fractured_agent | Captain Jack and Captain Jack [for slayers

April frowns slightly. But knows Jack has good reason to rush back to the Hub. She is not sure what Bilis had planned, but she definitely wants to find out quickly.

"When we get back, you need to start taking readings of the Rift," Jack says to Tosh. "Gwen, you're on Weevil watch. We might not see effects right away, but the Rift is volatile enough that this might be a disaster in the making."

Gwen bites her lip and nods. "I still don't understand what the caretaker has to do with this."

"What do you want me to do?" April is not going to let them face this problem alone. Not if she could help.

"Help Gwen keep an eye out for any unusual activity in the city. Strange music, upset Weevils, Celtic druids showing up, anything. Messing with the Rift is dangerous; that's why we don't use the manipulator," Jack explains as they get underway. "If it was opened without all the equations needed, that's like trying to fly a passenger jet when all you know how to fly is a Spitfire. You might be able to figure it out but you're far more likely to crash."

"Sure thing." April already sets her mind to sensing unusual activity, projecting out with her voices. She doesn't need physical readings to get warnings about what might be important to note.

She also taps into the Weevil mindhive, to get a good feeling for how they might be reacting to the situation.

There's nothing yet, but it feels like the calm before the storm. Something big is brewing, like the foreshocks of a major earthquake. Something big is going to happen. Perhaps not today, maybe not tomorrow, but definitely very soon.

The Weevils are agitated, disturbed by the strange ripples in time that no one else can sense. They aren't ready to come out and attack anyone just yet, but they're definitely unsettled.

Jack drives like a madman to get back to the Torchwood garage, leaning on the horn and speeding through intersections with little regard for traffic laws. Ianto is not there to greet them.

April closes her eyes during the drive. Not only to get a better sense of what she is feeling... but also to block out the erratic driving.

"Jack. I sense a calm before the storm. Something is on the horizon..."

It is unsettling not to see Ianto there. But if he (or Owen) are injured, April should be able to sniff out the blood.

She won't smell the blood until the Hub door rolls open. Owen is pressing a wad of cloth to his shoulder to stem the bleeding from a bullethole in his shoulder. Ianto has his sidearm unholstered, but he isn't pointing it at Owen anymore. He only glances over when he hears the door. "Welcome back, sir," he says in a tense, clipped voice.

"What the hell happened?" Jack demands.

"Your bloody tea boy shot me," Owen complains.

April flinches. Of course only Jack will know it is not because she is squeamish, but the others might assume.

"Why did he do that?"

"He insisted on opening the Rift without all the numbers," Ianto replies. And while his shields are pretty good, April might pick up both their thoughts on why. The Rift recently took someone Owen cared about, even though he'd only known her for a week. And Owen refuses to believe that she left him on purpose.

"Yeah, good thing you're a crap shot, because I saved the day," Owen snipes back.

"I was aiming for your shoulder."

April does sense why Owen opened the Rift. And she is not sure how to handle the situation, since Torchwood is not her responsibility.

"We have reason to believe the equations were purposely tampered."

"You think the caretaker did it?" Gwen asks, putting the pieces together quickly. "Bilis Manger?"

"Almost certain of it," Jack replies with a nod. He looks at Owen. "Go treat your shoulder. I'll deal with you later."

Owen makes a scoffing noise, a bit put out that no one seems to be appreciating his effort to get them back, even though he had an ulterior motive. But he moves towards the autopsy room to get his tools and medkit.

April breaths a sigh of relief when the smell of blood leaves the room, once Owen heads to the morgue.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you what Bilis was planning. It is something you must face..."

Jack was afraid of that, but he understands. "He wanted us to destabilize the Rift... but why? What could he possibly stand to benefit from that?"

"Maybe he's trying to get someone or something through too," Ianto says, thinking of Owen's reasons for opening the Rift.

"So far I'm not seeing any increased activity," Tosh reports. "Everything looks as normal as it has been recently, for the most part."

"Everything will stay normal for a while... but it will come. Whatever happened today will have consequences..."

"The Weevils are also agitated, but they won't attack today."

That's something, at least. If not for April being able to predict that for them, he might have had to keep Tosh from her grandfather's birthday celebration. "Set the monitors to record automatically, then you can go to your party," Jack tells Tosh. He looks over at April. "Do you still want to do evaluations?" It's been a very busy several hours and he totally understands if she'd rather wait until later.

"I would be willing to stay for a while." She gets a sense that Jack might need her more, than the others. And the excuse of the evaluations is just as good as any...

"Better do Tosh first then, so she can get going." It's more of a formality than anything else, since April spent enough time with Tosh over the last few hours to have a good idea of how Tosh is doing under stress. Which is to say that she didn't have them up all the time, but when she did, they were fairly decent.

He also sees through to her other reason for offering to stay. And he appreciates it a lot.

"Sure thing." April seeks out a private place where she and Tosh can do.

She smiles at the other woman, "The good news is you had a decent handle on your shields, even during a stressful situation."

"I still have trouble keeping them up all the time," Tosh confesses. "It's easy to forget."

"Exactly. But now that you know that, it is something you can work on."

"I know in a stressful situation, it can be easy to forget about your mental shields."

Tosh smiles a little nervously and nods. "So what do you want me to do?"

"It can be hard to simulate stressful situations accurately, to practice those skills. But especially with something on the horizon, try your best to push your boundaries. And keep yourself mentally calm in those situations."

"I always knew I should've taken up meditation," Tosh says, with a nod. "What about right now? What should I do for the test?"

April reflects for a moment, knowing that a stressful situation would be best to test Tosh.

"Do what you can to remain balanced..." Is the only warning she will get. Then after a moment, April uses her psychic powers to simulate the sounds of a fight outside the doors. Tosh will hear the Weevils attacking. Her team members calling for help. The door will be locked though... if she tries to flee...

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