The Unexpected Rise of Director Jones
by Soledad
Summary: Jack is gone, and the rest of the Torchwood Three team must see how they manage without him.
Author's note: This is the last chapter of Part One of the "Director Jones" trilogy. The next part will deal with the Year That Never Was and the third one with the events that happened between the reset of time and Jack's return.
I've stretched the limits of the Dr Who timeline a bit because the team needed more time to at least roughly re-vamp the Hub.
This story is not beta read. All mistakes belong exclusively to me. *g*
CHAPTER 20 – Aftermath
In the next morning Gwen came in a little late, as usual, and was called into Jack's office at once… well, Ianto's office now, and it would remain his for the foreseeable future, it seemed. To her dismay, Tosh and Owen were also present, as the new department heads, although none of the newbies were which, at least, was a relief. All three were sitting behind the desk, like some sort of ridiculous committee.
"Sit down, Gwen," Ianto gestured towards the single chair in front of the desk. "We have serious matters to discuss, and it would be good for you if you actually listened, for a change."
Gwen threw herself onto the chair in a way that clearly showed her annoyance. Ianto appeared unimpressed by the display.
"We didn't have the time to discuss your situation in any detail so far," he begun, "so we'll be doing it now. While Jack was the leader of Torchwood Three, you could take liberties no-one else was allowed to. You knew Jack was attracted to you, at least physically, and you tried to use that attraction as a means of controlling him. You never had any true respect for him as our boss and you had no respect for your team, despite the fact that you're the most inexperienced rookie."
Offended, Gwen opened her mouth to protest, but Ianto gave her a look that could have frozen Hell over, and she actually had the common sense to shut up.
"You had no sense of duty or discipline, either," Ianto continued. "You came in late most of the time, you went home when you wanted, you insisted on taking time off and when you got called on it you declared it was because of Rhys and that Jack insisted you didn't let your relationship slide. Had you behaved like this while your were still with the police, they'd have fired you after the first month."
Again, Gwen seemed as if she'd wanted to say something, but Ianto didn't leave her the time to do so.
"All that is going to change," he went on. "You will be constantly monitored at work, just in case you might get the idea of contacting UNIT or any other organisation behind my back again. The moment you arrive in the morning – and you will arrive on time from now on – you are to log into your computer. Whatever you do while logged in will be recorded; Mainframe has been instructed accordingly. You will log out before you leave, and a daily report of the hours and actual work you do will be forwarded to me. Your phone is to be turned off, unless you are on lunch break, during which you will be logged out of the system. During your three-month test period you won't be able to access any outside sites except for the ones on an approved list and won't have access to the internal databases. For the next two weeks you are on unpaid suspension and afterwards, for the duration of your trial period, on restricted duty. You won't leave the Hub, not even if there's a full-team call-out. At the most, you will be allowed to run the call, should everyone else be needed in the field."
At that point Gwen couldn't remain quiet any longer. "What? I'm better suited for field work than any of you! I used to be a police constable!"
"You walked the beat," Owen commented dryly. "You couldn't even fire a gun before you came to us – and didn't show much headway in that area ever since."
"You will also need refresher courses on computer research and the use of advanced technology," Ianto completely ignored Owen's sarcastic comment. "Playing solitaire during work and sending stupid pictures to your friends doesn't cover the area of technical savviness. There will also be additional training in basic first aid and proper procedures for paperwork – which you'll do yourself, instead of trying to rope in Sally to do it for you as you used to do with me; not that she'd be willing, but let's just lay down the law once and forever. All these courses must be validated by Tosh, Owen or myself before you will be considered for return to full field agent."
Gwen flung herself back in her chair and sent a death glare at Ianto who ignored it with practiced ease.
"As part of the new protocols I'm going to establish for the team, you'll be required to dress in a more appropriate manner," he continued. "If you're unsure what would be appropriate, take a look at Tosh or Sally. This is a workplace, not a disco, and you're not a teenager any more. Once your trial period has expired the three of us will meet and we will discuss if you have managed to grow up to our expectations."
"And what if I don't?" Gwen snarled; she didn't actually seem worried that she might not – she just wanted to be obnoxious. "Are you gonna Retcon me? You know it won't work."
"Oh, trust me, it will. When I administer the dosage, you won't even remember your name when I'm done with you," Ianto replied coldly. "Don't bait me, Gwen. After all that you've done, including being stupid enough to let out the Bruydac host cos you, once again, wouldn't follow the simplest of orders, I won't hesitate to Retcon you back to your diapers," he pushed a sheet of paper – some kind of computer print-out – across the desk to her. "Here you have it in a written form. Read it and sign it – if you want to remain with Torchwood, that is. If you don't, we can break out the Retcon right here and right now. Otherwise, we'll see you in two weeks… on time."
Gwen angrily scribbled her name on the document, shoved it back in Ianto's direction, then stormed off, slamming the door behind her with unnecessary force. The others followed her on the security cameras until she cleared the Hub, got into her car and drove off.
"Well," Ianto said wearily. "That was… unpleasant. Let's hope it's going to work."
"I wouldn't put my hopes too high," muttered Owen.
"I don't, actually," Ianto replied. "But I had to give it a try. Now, let's discuss the really pressing matters. Here's our schedule for the next week or so; assuming that the Rift behaves, we'll have a lot to do, in several different areas."
To everyone's relief, the Rift did behave in the next couple of days, so they all could have a decent amount of sleep between work shifts. Tosh, Trevor and Mickey spent those days with dismantling the Bruydac ship and incinerating everything that seemed to have been related to the implantation machine in any way. Then they sorted out the rest of the technology for further study, leaving the organic parts for Owen and Lloyd.
Ianto kept away from the scene. It woke too many Cyberman reminiscences, and he tried to remember Lisa as she had been before Canary Wharf: the funny, bright, warm-hearted girl he had loved and planned to spend the rest of his life with.
Whatever might have gone on between him and Jack – and Ianto still couldn't quite give it a fitting name – it was very different from what he'd shared with Lisa. His time with Lisa had been the time of innocence, a time of hope for a bright future – things that were now irreversibly lost. He had accepted that and moved on, even if it never ceased to hurt.
With Jack, it could have worked eventually, despite Owen's cruel jokes… had Jack not left without as much as a backward glance. Whether there was anything to be salvaged, should Jack ever come back, Ianto couldn't tell. Not yet.
Unlike Gwen, who'd behaved like a scorned bride left at the altar after Jack's departure, or Tosh who was deeply hurt and scared by the loss of the man who had protected her and saved her from prison, or Owen who was simply drowning in guilt, Ianto was willing to hear Jack out – if he ever deigned to return. He would hear Jack's side of the story, even though he, too, had felt a little cheated when he realised that Jack had simply been bidding his time for the last century and a half. He assumed that Jack had his reasons – presumably sound ones – and was willing to give the man the chance to explain himself.
Whether he'd be ready to take Jack back into his life – into his bed – was another question; one he couldn't answer just yet.
Besides, at the moment he had other, more pressing concerns than his nonexistent love life; the reorganising of the Hub being the main one of those. Not only needed they to update the security measures, in case Saxon decided to make a move against them; with the hiring of more personnel, additional workplaces would be needed… and arranged more practically than the current haphazard layout of the main working area.
The first step in the right direction was the expanding of the autopsy area into a proper med bay. The morgue itself had to stay where it had always been, as some of the cold storage drawers were linked directly to the cryo-storage units in the Vaults and therefore couldn't be moved. But they opened up several other areas that had been largely unused under the walkways, turning them into an actual sick room, an examination room and medical labs, the equipment for which Ianto simply organised from various sealed storage buildings. These had originally belonged to Torchwood One, and with the destruction of the central database he was now the only one who knew where they were and what they actually contained.
Mickey's monster truck proved to be very handy for fetching and transporting the sometimes fairly large and heavy pieces of equipment. Alien-enhanced technology was often less bulky than Earth-based one, but transferring entire labs still needed a lot of skill and storage space.
After nearly three weeks of intense reconstruction work – slowed down by the fact that they had to do everything without outside help – the med labs finally looked like something straight out of Star Trek, chock-full of medical equipment that would make the heads of high-end research institutes cry with envy. The individual labs were separated by translucent walls of high security plastic – similar to what the cell doors in the basement were made of, but these rooms could be sealed airtight.
One of them, the genetics lab, was exclusively Lloyd's realm, where she could do her own DNA analysis both on aliens and human victims or suspects – magnitudes faster than any DNA lab the police worked with. Of course, other DNA labs didn't use advanced alien technology from the far future.
Lloyd, who'd only insisted on a well-equipped lab in SOCO-style when she got hired, was quite overwhelmed by her new workplace. She learned to work with alien technology surprisingly fast and well, too. Ianto made a mental note to thank Detective Swanson for suggesting her to him as a possible co-worker. She was a great asset to the team.
Owen's new exobiology lab had once been part of Torchwood One and had unexpectedly survived the Battle of Canary Wharf with nary a scratch. It took some careful maneuvering on Ianto's side to get it out of storage and into Cardiff without drawing attention. Fortunately, at the time of the hasty clean-up after the Battle UNIT had primarily been interested in weapons, so that Jack had been able to whisk away both lab and database, meaning to add both to the Hub eventually. The database had been uploaded to Mainframe shortly thereafter, but the moving of the lab never happened… until now.
The old lab in which Owen had sometimes studied alien life forms was turned into a hothouse for extraterrestrial plants and harmless, non-sentient creatures like the small, jewel-like reptiles from an unknown planet that had previously lived in a terrarium in the Vaults. Now they had enough space to move around, and everyone was surprised to discover that they could actually fly. Only short distances, and they needed a high vantage point to land from, but they could glide rather gracefully from one plant to another, and they really thrived on the much higher temperatures and the fish food Mickey began to feed to them. They also began to make pleasant, chirping sounds like songbirds in the evenings, giving real concerts when singing together.
For the first time in decades, some of the empty sublevel areas were put to use as well. Both Tosh and Trevor got their own labs one level below the cells (but still above the Archives and the Vaults, including the residence of Mainframe), where they could do some actual engineering as opposed to the virtual work, done entirely by computers in the main Hub area. Trevor managed to hunt down what was left from his old lab from Torchwood One, with a lot of new equipment added, while Tosh's lab was built from the scratch. Ianto simply handed her a PDA with the list of all available technology (including photos and descriptions and whatever data Torchwood had on the stuff) and she could choose whatever she wanted. Needless to say that it helped her considerably to overcome the loss of Jack.
Getting all the stuff to Cardiff secretly – they didn't want either UNIT or Saxon to spot their activities – took considerably longer than to choose the right parts, of course. But it also left her with enough time to work on enhancing the Hub's security.
The first order of the day was taking care of the main door. The cog wheel that served this purpose was a recycled piece from the Victorian Hub. Originally part of an outlet pump in a docking area for ships and submarines, it had been re-engineered as the main door of the Hub when the docking bay was repurposed. Now Trevor sprayed it over with a thick layer of superheated metal from the 34th century he found somewhere in the Physical Archives, making it harder and more resistant than diamonds. The new layer was also transparent, so that the cog door didn't look one bit different than it had before.
"We could also install a time lock on the door as part of the security upgrade," Tosh suggested. "In case any hostile enemy managed to break the door. After all, no matter how strong your defences are, there always can be someone – or something – that's even stronger. Once the time lock is activated, the Hub would be wrapped in a bubble, allowing nothing to enter or leave… basically an enhanced version of the lockdown."
"Hmmm," Ianto replied noncommittally. "You think you can build something like that? Wouldn't that require Time Lord technology – and an ungodly amount of energy?"
"You forget that I used to be a companion," Tosh said. "I travelled in the TARDIS for two years, piloted her… even repaired her if I had to. I think I've got a pretty good idea how a time lock is supposed to work; and then there's always the Rift."
"No," Ianto said promptly. "We're not going to tamper with the Rift manipulator. Once was bad enough."
"That's not what I'm planning to do," Tosh assured him. "I just want to channel a tiny amount of Rift energy and use it to create – and fuel – the time lock. It should be quite safe."
"You don't sound very convincing," muttered Ianto.
"Perhaps not," Tosh allowed. "But I think this is a risk we ought to take to make sure that Saxon – or anyone else like him and his cronies – could never get their hands on the Rift manipulator. I don't need to tell you what that would mean, do I?"
Ianto shuddered by the mere idea. The most recent crisis, culminating in the emergence of Abaddon, had clearly shown what a horrible weapon the Rift manipulator could become. And yet they needed it, in order to keep the Rift under at least marginal control.
"Very well," he said. "Do as you see fit. Speaking of security measures, how's the work at Caregan Barracks progressing?"
"Trevor and Mickey have mapped the area and are working on the shielding of the mine shafts, while I'm working on a self-destruct device for the access panel in the command building," Tosh reported. "A certain Private Harris appears to be a great help; and his mate, Private Grey, is also making himself useful. The shielding should be done within the week – that's the easy part. No-one will realise that we're using alien tech and metallic alloys form the future to secure those warheads. The self-destruct device is mostly computer work; I've drafted Private Jenkins to help me with the programming."
"Jenkins?" Ianto repeated in surprise. "I thought he's largely unfit for duty; can't even drive a car!"
"But he can still hit the keys of an old-fashioned keyboard; in fact, it's helping him to regain his fine motoric control," Tosh replied. "Besides, I only let him do the basic programming parts. They're quite simple but time-consuming, which I don't have at the moment. I'll add the key parts and the security codes when he's done the ground work. He doesn't mind though. He told me this was the first time he actually felt useful since he'd been injured."
"All right," Ianto said. "It's your decision. If you need another pair of hands, you can always borrow Sally. The Archives can wait. Right now our security is the most important thing."
Tosh nodded. "I know. Speaking of which, Colonel Mace asked that we removed the Archangel software from the mobile phones of all UNIT personnel at the base and add them to the secure Torchwood network. Would you authorise such a step? It would put us at a certain level of risk."
"True," Ianto admitted, "and I wouldn't want them to have access to anything that's strictly Torchwood business. Still, we need to keep the colonel on our side, seeing as he's practically our only ally within the military. Could you separate a frequency for their use alone?"
"Sure," Tosh answered with a shrug. "It won't be easy, but Sally is an ace at communications. I'll put her on it. Should we do the same with Detective Swanson's phone?"
Ianto shook his head. "No; that would put her at risk. But we'll give her the dumbed-down version of the Torchwood phone; one that would only connect with my mobile and the landline in Jack's office. That way she could always reach us but would not unknowingly lead anyone to us."
"Are you really sure that Saxon will be coming after us once the elections are over?" Tosh asked, somewhat doubtfully. Ianto nodded.
"He's been replacing people in key positions with his own followers for a while: in the regular Army, within UNIT and in research labs working for the Ministry of Defence. We are the only organisation left that has technology more advanced than his at our disposal, therefore we are a threat. Especially as Jack didn't allow the Archangel software anywhere near our systems. Saxon didn't like it then; and he won't tolerate us being outside of his influence now. Not when he comes to near unrestricted power – and we both know that he will."
"Do we have a rat's chance when he sends in the troops to take over the Hub?" Tosh asked.
"No," Ianto replied simply. "Which is why I'm going to put us under lockdown at the first sign of trouble. We don't have the manpower to resist armed troops; and I'm not sending any of you to your deaths trying to do so. I'll do try my best to avoid a direct confrontation for as long as possible; when it seems that we won't be able to hold down the fort, I'll trigger the self-destruct device and we'll all go into hiding."
"I hope it won't come to that," murmured Tosh anxiously.
"So do I," Ianto admitted. "But we need to be prepared for the worst. You'll go to Glasgow if we have to give up the Cardiff base. Sir Archibald has prepared a sanctuary for you and himself. The two of you will be responsible for protecting the Secondary Archives, so that we'll have something to rely on, should we have to destroy the Hub. We won't have all the technology anymore, but we'll still have the data. And, with the help of all the stuff stored in Torchwood House and in the various secured warehouses of One, we'll be able to rebuild Torchwood, eventually."
"You've really thought of everything," Tosh was impressed and she didn't hide it.
Ianto shook his head with a sad little smile.
"Not me; those are the evacuation protocols of One, in case of an alien invasion. Only the Archivists knew the guidelines and the individual locations – which basically means me now – but the emergency measures have been in place for years, including the sanctuaries and the database copies. I'm merely putting to good use what Director Hartman and Mr Howarth had prepared, years in advance."
"And still, nothing of that could save the people at Canary Wharf," murmured Tosh in regret. Ianto sighed.
"Canary Wharf was the result of tragic miscalculation. The upper echelons didn't even realise the threat. There was no warning. But yes, had they known what the 'ghosts' really were, the people working in the Tower could have been evacuated, and a wide-spread resistance could have been organised. Of course, had they known that they were practically opening the door for a Cyberman invasion, they'd have stopped the ghost shifts entirely."
"Are you sure of that?" Tosh frowned. "One was fairly confident that they could deal with just about everything."
"Regardless what Jack might have thought, Yvonne wasn't a fool," Ianto said dryly. "And she genuinely cared for her people. The entire project was supposed to supply Britain with clean, cheap energy… they just didn't know what they were tampering with. And there was no way for them – for anyone – to know what the Void Ship really was."
"Of all possible things, that wasn't their fault," Tosh agreed. "Not even the Doctor recognised it at first."
"In any case," Ianto continued, "there are several well-equipped sanctuaries all across Britain where we can send our people if things take a turn to the worse. For everyone's safety, only I know where these are and where everyone is going to go. You know I can prevent that information being extracted from me."
"By killing yourself at will," Tosh said darkly. Ianto shrugged.
"We all have to die one day; this just gives me slightly more control about the when than people usually have. Now, when I call Code Red, the instructions will appear on the phones of each team member – for exactly one minute: where to go, how to get there and the password that would allow them to get in. Further instructions will be waiting in the sanctuaries assigned to each of you. From that moment on, you'll be on your own. Communications with the outside – even with each other – will be limited to keep the Torchwood satellite safe."
"Does this mean that every single one of us will be sitting alone in some sealed bunker?" Tosh asked with a frown. Ianto shook his head.
"No, there will be between two and six people in each sanctuary; and not just Torchwood. Jack has been in touch with certain former companions of the Doctor, including Sir Alistair and Commodore Sullivan; people who have already proved themselves in the one or other crisis. And I've taken the liberty to add a few more that I believe could prove useful."
"But you're not going to tell me more, are you?"
"No. I'm sorry, Tosh, but what you don't know they can't force out of you. The thing with torture is that it works; and you don't have the same escape route as I have."
"True," Tosh remained silent for a moment. "What about our families, though? I mean, my mother is safe in Osaka, but what if Saxon's henchmen come after my grandfather? Or after your sister? Or even Rhys?"
"It's already been taken care of," Ianto assured her. "Again, I won't tell you details, but I've made sure that our families would be offered the chance of safety. The only one left is Rhys, since the others don't have any immediate family."
"So, what about Rhys?" Tosh asked. "He's a good man, you know, despite his bad taste when it comes to women. And Gwen would sell us all in a heartbeat to save him; you know that."
"I do," Ianto sighed.
The events that led to the emergence of Abaddon had clearly proved that fact. Gwen might have had the hots for Jack, she might have slept with Owen (repeatedly), but Rhys was her safety blanket, and she would do everything to keep him. Even if she usually treated him like a big, affectionate but ultimately stupid dog.
"I'll talk to Rhys, privately," Ianto decided. "He's a lot smarter than people would think; we could use his help to keep Gwen in the sanctuary she'll be sent to."
"Are you planning to reveal the truth about Torchwood to Rhys?" Tosh asked.
"If we're keeping Gwen then yes, I think it will be necessary," Ianto replied slowly. "She won't be able to keep feeding him Retcon with the new security measures in place, and she simply babbles too much. It's not that we hadn't disclosed the truth to outsiders already; and Rhys might even be useful later. He's got access to a number of trucks at his workplace, after all."
Tosh grinned. "You really did think of everything, didn't you?"
"I do my best," Ianto said tiredly. "Let's just hope it will be enough."
And under normal circumstances it would have been enough. Torchwood was more than capable of dealing with a few corrupt politicians and power-hungry military brass. But a few days later Harold Saxon won the elections, Earth made first contact with an alien species… and things went straight to Hell from there on.
~The End~
"Director Jones II – The Year of Reckoning" is coming up, soon.