Fic: "The Heart of Everything" (Jack/Ianto) - 02/17
Title: The Heart of Everything
Author: Jedi Princess Clarrisani
Chapter: 02 of 17
Rating: PG-13 (M15+)
Pairing(s): Tosh/Owen, John/Ianto, Gwen/Rhys, Jack/Ianto, referenced John/Jack
Series: Breathe Trilogy (Part Two)
Summary: It's been a year since Ianto left, and the team haven't been the same.
Disclaimer: Still don't own. I'm not allowed to play in that sandbox.
Warnings: Some Season Two spoilers, including Owen and Ianto's story from "Fragments", and some minor references to “Something Borrowed”. Also, some references to the Doctor Who Season Three episodes "Smith and Jones" and "Last of the Time Lords".
A/N: Sequel to " Leave You". Written for TWWC (Torchwood Australia Writing Challenge) #10. This story is AU as it is set after season two, but everyone is alive and healthy - in other words, I've tweaked the events of Season Two to my liking. For one, the Grey storyline has been completely dumped, and some events never occurred...
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FROM PART ONE
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PART TWO
"Had a message from Rhys," Jack said as Owen climbed into the SUV, the rain pattering lightly on the roof. "Gwen didn't go home last night."
"Probably spent the night hanging around the Hub waiting for you," Owen replied. "Bitch kept trying to ring me."
Jack frowned, pulling them back out onto the road. "Turn your phone off."
"Did. She called the land line." Owen smirked. "First time I've ever seen Tosh threaten to shoot a phone."
"First time, eh? Should have seen her during her second week. She threatened to shut down the entire telephone network."
"Yeah?"
"Yeap. Took Suzie over an hour to calm her down, before Suzie went out and took care of the guy that kept calling her."
Owen frowned. "Stalker?"
"Basically. Alien stalker with a gift for reading telephone numbers. He just picked up a phone and 'ring ring', he had his prey."
"Creepy." Owen pulled a face, gazing out at the rain. "So, what's on the menu, Boss?"
"Mild yet unspecified alien technology readings," Jack replied. "My PDA went off an hour ago."
"You know, if you don't want Gwen to find you, you shouldn't take the SUV." Owen looked at him. "Former PC, remember? She’s just gotta make one call to her cronies, and she'd have your location."
"Ianto's place has a garage."
"What the hell are you doing there, anyway?" Owen glared at him. "And don't start that 'it's empty' shit, Harkness. You're having enough trouble getting over him as it is."
"Because it's either there, or the Hub." Jack shot him a quick look. "And right now I'd take the painful memories over Gwen's mother henning any day."
Owen stared at him for another moment before turning forward. "Fair enough."
They fell into a silence, just watching the rain and windscreen wipers as they travelled through the city. The threat wasn't that bad, so Jack just moved them with the flow of the traffic.
"How's Tosh?" Jack asked.
"Not as cranky as she was," Owen replied. "She's talking of coming back to work in a couple of days."
"There's no rush while things are calm like they are."
"She knows." Owen shrugged. "I reckon she's bored. Yesterday she pulled my PS3 apart and put it back together. I'm not complaining any. She souped it up so it has double the memory and loading speed. Gives me an edge in multiplayer. Other guys never know what hit them."
Jack frowned. "Isn't that cheating?"
"No rule against it."
Jack's eyebrows rose as he took the next turn, taking them into downtown Cardiff. Checking his PDA quickly, Jack pulled them into a space beside a park. Without a word Jack and Owen climbed out, locking the SUV and heading in. Owen gestured to the figure sitting in the gazebo fiddling with something, and as they moved closer realisation began to dawn on them.
The other turned, grinning. "Ah, there you are. I was wondering when you were going to show up." John pointed to his wrist device. "Got something else I need your help with."
***
Sometimes Gwen just hated men. Stifling the yawn with the back of her hand, Gwen dropped into her desk chair and stared at the screen. Once again it would seem that Jack and Owen were off on a mission without her, and all she had was a message on her phone saying "Alien Technology Alert. Taking Owen."
This sort of thing had been happening a lot lately, and it was starting to concern her. Ever since Ianto had left Jack had been different, more withdrawn and closed about his feelings. It had been months since she had seen him flirt with anyone, save for that one time she'd walked in on him and Tosh kissing. She'd had a bit to say about that.
Tosh was dating Owen now, so that made things less complicated and meant she could focus more on keeping an eye on Jack. Tosh and Owen didn't seem to really care about their boss’s situation, neither helping her whenever Jack disappeared for extended periods of time, and his disappearances were happening more often these days. She knew he lived at the Hub, but lately he hadn't been sleeping there. She hated to think where he was.
Somehow Jack had also found a way to keep her from tracking either his phone or the SUV, and driving around she hadn't seen the vehicle parked anywhere. She was starting to wonder if it had a cloaking device that he hadn't told any of them about.
Gwen knew that Owen at least was aware of Jack's mood. Only a week ago she'd heard him comment that their boss was "more emo than the tea-boy ever was" under his breath. It was true, in a way. Ianto had frequently slipped into bouts of depression, especially after what had happened with Lisa and when Jack had disappeared. But he'd never taken it to the extremes that Jack was.
Gwen rubbed her eyes. She's spent the night looking for Jack, just wanting to make sure that he was okay. Tosh and Owen hadn't helped her, and Gwen had had to switch her phone off in order to ignore calls from Rhys. She knew he'd be angry.
He'd already accused her of caring more about Jack than him, and when she had said that she just needed to make sure Jack didn't do anything stupid Rhys had turned around and said Jack was sick of her following him around and to leave it be, leading Gwen to believe Rhys had been in contact with the others. They'd ended up having a fight and she'd walked out. She'd call him later to apologise.
Gwen turned her chair, glaring down toward the empty workstation at the foot of the stairs that led up toward the greenhouse. She was really starting to hate Ianto for leaving. In many ways he was right, but at the same time he was breaking the team apart. She'd asked Tosh when he had joined at one point, and had been mildly surprised to learn that it had only been a few months before she had. Given how much he knew about everything, she'd thought he'd been there for a long time.
Then again, Ianto was smart. That was how he had managed to completely disappear. Gwen had tried to look for him, just to keep an eye on him and make sure he was okay, but there wasn't even the slightest paper trail to follow. It was like he had completely disappeared. They had all tried to find him at different points, she knew that, but even Tosh had had no luck.
It didn't surprise her, really. If Ianto wanted to be found, he would, but given the way things were when he had left he wanted nothing more to do with Torchwood. He had hurt her when he had left, and she had dwelt on his words many nights as she lay in bed beside Rhys, watching him sleep. Ianto had lost everyone in the course of working for Torchwood, and she had not. She had had a taste of what it would be like back during the Abaddon situation, when Billis had killed Rhys, but then things had been reversed and he had been brought back.
She tended to take Rhys for granted, and it was in some ways harder now that Rhys knew about Torchwood. When she had explained to him what had happened with Ianto, she had been surprised to find that Rhys took Ianto's side. He had just shrugged it off, said "I don't blame him", and then gone on to explain that in his shoes he would have done the same thing.
That had also ended in a fight. They had been fighting a lot lately. Rhys, it seemed, was siding with Owen, Tosh and Jack in regards to keeping an eye on Jack, Rhys trying to convince her to stay at home and leave Jack alone. Gwen was starting to think that Rhys was spending more time talking to them than he did her. It annoyed her to no end.
Shifting, Gwen hit a few buttons and scowled as she realised that the SUV tracker was on again. Of a night, once he left the Hub, Jack seemed to make a point of turning the tracker off, just like she could no longer track his mobile. She had already had a long debate with him over how safe that was given their jobs and what would happen if something did happen to him. He had simply reminded her that he was immortal, and that had been the end of that. At least for him.
She scowled, leaning back in her seat. Unless they decided to let her know what was going on, Gwen was going to be in the dark. For now, she could only sit and wait.
***
Jack scowled. "What do you want?"
"Well hello to you too." John stood, turning to meet Jack's eye and moving in. Jack took a step back, stopping John short. He pouted. "What? No hug?"
"Christ, I thought we got rid of you," Owen said, glaring at the other. "Take a hike."
"How rather rude." John pointed toward him. "I'd give that one a good slap, if I were you, Jack. Or do you reserve that for people you really like?"
Jack let out a steadying breath, narrowing his eyes. "Cut the crap, John. Why are you back?"
"Like I said: I need your help."
"Maybe we don't want to help you."
"No, you do." John raised a hand, cutting him off before he could reply. "It's an old friend of mine. Someone I was hunting for the Agency before they shut down. The girl tends to go from planet to planet, working her way in then destroying everything for the sheer pleasure of it. She tends to show up during a pivotal moment in time, and exploits it."
Owen frowned, looking at Jack. "You know what he's on about?"
"A Time Terrorist," Jack replied. "They're beings that take advantage of a planets weak point in time and then do some act of terrorism. Sometimes it's a cyber crime, sometimes its theft, sometimes its murder and destruction."
"Well this girl is destruction, and she's been on the planet for the last six months now." John gestured around them. "Been wandering around the United Kingdom, just living her life between schemes. Thought she was off the hook until I ran into her. Been after her since she got here."
Jack frowned. "Hang on, the Time Agency is gone. Why you still chasing this girl?"
"She's unfinished business, and you know how much I hate that." John shrugged, dropping back into his seat and watching as Jack, then Owen, followed him. "I've been after the girl for three years, but the bitch keeps avoiding me."
Jack raised a brow. "That still doesn't explain why you're here."
"That's easy. She is here." John gestured around him. "I almost had her cornered in Ealing, but she jumped on train and headed to Cardiff."
"So, what?" Owen said, speaking up. "You've been hunting this girl on your own all this time?"
"Ah, no." John shrugged. "Had some help. Just recently this journalist in Ealing gave me a hand. And then there’s Eye Candy-"
"Ianto?" Jack's eyes widened as he leaned forward, grabbing John's arm. "You saw Ianto?"
"Maybe." John smirked, patting the back of Jack's hand. "You sure know how to piss people off, don't you."
Owen watched him cautiously. "How is he?"
"Bill of health," John answered. "Mind you, the Plasmavore almost sucked him dry so he's a bit pissed at her, but he's otherwise fine."
"Plasmavore?" Owen looked at Jack.
"Shape-shifting, blood-sucking humanoid alien," Jack answered without missing a beat, still staring at John. "How'd he get mixed up in all this?"
"He got himself mixed up in all this." John shrugged. "He told me what happened. He tried to stay out of it for a while, but got bored. That and he somehow keeps getting himself caught up in these things. Spent a bit of time together, me and him, hunting this bitch."
"Where is he now?" Owen asked, noting the look on Jack's face.
"He stayed in London." John was also watching Jack. He leaned back, resting his elbows on the back of the seat and stretching his feet out in front of him. "You honestly think he'd just come back to Cardiff after everything?" He waved it off. "Besides, he's still helping that reporter Smith clean up the mess the Plasmavore left in Ealing."
Owen let out a soft breath of relief that Jack didn't notice, although John gave him a mild look of amusement.
"So," John said, leaning toward Jack and giving him his best puppy dog impression. "You want to help me? Or should I just tear Cardiff apart looking for her?"
Jack sighed, closing his eyes before opening them again and glaring at John. He stood. "Come on. We might be able to pick it up using our equipment at the Hub."
Owen paused as he moved to follow, watching as John practically skipped along behind Jack like the puppy he had been pretending to be. Love sick puppy, more like it, Owen thought to himself, frowning as he felt the back of his neck prickle. He turned, scanning their surroundings, spotting nothing but the misty rain. Shrugging it off, he headed for the SUV.
***
Gwen's hand unconsciously went for her gun the moment John stepped into the Hub. Jack waved her down before demanding John hand over his own weapons, the younger former Time Agent rolling his eyes and offloading his walking arsenal.
"Gwen, we need to track someone down," Jack said, moving over to stop behind her at her workstation. "She would have arrived during the last couple of days."
"What's he doing here?" Gwen hissed, pointing at John.
"Never mind that, just open the locator program."
"She bought the ticket under the name Ella Simpson," John said as he and Owen joined them. "At the time she was a dark haired beauty with chocolate skin and legs that went on for miles, but she's probably changed her appearance since then."
"You mean dyed her hair," Gwen said.
"A little more extreme than that," John said, looking at Jack. "What? You people never come across shape shifters before?"
"Once," Jack replied. "It was more about breeding than drinking blood, though."
Gwen's hand unconsciously went to her stomach. The program loaded, Gwen calling up the train booking records and beginning to search through them for the woman.
"So why was the Agency after this Plasmavore, anyway?" Jack asked. "They usually don't bother with Time Terrorists."
"Well, got to remember that Time Lords aren't exactly around to keep things in order," John pointed out.
"Still one around," Jack said with a smirk.
"Yeah?" John looked at him. "I thought they all got wiped out with the Dalek's."
"One survived." Jack shrugged. "He's a friend of mine. He can't be everywhere at once, though."
John gave him a knowing look. "You shagged him?"
"Heh. I wish." He gestured toward the computer. "So the Agency began taking an interest in this one."
"For starters, she drank the boss’s daughter dry," John began ticking them off his fingers. "Then she took out Masfore. Right after drinking the royal family, of course. Then she took out an Agent and stole her wristband."
"So she can travel in time," Jack said.
"Which puts her under the jurisdiction of the Agency. Besides, she'd already made it personal." John frowned. "She had a friend that ended up being taken out by the Judoon not too long ago, so she kinda holds Earth responsible for that which is why she came here."
"Hospital on the moon," Jack said.
John blinked. "You heard about that?"
"Kinda hard to miss when it's all over the news." Jack looked at him. "I know a couple of people who were caught up in that. One of them was that Time Lord I mentioned."
"Explains how they caught her, then." John's gaze returned to the screen, noting that Gwen had opened some CCTV from London. "I'm not sure what carriage she got on. I didn't arrive at the station until just after the train was pulling out, but I do know she picked up her ticket and boarded."
"You hacked into the rail system?" Gwen asked.
"No, Eye Candy did actually. That man is brilliant." He shot Jack a look. "I can see why you like him."
Gwen turned, frowning. "Eye Candy? Isn't that-?"
"Ianto," Owen finished. "He's still in London, apparently."
"There she is!" John said, pointing to the screen and causing the others to turn. "Second last carriage."
"So she definitely boarded the train," Gwen said, calling up the Cardiff station CCTV footage and keying in the train arrival time. "Let's see if she gets off."
They watched until the last person had exited the train, the four exchanging quick looks before Gwen hit replay. They concentrated on each face, even watching the other carriages, but their woman never left the train. Gwen played the footage one more time with the basic version of the facial recognition program running, but when even that failed to pick her up, John growled.
"I knew it. She's changed her appearance again. Means she's probably changed her name too." He scowled. "She does it every time she changes location. You have to wait until the bodies start showing up before you can really begin looking."
Owen frowned. "Isn't there some other way of finding her?"
"Well, she has got a couple of pets." He pointed to the footage. "You won't see them there, though. They make their own way, so they should be here within the next couple of days. She doesn't start killing until her pets arrive." He looked at Gwen. "Can you set something up to pick up any reports on unusually large dog sightings?"
"Sure I can,' Gwen replied.
"Large dogs," Owen said, staring at John. "That's all?"
"Not actually dogs. Just look like them." He cast a look toward Jack, meeting the other mans eye. "We know them by the name of Carshy, but you people tend to call them Hell Hounds. You've heard of them, right?"
Owen's eyes narrowed. "Large dogs, black fur, glowing red eyes, kill people."
"You got it." He nodded toward the picture of the Plasmavore. "She has two of the little beasts. She used to have three, but Jones shot one up in Glasgow that was trying to eat me." He paused. "Although I've got to wonder who he was actually aiming for."
"Whoever was closer, probably," Owen replied. "He does that."
"I noticed."
Gwen sighed, leaning back in her seat. "Okay, I've set up a tracker for any reports on the dogs. I'll also set up an advanced scan to go through the train passengers and see who doesn’t get off that got on in London."
"Got to remember the stations along the way," Owen pointed out. "She might have got off at one of those."
"No, she's in Cardiff." John spotted their looks. "Easier to kill and get away with it in largely populated areas."
"True," Owen conceded.
"Anyways, I might go do some scouting around. Didn't get to know the area last time I was here." John straightened, looking at Jack. "I got myself a mobile phone since that's the way these primitives contact each other. I'll give you the number."
"Do you have somewhere to stay?" Jack asked
"Hotel not too far from here," John replied. "Why? You offering a bed? Stay with you, maybe?"
"Hardly."
John slapped him on the rear and headed toward the door, pausing when he got there. "Any chance I could grab my weapons?"
"I'll hang onto them for tonight," Jack said. "Be a good boy and I might give them back in the morning."
"I like it when you take charge," John threw him a wink, grinning at the look Gwen and Owen gave each other as Jack levelled a glare on him. "See you in the morning then."
* * *
To Part Three
Author: Jedi Princess Clarrisani
Chapter: 02 of 17
Rating: PG-13 (M15+)
Pairing(s): Tosh/Owen, John/Ianto, Gwen/Rhys, Jack/Ianto, referenced John/Jack
Series: Breathe Trilogy (Part Two)
Summary: It's been a year since Ianto left, and the team haven't been the same.
Disclaimer: Still don't own. I'm not allowed to play in that sandbox.
Warnings: Some Season Two spoilers, including Owen and Ianto's story from "Fragments", and some minor references to “Something Borrowed”. Also, some references to the Doctor Who Season Three episodes "Smith and Jones" and "Last of the Time Lords".
A/N: Sequel to " Leave You". Written for TWWC (Torchwood Australia Writing Challenge) #10. This story is AU as it is set after season two, but everyone is alive and healthy - in other words, I've tweaked the events of Season Two to my liking. For one, the Grey storyline has been completely dumped, and some events never occurred...
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FROM PART ONE
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PART TWO
"Had a message from Rhys," Jack said as Owen climbed into the SUV, the rain pattering lightly on the roof. "Gwen didn't go home last night."
"Probably spent the night hanging around the Hub waiting for you," Owen replied. "Bitch kept trying to ring me."
Jack frowned, pulling them back out onto the road. "Turn your phone off."
"Did. She called the land line." Owen smirked. "First time I've ever seen Tosh threaten to shoot a phone."
"First time, eh? Should have seen her during her second week. She threatened to shut down the entire telephone network."
"Yeah?"
"Yeap. Took Suzie over an hour to calm her down, before Suzie went out and took care of the guy that kept calling her."
Owen frowned. "Stalker?"
"Basically. Alien stalker with a gift for reading telephone numbers. He just picked up a phone and 'ring ring', he had his prey."
"Creepy." Owen pulled a face, gazing out at the rain. "So, what's on the menu, Boss?"
"Mild yet unspecified alien technology readings," Jack replied. "My PDA went off an hour ago."
"You know, if you don't want Gwen to find you, you shouldn't take the SUV." Owen looked at him. "Former PC, remember? She’s just gotta make one call to her cronies, and she'd have your location."
"Ianto's place has a garage."
"What the hell are you doing there, anyway?" Owen glared at him. "And don't start that 'it's empty' shit, Harkness. You're having enough trouble getting over him as it is."
"Because it's either there, or the Hub." Jack shot him a quick look. "And right now I'd take the painful memories over Gwen's mother henning any day."
Owen stared at him for another moment before turning forward. "Fair enough."
They fell into a silence, just watching the rain and windscreen wipers as they travelled through the city. The threat wasn't that bad, so Jack just moved them with the flow of the traffic.
"How's Tosh?" Jack asked.
"Not as cranky as she was," Owen replied. "She's talking of coming back to work in a couple of days."
"There's no rush while things are calm like they are."
"She knows." Owen shrugged. "I reckon she's bored. Yesterday she pulled my PS3 apart and put it back together. I'm not complaining any. She souped it up so it has double the memory and loading speed. Gives me an edge in multiplayer. Other guys never know what hit them."
Jack frowned. "Isn't that cheating?"
"No rule against it."
Jack's eyebrows rose as he took the next turn, taking them into downtown Cardiff. Checking his PDA quickly, Jack pulled them into a space beside a park. Without a word Jack and Owen climbed out, locking the SUV and heading in. Owen gestured to the figure sitting in the gazebo fiddling with something, and as they moved closer realisation began to dawn on them.
The other turned, grinning. "Ah, there you are. I was wondering when you were going to show up." John pointed to his wrist device. "Got something else I need your help with."
***
Sometimes Gwen just hated men. Stifling the yawn with the back of her hand, Gwen dropped into her desk chair and stared at the screen. Once again it would seem that Jack and Owen were off on a mission without her, and all she had was a message on her phone saying "Alien Technology Alert. Taking Owen."
This sort of thing had been happening a lot lately, and it was starting to concern her. Ever since Ianto had left Jack had been different, more withdrawn and closed about his feelings. It had been months since she had seen him flirt with anyone, save for that one time she'd walked in on him and Tosh kissing. She'd had a bit to say about that.
Tosh was dating Owen now, so that made things less complicated and meant she could focus more on keeping an eye on Jack. Tosh and Owen didn't seem to really care about their boss’s situation, neither helping her whenever Jack disappeared for extended periods of time, and his disappearances were happening more often these days. She knew he lived at the Hub, but lately he hadn't been sleeping there. She hated to think where he was.
Somehow Jack had also found a way to keep her from tracking either his phone or the SUV, and driving around she hadn't seen the vehicle parked anywhere. She was starting to wonder if it had a cloaking device that he hadn't told any of them about.
Gwen knew that Owen at least was aware of Jack's mood. Only a week ago she'd heard him comment that their boss was "more emo than the tea-boy ever was" under his breath. It was true, in a way. Ianto had frequently slipped into bouts of depression, especially after what had happened with Lisa and when Jack had disappeared. But he'd never taken it to the extremes that Jack was.
Gwen rubbed her eyes. She's spent the night looking for Jack, just wanting to make sure that he was okay. Tosh and Owen hadn't helped her, and Gwen had had to switch her phone off in order to ignore calls from Rhys. She knew he'd be angry.
He'd already accused her of caring more about Jack than him, and when she had said that she just needed to make sure Jack didn't do anything stupid Rhys had turned around and said Jack was sick of her following him around and to leave it be, leading Gwen to believe Rhys had been in contact with the others. They'd ended up having a fight and she'd walked out. She'd call him later to apologise.
Gwen turned her chair, glaring down toward the empty workstation at the foot of the stairs that led up toward the greenhouse. She was really starting to hate Ianto for leaving. In many ways he was right, but at the same time he was breaking the team apart. She'd asked Tosh when he had joined at one point, and had been mildly surprised to learn that it had only been a few months before she had. Given how much he knew about everything, she'd thought he'd been there for a long time.
Then again, Ianto was smart. That was how he had managed to completely disappear. Gwen had tried to look for him, just to keep an eye on him and make sure he was okay, but there wasn't even the slightest paper trail to follow. It was like he had completely disappeared. They had all tried to find him at different points, she knew that, but even Tosh had had no luck.
It didn't surprise her, really. If Ianto wanted to be found, he would, but given the way things were when he had left he wanted nothing more to do with Torchwood. He had hurt her when he had left, and she had dwelt on his words many nights as she lay in bed beside Rhys, watching him sleep. Ianto had lost everyone in the course of working for Torchwood, and she had not. She had had a taste of what it would be like back during the Abaddon situation, when Billis had killed Rhys, but then things had been reversed and he had been brought back.
She tended to take Rhys for granted, and it was in some ways harder now that Rhys knew about Torchwood. When she had explained to him what had happened with Ianto, she had been surprised to find that Rhys took Ianto's side. He had just shrugged it off, said "I don't blame him", and then gone on to explain that in his shoes he would have done the same thing.
That had also ended in a fight. They had been fighting a lot lately. Rhys, it seemed, was siding with Owen, Tosh and Jack in regards to keeping an eye on Jack, Rhys trying to convince her to stay at home and leave Jack alone. Gwen was starting to think that Rhys was spending more time talking to them than he did her. It annoyed her to no end.
Shifting, Gwen hit a few buttons and scowled as she realised that the SUV tracker was on again. Of a night, once he left the Hub, Jack seemed to make a point of turning the tracker off, just like she could no longer track his mobile. She had already had a long debate with him over how safe that was given their jobs and what would happen if something did happen to him. He had simply reminded her that he was immortal, and that had been the end of that. At least for him.
She scowled, leaning back in her seat. Unless they decided to let her know what was going on, Gwen was going to be in the dark. For now, she could only sit and wait.
***
Jack scowled. "What do you want?"
"Well hello to you too." John stood, turning to meet Jack's eye and moving in. Jack took a step back, stopping John short. He pouted. "What? No hug?"
"Christ, I thought we got rid of you," Owen said, glaring at the other. "Take a hike."
"How rather rude." John pointed toward him. "I'd give that one a good slap, if I were you, Jack. Or do you reserve that for people you really like?"
Jack let out a steadying breath, narrowing his eyes. "Cut the crap, John. Why are you back?"
"Like I said: I need your help."
"Maybe we don't want to help you."
"No, you do." John raised a hand, cutting him off before he could reply. "It's an old friend of mine. Someone I was hunting for the Agency before they shut down. The girl tends to go from planet to planet, working her way in then destroying everything for the sheer pleasure of it. She tends to show up during a pivotal moment in time, and exploits it."
Owen frowned, looking at Jack. "You know what he's on about?"
"A Time Terrorist," Jack replied. "They're beings that take advantage of a planets weak point in time and then do some act of terrorism. Sometimes it's a cyber crime, sometimes its theft, sometimes its murder and destruction."
"Well this girl is destruction, and she's been on the planet for the last six months now." John gestured around them. "Been wandering around the United Kingdom, just living her life between schemes. Thought she was off the hook until I ran into her. Been after her since she got here."
Jack frowned. "Hang on, the Time Agency is gone. Why you still chasing this girl?"
"She's unfinished business, and you know how much I hate that." John shrugged, dropping back into his seat and watching as Jack, then Owen, followed him. "I've been after the girl for three years, but the bitch keeps avoiding me."
Jack raised a brow. "That still doesn't explain why you're here."
"That's easy. She is here." John gestured around him. "I almost had her cornered in Ealing, but she jumped on train and headed to Cardiff."
"So, what?" Owen said, speaking up. "You've been hunting this girl on your own all this time?"
"Ah, no." John shrugged. "Had some help. Just recently this journalist in Ealing gave me a hand. And then there’s Eye Candy-"
"Ianto?" Jack's eyes widened as he leaned forward, grabbing John's arm. "You saw Ianto?"
"Maybe." John smirked, patting the back of Jack's hand. "You sure know how to piss people off, don't you."
Owen watched him cautiously. "How is he?"
"Bill of health," John answered. "Mind you, the Plasmavore almost sucked him dry so he's a bit pissed at her, but he's otherwise fine."
"Plasmavore?" Owen looked at Jack.
"Shape-shifting, blood-sucking humanoid alien," Jack answered without missing a beat, still staring at John. "How'd he get mixed up in all this?"
"He got himself mixed up in all this." John shrugged. "He told me what happened. He tried to stay out of it for a while, but got bored. That and he somehow keeps getting himself caught up in these things. Spent a bit of time together, me and him, hunting this bitch."
"Where is he now?" Owen asked, noting the look on Jack's face.
"He stayed in London." John was also watching Jack. He leaned back, resting his elbows on the back of the seat and stretching his feet out in front of him. "You honestly think he'd just come back to Cardiff after everything?" He waved it off. "Besides, he's still helping that reporter Smith clean up the mess the Plasmavore left in Ealing."
Owen let out a soft breath of relief that Jack didn't notice, although John gave him a mild look of amusement.
"So," John said, leaning toward Jack and giving him his best puppy dog impression. "You want to help me? Or should I just tear Cardiff apart looking for her?"
Jack sighed, closing his eyes before opening them again and glaring at John. He stood. "Come on. We might be able to pick it up using our equipment at the Hub."
Owen paused as he moved to follow, watching as John practically skipped along behind Jack like the puppy he had been pretending to be. Love sick puppy, more like it, Owen thought to himself, frowning as he felt the back of his neck prickle. He turned, scanning their surroundings, spotting nothing but the misty rain. Shrugging it off, he headed for the SUV.
***
Gwen's hand unconsciously went for her gun the moment John stepped into the Hub. Jack waved her down before demanding John hand over his own weapons, the younger former Time Agent rolling his eyes and offloading his walking arsenal.
"Gwen, we need to track someone down," Jack said, moving over to stop behind her at her workstation. "She would have arrived during the last couple of days."
"What's he doing here?" Gwen hissed, pointing at John.
"Never mind that, just open the locator program."
"She bought the ticket under the name Ella Simpson," John said as he and Owen joined them. "At the time she was a dark haired beauty with chocolate skin and legs that went on for miles, but she's probably changed her appearance since then."
"You mean dyed her hair," Gwen said.
"A little more extreme than that," John said, looking at Jack. "What? You people never come across shape shifters before?"
"Once," Jack replied. "It was more about breeding than drinking blood, though."
Gwen's hand unconsciously went to her stomach. The program loaded, Gwen calling up the train booking records and beginning to search through them for the woman.
"So why was the Agency after this Plasmavore, anyway?" Jack asked. "They usually don't bother with Time Terrorists."
"Well, got to remember that Time Lords aren't exactly around to keep things in order," John pointed out.
"Still one around," Jack said with a smirk.
"Yeah?" John looked at him. "I thought they all got wiped out with the Dalek's."
"One survived." Jack shrugged. "He's a friend of mine. He can't be everywhere at once, though."
John gave him a knowing look. "You shagged him?"
"Heh. I wish." He gestured toward the computer. "So the Agency began taking an interest in this one."
"For starters, she drank the boss’s daughter dry," John began ticking them off his fingers. "Then she took out Masfore. Right after drinking the royal family, of course. Then she took out an Agent and stole her wristband."
"So she can travel in time," Jack said.
"Which puts her under the jurisdiction of the Agency. Besides, she'd already made it personal." John frowned. "She had a friend that ended up being taken out by the Judoon not too long ago, so she kinda holds Earth responsible for that which is why she came here."
"Hospital on the moon," Jack said.
John blinked. "You heard about that?"
"Kinda hard to miss when it's all over the news." Jack looked at him. "I know a couple of people who were caught up in that. One of them was that Time Lord I mentioned."
"Explains how they caught her, then." John's gaze returned to the screen, noting that Gwen had opened some CCTV from London. "I'm not sure what carriage she got on. I didn't arrive at the station until just after the train was pulling out, but I do know she picked up her ticket and boarded."
"You hacked into the rail system?" Gwen asked.
"No, Eye Candy did actually. That man is brilliant." He shot Jack a look. "I can see why you like him."
Gwen turned, frowning. "Eye Candy? Isn't that-?"
"Ianto," Owen finished. "He's still in London, apparently."
"There she is!" John said, pointing to the screen and causing the others to turn. "Second last carriage."
"So she definitely boarded the train," Gwen said, calling up the Cardiff station CCTV footage and keying in the train arrival time. "Let's see if she gets off."
They watched until the last person had exited the train, the four exchanging quick looks before Gwen hit replay. They concentrated on each face, even watching the other carriages, but their woman never left the train. Gwen played the footage one more time with the basic version of the facial recognition program running, but when even that failed to pick her up, John growled.
"I knew it. She's changed her appearance again. Means she's probably changed her name too." He scowled. "She does it every time she changes location. You have to wait until the bodies start showing up before you can really begin looking."
Owen frowned. "Isn't there some other way of finding her?"
"Well, she has got a couple of pets." He pointed to the footage. "You won't see them there, though. They make their own way, so they should be here within the next couple of days. She doesn't start killing until her pets arrive." He looked at Gwen. "Can you set something up to pick up any reports on unusually large dog sightings?"
"Sure I can,' Gwen replied.
"Large dogs," Owen said, staring at John. "That's all?"
"Not actually dogs. Just look like them." He cast a look toward Jack, meeting the other mans eye. "We know them by the name of Carshy, but you people tend to call them Hell Hounds. You've heard of them, right?"
Owen's eyes narrowed. "Large dogs, black fur, glowing red eyes, kill people."
"You got it." He nodded toward the picture of the Plasmavore. "She has two of the little beasts. She used to have three, but Jones shot one up in Glasgow that was trying to eat me." He paused. "Although I've got to wonder who he was actually aiming for."
"Whoever was closer, probably," Owen replied. "He does that."
"I noticed."
Gwen sighed, leaning back in her seat. "Okay, I've set up a tracker for any reports on the dogs. I'll also set up an advanced scan to go through the train passengers and see who doesn’t get off that got on in London."
"Got to remember the stations along the way," Owen pointed out. "She might have got off at one of those."
"No, she's in Cardiff." John spotted their looks. "Easier to kill and get away with it in largely populated areas."
"True," Owen conceded.
"Anyways, I might go do some scouting around. Didn't get to know the area last time I was here." John straightened, looking at Jack. "I got myself a mobile phone since that's the way these primitives contact each other. I'll give you the number."
"Do you have somewhere to stay?" Jack asked
"Hotel not too far from here," John replied. "Why? You offering a bed? Stay with you, maybe?"
"Hardly."
John slapped him on the rear and headed toward the door, pausing when he got there. "Any chance I could grab my weapons?"
"I'll hang onto them for tonight," Jack said. "Be a good boy and I might give them back in the morning."
"I like it when you take charge," John threw him a wink, grinning at the look Gwen and Owen gave each other as Jack levelled a glare on him. "See you in the morning then."
* * *
To Part Three