Kiss Her Goodbye
When old friends come to Cardiff looking for Jacqueline's help to find Harriet Saxon, all is not what it seems. The Captain's world ends up being turned upside down as she and her Torchwood comrades work to help the Doctor save the universe.
Beta: crysty_twilight
Spoilers: End of Doctor Who S3 and Torchwood to S2E2
Notes: This takes place in my AU Torchwood universe. The timeline is very different to canon, especially the Time War. Many hugs and thank yous to crysty_twilight for the excellent beta, I couldn't have done it without you! Thank yous also to huskyfriends and chicago_girl_7 for being terrific alphas and cheering me along!
Art by aimsleydale (LJ | e-mail | comment) and Genie (LJ | e-mail | comment)
Chapter One
"Excuse me Constable, but I believe this is my crime scene now."
Police Constable Andrea Davies looked up from her task of running caution tape around the boundaries of the latest bizarre crime scene in Cardiff to see a familiar brunette standing there. Captain Jacqueline Harkness always showed up and not very tactfully pushed Cardiff's finest out of the way to deal with the stranger incidents.
"Oh? One of your spooky-dos, then?" Andrea asked.
Jacqueline flashed a mega-watt grin. "I'm not sure yet, why don't you fill me in?" she asked, her military greatcoat flaring as she ducked under the crime scene barrier tape and started looking around the cordoned off alley.
Andrea rolled her eyes and followed Jacqueline toward the body laying prone in the middle of the alley. "Lady walking her dog heard a man's scream and then she saw the body falling down between these buildings. Phoned it in to the police and booked it home. If you ask me, it's just a plain old-fashioned case of homicide, nothing spooky about it."
Jacqueline was only half-listening, intent on staring at a brown leather wrist-strap on her left wrist. "Normally I would agree but my readings suggest otherwise." She knelt beside the body. "So do these bruises on his neck." She stood up and fixed Andrea with an intense look. "He was grabbed and pushed, by someone that's not from around here."
"What readings?" Andrea queried. Jacqueline didn't answer. "He was murdered by who?"
Before Jacqueline could respond to Andrea's comment, a phone ring interrupted them, and she dug a grey Motorola RAZR out of a pocket of her coat. "Harkness. Where at? All right, I'm on my way."
Andrea followed Jacqueline back to the caution tape. "Wait, you're leaving already?"
Jacqueline stopped and turned, coat flaring. "I have everything I need. You can let SOCO in and they can eliminate us from whatever they'd like!" She ducked under the caution tape and jumped in a big black Range Rover that peeled away.
Another officer came up to Andrea and watched the SUV drive off. "What was that all about?"
Andrea shrugged. "I don't know. Remind me to tell Gwynn he works for a crazy woman." She sighed. "Tell SOCO the scene's theirs, finally."
Across Cardiff, a blue Honda S2000 pulled to a screeching halt in front of an office building. The raven-haired woman behind the wheel looked around, then tapped the horn. Moments later a short Asian man in an impeccable pinstripe suit came scurrying out of the glass lobby doors and climbed into the passenger seat, barely settling in before the car peeled away down the street.
On the docks, three vehicles converged in front of one unremarkable abandoned warehouse building. The blue S2000 came in from one direction while a black Saab came in from the other direction. Moments later the black SUV came flying in. Jacqueline jumped out of the SUV and walked straight over to the S2000.
"So, Tosh, anything further since you called me?" she asked.
The Asian man shook his head. "No, still just a minor Rift spike and a very faint life sign trace."
"So, guns blazing?" asked the S2000's driver.
Jacqueline rolled her eyes. "No, Owena, no guns. Not until we have an idea of what's in there. Where are Gwynn and Iana?"
"Right here," came a voice from behind her.
Jacqueline turned to regard the slender Police Constable who had just emerged from the Saab, and the petite brunette in a simple black dress following close on his heels. She took a moment to look at her team, then opened her wrist strap, staring at it for a minute.
"Jacqueline? What's the plan?" Owena asked.
"The life sign is fluctuating, I can't tell if it's getting weaker or perhaps moving," Toshiyuki added.
"All right. Gwynn, with me. Tosh, stay out here and monitor, keep us informed if anything changes. Owena and Iana, stay with Tosh, I'll call you if we need backup," Jacqueline said.
"Understood," Tosh said, pulling out a large PDA.
"Be careful," Iana said softly.
Jacqueline nodded and headed into the warehouse, Gwynn close on her heels. Owena moved to sit on the hood of her car, and Iana leaned against the car beside her.
Just a few miles away, a rooftop argument between two gang members was interrupted. A sudden burst of golden light appeared, from which a brunette woman in a Napoleonic style military coat emerged.
"Stay back! Stay back or I'll kill him!" one of the men said frantically, brandishing a knife.
"Go ahead. Which artery do you normally sever?" she asked.
"What? Stay away, I'm not bluffing!" His hand shook as he pointed the knife at her.
"Only someone who's bluffing says they aren't," she said, knocking the knife out of his hands and sending it clattering across the rooftop. Then she grabbed him by the neck and dragged him off to the nearby edge of the rooftop.
The man wriggled in her grip, his movement becoming more frantic as he looked down and saw how far away the ground was. "Please! Don't hurt me! I'll do anything!"
The woman considered his plea for the briefest of moments, then shook her head. "No." She let go and the man fell straight down. As she turned away from the edge, the other man scrambled away, heading for the nearest stairwell.
"Oh well, can't kill them all." She slid back the cuff of her jacket and opened the flap on a brown leather wrist-strap, considering the contents for a moment. "That's the ticket. Thirsty now." She closed the strap and headed for the stairwell.
Gwynn walked out of the warehouse with a ball of white fluff in his arms, followed by a scratched and battered Jacqueline. Owena jumped off the hood of her car and ran over to Gwynn.
"What is that?" she asked, pointing to the white fluff.
"A tribble with teeth?" Jacqueline snapped. "Damn thing chewed me to pieces!"
Owena tried to suppress a grin as she pulled a stethoscope from the pocket of her black leather jacket. "You're just not an animal person, are you Jacqueline dear?" she teased.
"Don't you start," Jacqueline threatened. Any further threats were interrupted by a beep from her wrist.
"That never beeps," Iana said, moving to Jacqueline's side and pointing at Jacqueline's wrist.
"That's what I was thinking," Jacqueline said, opening her wrist-strap. There was a flash of light, and a hologram appeared. Jacqueline's eyes grew wide as she stared at the brunette in a Napoleonic military coat that appeared in the hologram.
"Gee, too busy to answer the phone? I only rate the answering machine?" the hologram began. "I'm sure you've already found the body, sorry about that, bill me for the clean-up. We need to talk, drinks on me. Retro-log the transmission coordinates, that's where I am. Hurry up, work to do. Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope!" The hologram flickered out.
"Who the hell was that?" Owena asked.
Jacqueline stared at the space where the hologram had been, then flipped her wrist-strap closed and stalked off toward the SUV. "Don't follow me. Just go back to the Hub." She climbed in the SUV and peeled away.
"Jacqueline! Wait! Who was that? Where are you going?" Iana called after their leader.
"Why does she always shut us out like this?" Owena griped. "And what the hell am I supposed to do with this creature?"
"I can track her," Toshiyuki offered, holding up his PDA.
"Let's go," Gwynn said, heading for his Saab.
Owena sighed and headed to her Honda, sitting the ball of fluff on the small rear seat, and telling it, "Don't you dare bite the leather, hear me?"