Fic: Plus Ça Change (2/3)
Title: Plus Ça Change (2/3)
Author: fides
Pairing: Krycek/Jack, Jack/Ianto, Mulder/Krycek
Fandom: X-Files/Torchwood (and special cookies to anyone who can id the other fandoms that get hinted at)
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: None really, a few hints at kink here and there :-)
Disclaimer: None of the characters are mine no matter what the little voices in my head might say ;-)
Summary: Alex goes to Cardiff after the Brit's death to meet some of the Brit's contacts.
Notes: I know that the timelines don't quite fit so I decided to fudge things a little because it was too tempting to compare Torchwood and the Consortium. This is set after the Movie (X-Files) and during the latter half of season 1 (Torchwood). There are a few general spoilers for X-Files and Torchwood but no specifics. In depth knowledge of both fandoms isn't required.
First published in connotations 2007 zine, now timed out. Thanks to temaris and moth2fic for the beta. Any remaining mistakes are own.
Part 1
"We've had a report of Weevils," Jack announced as he strode into the main area of the hub. Alex was reluctantly impressed by the way that everyone immediately dropped what they were doing and shifted into alert mode.
"Here--" Jack threw a canister at him and Alex caught it in surprise. "Or didn't you want to come?"
Alex grabbed his leather jacket from the back of the chair and followed the others to the SUV.
"Headset," Tosh called, shoving one at him as she hustled him into the vehicle. He stuck it in his ear and was immediately inundated with a list of directions from Ianto which he assumed were for Jack who was driving. Tosh had a computer booted before they had finished pulling out of the car park and was co-ordinating with both Ianto and Jack.
"What's this?" Alex waved the canister at Gwen who was the closest person to him not otherwise occupied.
"Weevil spray," she told him.
"Doesn't effect humans," Owen interrupted from the front passenger seat, "but will cause most weevils a few moments of intense pain and while they are distracted you cuff them with this..." Owen passed him some metal tape. "Weevil-clamps - slap it around a limb and you have insta-cuffs. The spray doesn't work with all of them. We aren't sure why. If it doesn't work don't go hand to hand with it. I have enough to do without adding your postmortem to the list. If you can, hit it with something heavy; failing that shoot it."
"What happens then?" Alex asked breathlessly, the excitement of the chase already beginning to get to him. He wasn't the only one, he noticed. All around him eyes were bright with adrenaline and tension thrummed through the car.
"Then we call for a pick up and take everything back to base. The live ones we add to the zoo. The dead ones I get, to see if we can figure out why they are becoming immune to what used to be a perfectly good spray."
Alex loosened his gun in its holster and pocketed the clamps and spray, checking they were both easily accessible but unlikely to fall out if he had to move suddenly. Owen and Gwen were doing the same, twitching in readiness as they waited impatiently to arrive at their destination.
"There!" Gwen, the first one out of the van, yelled as they skidded to a halt.
"Bloody Splott," Owen commented but took off at a run in the direction that Gwen had pointed. The rest of them ran in pursuit.
"Tosh, Owen, go left," Jack ordered. "Cut them off at the crossroads; we don't want them getting into the park. Gwen, Alex with me. Ianto did you get that?"
Alex saw Owen peel off, and assumed Tosh, who was behind him, had done the same, but his attention was focused on the ground ahead of him and ignoring the hot burn in his lungs as they pounded around another corner.
"Tracking your movements." Ianto's voice sounded clearly over the headset. "Owen - take the second left then they can't double back."
"Got it," Owen huffed in Alex's ear.
"Do we have confirmation?" Jack asked. Alex wondered how he could still talk normally given they were sprinting down half-lit alleys. At least Gwen was looking as red-faced as he felt.
"Have a visual," Tosh chimed in. "Two weevils heading east."
"Jack," Ianto instructed, "you are approaching their position from the north-east."
Their feet thumped unevenly on the pavement finding every invisible puddle and pothole as they tried to disentangle themselves from the maze of back streets. Alex was just glad that Jack and Gwen seemed to know where they were going.
"We have a sighting of a civilian in the danger zone." Ianto's calm voice cut across the collective rasping breathing.
"Where?" Jack demanded.
"Immediate right, 200 meters," Ianto directed. "A weevil is bearing down on their position."
"I've got it," Alex told them. "You keep on those two."
His headset went silent for a second as Jack evaluated the offer.
"Okay. Be careful. Use the spray if you can."
Alex took off down the next right turning.
"Follow the curve of the road," Ianto sounded in his ear. "You should see the civilian on your left. The weevil is hiding in the alley just in front of him."
"Got it," Alex panted.
He was just close enough to see the pedestrian pause and then head towards the alley calling 'hello'.
"Damn!" he yelled, not caring if the mike would pick that up. "The civ is investigating. Hey!"
"We have a name for civilians that do that." Owen's sarcastic tones filled the airway. "Late... as in the late... Owww!"
"We have these two restrained." Jack's voice overrode Owen's complaints. "Tosh and I are on our way to you. Get the civilian out of there but try not to engage unless you have to."
So it was Gwen that had hit Owen then, Alex realised as he bowled into the shadowy alley just in time to push the idiot, who looked surprisingly like Mulder, in the dark, to the ground and out of the way of the weevil's claws as they swept over both of them. Fuck, they were scarier when not locked up and looming over you. Alex scrambled to his feet and aimed the spray directly at the snarling face. It reared back in shock but didn't seem to be suffering the type of intense pain Owen had mentioned. It was also now blocking the entrance of the alley having circled past them to trap them as they fell. His dumb luck to get an immune one. It was probably Mulder's fault somehow, and it was Mulder because he knew that dazed body under his anywhere. He pushed a wheely-bin at the weevil to distract it and went for his gun as it shoved the plastic container aside.
Who the hell went hand-to-hand with those things he wondered as he drew. There was no need to aim with the weevil bearing down on him and Mulder like a very ugly, barbed freight train. He just needed to get his gun around in time and squeeze...
The shot went wild as Mulder slammed into him fist first. He landed half across the overturned bin and before he could get up Mulder was on top of him, dragging him up and around. Where the fuck was the weevil? He finally caught a glimpse of it running away in the direction he had come, obviously scared off by someone crazier than it was.
"You fucking Rat Bastard!" Hi Mulder, missed you too.
Another punch rocked him back and split his lip. Mulder's arm caught him under the chin and pinned him to the wall but Alex was too busy to pay attention.
"Weevil incoming on your position," he gasped, hoping the headset had survived Mulder's intervention and would pick it up and give the others some warning. "It's immune."
Then it was just him and Mulder and trying to remember how to breathe. His gun was lost in the darkness somewhere, not that it would do him much good with Mulder in his face. As much as he might fantasise about pistol-whipping the bastard he really never had got in to the habit of fighting back when Mulder got his licks in. Why the Consortium always scrambled his brains to take the good stuff out and leave the bad stuff in Alex was never sure. He had decided some years ago it was because they were a bunch of evil fucks and it was their idea of humour.
Mulder was yelling something at him about shooting innocent people and Alex tried to work out if this was part of the standard list of accusations or whether Mulder was being more clueless than normal and had really missed how close he had come to being a weevil-snack. He knew he should be caring but he was feeling a little dizzy and that seemed much more interesting. He closed his eyes against the bitterness glaring at him and because he really didn't want Mulder to get spit in his eye, a possibility that was looking incresingly likely as Mulder got even more wound up at his lack of response.
"Get off him now!"
Alex forced his eyes back open. The muzzle of Jack's gun was pressed into the soft skin below Mulder's ear.
"Don't," Alex rasped but he wasn't sure the sound had actually made it out. He wondered if Jack considered strangling him, as well as Owen, his personal prerogative. Mulder might argue he had a prior claim on that one.
Mulder reluctantly backed away from him and Alex sagged. Mulder had been supporting him after all, who knew.
"Alex?" Jack asked.
Alex coughed a few times to clear his throat. He wasn't feeling any less dizzy and his back and shoulder were aching where Mulder had thrown him against the wall.
"I'm fine," he assured Jack and sat down.
Jack snarled and cuffed Mulder roughly. Alex was pleased to note that Mulder was glaring at them both stubbornly. He felt a warm rush of affection; that was his Mulder, in over his head and keeping on regardless.
"Owen, get your arse over here as soon as Ianto is there," Jack snapped into his mike, "I think the weevil clipped Alex."
The weevil, not Mulder. That did make a bit more sense. It must have got him when he was pushing Mulder out of the way. That would also explain why it was really beginning to fucking hurt.
Owen ambled up at a fast saunter a few minutes later.
"Left Bessy with the ladies," he explained at Jack's questioning look. "Ianto's dropping off the first two and then coming back. What?" he appealed when the silent demand for an explanation didn't stop. "You didn't think it looked like a Bessy?"
Alex thought about the creature of tooth and fang that had been trying to take his head off and wondered how Owen got from there to 'Bessy'. And how he even knew it was female.
"Looked more like a Marita to me," Alex told him. He ignored Mulder's squawk of complaint.
"Well you," Owen squatted down next to him, "probably got hit on the head so what do you know?"
As he was talking Owen ran through a brisk but thorough examination. "You'll live," he announced finally. "That hurt?"
Alex glared at him.
"Being nasty to the doctor doesn't get you the happy pills," Owen warned. "Someone give us both a hand up. I've got supplies in the van and he can make it that far with a bit of help."
"Get yourself up, Owen, and grab Alex's gun." Jack pushed Mulder forwards. "Alex, do you think you can lean on your friend here?"
Alex bit back a grin at the disgruntled expression that Mulder was sporting and resolved to try and bleed on his suit.
"Who's that?" Owen nodded to the cuffed Mulder.
"The civilian," Jack began but Alex cut him off.
"That's Mulder."
"Aww," Owen cooed "Your boyfriend followed you all the way from the States. That is so cute."
"Owen," Jack warned, as Mulder took very loud umbrage. Alex rolled his eyes. This was not his idea of a fun night out, loosing a fight with an alien, Owen with his brick-like subtlety and Mulder in the denial stage. All it needed was someone to light up for that perfect nicotine-scented atmosphere. Still, it had been fun before Mulder complicated things, and wasn't that just the story of his life?
Owen muttered something under his breath that Alex didn't quite catch but helped him up anyway. Alex took great delight in throwing his arm around Mulder's shoulders and snuggling up as close as possible while hanging on so tightly he almost put Mulder in a neck lock. There was something eminently satisfying about Mulder in a pair of weevil cuffs, especially when Alex had been handed the opportunity to plaster himself against the restrained agent. It was almost enough to ignore the pain in his back and shoulder and the other sundry aches he had picked up under Mulder's gentle handling.
"Right, let's go." Jack hustled them forwards, Owen taking point while Jack brought up the rear. Behind him, Alex could hear Jack checking in with Ianto in the van and co-ordinating the pick up. It seemed a lot further to the road the others was standing on than Alex remembered, but then all the roads looked the damned same so they could have been anywhere. Gwen, Tosh and the weevil were fairly easy to spot when they got close and Alex was heartened by the cheery greeting they recieved even if the weevil just curled its lip at him in a snarl. Feeling his honour was at stake because the weevil got the best of him in their first encounter he snarled right back. Mulder jolted to a halt almost causing Alex to fall as he kept on going for half a step before he realised.
"What's that?" Mulder demanded.
They all turned to look at the weevil to check it hadn't suddenly turned into something else. Owen rolled his eyes. "That would be what Alex pushed you out of the way of."
Mulder went white and his grip on Alex became less reluctant and more soothing.
"Enough," Jack cut in. "Someone needs to take the SUV back to the hub. Any volunteers to drive?" Gwen had the keys out of Jack's hand before he had finished speaking. "Tosh, you go with her, we'll need the extra room and Owen has to stay with Alex. It's going to be a long night so Ianto will probably make you the extra special birthday coffee if you can pick up some food on the way."
Owen perked up immediately. "If you are getting Chinese..." he began.
"We know," Gwen stopped him.
"Extra ribs," Tosh continued for her, "and not from the place on the high street."
The two women headed off, Gwen bouncing the keys in her palm and both discussing what they felt like eating.
"We won't see them for another hour," Owen groused. "We might as well phone for takeout when we get back. It will arrive quicker. And all the mirrors are going to be in the wrong position even if she remembers not everyone drives with the chair so far forward that their knees are around their ears."
"I'm sure if you tell them you don't want anything they would be happy not to order anything for you," Jack pointed out sweetly.
They were saved from Owen's reply by the arrival of Ianto in the van and the need to get Bessy/Marita into the specially reinforced holding area. Alex noticed with amusement that the weevils seemed to take one look at Ianto and suddenly decide to cooperate. Maybe it was the suits. Some of his amusement was probably due to whatever was in the syringe the Owen had grabbed from the van and stuck in his arm. Even Owen had seemed faintly fuzzy in a soft, friendly Kermit the Frog kind of way. Apparently everyone else didn't agree with his assessments although he was sure he caught a few hidden smiles. Mulder seemed a bit disconcerted when he apologised for drooling down his neck, because it was a very nice neck, and tried to pick some of the dried blood and mud out of his hair. He was just explaining his thoughts about the handcuffs when Jack separated them and loaded him into the van. The trip to the hub was something of a blur but Alex thought that was probably due to Jack's driving, that and the fireflies that seemed to be buzzing around the road with them. All red and bright with pretty tails. Mulder wanted to talk about aliens until the others shushed him forcibly, and who wanted to talk about that with Marita growling in the back. The way the fireflies turned orange when they hovered higher was much more interesting.
He giggled when Jack, pretty Jack with the swirly coat, asked how much Kermit had given him. Maybe Jack was like Mulder and kept forgetting things, cos it had been Jack that had given it to Alex. That had been fun. He wanted to do it again. Not just then, as he was feeling a bit tired, but later. And maybe his Fox could play too and bring the handcuffs. Fox and a Frog and his Fox had called him a Rat... maybe they were all animals. That would make Ianto a... tall, thin thing with a suit... a suit snake. That didn't seem quite right... a trouser snake! Ianto was a trouser snake. Was the weevil laughing? Did weevils laugh? He felt a prick on his arm and was just trying to swat whatever had bitten him when the van lurched sideways and he just kept going.
When consciousness returned, Alex found he was in the medical bay and Mulder was staring at him as Owen tended the bump on the back of Mulder's head. He must have shoved Mulder over harder than he had realised at the time.
"You have two arms," Mulder accused. Not what Alex expected to hear when he woke up.
It was childish but Alex couldn't resist. "So do you."
Damn, he hurt. The drug Owen had given him earlier was wearing off and, while it was always a much better idea dealing with Mulder with a clear head, he was getting a headache to go with the lines of fire someone had painted on his back. He wondered if Owen was the person to ask for aspirin or whether he would just land himself another vacation on cloud nine.
"You're a clone!" Mulder realised, leaping up only to be pulled back down to his seat by Owen.
Actually cloud nine was sounding better and better. Triage obviously wasn't Owen's strong point either since Mulder was definitely queue jumping.
"Come on Mulder, pay attention." Shit, his head hurt. "The colour of my blood should tell you I am not a clone."
"Red-green colour blind." Mulder found the oddest thing to be smug about.
"We can fix that for you if you want," Owen offered, putting down the swab he had been using with a 'that's that' gesture.
Alex found himself forgotten as Mulder focused on Owen. "What?"
Owen was welcome to him. In fact Alex would give Mulder to Owen for two Advil and a glass of water. And he was willing to negotiate on the water. Owen unlocked a draw and pulled a blue and pink blob out of the depths.
"Won't take a second." Owen was showing off the device with so much pride you would think he had made it himself rather than picked it up as a piece of temporal jetsam. "Same gadget that sorted gimp-boy's arm."
"That's alien technology," Mulder breathed.
"Nah, I got it from the local Boots..." Owen seemed to realise that Mulder had no idea what he was talking about. "Of course it's alien technology. You think we're sat around in this miserable place for shits and giggles? Not bloody likely."
"But it really works?" Alex recognised the signs; Mulder was in love. Or at least in obsession, which with Mulder was nigh on identical.
"Like you wouldn't believe," Owen enthused. "You just point it, press the depressions..." Owen suited action to word and the egg-shaped blob made a chirrup and extended a number of slender protrusions which waved around and then all pointed towards Mulder and lit up. "And then you just press this," Owen finished.
Alex wondered if he should see if he could walk far enough to get Mulder a tissue or whether then man would just consummate his new found passion with the object then and there. Alex couldn't believe he was feeling jealous of a bit of alien rubbish. And the thing had apparently given him his arm back so really he should be taking notes rather than wanting to smash it to pieces. It made a few irritatingly happy beeply-booply noises and a beam of light spread out from the end Owen wasn't holding and shone in Mulder's eyes. Alex pushed down the urge to leap at Owen, knock the device away from Mulder and shoot the both of them. It was a good alien thing. Someone competent had checked it out before Owen had been allowed to use it on people. It hadn't hurt him. It wouldn't hurt Mulder even if it did sound like it was going to explode. The noise the thing was making was just beginning to set Alex's teeth on edge when, with a final bling, it shut off and the little tentacles retracted back into the smooth shell.
Mulder blinked. Then blinked again.
"Well?" Owen prompted. "If the blood isn't red enough then have a look at Alex. Although if I have to hear about the colour of his eyes one more time I am going to throw up."
"Huh?" Mulder looked at Alex, confused.
Alex closed the eyes in question. "Fuck off," he told Owen, "but give me some more pain killers first."
Owen humphed. "Stop whining. I was getting to you. First, let's get that coat off you."
Alex looked mournfully at the semi-shredded heap of leather as Owen cut away his T-shirt.
"I liked that jacket."
"First rule of alien chasing - don't do it in clothing you want to be able to wear again." Owen dabbed at the claw marks with the antiseptic cream. "This would have been a lot worse without it."
"So how come you aren't using the device on his cuts?" Mulder asked, curious.
"Only use it on big things we can't handle otherwise, "Owen explained. "This was just a love tap. A few days feeling a bit sore will help remind Alex to duck a bit quicker next time, won't it?"
Alex prayed for all his aches and pains to be immediately transferred onto Owen as an object lesson in not being Owen. He had been hurt worse, many times, but that didn't mean he enjoyed the experience.
"I'm giving you a local," Owen told him. "Most of these gashes aren't too deep, but there is one that needs stitches."
Alex nodded wearily. "Whatever."
The stitching didn't take long but it felt like it. Mulder kept giving him odd looks, which was fairly normal, but they pulled at him like the tugs on his skin as Owen sewed. Not quite painful but under his skin, ripping into him and pulling parts of him together that had been severed. And it would hurt later when the anaesthetic wore off; it always did.
"Right," Owen said when he finished. "Last bit. I won't give you anything too strong but this should help take the edge off everything. Lean on the table and drop trou."
Alex sighed but complied.
"Very nice." Owen assured him and injected the pain-killer into his arm.
"What the hell!" Alex whirled, but nearly toppled as his brain took an extra second to catch up with his feet.
Owen backed away out of immediate thumping range but Alex silently promised retribution just as soon as he was healed. Owen grinned and held out a tab of pills. "You want these for when the local wears off or not?"
"I can take them from your corpse," Alex pointed out.
"You can try," Owen bluffed, "but Jack gets a bit pissy about people killing his staff."
"I'll make an exception in your case," Jack's voice cut in. Everyone turned to the doorway within which Jack lounged. Alex was willing to bet money the pose and overall effect had been carefully considered and Jack had just been waiting for the most opportune moment to break in. "Owen, give him the pills. Are they both fit enough to come up to the conference room?"
Owen looked suspiciously between Alex and Jack.
"Alex," Jack coaxed, "stop terrorising Owen. You can beat him up later."
Alex gave Jack his most cherubic smile. It took more of his concentration than he would have liked but he bent down and scooped the remains of his jacket, tweaked the pills out of Owen's hand, and with his coat slung over his bare shoulder and his unbuttoned jeans half off his hips he sauntered up the steps, past Jack and out of the door. He was rather proud of the silence he left in his wake. Proud enough that he made it half way to the conference room before everything caught up with him and he had to pause for a moment. While he was very grateful that whatever Owen had shot him up with was not making him climb the walls, even with the local taking care of the cuts he still felt like he was a walking bruise. Despite the slow pace he still made it to the conference room before any of the others caught up with him.
"How are you?" Gwen greeted him "Help yourself to food." She trailed off as she took in what Alex was or wasn't wearing.
Alex slouched down in the nearest seat and tried to make it appear as if that had been a matter of choice. Tosh looked up and gave him a smile. He wondered if she would be interested in going out for lunch with him some time; the computer system really was fascinating and he was curious as to what she thought about the latest biocomuting advances.
Ianto drifted over and put a carafe down next to Alex.
"You need to drink lots of fluids to replace the blood loss," Ianto commented when Alex wondered what he had done to earn the honour, and from the looks of envy he was getting that was what it was.
Jack and Owen arrived with Mulder in tow, Mulder's free wrists providing the necessary explanation for their tardiness. Owen immediately snagged one of the boxes of spare ribs and grabbed a chair at the farthest end from Alex.
Mulder just stood for a minute staring at them as they squabbled over chopsticks and who was having what. Alex suspected he was having trouble believing it was actually true. Finally he sat down in the seat next to Alex. Solidarity in the face of the British or possibly Mulder had just spotted the coffee. Alex reached out and grabbed a couple of containers and put one in front of Mulder. When Mulder just looked at it, apparently waiting for the alien to pop out and eat him, Alex opened it for him and stuck utensils in his hand. If Mulder couldn't manage from there then Alex wasn't about to feed him.
"So, Agent Mulder." Jack broke the sound of eating. "Welcome to Torchwood."
Mulder swallowed quickly. "Torchwood?"
"This is Torchwood." Jack waved his chopsticks around to indicate the base and all within. "Strictly speaking this is Torchwood Three. Torchwood One was destroyed. Torchwood Two is in Glasgow. There is a Torchwood Four but we aren't sure where it is at the moment. We're sure it will turn up again soon."
"You've lost... Who are you? What are you?"
"Owen Harper you met," Jack introduced, " Toshiko Sato, Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones and I am Captain Jack Harkness. Of course, you know Alex. As to what we are. We scavenge and investigate alien technology. This base is situated on a rift in time and space, throws all sorts of things through - including those weevils you met earlier. We are separate from the government, beyond the police, and outside the United Nations..."
It was the wrong thing to say. Alex could see Mulder flush red.
"You are just like the Consortium; you think you are above the law!"
Jack didn't even blink. "Some laws - yes. The twenty-first century is when it changes and we have to be ready."
Alex didn't think Mulder noticed Tosh and Gwen mouthing along with Jack. It was obviously a line they had heard many times before.
"You," Mulder emphasised. "What about all those other people out there. Don't they deserve to know what is going on?"
Jack put down his food and said seriously, "Unfortunately Vicky says otherwise and I never could say no to a Queen".
Tosh and Ianto studiously avoided looking at anything except their Chinese.
"Victoria?" Mulder's voice was close to a squeak. "Queen Victoria?"
"Our illustrious founder," Jack confirmed. "'The greatest gift you can give them is your silence' and all that. There was something about sheep. Ianto can probably recite it to you."
"But don't," Owen put in before Ianto could answer.
"It's hard," Gwen sympathised. "Not being able to talk to Rhys or anyone. Knowing that if something happens to you then they may never know the truth. But what we do is so important."
"It isn't like they'd believe us anyway," Owen added cynically. "Aliens attack and they all just chalk it up to terrorists or drugs."
"But you could show them proof," Mulder insisted. "That device that cures people. Do you know how many lives you could save?" Owen slid down in his chair as Mulder waved a hand at him. "And what about all the abductees? The ones like Scully who were experimented on? Or like my sister? How can you keep silent when innocent people are being taken from their lives every day?"
"Alex told us about the situation in America," Jack admitted. "UNIT is..."
Mulder didn't let him finish. "I'm sure he did," he sneered. "Did he tell you he was an assassin? That he killed my father? That he..."
"Yes." Jack's answer stopped Mulder mid-rant. "We all have to do things we don't like sometimes." Jack's gaze slid from Mulder's to Ianto's for a second and Alex thought he saw the hint of a nod from Ianto before Jack's attention flicked back to the man he was speaking to. "Sometimes we have to be monsters to save the world from worse ones. Do you want to know how many people at this table have lost love ones?"
"Because of the conspiracy," Mulder objected.
"Because they were too much of a threat," Jack corrected. "Because sometimes you have to sacrifice the few for the many. And everyone here understands - that is the chance you take when you get involved, even if it is by accident. That is why we keep it secret. Because once people become part of it they can't stop, and we know that it might be our fingers on the trigger when they get in too deep and become a danger to others."
Alex looked around the table and saw the bleak looks on so many nodding faces. Only Gwen looked defiantly compassionate rather than personally affected. This was why they snarked at each other and joked, why they took every opportunity that was offered to them. UNIT might have an army but Torchwood Three were the home guard, stealing their weapons from the enemy and hoping they didn't blow up in their faces. Alex wasn't sure if it was bravery or total and utter stupidly. But that wouldn't stop him turning up for work the next day. And maybe it was time to start looking for a flat. Mulder just stared at Jack in horror.
"What was your sister's name?" Jack asked gently.
Mulder looked like someone had cut the ground out from underneath him. "What?"
"Your sister's name," Jack said clearly. "You said she was abducted. We can get the word out, see if anything turns up. Can't guarantee anything of course; its like sticking her picture on an international milk carton but better than nothing. Tosh?"
"On it," Tosh confirmed, PDA out. "Getting the details now."
Mulder looked at him dumbly. Alex could appreciate the feeling. He had felt much the same way when he had discovered everything he believed had been a con. It was probably a good thing Mulder had got stuck on the secret organisation issue and his sacred search for the truth and not got as far as the aliens' plans for world domination, soon to be curtailed.
"...UNIT keeps fairly good records so if you give us any specifics not in the official report we might even be able to narrow down..." Jack continued oblivious to the fact that Mulder was no longer registering the words, just gaping at him as if he was the next coming.
"Uh, Jack?" Alex interrupted.
Jack looked at him and then back at Mulder. "We can do this another time," he conceded. The rest of the meal was conducted to tall tales of alien encounters and unlikely sexual shenanigans to which Mulder listened silently and said nothing.
Part 3
Author: fides
Pairing: Krycek/Jack, Jack/Ianto, Mulder/Krycek
Fandom: X-Files/Torchwood (and special cookies to anyone who can id the other fandoms that get hinted at)
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: None really, a few hints at kink here and there :-)
Disclaimer: None of the characters are mine no matter what the little voices in my head might say ;-)
Summary: Alex goes to Cardiff after the Brit's death to meet some of the Brit's contacts.
Notes: I know that the timelines don't quite fit so I decided to fudge things a little because it was too tempting to compare Torchwood and the Consortium. This is set after the Movie (X-Files) and during the latter half of season 1 (Torchwood). There are a few general spoilers for X-Files and Torchwood but no specifics. In depth knowledge of both fandoms isn't required.
First published in connotations 2007 zine, now timed out. Thanks to temaris and moth2fic for the beta. Any remaining mistakes are own.
Part 1
"We've had a report of Weevils," Jack announced as he strode into the main area of the hub. Alex was reluctantly impressed by the way that everyone immediately dropped what they were doing and shifted into alert mode.
"Here--" Jack threw a canister at him and Alex caught it in surprise. "Or didn't you want to come?"
Alex grabbed his leather jacket from the back of the chair and followed the others to the SUV.
"Headset," Tosh called, shoving one at him as she hustled him into the vehicle. He stuck it in his ear and was immediately inundated with a list of directions from Ianto which he assumed were for Jack who was driving. Tosh had a computer booted before they had finished pulling out of the car park and was co-ordinating with both Ianto and Jack.
"What's this?" Alex waved the canister at Gwen who was the closest person to him not otherwise occupied.
"Weevil spray," she told him.
"Doesn't effect humans," Owen interrupted from the front passenger seat, "but will cause most weevils a few moments of intense pain and while they are distracted you cuff them with this..." Owen passed him some metal tape. "Weevil-clamps - slap it around a limb and you have insta-cuffs. The spray doesn't work with all of them. We aren't sure why. If it doesn't work don't go hand to hand with it. I have enough to do without adding your postmortem to the list. If you can, hit it with something heavy; failing that shoot it."
"What happens then?" Alex asked breathlessly, the excitement of the chase already beginning to get to him. He wasn't the only one, he noticed. All around him eyes were bright with adrenaline and tension thrummed through the car.
"Then we call for a pick up and take everything back to base. The live ones we add to the zoo. The dead ones I get, to see if we can figure out why they are becoming immune to what used to be a perfectly good spray."
Alex loosened his gun in its holster and pocketed the clamps and spray, checking they were both easily accessible but unlikely to fall out if he had to move suddenly. Owen and Gwen were doing the same, twitching in readiness as they waited impatiently to arrive at their destination.
"There!" Gwen, the first one out of the van, yelled as they skidded to a halt.
"Bloody Splott," Owen commented but took off at a run in the direction that Gwen had pointed. The rest of them ran in pursuit.
"Tosh, Owen, go left," Jack ordered. "Cut them off at the crossroads; we don't want them getting into the park. Gwen, Alex with me. Ianto did you get that?"
Alex saw Owen peel off, and assumed Tosh, who was behind him, had done the same, but his attention was focused on the ground ahead of him and ignoring the hot burn in his lungs as they pounded around another corner.
"Tracking your movements." Ianto's voice sounded clearly over the headset. "Owen - take the second left then they can't double back."
"Got it," Owen huffed in Alex's ear.
"Do we have confirmation?" Jack asked. Alex wondered how he could still talk normally given they were sprinting down half-lit alleys. At least Gwen was looking as red-faced as he felt.
"Have a visual," Tosh chimed in. "Two weevils heading east."
"Jack," Ianto instructed, "you are approaching their position from the north-east."
Their feet thumped unevenly on the pavement finding every invisible puddle and pothole as they tried to disentangle themselves from the maze of back streets. Alex was just glad that Jack and Gwen seemed to know where they were going.
"We have a sighting of a civilian in the danger zone." Ianto's calm voice cut across the collective rasping breathing.
"Where?" Jack demanded.
"Immediate right, 200 meters," Ianto directed. "A weevil is bearing down on their position."
"I've got it," Alex told them. "You keep on those two."
His headset went silent for a second as Jack evaluated the offer.
"Okay. Be careful. Use the spray if you can."
Alex took off down the next right turning.
"Follow the curve of the road," Ianto sounded in his ear. "You should see the civilian on your left. The weevil is hiding in the alley just in front of him."
"Got it," Alex panted.
He was just close enough to see the pedestrian pause and then head towards the alley calling 'hello'.
"Damn!" he yelled, not caring if the mike would pick that up. "The civ is investigating. Hey!"
"We have a name for civilians that do that." Owen's sarcastic tones filled the airway. "Late... as in the late... Owww!"
"We have these two restrained." Jack's voice overrode Owen's complaints. "Tosh and I are on our way to you. Get the civilian out of there but try not to engage unless you have to."
So it was Gwen that had hit Owen then, Alex realised as he bowled into the shadowy alley just in time to push the idiot, who looked surprisingly like Mulder, in the dark, to the ground and out of the way of the weevil's claws as they swept over both of them. Fuck, they were scarier when not locked up and looming over you. Alex scrambled to his feet and aimed the spray directly at the snarling face. It reared back in shock but didn't seem to be suffering the type of intense pain Owen had mentioned. It was also now blocking the entrance of the alley having circled past them to trap them as they fell. His dumb luck to get an immune one. It was probably Mulder's fault somehow, and it was Mulder because he knew that dazed body under his anywhere. He pushed a wheely-bin at the weevil to distract it and went for his gun as it shoved the plastic container aside.
Who the hell went hand-to-hand with those things he wondered as he drew. There was no need to aim with the weevil bearing down on him and Mulder like a very ugly, barbed freight train. He just needed to get his gun around in time and squeeze...
The shot went wild as Mulder slammed into him fist first. He landed half across the overturned bin and before he could get up Mulder was on top of him, dragging him up and around. Where the fuck was the weevil? He finally caught a glimpse of it running away in the direction he had come, obviously scared off by someone crazier than it was.
"You fucking Rat Bastard!" Hi Mulder, missed you too.
Another punch rocked him back and split his lip. Mulder's arm caught him under the chin and pinned him to the wall but Alex was too busy to pay attention.
"Weevil incoming on your position," he gasped, hoping the headset had survived Mulder's intervention and would pick it up and give the others some warning. "It's immune."
Then it was just him and Mulder and trying to remember how to breathe. His gun was lost in the darkness somewhere, not that it would do him much good with Mulder in his face. As much as he might fantasise about pistol-whipping the bastard he really never had got in to the habit of fighting back when Mulder got his licks in. Why the Consortium always scrambled his brains to take the good stuff out and leave the bad stuff in Alex was never sure. He had decided some years ago it was because they were a bunch of evil fucks and it was their idea of humour.
Mulder was yelling something at him about shooting innocent people and Alex tried to work out if this was part of the standard list of accusations or whether Mulder was being more clueless than normal and had really missed how close he had come to being a weevil-snack. He knew he should be caring but he was feeling a little dizzy and that seemed much more interesting. He closed his eyes against the bitterness glaring at him and because he really didn't want Mulder to get spit in his eye, a possibility that was looking incresingly likely as Mulder got even more wound up at his lack of response.
"Get off him now!"
Alex forced his eyes back open. The muzzle of Jack's gun was pressed into the soft skin below Mulder's ear.
"Don't," Alex rasped but he wasn't sure the sound had actually made it out. He wondered if Jack considered strangling him, as well as Owen, his personal prerogative. Mulder might argue he had a prior claim on that one.
Mulder reluctantly backed away from him and Alex sagged. Mulder had been supporting him after all, who knew.
"Alex?" Jack asked.
Alex coughed a few times to clear his throat. He wasn't feeling any less dizzy and his back and shoulder were aching where Mulder had thrown him against the wall.
"I'm fine," he assured Jack and sat down.
Jack snarled and cuffed Mulder roughly. Alex was pleased to note that Mulder was glaring at them both stubbornly. He felt a warm rush of affection; that was his Mulder, in over his head and keeping on regardless.
"Owen, get your arse over here as soon as Ianto is there," Jack snapped into his mike, "I think the weevil clipped Alex."
The weevil, not Mulder. That did make a bit more sense. It must have got him when he was pushing Mulder out of the way. That would also explain why it was really beginning to fucking hurt.
Owen ambled up at a fast saunter a few minutes later.
"Left Bessy with the ladies," he explained at Jack's questioning look. "Ianto's dropping off the first two and then coming back. What?" he appealed when the silent demand for an explanation didn't stop. "You didn't think it looked like a Bessy?"
Alex thought about the creature of tooth and fang that had been trying to take his head off and wondered how Owen got from there to 'Bessy'. And how he even knew it was female.
"Looked more like a Marita to me," Alex told him. He ignored Mulder's squawk of complaint.
"Well you," Owen squatted down next to him, "probably got hit on the head so what do you know?"
As he was talking Owen ran through a brisk but thorough examination. "You'll live," he announced finally. "That hurt?"
Alex glared at him.
"Being nasty to the doctor doesn't get you the happy pills," Owen warned. "Someone give us both a hand up. I've got supplies in the van and he can make it that far with a bit of help."
"Get yourself up, Owen, and grab Alex's gun." Jack pushed Mulder forwards. "Alex, do you think you can lean on your friend here?"
Alex bit back a grin at the disgruntled expression that Mulder was sporting and resolved to try and bleed on his suit.
"Who's that?" Owen nodded to the cuffed Mulder.
"The civilian," Jack began but Alex cut him off.
"That's Mulder."
"Aww," Owen cooed "Your boyfriend followed you all the way from the States. That is so cute."
"Owen," Jack warned, as Mulder took very loud umbrage. Alex rolled his eyes. This was not his idea of a fun night out, loosing a fight with an alien, Owen with his brick-like subtlety and Mulder in the denial stage. All it needed was someone to light up for that perfect nicotine-scented atmosphere. Still, it had been fun before Mulder complicated things, and wasn't that just the story of his life?
Owen muttered something under his breath that Alex didn't quite catch but helped him up anyway. Alex took great delight in throwing his arm around Mulder's shoulders and snuggling up as close as possible while hanging on so tightly he almost put Mulder in a neck lock. There was something eminently satisfying about Mulder in a pair of weevil cuffs, especially when Alex had been handed the opportunity to plaster himself against the restrained agent. It was almost enough to ignore the pain in his back and shoulder and the other sundry aches he had picked up under Mulder's gentle handling.
"Right, let's go." Jack hustled them forwards, Owen taking point while Jack brought up the rear. Behind him, Alex could hear Jack checking in with Ianto in the van and co-ordinating the pick up. It seemed a lot further to the road the others was standing on than Alex remembered, but then all the roads looked the damned same so they could have been anywhere. Gwen, Tosh and the weevil were fairly easy to spot when they got close and Alex was heartened by the cheery greeting they recieved even if the weevil just curled its lip at him in a snarl. Feeling his honour was at stake because the weevil got the best of him in their first encounter he snarled right back. Mulder jolted to a halt almost causing Alex to fall as he kept on going for half a step before he realised.
"What's that?" Mulder demanded.
They all turned to look at the weevil to check it hadn't suddenly turned into something else. Owen rolled his eyes. "That would be what Alex pushed you out of the way of."
Mulder went white and his grip on Alex became less reluctant and more soothing.
"Enough," Jack cut in. "Someone needs to take the SUV back to the hub. Any volunteers to drive?" Gwen had the keys out of Jack's hand before he had finished speaking. "Tosh, you go with her, we'll need the extra room and Owen has to stay with Alex. It's going to be a long night so Ianto will probably make you the extra special birthday coffee if you can pick up some food on the way."
Owen perked up immediately. "If you are getting Chinese..." he began.
"We know," Gwen stopped him.
"Extra ribs," Tosh continued for her, "and not from the place on the high street."
The two women headed off, Gwen bouncing the keys in her palm and both discussing what they felt like eating.
"We won't see them for another hour," Owen groused. "We might as well phone for takeout when we get back. It will arrive quicker. And all the mirrors are going to be in the wrong position even if she remembers not everyone drives with the chair so far forward that their knees are around their ears."
"I'm sure if you tell them you don't want anything they would be happy not to order anything for you," Jack pointed out sweetly.
They were saved from Owen's reply by the arrival of Ianto in the van and the need to get Bessy/Marita into the specially reinforced holding area. Alex noticed with amusement that the weevils seemed to take one look at Ianto and suddenly decide to cooperate. Maybe it was the suits. Some of his amusement was probably due to whatever was in the syringe the Owen had grabbed from the van and stuck in his arm. Even Owen had seemed faintly fuzzy in a soft, friendly Kermit the Frog kind of way. Apparently everyone else didn't agree with his assessments although he was sure he caught a few hidden smiles. Mulder seemed a bit disconcerted when he apologised for drooling down his neck, because it was a very nice neck, and tried to pick some of the dried blood and mud out of his hair. He was just explaining his thoughts about the handcuffs when Jack separated them and loaded him into the van. The trip to the hub was something of a blur but Alex thought that was probably due to Jack's driving, that and the fireflies that seemed to be buzzing around the road with them. All red and bright with pretty tails. Mulder wanted to talk about aliens until the others shushed him forcibly, and who wanted to talk about that with Marita growling in the back. The way the fireflies turned orange when they hovered higher was much more interesting.
He giggled when Jack, pretty Jack with the swirly coat, asked how much Kermit had given him. Maybe Jack was like Mulder and kept forgetting things, cos it had been Jack that had given it to Alex. That had been fun. He wanted to do it again. Not just then, as he was feeling a bit tired, but later. And maybe his Fox could play too and bring the handcuffs. Fox and a Frog and his Fox had called him a Rat... maybe they were all animals. That would make Ianto a... tall, thin thing with a suit... a suit snake. That didn't seem quite right... a trouser snake! Ianto was a trouser snake. Was the weevil laughing? Did weevils laugh? He felt a prick on his arm and was just trying to swat whatever had bitten him when the van lurched sideways and he just kept going.
When consciousness returned, Alex found he was in the medical bay and Mulder was staring at him as Owen tended the bump on the back of Mulder's head. He must have shoved Mulder over harder than he had realised at the time.
"You have two arms," Mulder accused. Not what Alex expected to hear when he woke up.
It was childish but Alex couldn't resist. "So do you."
Damn, he hurt. The drug Owen had given him earlier was wearing off and, while it was always a much better idea dealing with Mulder with a clear head, he was getting a headache to go with the lines of fire someone had painted on his back. He wondered if Owen was the person to ask for aspirin or whether he would just land himself another vacation on cloud nine.
"You're a clone!" Mulder realised, leaping up only to be pulled back down to his seat by Owen.
Actually cloud nine was sounding better and better. Triage obviously wasn't Owen's strong point either since Mulder was definitely queue jumping.
"Come on Mulder, pay attention." Shit, his head hurt. "The colour of my blood should tell you I am not a clone."
"Red-green colour blind." Mulder found the oddest thing to be smug about.
"We can fix that for you if you want," Owen offered, putting down the swab he had been using with a 'that's that' gesture.
Alex found himself forgotten as Mulder focused on Owen. "What?"
Owen was welcome to him. In fact Alex would give Mulder to Owen for two Advil and a glass of water. And he was willing to negotiate on the water. Owen unlocked a draw and pulled a blue and pink blob out of the depths.
"Won't take a second." Owen was showing off the device with so much pride you would think he had made it himself rather than picked it up as a piece of temporal jetsam. "Same gadget that sorted gimp-boy's arm."
"That's alien technology," Mulder breathed.
"Nah, I got it from the local Boots..." Owen seemed to realise that Mulder had no idea what he was talking about. "Of course it's alien technology. You think we're sat around in this miserable place for shits and giggles? Not bloody likely."
"But it really works?" Alex recognised the signs; Mulder was in love. Or at least in obsession, which with Mulder was nigh on identical.
"Like you wouldn't believe," Owen enthused. "You just point it, press the depressions..." Owen suited action to word and the egg-shaped blob made a chirrup and extended a number of slender protrusions which waved around and then all pointed towards Mulder and lit up. "And then you just press this," Owen finished.
Alex wondered if he should see if he could walk far enough to get Mulder a tissue or whether then man would just consummate his new found passion with the object then and there. Alex couldn't believe he was feeling jealous of a bit of alien rubbish. And the thing had apparently given him his arm back so really he should be taking notes rather than wanting to smash it to pieces. It made a few irritatingly happy beeply-booply noises and a beam of light spread out from the end Owen wasn't holding and shone in Mulder's eyes. Alex pushed down the urge to leap at Owen, knock the device away from Mulder and shoot the both of them. It was a good alien thing. Someone competent had checked it out before Owen had been allowed to use it on people. It hadn't hurt him. It wouldn't hurt Mulder even if it did sound like it was going to explode. The noise the thing was making was just beginning to set Alex's teeth on edge when, with a final bling, it shut off and the little tentacles retracted back into the smooth shell.
Mulder blinked. Then blinked again.
"Well?" Owen prompted. "If the blood isn't red enough then have a look at Alex. Although if I have to hear about the colour of his eyes one more time I am going to throw up."
"Huh?" Mulder looked at Alex, confused.
Alex closed the eyes in question. "Fuck off," he told Owen, "but give me some more pain killers first."
Owen humphed. "Stop whining. I was getting to you. First, let's get that coat off you."
Alex looked mournfully at the semi-shredded heap of leather as Owen cut away his T-shirt.
"I liked that jacket."
"First rule of alien chasing - don't do it in clothing you want to be able to wear again." Owen dabbed at the claw marks with the antiseptic cream. "This would have been a lot worse without it."
"So how come you aren't using the device on his cuts?" Mulder asked, curious.
"Only use it on big things we can't handle otherwise, "Owen explained. "This was just a love tap. A few days feeling a bit sore will help remind Alex to duck a bit quicker next time, won't it?"
Alex prayed for all his aches and pains to be immediately transferred onto Owen as an object lesson in not being Owen. He had been hurt worse, many times, but that didn't mean he enjoyed the experience.
"I'm giving you a local," Owen told him. "Most of these gashes aren't too deep, but there is one that needs stitches."
Alex nodded wearily. "Whatever."
The stitching didn't take long but it felt like it. Mulder kept giving him odd looks, which was fairly normal, but they pulled at him like the tugs on his skin as Owen sewed. Not quite painful but under his skin, ripping into him and pulling parts of him together that had been severed. And it would hurt later when the anaesthetic wore off; it always did.
"Right," Owen said when he finished. "Last bit. I won't give you anything too strong but this should help take the edge off everything. Lean on the table and drop trou."
Alex sighed but complied.
"Very nice." Owen assured him and injected the pain-killer into his arm.
"What the hell!" Alex whirled, but nearly toppled as his brain took an extra second to catch up with his feet.
Owen backed away out of immediate thumping range but Alex silently promised retribution just as soon as he was healed. Owen grinned and held out a tab of pills. "You want these for when the local wears off or not?"
"I can take them from your corpse," Alex pointed out.
"You can try," Owen bluffed, "but Jack gets a bit pissy about people killing his staff."
"I'll make an exception in your case," Jack's voice cut in. Everyone turned to the doorway within which Jack lounged. Alex was willing to bet money the pose and overall effect had been carefully considered and Jack had just been waiting for the most opportune moment to break in. "Owen, give him the pills. Are they both fit enough to come up to the conference room?"
Owen looked suspiciously between Alex and Jack.
"Alex," Jack coaxed, "stop terrorising Owen. You can beat him up later."
Alex gave Jack his most cherubic smile. It took more of his concentration than he would have liked but he bent down and scooped the remains of his jacket, tweaked the pills out of Owen's hand, and with his coat slung over his bare shoulder and his unbuttoned jeans half off his hips he sauntered up the steps, past Jack and out of the door. He was rather proud of the silence he left in his wake. Proud enough that he made it half way to the conference room before everything caught up with him and he had to pause for a moment. While he was very grateful that whatever Owen had shot him up with was not making him climb the walls, even with the local taking care of the cuts he still felt like he was a walking bruise. Despite the slow pace he still made it to the conference room before any of the others caught up with him.
"How are you?" Gwen greeted him "Help yourself to food." She trailed off as she took in what Alex was or wasn't wearing.
Alex slouched down in the nearest seat and tried to make it appear as if that had been a matter of choice. Tosh looked up and gave him a smile. He wondered if she would be interested in going out for lunch with him some time; the computer system really was fascinating and he was curious as to what she thought about the latest biocomuting advances.
Ianto drifted over and put a carafe down next to Alex.
"You need to drink lots of fluids to replace the blood loss," Ianto commented when Alex wondered what he had done to earn the honour, and from the looks of envy he was getting that was what it was.
Jack and Owen arrived with Mulder in tow, Mulder's free wrists providing the necessary explanation for their tardiness. Owen immediately snagged one of the boxes of spare ribs and grabbed a chair at the farthest end from Alex.
Mulder just stood for a minute staring at them as they squabbled over chopsticks and who was having what. Alex suspected he was having trouble believing it was actually true. Finally he sat down in the seat next to Alex. Solidarity in the face of the British or possibly Mulder had just spotted the coffee. Alex reached out and grabbed a couple of containers and put one in front of Mulder. When Mulder just looked at it, apparently waiting for the alien to pop out and eat him, Alex opened it for him and stuck utensils in his hand. If Mulder couldn't manage from there then Alex wasn't about to feed him.
"So, Agent Mulder." Jack broke the sound of eating. "Welcome to Torchwood."
Mulder swallowed quickly. "Torchwood?"
"This is Torchwood." Jack waved his chopsticks around to indicate the base and all within. "Strictly speaking this is Torchwood Three. Torchwood One was destroyed. Torchwood Two is in Glasgow. There is a Torchwood Four but we aren't sure where it is at the moment. We're sure it will turn up again soon."
"You've lost... Who are you? What are you?"
"Owen Harper you met," Jack introduced, " Toshiko Sato, Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones and I am Captain Jack Harkness. Of course, you know Alex. As to what we are. We scavenge and investigate alien technology. This base is situated on a rift in time and space, throws all sorts of things through - including those weevils you met earlier. We are separate from the government, beyond the police, and outside the United Nations..."
It was the wrong thing to say. Alex could see Mulder flush red.
"You are just like the Consortium; you think you are above the law!"
Jack didn't even blink. "Some laws - yes. The twenty-first century is when it changes and we have to be ready."
Alex didn't think Mulder noticed Tosh and Gwen mouthing along with Jack. It was obviously a line they had heard many times before.
"You," Mulder emphasised. "What about all those other people out there. Don't they deserve to know what is going on?"
Jack put down his food and said seriously, "Unfortunately Vicky says otherwise and I never could say no to a Queen".
Tosh and Ianto studiously avoided looking at anything except their Chinese.
"Victoria?" Mulder's voice was close to a squeak. "Queen Victoria?"
"Our illustrious founder," Jack confirmed. "'The greatest gift you can give them is your silence' and all that. There was something about sheep. Ianto can probably recite it to you."
"But don't," Owen put in before Ianto could answer.
"It's hard," Gwen sympathised. "Not being able to talk to Rhys or anyone. Knowing that if something happens to you then they may never know the truth. But what we do is so important."
"It isn't like they'd believe us anyway," Owen added cynically. "Aliens attack and they all just chalk it up to terrorists or drugs."
"But you could show them proof," Mulder insisted. "That device that cures people. Do you know how many lives you could save?" Owen slid down in his chair as Mulder waved a hand at him. "And what about all the abductees? The ones like Scully who were experimented on? Or like my sister? How can you keep silent when innocent people are being taken from their lives every day?"
"Alex told us about the situation in America," Jack admitted. "UNIT is..."
Mulder didn't let him finish. "I'm sure he did," he sneered. "Did he tell you he was an assassin? That he killed my father? That he..."
"Yes." Jack's answer stopped Mulder mid-rant. "We all have to do things we don't like sometimes." Jack's gaze slid from Mulder's to Ianto's for a second and Alex thought he saw the hint of a nod from Ianto before Jack's attention flicked back to the man he was speaking to. "Sometimes we have to be monsters to save the world from worse ones. Do you want to know how many people at this table have lost love ones?"
"Because of the conspiracy," Mulder objected.
"Because they were too much of a threat," Jack corrected. "Because sometimes you have to sacrifice the few for the many. And everyone here understands - that is the chance you take when you get involved, even if it is by accident. That is why we keep it secret. Because once people become part of it they can't stop, and we know that it might be our fingers on the trigger when they get in too deep and become a danger to others."
Alex looked around the table and saw the bleak looks on so many nodding faces. Only Gwen looked defiantly compassionate rather than personally affected. This was why they snarked at each other and joked, why they took every opportunity that was offered to them. UNIT might have an army but Torchwood Three were the home guard, stealing their weapons from the enemy and hoping they didn't blow up in their faces. Alex wasn't sure if it was bravery or total and utter stupidly. But that wouldn't stop him turning up for work the next day. And maybe it was time to start looking for a flat. Mulder just stared at Jack in horror.
"What was your sister's name?" Jack asked gently.
Mulder looked like someone had cut the ground out from underneath him. "What?"
"Your sister's name," Jack said clearly. "You said she was abducted. We can get the word out, see if anything turns up. Can't guarantee anything of course; its like sticking her picture on an international milk carton but better than nothing. Tosh?"
"On it," Tosh confirmed, PDA out. "Getting the details now."
Mulder looked at him dumbly. Alex could appreciate the feeling. He had felt much the same way when he had discovered everything he believed had been a con. It was probably a good thing Mulder had got stuck on the secret organisation issue and his sacred search for the truth and not got as far as the aliens' plans for world domination, soon to be curtailed.
"...UNIT keeps fairly good records so if you give us any specifics not in the official report we might even be able to narrow down..." Jack continued oblivious to the fact that Mulder was no longer registering the words, just gaping at him as if he was the next coming.
"Uh, Jack?" Alex interrupted.
Jack looked at him and then back at Mulder. "We can do this another time," he conceded. The rest of the meal was conducted to tall tales of alien encounters and unlikely sexual shenanigans to which Mulder listened silently and said nothing.
Part 3