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m_findlowTitle: Without a trace
Owen settled himself on the coffee table opposite his teammates since there was no room for him, and even the three of them together on the sofa was looking like a bit of a squash.
The boardroom was still a complete mess and totally incapable of being used. They'd swept out the broken glass and the shredded venetian blinds, but the table and chairs themselves were in equally bad shape. What glass hadn't exploded outwards when they'd opened up the rift had imploded inwards, gouging chunks out of the table and ripping apart the comfy leather swivel chairs. All of it would need to be repaired, repainted and replaced. Not a job they could just turn around in a few days. Plus, they now had more pressing matters.
'Alright, Tosh,' he began. 'Tell us what you know. Where the bloody hell is our esteemed leader, and who is this Doctor bloke?'
Tosh leaned forward, pushing aside Owen's mug of coffee and setting her tablet down on it. 'So, here's the strange thing,' she said, flicking her finger across the tablet screen, reviewing her notes again. 'We have the old Torchwood One database, and what's in the Archive, which all state that the Doctor is public enemy number one, though they don't go on to say much more about him than that. Apparently Torchwood One actually knew very little about him at all.'
Owen snorted. 'No surprises there,' he said, then tipped his head at Ianto. 'No offense, mate.' If Ianto took umbrage at the comment he didn't show it.
'But then,' Tosh continued on, 'I found far more information on him from a trawler bot we'd left lurking around in some of the central data servers at UNIT. According to their files, not only did they know who he was, he was employed by them throughout the seventies as a scientific and technical advisor.'
'So, either they were in direct defiance of Torchwood's remit, or somebody got their wires crossed,' Gwen surmised.
'Jack didn't exactly trust UNIT either,' Owen reminded her.
'So, maybe we've got this all wrong.' She looked around at her teammates. 'Maybe Jack didn't go after him because he was an ally at all. Maybe he went after him to try and capture him. Where was this Doctor stationed after the seventies?'
Tosh shook her head. 'He wasn't. According to the personal logs of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, who was in charge of UNIT at that time, he had a traveling vessel that could supposedly not only traverse space, but time itself. Presumably that blue telephone box we saw on the CCTV just at the end of the Plass. If Jack went after him, he could have taken that ship anywhere. In space or time,' she reiterated.
Owen fidgeted, bored by all the historical nonsense that told them nothing about their current situation. 'Okay, so Jack's gone, we don't know where and we don't know why.' He turned and fixed his gaze on Ianto. 'You were the one snogging him,' he said accusingly. 'What do you reckon? What else did he spill to you when he wasn't spilling himself all over the bedsheets?'
Ianto didn't look like he had any more answers than the rest of them. He certainly didn't look comfortable in confirming or denying Owen's allegations. 'He took that hand thing with him.'
'What's it do? Apart from look freaky.'
He shrugged. 'I dunno. It's just missing. It survived the rift opening because I put it in Jack's office for safekeeping when we tidied up. Now it's gone.'
Gwen gave him a sympathetic glance and changed the subject to spare him any further embarrassment. 'Does this ship give off any traceable energy signatures, Tosh? Could we track it through our network of deep space satellites?'
'I did all that days ago,' Tosh replied. 'Our satellites don't reach much further beyond our own solar system and there's nothing. Not so much as a direction they were headed for us to extrapolate a possible destination. They just completely dropped out of existence. Cardiff one minute, gone the next.' She looked up at Gwen and their eyes locked as the gravity of what she said hit home.
'Are you thinking what I'm thinking?' Gwen asked, looking back at Tosh, then at Owen, and finally Ianto. 'That we're going to have to tell someone he's gone.'
Owen stood up, bristling at the suggestion. 'Like hell we are.'
'He's only been gone three days,' Ianto said, voice tinged with hope. 'Besides, who would we tell?'
Owen made a gesture, holding his hand to his head like a phone. 'Yes, hello, is this Her Majesty? Good, just wanted to let you know that bloke you left in charge here has knicked off and we don't know if he's coming back or not. Keep calm and carry on, shall we?'
Tosh frowned at him, looking hurt. 'That's not funny, Owen.'
'Too bloody right it's not,' he agreed, returning her comment with his harsh rebuke.
'But… could we even keep something like this a secret?' Gwen asked, voicing the question that was playing on all their minds in the event that Jack wasn't coming back.
'Jack had regular calls with the PM, the Home Office and a few other agencies. I don't know how you fake that.'
'There's voice manipulation software,' Tosh offered. 'Or text to speech conversion. And we've got thousands of samples from the CCTV recordings.'
'Yeah, and who's going to try and pretend to be Jack?' Owen asked. No one volunteered themselves to try and replicate Jack's singularly unique communication style. Assuming any of them knew what was actually discussed during those calls.
'Maybe we're all being dumbos about this,' Gwen said. 'He could come back tomorrow.' She searched their faces for agreement. 'Right?'
'So, what do we do?' Three faces looked at Owen as they fell, for the first time, into a completely unified silence. One thing they could all agree on was that they had no idea what to do.
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Owen, Gwen, Tosh, Ianto
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG.
Length: 1,000 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for Challenge 121 - Brainstorming at ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomweekly
fandomweeklySummary: The team convene to discuss Jack's sudden disappearance.
Owen settled himself on the coffee table opposite his teammates since there was no room for him, and even the three of them together on the sofa was looking like a bit of a squash.
The boardroom was still a complete mess and totally incapable of being used. They'd swept out the broken glass and the shredded venetian blinds, but the table and chairs themselves were in equally bad shape. What glass hadn't exploded outwards when they'd opened up the rift had imploded inwards, gouging chunks out of the table and ripping apart the comfy leather swivel chairs. All of it would need to be repaired, repainted and replaced. Not a job they could just turn around in a few days. Plus, they now had more pressing matters.
'Alright, Tosh,' he began. 'Tell us what you know. Where the bloody hell is our esteemed leader, and who is this Doctor bloke?'
Tosh leaned forward, pushing aside Owen's mug of coffee and setting her tablet down on it. 'So, here's the strange thing,' she said, flicking her finger across the tablet screen, reviewing her notes again. 'We have the old Torchwood One database, and what's in the Archive, which all state that the Doctor is public enemy number one, though they don't go on to say much more about him than that. Apparently Torchwood One actually knew very little about him at all.'
Owen snorted. 'No surprises there,' he said, then tipped his head at Ianto. 'No offense, mate.' If Ianto took umbrage at the comment he didn't show it.
'But then,' Tosh continued on, 'I found far more information on him from a trawler bot we'd left lurking around in some of the central data servers at UNIT. According to their files, not only did they know who he was, he was employed by them throughout the seventies as a scientific and technical advisor.'
'So, either they were in direct defiance of Torchwood's remit, or somebody got their wires crossed,' Gwen surmised.
'Jack didn't exactly trust UNIT either,' Owen reminded her.
'So, maybe we've got this all wrong.' She looked around at her teammates. 'Maybe Jack didn't go after him because he was an ally at all. Maybe he went after him to try and capture him. Where was this Doctor stationed after the seventies?'
Tosh shook her head. 'He wasn't. According to the personal logs of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, who was in charge of UNIT at that time, he had a traveling vessel that could supposedly not only traverse space, but time itself. Presumably that blue telephone box we saw on the CCTV just at the end of the Plass. If Jack went after him, he could have taken that ship anywhere. In space or time,' she reiterated.
Owen fidgeted, bored by all the historical nonsense that told them nothing about their current situation. 'Okay, so Jack's gone, we don't know where and we don't know why.' He turned and fixed his gaze on Ianto. 'You were the one snogging him,' he said accusingly. 'What do you reckon? What else did he spill to you when he wasn't spilling himself all over the bedsheets?'
Ianto didn't look like he had any more answers than the rest of them. He certainly didn't look comfortable in confirming or denying Owen's allegations. 'He took that hand thing with him.'
'What's it do? Apart from look freaky.'
He shrugged. 'I dunno. It's just missing. It survived the rift opening because I put it in Jack's office for safekeeping when we tidied up. Now it's gone.'
Gwen gave him a sympathetic glance and changed the subject to spare him any further embarrassment. 'Does this ship give off any traceable energy signatures, Tosh? Could we track it through our network of deep space satellites?'
'I did all that days ago,' Tosh replied. 'Our satellites don't reach much further beyond our own solar system and there's nothing. Not so much as a direction they were headed for us to extrapolate a possible destination. They just completely dropped out of existence. Cardiff one minute, gone the next.' She looked up at Gwen and their eyes locked as the gravity of what she said hit home.
'Are you thinking what I'm thinking?' Gwen asked, looking back at Tosh, then at Owen, and finally Ianto. 'That we're going to have to tell someone he's gone.'
Owen stood up, bristling at the suggestion. 'Like hell we are.'
'He's only been gone three days,' Ianto said, voice tinged with hope. 'Besides, who would we tell?'
Owen made a gesture, holding his hand to his head like a phone. 'Yes, hello, is this Her Majesty? Good, just wanted to let you know that bloke you left in charge here has knicked off and we don't know if he's coming back or not. Keep calm and carry on, shall we?'
Tosh frowned at him, looking hurt. 'That's not funny, Owen.'
'Too bloody right it's not,' he agreed, returning her comment with his harsh rebuke.
'But… could we even keep something like this a secret?' Gwen asked, voicing the question that was playing on all their minds in the event that Jack wasn't coming back.
'Jack had regular calls with the PM, the Home Office and a few other agencies. I don't know how you fake that.'
'There's voice manipulation software,' Tosh offered. 'Or text to speech conversion. And we've got thousands of samples from the CCTV recordings.'
'Yeah, and who's going to try and pretend to be Jack?' Owen asked. No one volunteered themselves to try and replicate Jack's singularly unique communication style. Assuming any of them knew what was actually discussed during those calls.
'Maybe we're all being dumbos about this,' Gwen said. 'He could come back tomorrow.' She searched their faces for agreement. 'Right?'
'So, what do we do?' Three faces looked at Owen as they fell, for the first time, into a completely unified silence. One thing they could all agree on was that they had no idea what to do.
