you're in good company

[pande]

Ianto grinned, “You’ll see her later, she’s the biggest surprise of all… well,” he looked thoughtfully, “After Janet I suppose.” He shrugged his shoulder delicately and waited for her question to be over, “Sadly, both.” He said softly, trying to gauge her reaction to her situation. This had to be gentle, he turned and headed down the stairs, casting a swift glanced at Jack’s Office before he kept on going, he was going to have to make it up to Jack someday soon, and he was rather pleased with that prospect.

As they entered the Vaults, Ianto breathed in deeply. This was his land, where he ruled. Well, along with his little tour guide shop. He ruled there too. He could smell the dusty volumes, feeling proud he turned and looked at Liz, “This is the archive vaults. You can find information on anything and everything Torchwood has ever looked into. We’re in process of transferring it all to electric copies, but it’s slow going.” Ianto smiled as he looked around. Then he looked at Liz, “But this is really the most boring part of Torchwood.” He confessed to her, he extending his hand over towards the right.

Then he’d started to walk. Now they were looking at rows of clear holding cells. Most of them were empty, but there was a soft growling sound from the one on the end. Janet lived there. Ianto gulped slightly, he looked seriously at Liz, “Liz, Torchwood… well, you’ll never believe me unless you look.” He pointed at the cage where the sound was coming from and moved to turn on the lights. “Meet Janet.”

[Elizabeth Wright]

Liz followed Ianto through several different rooms, all getting progressively darker and, well, danker as they went down yet more stairs. The first room was like you would find in many old places, full of filing cabitets, and with a slightly reassuring smell of old paper in the room. Most people wouldn't be affected by the smell as Liz was, but she'd spent so much of her life in libraries that it was comforting, and more-so, familiar.

However, sooner they moved out of this room, the archive vaults, and into one with a much more menacing feel. She didn't know why it felt so, so indimidating, as she could hardly see anything. Maybe thats's why. But she didn't think it was. There was something more to it than that.

Maybe it was the glass cages that lined the walls. What did this place do, that it needed cages. What did it keep?

The soft growling her mond registered a moment later might have had something to do with it. The sound sent shivers along her spine. It was creepier than the shreek in the Hub had been.

She listened harder, followed it, as she wandered away from Ianto, trying to get a better look around the room, and find the source of the growling. She couldn't see much, but made out a shape in the dark cell at the end of the hall. She stood facing it, a small frown on her face. She couldn't make it out.

"Liz, Torchwood… well, you’ll never believe me unless you look.” He pointed at the cage where the sound was coming from and moved to turn on the lights. “Meet Janet.”

The lights came on, and after that brief moment in which her eyes adjusted, complaining to the sudden influx of light, she jumped back from the glass, letting out a muffled yell, a mix of suprise, horror and fright. The thing in the cage wasn't human, as she'd first thought. It wasn't even an animal! She had no idea what it was. It's grey, wrinkled skin, small pointed teeth, beady, suspicious eyes. Eyes of a hunter.

"What is it?" she demanded, getting over her initial fright, and creeping closer, taking in the creature better, only to jump back again in wary alarm as it lunged atthe glass. She didn't get closer again. The glass cage looked strong, but she wasn't one to tempt fate.

"I think you owe me one hell of an explanation" she said to Ianto, her hand crossing infrong of her chest. "And I think this place is more than a government building, and definitley more than a tourist shop"

[pande]

Ianto watched in amusement as she looked about the dusty and dry archive vault. She actually seemed at home here, and Ianto couldn’t agree more. There really wasn’t another place he’d rather be than down here. The smell of old books, Jack… and other things. Ianto jerked his mind back from where it had been and started to watch Liz’s reaction carefully. Would she freak out over Janet?

He’d know soon enough. He watched her try and get a pinpoint on the noise in the room. He smiled and waited calmly as he flicked on the light. Ianto smiled as she jerked back, at least she hadn’t wet herself or screamed bloody murder about the weevil. That was a promising sign, Ianto thought. His smile grew as she took a few steps closer to look at the alien.

When she rounded on him and demanded answers he was happy to give them. “Torchwood, outside the government, beyond the police. Fighting on behalf of the human race because the 21st century is when everything changes, and we’ve gotta be ready.” He gave her a goofy grin, “At least, that’s the speech Jack always gives to the newbies.” He walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Janet here is a Weevil, and alien from outer space.” He gave her a second to digest that while he walked over to Janet’s holding cell. The Weevil looked up at him with cold animalistic eyes. Ianto placed a hand on the glass and sighed. Janet hissed at him. “She… well, we call it a she, we don’t actually know how to tell genders on Weevils,” he looked at her with a serious expression, “Basically, there’s a rift in time and space running right through Cardiff, and Torchwood Three is right under it.”

“As Torchwood we’ve charged with keeping the human and alien contact to an absolute minimum.” He sighed, suddenly at a loss as to what he should say. Usually Jack gave this speech and he made it much better than Ianto did. Sighing Ianto tapped the coms device in his ear, bringing it online, “Jack?” Ianto asked, “Can you get down to the cells?”

[Elizabeth Wright]

Liz didn't know what to say. She was totally gobsmacked. Aliens? Come on. If anyone else were telling this, she'd scoff and walk off on them, recommending a psycitrist instead of her own medical expertise. But here, with the thing in front of her, and everything that had happened so far. Even just the general vibe of the place screamed that something was up. God, look at this. She was considering it. What had happened when she woke up today. Maybe she hadn't. Now that would be a worthy explanation, she was still asleep and dreaming. This was way too men in black to actually be real.

But at the same time as her head was conjuring ways in which this could all be a psycotic delusion, her mind was also exploring the possibilities. Sure it was crazy, but it was also unbelievable, and awfully cool. She's always said she didn't want to be stuck in a rut of a job, with no adventure, no change between days. Fighting aliens didn't sound like one of those jobs.

She raised an eyebrow, her expression still incredulous as Ianto explained, albiet a little poorly. Though you couldn't blame him- how would you explain this kind of stuff?

Basically, there’s a rift in time and space running right through Cardiff, and Torchwood Three is right under it

"Wait. What's a rift in time and space? What does that even mean? And why isn't this kind of stuff, well, known? Are the aliens dangerous? Shouldn't people be told if they are?" She was still trying to get her head around it. She was aware that she was firing off too many questions in the one breath, but she was trying to catch them and spit them out before they dissappeared into the whirlwind of all the stuff going through her mind.

[wrenfelidae]

Jack jumped awake from the pleasant dream he was having as his name seemed to explode through the room. He jumped in his chair, feet flying from his desk and scattering a few looseleaf papers to the concrete floor. He cursed and bent over to pick them up, scooting his chair harshly backwards with a kick. It rolled away, one of its wheels squeaking. The papers in his hands, all disorganized from their fall, crumpled slightly in his grip. Oh, well. He didn't care anyway.

He tried to think of what could have woken him so fiercely from such a wonderful dream when the realization popped into his head. His com had gone off. Ianto was trying to get a hold of him for something; he had told him to do so if anything came up.

Duh.

Jack ran a hand through his messed-up hair and wiped an already-almost-dry line of drool from his cheek before pressing a finger to his earpiece. “Sorry. What was that?” He sent out, his voice gruff. He had been sleeping like a rock, really, and god only knew if he had been snoring. He hadn’t been sleeping much lately; too much to do. There hadn’t been much chance for it anyway, since Owen and…

Jack stopped himself before his thoughts went any further, setting his slightly crumpled papers on his messy desk. He turned his ear to his shoulder to crack his neck and sighed, scratching at his eyebrow. He could feel his jawbone tighten as he yawned, knowing that he had probably fallen asleep with his mouth open.

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((Yes. I realize that Jack doesn't sleep, Pande[/b], but what else was he supposed to be doing while Ianto and Liz were away? It's not like he does paperwork. XDDD))

[pande]

Ianto watched with a calm look on his face as Liz pondered if he was mad, she was dreaming, or she’d died. He smiled comfortingly at the female as she tried to piece together what this was all about. He smiled as she turned to him and suddenly started to ask him questions. He didn’t mind them; in fact they rather helped him focus on the main point he was supposed to be making to the female. He walked over to her and then looked at Janet. The Weevil growled at the glass, but didn’t do anything else.

“A rift in time and space, think of it as… a place were several different things touch. Sometimes stuff slips through. Aliens.” He held up his hand and smiled, “Doing that would cause mass chaos. We’re here to regulate that until the time comes. Man will have his time among the stars, but not yet.” He looked at the Weevil once more, “And to answer your fourth question, yes. Some of them are dangerous. The ones that have hostile intent we contain down here.”

He looked distant as Jack contacted him on the coms system. He blinked and sighed, “Jack.” Ianto said into the mike carefully, “Can you meet us at Janet’s container?” He winced at the coarse word, but ‘cell’ didn’t sound much better. He turned the system off and looked at Liz, “Jack usually does this, perhaps he can explain it better.”

[Elizabeth Wright]

A rift in time and space

Liz shook her head. A rift in time and space. This was just way to trippy for her mind to completely get around. Aliens. It was just....trippy.
When people had said 'do you believe in aliens' she'd always said yes, because she believed that somewhere, among those thousands of stars with their millions of planets, there had to be some other form of life. But that was just a logical solution. She'd never actually really sat down and considered that they could be here, now, on earth. And she never imagined she'd be standing a few feet from one, it's beady black eyes watching her.

"So they don't fly in on their little space ships? They come through this rift thing?"

That logical part of her brain was still fighting with these revelations. She frowned slightly.
"This isn't all just some really elaborat prank is it?" she asked, biting her lip. She looked around for a camera. "I'm not being punked am I?"

[wrenfelidae]

Jack rubbed his left eye as Ianto spoke, asking him to join them in the cell blocks. He made a face as he accidentally knicked his eye with an untamed fingernail, but quickly got over the slight pain and stood from his desk. A few papers fluttered to the floor, but he ignored them. Time to get his handsome arse down to the cells, to flatter some pretty blonde and his man-at-arms. And legs. And other things.

Jack smiled to himself as he bounded down the stairs, taking two at a time, hand gliding along the rail so softly he barely felt the cold metal.

He came upon the cell block just as Elizabeth questioned the Rift and something about space ships. The self-proclaimed captain rolled his eyes. People were so ignorant these days, thinking all aliens had a ship. Some did, true, but most didn’t. They were expensive, unless you could steal one. And with “superior” alien technology, people could track you within a second.

“No, you’re not being punk’d. Although… That would be appropriate, considering Ashton Kutcher’s lineage, but that’s not really important.” He waved off the comment and walked over to Janet’s cell, putting his hands in the pockets of his pants. He had left his jacket upstairs, in his office. He smiled sardonically to the Weevil. There really wasn’t a point in keeping her anymore, since Owen had died… re-died; save for sentimental value. Besides… Jack glanced at Ianto’s reflection in the glass; he had a feeling Ianto had a small need for Janet. It was something for him to take care of.

“And the Rift isn’t a thing, persay…” he took a hand out of his pocket to place flatly against the plastic wall, over a few air holes. Janet timidly moved to sniff him, her beady eyes gazing over his face, then back at his hands. Jack turned his head to look at Liz. “It’s more of a being. It’s alive, full of cosmic energy and life force from a thousand moving, breathing…” he leaned against his flattened hand and turned sideways, for a better view of Ianto and the blonde. “…stuff. Basically, it’s a gateway for creatures, alien weapons… all manners of alien technology and time anomalies to enter our world. As once described by someone I knew.” He stole a quick glance at Ianto before continuing. “We follow it as best we can, but there’s no stopping things from getting through. And its really difficult to get things back in.” He shrugged and pushed himself from the wall, smiling tightly at the two before him. “But we seem to manage.”

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[Elizabeth Wright]

Liz crossed her arms in front of her chest, watching as the charming one, the Captain, walked over to the weevil cage, putting his hand over the glass. The weevil approached, much more calmly than it had when Liz had looked over at her. Maybe it recognised a familiar scent or face, rather than the stranger that she must be.

She watched Jack, but felt her gaze being drawn to the weevil time and time again. There was just something about those eyes that caught your attention, much like a fire twisting in an open grate. You had to tear yourself away.

She listened to the man as he spoke. Ashton Kutcher’s linage? She opened her mouth to ask, but decided the better of it. There were more pressing things happening, and frankly, she wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer, not right at this moment anyway.

She rocked back onto her other foot, taking in what he was explaining about the rift. ”It sound like an alien laundry chute.” she said, before realising that it probably sounded stupid. ”You sent the right stuff through, but occasionally you drop your keys or phone. Or aliens and weapons…” she trailed off, raising a hand to rub the back of her neck under her frizzy hair.

”So what do you do? Just try and track this…rift, and then try to send what comes through back again? And is there much that comes through? And what would you need me for?” After all, Liz was a doctor, not a…well, was there a word for what these people did? If there was, she’d never heard of it. But despite the craziness of it all, she was feeling a stirring of excitement in her stomach. This was crazy, totally insane, but she’d asked for a change hadn’t she?

[pande]

Ianto looked up and over as Jack entered the room. Could there had been a more magnificent person in the entire universe? The well dressed man let out a small sigh and gave Jack a slight grin as the man walked over to Janet's residential home and placed his hand on the glass. After a moment he'd started to explain what the Rift was.

Jones watched Liz vainly try and keep her eyes on Jack, but they kept sliding back to Janet. Ianto resisted the urge to smile more broadly. Jack, passed over for a weevil. Haha. If the Captain knew, he'd probably never live it down. Ianto had long ago suspected that if someone on his team wasn't 'magically' attracted to him, he was all bent out of shape. Which could be interesting in certain circumstances. But Ianto knew that his inevitable charm would work on Liz. It had worked on him, hadn't it?

”So what do you do? Just try and track this…rift, and then try to send what comes through back again? And is there much that comes through? And what would you need me for?”

"Try," Ianto inserted, looking a little saddened by it, "But most of the time we can't. the Rift doesn't really like us throwing the trash back. As to the second part of your question, yes. Probably hundreds of things a day, but harmless things. Toys, artifacts," he chanced a look at Jack, "Meat." and then he looked back at Liz with an easy smile on his face. It was his smile that hid the pain.

"Obviously..." Ianto said, looking at Janet, "When capturing aliens, things often go wrong." His eyes were shadowed suddenly, "Maimed, shot, torn, mauled... clawed. And maybe even a stray javelin." he told Liz, not looking at Jack, "But we're quite talented at getting away unscaled. So mostly your job is going to be autopsies." Ianto didn't go into explaining what that word meant for her. Aliens, and people. He smiled at her calmly and leaned against the wall a little, suddenly craving something hot to drink.