Writer:
Russell T Davies & Chris Chibnall
Director:
Ashley Way
Producer:
Richard Stokes
On a quiet street at midnight, an elderly woman (Menna Trussler) presses
the button at the pedestrian crossing as a sports car screams up the road
towards her. As the lights are on red,
it draws to a halt. Surprised by the
look of the driver the woman stares at him, raising her brow as he waves her
across the road. He’s a piscine
humanoid, large red fish like head, with a large crest, and gills with tendrils
either side of his jaw. He watches her
as she crosses the road, and as the lights change, speeds away from view. A few moments later a black SUV pulls up
alongside her and Gwen Cooper winds down the window.
“Excuse me, have you seen a Blowfish driving a sports car?”
The woman points in the
direction of the now disappeared sports car.
Gwen thanks her and drives on.
The woman watches them leave before muttering.
On the onboard computer screen an image of the Blowfish with a copy of
his DNA lights up the back of the SUV.
Toshiko runs a few checks, describing the Blowfish as some kind of land
fish.
“All I’m saying is, you are speeding and there are children.” Gwen points out as Owen thunders the SUV
through the quiet streets of Cardiff.
“Well if children go out at midnight, they’ve got it coming!” replies Owen unapologetically.
“Detecting high levels of algae.” Toshiko calls from the back seat.
“Who’s afraid of a big scary fish then?” Gwen teases Owen.
“It was a fish with a gun.”
Owen defends.
“Do we need special weapons?”
Asks Ianto, tooling up.
“Not that I can see.”
Toshiko replies.
“But do we need special weapons?”
“Jack
would know.” Toshiko replies
“Yeah well
Jack’s not here is he. Jack’s
disappeared. Fat lot of good Jack is.” Owen replies sarcastically.
After a moment of everyone missing Jack, Gwen spots the sports car up
ahead and yells: “BLOWFISH!”
“Hold on.” Yells Owen
powering after it. The sports car and
SUV in hot pursuit take a sharp left down a short exit to the left, heading on
towards a build up area. Owen instructs
Gwen to take the wheel while he angles himself out of the driver’s window to
fire at the sports car. Managing to
disable the vehicle, the sports car veers off into Compton Street, where the
piscine humanoid abandons the vehicle and enters a house occupied by three
people. As the SUV locates the car, it’s
not until they hear shots from a nearby residence do they locate the
whereabouts of their missing Blowfish.
As they enter they hear lots
of distressed voices. A man lies on the
ground, shot in the stomach, his wife and daughter are beside themselves. As the team enter, the Blowfish holds a gun
to the head of the young girl, while Gwen pulls the woman behind the outer wall
to the lounge, Owen deals with the injured man, Ianto keeps his weapon trained
on the Blowfish. Toshiko monitors the
readings on her hand held device.
“Massive levels of adrenalin, with approximately three levels of
cocaine. This fish is wired!”
“So this is Team Torchwood,” says the Blowfish, pressing his gun
against the head of the frightened young girl.
“The teacher’s pets, but the
teacher has gone hasn’t he, leaving the kiddie kids all alone. And look at you, trying to look all grown
up. The doctor with his hands full of
blood, the carer with her oh so beating heart, the technician with her cold devices,
which leaves me with the office boy, promoted beyond his measure. All of you, lost without your master, all of
you pretending to be so brave. All of
you so scared. So what about it minions,
would you do it? How good are you? How sharp is your aim? What if you kill her? What if I kill her first? Can you shoot before I do? Can you...dare you...would you...won’t you?”
A gun fires behind Ianto
sending a bullet through the skull of the piscine humanoid, killing him
outright. He drops to the ground. Ianto confused for a moment, knowing full
well he hadn’t pulled the trigger, stares at his pistol before turning around
to see Captain Jack Harkness standing behind him, his weapon still drawn.
“Hey kids, did you miss me?”
He chuckles.
“Are you
sure nothing else came through?” Gwen asks
Toshiko back at the Hub much later.
Toshiko checks her computer data.
“Referencing Rift activity...doesn’t look like it could.”
Jack looks on as Gwen assumes
control of the team.
“The car’s
been impounded. I’ll get it back to the
owner in the morning.”
“I’ve the
files on screen now...”
“Ok Tosh,
you add that to the species database, Ianto, can you deal with the body when
it’s cold?”
“My
pleasure, unless you’re making sushi.”
“No, the vaults will do fine thank you.” Gwen laughs.
“You got pretty organised without me.” Jack smiles, content in the knowledge that
his team were able to work on without him.
“Yeah well we had to.”
Replies Gwen.
“Hey did you redecorate in here?”
He asks, glancing up. Gwen gets
up quickly from her chair and shoves Jack hard in the chest, knocking him
backwards against the wall of his office.
“You left
us Jack!” She yells.
“I know, I’m sorry!”
“We knew nothing, Jack.”
“Where
were you?” Toshiko
asks.
After a moment’s thought Jack
replies with a smile. “I found my Doctor!”
“Did he
fix you?” Owen asks.
“What’s to fix? You don’t mess with this level of perfection.” Jack laughs.
“Are you going back to him?”
Ianto asks in a quiet voice beside the cold store.
“I came
back for you!” Jack
reassures him, then to the team: “All of
you!”
Breaking the welcoming home speech, an alarm on Toshiko’s computer
alerts them to Rift Activity somewhere in the city. As the team scramble for the SUV, a red light
flashes from the pocket of the dead Blowfish in the cold store, on the trolley.
On the top most level of a multi storey car park, that stands in front
of the Millennium stadium and the BT building, a shimmering orange/yellow
radiant glow breaks open revealing a man in a military Napoleonic uniform,
sporting a Samurai sword in a back sheath, gun holsters at his waist, sporting
a dirty white t-shirt in need of a dazzling white wash. As the light fades behind him, he strides
towards a noise across from him. A man
is being threatened at knife point over the back of a car. He begs for his life, and as the uniformed
man strides closer, the mugger convinces him that he will kill the scared curly
haired young man.
“Oh see now you’ve given yourself away, only someone who says they’re
bluffing ever says they’re not.”
With a swift movement the newcomer grabs the mugger around the throat,
causing him to drop his knife, and lifts him off his feet. He dangles him over the edge of the multi
storey car park, below him only concrete and death. The mugger panics and begs the man to
stop.
“No.” He replies before
releasing hold of the man letting him fall to his death.
“He’s dead.” Announces the
victim of the mugging, as he glances over the edge of the car park. Realising he could be next, begs for his life
as the stranger grabs him and pins him against the wall.
“I was
never here.” He tells
the victim. The young man nods in
agreement. The stranger releases hold instructing him to go.
Walking away from the scene
the stranger admits to being just a little bit thirsty.
Inside the busy Bar Reunion, where pretty men and women gathered, with
friends or single, where drinks flowed and music played, all became silent when
the stranger from the Rift, with a few presses of his vortex manipulator,
decided who should stay and who should go.
It all seems civilised until two bouncers stride through from another
part of the club and suggest to the stranger that they take it outside.
“Oh did I mention I’m armed?”
He grins revealing a pair of hand guns.
At the multi storey car park, SOCO and Torchwood investigate the dead
body of the mugger.
“Fragments of Rift energy about the neck and shoulders.”
“He was
grabbed and pushed.” Deduces Jack.
“It explains the residual energy cluster!” Toshiko replies.
“How did you ever manage without me?” Jack smiles.
“So there’s a killer on the loose, bi pedal or humanoid.” Owen says.
“No. I’ve no other readings that
suggest this!”
“Ok, let’s
get back and see what we can piece together there.”
“Are you
back in charge are you?”
“I
suppose. I was aiming for a little power
struggle, followed by some naked wrestling.” Jack says as Gwen walks over to Andy, to
allow the police to finish their job.
“Is this another of your spooky do’s is it?” Andy asks raising the tape to allow Gwen
through.
“Dunno
yet, but I’ll let you know.” She
replies.
“Thanks Andy, you’ve been very helpful.” Andy adds.
“Don’t mention it Gwen.” He continues lowering the tape.
As Jack reaches for the driver’s door to the SUV, an alarm on his VM
begins to bleep. It’s a sound he never
expected to hear again. Alerting the team including Ianto who had never heard
the VM bleep like that before, Jack presses a few buttons and sees an old familiar
face on a hologram image projecting from his wrist strap.
“Ok what are you doing that’s more important than me? Anyway, you’ve probably traced the energy
shift, the body, all me, sorry about the mess, bill me for the clean up. Now drinks.
Retro link the transmission corner, that’s where I am. Hurry up, work to do. Help me Obi Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope!” The stranger gives a familiar nod to an
iconic film and the message ends.
Before the team can react,
Jack is already climbing into the SUV issuing orders.
“Stay
here, don’t come after me.”
“Who was
that?”
“Stay
here.” He insists,
before driving off at speed towards the rendezvous.
“See, he swans back in then he shuts us right out.” Sighs Owen in despair.
“I can track him.” Smiles Toshiko raising the hand held device as
Ianto whistles for a cab.
The SUV pulls up outside Bar Reunion and Jack climbs out. It’s been a very long time since he last saw
the blast from the past. Inside the bar,
the stranger has racked up a series of shots and is slowly working through
them. He hears footsteps drawing
near. As Jack flings open the double
doors, he knocks back another before getting to his feet and sizing the man up
at the opposite side of the room. He
flips open his gun holsters ready. Jack
merely stands his ground, undaunted by the other man.
They both stride towards each
other and linger for several moments before kissing with a passion, a longing,
when suddenly the other man pulls away and launches his fist into Jack’s face. Jack
retaliates and a fight ensues to the damage of the bar.
Toshiko receives word of a bar disturbance in the town that can only
mean Jack has made contact with the person in the hologram. Unable to guess who
the other man is the team can agree on one thing at least. “It’s more fun when he’s around.”
After tearing the bar to pieces, smashing shot glasses across the bar
with his face, both men scramble to their feet and draw their weapon on each
other. Bleeding from cuts to the face
both keep moving, circling each other, weapons trained waiting for the other to
lower first.
“You’re putting on weight.”
“You’re
losing your hair.”
“What are
you wearing?”
“Captain
Jack Harkness, note the stripes!”
“Captain
John Hart, note the sarcasm.”
“Hey I worked
my way up through the ranks.”
“I’ll bet
the ranks were very grateful! I need a
drink.”
“I thought
you’d never ask.”
Tossing the gun on the bar, Captain John Hart lifted out a bottle of
vodka to Jack and one for himself. As
Jack tore off the lid with his teeth, he couldn’t help noticing how much
alcohol his friend was putting away, as if it were water.
“So, er, how was rehab?”
“Rehabs...plural.” John
replies wiping his mouth.
“Drink, drugs, sex and...”
“Murder...”
Jack laughs. “You
went to murder rehab?”
“Yes. Ridiculous, the odd kill, who does it hurt?”
“You clean
now?”
“Yeah,
kicked it, really, living like a priest.”
Jack laughs and sets down his
untouched bottle. “So how’s the time agency?”
“You
didn’t hear? It’s been shut down.”
Jack can’t believe it. “You’re
kidding.”
“No,
there’s only seven of us left now.”
“Wow.”
“It’s good to see you. It was
never the same without you.”
Jack leans toward John,
confusing him into thinking he’s leaning in for a kiss, but Jack can’t afford
his past rocking up on his doorstep.
“You need
to leave, I don’t want you on my territory.”
“What?” John sets down his drink “Time was you couldn’t get enough of me on your territory.” Sensing an ambush he snatches up Jack’s gun
and fires a shot through the entrance double doors, and in a quicker than
average shift, fires the glass out of the back door.
“Alright everybody out.”
The Torchwood team enter
through both doors, their weapons trained on the gunman. Jack holds his hands out to calm his team,
not wishing a shoot out.
John is amazed that Jack has
a little team and enquires after their name, he’s a little disappointed to
learn that it’s not something fancy such as Excalibur.
Jack introduces the team to John Hart, a name that appears new to Jack
from their last encounter.
“We go back.” Jack explains
to the team.
“Excuse me, we go way back. We
were partners.” John points out.
“In what way?” Ianto asks.
“In every way.” John teases.
“It was two weeks.”
“Except
that it was two weeks trapped in a time loop, so it was five years. It was like having a wife.”
“You were
the wife.”
“YOU were
the wife.”
“No, you
were the wife.” Insists Jack.
“Oh but I was a good wife.”
Toshiko is taken with the
stranger. Exasperated by John’s banter,
Jack wants to know what he’s doing in Cardiff.
“I was
wondering when we’d get to that.” Captain
Hart flips the cover of his VM and presses a few buttons. Toshiko notices the similarities to Jack’s
VM.
“A little smaller.”
John tuts. “But
lasts much longer! Find two Time Agents
in a room together and it’s always the size of their wrist straps.”
“Er,
sorry, what’s a Time Agent?” Owen asks,
confused.
“What, he never told you about his past?”
“No, he
hasn’t.” Jack shoots
Gwen a look.
“Anyway.” John decides to save it for now. He activates the hologram image of a cluster
bomb for all to see. “I’m working with this woman, beautiful,
clever, sexy, yada yada yada, and we both get shot. And as she’s dying, she tells me about these
cluster bombs she’s been working on.”
“I don’t like the sound of that.”
Owen says.
“Three
canisters, contents beyond toxic, swallowed up in a Rift storm.”
“And ended
up here.” Toshiko
adds.
“Yeah,
that’s the downside of your city being built on a Rift in space and time. Now, left to their own devices that radiation
will break down in these canisters and will affect your people, and they need
to be neutralised.”
Unconvinced Jack questions
John. “What do you get out of this?”
“A dying
woman’s wish.”
Jack can smell a load of old
bull.
“Now there’s only one problem. I
don’t know where they are, hoping local knowledge might help?” He looks to the team.
“When we get back to the Hub I
can run a city wide scan on radiation surges, and cross reference that with
Rift activity during that time span.”
“What are you, brains and the beauty?” John flatters Toshiko. “See
together it’s an easy job.”
Jack steps towards his old
time friend. “We do this, you get out once it’s done, right away.”
“Does this
mean I get to see your house?”
Outside the Water Tower in the Roald Dahl Plass Captain John Hart is
less than impressed.
“You live in a sculpture? Could you be any more pretentious?”
“Get on.” Jack insists pointing to the slab he was
currently standing on.
“So, your team not allowed in this way?” John asks stepping onto the slab.
“This is
the entrance for tourists.”
“I can
remember the last time you said that.”
The
lift lowers. John glances around the immense
underground domain.
“It’s roomy I’ll give you that.”
As the lift nears its destination he’s aware just how low underground
they really are. “Your taste in interior
design hasn’t got any better, what is this, sewer chic?”
Jack steps off the lift, but as John attempts to step off, Jack places a
hand against his chest.
“Weapons!”
John dispenses with his two Tokyo
Matsui pistols, onto the silver tray held out by Ianto. He hands Jack his Samurai sword, then shrugs.
“And
the rest.”
“Oh you
know, I’m a two weapon man.”
Unbeknown to John, Gwen is
already running a scan and can tell exactly what weapons he’s still concealing.
“One pistol strapped to each leg, a laser knife in his left elbow,
several explosive charges....” She
reads off the list. Jack takes charge of
the Remington pistol with pearl handle and smirks at the size of the piece.
“He’s a
compulsive liar, why is he in the building?” Gwen asks Jack in the corridors sometime
later.
“There’s the tiniest 1% chance he is breaking the habit of a lifetime
and telling the truth, which means that this city is in danger.” Jack tells her.
“What did he mean about Time Agent, you’ve never mentioned it?”
“That was
in the past.” Jack wishes
to keep it that way.
“Oh ok, here we go again. You
know everything about me Jack, why do you keep shutting me out?”
“Here and
now, that’s what’s important. The work
we do, the person I am now, that’s what I’m proud of.”
“Then why
did you desert us? Where did you go?” Gwen asks as Jack continues to evade the
questioning. “No come on, where did you go, tell me? Talk to me?”
After much deliberation he
tells her...something.
“I have died so many times...been dragged back into life, like being
hauled over broken glass. I saw the end
of the world.” He tells her.
“How?”
“It
doesn’t matter now, but after it was all over, I knew I belonged here. What kept me fighting was wanting to come
home...to you.” Jack says,
stroking a hand down her arm, to her hand and over her fingers, locating a lump
of metal around one particular finger.
He brings it up into view.
“That’s an
engagement ring that is.” Gwen feigns
surprise.
“You’re
getting married?”
“Rhys
asked.” Gwen
retrieves her hand. “When you were away.”
“Wow. Gwen Cooper getting married.” Jack laughs, folding his arms suddenly. “Down
on one knee?”
“He tried
to but then he got a twinge in his back, and he had to lie on the settee,
that’s when he popped the question.”
“And you
said yes?”
“Well
no-one else would have me.” She says.
After a moment of realising
that was aimed at him, Jack congratulates her with a lingering kiss on the
cheek. After a moment of awkward
silence, he points up the corridor. “We should get back to work.”
In the Boardroom, while John relaxes in a seat with his leg resting on
the table, Toshiko relays her findings to the team.
“Seven hours ago we logged a minor surge of Rift energy in these
locations.”
“Six
locations, five of us, that’s simple.” Says
John. “Two people per canister.”
“Excuse
me...” Interrupts
Jack. “I give the orders.”
“Well give
some big boy.”
“John’s
right.” Gwen says,
before pausing to ask John if he would prefer Captain to John.
“With eyes like yours, call me Vera, I won’t complain.”
Ianto rolls his eyes.
“Toshiko, Owen take the North, Ianto and Jack, go west, me and Vera
will take the docks.” Gwen
delegates.
“Excuse me, not to repeat myself...”
“Have you
got a problem with this Jack?”
All eyes rest on Jack, his
authority wanes. Smiling he looks to
Gwen. “Not at all.”
“Now,
given the canisters are radioactive, don’t open them at all.” John instructs the team.
Gwen claps her hands
signifying the end of the meeting and instructs the team to head off. Jack calls her back. John is keen to stay behind, to hear the Do’s
and Don’t’s of taking John on a recovery mission. Jack insists he waits out in the
hallway. As they watch John leave Jack
is concerned that Gwen is heading into danger.
“If I can get him talking, flirt a bit, he might drop his guard. I can find out what he’s really up to.” She tells Jack.
“Yeah, clever...but dangerous, leave it to me.”
“But I’ve
looked after the team while you’ve been away and I can handle this.” She tells him. “He
knows you too well, he’d never tell you the truth.”
After a few moments of thought Jack looks
at her authoritatively. “Three rules. 1, Don’t believe anything he
says, 2, Keep him in front of you and 3, Under no circumstances let him kiss
you.”
Shocked that Jack would even
suggest that. Out in the hallway John
asks if they’ve got to the no kissing part yet.
Gwen walks to meet him and instructs him to continue ahead of her along
the corridor. “Keep in front!”
Out at the Docks, it’s a merry search for a canister in a long line of
two high ship containers. John confesses
it could take them days to locate it.
Gwen decides to ask about the woman John had mentioned back at Bar
Reunion, but he’s not keen to talk about her, nor who the killer was.
As John pulls open another
container, Gwen’s phone rings. It’s
Rhys, he’s got the job at Harwoods. Over
the moon he hopes she’ll be home soon, but Gwen tells him it’s likely to be
another all nighter, but that she’s proud of him. John fools around making out he and Gwen are
doing more than working together, which for a second gives Rhys something to
worry about, but after Gwen settles his jealousy down, tells him to go to bed
and she’ll be home soon.
Turning her back on John for
a mere second is long enough for the Time Agent to disappear. Although Gwen calls out his name there’s no
sign of him. But he’s not far away and
with her back turned, he surprises her and stares down the barrel of her pistol
as she turns, somewhat jumpy.
“Keep in front of me okay?”
She insists, putting the gun away.
“God, you’re so mistrusting.”
John tells her. “But with your boss, it’s probably wise.”
“Yeah well
I trust him just fine thank you.”
“Once a
conman always a conman.” John
tells her.
“What do you mean by that?”
She asks shining her torch in John’s face.
“Just don’t rely on him Gwen.
There’s a lot about him you don’t know.” John pulls open another container. “Fancy a peek?” He asks.
Gwen shines her torch inside and spies the canister. She strides towards it closely followed by
John. As she snatches it up John
savagely pushes her against the side of the unit. Taken aback by the sudden aggression, she’s
further surprised when John kisses her hard.
Although Gwen pushes him away, the effects of the paralysing lip gloss
begin to take effect. She is unable to
move, to speak or to react to any situation.
Taking Gwen’s phone and
retrieving the canister he tells her that it was likely Jack that taught him
the trick with the lip gloss. On exiting
the container John tells her that Jack won’t stay. “He
and I shared something.”
Over in an overly cluttered old hangar Toshiko and Owen search for the
second canister. The light switch
doesn’t work. Owen reacts to it
sarcastically. “No, cos that would only be helpful.” He sighs at the length of the search they
have to undertake. “What are we doing with our lives Tosh?”
“I know,
we should be out having fun. Bet you’d
normally be out on the pull at this time of night?” Toshiko asks while shining her torch along
the rows upon rows of shelves.
“Nah, bollocks to that Tosh, talk about diminishing returns.”
“I’m not
with you!”
“Well, you know, I’ve done all that haven’t I, and where did it get me?
No, you know, I want a proper woman, you know.
Someone I’ve got something in common with. Yeah? Have you got anyone on the horizon?” He asks Tosh while he scans the shelves in
torchlight.
“Like you say, difficult to find anyone I have anything in common with,
with the things we see...”
“You
beauty.” Owen
suddenly announces locating the canister on a top shelf. He climbs up onto the metal shelving and
takes hold of it. “Job done.” As he’s about to
climb down he hears a voice behind him.
“Good work team.”
Toshiko turns in alarm to see
John striding towards her, she sees no Gwen and fumbles for her weapon. John is upon her in seconds and headbutts her
in the face, knocking her to the ground dazed.
He pulls a gun on Owen instructing him to lower his weapon. As he does so, Owen comms the team, but as
John points out that he muted the device with his nifty VM, there’s nothing
Owen can do but to do as he’s told.
Pulling a cricket bat from a
shelf, John asks whether Owen would like the efficiency of a gun to the brutality
of wood. Given that neither were a
comfortable option, Owen insisted John just got on with it.
John pulls the trigger.
In a plush office suite, Captain Jack Harkness enters through the double
doors and inhales that sweet office aroma.
Ianto on the other hand has no such feeling for such places, having
worked in similar in his days with Torchwood One.
“Oh yeah, that office feel. I
get excited in these places. To me
they’re exotic. Office romances. Photocopying your butt, although maybe not
your butt, although as we’re here...”
“The Rift
at these co-ordinates, approximately two hundred feet above ground...” Ianto cut in.
“That means this floor or the roof.” Ianto continues his search of the canister,
opening drawers and checking under desks.
“How are you Ianto?” Jack
asks finally.
“All the better for having you back, sir.”
“Can we
maybe drop the sir now? When I was away
I was thinking, you know, when this is all done...dinner? A movie?”
“Are you
asking me out on a date?” Ianto asks,
hands on hips.
“Interested?” Jack hopes.
“Ah, well...” Ianto coughs. “As
long as it’s not in an office. Some
fetishes should be kept to yourself.”
As Ianto goes on searching,
Jack can see a long night ahead. Ianto
suggests that they split up, preferring the warmth of the office and having the
ability of knowing his way around one, ianto opts to stay indoors, and insists
Jack goes to the roof. “You’re good on roofs.” But as Jack heads towards the exit Ianto
calls after him, enquiring as to why they’re all helping John with this
task. Not wishing to elaborate too much
about John, Jack tells Ianto that he’s a part of his past, and that by helping
him, he will hopefully be gone a lot quicker.
As Ianto returns to the
search, Jack wishes confirmation of the date.
Smiling with the response, he heads on up to the roof.
It’s a long search and after a while Ianto hears the ping of the
elevator doors slide open. It’s unusual
for anyone to be in and curiosity piqued, he removes his piece and edges
carefully out onto the landing and towards the open door of the elevator. Nobody is there, but Ianto is far from alone.
A cold metal barrel presses
itself against the back of his head.
“Into the lift Eye Candy.”
It’s John. “Your friends are bleeding, dying, and you barely have enough time to
save them.”
Ianto presses his comms but
they’re dead.
“What am I, a child? It’s a primitive bit of technology, easily
blocked. You should be embarrassed. When you get to the bottom, run. You look like a man who enjoys a
challenge. See if you can save
them. Come back up here, I’ll shoot on
sight.”
‘Going Down’
speaks the voice of the elevator.
“Yes please.” Smiles John,
but Ianto, angry, but not wholly surprised by this stranger from Jack’s past,
prevents the doors from closing and demands to know why John is doing this.
“We’re a cosmic joke, Eye Candy.
An accident of chemicals and evolution.
The jokes, the sex, just cover the fact that nothing means
anything. And the only consolation is
money. So run, Ianto Jones.”
The lift doors finally close and Ianto can do nothing but pray that his
fellow team mates are not as bad as Hart makes out.
Up on the roof Captain Jack
locates the final canister and bends over to retrieve it.
“Rear of
the Year, 5094. Still looking good.” John says taking Jack’s phone from him as it
rings, and tossing it away. “Cute boy, ringing to warn you about
me. Canister!” He demands.
“If you’ve harmed them in any way.”
Jack growls.
“Just give it here.”
“Radiation
cluster bombs, really?” Jack asks
incredulously.
“Let’s not get hung up on details.”
“Little
embarrassing that you needed help to find them.”
“A little
humiliating you fell for the scam. Your
dolly birds did all my legwork.”
“Is that
what you wanted?”
“What I want is for you to come to your senses. Join me, Jack. Back in the old routine. We’d be emperors. How can you stay tied to one planet when
there’s thousands of worlds, sparkling with wonder? We should be up there, among the stars,
claiming them for our own. Just like
before.”
“I can’t.”
“Why not,
what the hell is there to keep you here?
Come on, the glitter of the galaxy...the mischief we could make.” Pleads John.
“You know you never really mastered that temptation spiel.”
“It’s not
spiel, it’s fact.”
“Move on. Here I am, in a new
life and you’re still churning out the same old tunes. And sorry, but they don’t play as well, now
you’re looking a little older and what are they, wrinkles around your eyes?” Jack points out.
“Laugh lines.”
“Oh hell
of a good joke.”
“It’s you
I’m laughing at. Canister!” John demands, his patience waning.
Jack tosses it over his
shoulder, and over the edge of the building.
“Whoops.” He laughs.
John glares and stepping closer shoves Jack hard, toppling him off the
building and to his death many floors below.
Unable to contact Gwen despite her phone ringing out into the darkness,
he heads towards the warehouse, where Owen is dealing with his gunshot
wound. Toshiko can’t understand why Hart
didn’t just kill them, but as Owen tells her: “He got what he wanted.”
Toshiko hears Ianto calling
from an outer room and replies to his distressed calls.
Outside the office building Captain John Hart discovers not only the
canister but also the dead Captain, his back arched over two benches back to
back. It’s evident that Hart regrets his
actions but with the three canisters in his possession, the front door key in
the shape of Jack’s VM, he has no time to lose.
At the docks the team can see just how difficult this task could
be. They call her phone again and locate
it but no sign of Gwen. Toshiko has a
plan.
“If Gwen used the phone here, I can use the network to triangulate the
location where she answered her last call.”
After a few moments she locates it.
“This is where she made the
call. Open every container door.” She instructs. Eventually they locate Gwen, but it doesn’t
look good.
“She’s
still breathing, no discernible injuries.” Owen replies checking her over. “Tosh, let’s get this thing started. Ianto, take a swab. “Right pupils dilating, she’s still conscious.
Stay with us darling.”
Using the laptop Toshiko
discovers Hart poisoned Gwen. Owen casts
a glance at Ianto. “Anti-toxin kit now!”
Shining light in Gwen’s eyes, he tells her to hold on.
In the Hub, in the Autopsy room, John has opened the canisters and puts
the final one together. Retrieving the
flashing light from the pocket of the Blowfish still lying on the slab, he
returns to the table where the lower half of the triangle requires the flashing
pyramid in his hand. It takes careful
precision. Just as he’s about to place
the two together, a series of guns cocking behind him draws his attention away
from the table. Gwen, Owen, Ianto and
Toshiko have their weapons trained on Captain John Hart.
“Maybe you
didn’t realise. You can beat, shoot,
threaten and even poison us, and we keep coming back, stronger every time.” Says Gwen bitterly disgusted at man below
them.
“Well I think you ought to know, your boss is splayed out on the...” John’s voice trails off when Captain Jack
Harkness steps into the room and rests his foot against the railing at the top
of the stairs. He can’t believe it. It’s just possible. “...pavement. Now that’s impressive. Seriously, you can earn a fortune in the
Vegas galaxies with an act like that. Go
on, how’s it work?”
“I can’t
die.” Jack tells
him.
“No but
really, you can’t kill me. No matter how
many times you try. I can’t die. Ever!”
Jack replies.
There’s a silence in the room.
Jack moves between his team and descends the stairs towards John.
“But what does it cost you? Every time you have to drag yourself back
here, how does it feel? All that pain
and trauma. Plus, you’re reborn into
this godforsaken mess, I pity you.”
“These
people. This planet. All the beauty you could never see. That’s what I come back for.” Jack replies glaring at John.
“Well goody on you.”
“What’s in
the canisters?” Gwen calls
from the top of the stairs.
“It’s come clean time Captain.”
Owen calls
“Yeah, alright. That woman I
told you about, had herself an Arcadian diamond, the rarest gem in the
Damascene Cluster. Just when I’d got my
hands on her, she only generates her own personal rift storm. God I hate technological geniuses.”
“You said
this was a dying woman’s wish.” Toshiko
reminds him.
“Yeah, she
was dying. I shot her. I thought my luck had changed when I found
it. It ended up here.” John considers his options. There’s still a chance he can come away with
something. “So I’m thinking 50/50? Even split, good deal. Or if anyone fancies an orgy?”
Ianto rolls his eyes but
considers this a moment before keeping his weapon raised.
Seated in his office, the team and John the other side of the desk, Jack
as curious as John as to what happens when the two parts are joined, instructs
John to open it.
“This should give us the location of the diamond.” He says as the two pieces are joined. A hologram image appears on the table of a
dark woman in a long gown. John
smiles. “There she is.”
“The woman
you murdered.” Gwen says,
eyes on the woman.
“You’ve travelled several galaxies for this. Well done.” She smiles.
John smiles back, with glee.
“Thank you gorgeous.”
“Except...there’s no diamond.”
“What?”
“Only
this.” An object
appears from the container and hovers in the air while the team watch.
“No, no no, no, no no no no no....there’s got to be a diamond...it’s
all about the diamond! What the hell is
tha...
Suddenly the tables are
turned, the device locates John Hart as the woman continues to talk, informing
him that it’s an explosive device, latching onto the DNA of whoever killed her. “It’ll
detonate in ten minutes.” She
informs him. Ianto readies the stopwatch
in his hand.
“See you in hell!”
“She can’t
be serious. Ten minutes!!!”
“Get it
off me.” John
demands, panic stricken.
“Actually,
nine minutes, 50, 49, 48...Always at the ready!” Ianto replies counting down with some urgency.
“Okay, how big is this explosion likely to be Jack?” Gwen asks.
“That technology, that size...big!”
“So we
should really get him out of the city.” Owen considers.
“Nine minutes thirty seven...” Ianto continues to count down.
“You’ve got to help me! Please.” John begs.
Jack leans forward. “Why?”
In an instant John punches
Jack hard in the face knocking him back and takes Gwen hostage, using her as a
human shield. The room becomes loud with
everyone shouting to be heard.
“Let her go.” Owen insists
but to no avail.
“Back, get back!” Hart
insists.
“Jack help me.” Gwen
bleats.
In a deft movement, John
manages to slip on a pair of cuffs keeping both him and Gwen very much
together, securing their fate.
“What have you done?” Gasps Gwen.
“It’s hyper steel, impermeable, deadlock seal. No way to undo them. Unless you have this key.” He replies, promptly popping it in his mouth
and assuming to swallow it.
“You are unbelievable.”
“And yet,
you still find me strangely attractive.” He says to her, before returning his
attention to the rest of the team, all aiming their firearms at him. “Now
you had better find a solution pronto or she’ll be blown up with me!
“Would
shooting him stop the DNA trigger?” Owen muses.
“No.” Jack replies.
As Ianto continues to count
down, Gwen remembers a program Toshiko was working on.
“The Rift
predictor program, have you perfected it yet?”
“Pretty
much.”
“Anything
in the next few minutes?”
As Jack realises what Gwen is
planning he flatly refuses to allow it, but time is working against them, and
if it saves the city, Gwen will do it.
“The car
park where he arrived, the crack in the Rift is still active up there.” Toshiko replies.
As the team embark on the
journey to the car park, Owen pulls Jack back.
He has a plan that might just work and save Gwen as well as the
city. Pulling the bloods from the
Autopsy fridge, he gathers the small phials and with Jack’s help pours a little
of each into one phial and mixes it together.
With Gwen driving, and Hart in the passenger seat, with Toshiko and
Ianto riding in the back, the SUV thunders towards the multi storey car
park. It’s daylight.
The city streets are full of people who take Hart’s fancy.
“Don’t you
ever stop?”
“What,
five minutes to live, you want me to behave? Oh that’s gorgeous.”
“That’s a
poodle.”
“That’s
nice.” He
growls savagely.
Armed and ready to leave, Jack hopes Owen’s plan will work.
“Trust me, I’m an improviser.”
With only seconds to spare as they reach the car park, Gwen pulls Hart
towards the Rift signature still active.
As the time steadily ticks down to zero, it seems almost impossible that
Jack or Owen will make it on time. But as Gwen can’t see any other way, she
looks towards Toshiko to pass a message to Jack, if only she could bring
herself to say it.
The sports car once driven by the Blowfish squeals to a halt. Jack jumps from the driver’s door carrying
something in his hand. He launches
himself at John knocking him to his feet and stabs the syringe into his chest,
injecting the full phial of mixed blood into his heart. For a few moments nothing happens. All seems lost.
Gwen can’t wait any longer;
time is well and truly running out. “I’ve gotta go Jack.” She tells him. Jack pulls John to his feet as the device
dislodges itself from his shirt and falls to the ground. With only five seconds remaining, Jack picks
up the device and skims it into the shaft of light from the rift.
Jack instructs them to run for cover and as they turn to run for safety
a huge explosion rips through the rift energy, throwing them all of their
feet.
Suddenly the brilliant
sunlight is replaced by darkness. It
takes a few moments to realise what just occurred.
“The Rift’s reverted to the moment he came through. Everything’s jumped back to the beginning of
the night.”
“Like you
were never here.”
“Now we’ve got to avoid ourselves...great.” Scowls Jack.
“It’s a temporal displacement!
Makes your tongue tingle doesn’t it?
Lovely.” Says John.
“What was in the syringe?”
Gwen eventually asks.
“Torchwood
DNA!” replies
Owen. “DNA samples from the five of us, fused and injected into his
heart. Temporarily corrupted his DNA,
confused the disk.”
“You mean,
there’s a bit of all of you inside of me?
Sweet goddesses, that’s all I need.”
Gwen thanked Owen for saving
not only her life. Now all they had to
do was work out how to remove the cuffs.
John Hart had one last trick up his sleeve, or throat.
Making a few gagging noises,
he retrieved the key. “Old Artesian trick. Keep it in the lining of the throat. Has a lot of uses.”
“You had
that all along?”
“You were
my passport to survival. No hard
feelings. Well, not in that sense.”
Released from her bonds with
John, she pulled back and punched him hard in the face, knocking him over.
“Remind me never to get on your bad side.” Says Ianto.
Laughter over, Jack clears
his throat and holds his hand out for his VM.
“Definitely bigger.” He replies strapping it back on his wrist.
It’s time to go and John, despite his keenness to leave, offers his
services as a new team member, but Jack doesn’t want John on his patch a moment
longer, too much of a liability.
“No. Go now and you can harness
the residual rift energy.” He offers
him.
“Listen...”
“Goodbye.”
“OK.” Hart kisses Jack one last time but it’s not
reciprocated. He pats him on the chest
before heading towards the rift opening.
Before the orange glow consumes him, he turns to face Jack and the team.
“Oh by the way...I meant to tell you...I found Gray.”
Jack stares in shock as a
fleeting memory comes to mind of two hands suddenly letting go. When Gwen enquires after the name, Jack once
again refuses to open up.
“It’s nothing.” After a
moment’s pause, he instructs the team that it’s time to get back to work.
Next month Sleeper.
