Owen, Jack, Ianto, Tosh, Gwen, OC
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Captain Jack Harkness (TW 1.12)
Disclaimer: I do not own Torchwood or the characters therein, they belong to the BBC and RTD. Any original characters and places are my property.
Summary: Torchwood goes out on a call, and while gone, something appears in The Hub.
Author's Notes: The beginning of a new series, with inspiration in a variety of ways. Comments are adored, and will keep the muses playing.
Princess - Chapter 1
“Damn it Jack! I’ve lost him.” The irritation in Gwen’s voice could be heard loud and clear over everyone’s Bluetooth.
“All right, everyone meet back at the SUV.” Jack’s voice seemed to plant itself straight into Owen’s brain. Owen shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts as he placed his heavy gun into the back waistband of his jeans. His leather coat fell down his back, concealing the weapon just as the subject of their search, Mr. “Freddy” McKenna, bolted past him.
“Bollocks,” Owen muttered as he pulled the weapon back out and tore after McKenna. Owen stumbled and looked down around his feet. There was McKenna’s brown sport coat on the cement floor. Owen looked ahead and saw McKenna’s tie, and McKenna’s shirt.
“Is his name Harkness?” Owen scrambled around the corner of the deserted cafeteria. Seeing McKenna half naked in front of him, Owen made a dive and tackled the man to the cold floor.
Ten minutes later Owen trotted up to the black Torchwood SUV, rotating his left shoulder. He often liked to forget what it felt like to plunge shoulder first onto hard cement, until days like today when he was reminded so vividly. On top of it, it had to be his left shoulder. It kept giving him trouble ever since Ianto… ever since Ianto.
“Where have you been,” Toshiko asked him, concern tingeing her voice. Toshiko Sato was a cute kid, for sometimes she could still seem as naïve as a kid. Owen knew she had feelings for him, he wasn’t a complete idiot. Yet all he could do was shove her away. Both of them, with the lives they led, deserved something normal, something that you get maybe once in a life. He had had his chance with Katie, and Tosh deserved that chance with someone way better than himself.
“You didn’t answer your comm,” Ianto stated as he indicated his own Bluetooth.
“Afraid I was shagging your boyfriend?”
Ianto shot Owen an exceptionally snarky glare. Ianto Jones was a man of many depths. For fuck’s sake, the man had shot Owen and tried to kill all of them with his sinister girlfriend in the basement, and yet he cleaned up all their shit and actually cared about Jack. Ianto was a man of mystery and so was Captain Jack Harkness, who was staring right at him.
Jack broke his stare and turned to the group as a whole. “Well, let’s get back to the Hub and see what we can find. Find out where McKenna could have gone. We’ll get him.” Jack cocked his head and smiled.
It was a reassuring smile that his little rag-tag band of misfits would solve the riddle in the end. Jack wielded that smile too easily. He believed in them, perhaps more than he should.
“Damn it! I just wish he hadn’t given us the slip,” Gwen growled.
Gwen Cooper was damn sexy when she was perturbed, especially when she growled. Owen had loved to make her growl, which is why Tosh should have nothing to do with him. He was down right piece of shit he was, or so Gwen would say every time she tried to give him up.
“Right, well good old Freddy boy really did give us the slip, big time.” Owen held up his right hand, dangling from it, the complete skin of Mr. Freddy McKenna. “I would bet if we popped by Mr. McKenna’s flat, we would find a very interesting body, or lack thereof.”
Jack shook his head. “I think that might be one of the most disgusting things I have ever seen.”
“God Owen, what happened?” Gwen just kept staring at the single piece of epidermis as it fluttered in the breeze off the bay.
“He ran past me and I tackled him, half-naked I might add.”
“Interesting,” Ianto interjected.
“As I grabbed him, it felt like he was slithering out of my grasp. It really wasn’t my grasp, it was his borrowed skin.” Owen held up the skin next to his head to make his point.
Suddenly the computers in the SUV started beeping three different alarms. Tosh looked in towards the vehicle with surprise. She slid into the rear passenger seat pulling the hidden keyboard out as she did so. Ianto ran around to the driver’s side, sliding into that rear passenger seat and looking at the computer screen in the seat in front of him.
“Tosh report,” Jack barked as he slipped into the driver’s seat.
“It’s massive Rift disturbance, give me a second,” Tosh stated as she stared at the screen, her fingers flying over the keyboard.
Owen popped open the trunk of the SUV and pulled out a large specimen container, depositing McKenna’s skin in it. He then popped on over to the passenger seat and got in, Gwen on his heels. Ianto stepped out of the SUV a moment and Gwen climbed into the back seat. Ianto closed the door with a bang as Jack started the vehicle and put it into gear.
“Tell me where I’m going Tosh,” Jack said.
Owen looked over to the captain, marveling at how well he channeled that intenseness and kept it out of his voice. Owen scrunched his face in thought as he buckled himself in.
“The Hub. The disturbance is centered in the Hub.” Owen looked back at her and saw Tosh’s serious face as she leaned closer to the computer.
“Are you kidding me,” Jack said as he peeled out of the factory district and towards their base of operations.
“No she’s not Jack,” Ianto filled in as he peered at Tosh’s screen across the seat.
Owen swore under his breath as he pulled out his gun and checked the cartridge. His eyes flicked over and looked at Jack. The man appeared calm, but Owen knew where to look. He could see it in the quiet intensity in the man’s demeanor and the slight tension in Jack’s knuckles.
“It looks like it’s centered in the main vaults, by Janet. I can’t pick up any definite readings about what it is and the CCTV has been disengaged by the activity.” Tosh’s fingers flew across the keyboard, the clacking filling up the inside of the SUV as it careened past other cars, it’s blue lights flashing on the front shield.
“What the bloody hell would flash out the CCTV and why is it in our vaults?” Owen griped.
“That’s what we’re about to find out,” Jack replied.
“I can get audio, but visual in the vaults is still out,” Tosh stated. She hit a button and the audio from the Hub came through the SUV’s speakers.
The team all listened as they could hear the Weevil growling. It was a low growl. Owen thought of the research he had been doing on Janet, as Jack liked to call it. He could tell the Weevil did not feel threatened. Whether that was good or not still remained to be seen. Then a giggle cut across the growls. It sounded so childish, so innocent.
“Jack, that’s a child,” Gwen said from the back seat.
“Just because it sounds like a child doesn’t mean it is,” Jack replied as he pulled into the Plass, by their secret base. “Tosh, you stay here and monitor us. We don’t know what it is, we may need someone on the outside.” Jack exited the vehicle and opened the holster on his belt, giving him easier access to his Webley firearm. He led the way to the tourist office, their front for Torchwood, and the rest of the team followed, Ianto bringing up the rear.
They entered and Ianto locked the main door behind them and hit the hidden button opening the secret door that led down into the Hub. The team took the stairs two at a time, and entered the main great room. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary there. Owen gripped the handle on his pistol, eyes scanning across their desks. He moved across the metal planking and came upon the open entranceway to autopsy. Holding his gun he peered around the corner and then looked down into the surgical pit.
Owen tapped his Bluetooth. “Nothing in autopsy,” he said as he looked back into the main Hub.
“Common area and hydroponics is okay,” Gwen piped in over the comms.
“The armory is secure,” Jack said. Owen grimaced at how integrated Jack’s voice still seemed to be in him.
“Archives appear to be undisturbed,” Ianto stated.
Tosh’s voice came through loud and clear from up top. “I am still getting the majority of the signal from the vaults. It appears that whatever it is has not moved.”
“Any new audio?” Jack asked as the team converged by the desk area.
“There were some more giggles, and…”
“What is it Tosh,” Gwen asked.
“It spoke a word. It spoke Japanese. It said, pretty.”
Owen looked at the others. “What in bloody hell comes through that Rift and knows Japanese?”
“That doesn’t mean its safe. We’ll split up and come in from either side of the vaults. Gwen and Owen will come in from the regular entrance. Ianto and I will cover the rear. Wait in position until everyone is ready and then we’ll enter at the same time, catch it in between us.” Jack cocked his weapon as he started to head for the back of the Hub.
“Jack, what if it is a child? We can’t go in all guns blazing. The Rift has grabbed innocent people before.” Gwen stood her ground, not even moving towards the vaults.
“Why hasn’t it dropped innocents on our doorstop before, Gwen?” Jack asked her as he turned around, facing her.
“I... I don’t know.” Gwen seemed confused for the moment.
Owen rolled his eyes. “It’s because, Cooper, there are enough security protocols of the usual and otherworldly nature that for something to get inside, it needs to know a bloody lot about Torchwood.” Owen cocked his gun. “Maybe not guns blazing, but I’ll be ready.” Owen started stalking towards the vaults.
Jack turned and he headed towards the vaults too, Ianto on his heels. Gwen let out an exasperated breath and followed Owen, holding her gun in front of her. Owen and Gwen quietly climbed down the stairs and stopped outside the closed door to the vaults. Owen could hear his heart beating in the silence.
Owen hit his Bluetooth and talked directly to Tosh. “Do you have any visual Tosh?”
“Nothing Owen, I’m sorry. Just more giggles on audio.”
“Thanks anyway Tosh,” Owen said as he glanced back at Gwen. He shrugged his shoulders at her.
“You two in position?” Jack crackled over both Owen and Gwen’s comms.
“Ready when you are, oh fearless leader,” Owen snipped back.
He inclined his head towards Gwen and moved to the bracket side of the closed door. Gwen moved forward, placing her hand on the door handle but not turning it, yet. She held her gun up and waited.
“All right. On the count of three. One, two…” The light on the door panel suddenly glowed green as Jack said, “Three.”
Gwen swung open the door wide and moved in, her gun in front of her, Owen covering her back. Across from her, at the other end of the vault he saw Jack and Ianto behind him, their guns trained straight ahead at her. Owen looked to the left and saw Janet the Weevil looking downwards. His gaze followed the Weevil’s, and so did his gun aim. Suddenly they were locked on a little girl, with long dark hair and big dark eyes.
There was a definitely female, definitely ear piercing scream that made Janet fall back to the far end of her prison. The little girl’s dark eyes suddenly seemed to glisten as tears began to stream down her face. Her little face scrunched up and her mouth opened as she let out a wailing cry.
Owen, Jack and Ianto exchanged quizzical looks across the hall. Owen then nudged Gwen forward as the little girl began to hiccough little sobs. Gwen turned and shot him a look. He responded by pointing at the girl and pushing Gwen forward.
Gwen put her gun away and crouched down in front of the little girl. “Hi there sweetie. It’s okay. Shush now. We can help.”
Owen rolled his eyes at Gwen’s sudden sweetness. If only they knew how well that innocent mouth of hers could swear like a sailor, and the not-so-innocent things it could do. He uncocked the gun and placed it in his back waistband. He could hear Jack talking to Tosh and telling her to come inside. Owen looked down at the little girl. From her size and development he would guess that she was about five-years-old. He noticed the style of her jeans, and long sleeve red shirt, along with the sneakers that lit up on the side, but she definitely had Asian characteristics. That could explain the Japanese Tosh heard. Yet, there was something familiar about her that Owen could not put his finger on. Owen looked up at the camera that monitored the room as he thought about it.
All of a sudden he felt a little hand take hold of his. It felt warm and soft against his skin. Owen looked down and those dark, big eyes looked up at him. The little girl sniffed her nose twice and swallowed down another sob. Her other arm then encircled his leg and she held on tight, burying her face in his jeans. Owen looked over at Gwen who just shrugged her shoulders.
“Looks like you have a fan,” Jack said as he sauntered over to the pair, his Webley already away.
“Why?” Owen asked.
The little girl mumbled something against Owen’s leg and squeezed his leg tighter. She then mumbled something else and slowly pulled away. She wiped her nose with her sleeve, and sniffed another time. She pulled herself away from Owen’s leg, but still held a tight grip on his hand. She regarded Jack, Gwen and Ianto with a steely, determined look.
“You’re not supposed to scare me. That’s mean,” the little girl said forcefully, like she meant business.
“We’re sorry sweetie,” Gwen said as she stood up and moved towards the little girl. “We didn’t know you were in here.”
The little girl looked up at Owen. “That wasn’t a fun way of being scared, Papa.”
Owen’s mouth dropped open. He eventually tore his eyes from her upset eyes and looked at Gwen. She didn’t say a word. He then looked at Jack and Ianto. Ianto just shook his head as he picked up a big metal box from next to him.
Jack came over and put his hand on the little girl’s shoulder, crouching down and looking her straight in the eyes. “We’re sorry. How about we take you upstairs and Papa can do some tests on you while we get you some milk?”
“Hot chocolate, please?”
“Sure, whatever you want.” Jack stood up, his hand still on the girl’s shoulder, and yet she did not relinquish Owen’s hand.
“Only if Ianto makes it. He makes it best. He gives me extra chocolate, and I still won’t tell Mama.” She smiled sweetly at Ianto.
Ianto looked from Jack to Owen, a crack in his unshakeable veneer. Owen chuckled on the inside that it took a five-year-old to make teaboy sweat. Jack shook his head.
“Sure thing, Ianto will make it for you. Why don’t we go upstairs?”
Before Jack could finish speaking, the little girl was practically dragging Owen up the stairs, her sneakers taking big step by big step. Owen hurried to keep up, her grip never slacking on his hand. The other three followed behind her.
They emerged into the main part of the Hub. The little girl looked upwards, but the immenseness did not seem to shake her. She let go of Owen’s hand and headed towards the kitchen area. She stopped by the doorway, her hands on her hips and looked back.
“Come on Ianto, I really want some hot chocolate please!” She ran back and grabbed Ianto’s hand and started pulling him towards the kitchen. Ianto was quick enough to deposit the big metal box on Gwen’s desk as he was dragged past.
“Have fun Ianto,” Jack called out.
A girlish giggle made it’s way back to the team. Jack followed them a moment, staring down at his open wrist-strap. He then shrugged his shoulders and flipped it closed.
“Jack, are you sure it’s safe for Ianto?” Gwen looked at him with her big eyes.
“Safe? I’m not sure about that, children are never safe. But, she is human, that I know.” Jack shrugged out of his coat and hung it up on the nearby coat rack.
Owen tore his coat off his body. “What the hell was that? Why the fuck did she call me Papa?”
“Owen! Language! There is a child around.” Gwen sat down by her desk, pulling open some bloody file on the computer.
“That child cannot hear me,” Owen snapped, throwing his coat down on the couch for emphasis.
“Something you need to tell us, Owen?” Jack asked, crossing his arms in front of chest and assuming a nonchalant stance.
“I do not have a kid,” Owen barked.
“What happened? What's in the Hub?” Tosh asked as she walked through the cog door. The yellow alert lights flashed off of the grimace on Owen’s face. No one said anything for a moment.
Finally Jack turned around and faced Tosh. “It appears that it is a human child. How they got in here or why we don’t know. She is in the kitchen with Ianto right now.”
“Okay. I started trying to track the Rift spike but it seems really odd.”
“Odd? In what way Tosh?” Jack moved next to Tosh’s desk as she set her laptop bag down and pulled her chair over.
“I don’t know exactly how to describe it, but for lack of a better word,” Tosh said as she put her glasses on and pulled a nearby keyboard over, clacking away. “Oh, um, it appears that it seems familiar.”
“Familiar? In what way?” Gwen looked up from her computer.
“I don’t care if it is so familiar to you, you have slept with it. I want to know where she came from.” Owen flopped into his chair, a scowl on his face. He picked up a blue pen from his cluttered desk and started tapping it against his temple in a staccato rhythm.
“I’m trying Owen. Give me some time.” Tosh looked away from him and stared at the computer screen right in front of her. “Sometimes you can be such an ass.”
“You better watch your language, or the constable will be on your back since there is a child around,” Owen chimed in, a glare following Tosh’s movements across the keyboard.
“You mean another child, other than you?” Tosh continued to type away, pulling up a 3-D schematic of the Rift spike.
“Stop it you two before I make you share a timeout, together, in one of the drawers in the morgue.” Jack paced back towards the couch, thinking, or so it looked like. He could have been figuring out how to get them out of this situation, or he could have been imagining how to get Ianto down to his lair for some fun with that new bubblegum flavored lube he had bought.
Owen shuddered, nearly dropping the pen. There are some things a person should never know about their boss, and what kind of lube they bought was one of them. Owen looked over at Gwen, who was biting her lower lip as she surveyed the metal box Ianto had placed on her desk. He saw her trying to open it and smirked as she was unsuccessful.
A movement to his right caught his eye and Owen looked towards the kitchen area. Ianto and the little girl quietly walked out, both barely making a sound. How well Ianto could sneak up on a person really creeped out Owen sometimes, especially when he was suddenly over your shoulder as you were looking at… She was smiling at him. The little girl was flashing Owen the most beatific smile he had ever seen. It was so full of love, it made his adam’s apple catch in his throat.
She held her cup of hot chocolate with practiced ease and climbed up into Tosh’s chair. The little girl opted to not use the handle, but rather clasped her hands around the cup, holding it like sweet nectar. Ianto had entered carrying a tray of coffee for each of them. He handed one to Jack, and placed one on Gwen’s desk. As soon as Ianto put the coffee cup on Owen’s desk, Owen snatched it up and gulped down some of the scalding liquid. Enough to make him feel again, even if it was only his throat being scorched and then soothed by espresso.
Ianto then placed Tosh’s mug next to her keyboard as she finished setting up a scan. She picked up the cup, cradling it in her long fingers, and inhaled the aroma. She took a sip from the side, holding the mug close to her body, embracing the warmth.
“Jack, I-“ Tosh turned around and stopped, face-to-face with the little girl.
The little girl’s face beamed and a huge smile spread across her face, even to her eyes. Owen sat up straight in his chair, feet planted firmly on the ground. It was almost like looking at someone looking at themselves in a mirror. Well, if their self was 25 years their junior and considerably shorter. His mind clicked as he realized who the little girl resembled. Yet, she had called him Papa. She just looked so much like Toshiko.
Owen hazarded a glance around the room and saw the same look of dreaded realization from the others. The little girl looked too much like Toshiko, way too much. Gwen’s head slowly turned towards Owen, and her eyes had a slight mist over them. Her eyes flicked between Owen and Tosh. Owen could feel the ice forming inside his gut.
“Mama! You’re back already! I’m glad the mission didn’t take long!” The little girl clambered down, not spilling a drop of her hot chocolate. She placed the cup on the seat of the chair and bolted over to Tosh, grasping her tight.
Edited to add header and for typos.