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A Little Light Show
Fandom: Torchwood/Primeval
Characters: Jack, Gwen, Connor, Abby (mentions of both teams)
Words: 1,640
Rating/warnings: PG.though swearing from the start
Disclaimer: Nope, don't own Primeval or Torchwood
Spoilers: This is set during Torchwood season 2 and Primeval season 3, so some spoilers if you haven't seen them.
AN: Written for my flatty's birthday. She requested this crossover and these characters.
Gwen couldn’t believe her fucking luck.
Her feet pounded unfamiliar pavements as she ran, the leather of her boots loud in the deserted street. Her footfalls were regular and steady and she concentrated on them, using them to help regulate her breathing as she pushed herself to keep going, keep running.
Her footsteps are out of time with the man running slightly ahead of her, but Jack’s legs were longer than hers, covering more ground and more distance between footfalls.
Gwen’s gun was in her hand but she barely noticed it; it felt like a continuation of her arm these days. She concentrated instead on the chase. And her bad bloody luck.
They were in London for meeting with Crown representatives. As second in command she had accompanied Jack, but the meeting had been quite quick and they had decided to make the most of their time away from the Hub. Jack had taken Gwen on a tour of some old haunts of his from times he has lived in London.
Gwen was having one of those nights where she didn’t know whether to laugh or be appalled at Jack’s stories. And that was when they had spotted the creature. They had only caught a glimpse and hadn’t been able to easily determine if it was alien or something out of its time, but either way it didn’t belong in a street in East London just around the corner from a flat Jack had once rented in the 1970s with a pretty young barman, his lover and a friend of undetermined species.
Jack turned a corner in front of her and Gwen ploughed on after him, almost running bodily into him as he had stopped just on the other side. He was shouting.
“You there, get away; get away from there.”
Gwen looked past Jack and could see a shimmery object hovering in the air. She narrowed her eyes and looked closer. No, it wasn’t an object, it was light; more than light even, it was like the air had fractured and splintered into a million silver and gold pieces. It reminded her of rift light but looked almost solid, like you could reach out and touch it.
Jack started running again, still shouting at two people next to the light. A young man in a hat was crouched on the ground, focused on some sort of tech that looked like it was connected to a laptop. Next to him was a petit woman with cropped blond hair who was facing the light. She spun at Jack’s voice and the sound of their once again running foot steps.
Gwen was somewhat surprised to find the young blond woman pointing a gun at them.
“No. You stay where you are.” she called. Jack stopped, Gwen a step behind him. He raised his hands in the air.
“Be careful where you’re pointing that thing.”
The young woman lowered the gun but kept a steady watch on them. Even so, when she spoke it was clear she was talking to the man next to her who was still typing furiously on the keyboard.
“Isn’t it ready yet?”
“Neeeearly…” he replied before tapping a key with a final flourish.
Gwen watched as the light in front of them appeared to pulse slightly before seeming to collapse in on itself and shrinking. She flashed a look at Jack and he was looking just as stunned as she was. He was holding his gun down at his side like her, seemingly relaxed, but ready to raise in a second.
“Got it!” the young man shouted, leaping up to a standing position. He turned to the woman with a triumphant grin on his face which slid off quickly as he realised her attention was not on him. He followed her gaze and finally seemed to notice Gwen and Jack at the other end of the ally.
“What is that and who are you?” Jack demanded.
“We’re ah…” the young man flailed a bit and looked at the woman who looked just as unsure.
“We’re students,” she rallied suddenly. “This is an art project we’re working on.”
“Yup. Art project.” The man nodded enthusiastically.
“Pull the other one.” Jack said walking towards them. “We saw the creature, we followed it here. Now the creature has gone and instead we find you two and your little light show. Now, don’t make me ask you again. Who are you?”
“Urgh, where’s Jenny when you need her?” the young man said.
“Tell us who you are first.” the young blond demanded. Gwen tried to hide a smile. She was about half the size of Jack but was clearly not going to let herself be intimidated by him. She had squared her shoulders and her chin jutted out defiantly. The lad next to her seemed to share little of her confidence. Her gun was still pointing at the ground too though Gwen noted.
Jack took a deep breath and Gwen could see him trying to decide what to do. Which a sharp exhale and pulling his shoulders back he spoke again.
“I’m Captain Jack Harkness, this is Gwen Cooper. We’re from Torchwood.”
At the sound of the name the young man’s face brightened instantly and a smile split his face. He appeared to be bouncing on the spot.
“Torchwood? I knew it! I knew it was real! You’re really Torchwood? Oh my god, this is amazing.” The girl was staring at him now and Gwen couldn’t keep the surprise from her face any more than Jack appeared to be able to.
“Ooo-kay,” Jack said, “we’ll get to that in a minute. But first, we’ve told you ours so you tell us yours.”
“Connor Temple, Abby Maitland. We’re from the ARC. It’s a government project. We work with the anomalies. That’s these things. We call them anomalies. They’re like gateways between our time and the past and the future. We trace them when they open and contain anything that comes through. The creature you saw has gone back to where it belongs. This is new technology that means we can close them now too. Oh my god this is so exciting!”
“Connor!” Abby berated him with a hiss, “you can’t tell them all that.”
“Oh they’re fine. They’re from Torchwood.”
“Right and now you can tell us why you know that name.”
“Oh you guys are legends” The boy appeared to Gwen to be bouncing again. “There’s stuff about you on all the forums. Most people don’t believe it, but I always did. It makes so much sense. We all know that the aliens were here on earth before first man so obviously they’d keep coming back to check up on us. And we’d need someone to you know, meet and greet and keep all the scary ones out. Oh I would give anything thing to go back to the forums and tell them what I know now.” He stilled suddenly under Jack’s scrutiny. “I won’t obviously.”
“I’m sorry, he’s a geek.” Abby said with a slightly embarrassed look at Gwen.
“That’s okay. He’s an idiot who got us a big car with our name written all down the side.” Gwen replied with a sideways nod towards Jack.
Jack glanced at her with a perturbed glare, before lowering his voice, “Remind me to discuss with Ianto his opinion that removing stuff about us on the internet would do more harm than good.”
“Oh it really would. There’s nothing a conspiracy theorist likes more than having something taken away. So what are you doing here? Aliens in London?”
“Nothing that dramatic I’m afraid. We’re here for a meeting.” Gwen replied.
“Talking of meetings, who else works with you? I sincerely hope the world is not on the hands of just you two.”
“What do you mean by that?” Abby asked.
“Well look at you? Sorry but neither of you screams 'defender of the earth’. You do look more like a couple of students.”
“Actually Connor has a PhD…”
“No, I don’t; I didn’t finish it.” Connor interrupted.
Abby grimaced and carried on gamely, “Fine; Connor nearly has a PhD, and I am a zoologist. And we’ve got an ex-copper, a museum curator and a PR specialist on our team...Okay,” she added hurriedly, “I realise that doesn’t sound great, but we know what we’re doing and we’re good at it. And getting better. Connor is perfecting his technology all the time.”
“Ooooh!!” Connor leapt in suddenly with an extra bounce, “You should come back to the ARC; meet the rest of the team, meet our boss. You can see our equipment, see that we have everything in control, see what a genius I am, then maybe I could come down and see your base sometime. Is it true that you have a secret base under the sea?”
“Under the wha…? No.” Jack said, confused at the turn on conversations. “But I’d like to see your set up, maybe compare notes with your boss. It would make me feel much better about the whole saving the world thing.”
“We’ll go as soon as the back up arrives. Lester would probably be glad to meet you actually. Someone to moan about the strains of leadership with.”
“Not Sir James Lester?” Jack enquired.
“That’s him.” confirmed Abby
Gwen watched Jack’s eyes flicker and then that fake grin she had seen too many times was instantly plastered on his face.
“I don’t think there’s any need for a visit. Everything seems to be under control here. C’mon Gwen, lets go.”
He grabbed her arm in a none too gentle grip and spun them both around heading quickly out of the ally.
Connor and Abby exchanged a puzzled look, then Connor started grinning. “I can’t wait to hear what that story is.”
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Great fic. And LOL at fanboy Connor!
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And Geekboy Conner for the win.
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Great fic! Had a moment of confusion in the dialogue where I couldn't figure out who was talking, but could just be me, lol. Love the way they encountered each other, and Torchwood being all over the foums!
Do *we* get to hear that story? *g*
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Great Job... and just what is the Jack/James story?
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Great story.
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Also yay Abby for standing up to Jack. Eager geeky!Connor is adorable and LOL at Gwen's line about Jack being an idiot
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“That’s okay. He’s an idiot who got us a big car with our name written all down the side.” Gwen replied with a sideways nod towards Jack.
That was a fabulous girly bonding moment, and yep, Jack would know Lester! In the biblical sense of know as well. *snerk*
Really great story! Everyone was totally spot on.
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And Jack and James, huh? Interesting... ;)
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loved this