Revelations and Recollections Chapter Two
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Jack sighed as he hung up the phone sitting ominously still .
"What a pompous, arrogant, piece of shit , " he yelled as he tossed the phone
onto Gwen's desk.
"But are they going to help,?" Gwen asked cutting him off before he
could go into a rant.
"Yes, they are going to send The Valiant to deal with our uninvited
guests, " he said, "Toshiko, how are we doing getting out of here?"
Toshiko launched into a long complicated explanation that Jack could
follow, even if he pretended he could not. He understood that she could not
over ride the lock down program, and she did not know what had caused it or
why. Yet. So they were stuck in there for six or so hours. That news
did not go down too well.
"How's Jessica?" Jack asked. At least there was a problem he could deal
with. He focused on that part, blocking out the grumbles from Gwen and
Owen about how they had plans.
"Sleeping." Ianto replied from the couch area.
Jack turned around and smiled at the sight. Jessica, at some point had decided that Ianto
would make a good pillow. More specifically his lap. Jack thought it was slightly adorable. Ianto had covered her with a blanket but that was noted not enough to stop her shivering. He was stroking her hair as she whimpered about something. Ianto then grimaced as his hand connected with something. Jack walked up watching him as he searched through her hair.
"Oh, " Ianto announced.
"Oh,?" Jack asked.
He looked over to where Ianto pointed. "Urgh, " Jack concluded.
He gently extracted the creature, his hands brushing lightly against Ianto's, trying not to disturb Jessica. He took a closer look at the creature.
"Bad news is we have an infestation. Good news is its not human. Bad
news is its alien. Good news is it's harmless. At least at this stage. And we
can treat it, "Jack declared.
Ianto had a bad feeling he wood be getting up close and personal with gloves and a fine tooth comb. Apparently, on top of acting as the team’s mother and tea boy, he was to be the school nurse. Ianto thought about asking for a new job description at that moment but decided against it.
"Time to wake up Jessica, " Ianto said sighing as he shook her slightly.
"Its a bloody head louse," Owen declared when Jack presented him with it. Immediately Toshiko and Gwen started to scratch their heads subconsciously.
"Its alien" Jack snapped. "And it's not a head louse."
Toshiko and Gwen stopped scratching.
"Its a egg off a Tralek," Jack added.
Toshiko immediately went to her computer to look up a Tralek in the
database. She twitched when the computer stayed blank and dark, unresponsive.
Gwen immediately ventured near to Jack to have a closer look.
"Its oddly pretty, " Gwen said.
"The mothers are not," Jack said, "they select hosts and lay their eggs. When the eggs hatch they devourer their hosts from the inside and go on to mate. The average life span is roughly ten years and they like cold, wet climates but can adapt," he said. "You have something similar on your planet called parasitoids" he grinned, "but these babies are definitely not of planet Earth."
Jessica had walked up to them in time to hear the last part "Right, so I guess I am baby
food," she said, "great."
"Treatment is good old fashioned removal by picking the eggs out then" Jack trailed of, a mischievous look on his face.
"What?" Everyone asked.
"Treating the infected area with a special mixture," Jack said hedging.
"Which is?" Gwen asked.
"Fish scales, eggs, conditioner and a few drops of Weevil blood." Jack continued. Everyone made disgusted faces.
"Baby food it is," Jessica said.
"Oh the treatment is applied when the host is sleeping," Jack continued on.
"I can cope with that, " Jessica grimaced.
"It will be all rinsed out before you awake," Jack promised apologetically.
"Okay so Traleks are obviously bad but what about the Cybermen? We have to stop them, " Gwen said. This got a general murmur of agreement from everyone who had been thinking the same.
"We can not get out the base. I know we should be doing something but what do you suggest?" Jack shouted. "because until we can get out, their is nothing else we can do. So if any of you have any ideas then let me hear them because I am all out."
Nobody spoke, his outburst shocking them into silence. They knew Jack was right and that was what scared them most.
"The second we get out we will move out." Jack said, "Until then lets deal with what we can." He said quietly.
"Alright then lets do this, " Gwen said sounding more enthusiastic then
everyone felt.
An hour later Jack got of the phone to UNIT to inform them about
a Tralek invasion. The Lieutenant he spoken to had laughed until Jack pointed out the head eating implications. It was lucky they had a laptop, Toshiko insisting on that in case of emergencies after too many lock downs of late. Toshiko had used CCTV to track down the location of the Tralek and Cyberman and was now co-ordinating UNIT to the locations of each. She was glad she was on co-ordination duty. She felt comfortable with computers even though she was not happy about dealing with UNIT. Jack reassured her that she would not actually have to meet any of UNIT which calmed her fears a little. She was also glad that she did not have to deal with Tralek eggs.
Owen was still finding them, using a pair of tweezers and magnifying glass to pluck them out. A tedious and painstaking process that was using Owens’s last bit of patience. From where Jack stood supervising everything on the gantry he could hear Ianto talking to her, although Jack was not really following the conversation. Both Jessica and Ianto were sat crossed legged on the autopsy table, Ianto with a stopwatch and looking silly in his now rumpled suit. Jack made a mental note to find out what that was about later. This had left Gwen to mix the so called treatment. Something she was really unhappy about.
"Why can't Ianto do it?" She kept asking.
"Because he's busy helping with Jessica," was Jacks response, "and
you didn't clean out the Weevil's cage once during Ianto’s time away. "
"Well why can't you? You hate dealing with UNIT." She had tried. She had given him her best puppy eyed look.
"Because I asked you to do it. Last time I looked, I sign your paychecks. Things will get messy so you might as well start learning that now." Jacks response left no room for argument.
Gwen found herself in a storage room of the vaults. She also found
trouble. She was grumbling as she read the recipe sheet via the
aid of a torch. She donned rubber gloves, overalls and a gas mask
and she still felt faintly disgusted.
"Just because the new person gets Ianto all distracted I am left to mix shit. This is not fair, it's not my job." She grouched to herself.
"Makes you feel unappreciated?" A voice whispered to her.
Gwen quickly looked around. She could not locate the source of it but she knew better than to dismiss it out of hand . She pressed her communicator but found it was unresponsive.
"Who, who are you?" Gwen asked tentatively .
"A friend. " The voice whispered back promptly.
"A friend?" Gwen asked uncertainly. She went to pull her gun out only to find it was not there.
"Looking for this?", the voice asked as the gun waved itself in the air.
Gwen froze.
"I can help you. The new girl she's wrong. Ianto is in danger because of her."
"What do you mean wrong?" Gwen asked, concerned for Ianto.
"She walks in without question and Ianto is at her beck and call. Does that not strike you as suspicious?"
"I trust Jack's judgement. Jack let Jessica in." Gwen replied.
"Ah Jack yes. Do you love him?" The voice asked.
"I have Rhys, " Gwen said.
"And Owen on the side, don't even pretend that you're not. But that did not answer my question." The voice whispered in her ear.
Gwen did not respond, her mind racing as she tried to figure out what to do. She started heading for the door to go get help.
"They all find you to be second best. You know that. They mock you, your humanity. And that scares you"
"It would frighten anyone if it was true. " Gwen replied.
"I can make the fear stop," The voice replied.
Gwen did not react as she suddenly felt warm despite the chill in the room. A feeling of peace surrounded her , like being in her mother’s kitchen as a child on a Sunday afternoon.
"I need you to help me," whispered the voice.
"How?" was Gwen's only reply.
Nobody heard Gwen as she cried.
Then she stopped and the tears dried up.
"You humans make it too easy. But now to bide my time. Best to
blend in. Don't worry Gwen, your not going anywhere, you're going to get
exactly what you deserve, because you're so special," The voice whispered to her.
So the body of Gwen had donned gloves, sulkily read through the print out Toshiko had found and groaned again.
Jack ignored the slight squabble coming from the direction of Owens' work area as he checked in with Toshiko. He give her a reassuring smile, a friendly squeeze on the shoulder as she pushed her glasses back up. He looked at the image on the CCTV feed, noticed with an intense feeling of relief that the Cybermen seemed pretty inactive at the moment. Armed police where keeping the area nearby civilian free. Jack hoped this invasion would be unsuccessful and casualty free although he recognised that it was pretty unlikely. He did not want a repeat of Canary Wharf if it could be avoided. Not that there was much that could be accomplished from inside the Hub. The exits were still sealed despite Toshiko’s efforts, but it was positive that the laptop was still online. He decided to worry about how that was possible later on.
"Keep me informed." Jack told Toshiko.
"Will do." She said as she reached for her coffee.
"Good work Tosh, you're doing great," Jack added. He had been reading books about how to become a good manager in the Twenty first century. The book had said to praise staff at every opportunity and it did seem like a good idea.
She did not need to ask what he meant by that. She give him a shy smile and a slight nod. He smiled back as he made his way to autopsy.
"How are we doing over here?" Jack asked.
"Two thousand of the bastards and still going," Owen announced as he pulled another one out, "How on earth did so many cram on one head? And more to the point how did you not notice?" He directed that at Jessica.
"I noticed. Just couldn't do anything about it, " she replied, "was kind of tied up at the time. "
"Sounds kinky." Jack joked.
"It really was not." Jessica replied. There was clearly more behind that statement.
"What happened?" Ianto asked.
"Revenge. Torture. Seemed like Torchwood one had pissed off a fair few creatures. It was open season when they discovered me. " Jessica answered.
"Someone deliberately done this?" Ianto asked. He took hold of her hand to regain her attention.
"Something. Yes. I should have stayed away. But the opportunity was there to get out and I could not stand anymore. I wanted it to stop," Jessica whispered ashamed.
"Yeah, kind of figured that out," Owen pulled another egg out of her hair, "Its done." he announced.
Ianto jumped down off the table and Owen started preparing the anaesthetic. Ianto pulled a comb out of his pocket. When Jessica reached for it, Ianto shook his head as he walked round. He gently started to comb through her tangled hair.
"Ianto you know that I am sorry? This is all my fault " She said.
"I know you are. You always take the blame. When this is done, we will talk about it, " Ianto replied, "close your eyes," he added as Owen came back with the needle and breathing tube.
"Gwen we're ready for that mixture, " Jack informed her over the coms as Jessica fell into welcome darkness. Jack took pity on Gwen when she brought up the mixture. It looked and smelled awful. Jack soon discovered that it did not feel too nice even through thick rubber gloves. Gwen gratefully went away, making sure she was seen heading for the toilets. She would have loved a shower but they were currently out of reach due to the lock down. He took pity on Owen to who was more than happy to go run tests on the pile of eggs. Then Owens professional side returned and forced him to
stay to check that the anaesthetic did not have an undesired effects. Toshiko said that she did not mind the smell that much as it drifted over to her computer, but she was still happy to stay as far away from the treatment as possible. Ianto seemed almost used to it. "I do deal with these things on a daily basis." he pointed out as he pulled on his gloves and apron. The two of them worked in companionable silence as they worked the gloop. Gwen had mixed into her hair, Jack more clumsy than Ianto’s' calm and measured approach.
An hour later Toshiko wondered over.
"They have found the Tralek mother and she is apparently being co-operative," she reported, "And UNIT have taken over co-ordination. They said that they have it under control. So far, it appears the Cybermen are not converting people. They will keep is informed. I also managed to find Jessica's file from Torchwood One."
"Lets hear it ," Jack replied.
"Nothing really to report. She was headhunted into Torchwood after she
did work experience at HC Clements. Her older sister helped secure her Torchwood placement and subsequent employment. There was an incident with a Weevil that finally persuaded them to let her have a part time job there. She worked at Torchwood One full time since the age of eighteen after taking A levels. Let’s see, she was missing, presumed dead after the battle, obviously not since she has popped up today. She has not accessed her bank account since the battle , no surviving family members. Older sister Sophie Jackson also missing assumed dead after Canary Wharf. Jessica was currently engaged to a soldier named Danny Johnson who was killed in action. No criminal record, or driving licence. It also noted that Alex Hopkins had requested both her and Sophie’s transfers to Torchwood three. It was deferred as Sophie was undergoing medical treatment for cancer at the time. Transfer request was later cancelled due Hopkins suicide. I think you may know the rest, " Toshiko reported.
"Yes, yes I do," Jack said. He stepped out of the way to allow Ianto to rinse the mess out of her hair.
Owen had by now had declared that anaesthetic was no longer required and removed the medical equipment.
Jack pulled off the gloves and took the file from Toshiko. "Now I wonder why Alex wanted the pair of you." he murmured to himself, " Ianto?"
"Yes sir?" Ianto replied.
"Any ideas why she would be transferred to this place?" Jack asked.
Ianto thought about this. "Sophie was working on a theory involving the Rift. She seemed to spend half her time looking at Harriet Derbyshire’s notes but Torchwood one didn't have access to everything. " He paused, trying to remember something, " Sophie’s theory was about if the Rifts power could be used as fuel or domestic transport in the future. I believe we have Sophie’s research in the archives sir." Ianto concluded.
"Hum. Interesting," Jack mused.
"Although I believe her interest was more about Harriet herself. " Ianto added.
Jack raised an eyebrow at that. "Well Harriet was an interesting woman. "
"As was Sophie. She was a hero to Jessica especially when she graduated from Oxford University." Ianto recalled. "And wherever Sophie went Jessica followed, they came as a team. Sophie did the research and Jessica would acquire whatever Sophie needed. "
"Acquire?" Jack asked.
" I believe the arrangement was Sophie never asked about Jessica's methods. Jessica made a point about not getting arrested and nobody ever got hurt." Ianto said confirming Jacks suspicions.
"That research sounds fascinating" Toshiko said, her brain already working on the possibility. "I would like to read it."
Jack had suspected as much, he could practically see the cogs turning in Tosikos brain.
"Sophie was also working on another project, she called it a time field. I do not think she got very far with that though, she had her misgivings with what Torchwood would do with it if she was successful. " Ianto said.
"She was right to, " Jack declared as Toshikos eyes light up.
Jack and Toshiko climbed the steps higher up as Ianto turned the hose onto Jessica's hair. Owen went and, for lack of anything else to do, analysed the eggs.