The Cursed Ones

Series: Mosaic 'Verse

Word Count: ~ 49.800

Summary: Something is lurking in the dark, preying on time itself. And yet, Jack has no time to worry about that or about Owen's grief over Diane or Ianto's empathy playing havoc, because an old enemy of Torchwood One returns. Facing a threat to humankind, Torchwood and UNIT have to stand united and trust each other. Not an alliance easily forged with, since UNIT is not only a threat to Torchwood's existence, but also to Ianto's personal freedom.

Characters: Jack Harkness, Ianto Jones, Owen Harper, Toshiko Sato, Gwen Cooper, Harold Saxon, Harriet Jones, Archie, the Seer, Rhys Williams, Myfanwy, OCs

Pairing: Jack/Ianto, Gwen/Rhys, Gwen/Owen, Owen/Diane Holmes (past), Ianto/Lisa Hallett (past)

Rating: R

Spoiler: Cyberwoman, Out Of Time, Fragments, characters from Children of Earth / Doctor Who: The Empty Child, The Doctor Dances, The Parting Of The Ways, Army Of Ghosts, Doomsday, The Christmas Invasion

Setting: after Out Of Time

Warnings: Discussions of rape / dubious consent, suicide, violence, partner betrayal, alcohol abuse

Contains: Empathy, sex, language

Author's Note: I know it's been a long time and a lot of the readers of this series might have left fandom by now, but this had to be posted. This story grew much more complex than I intended it to be, which is pretty much the case for all stories of this series. I'm eternally grateful to those who waited this long for it, to my translator who is responsible for the German version and also to my beta readers, who soldiered through this with suggestions and comments.

Translation: ladycharena translated this story into German, which was a lot of hard work. Thank you!

Beta: The English version was read by larsinger29, who did this even though real life was being quite busy for her. And pechfeder read the German version and got me thinking of the sequel already. Thank you both!

Disclaimer: I'm not making money with this fanfic. The tv-shows Torchwood and Doctor Who and the characters appearing within it belong to their producers and creators. Any similarities to living or dead persons are purely coincidental and not intended.

This is part six of a series. While it's not necessary to know the prequels to understand the main plot of this story, there are references to previous parts.

Prequels:

Roots

The Enemy Within

This Crying Earth

The Golden Boy

Echoes

The Shadow Cult

xxx

Prologue

Captain Tyler Shepherd didn't think that the Christmas decoration fit the UNIT headquarters in London, far beneath the Tower. They looked rather sad on the concrete walls and the thick security doors, and in the command centre on sub-level 11, they only emanated weak light, drowned out by the harsh glow of computer screens and the blue hue the huge flat screen on the wall was causing in the dim light.

Without a doubt it had been one of the scientists who'd come up with the idea to decorate. No UNIT soldier would do this, considering their CO General Pizano didn't approve of such things. There was nothing Pizano could do about the scientists' Christmas spirit, though.

Tyler frowned at a plastic Christmas tree someone had left in a corner of the hallway and passed through yet another security door to arrive at Colonel Thompson's office door. In front of it, he straightened his uniform carefully and made sure that no unruly blonde locks were sticking out from underneath his red beret. He took a deep breath. This was an important moment for his career. He'd taken action and showed some initiative and now was the time to let his supervisor know the answer to the question he'd been brooding over for over half a year.

Tyler knocked loudly.

"Come in," the Colonel's gruff voice answered.

Tyler entered. Thompson's office didn't have any Christmas decoration at all, reflecting the man's unwavering professionalism in his place of work. Tyler had heard through the grapevine that, in private, Thompson was a nice and actually quite funny bloke, but there was no sign of that persona when he was wearing his UNIT uniform. Tyler didn't mind, though, preferring to have a professional as a CO who could teach him a lot instead of a supervisor who would treat him like a friend and not teach him anything at all.

He saluted. "Colonel Thompson, sir."

"What is it, Captain?" Thompson was reading through some files, the glasses on his strict face an unusual sight. He never wore them outside of his office. His short black hair wasn't covered by the beret, which was perched against his desk lamp. It was the only part of his uniform not in order.

Tyler cleared his throat, knowing - hoping - that his words would evoke a certain reaction. "I found something, sir. On the tapes."

Thompson raised his eyebrows. "I thought you were through with them a month ago."

"Yes, sir, but another batch was found among the last of the debris to be cleared out of the warehouse and was sent here yesterday. The techs managed to salvage some of the damage. Enough for us to …" He swallowed nervously, not quite sure if he should go as far as to say it, but at the same time proud enough of his find not to. "We found enough to make a case against someone, sir."

Thompson's expression changed from one of mild interest into one of surprise and then grim determination, as expected. Thompson got up and placed his reading glasses on the desk. "Show me."

The way back to the video lab wasn't very long, Thompson striding along behind Tyler quietly. The lab was empty when they arrived, just as Tyler had hoped, the footage he'd watched last still flickering on the five screens, frozen. Tyler offered Thompson one of the chairs before he sat himself and switched off the lights. Then, after a short intake of breath, he pressed play. The image was grizzly at best, but it was good enough to see what was going on.

Tyler cleared his throat and explained, "This is Torchwood One's basement, sir. The entryway to the garage to be exact."

He saw Thompson's brow furrow and the grim lines around his mouth deepen and knew what was causing the reaction: In the bare corridor, lit by flickering lights, there were bodies lying on the floor, pools of blood surrounding them. In other places, smears of blood led to believe that some people had been bleeding while being dragged away to be converted. Tyler felt angry just looking at this small snapshot of carnage. He hadn't been to Canary Wharf after it had happened, being on an assignment in Washington, but Thompson had been there and rumour had it that it left him shaken. His determination to find redemption was just as widely known. And now Tyler was able to present a culprit.

"Here it is, sir, look," Tyler said when he saw movement at the corner of the footage. "There he comes." Tyler didn't watch the screen, he watched Thompson's reaction to it. The way he frowned in confusion when he saw a man drag someone else towards the garage, the way his eyes widened in shock when he realized that the person being dragged was a Cyberman, the way his gaze became murderous when he realized the implications.

Finally, he hit pause and asked, "Someone helped one of those things to escape?"

"They weren't found, yet, sir. They could still be out there."

"Did we get his face?"

"It was mirrored in one of the windows of the doors. The techs say they can get a clearer image but it's going to take some time."

Thompson huffed. "Tell them to hurry up." He stared at the screen, zooming in on the figure of the man dragging the Cyberman with him.

He seemed to be young in Tyler's estimation, the suit he was wearing had probably been good quality once but clearly badly damaged by the war raging in Torchwood One. Whatever had possessed him to rescue one of those monsters from the ruins, Tyler couldn't even begin to understand.

Thompson seemed to think the same. "We've got a traitor to catch."