Torchwood: Forever

Chapter One

"Disturbing joke Jack. Wait that was a joke wasn't it?" Gwen looked around to the rest of her team. She could never tell wether they were just playing about, especially tonight. The ex-police officer had joined the team exactly a year before. She didn't know the traditions the Torchwood team kept. Her very much respected team leader, Captain Jack, probably made them. That put her more on edge.

"You know what they did on my one year work anniversary?" Owen was looking over his shoulder as he said this.

"I know you don't. We had a call from Swindon police asking us wether we knew anyone called 'Owen Harper'.They had to drag you out of a ditch." Toshiko was, even on the night off, twiddling with the handheld scanner she took everywhere. She didn't look up from it's flashing lights as she spoke.

"Well a few nights in A and E helped didn't it Owen?" Jack was taking off his earpeice as he spoke.

As the SUV spun the last corner, Ianto slowed it down to a gradual halt. "Here we are. What you want with an empty warehouse I don't know."

They all climbed out, Ianto straightening his tie. He lead the team to the huge doors and got out a key. He unlocked them and dissappered into the shadows.

Jack and Toshiko followed leaving Gwen and Owen outside. "Let's just hope there isn't a Weevil stadium in there. I couldn't bare seeing someone get mullered by one."

"Nice Owen. Really, that just raised my confidence no end." Gwen shoved him jokingly and walked in. "To think, a year ago we hated eachothers guts."

"Well, I think almost getting killed by Ianto's cyber girlfriend and eaten by cannables did it." Dr Harper said following her.

They could only just see the lights from Toshiko's scanner flashing in the distance. Owen, then, disappered from PC Cooper's side.

"Wait! Were am I? Ianto are you near the lights?" Jack's strong American accent echoed though the desolate warehouse.

There was the echo of a click, and in a few seconds the lights flashed on."Found them." Ianto straightened his pristine suit.

"What are we doing in an empty warehouse?" Owen winced as a rat ran across his trainers.

Jack lead the curious team through a door to a heavily bolted up one. He pulled the keys out of a deep pocket of his ancient greatcoat. The door swung open, showing a huge computer that Toshiko zoomed towards.

"This is Gwen's present? All I got was an unpublished, signed book of theorys from Steven Hawking."

"If you count that as all, then you must've been a spoilt brat when you were younger." Owen said holding a bottle of beer, one that Ianto had been handing out. He gave her a little smile, "Only joking."

"Can any of you tell me what it is?" Jack shrugged off his greatcoat and placed it on the back of a chair.

There was a slight cough, "Sir, isn't it a high residual rift predictor?" Ianto turned back to the tray of beers.

"You see? I only hire the best."

Chapter Two

THE NIGHT BEFORE

He couldn't bare to think of it, forever, it'd be too long, no-one should live forever. It would be uncanny. He wouldn't be able to cope with everyone he loved dieing around him. He had already lived long enough. The one person he hoped could help him didn't have the foggiest in what to do.

Jack heaved himself up out of his office chair and walked over to the coffee machine. Why him? He would've wanted this before he met The Doctor, but not now. He cared too much, He loved too much.

He heared a small cough, coming from the other side of the hub. "Sir?" It was Ianto, "Sir, the rift is going, er, haywire."

"Ooh, I like the new technical term. We must get a dictonary written up. Anyway, call Toshiko get her here first then the other two." Jack seemed calm. Probably too calm for the situation. He needed sleep, but he wasn't going to now, maybe not ever. Not any more.

Ianto walked off up to the tourist information center. He prefered to make the calls there than in the hub. He didn't know why.

Picking up the phone he dialled Toshiko's number. As he waited for the scientist to pick up, he looked at the clock. Twelve A.M.

"Hello?" There was a crackling voice on the other side making Ianto jump..

"Toshiko? Is that you?" The welshman was bewlidered at the sound of the voice.

"Ianto? God, I'll be over right away." Then silence.

Chapter Three

"Nope, nothing. Not even a cat. Tosh you need a new computer." Owen was standing in an empty warehouse cross armed.

Gwen emerged from behind a door, "Nothing there either." Wind was bellowing through the broken windows. The ex-police officer pulled her jacket tighter around her.

"But I was sure there was activity here." Toshiko was clutching her scanner extra tight double checking the rift activity.

Owen started walking out, "You've lost your knack Tosh."

The others followed, Jack was the last person to the door. Suddenly, there was this sound, the sound of a computer power up. He spun round to see a blue light emerging from the room Gwen checked.

He glimpsed behind him to see wether the others saw it, but they were already gone. He didn't care for the saying 'Curiosity killed the cat.' In fact he dated the guy who created it. Captain Jack got out his Webley revolver and started creeping up to the door.

As he spun around the corner he saw a huge high residual rift predictor. He walked up to the machine, gun held tight.

The door locked itself trapping Jack in. He spun around to see a key in the lock.

"Strange. Why lock me in and put the key in the lock?" He mumbled to himself.

Captain Harkness unlocked the door and locked it after he left the room.


“Come on!!” Owen was revving the SUV’s engine. Jack emerged from the warehouse. He could hear the water hitting the side of a docked boat.

“I thought the fifty first century was in a hurry, go to the twenty firstt.” He slid into the passenger seat. As soon as the door had slammed shut, the jet black car sped off back to the back to the middle of Cardiff, outside the Millennium Centre.

“I can’t believe I got woken up for this.” Gwen said, climbing out of the car.

Chapter Four

PRESENT DAY

"How did you get it here then?" Toshiko was stroking the screen as if in love.

"Let's just say I had a little help." Jack grinned as everyone looked at Ianto.

"I didn't do anything. I'm just as confused as you lot." Ianto held up his hands.

"Let's get it back to the hub anyway. It needs to be examined. We can't use it yet, until I'm sure it's safe to."

"This is not what I expected for my Torchwood anniversary I must admit." Gwen shook her head. How come every one else had cool ones and she had to carry a oversized computer to a crate which would have to be towed to the hub?

"Least you got an anniversary. The early twentieth century wasn't the best partying time." Jack was heaving the crate towards the SUV. Gwen could hear the strain in his voice. Owen grabbed the other end of the oversized box.

"Couldn't we hire a forklift?" Even with him helping it seemed just as heavy.

"What would be the fun in that?" Jack tried to smile but all the expression he had left was strain. "Oh, and the firms always ask too many questions. We could just retcon them but it'd be a waste of time."

"You may be older and wiser than me, but, as i'm a doctor, I can tell that you're carrying the crate all wrong. You're going to end up getting a hernia. It dosen't take a medical genius to know that that's gonna hurt." The two men placed the crate down as the other three Torchwood employees dragged the hi-tech equiptment towards it.

"This is as light as a feather. I don't know why, but i'm getting suspisous. It's like it's just made for us to carry it." Ianto had no sign of struggle as he said this.

Jack opened the boot of the SUV and pulled out a towing trolly they had salvaged from a freight spaceship that had fallen through the rift. He attached all the chains to the hook, which he attached to the trolley. Owen and he lifted the crate carefully and placed it on.

Owen pulled off the lid. The others lifted the rift predictor up and put it in.

Toshiko placed the wires in beside the technology and closed the wooden box. The team climbed into the car and sped off. They didn't need to worry about the crate falling off, as the trolly had an alien form of magnetic energy that would keep everything in it's place and a place for everything.

"God my head's pounding." Dr Sato placed her head in her hands. She hadn't felt this bad in a long time. Thinking on it, it had only just started. How did it turn on this quick?

Chapter Five

As the crew clambered out of the car, Toshiko rubbed her head. "Headache?" Jack asked, she nodded. "Get Owen to give you something for it." Dr Harper gave the captain a glare. all three men were carrying the crate, it wan't the computer that was heavy, just the box.

Using Ianto's keys, Gwen unlocked the doors and held them open for the struggling men.

As the WPC closed the cog porthole, she noticed Tosh rummaging through Owen's medicine cupboard. "Wasn't that supposed to be locked?" The police officer sat on the ledge of the viewing balcony.

"You know Owen with keys. Remember when we almost died trying to get the SUV back from a load of cannibals?" The scientist gulped the tablets down with a pained look. "This medicine should've worked immediately." The pained woman heaved herself onto the cold metal autopsy bench.

"I recommend you go home if it's that bad." Owen pulled off his jacket and placed it at his computer bench and replaced it with his long white lab coat.

Appearing from nowhere, Ianto brought over a steamy lemon drink. "Alien lemon drink. Completely compatible with high strength, well, anything. Even rat poison. That'd kill you anyway. It's the arsenic, always the arsenic."

"I think i'll drink this and go home." She forced a smile as she took the mug. She finished it in what seemed like seconds.. She jumped of the bench, "See you tomorrow." Dr Sato grabbed her hand bag and walked off.

Jack emerged from behind the water tower, "Owen the weevils are getting hungry. Ianto same for the pterodactyl. Gwen, the rift predictor is wired up, could you try check it out?"

"I don't know a thing about computer programming." There was a snigger coming from The two men's direction.

Ianto put his hand up, "Trade." Like he wasn't expecting an answer, he started towards the morgue following Dr Harper, whom was already putting the codes in.

Gwen trudged off in the opposite direction, down to the basements. "He said basement C." She mumbled to herself. It started getting darker the further down she got. Eventually she had to pull her torch out. She could hear a faint whirring from a room not to far from her.

She peered through a window in the large metal door. It was so heavy she had to use all her weight to get it open. It slammed shut as soon as she was in. Slumping herself down on the chair, she noticed something on the screen.

"Definitely an ICU of some sort. I can't really specify why it's on here." Owen had his arms crossed as he stared at the screen. "I have no idea of who this belongs to. If Tosh was here she'd would do all the science side of this. I was trained in biology."

"Wait! You just given me a possible candidate of who it belongs to!" Jack yawned. "Toshiko has a pounding headache after working on the predictor and it ends up having someone's
neuro-patterns on."

Gwen gave him a look, "Just a coincidence." She stood up and headed to the door. "I'm going home now, keep me posted."

Chapter Six

Gwen fell through the door holding her keys. She could see a half drank bottle of wine on the table with two glasses on it. She saw a piece of paper under a candle that had been fully melted.

It said, "Gone to Dave's. bolognese in the microwave. Have the rest of the wine. We'll talk tomorrow (If you're home)" Gwen smacked her forehead. She had forgotten that her and Rhys were going to have a work anniversary meal.

The upset police officer poured herself a glass of wine and watched television. She fell asleep almost immediately.

She was woken up quite abruptly when she had a text from work. Grabbing her bag, she sped out of the door.

"Finally you're here!" Rhys was standing outside looking as if he had been kicked out of his favorite pub.

"I thought you were at Dave's. I have to go again, I'm so sorry." The WPC kissed her boyfriend on the cheek and got in her car. She sped off leaving the confused welshman on his own in the dark cardiff street.

"Distress call worked then?" Jack was leaning on the railings looking out on the bay. He greatcoat was waving in the freezing wind.

"It was just a text. What is it anyway?" The expression on Gwen's face was less than welcoming.
She leant on the railing with her back towards the bay.

"Owen's got new readings for you to look at. We couldn't get hold of Toshiko. You're the only option." Jack lead Gwen through the tourist information center to the hub.

Owen was waiting at the cog porthole. "Here's the luddite. C'mon then." Dr Harper walked to the autopsy room. "Yes it's a corpse. Walk around it please." Gwen retched as she looked at the wound going in a diagonal line across the face. It was one of the worst corpses she had seen. Not the worst, just one of them. It was like it was torn up and glued together.

She was passed a metal box. "What has this got anything to do with the rift predictor?" She held it to her ear and shook it.

"New project. This is a bit that needs checking. You know where Tosh lives right?" Owen started putting on a disposable green apron on. " If you're going to stay in here please stay in the viewing deck." He grabbed a scalpel and started an autopsy.

Gwen spun around to Ianto, "If wanted a job in postal I would've asked Rhys for one." She ran out of the hub to the carpark and climbed into her car. She sped off to Toshiko's apartment.

The WPC knocked on the door. No answer. She rang the doorbell. No answer. She started getting worried and, as police officers do, bashed the door open. There Toshiko was. Lying in the middle of the floor covered in blood.

Gwen rushed over to her and called Owen on her com. If anyone could help, he could. He is a doctor after all she thought to herself.

In no time at all, Owen was there. He opened his large metal medicine box. "Tosh, can you hear me?" He was shining a light into her pupils. "Could you pass me that vile of medicine please." PC Cooper's hands were trembling as she did this. "It would help if you passed the needle as well."

"How can you be so calm? That's our workmate, a friend. Dyeing." She passed the needle accidentally jabbing Owen's hand.

"Watch what you're doing!" He snatched it out of her trembling hands. He gave her a glare. "Help me get Tosh in the SUV, will you?"

Chapter Seven

"Jack can you hear me?" Dr Harper was calling Jack on the com. Owen placed the unconscious scientist over the back seats of the SUV and slammed the door.

"He won't pick up. He's gone to chase a Weevil in Butetown." Gwen was in the passenger seat dialing her home phone hoping Rhys was in.

"Neither will your boyfriend." Owen slid into the driver's seat, slammed the door and sped off.

"Oh? Why's that then?" Gwen was getting slightly frustrated. She wanted to punch him, but as he was the driver she chose not to.

"He called the hub and started swearing like mad at Ianto." There was a groan behind them. Toshiko was slowly waking up. "Hey look, Alice is leaving Wonderland." Owen pulled the car over and helped the pained doctor of science up. "How are you feeling?"

"I don't feel good, if that's what you're asking." Suddenly, Toshiko looked up at Owen.. Then, there was an explosion. A huge one. Tosh was thrown back, and just, disappeared. Gwen was thrown into the traffic and crashed into a windscreen. Owen was thrown, as he was the nearest to whatever exploded, into the other side of the motor way , which was moving rapidly in the panic.

"Gwen? Gwen? Still asleep?" Rhys was sitting by the hospital bed holding the WPC's hand. There were cards on the table in front of her.

"What happened?" Her throat was croaky and dry. She couldn't remember what went on that night. Light? It hurt her, but she couldn't help looking around. It was like she knew she was looking for something, She just didn't know what.

"AHH, sleeping beauty awakes at last." Jack had just appeared from another cubical, making sure he closed the curtain before Gwen could see in. "Is this why you called me? I got a missed call on my com." He pulled up a chair by her. "Or did Owen do that?"

"Stop with the questions! She's in hospital thanks to you lot! What do your lot do to get blown up anyway? She's not SWAT!" Rhys was standing up, fists clenched.

Ianto emerged from the cubical just as Jack did, but wasn't quick enough. Just one glimpse was enough for Gwen to know who it was.. Owen. He must've been in the accident.

"What happened to Owen and I?" Her welsh accent was more audible now.

"You and Owen were in an explosion. You landed in a car windscreen, and Owen landed in a very busy fast lane." Jack stated with no hesitation.

"Well so much for keeping that a secret.." Rhys placed a hand on Gwen's shoulder. "We decided it was best for you if didn't know." Shocked, PC Cooper nodded over enthusiastically, her eyes wide.

"Since when have you started choosing what's best for me? That guy over there is a friend of mine. I was in an accident with him. Don't you think I have rights to know that?" She had almost never felt so angry. Almost,.

"What were you doing together anyway?" The worst question to ask. She didn't know. That was the worst part. Rhys would suspect her of something if she said so.

"I'm sure there was someone else. I don't know who though." She quickly changed the subject.

Chapter Eight

A doctor walked over to Jack. "Dr Harper will be O.K, but we're going to monitor him. He's been hit by several cars, he's very lucky to still be alive." The man walked off.

"You didn't tell him what our job is did you?" Gwen, then, noticed she had a neck brace on.

"If they ask for his occupation, I simply say that he's a doctor." Jack smiled at her. No one noticed Ianto had gone and got three coffees. He passed one to Jack and Rhys. He kept the other one for himself.

He then trudged off into Owen's cubical. He left it instantly. "Owen's awake." just then, Jack disappeared behind the curtain.

Gwen tried to heave herself off the bed, but Rhys stopped her. "What dose retcon mean? More importantly, what dose it do?"

Gwen's heart sank. He remembered. He remembered her retconning him when she admitted what she had done. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You mentioned a man named Owen from work once. That same day I was retconned. Why? What did you tell me?" Rhys was starting to remember.

"I retconned you making you loose all memory of that day.. I'm sorry." The WPC's eye's welled up.

Rhys stood up. "Least I know where I stand. I'll get my things. I'm sure Dave will let me stay over his until I get a place of my own." He walked off. PC Cooper tried to stand, but it pained her.

"What is wrong with you!!! Stupid leg!!" Her, now ex-boyfriend, turned a busy corner and disappeared. Normally, she would hold in her tears, but she couldn't . It must've been the fact she'd hold in the tears to cry into Rhys' shoulder. But now without Him it felt like she had no one.

Ianto appeared from behind the curtain of the other cubical. "Are you OK?" He supported the crying police officer so she could stand. He lead her to a wheel chair. "Jack might need some help ." He disappeared again. Only to emerge helping Jack Support Owen to his own wheel chair.

Jack grabbed the handles of Gwen's wheel chair and steered her off, out of the hospital doors to the black SUV. Ianto was following them with Owen.

"WAIT!! You can't take the patients! I'm calling the police." A guard was running up to them, panting.

"Torchwood. So you can leave off." Jack sighed. "Amateurs." He helped Gwen into the car, Ianto copied. Both men got in the front. Jack drivers seat, Ianto passenger.

Chapter Nine

"Don't you think Owen's better off in a ward?" Gwen was seriously considering, even if it put her through hell, taking him back.

"There's a friend of mine, I'll call her and try get her to help. Torchwood's the best place for him. This could be a personal attack on both of you." Jack's face wasn't the joyful one she knew.

"So someone who doesn't like Gwen and Owen in the same place then." Ianto looked concerned. He knew how to make coffee and play about with the technology. He just didn't know what to do in a situation as dire as the present one.

Owen lifted his head, he groaned as it pained him. He gave up.. "I need a neck brace." He made all three other people jump in their seats. His voice was dry and croaky. Definitely more than Gwen's was.

"Still a doctor even when in pain?" Jack glimpsed back, then carried on watching the road.

As they got to the hub, they noticed something different. Everyone was thinking the same thing, it's just the city lighting. As there was a red glow swirling around, spreading across the city.

"Are we just gonna ignore that?" Dr Harper seemed concerned. Gwen and he were being placed in wheelchairs, no matter how much he didn't want to be picked up like a defenseless rag doll.

Ianto over powered him in an unfair struggle. "The doctor said you are as good as paralyzed." Owen laughed.

"What do doctors know?" The two injured Torchwood employees were wheeled into the hub with great difficulty.

"This is really hard for you guys. I told you that you should've left us at the hospital. Mainly for Owen's benefit." PC Cooper struggled to stand, but using the rails to balance, succeeded.

"Hospitals? Yeah right Gwen. I don't trust them. They ask too many questions." Owen was helped onto the sofa and passed his medical box. The one that wasn't in the explosion.

Jack was on the phone that was in his office. "Hi, this is Torchwood. Yes, Captain Harkness. For Martha Jones, UNIT. Sure I'll hold." It was odd, Ianto entered the room but he couldn't hear anyone on the other end. For safety purposes he usually would. Then he thought again, no, wrong phone.

Chapter Ten

Jack was in his office, Gwen was practicing walking on her own, Owen was getting terribly bored and Ianto was making coffee. Though everyone was thinking the same thing, what happened? The only two people there, who they communicate with, had amnesia. No one knew what happened. Like before, the people who did had amnesia.

"Wait, I was filing once, as I do, and I saw a report on, err." Ianto tapped the ground with his foot. "NANO-GENES!! That's it, nano-genes can help anyone with any problem." Everyone looked at Owen. He must've written a report on them before Gwen and Ianto started working there.

"Yeah, I wrote the report. It was for Jack. When we were one week in working for him." Owen took the coffee Ianto passed him.

"'We?' who else was employed?" The WPC wavered left then right as she struggled to balance.

"Me and Susie started working here at the same time." Dr Harper was showing no signs of caring when he mentioned Susie's name. He must've forgotten that Gwen was almost killed by her on several occasions.

Jack emerged from his office, "Just crutches for you, young man." Considering Jack's age against the twenty seven year olds, it was a bit disproportionate.

"What about nano-genes?" Jack gave Ianto the look saying, 'Don't ever mention that again, or you'll loose an arm.'

"Why not?" Gwen obviously didn't know how Captain Harkness met his hero, his savior, his best friend. The Doctor. The man with no name, or so the books told.

"The library." He whispered under his breath. He used to go to the library after it mysteriously shut down, then re-opened a few years later. He used to go there with his family. Suddenly, he remembered part of his childhood. His favorite book. The blue one, in the form of a little blue police box.

Chapter Eleven

"I think Ianto's idea is certainly a sensible one. But I wouldn't try it on anyone." There was a pause as Owen held his head. "It's risky , and we don't have any. They can cure death, that's why we don't. We'd use them for our own greed." He held his head in cupped hands.

Gwen limped towards him, "i can only just remember Tosh having a headache, then the rest of my memory of last night just disappears." She placed her hand on Dr Harper's shoulder.

Jack quickly turned away, "Yeah, pounding headache. Let's check the 'Predictor'. The ICU might've changed." He then sped off down to the basements.

There was a faint crash above the hub. "Did you hear that?" Ianto ran up to the tourist information center. "Hello?" He looked around. No one there.

Then from the doorway, a tall woman held a crowbar above her head. "Me? Fired? Why didn't the Retcon work? W- Why didn't it erase my memory? I would've been better off that way." she swung for the young welshman, hitting him across the face with one blow. Knocking him out.

The woman stepped over him and walked through the passage way down to the hub.

"Ianto? Who was there?" Gwen was now standing, balancing herself on the computer desk.

"I was." The woman was in the cog porthole.

Owen removed his hand from his head. It was covered in blood. "Um, this is bad. We have no time for you." He reached for his gun and aimed it at the woman's head. One bullet in the stomach was all it took for her to be rolling around on the floor screaming in agony.

Gwen looked in disbelief, why would he do that? Jack appeared at the top of the ladder leading to the basements. "What's gone on here? Hannah? What's she doing hers? And more importantly, why is she rolling around on the floor? Owen?" Captain Harkness was full of questions at that moment.

PC Cooper looked over to Dr Harper. He was just lying there covered in blood. Gwen had a flashback, it was of her finding Toshiko. She gulped.

Ianto fell through the porthole holding his bleeding head. "Woah! What happened here." The two conscious people looked at the young man in concern.

"Is there a reason your head's bleeding?" Gwen lowered herself down as her legs were getting tired. She still couldn't walk properly.

Chapter Twelve

"I was hit in the head with a crowbar by Hannah. Lucky Owen's a bad shot when in pain." Ianto started working on his wound. "I hate the meddling Miss Simms, but where is my say on who lives and dies."

Jack was heaving the tall dark haired ex-Torchwood employee up on to the autopsy table, while Gwen was tugging Owen on to the already blood soaked sofa.

"Is there a reason us three affected yet?" PC Cooper had a towel on her lap and Dr Harper's head resting on it. She had the urge tho stroke it, but she didn't. She had thought of the reason why she wanted to. It was that she felt alone as she didn't have Rhys, thus, meaning, she tried to get comfort off other people. She thought it was Owen she was seeking comfort off as they had a relationship once and he couldn't argue with her, saying it was ironic or that malarkey.

"Well, it could be 'Hacking' into our brain signals one by one. Tosh and Owen have lots of top secret stuff going around their heads Then again, why not do this to you, Jack?" Ianto was spinning around on a computer chair.

"Board room, now." They all headed up the stairs into the room they had all their discussions. "I've already watched allot of deaths as I can't die, I have made the connection between them two. I chose them, they barely had a choice in the situations they were in." Jack was standing in front of the huge screen, used to hold data on.

"Jack, what's that?" Gwen was staring at Captain Harkness, but when he moved to the right a little bit, he noticed her gray blue eyes were pinned upon a certain point of the screen.

"Oh my god. Jack do you see that?" Ianto was now rushing up to the screen. There was, indeed, something there. "'We flew across the stars' Let me just" Ianto had started reading the screen but needed to zoom in."'Hacking, spreading viruses. We are uncatchable. Your employees, full of knowledge. They threaten us, we fight. Emotions, new. Souls, sold. We kill for fun, as earth is a breeding ground of the worst form of virus. Human.' Wow, that's deep."

"There's more, 'We are the controllers of the night. Your world has great history and future. We are timeless.' They're psychotic." Jack knew they were writing to distract. There was an incoming call, Jack answered, "Torchwood, what?"

"We've had reports of a dark red light coming from your water tower, is everything alright? Do we need to send back up?" It was UNIT.

"Oh god, it's the virus. The virus is a gas. An antidote to man. I found the connection that's an important one, they both have medical degree's of sorts." Gwen felt one of her legs weaken. "They both would try and stop the, whatever it is." The more reasons she bought up, the weaker she became. Eventually, she was being picked up off the floor.

Chapter Thirteen

Gwen found herself being placed onto the table in the middle of the board room by Jack, "Found any books that tell us what's wrong with her?" He shouted down the stairs to Ianto, who was rummaging in some cupboards.

"Found it!!!" The welshman held a book above his head. He started running up the stairs. Then stopped. He looked up at Jack. Then, without warning, flew back and smashed into the water tower.

Jack jumped over the railings of the scaffold styled staircase. "Ianto!!" He grabbed his earpiece. "UNIT please.." HIs american accent bounced off every wall, creating an eery effect. He sprinted towards the young man. "Code nine at Torchwood three. I repeat code nine." He panicked, he had never felt so vulnerable, but he felt alive.

Ianto's bandage on his head had fallen off, showing the wound from the crowbar, and the fresh one. UNIT burst in, guns pointing anywhere and everywhere. They lowered them when they saw Captain Harkness kneeling on the floor.

"Jack? What happened here? Oh my god." It was Martha Jones. An old companion of the Doctor's. She looked around at the hub, spotting several, what seemed to be, corpses. "Don't touch anything.." She must've been the authority figure in charge of UNIT in this operation.

"It's the computer. The residual rift predictor. It's killing us off one by one. It's gassing the human race." Jack's eyes were flooded with tears. Martha had never seen him so vulnerable, even when the Master was torturing him he maintained an obnoxious outlook.

A man from UNIT emerged from the basements. "We've found something. It's a computer of some sort." He was wearing full military gear other than the red beret. That was UNIT.

"Get all the best computer hackers you can find.. Get them to disable the mainframe." Martha had her arm around Jack's shoulder.

Jack looked at her. "Got the Doctors number?" His face had cleared up. Dr Jones passed the captain her mobile. He scrolled down the list of names and eventually got to the Doctors. He pressed the speed dial button. "Hi Doctor, it's Jack.. Do you have a way to disable a computer? OK, but hurry. You have all the time in the universe to see it. OK." Jack hung up. "He's a space man and he has a mobile phone."

Chapter Fourteen

Camp beds were put up for the injured Torchwood team., including Hannah Simms. They were being examined by UNIT medical team. Captain Harkness was pacing up and down his office. He picked up the phone as it started ringing. "Doctor. Are you here yet?"

"I'm sorry, I can't help you. It should be impossible, but someone or thing has hacked into the TARDIS mainframe and is taking me and a friend on a detour, I'm sorry but you're on your own, who knew you need credit for mobiles, even with all this technology laying about." The most intelligent man in the universe didn't know about credit. Or he did but he forgot to top up and didn't want feel shame.

Jack slammed down the phone in anger. He ran his fingers through his hair. Why him? Yes he was out of his time, immortal and fought aliens, but really who would want to do this? Harm his friends, kill humans and take all the information for themselves. Some crazy alien computer, that's what.

"What did he say?" Martha was standing in the doorway, her hands in her lab coat's pockets. Captain Harkness brushed passed her and, without using the ladder, dropped down to the basements. He entered the room the computer was in, it had UNIT gathered around it.

"Sir? What are you going to do?" One of the soldiers stepped towards the Captain.

"Pull that plug will you? Wear some gloves though. We don't want anymore nasty accidents." Jack sat himself down onto the computer chair. The soldier unplugged the deranged machine, but, as Jack predicted, it didn't turn off. He clicked his knuckles and hit each key in turn.

"How about control alt delete? All computers have that, no matter what they really are." The same soldier who had unplugged the computer gave the advice.

Remembering what Toshiko taught him about a technological mishap or disaster, Jack nodded in recollection. He did as he remembered and an odd screen appeared. Information scrolled down the screen. Information of an ancient race, slaughtered by swarms of different beings for their precious metals and nutrients. A clip appeared of the incident, people screaming. Children murdered,Men and women ripped apart. Finally, gassed by humans. The information reappeared and stated that the last remaining of their kind built a weapon that would sweep this universe and any other one to destroy any and every thing in them.

Jack read in horror of the things the weapon could do. It was A.I, so it could do whatever it pleased. He started typing a response to it, saying to leave the planet and and never return. Obviously, it laughed at the Captain. Literally. The laugh shook the hub. "You think you can get rid of me that easily? If we gave into begging, pleading and crying, we wouldn't of killed anyone.. We show no compassion or mercy as your people did not for us."

"That's what forgiveness is for, to show you're the better person." Jack understood why they would feel like that.

"Did you try and find him? Jack? did you try and find your brother? We hope he shows compassion. We know he doesn't show forgiveness." The computer gave off a streak of electricity, flinging it about, finding one of the soldiers and killing them stone dead..

In the panic, Jack had managed to get the side of the computer hard drive off,and, using the ability no to die, placed his hand in and tore the wires our and placed his fingers between the pins on the main computer chip, burning it out.

Toshiko appeared by the side of Captain Harkness, she was still covered in her own blood, but she looked as if she was regaining colour to her cheeks. He picked the scientist up and took her too the camp beds, where UNIT were still working.

"You think they should remember this?" Martha was at the door,.

"The retcon is working again, so, yeah. We're gonna send Hannah to hospital, they'll diagnose amnesia. I'll tell the team there was an accident that required me to retcon them. Everyone else's memory will stay erased. The memories of what happened due to regaining them will disappear." Jack shook Dr Jones' hand.

"See you sometime soon I suppose." She left the Torchwood hub. Captain Harkness sighed as he turned and walked towards his office. He picked up his phone and dialled a number.

"Doctor? Yeah, it's all OK now. You can go back to watching the first ever showing of the first ever movie on big screen. " He never wanted to do that kind of thing again.