Rift Storms

Chapter 3

AN: We finally have our two groups of characters meeting each other. Yay!

Curtis groaned as a sudden gust of wind blew the plastic bag he had been about to pick up a good four feet out of his reach. As he walked over to pick it up, a black SUV squealed to a stop in the community center parking lot, and a man in a vintage World War Two coat jumped out of the drivers seat.

"What the hell…" Curtis muttered under his breath.

The man was yelling orders to a small group of somewhat carsick looking people who had stumbled out of the SUV. "Tosh and Owen, you search the ground floor, Ianto and I will search the top floor. Gwen, you start questioning the other community service workers." The man said, gesturing towards Curtis before turning back to the group of people in front of him. "Let me know if you find him."

The group dispersed, and a freckled woman approached them, flashing a gap-toothed smile. "Excuse me, my name is Gwen Cooper. I'd like to ask you three a few questions, if that's all right?"

"What kind of questions?" Curtis asked, watching the rest of the group disappear inside the community center.
"It's about Nathan Young. Have you noticed anything unusual about him these past couple of weeks?"

A brief memory passed through Curtis' mind of Nathan gleefully rearranging the contents of Simon's locker just to, as he put it, 'see what would happen'.

"No, he was just his usual self." Curtis replied, entirely truthfully.

The welsh woman stared at him, expression suddenly hardening.

"So I suppose that falling off a roof and being impaled on a fence is normal, then?"

"They know." Gwens voice sounded over the comms. "I just talked to one of the community service workers about Nathan Youngs previous death, and he fed me some story about how that was apparently an over-complicated life insurance scam."
Jack snorted in open amusement. "Tell me you don't actually believe that."
Gwen huffed in annoyance. "Of course not, but I think its fair to assume that the other community service workers are in on… whatever this is, and are trying to cover it up."

Jack nodded. "Do you think they're the ones who altered the cities records?"

Beside him, Ianto rolled his eyes. "Any one with the skill to do that would have come up with a more believable cover story."

Silently, Jack agreed. "Well in any case, see what you can figure out." As they turned a corner they saw a pair of people in the orange jumpsuit that marked a community service worker. "Got to go." He said, tapping the commlink off.

He approached them, flashing his all-too charming smile and holding out a hand in greeting. "Captain Jack Harkness, and who are you?"

The boy shook Jacks hand awkwardly. "Um, I'm Simon."

"Well it's a pleasure to meet you, Simon. And who's your friend?" he asked, winking at the girl beside him.
The girl just raised an eyebrow and stared at Jacks outstretched hand, making absolutely no effort to shake it. "Alisha."

Jacks hand is still suspended in the air and Ianto has to stifle an entirely uncharacteristic laugh. "She's immune to you."

Jack sticks his hand in his pocket, pouting dramatically, and Ianto figures it's time to get back to business.

"We were actually hoping that we could ask you some questions about Nathan Young."
Immediately, the girl's expression became cold. "What kind of questions?" She asked in a way that implied that she would not be cooperating.

"Did he come in to community service today?" Ianto asked politely.

"Yeah, what about it?"

Jack and Ianto shared a look.

"That's unusual, considering he's dead." Jack said, studying their reactions. The two immediately glanced at each other, shock and worry showing on their faces. More telling was the fact that neither of them showed any hint of disbelief or incredulity at his sudden and somewhat bizarre statement. That certainly was a point in favor of Gwen's theory that the other community service workers were some how accomplices in this- he couldn't call it a crime without knowing for sure just what the hell was happening, but it was definitely a situation. A situation that was just getting stranger by the minute.

"Now, we did a bit of research before we got here, and we know that the two of you were present at his funeral. So how about you tell us what exactly is going on here?" Jack asked, voice cold and predatory.

"We don't know anything." Simon said, a bit too quickly to be convincing.

Jack smiled. "Right, and Sherlock didn't have a thing for Watson."

Simon and Alisha blinked at the strange reply.

"Well?" Jack asked, and it became clear that he wasn't going to leave.

Alisha gave Simon a nervous look. "Warn Nathan." She whispered urgently before grabbing Jacks hand and providing the most effective distraction that anyone could ever ask for.

Simon ran.

Jack was not entirely sure what exactly happened when the frizzy haired girl grabbed him, but the next thing he knew, he was lying on the ground with a massive headache and his shirt had been inexplicably ripped open.

"Honestly, Jack, there's a time and a place for that sort of thing." Ianto's voice sounded from above him.

"What just happened?" Jack muttered. He hadn't felt this disoriented since he had drunk that entire bottle of hypervodka he found in the Torchwood archives a few decades back without realizing that his tolerance for the stuff had entirely disappeared after over a hundred years of making due with 21rst century alcohol.

"Well, she touched you, and then you started ripping your cloths off and talking in some language I've never heard before."

"I started talking in a different language? What did I say?"
Ianto rolled his eyes, muttering something about how it was so typically Jack to be more concerned about something he said rather then his rapid attempts to disrobe before making a noise that sounded suspiciously like-

"Tell me that I didn't really say that." Jack groaned.

"What's it mean?"

"It's a declaration of undying love in 51rst century Standard Galactic. Ugh, that's embarrassing, I'm never that sappy."

Ianto arched an eyebrow as if to say 'you think?' "I figured that might be the case when you started kissing the poor girl rather passionately. I had to hit you over the head with a broom handle to get you off of her. You are back to normal now, aren't you?" He asked, sounding concerned and just a little bit ticked.

"Yeah, I think so. I… don't remember any of that happening." Jack said, slowly standing up. "Where did they go?" He asked, motioning toward the empty hallway.

"Simon ran off as soon as she grabbed you, and Alisha followed as soon as I managed to pull you off her. I would have gone after them but I wanted to make sure whatever she did to you didn't have any lasting effects."

Jack nodded before breaking out into a grin. "And I bet that you're disappointed as hell that there weren't any."

Ianto rolled his eyes. "Like I said, there's a time and a place, and this isn't it."

"Spoilsport."

"Come on, we have a job to do."

Simon bolted down the stairs, finding Nathan getting a drink from the vending machines, or rather, Nathan viciously attack the machine while Kelly watched with a vague air of annoyance.

"You have to get out of here- there were these men, they were looking for you. They knew that you died."

Nathan turned around. "Sorry, did you say something Barry?"

Simon pushed down a surge of anger and stared at Nathan. "Do you remember when I said that people coming after us?"

"Not so much, no."

"Well that's happening. Right now. There were these men upstairs, and they were asking about how you died and then came back to life. Alisha's distracting them, but I don't know how long-"

"Alisha's distracting them?" Nathan asked; face breaking out into a grin. "Now this I've got to see."
"This is serious, Nathan!" Simon shouted, when another pair of strangers rounded the corner. Almost instantly, the Japanese woman's eyes rounded in shock and both she and the man she was with drew guns and pointed them at Nathan.

"Can I help you?" Nathan asked, still refusing to take the situation seriously.

"Step away from the others and put your hands up." The man said slowly.

"Alright, allright, no need to shout." Nathan said, nonchalantly complying with the mans demands. "So what's this about then?"

"You're dead." The Japanese woman stated. "So why aren't you still dead?"

"Well that's obvious." Nathan said, pointedly ignoring Simons glares. "I'm immortal!"

"What the hell did you tell them that for, you prick?!" Kelly shouted in disbelief.

Alisha appeared, running down the stairs. "There are more of them?" She asked in distress.

"Sorry." Simon muttered, wishing that just this once, Nathan had listened to him.

"Owen, Tosh, under no circumstances let that girl touch you!" The American man who had questioned Alisha shouted as he ran down the stairs. Alisha shied away from the two guns and joined her friends.

"Where's Curtis?" Simon whispered urgently as he searched futilely for any possible escape routes. The only way he could see to get out of this situation without having their powers discovered was if Curtis was able to rewind time and convince all of them to go into hiding before any of these people found them, but Curtis was frustratingly absent at the moment, and these people and their guns were blocking the way to the exit.

The American man tapped a device on his ear. "Gwen, we found him. Come to the south side of the Community Center. Ground floor, get here as soon as you can. Bring the witness, he's defiantly involved." He turned towards the group of young offenders. "All right then. I think it's about time we got an explanation, don't you?"

"He said that he's immortal, Jack." Tosh said, eyes darting towards her leader, as the man standing next to her muttered something suspiciously similar to 'told you so'.

The man, Jack apparently, narrowed his eyes. "How is that possible?"

Nathan just grinned like an idiot, apparently still not realizing just how serious this situation was. "Well, there was this weird storm, and it gave us all superpowers."
"Wait, all of you?" Tosh asked.

The other young offenders glared daggers at Nathan.

"Oops." He laughed nervously.

"You are absolute shit at keeping secrets, you know that Nathan?" Kelly muttered.

"So what? You didn't all become immortal, did you?"
"Just Nathan." Simon whispered. "It affected us all differently."
"Ah." Jack said, realization dawning on his face. "I'm guessing that your power explains what happened upstairs then."

"Yeah." Alisha nodded. "When I touch people, it makes them want to have sex with me."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Not bad. But I'd appreciate it if you would at least buy me a drink first next time."

"There isn't going to be a next time." Alisha spat, with a bit more venom then was necessary, since it was obvious that the man was joking. "It's a bullshit power anyway, makes it so I can't touch anyone."
"Couldn't you just wear gloves?" Tosh muttered to herself.

Alisha opened her mouth to protest but then paused, because that really was a pretty good idea.

"What about the rest of you?"

"Well, weird kid over there can turn invisible- probably uses it to sneak into the girls locker room if you ask me. Curtis can go back in time and Kelly can read minds."
"The storm did all that?" Ianto muttered in shock.

"Jack, do you have any idea what could have caused them all to develop such strange symptoms?" Owen asked.
"I don't know." Jack admitted. "I've never seen anything like this. We're going to need to run some tests- Gwen, there you are." He looked up at a dark haired woman who was escorting Curtis back into the community center.

"What the fuck is going on?" Curtis shouted at Nathan. "This woman, she knows your immortal. I think she's from the police."

Simon felt his heart skip a beat. Having their powers discovered by the authorities- there was no way that this situation could possibly get any worse.

"We're not the police." The woman said. "We're Torchwood."

Oh. It just did.

Simon had always known that one day people would come after them. That someone would somehow discover their powers and hunt them down. It was just what people did in this situation, in every sci-fi TV show and movie that he had ever seen. He had even tried to warn the others. They hadn't listened, of course, even as all of their lives became increasingly more bizarre and dangerous. They had all been convinced that if they could just keep their heads down and pretend to be normal then they could finish their community service and get on with their lives.

But of course, it could never be that easy.

One day, someone would find out about them. About the people they had killed, however accidentally. After all, they hadn't exactly done a very good job of covering their tracks. Sure, Gary and Tony's bodies weren't likely to ever be found underneath the foundations of that environmental monitoring station, but Sally had still found out about their deaths regardless, and she wasn't a detective or even a police officer. She had found out because Nathan had a big mouth and Simon hadn't done the rational thing and immediately deleted that damned video off his phone. Simon could only imagine what kind of damning evidence a real professional could dig up.

And now, here they were, being investigated by Torchwood. An organization dedicated too removing alien and supernatural threats.

Of all the nightmare scenarios that Simon had imagined, this was by far the worst.

To be continued….

Yes, I know that Torchwood is supposed to be a secret organization, but even the show admits that Torchwood is the worst kept secret in Cardiff. And, since Simon seems to be the sort of person who would research alien conspiracy theories, he therefore knows about it. At least, that's how it works in my head.