Chapter Text
Gwen snuck out of the Hub when she was sure that no one was actually paying attention to her. Tosh and Owen were busy with their own projects, and Mira had ran off somewhere with Ianto. That just left Jack in his office, and it was fairly easy to evade him.
She had a few important phone calls that she had to make in the meantime, and then she made a beeline for Bernie's house. She made it there in record time, quickly parking and running over to the door to start beating on it. “Bernie, it's Gwen.” She called. “Can I come in?” She asked, and the door opened almost immediately. “Thanks. I know it sounds mad, but just because you saw yourself -”
“Dead, yeah.”
“Doesn't mean it's gonna happen.” Gwen said soothingly, putting a hand on his arm and stroking it.
Bernie sent her a look of complete disbelief. “But you don't know how to stop it.” He pointed out, as if he were talking to a small child. “For you, or for me. It's got right into my head, this thing. Some things you're just better off not knowing.”
Before she could even begin to think of something in response to that, her phone began to ring. “Jack?”
He didn't say any pleasantries, just got straight to business. “Ed Morgan.” He began, and Gwen nodded in response before remembering that he wouldn't be able to see her. “Owen went freelance earlier and decided to pay him a visit. Wanted to frighten him. Sounds like he succeeded. I think Bernie Harris got there first. Tried to blackmail him.”
“Bernie was blackmailing him?” Gwen asked, looking behind her at the boy in question in disgust. Bernie, for his part, looked completely unbothered by the accusation.
“Looks that way.” Jack confirmed. “Ed thought Owen was part of the same outfit. Are you home yet?”
“No, I'm at Bernie's place.”
She could hear Jack’s boots pounding on the cement floors of the Hub as he ran. “We're heading over, stay right there.” He ordered. “Owen, with me. Tosh, keep an eye on CCTV in case Bernie makes a run for it.” Before she could say another word, Jack had hung up the phone, leaving nothing but a dial tone for her to listen to.
She huffed, snapping her phone shut angrily. But Jack wasn't there for her to take her anger out, so she turned to Bernie Harris instead. “So you saw Ed Morgan assaulting that girl and you thought you'd make some money out of it.” she spat, crossing her arms over her chest as she tapped her foot in irritation. “Well?” She asked after a moment when Bernie seemed to be frozen in place. “Start talking!”
8888
Toshiko was staring in horror as she watched Ed Morgan walking down the street. She had had a bad feeling ever since Owen had talked to the man the other day, and had added him into the facial recognition searches that she kept running at all times. “Diagnosed with severe depression. Agoraphobic.” she said softly, reciting the diagnoses that she had been reading off to Owen only the other morning. “No. I don't believe this.”
She tapped on the comm unit in her ear, patching herself through to the SUV as she did so. “Jack, I'm on CCTV and I'm looking at Ed Morgan.” she didn’t have a chance to say another word - but then again, she didn’t have to. Jack started swearing up a streak, almost wrenching the wheel out of the steering array with the force that he used to turn the car around.
“What?” Jack demanded, his face contorting in rage. “Where is he?”
“Coming onto Evelyn Street.”
“That's Bernie's street. He's heading for Bernie's flat.” Jack cursed, pulling out his phone and quickly dialing. Mira stared out the window, keeping an eye on the passing streets. There was a chance that they might pass Ed Morgan as they drove.
“We're on our way. Are you okay?” Jack asked, and Mira tuned in on the phone call. Time Lord senses could be a blessing sometimes. And while she didn’t normally make it a habit to eavesdrop, this was one of the times where it could be excused.
“Yeah, I would be, if someone would just just tell me -” she was cut off mid-sentence, and Jack swore.
“Gwen?” he called, and his grip on the phone in his hand tightened ever so slightly. “Gwen.” he tried again. She didn’t answer, and Jack’s grip on the steering wheel became even tighter as he pressed down on the accelerator.
8888
It was all over.
Bernie Harris was safe, as was the Torchwood team. The only casualty was Ed Morgan, in the end. Still, there was a heavy air in the Hub - a lot of their cases lately had ended with death, and it was enough to put them all slightly on edge.
Tosh perched on the edge of the couch, eyes darting around the room as she spoke. “He wanted to die.” she told them all bluntly. It had been completely obvious from his body language at the end - Ed Morgan had just been glad that it was all over. “He would have found a way, no matter what.”
“I screwed up, I know I did.” Owen said, lifting his head from where it had been resting in his hands. Still, he couldn’t help but point out, “But er, I didn't kill him. I could of, but I didn't.” he looked between them all, as if begging them to believe him.
“No. I did.”
But Jack replied with a shake of his head. “Tosh is right.” he told them, watching as both Owen and Gwen relaxed slightly when they heard his words. “It could have been anyone.” Gwen looked relieved, but Owen waited until Mira put a gloved hand on his shoulder before he let himself relax completely.
“What about that?” Tosh asked, gesturing towards the device. The quantum transducer sat on Jack’s desk, now completely docile. It was almost hard for them all to believe that this was the device that had caused them all so much pain. But they couldn’t help but hold their collective breath as they stared at the device, just waiting for it to turn itself back on and wreak even more havoc.
Jack spoke, keeping his eyes trained on the transducer as he did. “The problem with seeing the future is you can't just sit and look at it.” he told his team, paraphrasing something that the Doctor had told him a little over a century before. “Got to try and change things, make it happen differently. It's not meant for us. All these ghosts. We'd be lost.” an alarm on his wriststrap beeped, and he quickly silenced it. “Sun's nearly up.” he said quietly, then bellowed, “Ianto!”
The archivist appeared as if he had been summoned. “Secure archives, I believe.” he said, studying the device for a moment before he disappeared again - this time with the transducer in hand.
As soon as he was gone, Jack gestured to the other two. “Go home.” he ordered, and both Toshiko and Owen immediately left, saying their goodbyes as they went. Gwen tried to follow after them, but was stopped before she even made it two feet to the door. “Not you, Gwen.” Jack said softly, sounding exhausted. “Sit down.”
She wasn’t expecting the whirlwind that came storming into Jack’s office - but Jack was, considering how he just leaned back in his chair, covering his face with his hands as he did so. “Gwen Cooper, did you actually pass your Heddlu training?” Mira said, her words sharp and to the point.
Immediately, Gwen bristled. “What?” she snapped, irritated.
“Which way are you supposed to hold a knife?”
Gwen froze - she could feel the colour draining out of her face the longer that she stood there. It was obvious that Mira noticed it as well, because her grin turned almost shark-like for a moment. “When you disarm someone.” she prompted, looking at the other woman like she was a goldfish. “What are you supposed to do with the knife?” she answered her own question before Gwen could even get a word in. “You throw it in the opposite direction.” she spoke slowly, enunciating everything as clearly as she could in that lilting voice of hers. “And you definitely don’t hold it in your hand pointed at a clearly unstable person who is walking towards you!”
“I -” Gwen began, getting ready to defend herself. But before she could get another word out, the woman screamed in irritation, leaving Jack’s office as quickly as she had entered it.
There was a minute of silence, and then Jack spoke. “She’s not wrong, you know.”
“I thought you were in charge of the team.” she threw her words at him like a dagger, intending for them to strike their target. Instead, he didn’t seem to be even the slightest bit phased.
“I am.” he answered, still not looking at her. “But I might admit to a soft spot for the kid if tortured for information.” there was a hard edge to his words, like he didn’t appreciate her questioning him.
“I didn’t mean to -”
“I’m sure you didn’t.” he replied, cutting her off before she could say too much. “But Meer was right.” with that he turned to stare at her, every day that he had lived clearly written in his eyes. “There is a lot more to this job than killing aliens. I need you to remember that.”