Rex Matheson
Rex Matheson was a CIA agent in the 21st century and a member of Torchwood in the year 2011. On Miracle Day, Matheson was saved from a lethal injury by the phenomenon. He played a critical role in identifying the cause of the Miracle and eventually stopping it. During the investigation, Matheson became close friends with Esther Drummond, and had a brief romantic relationship with his doctor, Vera Juarez. After the Miracle, Matheson gained Jack Harkness’s healing abilities, becoming immortal.
Biography
Early life
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)
Stolen Torchwood cargo
When the British government sold the American government alien weapons salvaged from the ruins of the Torchwood Hub, the American middle men involved went rogue and decided to keep the weapons for themselves. Teaming up with a former member of the group, Matheson tracked the rogue group from South America to Colorado to Washington, D.C. Along the way, the group caused destruction in South America and in Colorado, seriously jeopardizing Matheson’s position and reputation in the CIA. However, the pair continued the search without CIA support. A mysterious man named Mr. Wintyr, using an Ytraxorian rifle to travel through time, rewrote history so that Matheson and the former member of the group prevented the assassination of the American president and the destruction of the White House. Mr. Wintyr destroyed all the weapons except for the Ytraxorian rifle, which he kept. Mr. Wintyr called Matheson, informing him that he would leave him alive because he admired the spark of idealism he saw in Matheson – but that he would have to kill him if he ever saw him again. Mr. Wintyr then pulled a few strings to restore Matheson’s reputation in the CIA, allowing him to continue as a CIA operative. (TWN: The Men Who Sold the World)
Miracle Day
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, ensured his survival. Matheson began to investigate the phenomenon. His hunt for answers led him to Wales, where he sought out Gwen Cooper, a known member of the Torchwood Institute. When he found her, he collapsed from his injuries and was taken prisoner. Matheson freed himself and escaped from an armed helicopter with Cooper, her husband Rhys Williams and their child, and Jack Harkness. After making their way to Cardiff, Matheson informed the police of their whereabouts and ordered the others be taken to the US, under special protocols allowing their rendition. (TW: The New World)
At Heathrow Airport, Matheson ordered Harkness and Cooper taken aboard a plane commandeered for the rendition, but to return Cooper's husband and baby to Wales. In flight, Matheson discovered that he had underestimated Torchwood, acknowledging that Harkness' suggestions of possible causes of the Miracle were better than any he had heard.
Matheson realised that one of his fellow agents, Lyn Peterfield, had poisoned Harkness without his orders. Matheson, Cooper and the flight attendants synthesised an antidote whilst consulting Doctor Vera Juarez by phone for instructions. On landing in America, Matheson was called by Esther Drummond, who informed him that the CIA had cleared out his office and turned on him. Understanding his situation, Matheson attacked Peterfield and the corrupt CIA agents escorting them and freed Harkness and Cooper. In escaping with Drummond and the Torchwood prisoners, Matheson effectively became one of the Torchwood team himself. (TW: Rendition)
He quickly suspected that his superior, Brian Friedkin, had betrayed them. He 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 more powerful than the CIA. Before leaving, Matheson temporarily deafened Friedkin by firing his gun next to Friedkin's ear.
The four began investigating Miracle Day from hiding. Matheson at first insisted on trying to work within the system, but he was immediately betrayed by his CIA mentor, proving that they were on their own. He struggled against his frustration and with his own damaged heart, which was healing slowly but caused him frequent pain. Looking for support, Matheson broke into Dr. Juarez's home for medical treatment, a meeting which led to a sexual encounter. (TW: Dead of Night)
Working with the other team members was productive. Matheson helped to find PhiCorp's massive stockpile of painkillers prepared in advance of Miracle Day. He devised a plan to penetrate PhiCorp's Los Angeles headquarters and steal sensitive computer equipment, and rescued Harkness and Cooper when they were bound and threatened with torture. However, the relationship was also tense. Matheson berated Cooper and Drummond for keeping in contact with family and jeopardising their safety, even though he visited his destitute and antagonistic father. He also fought regularly with Jack Harkness over who should lead the group, and he expressed discomfort with Harkness's homosexual tendencies. (TW: Dead of Night, Escape to LA)
Investigating the camps
After the categories of life were announced and the overflow camps established, Dr. Juarez told Matheson she wanted to join the Torchwood team. Tthe team decided to infiltrate an overflow camp. Drummond would pose as an office worker at the camp. Juarez suggested that she could use her position on the medical panels to infiltrate the facility. However, Matheson pulled rank and decided 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. His arguments were dismissed by the camp staff. Drummond arrived and reclassified Matheson into category one and gave him a video camera. Matheson went to the modules with other category ones and was left inside. He recorded the bodies stacked in the module, then stepped outside to continue recording. When he returned to the module, he found Juarez — who had ignored his order and entered the camp — locked inside. He tried to free her, but the module was activated and Juarez was burned alive. Matheson recorded the incident as evidence of crimes against humanity. (TW: The Categories of Life)
Matheson tried to escape the camp, but was stopped by guards and placed in chains. Matheson informed them that he was Torchwood and was allowed to speak with Colin Maloney, the camp's director. Matheson confronted him about the modules, but Maloney claimed 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 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 until Ralph Coltrane shot Maloney and freed Matheson. Resting briefly after escaping the camp, Matheson consoled Drummond in her state of shock. (TW: The Middle Men)
Colasanto
Back at 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 realised that Gwen Cooper's family had been taken hostage and she had been forced to kidnap Jack Harkness. While they followed Cooper's vehicle, Matheson called Juarez's brother and asked Andy Davidson for help in saving her family. At the rendezvous, Matheson used a sniper rifle to free Cooper and Harkness and force Olivia Colasanto and her men to surrender. 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. Matheson and the rest of the Torchwood team were captured by Brian Friedkin and loyal CIA operatives at the Colasanto residence. Matheson was threatened by Friedkin in the same way Matheson had confronted him. He manipulate Friedkin into admitting that the Families had been paying him and “owned” him — a confession that was recorded and broadcast by the eye-5 contact lenses Rex was wearing. 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 Drummond’s and his innocence. There was enough evidence for Matheson and Drummond to regain their former positions. (TW: End of the Road)
Before they left the Colasanto residence, Angelo died, the first person to die since Miracle Day. Matheson remained with the CIA agents to determine how it had happened. After a null field generator was found under Angelo's bed, Harkness privately informed Matheson and Drummond that it cancelled out the morphic field that was preventing death and 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 with the investigation. (TW: End of the Road)
Endgame
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 better part of a century covering their tracks, 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, but the author disappeared from records soon after. This led Matheson to believe that a relative of the story's author had married into the Three Families. Following increasingly subtle clues, it was discovered that another relative had been murdered and the murder weapon was in CIA storage. Inspired, Matheson ordered that the weapon be analysed 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 travelled to meet Drummond in Buenos Aires, while Harkness and Cooper went to Shanghai. (TW: The Gathering)
In Buenos Aires, Matheson and Drummond 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. Thinking it was Harkness' blood, he 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 to throw off the Three Families.
Matheson and Drummond made their way to the Blessing and were taken prisoner. While communicating with members of the Families and the rest of the Torchwood team in Shanghai, Matheson revealed that he had Harkness's blood in his body. Harkness and he agreed to sacrifice their lives at the same time by feeding mortal blood to both ends of the Blessing to end the miracle. The leader of the Families in Buenos Aires shot Drummond, making Matheson hesitate end the Miracle and to let Drummond die.
Matheson reluctantly agreed to proceed/ He 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 again.
Drummond wand he were rescued by the army, but only Matheson survived.
Post-Miracle
Matheson attended Drummond's funeral with the remaining Torchwood members, Rhys Williams and Charlotte Willis. He tried to take part, but struggled visibly with his own grief. After the service, he learned the truth of Willis's duplicity. He tried to stop her, but Willis killed him before she was taken down. To everyone's shock, Matheson resurrected a moment later and his wound healed. He had somehow gained Harkness's immortality. (TW: The Blood Line)
After the Miracle, Matheson worked for the CIA again as an agent. He recieved a phone call from Lucas Avery and told him about all the good things that Gwen Cooper had done. (TWA: Army of One)
Special abilities
After receiving a transfusion of Jack Harkness's mortal blood while rendered undying by the Miracle, and in combination with the mysterious properties of the Blessing, Matheson gained Harkness's immortality, rendering him unable to die by nearly any means. He also healed rapidly from any wound. This ability did not activate immediately. After being drained of blood by the Blessing, Matheson survived and kept the wound he had gotten several months before. It was only after he was shot and killed by Charlotte Wills that he was resurrected with both wounds fully healed. It has not yet been revealed whether Matheson became a fixed point in time. (TW: The Blood Line)
Deaths
The following deaths were non-permanent due to Matheson gaining immortality.
- Drained of his blood by the Blessing (TW: The Blood Line)
- Shot by Charlotte Wills (TW: The Blood Line)
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