The Gathering

(Open POV)

Swansea, Dispensing Chemist's shop…

Two months later.

"Day 61 of the Great Depression, and the government has announced that all medical Overflow Camps will now stay open. Under the new emergency laws, Category One patients must be taken for disposal. Campaigners have called this institutional murder." Someone on the radio said.

An old man walking his dog watches a ram-raid on a Pharmacists. It is Gwen. She shoots out the CCTV and goes inside to fill a rucksack with painkillers. Then she threatens the old man, who has followed her inside.

"Go now or I will put a hole in your head." Gwen said.

"Can you spare me some of those Metanec things?" An old man asked.

"What?"

"Metanec. Just a couple of boxes. My wife's suffering something wicked with the arthritis, see, and she's scared to go to the doctors because of the rumours. Well, they say Huw Jenkins has gone up in smoke and all he had was a bad back."

"Help yourself. Hurry up, we haven't got long."

Outside the Chemist's shop…

"Go, get out of here." Gwen said.

"Thank you." The old man said.

"Go."

"Come on, Jack, come on."

The old man and his dog run one way and Gwen runs the other as police sirens get nearer.

Swansea street…

Gwen returns to number 27 in a terraced street carrying a couple of Jubilee Pizza boxes.

"Prime Minister, there's notes from members of the public…" Someone on the TV said.

A man in a room across the street reports in on a mobile phone.

"Okay, relax. She's back. She's only been for pizza." The surveillance guy said.

Swansea home…

"Hey." Gwen said, happily.

The pizza boxes contain the stolen drugs.

"Oh, beautiful. Nice one. Right. That's for the Reynolds and the Llewellyns. Oh, and Iris Price called by. She was looking for painkillers." Rhys said, smiling.

"She gets a bloody headache and expects to go to the top of the list. Tell her she can have them if she pays double." Gwen said.

"That's the same policy as PhiCorp."

"Thanks for that. Thanks a lot."

"Here we are. Careful now." Mary said, handing her granddaughter Anwen back to Rhys. "Make yourself useful, you big lump. So what'd you get?"

"Diamorphine." Gwen said, tossing a bottle to her mother.

"That'll do the trick. Come on."

"Okay?"

Cellar…

"This won't last a week the way he's going through it." Mary said.

"Don't worry. I'll get some more. You okay, Dad? You'll be happy as Larry in a minute now. Smiling away." Gwen said, smiling.

"Poor sod. He's missing his bed."

"It's too risky upstairs."

"I know. But whenever we went away, the first night back he always used to say, you can't beat your own bed."

"Well, we can't be too careful, Mam. It was only yesterday there was a raid on Oystermouth Road. They took two people away for the ovens. You know, I used to arrest people for selling that stuff. It's practically heroin."

Mary gives Geraint an injection of Diamorphine, "Strange days, sweetheart."

St Margaret's Halt, Scotland…

A remote house. Esther is nursing Jack, tending to his gunshot wound while Jared is playing Xenoblade Chronicles 3 on his Nintendo Switch.

"Your wound is much better now. And the infection is almost gone." Jared said, walking over to Jack with his Nintendo Switch in his hand.

"Yeah, the gunshot didn't kill me. But Esther, I think you will." Jack said.

"Jared and I will go into the village tomorrow, see if we can buy a steak, get you some iron. As long as they don't start asking questions again. That last guy creeped me out. If he's still there, I think we should move on." Esther said.

"We're in Scotland. We can't go much further north."

"Yes, we can. Keep running for as long as it takes." Esther said.

"How does the Faroe Islands sound?" Jared asked, walking back over to the wall to continue playing on his Switch.

"Isn't that in Denmark?"

"Yeah."

"Then that's where we'll go with Jack."

"Going to the Faroe Islands, that's as far north as we can go. Esther, I remember when you were too scared to leave home." Jack said.

"Yeah, that was a long time ago. You were the strong one, standing tall. Look at you now." Esther said, smirking.

"And now you're a vampire."

"More like a gunsmith. Closest thing to a weapon we've got." Esther said, storing packs of Jack's blood in the refrigerator.

"Esther, did you do what I asked you to do?" Jared asked.

"Yeah. I did. Thanks for the hint by the way with the blood."

"Esther, my blood isn't magic. It didn't make me immortal. They can't have cloned it or copied it." Jack said.

"All the same, Jack, they took your blood and they keep trying to spill your blood. Someone wants you dead for a reason. And I think this stuff's the only hope we've got."

Swansea home…

Gwen is trawling through internet search results, "The answer's got to be here somewhere. The Blessing, page fifty six of twelve million. God, I need Esther and Uiharu."

"I've had a job offer, driving for Matty Sheldon." Rhys said.

"Oh. That's good, isn't it?" Gwen asked.

"He's got the contract for the Overflow Camps. I'd be driving Category Ones."

"Well, it's not your fault. We need money."

"I won't take them to the ovens, just the camps."

"I know, yeah. It's funny, isn't it? When they first opened the camps, we all protested. Second time, we're all too busy looking after ourselves." Gwen said.

"Aye. All part of the plan to wear us down." Rhys said.

"Yeah, but what is the plan? What's it all for, Rhys?" Gwen asked, when the electricity goes off. "Oh, great. That's just what I needed. That's. Bollocks."

"You know those power cuts in the seventies. Nine months later, there was a baby boom because people took advantage of the dark."

"Oh yeah."

CIA Analysts office…

With boxes of papers stacked everywhere.

Rex picks up a stray piece of paper, "Here. This could be the one piece of paper that we need. Come on, focus, people. Let's go, come on. Let's go. Hey, you been here all night? Don't you have a home to go to?"

"Not any more. She left me, remember?" Charlotte asked.

"Oh, shit. Yeah, sorry." Rex said, sadly.

"Because of the hours which you imposed."

"I know. I forgot. But look, if you're gonna be here anyway, why don't you clean this place up a little bit? Empty out some trash bins or something." Rex said, while Charlotte raises her middle finger to him. "Really?"

Shapiro's office…

"Sir, I should tell you that smoking is still illegal inside." Rex said, when he caught Shapiro smoking a cigarette.

"It can't kill you. Not anymore." Shapiro said.

"But they still haven't changed the building's insurance."

"Insurance companies went bust along with half the western world. Oh, did I tell you? Gas allowances have been halved. You are way over limit."

"Well, what do you expect me to do, walk to work?"

"Hey, don't complain to me. Recession became depression. We're all being rationed, even the CIA." Shapiro said, scoffing.

"Okay. Well, since you're too busy housekeeping then you probably won't be interested in this." Rex said.

"What is it?"

"A lead."

CIA Analysts office…

Rex briefs the staff, "All right, it's 1928 and there's a guy hanging in the cellar of the Giordano butcher shop and they're selling tickets. For two dollars you can watch him get killed and come back to life again. So who knows if it's a miracle or he's Harry Houdini? Either way, it's news. So plenty of people wrote about it."

"Yeah, but that's where the records disappear. I've told you, Ablemarch, Costerdane and Frines, they went through the archives. They scrubbed them clean." Charlotte said.

"Look at this place, Rex. We have tried." Noah said.

"According to the census of 1930 the population of Manhattan was one million eight hundred sixty seven thousand. That's more people than live there now. Allow for an average of two children per family across three generations, by 2011 we're looking at a potential six million descendants. That's six million suspects. We have to find and interview six million people."

"So do you see? That proves my point. You're looking too close at the facts." Rex said, looking at Charlotte.

"What else should we be looking at?" Charlotte asked.

"Fiction. Look, I'll trade you six million people for one short story. Because the London office, they found a story. It was published in 1935. The Devil Within. Now, it's just pulp fiction, it's all blood and Satan and that kind of shit, but it contains five points of reference identical to the Harkness case, which is more than a coincidence. Now I believe the author was in that cellar. He saw Jack Harkness die, decided to write about it. And his name was Victor Podesta."

"Then we follow the Podesta family." Shapiro said.

"Oh, sir, this is where it gets interesting. You see, the Podestas owned a grocery store about ten blocks east of the butcher shop and they had connections to organised crime. Now, the youngest son John was stabbed to death back in '27. Unsolved, mob related. But check this out, now we jump to 1938, and the whole family just disappears. I mean all of them. Mom, Pop, Victor, daughter Emmeline, just all gone. Well, look, maybe the Podestas changed their name. Who knows? Maybe Emmeline married into the three families." Rex said.

"We could look for a marriage license." Noah said, happily.

"And where would we check that, hmm? The Manhattan Central Repository?"

"Damn it, every time. The most effective thing they did was burn that place down." Shapiro said, annoyed.

"Yeah, and that was 1965. I mean everywhere we turn, this conspiracy spans the whole of the twentieth century." Charlotte said.

"People, come on. This is me you're talking to, remember? You're forgetting about the younger brother, the murder of John Podesta, unsolved. This is where we got lucky. The case was bagged, tagged and locked away, just sitting on a shelf collecting dust for almost ninety years. We still have the murder weapon." Rex said.

"With blood on it? Is that blood?" Shapiro asked, looking at the monitor.

"We have blood. We have DNA. We can trace the family."

"All right, everybody." Shapiro said, as Charlotte looks worried. "Let's make a DNA profile and start looking for matches. Good job. Come on, let's go. Let's go."

"Group up, start working." Rex said, walking up to Charlotte.

"Er hey, Rex." Charlotte said.

"Yeah?"

"I've got Jordan and Carlyle. They were exceptional with the O'Grady DNA, remember? And they're fast. Want me to use them on this?"

"Sure thing. Do what you've got to do."

Park…

Jilly Kitzinger sits on the far end of a park bench and lights a cigarette.

The Blue Eyed representative of the Three Families is sitting at the other end, "Thank you for coming."

"This is not the promotion I expected, sitting in a nondescript office distributing for Harry Bosco. I thought you needed me." Jilly said.

The blue eyed man slides over and hands Jilly an airline ticket, "This is for you. You've been invited to Shanghai."

"Well, that's impossible. Don't you watch the news? First sign of the meltdown, China closed its borders." Jilly said.

"Not to us." The blue eyed man said.

"This says Lucy Statten Meredith." Jilly said, looking down at the airline ticket.

"You'll be travelling under that name. In fact, that is your name from now on. But, the Families want to meet you in person."

"It's one way?"

"Yes. Yes, it is. I'm rather jealous. They're taking you to The Blessing. Thank you. We won't meet again." The blue eyed man said, getting up from the chair and walking away.

Swansea home…

Rhys is folding washing and Gwen is entertaining Anwen when there is a knock on the door.

"A-tishoo, a-tishoo, we all fall down." Gwen said.

Rhys looks out of the window, "It's them."

Gwen hands Anwen over to Rhys and whispers to Mary in the cellar.

"They're here. Remember, just do what we said." Gwen said, removing the light bulb from over the cellar stairs. "Take it upstairs and flush it." More knocks. "Yes, I'm coming."

Outside the Swansea home…

A bald, bespectacled Jobsworth has arrived with a police squad.

"If you don't open the door, we're legally empowered to knock it down. Mrs Cooper?" Finch asked.

"Mmm hmm." Gwen said.

"You must be Gwen Cooper. Ralph Finch. Can we come in?"

"Not without a warrant, no."

"Oh, not necessary, I'm afraid. I have reason to suspect you may be illegally harboring an unsupported Category One deceased person. And according to the Emergency Powers Act, reasonable suspicion is all I need. You keep an eye on the front. Gentlemen, we're in." Finch said, barging past Gwen as the police stand guard.

"Oh, I'm gonna complain." Gwen said.

Swansea home…

"I'm gonna take this to the top. Just you wait and see. I used to be with the police." Gwen said.

"Yeah, very much in the past tense as I understand it. Up you go, boys. Check the rooms upstairs." Finch said, as the police walked upstairs.

"My father is dead. He's gone. We never said goodbye. No funeral. No chance to mourn him. For all I know he was just thrown into a furnace still alive."

"I can't even have a bit of peace in my own bathroom. You allowed to barge in like this anyway?" Rhys asked.

"Husband, Rhys Williams. You never shared his surname, which says a lot. But we're still missing one person. So where's Mary, Gwen? What's keeping your mother so busy?" Finch asked.

Mary is trying to stop Geraint from groaning in pain down in the cellar.

"Shopping." Gwen said, frowning.

Finch tries the cellar light, "No lights?"

"Er, no. Whole house needs rewiring." Rhys said.

"No worries. We've got torches. Boys, torches down here. Lend us that, Joe." Finch said.

"All that's down there is rats, so you make yourself at home." Gwen said.

Mary puts her hand over Geraint's mouth as Finch goes down the stairs. Gwen puts a kitchen knife behind her back.

"Shut up." Gwen said, annoyed.

The light from Finch's torch shines under the door to Geraint's bedroom. Finch turns away then hears something. A mouse scuttles along the wall.

"It's mice, not rats. I'd recommend putting down traps." Finch said.

"We'll get rid of the vermin as fast as we can." Gwen said, putting the knife down. "Out."

Outside the Swansea home…

"Your father is still unregistered. And I can't leave you alone until I know what happened to him. So, you take care now. Seriously, your whole family, you'd better take a great deal of care." Finch said.

Finch and the police drive away, watched by the surveillance guy across the road.

Cellar…

"God, that was close." Gwen said, looking at Rhys.

"Never mind. I told you this thing would work." Rhys said, opening the secret door.

"I had, I had to pin him down. It took all my strength." Mary said, sadly.

"It's okay, Mam. They've gone. They've gone, okay? They've gone." Gwen said.

Shapiro's office…

"Bad news. DNA trace, it came out negative. No leads, nothing. There's no bloodline from John Podesta on file. I tried everything." Charlotte said.

"Shit." Rex said.

"Son of a bitch." Shapiro said.

"Sorry. I'll keep looking, but…" Charlotte said.

CIA Analysts office…

"Hey, Charlotte, the Podesta short story, we have that on digital format, right?" Rex asked, running up to Charlotte.

"Yeah, I think so. Why?" Charlotte asked.

"Great, can you send it to me?"

"It's not worth reading. Like you said, pulp fiction."

"Yeah, I know. Just send it to me."

"You have an idea?"

"No, no, no. Just send it, okay?" Rex asked.

"Sure." Charlotte said.

Outside the Swansea home…

A Valley Bara Bread van is in the street. The driver takes out a box of groceries and uses it to hide his face, and we see the real driver is bound and gagged inside. The surveillance guy photographs the man taking the box to number 27.

"It's the shopping. Take it through to the kitchen, will you?" Mary asked.

Swansea home…

"All right, mate?" Rhys asked.

"Oh, you're early. Just put it by the fridge. I'll sort it out in a minute." Gwen said.

"It is posh getting deliveries, mind."

"Oh, it's my mother's latest scheme. She's starting to cook for the club, raising money charging two quid a cake."

The fake delivery man picks up Anwen.

"Oh, isn't she pretty? Are you eating that food, honey, or are you wearing it? Mmm, sweet. So sweet, your child." Danes said, holding Anwen.

Gwen takes Anwen to Rhys.

"I realise this might be something of a surprise, but…" Danes said.

"What's going on?" Rhys asked.

"I've been told that you have certain information that I need. I apologise for the subterfuge, but I do happen to have the most recognisable face on the planet."

"Not anymore." Gwen said, smacking Danes across the face with a saucepan, twice.

"What the hell are you doing?" Rhys asked.

"Look at him, for God's sake! Look at him! Look at him! It's Oswald Danes in our house."

"Oh, my God." Mary said, her eyes widening.

"You touch my daughter again and I will kill you. Take her out of here, Mam, now." Gwen said, while Mary takes Anwen. "Good, thank you. Because I don't want her to see her mother…"

"Stop it! Stop, stop, stop. Stop right there. Hush now. Come on. We don't want you arrested for murder." Rhys said, looking at Danes.

"Thank you, sir." Danes said, smiling.

"They can arrest me for that. Now you tell me. Tell me quickly, you bastard. You murdering bastard! Come on. Tell me before I get the boys round. Before I shout your name out loud in the street and fetch the bloody mob, tell me, what do you want?" Rhys asked.

"Jack Harkness and Jared Shay. The men who smuggled me into this country, they brought Harkness and Shay in seven weeks ago and they brought them to you. And then you, in turn, found them a haven. Now I paid good money for your name, Gwen Cooper, so I really need to see Jack and Jared. And you will do exactly what I ask."

"Why should I?" Gwen asked.

"Because I have a name. I have the name of a man. I have the name of the man who created the Miracle." Danes said.

CIA Analysts office…

Just Rex and Shapiro, late at night.

"Look, someone's leaking information. You know that's got to be true. Maybe not from here, but from somewhere down the chain. You know, for the past two months, every move we make, we get blocked." Rex said.

"Yeah, well, I wish it were me. Then you could shoot me and I could sleep." Shapiro said.

"Yeah, I'd like that very much, sir."

"So what'd you find?"

"Victor Podesta. I figured anyone who writes pulp fiction is gonna want to keep on writing, even if it's under a different name. So, I ran the short story through the pattern recognition software identifying key points of similarity in prose styles."

"Did you find him?"

"I found three hundred and twenty. You see, it's more difficult with that sort of fiction because everyone writes the same. And that's only the ones in the database. But, out of that there's around forty six with pronounced similarities scattered all across the world. Look at this. Twenty two in the US, nine in the UK, one in Sweden. We've got Argentina, Germany, Japan. And I've got to check them all out." Rex said, showing Shapiro a file.

"Well, I think you'd better get started." Shapiro said.

"Yes, sir. But listen, can we keep this between you and me? I mean this has to be mine and mine alone, okay?"

"The latest from the White House is that they're gonna stop all immigration. China closed its borders, now we're gonna do the same. Every passing day, we are taking one step closer to a dictatorship. And we don't even know who the real dictators are."

Surveillance house…

Night. The mobile phone rings.

"Hello?" The surveillance guy asked.

"Can you see my car keys? I can't find them anywhere." Gwen said, her voice over the phone.

"Er, how did you get this number?"

Outside the Swansea home / Surveillance house…

"Look, whoever you're working for, it's Jack Harkness they're after, so you're wasting your time. He wouldn't turn up here with Jared Shay in a month of Sundays, so why not just take the night off?" Gwen asked.

"Do you think we're stupid?" The surveillance guy asked.

"Yup. We do. Now drink this." Jared said, holding out a bottle of water. "This won't harm you at all. I promise. You had this before."

"It's true. I made you drink it." Gwen said.

"We need you to have no memory of seeing us, so we can leave you with nowhere to put your hat, or you can drink it. Option two is better." Jack said.

The surveillance guy drinks the water with the Retcon in it, and passes out.

(Jared's POV)

Swansea home…

"Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God." Gwen said, hugging Jack and I.

"I know. Ow! I know." Jack said, still in pain from the bullet wound.

"Sorry. Hey, Jack, I thought you were better." Gwen said.

"I'm fine. I am, don't worry."

"Jared, Esther, thank you for looking after him. Thank you."

"You're welcome, Gwen. Sorry about the last two months." I said, still hugging Gwen. "I was in the city of Townsville for a bit."

"Townsville with the PowerPuff Girls. Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup. Nice girls." Gwen said, smiling.

"It's so good to see you, Gwen." Esther said, happily.

"Oh God, I missed you, Esther. I have so missed you. He's through there."

Danes is trussed up like a turkey, "Jack. I was told the correct form of address is Captain. You and Jared once asked me for help. So you can remember that, the rest of you, the Captain and the ally of justice invited me in."

I took out my phone and immediately called the Kamijou Residence, knowing Touma and Index are safe in Academy City.

Swansea Home / Kamijou Residence…

"Jared." Index said, the landline phone near her ear. "When are you going to visit again with Team RWBY?"

"I don't know, Index." I said, sadly. "Are you and Touma safe?"

"Yeah. We are. Sphynx is on my lap. How long is this Miracle Day supposed to last for?"

"It'll be over soon, Index. I promise. As long as you're with Touma. Everything should be fine. I have a question. Can you and Touma go to Buenos Aires?"

"Argentina? Why do you want us to go there?" Index asked.

"In case your abilities and Touma's are needed. I'll let Mycroft know that you and Touma are leaving Academy City for a bit." I said, ending the call with Index.

Swansea Home…

"I want to ask one thing first. At your trial, you said about that girl, she should have run faster. Did you really say that?" Gwen asked.

"Yes, I did." Danes said.

"Right. Okay. Because let me tell you, Oswald, I used to be a policewoman and I worked with pedophiles and murderers, and God help me, I saw men so alone and damned and wretched. But that's not you. That's nothing like you. Because for the first time in my life I've met a monster. Is that clear?" Gwen asked.

"Oh, I feel very special. And well said."

"I'm gonna kill him." Rhys said.

"Rhys, not now. You can kill him later. If you want to." I said, looking at Rhys.

"Okay, everyone, all we need is information. Tell us what you know." Esther said, looking at Danes.

"And what happens to me after that?" Danes asked.

"Oh, then we kill you. And don't forget, there's no murder anymore, so I can make you Category One forever, pal." Rhys said.

"I haven't agreed to anything. Only Jared has. So you just tell me what you know or we are calling the police now." Gwen said, looking over at the basement.

"You're keeping a few secrets yourself, Gwen. You had me tied up here all day, and all those whispers, all those looks towards that cellar. Are you hiding something down there by any chance? Excuse me, you were gonna call the police." Danes said.

"Okay, there may be deals to be made. There may not. But before we can decide anything, there needs to be a full and fair exchange of information. Mister Danes, there's no going back. You need to tell us what you know." Esther said.

"I'll say this. PhiCorp gave me an assistant, a woman called Jillian Kitzinger, and in my crate over there I have Miss Kitzinger's laptop."

"For God's sake, is that it? We raided her file way back." Gwen said, scoffing.

"Wait a minute. Wait, wait. As soon as I'd stolen the laptop, good little Jilly did exactly the right things. She changed the passwords, opened new accounts, deleted the old ones. But I was watching. And I know my way around online better than most. I know how to keep myself hidden. So I shadowed her, and I've been following Miss Kitzinger these past two months. Here's a funny thing. Yesterday at twelve midday she disappeared. Her entire profile online vanished. Jilly Kitzinger ceased to exist." Danes said.

Jilly arrives at Shanghai airport.

"Oswald Danes, you said you had the name of a man." I said, taking out some chocolate chip cookies to eat them.

"Soon as I say this, I'll be at your mercy." Danes said.

"Yes." Gwen said.

"Tell us his name!" Jack said, angrily.

"I'll have to trust you. Remember that. I'm trusting you. One man's name keeps reoccurring. Kitzinger was employed to send him information. And his name's Harry Bosco." Danes said.

"Harry Bosco." Gwen said.

"His name, over and over again."

"Esther? Jared? Harry Bosco." Gwen said, looking between Esther and I.

"Sorry." I said, tossing a chocolate chip cookie into my mouth. "I really am sorry."

"What, can't you and Esther search him?"

"Seriously Oswald? You think you're so smart. Is that all you had? Really? You go through all that trouble for that?"

"It's a name." Danes said.

"Harry Bosco isn't a man's name. Harry Bosco is a fucking process!"

"Jared's right." Esther said, sadly. "It goes back to Vietnam. It was the first war to be televised and the government didn't want US networks taking feed directly from the Vietnamese, because for the first time information was beyond their control. So they put agents into every newsroom, every major TV network, filtering the output for the public. Cleverest of them all was a man called Harry Bosco."

"What did he do?" Jack asked.

"He'd alter information. It was subtle. He did it by mistranslation. He couldn't censor or change, but he could manipulate the English translation. Change one word, change the entire meaning. If you say victims instead of bodies, you influence public opinion. All the channels Harry Bosco these days." Esther said.

"So that's it? Dead end? Done? You finished with him? Can I have him now?" Rhys asked.

"Could you keep your dog on his leash?" Danes asked.

"Watch it, pal."

"My point still stands. The name's still important because Kitzinger works in PR. Why would she be handling this Harry Bosco process?"

"To be fair, it's a good question. Why would the families hire Jilly to do all this in the first place?" Esther asked.

"What's she translating?" Jack asked.

"What's she mistranslating? Because the three families changed their name, now Jilly's changing words? Maybe they're connected." Esther said, powering up Jilly's laptop.

Gwen and Rhys left the home to get some dinner. I looked down at my iPhone 4S and immediately called Shirai.

Swansea Home / Tokiwadai Dormitory Room 208…

"Shirai? Are you there?" I asked, my phone near my ear.

"Yeah. What is it?" Shirai asked.

"How do you feel about being on a slow boat from the United Kingdom to Shanghai with me, Jack, Gwen, Oswald Danes, and your sissy?"

"Me on a slow boat with sissy? For us to work together and save the world?"

"Yeah. Are you in or out?"

"I'm in. For sissy!" Shirai said, teleporting away from her bed onto Mikoto who is lying on her bed. "Sissy! We're going to Shanghai together!"

"Kuroko!" Mikoto said, shocking Shirai and snatching the phone from her. "What's this about going to Shanghai on a slow boat? Please tell me the entire process."

Shirai fell onto the floor, paralyzed.

"I'll tell you the process later. I promise." I said.

I ended the phone call with Mikoto and Shirai.

Swansea Home…

Gwen returns with takeaway food, "Chicken and chips. Didn't have any fish. Too expensive. World gone mad."

"And I've got the beers." Rhys said, happily.

"Can I have mine?" Danes asked.

"Oh, sure." Rhys said, shaking a can and opens it, spraying Danes with the froth. "Hey, they've been going great guns, this lot. You know, going through someone's emails, yeah, is like reading their diaries."

"So what did we find?" Gwen asked.

"Another problem. Jilly processed this clip from a local news station in Shanghai. It's got three layers of language. It's in the local Wu dialect dubbed into Mandarin and then she sent it out for English subtitles. How are we supposed to know what's wrong or right?" Esther asked.

"What, nobody speaks Chinese?" Danes asked.

"Shut it!" Rhys said, angrily.

"What do we do? I can't go down to the takeaway and ask Kenny." Gwen said.

"I don't want to call Meiling Li and Syaoran Li. Yeah. They're first cousins and from Hong Kong. But I don't want the Three Families to find out about them. Esther? Can you call Rex?" I asked, looking at Esther.

"Yeah, I know." Esther said, happily.

(Open POV)

CIA Analysts office…

Rex's mobile phone rings, "What?"

"Rex. It's me. It's Esther. Don't tell anyone, but I need your help. I'm sorry, there's no one else I can turn to. I've got a lead." Esther said, her voice over the phone.

Shapiro's office…

Being used as a meeting room by other analysts.

"All right, people, come on. I need this room. Top priority. Come on, clear the room. Let's go, let's go." Rex said, while he is now alone in the room as the other analysts left it. "Where are you?"

Swansea home / Shapiro's office…

"Can't say, so don't make me. We're safe. We're fine. We're okay." Esther said, smiling.

"Well, if that's the plural, I take it that World War Two didn't die." Rex said.

"It's gonna take more than that." Jack said.

"Jared and I have been trying to kill the silly sod for years." Gwen said, annoyed.

"Mikoko's Railgun couldn't even kill him. She couldn't even stop the Imagine Breaker either." Jared said, laughing a lot.

"Okay, so that's Gwen and Jared. Which means you're in Wales. And you're not in Academy City. So much for undercover work. You know, you're idiots. I didn't even have to trace you." Rex said.

"Except you're not tracing us anyway, are you?" Esther asked.

"No, I'm not."

"We need help, Rex. We need the CIA. We need translations specifically."

"Oh, shit. Er, okay, I'll try." Rex said, sadly.

"Can't tell them why." Esther said.

"Oh, I know, believe me. This place isn't safe. What's the language?"

"Mandarin. We think there's something in Shanghai."

Shanghai restaurant…

There is just one person at any of the tables, using a tablet and mobile phone at the same time.

Jilly walks up to him, "Morning. Guess you're my breakfast meeting. I'm Jilly Kitzinger."

"No, you're Lucy Statten Meredith. Congratulations, you failed the test." The young man said.

Jilly is briefly flabbergasted, then sits down, "Okay. I keep wondering, why me?"

"You're a storyteller." The young man said.

"Thank you." Jilly said, happily.

"Look at you. The nails, the coat, the lipstick. From the moment you walk through the door, you tell a story. You might have noticed we're kind of good at keeping quiet. So we need you. We need experts."

"So what's your story?"

"I'm the latest chapter in an epic. Once upon a time there were three wise families. Then they went out into the world. One family took politics, one family took finance, and one family took media. But that's all in the past. The stories yet to come, they're the best."

"So does that mean there's a story about to break? With the Miracle?" Jilly asked.

"Not for me to say." The young man said.

"You want me to what? Prepare a statement? Mount a campaign?"

"That's kind of small, don't you think?"

"Then what?"

"We need you to write history."

"I can do that."

"Good. Nice recovery. Your hair is a work of art. If you ever come here at night, try the mitten crab. It's a local delicacy." The young man said, getting up to leave.

"So what do you want me to do next?" Jilly asked.

"Stay in your hotel and wait. When we're ready, you'll be taken to The Blessing. I hope you survive."

"I'm sorry, what do you mean by that?"

"Some people die. The Blessing, it kills them. Good luck. You won't see me again." The young man said, leaving the restaurant.

Swansea home / Shapiro's office…

The English translation of a news clip of a young burnt man from China. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry for my mother. I'm so ashamed. But its a godsend that my life was saved.

"This is pre-Miracle. He died two days later. But he went crazy, burned down a hospital, got caught in his own fire. This guy should win the Darwin award." Esther said.

"He said 'Godsend'. Did you get that Rex?" Jared asked, tossing another chocolate chip cookie into his mouth.

The real translation comes back to Rex.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I saw it first. I knew it. The English isn't godsend. The actual phrase is, it's a blessing my life was saved." Rex said.

"Blessing. He said blessing." Everyone said, at the same time.

"It doesn't mean anything. We'd all say that. He survived a fire." Rhys said.

"Hold on, hold on, hold on. Would somebody shut the husband up, please? That's the Mandarin. But the original Wu dialect is different. Are you ready for this? He didn't say, it's a blessing my life was saved. He said, the Blessing saved my life. They mistranslated it on purpose. The Blessing saved my life." Rex said.

"It's in Shanghai." Esther said.

"The Blessing's in Shanghai." Jack said, his eyes widening.

"How the hell do we get to Shanghai?" Jared asked, chewing on his chocolate chip cookie.

"Oh, for God's sake. You're not serious." Rhys said.

"Well, they hid the word blessing, Rhys." Gwen said, looking at Rhys.

"It wasn't hidden from the bloody Chinese. They saw it and there's enough of them."

"But it was only transmitted once and then it was scrubbed off the record." Esther said.

"Yeah, just because he said blessing doesn't mean it's in Shanghai. I mean, I could say Jesus, but I'm not in Jerusalem." Rhys said.

"Why did they hide that clip? Now stop it. Hush, okay? Just for a minute. The trouble is, getting into Shanghai is gonna be impossible. They've closed the borders, withdrawn from the UN. I mean, the whole of China is a no-go area." Gwen said.

"Yeah, and there's no way I can get in without posting it as a full-scale mission. And that's gonna leak. By the time we'd get there, they'd be gone." Rex said.

"I heard Jared's phone calls earlier. He said something about you taking a slow boat." Danes said, smiling.

"Shut up!" Jared said, angrily.

"Wait a minute, who was that? Who else is there?" Rex asked.

"Just, just Rhys. Never mind. Esther, is there anything within mainland China? Any open ports? Anything?" Gwen asked.

"No, but. Wait." Esther said, typing into the laptop.

"I knew a man once way back, worked out of Hunan Province." Jack said, sadly.

"Wait, wait, wait, just listen. Okay, think about it. Who burns down a hospital? I mean who does that? Why would he do that?" Esther asked, loading up another image on the laptop. "Turns out we've got another mistranslation. The Mandarin says medical facility, but I looked up the address. It was a blood bank."

"They're talking about blood again." Jared said, letting out a sigh.

"It's always about blood. Why is that?" Gwen asked.

"Wait, wait, wait. Okay. Run a check on that, but reference it with Kitzinger. She has a second clip in Spanish. There's a second blood bank in Buenos Aires. A blood bank destroyed by fire twenty four hours before Shanghai, five days before the Miracle." Esther said, looking at the laptop screen.

"Wait a minute. Wait a minute. I had Argentina. Right there. John Forester died age seventy six in La Boca. I think he was in the cellar with Jack. But that man said Miracle in Shanghai, yes?" Rex asked, while Rhys is looking at the inflatable globe he was playing with. "Then why'd they burn down a blood bank in Buenos Aires? I mean, why burn down a blood bank at all? We don't even know what The Blessing is. Maybe it's some sort of ritual. Maybe it happens in both cities at once."

"Whoa, hang on a minute." Rhys said, holding the inflatable globe.

Then the front door is smashed down.

"Move, move!" A policeman said, nearby.

"Rhys, my dad." Gwen said, looking at Rhys.

Armed police come into the house.

"Come on. Copy that! All clear! All clear!" The policeman said.

"Hello?" Rex asked.

"Hello there, Gwen." Finch said, walking up to Gwen.

"Hello." Gwen said, frowning.

"Got company?"

"Yeah, we're just visiting from London." Jack said, as he and Oswald are holding their hands up with their backs turned.

"Don't worry. Anyone who can leave the house under their own steam is of no interest to me." Finch said.

Rhys returns from the cellar, "What's going on?"

"Been busy down there, Rhys?" Finch asked.

"No." Rhys said, sadly.

"Well, you won't mind if I take a look then. In the old days, to find a dead body, you'd use a sniffer dog. But they've gone the way of the miner's budgie. Brand new app. Thermal imaging. Brilliant, it is." Finch said, taking out a phone.

Outside the Swansea home…

"Sorry, hold up there." A policeman said, stopping Mary.

"This is my house. My name is Mary Cooper and I live here. For God's sake, let me in." Mary said, trying to enter the house.

Swansea home…

"This is good. I'm the most wanted man on the face of the Earth, but they want someone else." Danes said.

"Yeah? One more word out of you and I'm handing you over." Jack said.

"But you can't, because then they'll wonder who you are."

Cellar…

The thermal imaging app does its job.

"We've got him! Over there, boys, behind the wall. Pull it down." Finch said, as the police pulled away Rhys' disguised door.

"He's not dead. He's not dead. Feel him, he's still warm. He's, he's warm. Feel him." Gwen said, looking at Finch.

"Not as warm as he's going to be."

"Oh, you bastard. Please don't, okay? Please don't." Gwen said, falling to her knees, praying and begging.

"This man is Category 1." Finch said.

"Please, please."

"It is my duty to take him from this place and deliver him into safe keeping until such time as he can be disposed of according to the laws of the land."

"Please don't."

Outside the Swansea home…

Geraint is loaded into an ambulance. Mary is handed a tablet to sign.

"I'm sorry for your loss." Finch said.

"Goodbye, my love." Mary said, running back into the house.

"Gwen, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Jared said, grabbing Gwen's hand.

"I know. You couldn't stop this, could you?" Gwen asked.

"Nope. I can't. And neither could Jack."

"He's right. I couldn't stop this for the life of me, Gwen. What do you want to do?" Jack asked.

"Go to Shanghai. I don't care if we have to walk. I want the help of Mikoto Misaka and Shirai Kuroko. I will travel the whole bloody world to put this right, Jack, Jared." Gwen said, looking between Jared and Jack.

CIA Analysts office…

"I need your permission to go off grid, sir. Failing permission, I'm going anyway. And I need to go now." Rex said.

"Okay. What if you need backup?" Shapiro asked.

"Well, then and only then will I contact you, sir. Minimum notice. Because if we've got a mole, I can't risk anyone finding this out. But this could be it, sir. This could be the Blessing."

"Good luck."

"All right."

Swansea home…

"I think I can get us in. Back in the old days, Torchwood tracked down a black market trade in alien artefacts coming out of China. Skullion metal and coins, things like that. We closed it down but the route stayed open for arms dealing." Jack said.

"We're gonna trust arms dealers?" Esther asked.

"I don't care. I'll do it." Gwen said.

"Okay, okay, wait. What about Buenos Aires?"

"I don't know. Which city is it?"

"It's both! You dolts! Why do you think I have connections around the world? It's to prepare for something like this. You just can't see it, can you?" Jared asked.

"Eh? Jared's right." Rhys said, showing off what Jared means on the inflatable globe. "Look. Right, Shanghai, Buenos Aires. Buenos Aires, Shanghai. Opposite sides of the world. Quite literally, opposite sides of the Earth, yeah? Yeah? So whatever's going on, there's got to be something connecting them."

"Are you kidding me? Is that right?" Gwen asked.

"They're antipodes." Esther said, loading up a map of the world on the laptop. "They're the antipodes of each other. Two massive population centres balanced on either side of the planet."

"As the old saying goes, count your blessings, because it turns out there's two of them." Danes said.

"But what does it mean?" Gwen asked.

"Look at the PhiCorp logo. The letter phi, a circle with a line through it. It's been right there in front of us staring us in the face all this time." Esther said, loading up the PhiCorp logo on the laptop.

"A line through the world?"

"The Blessing. The Miracle." Jack said.

"But what is it?" Esther asked.

"We need to find out. We can get into Argentina no problem."

"Maybe we need to get into both, Jack. Maybe you should go one way."

"And you the other."

"Buenos Aires."

"Shanghai."

"So this is what we're doing? A mission on both sides of the world?" Gwen asked.

"This is the biggest Torchwood Three mission yet." Jared said, laughing a lot.

"Suppose it is, yeah."

"And you're taking me with you." Danes said.

"No way. I would rather take Jared, Jack, the Railgun, and her perverted roommate than you, pedophile." Gwen said, looking at Danes.

"No, no, no. I've got, I've got better plans for you, bub." Rhys said, wrapping an arm around Danes.

"And that's your problem, isn't it, Gwen? You can't let me walk free. Not a man with my desires. And you can't have me arrested. Not now that I know all about your little plans." Danes said, looking at Gwen.

"They can leave you here with me."

"Well, that's just it, you joyous man. You've just trapped your wife completely. Leave me here with him and I think he would. I actually think he would. Your husband would kill me. He'd make me Category One with his own bare hands. You would kill me, wouldn't you?"

"Yeah." Rhys said, smiling.

"Is that what you want? No. I'm coming with you. There's no choice. There's not a choice in the whole of the world. Okay?" Danes asked.

Freight depot…

So Torchwood, Jared, the Railgun, and Shirai Kuroko get to Shanghai in the back of a lorry.

"Hup! Let's go." Jack said.

They climb the security fence.

Buenos Aires airport…

Esther, Touma, and Index, come through arrivals to meet Rex.

"It made it." Esther said.

"All of you know what." Index said.

"That is a lot." Touma said, looking down at the briefcase.

"Yeah. The only way to get this stuff through was in the diplomatic bag. Oh, man. Esther, don't start with that hugging shit. And Index, don't bite Touma." Rex said, holding the briefcase.

"Shut up." Esther said, smiling.

"Hungry…" Index said, lying down on the floor. "Touma…"

"Come on. We'll get Index something to eat first before anything. Look, the only problem is, I had to sign for the case. Now, I'm running this thing undercover, but if anyone checks the Embassy notifications, we're screwed." Rex said.

Charlotte gets the alert on her screen and notifies the Families.

Shanghai…

Jilly's taxi drops her off at an alleyway. Security guards open a gate and beckon her through to meet an older woman in grey.

"You must feel terrible." The mother said.

"No, I'm fine." Jilly said.

"No, I mean you really must. That's what The Blessing does to you the closer you get. You're scared, am I right? Your skin's a little too tight. There's something just out of the corner of your eye you can't quite see, hmm?"

"Yes."

"You never get used to it. Come this way, Miss Kitzinger."

"It's Miss Meredith." Jilly said.

"I don't really care. The men enjoy those sorts of games. But the feeling, it started as soon as we dug deep enough. I think it's The Blessing's attempt to communicate." The mother said.

"Then it's a living thing?"

"Oh, we have no idea. But certainly The Blessing sends some sort of impact back at the onlooker."

Jilly is led to a warehouse and into a goods lift.

"We have a theory. We say The Blessing shows you to yourself." The mother said, while they went down. "I've seen people look upon The Blessing and end their lives. There's a brilliant truth about that, because each and every time that person was hiding something vile. Isn't that wonderful? It's exhilarating, the damage it does. I wonder what you'll see."

Blessing chamber…

A massive cleft in the rock is exposed. Tiny pieces of debris fly around and into it.

"What can you see? What does The Blessing tell you about yourself?" The mother asked.

"That I'm right. How far down does it go?" Jilly asked.

"All the way to the other side of the world."

(Jared's POV)

Buenos Aires warehouse/ Shanghai hovel…

Rex's chest wound is bothering him while my right arm is bothering me. Index is eating a burger and fries while also having a large Coke nearby. Esther's phone rings.

"Hey. Guess what. Same old glamour here. We're in some kind of warehouse." Esther said, happily.

"Yeah, well, I'm stuck in a hovel owned by gun runners with Oswald Danes as a roommate. That's worse than the Railgun having a perverted roommate that calls her sissy. Not the best day in my life, I'll tell you." Gwen said, scoffing.

"Even so, this is a good phone line. And we have amazing cellular service." I said, clutching my right arm.

"Considering the distance. It is a good one." Touma said, standing next to Esther. "At least Index is eating."

"Touma…" Index said, angrily. "Why are you butting into their call?"

"Mikoto, Shirai, Gwen, Jared, just started looking for that Blessing. God help us. We're in two of the biggest cities on Earth. Try starting with the family of that arsonist, and I'm gonna go to a local library with Touma and Index." Esther said.

"You look after that weapon, okay? Jack's blood has got to be important." Gwen said.

"It's safe. Got it here."

"Find anything, call me."

"You too. Good luck."

Shanghai hovel…

"Bye." Gwen said, placing her phone back inside her pocket.

Jack's wound hurts while I rubbed my arm.

"Idiot. You idiot. Jack, you told me that was healed. You're not better at all, are you? Let me see." Gwen said, running up to Jack to catch him.

"Sorry." Jack said, sadly.

"It's okay. I got you. Okay, I got you. I got you." Gwen said, helping Jack onto a bunk bed.

"I'm so sorry."

"It's all right. Don't be sorry. I've got you. Okay, let me take a look. Oh, honestly. Oh, God." Gwen said, ripping off Jack's bloodied bandage.

"Gwen." Jack said.

"If I had known it was this bad, Jack, you'd never have come."

"It got worse when we arrived. Ah!" Jack said, clutching his chest in pain.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Okay, I got you." Gwen said.

"Wow…" Mikoto said, in awe.

Danes, Mikoto, Shirai, and I watch as a drop of Jack's blood drips from the bandage onto the floor then moves across the floorboards.

"Is that normal?" Shirai asked, looking down at Jack's blood.

"Nope." I said, squeezing my arm.

"Fine place to die, in old Shanghai." Jack said, laughing a lot.

"You're not dying. Don't say that." Gwen said, looking at Jack.

"I'm tired, Gwen. This mortal life, it hurts so much."

"Well, now. Can't say I've been to China before, so I'm not well versed in their customs. But I've got to say I never knew about that." Danes said, while Jack and Gwen also watch the travelling blood drops. "Whoa. Whoa, whoa, whoa."

"It's your blood. No wonder it's killing you. I think, I think it's showing us the way. It's The Blessing. It's somewhere over there. And I think whatever it is, it's calling you, Jack." Gwen said.