Torchwood Fic: The Hour of the Wolf (4/10)

[merucha]

Title: The Hour of the Wolf (4/10)

Author: Emma

Characters: Jack Harkness, Ianto Jones, Torchwood Three team and their offspring

Rating: R

Disclaimer: Oh, please. If I owned them, would I let some of those idiots write the scripts? And if I were making any money off them, would I be where they could find me?

Spoilers: None. This takes place in my Homecoming AU, four years or so after The Eye of Neith.

Summary: Something is happening in St. Catherine’s Glen, and whatever it is will change the Cooper-Williams family forever…

Part one is here
Part two is here
Part three is here

 

            Gwen pressed her forehead against the glass and stared down at the ground rushing past. Somehow, as the years had passed, she had come to believe that she had succeeded in keeping the madness that was Torchwood away from her children. It wasn’t that she was ashamed of what she did; but it was dangerous, terrifying, exhilarating stuff, and she wanted normality for her children. She gave a chuckle that was half sob. She should have known her kids would inherit her attraction to all the glittery things with sharp edges.

 

            And now her boys had run into the Torchwood buzz-saw.

 

            She grabbed Rhys’s hand and pressed their palms together. God, he had put up with so much over the years! He was the core of the family, the rock that kept all of them grounded. It had been touch-and-go at the beginning, what with her own infatuation with Jack, and Rhys’s alpha-male need to establish his primacy in her life. But they had worked through it, and had emerged with a strong marriage and a solid family that, amazingly enough, had come to include the man whose presence had nearly wrecked it in the first place. Even Rhys acknowledged that “Uncle Jack” had saved their sanity more than once as the twins hit puberty. And funny enough, Rhys was the only one who seemed to find the sight of a partnered, monogamous Jack Harkness totally natural. Deep down the poor sod’s  a romantic, cariad, he had told her once when she had worried about Ianto’s standing in Jack’s life, and now he has someone who matches him strength for strength. Jack doesn’t need anyone else.

 

            She felt the helicopter start its descent. Jack had commandeered the fastest ship in UNIT’s hangar; the look on the Captain’s face was enough to cut through the usual red tape. They had been on their way to Scotland fifteen minutes after driving past UNIT’s checkpoints. Now they were landing in the helipad of what looked like a hospital or clinic in the outskirts of a picturesque small town. Several vehicles, including an SUV similar to their own, were parked in the access road beyond. A small group of people waited beside them.

 

            As soon as the helicopter landed, Jack opened the door and jumped out, keeping low to avoid the still-whirling blades. A woman detached herself from the waiting group and rushed to meet him.

 

            “Captain Harkness, I’m Jane MacLeish from…” Her eyes slid past him to the three people coming up behind him and she stiffened in shock. “Ianto!”

 

            “Jane!” Ianto opened his arms and she threw herself into them, hugging him tightly. “It’s been a long time.”

 

            “I thought you had left Torchwood,” she said, almost accusingly. “Off gallivanting with your camera.”

 

            “He came back.” Jack smiled easily, tucked her hand in the crook of his elbow and hurried them all along towards the SUV. “So, Jane, you and Ianto, Canary Wharf?”

 

            She tossed a laughing look over he shoulder at a grinning Ianto, who was walking along with Rhys and Gwen.  

             “Yes, sir. He was assigned to our team as researcher in several cases.” She sobered up quickly. “We were in the Philippines when… it happened. The four of us came back to nothing. Mike and Allan chose retcon. Ianto helped Gordon and I join Torchwood Two. Such as it is.”

 

            “Archie not living up to his reputation?”

 

            She snorted with amusement. “No, that he does. In spades. It’s just that, after London, everything seems so low key.”

 

            “Well, if it’s excitement you wanted, you’ve got it.” Jack opened the passenger-side door on the SUV. “I’ll drive. It’s a familiar road. Ianto, Gwen, Rhys, in the back. We can all get the information at the same time. Jane MacLeish, Rhys and Gwen Cooper-Williams.”

 

            “We’re doing our best to find your boys, Mr. & Mrs. Williams.”

 

            “Thank you, and it’s Rhys and Gwen. “ Rhys ushered Gwen into the car and climbed in behind her. “Jack, where are we going?”

 

            “Torchwood House. The founding place of our institution.” Jack waited until everyone strapped in then started the car and set out at his usual manic pace. “Jane, what have you found out?”

 

            “The Brethren of the Order of St. Francis is an offshoot of the Franciscans. They have been around for two hundred years or so. It was never a large group. Up to the nineteen sixties, they had three monasteries, two in Italy and one in Spain. The membership started to dwindle at that time and like most monastic orders they never managed to stem the tide. About twelve years ago the remaining monks decided to sell off all their European assets and use the money to lease the St. Catherine’s Glen property and rebuild. I spoke to the solicitors for the Durwood Estate and everything was handled legally, and there were no unusual clauses, nothing to would raise concern. There was nothing at the European end either.”

 

            *She’s not quite telling the truth, Jack*

 

            *Yeah, I get the same feeling. Maybe it’s just that she has some classified information she doesn’t know what to do with. Keep an eye on her anyway”

 

            *Will do*

 

            Jane cleared her throat. “Can I ask a question without giving offence?”

 

            “Sure,” Jack replied.

 

            “Could the boys be playing a practical joke?”

 

            “No.” Jack spoke the single word with total conviction. “They are many, many things, but stupid they’re not. Even if they were willing to piss me off, there’s still their mother. Nobody pisses off Gwen on purpose.”

 

            “Then whatever is happening started after the monks arrived here.”

 

            “Perhaps, but let’s not jump to conclusions.”

 

            “Jack,” Rhys said, “what’s this all about? All I know about the founding of Torchwood is the short, approved version. Queen Victoria created Torchwood to protect the Empire from alien threats after meeting the Doctor. What’s left out?”

 

            “All the important parts, actually. Queen Victoria was on the way back to Balmoral when she ran into the Doctor and his Companion, Rose Tyler. They all ended up staying overnight at Torchwood House, which had been taken over by a group of monks from the monastery at St. Catherine’s Glen. The monks were under the control of a lupine wavelength haemovariform alien. They were using a local boy to act as host. It made him change to a werewolf with the full moon. Anyone bitten by the host when it was in lupine form would become a werewolf also, and could pass on the infection to others. The alien wanted to take over the Empire and infecting the Royal Family was to be the first step. The Doctor destroyed the host and saved Queen Victoria, who repaid him by overreacting in usual Victoria fashion and first knighting him and then banishing him from Earth and creating the Torchwood Institute.”

 

            “But what does this have to do with the boys? It’s not bloody likely they could use them to take over anything in this day and age.”

 

            “Don’t underestimate your children, Rhys. But in this case I agree with you. Haemovariforms are basically unstable. They can’t hold on to its host without doing a great deal of damage, so they have to change hosts often. Maybe the boys were tagged because they are foreigners to the region. Less mess if they don’t have to use locals.”

 

            “But if the Doctor destroyed it…”

 

            “All they needed were a few cells that could be implanted in a host. It’ll pass from one host to the other, growing and maturing as it goes.” Jack drummed on the steering wheel. “The last time it was defeated only because the Doctor was around, quite accidentally, and because Sir Robert MacLeish’s father had done a lot of research into the local werewolf legend and had prepared for trouble.”

 

            “MacLeish?” Gwen said softly. “Relations of yours, Jane?”

 

            “No ma’am. Same family name, but there are MacLeishes all over the central part of Scotland. I’m a Borderer myself, my family looks to the Kerrs. The MacLeishes of Torchwood House were associated with the MacPhersons.”

 

            The SUV slewed through the Torchwood House gates and came to an abrupt stop in the courtyard. An identical vehicle was parked by the front doors, which were standing wide open. Blood stained the steps and someone had left a bloody handprint on the brass plaque above the doorbell.

 

            “Weapons, everyone. Gwen, Rhys, with me. Jane, Ianto, rear.”

 

            Jack charged up the steps. The entrance hall was spattered with blood. Two men in clothes resembling military camouflage lay face down on the parquet floor. A third man, dressed in an ordinary business suit, had managed to crawl half-way up the stairs. He was still alive but the rasping sounds coming from his chest did not hold out much hope. Jack waved Ianto and Gwen to the rooms at either side.

 

            “Gordon!” Jane ran past Jack to kneel by the man’s head. “What happened?”

 

            “Checked house. Everything… ok… send others out to search. Bastards…showed up... bloody, fucking…rejects from a kung-fu movie…got them, but…”

 

            Blood dribbled from his mouth and nose as his last breath rattled out.

 

            “Damn.” Jane stroked his hair for a moment then stood up to face Jack. “Now what, Captain Harkness?”

 

            “Now we go looking for our boys.”

 

            Ianto, Gwen, and Rhys emerged from the other rooms.

 

            “All clear, Jack.”

           

            “Let’s get back in the SUVs. Gwen, Rhys, with me. Ianto, with Jane.” Jack pulled a map out of his pocket. “If I were Pryce and Yan I would be making a mad dash for Torchwood House right about now. There are only a couple of places between here and St. Catherine’s Glen that can serve as camping grounds. We’ll head for those and let the boys find us.”

 

            “But the monks must know we're aware of what's going on by now. They could just lay low and wait until everything settles down. They could have taken them anywhere!” Jane objected.

 

            “No. Gordon killed the two that showed up here, so they couldn't send out an SOS. The ones out on the Glen still think their plan is working. Besides, they seem to be taking their plays from the old playbook.That means the House itself is the primary target."

 

            “It’s Torchwood they want this time around,” Ianto said softly.

 

            “Yeah, I think so. Torchwood Two sends someone up here once or twice a month for a few days, just to make sure everything is fine. Infecting that person would give them a direct pipeline to all of Torchwood, and through us, to UNIT.  A takeover of the two organizations specifically trained to deal with alien threats would leave Earth defenseless.”