Torchwood Series 5

New Beginnings

worn down man ran down the alley, battered military coat flapping around his ankles. He spoke softly, just loud enough for the rest of his team, split between the hub, the SUV, and the street at the other side of the alleyway,  could hear him over their earpieces.
"Gwen, it's coming straight at you, you ready?"
The reply was affirmative, but the man still looked worried. His eyes looked old, so old, although he didn't even look middle aged. "You sure?"
"Yup!" The girl was welsh, and beautiful, despite the few premature grey hairs and the weary expression on her face.
Figure leaped out of the shadows. A gunshot rang out, and it fell to the floor.
The man spoke again.
"Bobby. Clean up. Meet me in SUV one in five."
The man's name was Captain Jack Harkness, and he was immortal.

A new team.
New adventures.
A new Torchwood.
The twenty-first century is when it all changed,
But Torchwood weren't ready.

A girl walked down the street, dressed in a simple white shirt and black jeans. She had a sort of timelesa beauty about her, sad, old eyes set in a young face. "Damn you, doctor,  where are you?" She muttered to herself,  as she walked past the water tower on Roald Dahl plass.

***

Jack scanned the room as he walked in.
Mickey....typing at his computer. Bobby and Andy were chatting at their desks. Alex was performing an autopsy. Also known as 'cutting up dead stuff'. Gwen had gone to her desk and was filling out the form for the weevil.
He wouldn't be missed.
He walked up to his office and buried his head in his hands. Awhile later, he heard the door open, and sat up quickly, before noticing it was Gwen and slumping back down again.
"Hey" he said, his voice subdued.
She came and sat on the desk in front of him.
"Hello" He winced at her all too familiar Welsh accent.
"Thinking about him again?"
"Yeah" he nodded, and she wrapped him in a hug.
"He wouldn't want you to keep beating yourself up about it"
" What sort of man answers 'don't' to their lovers dying confession?" His voice wavered, and a tear slipped down his cheek.
"Shh, shh. Calm down, sweetheart. He knew how you felt. He'd want you to be happy."
He nodded, wiping his eyes and sitting up. "Thanks, Gwen"
"Anytime"
"Boss, you might want to see this"
He composed himself, before leading Gwen back downstairs, shrugging on his coat, and at the same time shifting into 'Captain-mode'
"Andy, what is it?" He and Gwen leaned over to look at the CCTV displaying on the Ex-police officer's computer.
Andy rewound the CCTV and clicked play - a girl was wandering around the plass, and he clearly heard her speak. "Damn you doctor, where are you?"
Gwen gasped, as he started running to the invisible lift, tugging hee along. He yelled at Mickey to follow, and they both ran up to the foot of the lift with him.
"What's the plan, Jack?" Gwen asked.
"We loudly mention a few aliens, alien devices, maybe even the doctor, in conversation near her"
"Okay, Capt'n" Mickey had dropped the "Cheesecake" or "charisma" that used to follow his title after seeing the shadow of the man he had been since he'd lost his boyfriend; whatever-his-name-was Jones.
They stepped onto the rebuilt lift, and rode it to the top, stepping off the paving stone and starting up a conversation.

"Jack, remember that time before the others joined, on that weevil hunt?"
"Which one?"
"Where when I arrived with the SUV, the Weevil had woken up and ran away, and you and Yan didn't even notice"
A brief flicker of pain crossed Jack's face, but he masked it, realizing just how many things she may know about were related to Ianto.
"I only met him the once, via the messaging screen on the TARDIS"
The girl looked their way.
"You would have liked Yan. Survived the Battle of Canary Wharf."
Recognition flashed across the girl's face.
"Of course" Gwen continued,  "he also brought his semi-converted cyberman girlfriend with him"
"He what?"
"He believed she was still her" Jack reassured him. "Did you know, he was head archivist of Torchwood one?"
"Really?"
"Yup, had a whole long list of 80 rules that Hartman made him write. Including 'I will not plan gaining total control of the world on my day off'. The beauty of it, is he did all those things. He even gave himself a higher security clearance than Hartman at one point"
"And to think, we all used to underestimate him"
Jack sighed. "I never knew it was him until I found the file. I spoke to him once or twice, but I just knew it was the head archivist. That was another of his rules, not to speak to me for fear of the end of the world"
Mickey laughed. "You aren't quite that bad. I wish she could have seen you two together"
Jack smiled, his eyes shining with unshed tears. "I miss him"
"No shit, Sherlock. No offence, mate, but that's pretty obvious"