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| == Plot == | | == Plot == |
| The Torchwood SUV races through the country roads to a location on the outskirts of Cardiff. The vehicle screeches to a halt and Jack, Owen, Tosh and Ianto arm themselves and head towards a seemingly abandoned warehouse. Ianto calls Gwen with details of the location and tells her they’ve detected four signs of alien life and asks her to get here as soon as she can. Owen wonders if they’ve just picked up signs of Weevils, but Tosh says they’re giving off a different energy pattern and it looks like a species they’ve never encountered before. The group splits up and Owen and Ianto head for the upper level while Jack and Tosh search the ground floor. | | The Torchwood team, minus [[Gwen Cooper|Gwen]], investigate a derelict building and are caught up in a trap as it explodes. The quartet experience flashbacks about their origins with the alien-fighting organisation. |
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| As they carefully move through the empty corridors, Tosh picks up a mirror signal at either end of the floor, so Jack sends her one way while he investigates in the other direction. Owen and Ianto find themselves doing the same on the upper level. There are no sounds coming from anywhere which suggests to Owen that the creatures are sleeping, but Ianto points out they might be hatching. Then Tosh reports that the signals might not be coming from creatures at all. She’s found a small futuristic box on the floor with a flashing timer on the top. Elsewhere, Jack, Owen and Ianto have all found identical boxes. Jack realises they’re bombs and the countdown is reading 6...5...4..3...2..1... Before any of them have a chance to react, all four bombs explode and the entire building shakes, sending huge plumes of smoke through the smashed windows.
| | === Captain Jack Harkness (1,392 deaths earlier) === |
| | [[File:Torchwood_s2e12i.jpg|thumb|left|Alice Guppy and Emily Holroyd]] |
| | [[Jack Harkness|Captain Jack]] is picked up by the all-female [[Torchwood Three|Torchwood]] in [[Victorian]] times once they become aware of his immortality. They torture him in order to extract information about [[the Doctor]], to no avail, but soon decide to enlist him as an agent. After many decades pass[[Jack Harkness| Jack]] discovers that one of his colleagues has murdered everyone else in [[the Hub]] because of his fear of the new Millennium and the horrors it may hold. |
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| At home, Gwen is woken by the sound of her phone ringing. She wakes up in alarm and realises she’s overslept. She listens to the message from Ianto and leaps out of bed. At the warehouse, the entire building has been brought to a state of near collapse by the explosions. As the dust settles, Jack lies apparently dead beneath a pile of rubble…
| | === Toshiko Sato (5 years earlier) === |
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| '''1,392 deaths earlier''' | | [[Toshiko Sato|Toshiko]] joins [[Torchwood 3|Torchwood]] after Jack finds her in a top secret prison because she leaked information from her Ministry Of Defence job to a vicious gang holding her [[Toshiko's Mother|mother]] captive. Jack is impressed by her ability to assemble a [[sonic modulator]] despite flawed instructions and ensures she is released and given a pardon once she accepts the [[Torchwood Three|Torchwood]] job. |
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| [[File:Torchwood_s2e12i.jpg|thumb|left|Alice Guppy and Emily Holroyd]]Jack wakes up with a cry of pain and finds himself lying on the ground in a cobbled alleyway. He’s aware that he must have died again, but even he is shocked to see the end of a broken bottle still embedded in his stomach. Gritting his teeth, he pulls the bottle out and lies back to give himself time to recover. He suddenly becomes aware that he’s being watched by two women dressed in Edwardian clothing who are standing silently nearby. He explains that his wound was the result of a bar fight that got a little out of control, but as he drags himself to his feet he dismisses it as just a flesh wound. He’s still not used to his powers of immortality and he stumbles for a few seconds. The women slowly advance towards him and he introduces himself, but instead of answering they attack him and knock him to the ground. Still weakened from his recent death, Jack is no match as they pin him to the ground and stuff a handkerchief in his mouth. He begins to choke… | | === Ianto Jones (21 months earlier) === |
| | [[File:Torchwood-2_12-06.jpg|thumb|right|Ianto telling Jack he wants a job in Torchwood 21 months ago]] |
| | [[Ianto Jones|Ianto]] harasses Jack for a job following the demise of [[Torchwood One]], where he initially worked. Helping Jack fight off a [[Weevil]] and repeatedly praising his coat doesn't work at first, but the pair successfully capture a [[Myfanwy|pterodactyl]] together - with the help of some chocolate - and Ianto is enlisted. |
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| Jack wakes up with a cry of pain as one of the women, Alice Guppy, throws a bucket of cold water over him. He finds himself tied to a chair in a stone walled corridor lined with barred cells. The other woman, Emily Holroyd, rips open his shirt and attaches electrodes to his chest. Then she crosses to a futuristic device and begins increasing the power. Immediately Jack cries out as electricity charges through his body. After a few seconds, she turns to her colleague and explains that he’s received the full power charge, yet he’s still breathing. Jack points out that the ladies are using equipment far ahead of their time and he demands to know where he is. Alice picks up a loaded gun, points it directly at Jack’s head and fires.
| | === Owen Harper (4 years earlier) === |
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| Jack wakes up with a cry of pain as finds only seconds have passed. He’s still tied to the same chair in the stone walled corridor with the same two women watching over him. Alice asks why he isn’t dead yet and Jack admits that he’s been trying to work that out himself. Emily says they’ve been monitoring him ever since he came to their attention and they know he’s been killed at least 14 times in the last six months. They ask him who the Doctor is, but when he denies any knowledge, Alice reads from a series of transcripts in which Jack has been overheard in conversation with strangers in various drinking dens saying the Doctor will “fix him” and that everything will be put right when the Doctor turns up. They promise to release Jack if he’ll tell them where the Doctor is. They explain that this is the Cardiff branch of Torchwood and their Institute was originally created to combat the threat posed by the Doctor and other phantasmagoria. Jack laughs and tells them the Doctor is not a threat and in fact he’s the one who will save them. The women threaten to electrocute him again, but Jack assures them he doesn’t know where the Doctor is. He explains that he got left behind and came to find the Doctor because he refuels here using energy from the Rift. Jack asks to be released, but Emily has a better idea. She says there are opportunities for him to work for them here and he’s going to need currency. His first assignment will be to find a missing person…although ’person’ may not be the right word. | | [[Owen Harper|Owen]] encounters Jack when he bursts into a [[hospital]] room after an attempt of brain surgery on Owen's ailing fiancée [[Katie Russell|Katie]]. Despite warnings from Torchwood, the surgeon tried to remove an alien from Katie's brain. When the alien lifeform was threatened, it emited a toxic gas killing all the humans in the operational room. Jack arrived too late. After explaining the situation to Owen, Jack knocks him out. Owen wakes up to discover a massive cover up. He encounters Jack when visiting Katie's grave and, after a fight, agrees to join [[Torchwood Three|Torchwood]] as a medic. |
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| Later, Jack tracks down an alien Blowfish and they fight in another alleyway. The Blowfish insists that he hasn’t done anything, but Jack lists his crimes as burglary, joyriding on a horse and carriage, pick pocketing and stealing food. He adds that such crimes are an addiction with his species, but the Blowfish thinks it’s all just a bit of fun. Jack points out that this planet is still a century away from official first contact with alien life and he’s upsetting the schedule. The Blowfish demands to know who he is and Jack announces that he’s Torchwood.
| | <br />Back in the present, [[Gwen Cooper|Gwen]] and [[Rhys Williams|Rhys]] help to pull everyone from the debris in the building. However, Jack receives a [[hologram]] message from [[Captain John Hart|Captain John]] in which he claims responsibility for the bombs and claims to have taken Jack's brother [[Gray]] captive. |
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| Jack throws the Blowfish into one of the cells beneath the Torchwood Hub and tells Alice this is just a kid and he should be sent back to where he came from. Alice explains that they can’t because the Rift only goes one way. Jack assumes they observe and profile alien species then transfer them to long-term storage, but Torchwood has a different solution during this period. Alice lifts a gun and shoots the Blowfish dead right before Jack’s eyes. Jack is furious and disarms Alice. She explains that the creature was a threat to the Empire and she reminds Jack that he’s their ally now.
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| In Emily’s office, Jack is paid a sum of money for his first successful assignment. He takes the money without a word, but then Emily passes him a note outlining his next assignment. He refuses it and says he’s through with working with them, but she reminds him that his liberty is at their discretion. If he works for them and assists the Empire he can remain free, but if he severs that connection, he’ll be regarded as a threat - and he’s seen how they deal with threats. In any case, it’s good money and how else is he going to earn. He still refuses their offer and leaves, but Emily tells him to reconsider in the morning. Alice watches him go and points out that he’s very pretty - but not as pretty as Emily.
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| That night, Jack visit’s a tavern and gets slowly drunk. A little girl suddenly appears at his table and offers to read his cards. He says no, but she sits at the table anyway and spreads out some Tarot cards, totally ignoring Jack’s request for her to go away. She turns over the first three cards and tells Jack that the person he’s looking for is coming, but the century will turn twice before they find each other. Jack laughs at her, but then he sees that one of the cards has his own picture on it, but he’s dressed in armour and brandishing a sword. He’s devastated to realise it’s going to be 100 years before he’s reunited with the Doctor. What is he supposed to do in the meantime?
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| Jack returns to Torchwood and accepts a commission from Alice and Emily, whereupon he’s formally registered on their books as an “uncontracted agent”. As the years pass, the records of Jack’s work with the Institute stop being handwritten in ink and become typed, then eventually input on a computer database. The photos of Jack in the filing cabinet are regularly updated as his clothes change over the years, but his face always remain the same. Jack’s records show that he remains in the post of a Torchwood field agent (albeit noted for often operating covertly outside the Institute’s jurisdiction and continuing in his personal search for the Doctor) until New Year’s Eve 1999...
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| While the Cardiff streets are filled with revellers celebrating the turn of the century, Captain Jack Harkness returns to the Torchwood Hub to report to his superior. He shouts out that when they joked to him about the Millennium Bug, he didn’t realise it was going to have 18 legs stacked with poison. No one replies and he shouts out to see if anyone is home. He stops in his tracks as he comes across the dead bodies of his colleagues. Each has been murdered with a bullet between the eyes, and some have other wounds to suggest they died fighting. Jack finds his boss Alex sitting silent, staring into space. Alex greets him and says he’s just in time. Jack demands to know who did this and Alex confesses that he did. Alex is holding a small blue pendant in his hand. He tells Jack they got it wrong when they thought they could control the stuff they find, but all it’s brought them is death. Alex says Torchwood 3 is Jack’s now and it’s his gift to him. After a century of service as field operative, he can now give this place a sense of purpose before it‘s too late. Jack assures Alex that everything’s going to be okay, but Alex refuses to listen. He says he’s looked inside the pendant and it’s shown him what’s coming. He killed his colleagues out of mercy and thinks it was the kindest thing he could to ensure that none of them will be there to see the storm. He apologises to Jack and says he’s sorry he can’t do the same for him. As they watch the crowd on television celebrating the new Millennium in ignorance, Alex says everything’s going to change in the 21st century and they’re not ready. Before Jack can stop him, Alex pulls out a gun, places it against his own head and shoots himself.
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| '''The present day'''
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| Back in 2008, Jack wakes up with a cry of pain and finds himself still buried beneath rubble in the ruined warehouse. Gwen and Rhys are both there, trying to dig him out, but Rhys is horrified as he’d only just taken Jack’s pulse and is sure he was dead. Gwen tries to calm Rhys down and asks Jack what happened and where the others are, but Jack is equally horrified to see that Gwen has brough Rhys with her on a mission. Eventually they drag Jack clear and he remembers that Toshiko went the other way. As they start calling out her name, Tosh wakes up on the other side of the building and finds herself pinned to the floor by huge chunks of masonry. She screams in pain…
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| '''5 years earlier'''
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| At the Lodmoor Research Facility, a division of the Ministry of Defence, Bob locks up the office for the night and prepares to leave, but sees Tosh is still hard at work at her desk. He never thought he’d ever say this to anyone as most people are out of here by half past five, but he thinks she works too hard. She promises she only needs another hour and then she’ll be gone. She says goodnight and Bob leaves. As soon as he’s gone, she opens her desk drawer and removes a hidden key, then she races over to Bob’s office and lets herself in. She switches on his computer while keeping a close eye on a TV screen that shows CCTV footage of the security guards patrolling the building. She accesses Bob’s security code then switches off the computer, locks the door and rushes out. She races through the building, taking cover from the CCTV cameras and hiding from the guards as they move through the corridors. Eventually she arrives at a locked door and while the camera is pointing in the other direction she puts in Bob’s security code and manages to gain entry just in time.
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| The storage room is filled with boxes, files and paperwork dating back years. She moves slowly through the rows of cabinets until she eventually finds a file marked ’For Your Eyes Only’. She checks inside and removes a series of blueprints which she stuffs inside her jumper. She re-seals the file and replaces it in the cabinet, then leaves the room, narrowly avoiding a guard who was passing the door at that moment. She waits for him to move on, nervously checking her watch, then sprints back down the corridor. A few minutes later, Tosh leaves the building, making casual small talk to the night watchman George who flirts with her as he does every night whenever she’s the last to leave.
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| Tosh goes home and unfolds the blueprints, then begins constructing the device shown in the plans. Time passes and eventually she completes the task. Then she takes the device, races through the streets to a building with a heavy sealed door and bangs for attention. A man opens the door and when she says she has what they want, he allows her in.
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| Tosh is brought before a severe looking middle-aged woman named Milton who looks at her coldly. Tosh demands to see her mother and to know that she’s safe. Milton agrees but asks to see the device first. She examines it and congratulates Tosh on building a perfect sonic modulator. Tosh’s mother is dragged into the room, but the man grabs her by the throat as a warning to Tosh to keep back. Tosh says they’ve got what they want so they should let them go, but Milton says Tosh is now the victim of her own success. She’s perfectly situated with a proven ability and she can give them so much more. If she refuses, her mother will stay with them and Tosh’s own brilliance will be used against her. To teach her a lesson, Milton and the man put on headphones to protect their ears then activate the very device that Tosh has just built for them. The entire room vibrates with sound from the sonic modulator and both Tosh and her mother collapse to the floor, clutching their ears in absolute agony. Milton throws down a single set of headphone, but as Tosh reaches for them, the man kicks her arm away. Suddenly the door is kicked open and a group of soldiers wearing UNIT berets bursts in. The senior officer demands that Milton turn off the modulator. As she does so, Milton and the man are arrested and dragged away - but so is Tosh…
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| Later, Tosh has been placed in red overalls and is thrown into an empty stone-walled cell. The door slams shut behind her. Tosh appears to have been beaten and is bruised and bloodied from her interrogation. She looks around the cold room and sees that the only light is coming from a small window high above her. A voice from a speaker tells her she’s inside a UNIT facility. It says her rights as a citizen have been withdrawn and she’ll be held here indefinitely. The voice says they’re not required to provide her with legal representation and anything she says will be recorded. She’ll be allowed no communication with any person or organisation outside this facility and she has no right of appeal. If she fails to comply with the rules, they are authorised to discipline her. When they refuse to answer her questions about her mother, Tosh slumps to the floor and begins to cry.
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| Before long, time seems to lose all meaning for Tosh. She spends most of her days sitting on the floor of the cell, contemplating her future. Occasionally she’s allowed to get some exercise, pacing the floor of a warehouse while shackled to other prisoners, but each time she returns to her cell in solitary confinement she sees more of her life fading away. Then one day, she’s called out of her cell and told to prepare for an inspection. She slowly stands as the door opens to reveal Captain Jack Harkness…
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| Jack and Tosh sit on opposite sides of a table placed in the middle of a vast empty floor. Jack tries to make casual conversation about the state of the catering here, but Tosh is only interested in finding out what’s happened to her mother. Jack tells her she’s safe, but she won’t remember being kidnapped as he’s wiped it from her memory. Tosh asks him who he is, but he says he’s nobody and he doesn’t exist - which for a man with his charisma is quite an achievement. He tells her the authorities are going to make an example of her and stealing official secrets in today’s climate means they can keep her here without charge and are never going to release her. He shows her the sonic modulator and asks if she made it herself. She says she just followed the plans, but he knows that in order to do that she’d have to grasp the concept of what it does first and most people would struggle with that. He also reveals that the technical plans were shelved because they had mistakes in them and the device doesn‘t actually work - but Tosh was able to automatically fix the faults as she went along without even realising it. She’s obviously really good already, but imagine what she could be like with a little training. She begs him to help her get out of here and he agrees, providing she comes to work for him. He asks her to sign up for five years and in return he’ll get UNIT to wipe her record clean, even though he she’ll still only be allowed limited contact with the outside world and will have to send her mother postcards. He says his group is still a work in progress, but he’s aiming to use it to protect people. She asks him why he trusts her and he says it’s instinct. He says it’s likely to be a little dangerous and wonders if she can bear a little danger…?
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| '''The present day'''
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| Tosh screams out in agony as Gwen and Rhys try to release her from the masonry that’s pinning her to the ground inside the warehouse. Gwen tries to reassure her, but Tosh says they’re making it worse. She thinks she’s broken her arm and if the pillar shifts again, it will crush her. Gwen tells her Jack has gone to find Owen and Ianto and promises she’ll be alright until they get back. Tosh pleads with her to hurry, so Rhys tells Gwen to go and get Jack while he stays behind with Tosh. Rhys points out to Gwen that it could just as easily have been her that was involved in the explosion, but Gwen tells him she hasn’t got time to argue with him right now. Elsewhere in the warehouse, Ianto pushes aside some rubbles and cries out in pain. He hears Jack calling to him from nearby…
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| '''21 months earlier'''
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| [[File:Torchwood-2_12-06.jpg|thumb|right|Ianto telling Jack he wants a job in Torchwood 21 months ago]]In the woods, Jack is hurled backwards into a tree. The Weevil resumes its attack and the two of them struggle violently to gain the upper hand. Jack wrestles the creature to the ground, but it uses its strength to turn them around and then it plunges its teeth into his neck. He screams out and then suddenly Ianto appears from nowhere, dressed in casual jeans, and clubs the Weevil across the back with a metal bar. The creature abandons Jack and launches into an attack on Ianto instead, but Jack is able to drag the Weevil off and sprays it with the special mace. He places a hood over the creature and then injects it into submission. With the immediate panic over, Jack and Ianto stop for breath and thank each other. After they introduce themselves, Ianto notices that Jack’s wounds are already starting to recover and he’s no longer bleeding. Ianto calmly says that the creature looks like a Weevil to him, but Jack claims not to recognise the name and says he has no idea what Ianto’s talking about. Ianto looks at him knowingly. Jack hauls the creature onto his back and thanks Ianto for his assistance, then leaves. | |
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| The next morning, Jack leaves the Hub via the tourist information entrance and finds Ianto waiting patiently for him outside. Ianto offers Jack a mug of coffee, which Jacks cautiously takes and compliments him on. Ianto says he wants to work for Jack, but Jack says there are no vacancies and refuses to allow Ianto to explain what his interest is. In fact, Jack already knows. He knows that Ianto Jones was born on 19 August 1983, that he was an able but not exceptional student, that he has one minor conviction for shoplifting in his teens, that he had a number of temporary jobs but was mainly a drifter until two years ago when he joined the Torchwood Institute in London as a junior researcher and that his girlfriend is Lisa Hallett. Ianto corrects him and says she’s deceased and Jack says he’s sorry. Jack says he checked him out because he knows what a Weevil is and thought he might have to deal with him, but Ianto argues that this gives him the right qualifications for the job. Jack disagrees and says they’ve severed all links with Torchwod in London. Ianto knows that after the London HQ burnt to the ground, two members of Jack’s team came to scavenge the ruins. Jack says they didn’t want the equipment falling into the wrong hands, but Ianto questions whether Jack’s team are the right hands. He asks for a three-month trial period, and when Jack says no, he reduces it to three weeks or even three days to give him time to prove himself. When Jack still refuses, Ianto says he saw what they did at Canary Wharf and asks what he’s supposed to do with those memories. Jack says he doesn’t consider Ianto to be his responsibility and says there’ll never be a job for him here. As he walks off, Ianto promises to see him again the same time tomorrow.
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| Later, Jack is driving the SUV when he contacts the Hub with a series of instructions. He asks Tosh to decode the hieroglyphics, Owen to take a cross-section of the paramedic’s brain and check it against the list of chemical agents and Suzie to get some directions to the reservoir so they can find the other half of… Suddenly Jack brings the SUV to a screeching halt as Ianto steps out into the road in front of him. Tired, Jack gets out and tells him this has to stop. He says he doesn’t care what Ianto’s problem is, but he wants him out of this city by sunrise as there’s no place for him here. He adds that if he continues stalking him, he’ll wipe his memory. Ianto tries to argue, but Jack insists that any conversation between them is over. He’s going to get back in his car and if Ianto won’t move out of the way, he’ll run right through him. As he heads back to the SUV, Ianto calls out and asks if he wants to help him catch the pterodactyl.
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| Later, Jack prepares a huge hypodermic needle and Ianto is surprised to learn that this is the only specialist equipment he’s brought with him as he believes Torchwood in London would have come better prepared. As soon as Jack is ready, the two of them head for the building where the pterodactly has been contained. They enter and stop in amazement as the huge prehistoric beast flies high among the rafters of the warehouse. The creature turns and heads straight towards them, so the terrified pair back straight out of the building and slam the door shut behind them. Safely on the other side, Jack asks Ianto how he found it and Ianto says he has a Rift activity locator. Jack says the creature seems quite excitable and when Ianto guesses it must be Jack’s aftershave, he reveals that he never wears any and his natural smell is of 51st century pheromones. They steel themselves for another go and then enter the warehouse again.
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| Inside, they split up as the pterodactyl flies towards them again before it settles on the ground, standing upright like a man. Jack speaks to the creature and tries to assure it that he means no harm. He tells it he has somewhere nice and big where it can fly around - which upsets Ianto as it means Jack would rather have the giant pterodactyl on his team than him. Jack says he needs a guard dog, but Ianto says he could be that too…or perhaps a receptionist, or building maintenance, or food and drink, or dry cleaning even? Jack assures him they don’t need a butler, but Ianto points out that he has dried blood on his collar. Jack offers to act as a decoy for the pterodactyl, but Ianto says it’ll rip him to shreds. Jack assures him he’s had dinosaurs for breakfast - literally in fact, as they were the only source of protein after the asteroid crashed. He hands Ianto the hypodermic and suggests one injection into the central nervous cortex, but Ianto hands the needle back and says he’d be a better decoy since the creature already knows him. He’s come prepared with his own weapon, a slab of dark chocolate to distract it. Ianto slowly approaches the pterodactyl then throws the chocolate down on the floor. For a moment, the creature pecks away at the bar - then it turns suddenly and looks directly at Jack who’s approaching from behind. Jack lunges forward, but the creature picks him up and flies back up into the rafters, taking him with it. Ianto watches helplessly as the pterodactyl flies Jack all around the warehouse, but then Jack is able to reach up and inject the creature in the leg, forcing it to slow down. The claws relax and release Jack, who falls to the ground, but he’s caught by Ianto which breaks his fall. The two of them then have to roll out of the way as the pterodactyl also comes crashing to the ground. Jack and Ianto laugh, then stare at each other closely. Ianto becomes uncomfortable and starts to walk away, but Jack calls back to him and tells him to report to work first thing tomorrow. Ianto leaves, but unbeknownst to Jack, his face creases as he fights back the tears…
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| '''The present day'''
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| Jack clears away the rubble from on top of Ianto and then with Gwen’s help, he pulls his friend out from where he was trapped. Ianto cries out in pain and realises his shoulder is dislocated. Jack tells him to take a deep breath and steel himself, then he forces Ianto’s shoulder back into place. Ianto asks where the others are and Jack tells him there‘s no sign of Owen yet, but they need his help to get Tosh out. Ianto reminds them that if anything happens to Owen, he can’t repair himself so Jack asks Gwen to make Owen her priority while they go to help Tosh.
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| Not far away, Owen is fully conscious but completely motionless. He’s trapped lying down and a few feet above him is a broken window pane, with several jagged bits of glass ominously hanging loose. Owen tries to gently move away the bricks that are covering him, but every vibration seems to affect the glass and it keeps dropping inch by inch, closer towards him…
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| '''4 years earlier'''
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| Owen and Katie laugh as they argue in their bedroom about the wedding invitation list. Eventually they agree on the seating arrangements for the third table, but there are still nine more to go! Katie jokes that it’s not too late for Owen to back out if he wants, but he promises he’s going to marry her even if it kills him. They kiss passionately, then Katie goes to make a cup of tea. As she leaves the room, Owen’s smile fades. A little while later, he finds her standing in the kitchen with a tea bag in her hand, but looking completely confused. He reminds her to use water, but she fills up the mug with cold water from the tap and he tells her she’s supposed to use water from the kettle. She goes to drink it, but when he reminds her to add milk she becomes angry and insists that she’s never liked milk, but it’s obvious she’s struggling to complete even the simplest sentence without Owen’s help. Realising how helpless she’s finally become, she breaks down in tears and he goes over to hug her.
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| Later, Owen visits the family doctor, Jim Garrett, and from the first floor window he watches Katie smoking in the garden outside. The doctor says he’s received the wedding invitation and was a little surprised that they’re still going ahead with it. Owen says he promised Katie a summer wedding, but the doctor reminds him that this was before her illness. Owen insists that it changes nothing, but the doctor says it will change everything. Owen thinks they could still be wrong, but the doctor says they’ve been through Katie’s case notes and all the evidence suggests she has early-onset Alzheimer’s. Owen says this is the youngest case ever recorded in medical history, but the doctor says that doesn’t mean their diagnosis is wrong. Owen is sure they must have missed something and pleads with him to run one more MRI scan. Owen tells the doctor that one day Katie is perfectly fine and the next she’s totally blank. He knows he’s losing her and he doesn’t know what else he can do. He’s even wondering what’s the point of him being a doctor himself if he can’t even help his own fiancée? Jim agrees to do whatever he can and Owen goes back to the window and smiles down at Katie.
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| That night, Owen can’t sleep. He sits upright in the bed and just looks down at Katie who’s asleep next to him. Later, Katie undergoes an MRI scan at the hospital and Owen watches from outside. As they both wait for the results to come through, Katie tells Owen it feels like being lost in a place you know really well. Sometimes everything comes back to her, but other times she just can’t get her bearings. She says she’s sorry, but he tells her she has nothing to be sorry for. She says she doesn’t want to put him through all this and last night she dreamt that he left her. She begins to cry and he hugs her.
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| The doctor arrives with the results and they join him in his office. He shows them the images from the scanner, but admits that he’s never seen anything like it. The pictures show there was never any deterioration of Katie’s brain, but now there’s an actual physical tumour that wasn’t there last week. The doctor confirms that Owen was right all along to demand another scan. He views this as good news because now it means Katie can undergo surgery and they can remove the tumour. Owen turns to Katie and asks if she understands what this all means, but Katie begins crying and says she can’t even remember his name anymore.
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| Owen speaks to the doctor just before he goes into theatre to begin the operation. He promises they’ll do everything they can for her, but Owen is worried she may not be up to it. The doctor goes inside and then Owen begins the long agonising wait in the corridor. Hours seem to pass and Owen paces nervously up and down. Suddenly there’s a noise from inside the room followed by the sound of equipment clattering to the floor, then silence. Without warning, Jack appears behind Owen and tells him he’s sorry and that he should prepare for the worst. Owen demands to know who he is and steps in the way when Jack tries to enter the operating theatre. Jack pushes past him and they both rush inside to find all the medical staff lying dead on the floor. Owen runs over to check on Katie - then stops in his tracks when he sees her exposed brain with alien-like tentacles emerging from it. Jack says he tried to stop them, but Katie is already dead. He explains that the thing in her head is an alien lifeform that incubates in the brain, disrupting its shape and its functions. When it’s attacked or threatened, it emits a toxic gas that’s fatal to humans. Fortunately it clears quickly so they should be safe now. Owen stares at his dead fiancée on the operating table in total shock. He mumbles about calling the police and Jack says he’ll tell them Torchwood is here and is already dealing with the incident. He tells Owen he needs to take Katie’s brain back with him and when Owen orders him not to go near her, Jack produces a cloth covered with chloroform which knocks Owen out after a brief struggle.
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| Owen wakes up in a hospital bed and is momentarily dazed. A nurse arrives and asks how he’s feeling, but he demands to know where Katie Russell is. He explains that they’re both junior doctors here and were about to get married, but the nurse tries to calm him down and stops him getting out of bed. Another nurse arrives to help and Owen begins screaming for answers.
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| Later, Owen is speaking to the hospital psychiatrist and gives him a description of the strange man in the military uniform with the American accent who attacked him in the operating theatre. The psychiatrist promises that they’ve checked all the security footage from the CCTV cameras and says there was no such man. Owen insists that Jim Garrett was poisoned by some sort of alien toxin, but the psychiatrist tells him the doctor was killed in a car accident. Owen tries to explain what the American told him about the alien creature that was in Katie’s brain, but he notices the psychiatrist is watching him closely and calmly writing notes and he realises how his story must sound. He becomes angry and insists that this isn’t trauma or delayed grief - it actually happened. The psychiatrist tells him that Katie’s tumour was inoperable and there was nothing anyone could do. Owen begins to cry and the psychiatrist tells him he’s prescribing three months rest and he shouldn’t come into work. Owen storms out.
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| Later, Owen gets the security team to run back the CCTV footage of the moment when Jack arrived outside the operating room, but he’s shocked to discover the pictures only show him, pacing up and down the corridor. He insists that he wasn’t alone and what they’re watching isn‘t what happened, but he knows his words are falling on deaf ears. He breaks down again and holds his head in his hands.
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| On the day of the funeral, Owen waits until the other mourners have left then he returns to Katie’s grave and stands there silently before bending down to read some of the messages. Lost in thought, he glances up for a second and sees Jack watching him from a distance. He starts running towards Jack, who steels himself ready for what has to happen. Owen increases his speed then lands a tremendous punch straight on Jack’s jaw. They both fall to the ground and then Owen continues to punch him, screaming that he could have saved Katie. Eventually Jack grabs hold of Owen’s hand and stops the assault, telling him that he really couldn‘t do anything to help.
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| When Owen calms down, Jack takes him for a slow walk around the cemetery. Owen is still shocked to discover Jack isn’t a figment of his imagination, but he doesn’t know what to think anymore. At least now he knows what a mental breakdown feels like. Jack tells him he’s fine and it’s the rest of the world that’s delusional. Owen wonders why the alien chose Katie, but Jack says there’s no reason. He promises Owen that his life doesn’t end with her and asks if he’s planning to go back to work, where he’ll see echoes of her in every corridor. He says Owen needs a purpose and he needs a medic. Owen is his first choice as he obviously doesn’t give up easily, which makes him the ideal person to join them in Cardiff…to fight aliens. Owen is still in shock. He admits that he doesn’t know what happened to Katie and he doesn’t know who Jack really is, but he knows for certain that there’s no such thing as aliens. J
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| ack takes him to the Torchwood Hub and as Owen looks around the huge interior for the very first time, he convinces himself that he really is having a complete mental breakdown. Jack asks him why he became a doctor and he says he thought that if he could save one life, his own life would be worthwhile. But now he realises that if he saves one, then there’s another and another, clawing at him, demanding to be saved, and even if he does succeed, he can never save enough. Jack says that here, maybe he can…
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| '''The present day'''
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| Owen silently stares at the broken window pane hanging loosely above him and doesn’t dare to move… Out of the corner of his eye he sees Gwen approaching. He asks how the others are, but as she tries to clamber towards him, he points to the broken glass above and warns her to be careful. Suddenly the whole window pane drops down half a foot and they both scream. Then things start to settle again and Gwen very gently removes the bricks from around Owen and starts to lift him clear. A sheet of glass comes loose from the frame, so they act quickly. They hold hands and Gwen physically lifts him clear, just as the glass comes free and drops down, smashing in the exact position where Owen’s head was.
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| Gwen and Owen race out of the warehouse and are reunited with Jack, Ianto, Tosh and Rhys who emerge from a side entrance. They check that everyone’s okay and the only injury seems to be Tosh who has a broken arm and some bruised ribs. Gwen asks Jack who was responsible for this, but he doesn’t know. Just as they realise the SUV is missing, an alarm sounds on Jack’s wrist-strap. He activates a control and a life-size hologram of their old enemy, Captain John Hart, appears before them. John taunts the team and ponders whether there are less of them after he left his little gift. He knows that Jack can’t die, but he’s bitter because with all that life available to him, Jack still can’t spare any time for him. He invites Jack to say hello to the family, then activates his own wrist-strap. Next to John, a second hologram appears, this time of a man Jack recognises straight away. Jack is completely stunned and can’t believe what he’s seeing - his brother, Gray. John tells Jack that everything he loves and treasures is going to die. John says he’s going to tear Jack’s world apart, piece by piece, starting right now. Maybe now Jack will be prepared to spend some time with him. The images of John and Gray disappear and the rest of the shell-shocked group turn to Jack as a determined look appears on his face…
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| ==Cast== | | ==Cast== |
