Title: The Queen's Magicians: Guardians (3/4)
Author: Emma
Characters: Canonical Torchwood Three members… sort of.
Rating: Some chapters definitely not safe for work.
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?
Summary: An amnesiac woman lands the team in the middle of a battle for control of one of history's greatest secrets
Author's Note: Canon calls this one Sleepers
Author's Note: Lasa is the Etruscan Fate-Goddess. Make of that what you will.... for now...

Part One is here. Part Two is here

Beth looked around curiously. “This is where you work?”

“Yep.” Gwen snickered. “Cosy, isn't it?”

Beth smiled at her as she wandered around the Hub. Their attempts at questioning her had gone nowhere. Beth had continued to insist that she couldn't remember anything about what had happened in her home, but was equally certain she hadn't hurt anyone. She claimed the burn scar on the back of her neck was the result of falling against a wrought iron fire screen as a child. Finally, by unspoken agreement, they drifted off, leaving Gwen with their guest.

“Who are you people?”

“You've never heard of Torchwood?” Gwen asked

“Of course I have! Everyone has, but that doesn't mean anyone knows anything.”

She bent to take a closer look at something resembling a mishappen microscope, only to jump back startled as Ianto suddenly appeared from behind the fountain.

“We don't sniff the sub-etheric resonator.”

“Sorry!” She stepped back, a little alarmed, before she caught the twinkle in his eyes. “This is crazy!”

“It probably seems so, yes,” Gwen said peaceably. “But there are questions we need answers to and it's our job to get them. Something strange happened at your flat. We've got to make sure you had nothing to do with it.”

Andy watched them from Tosh's work station. Gwen was playing good cop. It was her best role, because it really wasn't a role at all; that's who Gwen was. But Andy had known her for a while now, and he could tell she wasn't convinced Beth was innocent. On the other hand, Ianto, who had seemed more hostile, was actually much less certain of her guilt. Owen, being Owen, kept his own counsel, but he had made sure to position himself near the lockdown switch. Andy looked down at the open drawer where Tosh's specially-designed flechette gun lay cocked and ready.

He wondered if Beth knew she was surrounded.

The sound of the cog door alarms made everyone jump a little. Jack and Tosh came in. They both looked strained, and there was a rigidity to Jack's shoulders that Andy hadn't seen since New Year's Eve of the year 2000. Alex Hopkins' betrayal had left Jack teetering between avenging angel and ruthless monster. Only the appearance of the strange little girl, Lasa, had turned him away from either disaster. He wasn't looking forward to a repeat of those terrible few weeks.

“Gwen!” Jack barked. 'Take Mrs. Halloran to the interrogation room.”

Gwen looked up at him, startled at his tone, but stood up and took Beth's arm. “Come this way, Beth.”

Beth pulled away in a panic. “Why? What are you going to do to me? You can't treat people like this. I've been burgled, attacked! I want a lawyer, I want a phone call. If you're charging me...”

“We're not charging you with anything. We don't have to.” Jack moved closer until he was towering menacingly over her. “ And there'll be no lawyer, no phone calls, just us, and that room for as long as it takes. Now, tell me what happened!”

“I don't know!”

Gwen placed herself between them. “Beth, we're not going to do anything. We need to ask you a few questions, all right?”

She took Beth's arm again and started towards the corridor leading to the interrogation room. Beth dug in her heels and refused to budge. Andy was moving even before he had clear reason to, instinct guiding him as he made a flat dive for Beth.

He was a moment too late. She reared back, a shockingly loud wordless scream bursting from her throat as he swung away from them, vaulting upwards over the railing to land sure-footedly on the catwalk. She moved like a trained fighter, knees loose and body balanced.

“What do you think you're doing, Beth?” Jack shouted up at her. “There's nowhere to go. We can lock you inside this place and you would never find your way out.”

“I will protect!”

“Protect what, Beth?” Andy said in a much softer tone. “What must you protect?”

“The great secret...” She swayed on her feet, and she stretched her arms as if trying to keep her balance. “I must protect... “

She screamed again, and there was something in the sound that made Andy want to clamp his palms over his ears. She gripped one of the iron balusters that supported the handrail and yanked on it; unbelievably, it came loose with a screech that set everyone's teeth on edge. She turned, raising the metal bar over her head, but the swing seemed to stall in midair. Suddenly Andy was aware that Ianto was standing next to her, one hand grabbing the bar, the other pressing something against her neck. He caught her as she crumpled, easing her down to the metal grating of the catwalk. Andy made to go help him but was pushed aside by Owen. The doctor took the stairs two at a time dropping to kneel next to Beth.

“What did you use?” he asked Ianto, who turned over his hand to show a miniature air hypodermic. “Right. She'll be awake in a few minutes, then. Help me get her down.”

They brought her downstairs and put her back on the couch. This time Ianto used flexible handcuffs to tie her wrists together, and he and Andy sat to either side of her. Ianto poured a cup of coffee and added generous amounts of cream and sugar. When Beth stirred, he put one arm behind her and held the cup to her lips.

“No, don't talk. Drink this, first.”

She sipped at it, then tried to wrap her hands around the cup. When she realized her wrists were bound she threw herself backwards, desperately trying to get away from him.

“What's in the cup? What are you doing to me? It wasn't them, it was you, it was you all along.” She was working herself up into hysteria. “People say terrible things happen when Torchwood shows up...”

Andy gripped her shoulders and shook her gently. “Beth! Listen to me. We had to restrain you for your own safety...”

“No!” She screamed at him. “Liar! Liar!”

A high-pitched whistle startled her out of her rant. Everyone looked towards Tosh, who stood by her workstation, fingers still to her lips. She pointed at the oversize screen next to her desk, where the CCTV tape of the earlier events was running. The terror in Beth's face deepened as she watched herself tear the metal bar from the railing.

“It's a lie, you've made it up, people can do anything with computers these days...” She looked at each of them in turn, and found only pity. “Oh God, what's happening to me?”

“We don't know, Beth,” Ianto said. “But maybe there's a way to help you remember.”

Andy looked at Ianto in surprise. Dark empaths could retrieve memories from other people's minds, but he knew how repelled Ianto was by that part of his talent. “Ianto?”

“Help only, Andy. Jack and I have been working on a way... but it would need Beth's cooperation.”

“What do... what do I have to do?” Beth asked.

“I believe your memories have been blocked, Beth. That,” he pointed at the screen, where Beth's image was frozen in mid-swing. “is not you as you know yourself to be. Someone made you forget that Beth. And it might have caused Mike's death.”

She managed to get her hands around one of his. “And you can help me remember?”

“Only if you want to. It has to be your decision.”

She stared at the image on the screen for a long while, then took a deep breath. “Yes. I want to know. I need to know.”

Jack moved until he was standing behind Ianto. He put his hands on Ianto's shoulders. Ianto released Beth's wrists. Setting aside the cuffs, he held out his hands. Beth placed hers palm to palm with his, and their fingers intertwined.

“Close your eyes, Beth. Take deep slow breaths. Empty your mind as much as you can. Yes, like that. Would you let me in? Yes...” Ianto's own eyes closed. “Can you see it, Beth? That wall, in the distance?”

“Yes...”

“We need to get closer. Yes... like that. Let's find a crack on the wall, Beth.”

“There can't be any cracks.” Her voice had changed, seemed firmer, stronger. “Must protect the secret.”

“Protecting the secret killed Mike, didn't it, Beth?” At her nod, he pressed. “And there might be others killed. You can stop the killing, Beth. Just find that crack... yes, that's it, Beth. Take a hold of the rock, like that, yes,” their hands pressed together until the knuckles were white against the darker skin. “Now, Beth. Now.”

Beth jerked backwards, back arching until Andy thought she would break in half. He put his arms around her waist and supported her with his own body. She was shivering as if she had ague; he could hear her teeth shattering. It went on and on, until he thought her every bone would break, and then, just as suddenly as it had started, she collapsed against him.

“Release me.” The voice held no trace of the terrified woman they had brought to the Hub. He dropped his arms. She sat up, letting go of Ianto's hands. “I thank you, Mr. Jones.”

“Who are you?” Jack asked.

“I am Bethany, Knight of the Temple, Guardian of the...” She shook her head. “You need not know that. I thank you for your help, but this is not for Torchwood.”

“You're a Knight Templar?” Jack looked as gobsmacked as Andy felt. “A Templar?”

Beth nodded. “We still exist. We still have our purpose, as we had in the Holy Land.” She stood up. “I must go now. The Prior must be informed. Conditions have changed.”

“That they have,” Tosh interjected, looking up from her desktop monitor. “I've been keeping an eye on the Frates' monastery.”

“How?” Andy asked.

She smirked. “American satellite command encrypting is not all they think it is. I been redirecting it for a few seconds as it passes over the monastery. Two hours ago, several large vans left the compound. I used the French traffic cameras to track them as far as the Roscoff ferry terminal . The satellite passed over the monastery again about five minutes ago. This time I asked for an infrared reading. There isn't a heat source larger than a cat left in any of the buildings. I think all the Fratres Milites Christi are on their way to Wales.”

Andy felt the chill settle in his stomach. “And they are armed with a get-out-of-hell-no-matter-what-you-do card from the Pope.”