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fandomweekly2019-10-05 04:09 pm
m_findlow) wrote in fandomweekly2019-10-05 04:09 pm
Entry tags:
[#026] IN NEED OF A MIRACLE (TORCHWOOD)
Theme Prompt: #026 - Miracle
Title: In need of a miracle
Fandom: Torchwood
Rating/Warnings: M / Spoilers for Season 4
Bonus: Yes
Word Count: 1,000 words
Summary: Jack needs to see the Miracle up close to understand what he's dealing with.
Jack slipped his security pass back into his pocket. 'Who is this guy, anyway?' he asked the slender woman walking next to him as they made their way past military officers blocking off the entrance to the mortuary.
Vera pulled her coat tighter around her. 'Professor Santini.'
'He anyone important?'
'Just whoever was around when the call was put out,' she replied. 'What's the FBI's interest in this, anyway? I though you guys only investigated federal crime?'
'I investigate everything.'
'And lie about your credentials,' Ianto added, falling into step next to Jack.
They entered the room, joining a half dozen people from various agencies gathered around the mortuary slab. A lumpy shape hid beneath the crisp white sheet.
Professor Santini cleared his throat. 'The purpose of this enquiry is to determine...' He paused nervously, as if unsure. 'Well, as you'll see,' he said, trying a different tact, 'following the explosion at the CIA archive, one of the victims has been-'
A groaning sound emanated from under the sheet. Everyone in the room stiffened and fixed their gaze upon it.
Santini swallowed visibly at the interruption. 'Yes, I think we can... I'm sorry. They brought me in as an expert, but I don't know what the hell this is.'
Ianto edged closer to Jack's side, the tension in his body obvious. In another lifetime Jack might have enjoyed the unconscious motion.
Two assistants removed the sheet, revealing the human remains. It was beyond gruesome, burnt black and skin flayed, with large sections of exposed bone and flesh. Lips were melted away revealing blackened teeth and the whole left cheek was gone. The smell of rot and char wafted up from it, assaulting their senses.
Santini stepped forward. 'We think this man was right at the centre of the blast, and yet he's still alive. Clearly, the skin is burnt. He's not indestructible, just undying. Everliving. We're going to need a new vocabulary. But we're getting the same results from all over the world.'
Vera cocked her head, getting a proper look and the body as it squirmed. 'Is that actual consciousness? It seems like he's still aware.'
Jack took the opportunity to ask his own question. 'Excuse me, I was wondering. What if you detach the head? I mean, would he stay alive without his head?'
'What if you removed the head?' Ianto cried. 'You must be joking!'
Jack threw him a dark look. He wanted to say something but how would it look if he suddenly started talking to a man who wasn't even there? People who should have died were still living, and people who'd been long dead were now coming back to haunt him. He was getting fed up with being inundated by supposed miracles. His world had been just fine before all this started. He could've been idling his time on Hypaxia Seven, sipping hypervodkas. Instead he was here, trying to quash any investigations into Torchwood, only to be followed by a figment of his imagination. Even when hideously drunk he'd never hallucinated about dead people. Why did Ianto have to haunt his footsteps the moment he'd come back here? It was the distraction he didn't need. The dead should stay dead. That was how it worked. Only Jack got to live forever.
The professor took Jack's question with keen interest, already picking up a scalpel. 'I suggest we find out.'
Vera cut across Jack's path, her shapely jaw clenched in protest. 'Excuse me. You can't do that. I mean, you literally can't. This man is not dead. He's our patient.'
'I'm with her,' Ianto agreed.
'Your comments have been noted, Doctor Juarez. Now, shall we begin?' Santini began slowly cutting the sinew and tendons that were barely connecting the skull to its torso. Each one gave a little snap as he knicked it with the blade.
The room fell silent and there was a collective sigh of relief. Then the eyes on the victim's head flew open, staring back at them.
Vera's hand flew to her mouth. 'Oh my God.'
'Iesu mawr,' came the whispered gasp from next to Jack. Jack's own stomach clenched and then twisted in on itself. This was so far beyond anything he'd ever seen or experienced. Resurrection was one thing, having the time vortex unwind itself to reverse death, but this was altogether wrong. It shouldn't be possible.
Santini wrung his hands together. 'Don't tell me this is a virus, or evolution, or whatever. This is deliberate intervention. I mean, all of us have been changed by design.' He cast his gaze around the room at the disturbed gathering. Jack tried to imagine how they would explain this to their respective department heads.
Vera frowned. 'But how? Who could do this?'
Santini was momentarily smug. 'Well, who's got the technology? Simple answer. No one on this Earth.'
'Thank you. I think we've seen enough,' Jack said. He left the rest of them inside the mortuary, already jogging up the steps. There was no sound of footfalls behind him, yet he knew he'd been followed, waiting for his shadow to begin voicing its dissent.
'I can't believe you suggested that,' Ianto fumed, catching up as Jack strode towards the doors and out into the night. 'Let alone believe some idiot would actually do it.'
Jack marched up to the car, grabbing the door handle and then turning back to face Ianto. 'We needed to know how bad things are.'
'And now we do. As if we didn't already.'
'That guy at the CIA archives was ready to kill us. He blew up half the building. You really wanna feel sorry for him?' Jack cringed at the realisation he'd said "us" and not "me". Ianto hadn't been at the archives, or had he? When had Jack's mind first invented him? And why? He was perfectly capable of investigating this on his own. He didn't need help, however ephemeral, even if now he was the one person on Earth who seemingly could die.
Title: In need of a miracle
Fandom: Torchwood
Rating/Warnings: M / Spoilers for Season 4
Bonus: Yes
Word Count: 1,000 words
Summary: Jack needs to see the Miracle up close to understand what he's dealing with.
Jack slipped his security pass back into his pocket. 'Who is this guy, anyway?' he asked the slender woman walking next to him as they made their way past military officers blocking off the entrance to the mortuary.
Vera pulled her coat tighter around her. 'Professor Santini.'
'He anyone important?'
'Just whoever was around when the call was put out,' she replied. 'What's the FBI's interest in this, anyway? I though you guys only investigated federal crime?'
'I investigate everything.'
'And lie about your credentials,' Ianto added, falling into step next to Jack.
They entered the room, joining a half dozen people from various agencies gathered around the mortuary slab. A lumpy shape hid beneath the crisp white sheet.
Professor Santini cleared his throat. 'The purpose of this enquiry is to determine...' He paused nervously, as if unsure. 'Well, as you'll see,' he said, trying a different tact, 'following the explosion at the CIA archive, one of the victims has been-'
A groaning sound emanated from under the sheet. Everyone in the room stiffened and fixed their gaze upon it.
Santini swallowed visibly at the interruption. 'Yes, I think we can... I'm sorry. They brought me in as an expert, but I don't know what the hell this is.'
Ianto edged closer to Jack's side, the tension in his body obvious. In another lifetime Jack might have enjoyed the unconscious motion.
Two assistants removed the sheet, revealing the human remains. It was beyond gruesome, burnt black and skin flayed, with large sections of exposed bone and flesh. Lips were melted away revealing blackened teeth and the whole left cheek was gone. The smell of rot and char wafted up from it, assaulting their senses.
Santini stepped forward. 'We think this man was right at the centre of the blast, and yet he's still alive. Clearly, the skin is burnt. He's not indestructible, just undying. Everliving. We're going to need a new vocabulary. But we're getting the same results from all over the world.'
Vera cocked her head, getting a proper look and the body as it squirmed. 'Is that actual consciousness? It seems like he's still aware.'
Jack took the opportunity to ask his own question. 'Excuse me, I was wondering. What if you detach the head? I mean, would he stay alive without his head?'
'What if you removed the head?' Ianto cried. 'You must be joking!'
Jack threw him a dark look. He wanted to say something but how would it look if he suddenly started talking to a man who wasn't even there? People who should have died were still living, and people who'd been long dead were now coming back to haunt him. He was getting fed up with being inundated by supposed miracles. His world had been just fine before all this started. He could've been idling his time on Hypaxia Seven, sipping hypervodkas. Instead he was here, trying to quash any investigations into Torchwood, only to be followed by a figment of his imagination. Even when hideously drunk he'd never hallucinated about dead people. Why did Ianto have to haunt his footsteps the moment he'd come back here? It was the distraction he didn't need. The dead should stay dead. That was how it worked. Only Jack got to live forever.
The professor took Jack's question with keen interest, already picking up a scalpel. 'I suggest we find out.'
Vera cut across Jack's path, her shapely jaw clenched in protest. 'Excuse me. You can't do that. I mean, you literally can't. This man is not dead. He's our patient.'
'I'm with her,' Ianto agreed.
'Your comments have been noted, Doctor Juarez. Now, shall we begin?' Santini began slowly cutting the sinew and tendons that were barely connecting the skull to its torso. Each one gave a little snap as he knicked it with the blade.
The room fell silent and there was a collective sigh of relief. Then the eyes on the victim's head flew open, staring back at them.
Vera's hand flew to her mouth. 'Oh my God.'
'Iesu mawr,' came the whispered gasp from next to Jack. Jack's own stomach clenched and then twisted in on itself. This was so far beyond anything he'd ever seen or experienced. Resurrection was one thing, having the time vortex unwind itself to reverse death, but this was altogether wrong. It shouldn't be possible.
Santini wrung his hands together. 'Don't tell me this is a virus, or evolution, or whatever. This is deliberate intervention. I mean, all of us have been changed by design.' He cast his gaze around the room at the disturbed gathering. Jack tried to imagine how they would explain this to their respective department heads.
Vera frowned. 'But how? Who could do this?'
Santini was momentarily smug. 'Well, who's got the technology? Simple answer. No one on this Earth.'
'Thank you. I think we've seen enough,' Jack said. He left the rest of them inside the mortuary, already jogging up the steps. There was no sound of footfalls behind him, yet he knew he'd been followed, waiting for his shadow to begin voicing its dissent.
'I can't believe you suggested that,' Ianto fumed, catching up as Jack strode towards the doors and out into the night. 'Let alone believe some idiot would actually do it.'
Jack marched up to the car, grabbing the door handle and then turning back to face Ianto. 'We needed to know how bad things are.'
'And now we do. As if we didn't already.'
'That guy at the CIA archives was ready to kill us. He blew up half the building. You really wanna feel sorry for him?' Jack cringed at the realisation he'd said "us" and not "me". Ianto hadn't been at the archives, or had he? When had Jack's mind first invented him? And why? He was perfectly capable of investigating this on his own. He didn't need help, however ephemeral, even if now he was the one person on Earth who seemingly could die.
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