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Rex Matheson was a CIA agent in the 21st century and a member of Torchwood in the year 2011.
Biography
Matheson was raised in the Los Angeles area by a father with severe personal and financial problems. After growing up and joining the CIA, Matheson remained out of contact with his father and told acquaintances that he was from the east coast of the United States. (TW: Escape to LA)
Matheson was in the middle of a mobile phone conversation with his colleague Esther Drummond when a truck in front of his car stopped suddenly and sent several poles through his windshield, impaling him. Matheson awoke in a hospital and learnt that one of the poles had struck his heart and should have killed him, but did not -- the Miracle Day event, which prevented all humans on Earth from dying. Matheson began to investigate the phenomenon, and his hunt for answers led him to Wales, where he sought out Gwen Cooper, a known member of the Torchwood Institute. On finding her, he collapsed due to his injuries and was taken prisoner. Matheson freed himself and escaped from an armed helicopter with Cooper, her husband Rhys Williams and their child Anwen Williams, and Jack Harkness. After making their way to Cardiff, Matheson informed the police of their whereabouts and ordered that the others be taken to America, under special protocols allowing their rendition. (TW: The New World)
Upon arrival at Heathrow Airport, Matheson ordered Harkness and Cooper taken aboard the plane commandeered for the rendition, but that Cooper's husband and baby to be returned to Wales. Once in flight, Matheson discovered that he had underestimated Torchwood, as Harkness' knowledge of possible causes of the Miracle were better than any he had heard. He also learned from a scan from Harkness' vortex manipulator that his sodium levels were low. Matheson later realized that one of his fellow agents, Lyn Peterfield, had poisoned Harkness without his orders. Working with Doctor Vera Juarez by phone, Cooper, and the flight attendents, an antidote to the poison was found. On landing back in America, Matheson was called by Esther Drummond, who informed him that the CIA had cleared out his office and turned on him. Realising his situation, Matheson attacked Peterfield and the corrupt CIA agents escorting them, freed Harkness and Cooper, and in escaping with them and with Drummond, effectively became part of the Torchwood team. (TW: Rendition) Matheson suspected that his superior, Brian Friedkin, was responsible for betraying them, and broke into Friedkin's home in the middle of the night to confront him at gunpoint. He learned only that Friedkin was under the command of unknown forces that were more powerful than the CIA. Before leaving, Matheson fired his gun next to Friedkin's ear, temporarily deafening him. (TW: Dead of Night)
The four began investigating Miracle Day while in hiding, but Matheson at first insisted on trying to work within the system by calling a mentor in the CIA for help. From hiding near the hotel he and his mentor had arranged as a meeting place, Matheson saw police swarm the entrance, proof that they were truly on their own. He struggled against his frustration with the their circumstances, and with his own damaged heart, which continued to heal slowly but which caused him frequent pain and bled when placed under intense physical stress. Looking for help, Matheson broke into Dr. Juarez's home in order to obtain medical treatment, a meeting which led to a sexual encounter. (TW: Dead of Night)
Functioning with the other team members was productive, with Matheson helping the new Torchwood to find PhiCorp's massive stockpile of painkillers in preparation for Miracle Day, devising the plan to penetrate PhiCorp's Los Angeles headquarters in order to steal sensitive computer equipment, and coming to the resuce of Harkness and Cooper when the two were tied and threatened with torture. However, the relationship was also tense. Matheson berated Cooper and Drummond for remaining in contact with family and jeopardizing their safety, despite taking time to briefly visit his destitute and antagonistic father. He also came into regular conflict with Harkness over who should lead the group, and he regularly expressed discomfort with Harkness' open homosexuality. Throughout this time, Matheson continued to take PhiCorp painkillers for his condition. (TW: Dead of Night, Escape to LA)
After the categories of life were announced and the overflow camps were established, Dr. Juarez contacted Matheson, telling him that she wanted to join the Torchwood team. After she arrived in LA, the team decided to infiltrate an overflow camp. It was decided that Drummond would pose as an office worker at the camp, and Juarez suggested that she could use her position on the medical panels to infiltrate the facility. However, Matheson pulled rank on Juarez, and decided that he would use his injury to gain access. After being processed and given a category two blue pin, Matheson tried to argue that he was actually a category one, but his arguments were dismissed by the camp staff. Drummond soon arrived and was able to reclassify Matheson into category one, and secretly gave him a video camera. Matheson was then taken to the modules with other category ones and left inside. He began recording the stacked bodies inside the module, and then stepped outside to continue recording. When he returned to the module, he found Juarez — who had ignored his order and entered the camp anyway — locked inside. He attempted to free her, but the module was activated and Juarez was burned alive. Matheson recorded the incident so that he would have evidence of the crimes against humanity that were occurring. (TW: The Categories of Life)
Matheson attempted to escape the camp in a stolen military uniform, but was stopped by guards and placed in chains. Matheson informed them that he was Torchwood, and was allowed to speak with Colin Maloney, director of the camp. Matheson confronted him about the modules, but Maloney claimed that he was just a middle man who had no say in the installation of the ovens. Matheson told him about Juarez's murder and showed him the video he had recorded. Unaware of Maloney’s role in the killing, Matheson told the director that he would be a hero if he freed him and helped him expose the government’s crimes. In response, Maloney drove a pen into Matheson's open wound until he passed out from the pain. At that moment, Drummond arrived, struggled violently with Maloney, and was eventually able to free Matheson. Resting briefly after escaping the camp, Matheson consoled Drummond in her state of shock. (TW: The Middle Men)
Upon returning to their base, Drummond tried to comfort Matheson about Juarez's death and asked if he had tried to contact her family. Matheson pointed out that he hardly knew her, and asked Drummond to drop the subject. Drummond soon realized that Gwen Cooper's family had been taken hostage and that she had been forced to kidnap Jack Harkness. While they followed Cooper's vehicle, Matheson called Juarez's brother, and contacted Andy Davidson for his help in saving Cooper's family. At the rendezvous point, Matheson, hidden in the grass some distance away, used a sniper rifle to free Cooper and Harkness and force Olivia Colasanto and her men to surrender. Despite their victory, Matheson and the others were persuaded by Olivia to come with her to meet a man who knew the true nature of the Miracle — her grandfather, Angelo Colasanto. (TW: Immortal Sins)
Matheson’s call to Juarez’s brother was intercepted, and Matheson and the rest of the Torchwood team were captured by Brian Friedkin and several loyal CIA operatives at the Colasanto residence. Matheson was taunted and threatened by Friedkin in the same manner that Matheson had confronted him, but he was able to manipulate Friedkin into admitting that the Families had been paying him and “owned” him — a confession that was recorded and broadcast by Matheson’s eye-5 contact lenses. Moments later, the Torchwood members were freed by a legitimate CIA team led by Allen Shapiro, one of Friedkin’s superiors. Matheson told Shapiro that the phone call was intended to draw the CIA’s attention and to prove his and Drummond’s innocence. Enough evidence was present for Matheson and Drummond to regain their former positions. (TW: End of the Road)
Before leaving the Colasanto residence, Angelo suddenly died, becoming the first person to die since Miracle Day, and Matheson remained with the CIA agents there to determine how this had happened. After a null field generator under Angelo's bed was discovered, Harkness privately informed Matheson and Drummond that the generator cancelled out the morphic field that was preventing death, and that the technology was too dangerous to be given to the CIA. Matheson helped Harkness to escape with a component from the generator, but decided to stay to help the CIA continue the investigation. (TW: End of the Road)
Matheson spent the next two months investigating the Miracle and the Three Families. He and the CIA made little progress for most of that time, as the Families had spent the past century making it difficult to find them, and Charlotte Willis, an operative of the Families working inside the CIA, impeded the investigation. Eventually, Matheson found a short story that shared many similarities with the events of Harkness's imprisonment in 1928, believing that a relative of the story's author had married into the Three Families. Another relative had been murdered, and the CIA had access to the murder weapon, inspiring Matheson to order that the weapon be analyzed for DNA traces; however, Willis was assigned to run the DNA trace, and lied about the results. In time, the Torchwood team speculated that the cause of the Miracle, the Blessing, was located at opposite sides of the planet, and Matheson traveled to meet Drummond in Buenos Aires, while Harkness and Cooper went to Shanghai. (TW: The Gathering)
In Buenos Aires, Matheson and Drummond secretly performed a blood transfusion, replacing Matheson's blood with stored blood taken earlier from Harkness. While they worked with an Argentine army squad, a soldier opened the case containing Matheson's blood, and believing that it was Harkness' blood, detonated a suicide bomb that destroyed the truck and most of the squad. Matheson ordered the survivng army captain to pretend that he and Drummond had become category ones, in order to throw off the Three Families. Matheson and Drummond then made their way to the Blessing, where they were taken prisoner. While communicating with members of the Families and with the rest of the Torchwood team in Shanghai, Matheson revealed that he had Harkness's blood in his body. He and Harkness agreed to sacrifice their lives at the same time, feeding mortal blood to both ends of the Blessing and ending the Miracle. The leader of the Families in Buenos Aires then shot Drummond, forcing Matheson to hesitate in order to maintain the Miracle and to save Drummond. Despite this, Matheson reluctantly agreed to proceed, and removed the bandage from his chest, allowing the Blessing to pull large quantities of blood from his wound. As the Blessing shook violently and the Miracle ended, Matheson rose to his feet and threw the Families leader to his death before collapsing once again. He and Drummond were then rescued by the army, but only Matheson survived. Matheson attended Drummond's funeral with the remaining Torchwood members, Rhys Williams, and Charlotte Willis. He tried to participate in the service, but struggled visibly with his own grief. After the service, he learned the truth of Willis' duplicity. He attempted to stop her, but was killed by Willis before she herself was taken down. To everyone's shock, Matheson resurrected a moment later and his wound healed, indicating he had somehow gained Harkness's immortality. (TW: The Blood Line)
Other Information
Deaths
- Stabbed through the chest by a pole (TW: The New World)
- Drained of his blood by the Blessing (TW: The Blood Line)
- Shot by Charlotte Willis (TW: The Blood Line)