A/N: I know that I have a series of episode codas that I should be working on, but Children of Earth happened. I got upset and began writing something else. The following is a preview of my post CoE AU fic, written to introduce two major players who will shape our favorite teaboy's future. The rest of the fic will be from Ianto's POV.

Mona Cavendish

She loves humanity. No one could dispute that -- even those who challenged her methods. She has fought tooth and nail to get to a position where she could help humans thrive.

After all, life is all there is. Life is what truly matters, and she was proud to offer life to her city and to the human race no matter where they found themselves. It isn't about a god complex; she's just doing her part.

So when she comes across a man like Jack Harkness, how could she not be intrigued by the life that courses through his body? It was her duty to keep him under her watch so that she could study him for the benefit of mankind. He just needed the right incentive to stay.

"Ms. Cavendish?"

She looked up to face her assistant. "Yes, Claudia?"

"We've secured the body from UNIT. It's en route to Dr. Ortega as we speak."

"Thank you."

"Anything else, Ms. Cavendish?"

"Yes. Inform Captain Harkness, and call him to my office."

"Yes, ma'am," Claudia says as she scurries out the room. Timid, little thing. What's gotten into her lately?

Ms. Cavendish looks out her window. It begins to rain, but that's just life falling from the sky.

Dr. X. Ortega

Huddled in the corner and seated on the floor, she watches the man in the tank floating in preservation fluid with electrodes strapped to his skin and a breathing tube shoved down his throat.

She made him.

When she began the process, she knew that it was theoretically possible, and she jumped at the chance to try. She always loved challenges, puzzles… crafts.

Now, seeing him floating in there, with a face that possesses a charming button nose, she's frightened by what she's done.

She remembers standing in front of her father's body. She was ten -- still a child. Her aunt told her, "All things must die." She wanted to scream. She wanted to cry. She wanted to tear the room apart. She hated death so much. However, she didn't complain, and she barely uttered a word. She was a good girl.

Instead, she buried herself in her books so deep that she often didn't see the light of day. She swore to preserve life at any cost. She never would have guessed that all that effort and sacrifice would lead her here.

But what's done is done. She can't kill him now.