They left the SUV in one of the dark side streets. Jack, in front, led Janet by the hand. Gwen and Tosh followed directly behind him, with Ianto bringing up the rear. Jack had tried to talk the women into staying at the Hub but all he had gotten was a nasty sneer from Gwen and a threat to kick him in his privates from Tosh. He had given in, but had privately asked Ianto to keep an eye on them. Ianto had rolled his eyes at him but nodded.

As they passed a parking garage, Ianto stopped them briefly. “Too full. This is a city lot for office workers. It should be empty at this time of night.” He tapped his earpiece. “Andy? Yeah... A concerned citizen wants to report that there's something going on in the city lot on the other side of the Caspian Point office building. Yes... Good.” He closed the connection and grinned at the others. “Whoever manages to get back to his car will find a welcome committee.”

They went past the fancy restaurants and clubs. Jack kept a light glamour over Janet; whoever looked in their direction saw two couples taking their grandmother out to dinner, a common enough sight in Cardiff. When they got to the place where they had last seen Owen, they stopped, and Jack gave Janet one of Owen's lab coats.

“Here, Janet. This belonged to Owen. You remember Owen? He's with the weevils. Can you find them?”

She brought the lab coat to her nose and gave a piteous whine. Owen was her primary caretaker. He had been the one who had found her , howling over the corpse of her newborn child. He had helped her bury it and then had brought her to the Hub, fed her, cleaned her up, and treated her injuries. Owen pretended it was all part of his ongoing study of weevil biology, but Jack knew that he worried about Janet. More than once he had found the doctor checking up on her on the CCTV feed when she was ill, or bringing her a box of her favorite biscuits. She looked for him and had sometimes refused to eat if anyone but Owen brought her food.

“Owen, Janet. Find Owen?”

She whined one more time, but this sound had an odd command to it. She turned and loped off into the dark. They ran after her, past shuttered or boarded-over warehouses until they reached the end of the paved street. Here everything had been demolished. The only thing standing was a two-story building, set right at the water line, with wide rails leading into the bay. The wide esplanade in front of it was lit only by the light of a single lamp post on the other side of the gravel road.

“Shipyard,” Ianto whispered. “Small wooden boats. Bespoke. Very expensive.”

Tosh pointed the scanner she was holding at the building. “At least fifty heat signatures in there, Jack. I don't think we can mount an assault on the place.”

“I wouldn't be so sure,” Gwen said, looking over her shoulder. “We've got reinforcements.”

Jack was startled to see weevils coming out of the shadows. He had never seen that many in one place. They arranged themselves in a wide semi-circle around the team. Their attention was centered on Janet, who stood, head slightly cocked to one side, as if listening for something. Then, just as Jack was beginning to think nothing would happen, Janet growled low in her throat and set off at a loping run towards the building.

They ran after her. The strangeness of it all struck Jack as hilarious and he had to stop himself from chortling. Next to him, Gwen was actually giggling.

“The charge of the weevil brigade,” she gasped as she ran. “I don't think...”

She ducked instinctively as a stream of light shot out from Toshiko's hand and struck the door. The wood flexed and warped and then exploded inwards, taking a good portion of the frame with it. Jack didn't even have time to remonstrate with his technologist. Janet hit the front steps and kept moving through the gaping hole, and he followed her at full speed.

The ground floor of the building was a cavernous, high-ceilinged open expanse suitable for housing hulls. There was a small cluster of offices at one end. All the ship building equipment had been removed and a large steel cage, more or less the size and shape of a boxing ring, had been built in the center. The mezzanine floor above had been gutted and turned into a viewing balcony. The balcony railings were jammed with men and women in evening clothes, looking shocked and terrified as weevils poured in. Maddened, fully awake weevils.

The people around the cage – the ones who had wanted to be close to the action – were desperately trying to push their way out through boarded -up windows or the repair bay doors at the far end, but they couldn't budge them. The weevils moved in, herding them back into the middle of the room.

Jack perceived it all in a single glance, but didn't stop for details. “Gwen, Tosh, clean out the upstairs. Ianto, with me!”

They set off after Janet, who was making a beeline for the offices. As they reached the doors, one of them slammed open, and a man lunged out, a gun in his hand. He shot Janet twice. The weevil dropped like a stone. Leaping over her body, the man tried to run for the door, but he brought up face to face with Ianto. The sudden appearance of a man right in front of him tore a scream out of him, a scream that was cut short when Ianto slammed his fist on the side of his neck. As he fell, Ianto calmly removed the gun from his hand.

Janet's shooting had sent a commotion through the weevil ranks. They stopped as one, raised their faces, and howled, a long, mournful wail that raised the hackles of everyone present. Many people put their hands over their ears as if to shut it out. The wail died down and in the sudden silence the rhythmic slap-slap of the waves against the ship railway outside could be heard in the room, sounding eerily like a heartbeat.

“Owen's not up here, Jack,” Gwen called down.

Jack looked up to see the mezzanine spectators huddled against the wall, pinned in place by his two female operatives, both holding large guns and looking rather as if they were daring someone to do something foolish. He noticed no one was taking them up on it.

Downstairs, however, one of the men in evening clothes decided he would try to bluff his way out of the situation. He pushed his way through the crowd. “What's going on here? Who the hell do you think you are?”

Jack ignored him and started for one of the other offices. The man tried to lunge at his back, but was stopped by a single gunshot that chipped the marble between his legs and sent him scrambling backwards.

“We would prefer if you stayed with your group, sir,” Ianto said in a butlerish voice that had Jack grinning. “And as for who we are, we are Torchwood.”

“And that's supposed to scare me? Do you know who I am? My father can...”

As he spoke he swaggered towards Ianto. Unfortunately he came too close to a weevil, and in his need to intimidate decided he would push it out of the way. When the weevil felt the touch he reacted as a weevil would towards another weevil. The massive paw came around in a wide arc and caught the man in the center of the chest. Between weevils it would have been considered a warning. In this case, it broke the man's breastbone and drove a piece of rib straight into his heart. Blood bubbled up in his mouth and he slid to the floor.

“Anyone else?” Ianto asked softly. “These are not doped up. Which one of you brave men want to take on an alert weevil?” There was no sound as the group drew itself in even more tightly. “Wise choice.”

Jack came out of the office. “He's not here either.”

Ianto closed his eyes and turned in a wide circle. Suddenly, he stopped, and, opening his eyes, pointed into the crowd. “Jack...”

Jack made a complex gesture with his right hand. In the middle of the crowd, a paunchy middle-aged man with his arms around a much younger man gasped and fell to his knees. As he collapsed the glamour fell away and they saw Mark Lynch holding his throat with one hand, his other one still keeping a possessive grip on the young man's leg. The young man – a rather beautiful young thing dressed in the best style – kicked out and caught him above the hip. Lynch gave a short scream and let go. Released, the image of the boy blurred and dissolved as if someone had thrown acid on a painting. In his place was Owen, looking like murder.

The crowd drew back as Ianto moved to put Mark Lynch in handcuffs. Where they had been between terrified and angry, now they were completely cowed by the easy demonstration of Jack's power. Owen pushed his way through them and went to kneel at Janet's side.

“Oh, sweetheart, what have they done to you?” He looked up. “Damn it, Jack, did you have to use her like this?”

“She volunteered,” Jack said calmly. “Can you do anything for her?”

Owen didn't answer. He tore away the boiler suit to examine the wound. It was obviously deep, and blood was still flowing from it. Owen pressed his hands on either side of it and closed his eyes. The sensitives in the room felt the healing magic flow out of him and enter the weevil's body. Heat built up around them until sweat was running down Owen's back.

“He's going to put himself in hospital at this rate,” Ianto whispered to Jack.

Lynch laughed. “For a weevil?”

“I would prefer,” Ianto said, twisting the handcuffs until Lynch's arm was high behind him and the man was grimacing, “if you kept your mouth shut. Understanding kindness and selflessness is beyond you anyway.”

Suddenly a low, throbbing hum filled the room. It was coming from the weevils' throats. Someone screamed. The air thickened, almost as if the oxygen was being sucked from it, then Janet's body heaved and she opened her eyes. Owen sat back on his heels, breathing hard.

“All right,” Jack said, turning back to the crowd, “you idiots can go. You better hurry, though. Those are police sirens in the distance.”

“What about me?” Lynch asked with a sneer. “Weevils aren't human. There aren't any laws against treating them like animals. I might get a few months for cruelty to animals but that will be that. And I have enough high-priced solicitors that it won't even get to that.”

“But we're not turning you over to the civil courts.” Jack bared his teeth in a humourless smile. “You're for the Church, and may God have mercy on your soul.”

“You can't do that!”

“Actually I'm one of the few that can. You will, of course, be allowed to contact your solicitors. They will explain it all to you.”

“You bastard,” Lynch hissed. “You think you're untouchable, don't you? You're not, you know. It's coming for you, Harkness. I've seen it. “ He touched his temple. “There's a darkness coming for you.”

“Probably. But not tonight.” Jack turned to the weevils. “You must go now. We'll look after her.”

There was a moment's stillness, and then a low growl came from Janet's throat. They weevils shuffled towards the gaping hole on the wall where the door used to be and then broke into a run. As if released from some sort of spell, the humans in the room began to run too, the ones in the mezzanine nearly killing themselves in their rush to get downstairs.

“Owen,” Jack asked. “Can Janet travel?”

“Yes. I might be the one with the problem,” Owen half-joked. “I'm exhausted.”

Gwen and Tosh ran to him and helped him to stand. Jack lifted Janet in his arms. “Let's go.”

They were met by Andy and Kathy Swanson, and were relieved of Mark Lynch. The trip back to the Hub was done in silence. Once there, Jack helped Owen settle Janet down in her room while Ianto made coffee and Tosh and Gwen compiled the files that would be presented to the Bishop's Court. It took several hours to finish, and by then they were all yawning.

“Let's head home. Don't argue with me, Owen.” Jack handed him a monitor. “It's set up so you can keep an eye on Janet. If she goes into any sort of distress the monitor will beep you. Everyone on the slab.”

They crowded together as the slab moved up. The cold morning air was charged with moisture, but it hadn't began to rain yet. Ianto chuckled and nudged Gwen, who was leaning on his shoulder, eyes closed.

“Hey, Gwennie, you have a ride home.”

Her eyes snapped open and she looked around. Rhys was standing a short distance away, looking towards the tourist office. She let go of Ianto's arm and jumped off the slab.

“Rhys!” She ran to him and nearly threw herself into his arms before she remembered what stood between them. Instead she reached out to place a tentative hand on his cheek. “Rhys?”

He smiled at her, and went down on one knee, offering the ring box up. “Will you marry me, Gwen?”

She took the box then pulled at Rhys's jacket until he stood up. This time she did throw herself at him, so hard that he staggered back.

“Oi, girl, let's not end this in the fountain, yeah?”

They heard applause and catcalls and looked around to find the rest of the team cheering them on. Gwen laughed and pulled Rhys's face down for a proper snog.

“You can't go back on it now,” she whispered when they lips finally parted. “I've got witnesses.”

“Same goes, wife. Same goes.”