Captain Jack and Captain Jack [for slayers_desire]

[fractured_agent]

It's been a few months since the team got their first lessons in psychic shielding, and once again, the Hub is open to April's expertise. Though he knows they're having guests, Jack doesn't push anyone to clean up the clutter so it looks better. The Hub is still a work space, and a chaotically changing one at that. They're all used to it by now, and Jack knows April won't mind.

Ianto is manning the tourist information office upstairs, as usual, and he knows that April is coming.

Comments

[fractured_agent]

She's slightly confused by that. "You want me to let you in?" She'd expected a test of her shields, working to keep April out. But she is sure that April has a reason. After all, she is the expert. And Gwen trusts her.

[slayers_desire]

"I need to see how you handled your situation, before I know what would best test your shielding."

[fractured_agent]

Gwen nods slowly. "All right. Should I just... picture what happened?"

[slayers_desire]

"Just reflect on your memories, your mind will do the rest of the work."

[fractured_agent]

"All right..." Gwen doesn't know if she needs to close her eyes, but she does anyway.

She just arrived at the Hub when reports came in that the Rift spiked, and the three at the dance hall weren't responding. She went to investigate, and found the door locked.

"Can I help you, my dear?" a voice asks from behind her. There stands Bilis Manger, looking exactly as he does in 1941. "I'm the caretaker. Bilis Manger, at your service."

Gwen finds him creepy, but doesn't have a good reason not to talk to him. He could be helpful. "Hello, can you open this up for me? I think my friends might be locked inside."

Bilis doesn't ask any questions, which upon reflection, Gwen realizes she should have found suspicious. "Of course."

Gwen looks around for close to an hour, calling their names whenever she hears the music. At one point, Jack's voice echoes through the Rift. So do Tosh's and April's. Owen joins the search, but he seems to be looking for something else. With his help, Gwen finds the equations, faded and yellowed, tucked away in the electrical box.

"Some of the equation is missing," Gwen says in worry.

But Owen takes the paper. "Right. I'll get this back to the Hub," he says brusquely, tucking it in his pocket, alongside another unseen item he found in the dance hall.

[slayers_desire]

"What was it that Owen took from the dance hall?"

[fractured_agent]

Gwen only knows the answer because she spoke to Ianto while April was testing Tosh. "Part of the Rift manipulator, the last piece needed to run it. I guess he must have found it in the dance hall while we were searching, but I don't know why it would'be been there."

[slayers_desire]

"Bilis..." April replies, without even needing to think twice.

[fractured_agent]

Gwen isn't too terribly surprised, but it is a sort of frightening thought. Who or what is this man who seems to never change, no matter how many years pass? And why is he toying with Torchwood? "Not much happened after that... Owen went back to the Hub, and I heard him and Ianto shouting at each other over the comms. Then a gunshot, and the next thing I heard was you all."

[slayers_desire]

"I think you handled the situation well."

[fractured_agent]

"I did my best with what I had," Gwen says modestly, though she's pleased by the praise.

[slayers_desire]

"For the next while, I want you to concentrate on using your concern to build stronger mental shields. You care about others... fuel your mental shielding with your natural instincts."

[fractured_agent]

Puzzling instructions, but Gwen is up to the challenge. "I'll try," she says with a nod.

[slayers_desire]

"You will do fine Gwen. You have a strong heart," said April.

[fractured_agent]

"Do you want me to try now, or are you ready for Ianto?"

[slayers_desire]

"You need a little more time to practice centering yourself, but you did well for today. Send in Ianto."

[fractured_agent]

"All right. Thank you, April." Gwen smiles at her, then goes to get the next 'student.'

Ianto is calm and collected, with no sign of his earlier terseness that he showed towards Owen. Nor does he feel particularly bothered by having to shoot him. His shields are pretty solid, allowing only surface readings, as he's recalled his earlier training and built on it.

[slayers_desire]

"I sense that you are handling your mental shields well, Ianto."

[fractured_agent]

"I've been practicing, ma'am," Ianto replies.

[slayers_desire]

April is not sure how to test Ianto, he shows very little of himself. "Tell me about your argument with Owen."

[fractured_agent]

"Rule number one of Torchwood Three is you don't mess with the Rift," Ianto says, quoting one of the first things Jack told him when he was hired. "The Rift manipulator is only to be used in the most dire of circumstances, and only when we have every single number needed to calculate. I wanted Gwen to keep looking, but Owen didn't care. He said he's tired of being in awe of the Rift." His tone makes it clear what he thinks of that opinion. You can be tired of being in awe of tornadoes too but it won't stop them from destroying everything.

[slayers_desire]

"Were you aware that he wanted to open the Rift for another reason?"

[fractured_agent]

"Yes. That was the other half of the argument." Ianto has a little bit of sympathy for Owen, but not a lot. "Before Christmas, a group of people came through the Rift from 1953. Unlike this time, we had no way to send them back. Owen became involved with one of them, a woman named Diane. After a few days she decided to take her chances with the Rift and flew into it. He's been rather... obsessed with getting her back."

[slayers_desire]

"It might not be possible to get her back..." April knows how pointless a situation like this can be. Even Jack himself faced it, since he was unable to do anything to help the real Captian Harkness.

[fractured_agent]

"It is almost certainly impossible. And opening the Rift without any sort of guidance to get her back is foolishness." That's why Ianto has no regrets about what he chose to do. "He needs to accept that she's gone, and she left of her own accord. His desperation might have doomed us all."