"And maybe this is why when Pandora opened the box that carried such calamities which inflicted all of mankind, gentle hope emerged too."
- an excerpt of Nikita Gill's poem "Where Hope Comes From"
or in which
the timechild is saved and finds the...
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Andy hated weevils with all of her heart, of all of the Aliens even the most violent ones, the ones she hated the most were something akin to sewer rats. They had no speech patterns beyond snarling and after dealing with them since the beginning of her time in Cardiff Torchwood. Andy chased after Jack through the hospital, short legs struggling to skip stairs as the man in the world war two aviation coat had in front of her.
"God I hate stairs almost as much as I hate weevils." She remarked as they reached their floor, the floor had been cordoned off by a plastic sheet the clean work of Toshiko more than likely. The team was already inside waiting to catch the weevil unaware. They skulked in the hallway watching the weevil in the main part of the hall.
"Hello?!" A welsh accent called. Andy struggled to not roll her eyes. Of course a civilian. "I'm sorry I'm just looking for someone!" She seemed to be talking to the weevil who was at the end of that hallway. "Right, clever," she muttered.
"Anyway, I don't know if you saw a man and a woman come through here?" The voice called again. "A tall man, in one of those big sort of military coats, and a girl, short, wearing a blazer and dark trousers?" Andy smirked looking at Jack who seemed more peeved than she did and he wasn't even called short.
As the woman continued to speak to the weevil, something that wouldn't ever respond in a way a human would understand, Andy glanced out from where she was hiding, catching sight of the same policewoman from the night before.
Suddenly another voice called accompanied by the crumpling of the plastic cover. "Maam! There you are, I did ask. I saw Dr.Maheeb because I thought it was him who said about the police, but he said no. Then I said about the chemicals and he said. "Don't be so stupid what chemicals?" So I don't know it could be anything." the man spoke.
"Two of them?" Andy whispered. "This isn't going to end well." Jack pursed his lips and gave a nod.
"Oh, there's a face, Nice one." The new man chuckled. "Hey, I'll tell you mate you should try plastic surgery, not on the NHS mind." Andy rolled her eyes at that, how insensitive.
"Bloody hell that is brilliant." He said. "It's just like real teeth!" Andy clenched her jaw as she waited for the cry of pain, and as expected it came. Suzie, Owen, and Tosh ran out with anti-weevil spray, in a container similar to that of pepper spray.
Jack and Andy grabbed ahold of the policewoman, shouting quickly for her to go as they got her to run out of the area. They rushed the weevil into the back of the SUV, everyone rushing to get into the vehicle and get away before the Weevil spray wore off.
"Well, if she keeps following us like this I'm going to slingshot a retcon pill into her mouth myself," Owen remarked as they finally made it to the entrance of the Torchwood Hub. "Not before we see how this plays out," Andy spoke as they moved to step onto the spot of pavement with the perception filter over it. The ground began to lower as they watched a confused woman looking where they had just disappeared.
"I don't think she's going to give up too easily, Jack, "Andy spoke as they finally disappeared into the ground.
"I'm hoping for it Andy."
***
Trying your best to look busy while actually doing nothing was harder than it seemed. Sitting with Jack in his office pointing at a print out of gibberish and acting like it was something important made Andy want to burst out laughing.
The alarm indicating the door opening announced that Gwen Cooper had finally made it into the Hub. Andy pursed her lips pulling an actual file off the corner of the desk and plopping it in front of Jack, leaning over his shoulder and reading it with a serious expression.
Gwen actually holding two pizzas, barely made it to Tosh's desk when she and Owen started cracking up.
"Well that lasted naught but two seconds." Susie spoke from the medical section of the hub. "I'm sorry, he set me off." She pointed one painted nail at Owen who was still silently laughing to himself.
"Come on guys! Gotta do better next time, She was gonna say 'I have your pizza' and I was gonna say 'how much'." Jack chuckled. Owen took the pizza from Gwen.
"And who is ordering pizza under the name Torchwood?" Andy asked pointing a finger between the three. Owen raised a hand. "That would be me, sorry I'm a twat." Andy snorted "You said it not me."
Gwen seemed to start getting mad, "here's your pizza I think I better go." She spoke. Andy sucked her teeth. "No, no I think we've gone past that stage. Gwen Cooper."
Suzie walked up soon after still wearing her welding apron. "You must be freezing, how long were you up there walking around? Three hours?" Andy smirked.
"CCTV my dear." Andy explained, "Got the whole area covered because of people such as yourself sticking their noses in."
"What happened to that porter? The one that was attacked?"
"He's dead." Jack stated bluntly. "But there wasn't anyone missing from the hospital."
"We took the body, retrospectively changed the work rota, planted a false witness who saw him leaving the hospital, giving him an alibi for the next 48 hours, so when his body is pulled out of the docks next Tuesday night, he's only been missing for three days." Tosh explained in her perfectly scientific way.
"He was murdered." Gwen stated "Yeah." Tosh nodded. "And you covered it up?" Gwen questioned.
"Yeah, it's my job." Tosh turned back to her computer.
Jack gestured with his head down a set of stairs "Do you want to see the thing that did it?" He asked. Gwen followed without verbally answering. Leaving the rest of the group upstairs alone.
"Alright you all can head out, I'll see you tomorrow." They grabbed their things, coats and bags, and left through the main entrance as Andy waited for Jack to come back from the containment area of the hub.
They came back up after a long moment, Gwen asking a million questions a minute. Jack only turned to Andy who was sat in Tosh's chair waiting. "We're headed for a drink, you coming?"
*** Andy was never a beer drinker, Jack knew this when he ordered her a glass of some Welsh cider in place of the pints of beer he and Gwen were drinking respectively. Jack told her a lot about Torchwood, he turned to Andy to get her story told before they would have to break the news about the Retcon that's had been put in Gwen's drink.
"You know neither of you are on record you know there hasn't been a Captain Jack Harkness since 1941, and the last Pandora Fletcher disappeared in 1880."
Andy smirked. "I was found at age 14 in a park," she began. "The people who found me took me in gave me their last name because I couldn't remember anything of my life, I had amnesia, all I knew was my name." She inhale deeply before taking a sip of her drink. "I joined Torchwood shortly after I met Jack." Her eyes made contact with the deep brown of Gwen's. "In 1875." Andy smirked at the woman. "You see we don't even talk about this with our team, you see. But we felt we could tell you, considering you aren't going to remember anything of this night, or anything of Torchwood."
Gwen's face was painted with a look of horror as she got up and ran out of the pub, Jack and Andy remained, finishing their drinks. "She would be really good on the team if someone ends up leaving, or dying." Andy spoke. "Yeah." Jack hummed.
