Intro bit

Disclaimer: We don't own Torchwood (unfortunately - well, fortunately for Owen, because Imogen would be all over him like a shot). We do, however, own Jenny Winters, Scarlet Dawson, Lauren, the police detectives and the forensic dudes. Also, we're not chemists or forensic scientists, so don't be picky about the details. We're just using our imaginations (and occasionally Wikipedia).

Shameless Begging: Please, please review. Tell us how to improve, or tell us we're wonderful. We want to knowhow we're doing. Flames, however, will just be laughed at, so if you're posting a negative review, make it better by offering constructive criticism. Thankyoumuchly!

Apologies: For the sheer long-ness of it XD (we got a bit carried away). Also, for some reason it decided to screw up the spaces and new lines, so if you see a space missing, that's why.

This chapter contains:Strong language, guns (minor) and groin-related injuries (minor, though Owen might say otherwise.)

Summary

Torchwood recruit two new members. How will they fare as alienhunters? Romance, humour and psychotic women out to get Owen's privates. OCs, but all the other characters are there as well. Rated for language, violence and themes. Mostly Owen/OC and slight Jack/Gwen.

Chapter One

"Can you send this off to the lab?" A masked figure handed a blood-stained shoe to a similarly clad colleague. The recipient nodded and walked off.The first figure stretched, her paper gown rustling as she did so. She sighed, then looked back at the body beside her."Right, let's get him back, then." Three more masked people appeared and lifted the body onto a wheeled table. They covered the lifeless corpse with a sheet and pushed him inside the back of a waiting van.

The woman removed her mask, taking a deep breath of cool, fresh air as she noticed the two men walking towards her. She smiled. "Morning, Jenny," The younger of the two greeted. "So...what can you tell us?"
"Single gunshot wound to the head. Male, aged about thirty-five, name unknown. Carrying no ID of any sort. Wallet and all valuables stolen. No sign of a struggle. Probably killed in another location and moved here." She glanced at the covered corpse as the van doors were shut. "Died sometime in the early hours of this morning."
The police detectives both nodded.

Jenny was about to continue when frantic footsteps sounded behind her.

She whipped round to see her friend Lauren hurtling around the corner and speeding towards her. Lauren's face was contorted into an expression of fright - pure terror, even. Breathing heavily, she looked over her shoulder. Jenny followed her gaze to see a group of people pausing on the corner, before one shouted and they began running down the street.

Lauren, who hadn't seen Jenny, quickened her pace. Jenny's brow furrowed in confusion as her friend merely sped past, not acknowledging her. She apologised to the two officers in front of her and stepped over the tape that marked the crime scene.

"LAUREN?" Jenny called out to her friend. No response.

Hurried footsteps behind her again. She moved out of the way quickly and saw three figures go past - two men and a woman. One of the men held a phone up to his ear, yelling something into the mouthpiece. Jenny couldn't work out what he was saying.

She watched them run away from her, confused and intrigued. It didn't take long to make her decision. With a fleeting glance back at the shocked officers, she broke into a run and followed the three.

Confusion raked through her brain. Who were these people, and why were they chasing her friend? They didn't look like the average group of criminals who would go around mugging and attacking. The woman was in heels, for one, and the man on the phone was clad in a leather jacket and jeans. The other man wore a military style trenchcoat that flew behind him as he ran.

They turned a corner and were lost from sight for a moment. Jenny turned round the corner, expecting them to come into view again, but was met with an empty street.

Her head flickered around again, searching almost desperately for a sign of them. She took a few paces down the street, listening, looking. Nothing. They were gone.

How could they have gone? She hadn't been that far behind! The street she stood in wasn't short, with no side streets or exits except for the turning onto the main road at the end. It was a back street, completely deserted, so they couldn't disappear into the crowd.

Her shoe knocked against something. She looked down. By her heel lay a mobile phone, still open and beeping faintly. She bent down and picked the phone up in her gloved hand. She looked at the screen. 'Tosh calling', the screen informed her.

She flipped it closed and pocketed it.

"Come on, Scarlet, I'm hungry," Jenny frowned, swinging her legs.

A redhaired girl in a labcoat sighed and reached for a bag that lay near her. Digging inside it, she drew out a chocolate bar and held it out to Jenny. Jenny grinned broadly and jumped off the stool she was sitting on. She took the bar from Scarlet's hand.

"I just need to finish this," Scarlet said, putting a pair of goggles on. "Five minutes." She looked back down at the desk she was working at and picked up a test tube.

"You said that half an hour ago."

Scarlet rolled her eyes and ignored her friend's comment. Jenny took a bite of the chocolate bar and moved to stand next to the window. She gazed out of the glass pane, watching the people in the street.

A trenchcoat.

She moved closer to the window, almost pressing her face against the glass. In the darkness, she could only just make them out, but it was definitely them. The man in the trenchcoat, the man in the leather jacket - subconsciously she felt for the phone, finding it nestled safely in her jeans pocket - and the woman in heels. And Lauren, she realised with a gasp, slung unceremoniously over the trenchcoat man's shoulder. They stood on the corner, talking to someone Jenny didn't recognise.

"It's them..." She whispered. "And this time, I'm not going to lose them."

She looked back at Scarlet. "Is that dangerous?" She asked, pointing toa test tube full of a blue-coloured liquid.

Scarlet glanced at it briefly. "Only if you set fire to it." She went back to her work. "Done!" She said triumphantly moments later, standing up. She took off the labcoat and hung it up and placed the goggles on the desk.

"What about that?" Jenny pointed to a bottle in a cupboard. Scarlet followed the gaze.

"Very, don't touch it." She put her coat on and swung her bag over her shoulder. Jenny silently beckoned her over and pointed at the group through the window. Scarlet too gasped as she saw Lauren's limp figure draped over the man in the trenchcoat's shoulder.

"We have to follow them." Jenny said. "They're the ones I saw earlier. It's them, I'm sure of it. We can't let them kidnap her."

Scarlet looked back at the cupboard. "And you want to bring that?" Jenny nodded. Scarlet sighed.

They quickly unlocked the cupboard and took one of the bottles from the back. Scarlet wrapped it in a plastic bag and placed it in her own bag.

"Come on, they're beginning to move," Jenny, still stationed at the window, watched cautiously.

Somehow, they managed to get out of the building before the group had gotten too far away. They ran lightly, careful not to be seen.

Scarlet and Jenny followed the group through Cardiff Bay, where they saw them enter the tourist information center. they looked at each other in confusion, then followed. Looking through the glass doors, they couldn't see anyone in there other than the young man sitting behind the desk.

"I don't believe it, they've disappeared again!" said Jenny in an exasperatedwhisper.

"Why would they go into the tourist office?" wondered Scarlet.

"Come on, lets go in and see if we can work out where they've gone."

They opened the door and stepped into the warm interior. There was a man sitting behind the desk, writing something on a piece of paper. He looked up as they entered and smiled warmly.

"Good evening, Ladies," He said, putting his pen down. "Can I help you at all?"

Jenny thought for a few seconds before replying. Scarlet closed the door behind them and they walked up to the desk.

"Yes, actually," Jenny glanced around once before she continued, as if to check that they had, indeed, gone. There was no sign. "I think I saw someone come in a few moments ago. I need to speak to him, I have his phone." She dug into her pocket and withdrew the phone. Scarlet slid her hand inside her bag, not looking away from the man behind the desk. They watched his face and registered a fleeting hint of recognition as the phone was held up. "He was wearing a leather jacket and he was with another man and a woman." Scarlet watched his hand. Subconsciously, his hand was crawling under the desk, searching for something. She didn't think he realised it. Jenny continued speaking, holding his attention. "Oh, and my friend may have been draped over one of their shoulders."

Scarlet's hand found what it was looking for. She pulled the spray bottle out of her bag in one smooth movement and sent a shower of chemical into the man's face. For a second he was in pure shock, then moments later he slumped in his chair, breathing faintly.

Jenny threw Scarlet a quizzical look. "Why do you have that?"

Scarlet merely grinned. She looked out of the window to check no-one was watching, then moved behind the desk and bent down. She soon found what the man had been searching for. A button. She pressed it.

A section of the wall to the left of the desk swung forwards like a door. The girls quickly glanced at each other before proceeding cautiously through.

They entered a vast room, full of grated walk ways and staircases. On the wall ahead of them, large letters spelt out the word TORCHWOOD. They entered a few doors and looked around. It seemed deserted. Then suddenly Jenny grabbed Scarlet's arm and pointed up at a room with large windows. Inside were four people,the three who had taken Lauren were just recognisable, the fourth figure she couldn't see clearly. they were sitting round a table and looked as if they were having some sort of meeting.

Scarlet put her fingers to her lips and then started to walk further into the room, keeping to the edges and shadows as much as possible. Jenny made a gesture that implied they should get completely out of sight from the people sitting in the room above. Scarlet nodded and led the way to the nearest staircase that presumably would take them down a floor.

They hurried down the stairs and found themselves surrounded by glass prison cells. At first, the two assumed that they were all empty, then they passed one with a figure in it. He seemed to be wearing some sort of mask. He watched them from behind the glass, not speaking, hunched over slightly.

"That looks almost real," Scarlet muttered under her breath. It was quite disturbing, in a way. He was still staring at them. Eager to get away from the strange masked man, they continued looking around.

Jenny drew breath sharply and took a step back as she saw her. Lauren. In a glass-walled cell, laying on a bed. Tubes and wires tangled around her. Machines stacked around the cell.

Scarlet saw her too. They moved closer until they were right up against the glass.

"How do you open these things?" Jenny said in a whisper. There were holes in the glass. "Lauren?" She whispered, putting her mouth up to the holes. "Lauren?" No response. She wasn't expecting anything. She turned round to look at Scarlet, sighing.

Scarlet had her hand in her bag again. This time, she drew out the plastic bag and tipped out the bottle they'd taken from the cupboard earlier. She unscrewed the lid and poured a small measure of the fluid into it.

"Get back," She said to Jenny quietly. Once Jenny was safely out of the way, she threw the liquid in the lid at the glass.

There was a fizzing sound as the glass began to dissolve. Parts of it simply disappeared, in a splatter pattern, other parts that hadn't been hit simply crumbled, unsupported. In seconds there was a gaping hole in the glass.

It still wasn't big enough to fit through, though, so Jenny kicked at the edges. The glass had been somewhat weakened there and cracked. In a few more kicks, it collapsed.

The girls climbed through the hole cautiously. Once through, Jenny immediately set about to checking all the machines, Scarlet to the tubes.

Jenny frowned.

"Something isn't right. That -" She pointed at something on a screen. "- shouldn't be doing that, to put it simply." She looked down at Lauren's body and noticed a tiny red dot on her right side. She bent over to look at it, lifting up the covers to have a closer look.

As she put the covers down, she noticed something else - there was a gun pointed straight at her head.

The wielder was clad in a leather jacket.

Jenny froze.

"What," The man began, emphasising the word. "Are you doing?"

Despite her current situation, Jenny couldn't help but smile.

"Hello, Owen." Behind the gun, she could see the confusion on his face. "I have your phone." She dug into her pocket and held out the phone. He took it, not lowering the gun. There was silence for a few moments, then Jenny spoke again. "Can you please get that gun out of my face?"

"How did you get in here?" Owen asked, pocketing his phone.

"The man on reception was very helpful," Scarlet piped up. The gun was turned on her.

"What are you doing to that?" He indicated Lauren, turning back to Jenny.

"That?" Jenny looked disgusted. "That is Lauren, our friend, and I should be asking you the same question. Who's the doctor?"

Owen lowered the gun slightly. "I am."

"Well, you should be fired." Jenny said. The gun was raised.

"What?" He hissed.

"Well, for one thing, you managed to miss the gaping hole in her side." She peeled back the blanket to show him. "A gunshot wound. Fired from about ten meters away. From a pistol. Like that one." She indicated the gun, still pointed in her direction. Owen dropped the gun. It clattered to the floor as he moved to see the wound. He swore.

"How do you know it's from a pistol?" He asked, reaching for a medical kit that lay on one of the machines.

"Terminal ballistics is one of my specialities." Jenny said, stepping back to let him get to the wound. Owen looked at her, puzzled. "I work in Forensics. I analyse dead bodies." She explained. He looked unimpressed, waving her out of the way.

Owen opened the medical kit, searching through it for something. He cursed again, apparently not finding it. He muttered something about leaving it upstairs.

For the third time, Scarlet had her hand in her bag. She drew out another spray bottle, full of pale-yellow coloured liquid. She moved closer to Lauren and sprayed the liquid onto the wound.

Owen pushed her away. The bottle clattered to the floor and skidded across the cell. "What the hell are you doing?" His voice was raised.

"Antiseptic spray." Scarlet said simply. "I make medicines."

He looked around the edges of the room, his eyes resting on a camera in the corner. "Will one of you please get down here? They're a couple of nutcases!" He shouted at it, presumably talking to the others Jenny and Scarlet had seen upstairs.

"Us nutcases?!" exclaimed Jenny angrily, "You're the ones who have shot and kidnapped an innocent girl, locked her up in a prison cell and strapped a load of machines to her!"

"Innocent girl?! It's a fucking alien! It's just nearly killed two people!" he paused to looked from Jenny to Scarlet. They both wore the same shocked expressions. "Not quite as innocent as you thought, eh?"

"Alien?" questioned Scarlet, "What the hell do you mean by that? It's Lauren, she's our friend, we've know her for years."

Owen turned to face her and gave an exasperated look, before sighing and saying quickly "Cardiff is built on a Rift in time and space, so all the alien crap from other planets and universes gets washed up here. Not that you're going to believe that, and Jack is going to shoot me for telling you."

While Scarlet had been keeping Owen's attention, Jenny had picked up the gun he had discarded earlier. Owen froze when he felt the cool metal against his head.

"Alright, that's enough. You've kidnapped our friend, treated her like she's some sort of lab rat, not to mention shot her, and you're telling us you did it on the grounds that she's an alien? Now, we're not playing games anymore. I warn you, I have very good connections with the police and the government. Who are you, and what are you really doing with Lauren?"

Before Owen could reply, the man who wore the military coat burst through the door that lead to the stairs, brandishing a gun similar to the one Jenny held against Owen's head.

"Alright, what the hell is going on?" The man in the trenchcoat yelled, an American accent thick through his words. His gun was focused on Jenny, who still had the pistol pressed against Owen's head.

"Well, it does appear that I have a gun at my head," Owen said, sarcasm apparent in his voice.

Jenny dug the gun deeper into his hair and Owen winced. "Just returning the favour," She growled. She looked up at the man in the trenchcoat. "Before I start calling you trenchcoat man, who are you?"

He had moved closer in response to Jenny digging the gun in. "Captain Jack Harkness," He replied warily. "Drop the gun."

"Why should I?" Jenny said. "You've kidnapped and shot one of our friends, and your useless doctor here -" She moved the gun away slightly so she could hit him with it, "- somehow managed to miss the bloody gunshot wound."

Captain Jack looked at Owen with a mixture of confusion and exasperation. Owen sighed.

"Okay, so that bit's true, but..." Owen began, but Scarlet cut him short.

"Locked her up in some glass cell and even had the cheek to call her an alien!" Scarlet picked up the bottle Owen had knocked from her hands. "What even is this place?" She asked, her voice raised.

Jack ignored her. "Look, I know you're upset," He began, slightly shakily. "But you have to believe me. The girl on that table isn't Lauren Smith - not anymore, anyway. She's an alien, a dangerous one. I know you haven't got any reason to trust me at the moment, but please, please believe me. She's dangerous."

The look on his face was so sincere that the two girls began to believe him. But not entirely - how could they? The idea was ridiculous. Aliens in the middle of Cardiff? Lauren, whom they'd known for three years, a dangerous alien? Dangerous was the last word they'd use to describe Lauren.

"Why should we believe you?" Both girls said at the same time.

"I can prove it to you. Please, just put the gun down, and come upstairs with me."

Unable to think of an alternative thing to do, Jenny slowly lowered the gun from Owen's head. After all, she thought to herself, it wasn't like she would really shoot him. Owen breathed out in a sigh of relief, then spun round to face Jenny.

"Crazy bitch." he snarled. Jenny rounded on him and kneed him hard in the groin. He grunted and doubled up in pain.

"Don't," warned Jenny, "talk to me like that."

Then Jenny turned on her heel, and joined Scarlet standing at the side of the room, who had watched this with an amused look on her face. She knew from previous events how violent Jenny could be, particularly when faced with cocky boys. Even the man named Jack was smirking.

"Now that you have finished abusing my staff, would you care to come upstairs and learn about the true identity of this friend of yours?"

He turned and headed up the stairs, not looking back to see if they were following. With a quick glance at each other, the two girls walked quickly past a still swearing Owen and caught up with Jack.

Still not looking behind, Jack yelled back towards the cell. "Owen, stop rolling around and treat your patient."

They entered a space mostly taken up by computers - a set of monitors in the center glowed, shedding a blue-coloured light over the face of a woman, one Jenny didn't recognise, who stood in front of them, occasionally tapping on a keyboard. She looked up as they approached, raising her eyebrows slightly as she saw Jenny and Scarlet but looking altogether unsurprised.

"This is Toshiko Sato, also known as Tosh." Jack introduced her. "Our resident tech geek." Toshiko opened her mouth slightly to protest, but then realised it was mostly true and merely looked back at the screen. It was only now that Scarlet and Jenny realised what she was watching - CCTV footage of the cell they'd just come from.

"That was some kick," Tosh smiled, not taking her eyes off the screen. "He only just got up."

Jenny walked over to join her and peered at the screen. She grinned broadly, watching Owen wince as he gingerly stood up and reached for the medical kit again.

She tore her attention away from the screen as she heard the click of high heels on metal grate behind her. She turned to see the woman from before.The woman paused at the sight of the two strangers in the room.

"Gwen Cooper." Jack introduced.

"Are these -"Gwen began, looking at Jack.

"The ones who broke in?" He finished for her. She nodded. "Yeah. This is..." He frowned suddenly and looked at Scarlet. "Who are you?"

They quickly gave their names. Jack chuckled at himself. Another person entered the room and Jack began laughing again. It was the manthat had been on reception earlier. He too paused as he saw Scarlet and Jenny, his eyes especially resting on Scarlet, giving her a slightly annoyed look. He raised his eyebrows.

"Ianto Jones I believe you've met," He said, glancing at Scarlet, who smiled sheepishly. Ianto was holding a mug of steaming coffee. He had a small bruise on his forehead from where he'd fallen earlier.

Scarlet looked apologetic. "We had to know what you were doing. For all we know you could have been about to pull out a gun." She explained. Then her face lit up as a thought struck her, and she started rummaging around in her bag again. She pulled out a small tube, not dissimilar from a lipstick tube, and handed it to Ianto. "Rub that on the bruise and it will be gone within the hour."

Ianto frowned as he wound up the tube to reveal a mucky-purplish gel-stick. He grimaced and replaced the lid, not touching the stuff inside.

"Your loss," Scarlet shrugged, "I was only trying to help."

Jack raised his eyebrows at Scarlet's bag. "What the hell do women carry in their handbags nowadays?"

"Believe me," laughed Jenny, though she showed no signs of real humour, "You don't want to know."

"You want to bet on that?" Jack said flirtatiously. Ianto rolled his eyes, Tosh sighed loudly and Gwen chuckled before speaking.

"Yeah, that's Jack, flirts with anything alive -male, female or alien." She sat down on a chair beside Ianto.

"What is all this rubbish everyone's talking about aliens?" said Scarlet, intervening quickly. As with the violence, she knew what Jenny could be like with men. Especially ones as good looking as Jack.

"As Owen has already told you,Cardiff is based on a rift in time and space.No, really, it is." he added, seeing the girls quickly look disbelievingly at each other."Think about it, haven't you ever seen something, even just for a fraction of a second, which made no sense, which you thought was impossible? Haven't you ever seen somethingso insane that you dismissed it as your imagination?Have you seriously never considered the possibility that there's more out there?"

Both girls were looking uncomfortable now.

"The thing you saw in that cell, that was no mask, no trick of the light, no deformity. That was a weevil, a type of alien. Tosh, can you bring up some files of recent rift activity?"

"Sure." She replied, and before the girls could blink, all the computer monitors surrounding Tosh were showing pictures of weird creatures neither of the girls had seen before. They were both wide eyed now.

"They could be CGI…" Scarlet said, though she sounded doubtful.

"Ianto," Jack called, "Open up some of the freezers and let our guests have a peek please." He lead the way over to where Ianto was busy fiddling around with some of the large draws that completely covered the wall. Each draw had a number and a small identity label. Jenny read one of the labels close to her. 'Suzie Costello, Death by Torchwood" was written in small neat handwriting on the label on draw 006.

Jenny was distracted by her thoughts on who Suzie Costello was when Scarlet let out a loud gasp. Ianto had pulled out one of the draws, which contained a body bag that he opened to reveal a creature that looked like it was a cross between a human and a blowfish. Jenny walked nearer to investigate. After all, she thought to herself, dead bodies were her speciality. The creature had been killed by a bullet to the brain, that much was obvious.

She turned from the fish-man to Jack. "What is it?" she asked.

"To be honest, we're not entirely sure. It could either simply be an alien, or it could have been a human that was mutated by alien technology. There's no real way to tell."

"Right, okay," said Scarlet from behind them, "Now that you've proved to us that aliens exist, what is it you do?"

"We're Torchwood, a secret organisation set up to monitor the rift's activity, catch whatever alien being, technology or whatever else comes through, and generally save the world every other day or so." Jack said promptly.

"Wow," said Jenny, "Not your average boring office job then, eh?"

Tosh laughed, "Nope. We risk our lives every day, but to be honest the amazing things we get to see makes it worth it."

"Only I think that fighting aliens is pretty easy compared to dealing with psychotic women out to get my privates." came a voice from behind them. They all turned to see Owen walking towards them. He spotted Jenny's glare andremained a few feet out of harm's way. Jenny opened her mouth to retort, but stopped when she heard someone clear their throat just behind her. She turned to see Ianto holding out two mugs of steaming coffee to herself and Scarlet.

"It helps with the shock of taking all this in," he said with a small smile. Scarlet reached for them slowly, quietly thanking Ianto. She passed one to Jenny, who looked at the coffee suspiciously.

"Hold on Scarlet, don't drink that."

Scarlet looked at her questioningly. Jenny took the other mug from Scarlet's hand.

"It's just black coff-" Ianto started, but was shushed by Jenny's warning glare.

"They've added something to this. Black coffee doesn't have foam that looks like that." She pointed to the thin layer of creamy-beige bubble's floating round the edge of the surface of the coffee. "Hang on a minute…" and like Scarlet had done so frequently that evening, Jenny started digging around her own bag, a small one that was slung over her shoulder. She pulled out what looked like a small piece of white card, and stuck it her coffee, giving it a stir. She pulled it out and looked at it. "Told you." She held up the card, which had turned a faint reddish colour. "Very simple piece of technology this. It was brought out as a safety device, for people to check if anyone has spiked their drink at bars and clubs. It works a bit like a pregnancy test, it detects chemicals added to a drink, and if the results are positive it turns red." The torchwood team were now staring at her, frozen and unsure of what to do. "Scarlet, can you find out what they've added to this?"

"No problem." said Scarlet. She looked at her own coffee mug and wrinkled her nose, before setting it down and rummaging in her bag.

Ignoring the uneasy looks and quiet protests from the team, she pulled a few bottles and set to work, carefully measuring out different liquids and adding them into the coffee. After about a minute, she took out a pipette and added a few drops of the coffee solution onto a small square of paper. The solution was quickly absorbed by the paper, where it separated into different colours. Scarlet looked up at Jenny. "It contains B67." she said with a grim expression, pointing at a particularly bright blue in the mix of colours on the paper.

"Retcon?" Jenny asked.

"Yeah."

Both girls turned at the same time to glare accusingly at the Torchwood team, who were looking at them in amazement.

"How…" Jack started hoarsely, then cleared his throat and started again. "How the hell do you know all that?"

"We both have high positions in the government. I work in forensics. Mostly it's just investigating crime scenes for the police, but occasionally I have to go undercover to check out dodgy companies and whatever. Scarlet is a chemist genius, she can make almost anything. The only stuff she can't make involves using chemicals so dangerous they're impossible to get hold of. And even then, she normally finds a way." Jenny smiled slightly at the last sentence.

"I normally work for the police as well, though, like Jenny said, and there's sometimes something bigger going on that I have to help out with. We often have to work together, so we've become a good team." Scarlet put the last bottle back into her bag.

Ianto gave a low whistle, Gwen and Tosh were wide eyed, and even Owen looked impressed. At last Jack said "So you've worked out our trick of using the amnesia pill...what are we going to do with you now? You know, we can't let you leave here knowing everything that you've found out."

Jenny fired up at once. "Is that a threat? So what are you going to do, kill us?!"

"The skills you have shown are beyond impressive. So, no, I'm not going to kill you...I'm going to offer you a job at Torchwood."