The New World

(Open POV)

Outside Montrose Hill State Penitentiary…

"Six am is the appointed time of death as laid down by the state of Kentucky. Oswald Danes faces his last moments on this earth. Members of the public have gathered outside the Montrose Hill State Penitentiary, but the planned protests against the death sentence have failed to appear, which isn't surprising given the nature of the offense. A former schoolteacher convicted in 2006 of the rape and murder of twelve year old Susie Cabina, Danes will be remembered for his infamous line of defence. Upon his arrest, he told the police, she should've run faster." A reporter said.

Execution room…

A guard pulls back the curtains between the condemned man and the witnesses gathered to watch him die.

"The condemned is permitted to make a final statement. Do you have anything to say?" Cole asked.

Danes looks at Susie's mother, then shakes his head. The bed tilts back to horizontal and Guard Cole leaves the room. An anonymous person triggers the series of liquids that course into Dane's veins to kill him. He jerks and twitches, tearing off the arm support. Guards rush in and one draws the curtains again.

CIA Analysts Office / Car…

In an office devoted to computer monitoring.

"Did you ever hear of Torchwood?" Esther asked, while she is talking to an African American man who is driving in heavy rain.

"Never mind that. Guess what I just heard. You know Steve Reynolds? Well, it turns out his wife is sick. She has like leukemia or something like that. Whatever it is, it sounded long term." Rex said.

"It's British. The Torchwood Institute." Esther said.

"Hello? Are you listening? You see, if Steve's got to come home that leaves a space in Venezuela, and I spent eighteen months working out the Maracaibo routes, so it's mine. I get promoted!"

"Congratulations."

"Thank you."

"And Steve's only been married six months."

"What do you want from me, you know? It's a tragedy."

"All the same, this thing might be worth following. It just got sent down. The word Torchwood has been emailed to every single East coast section chief completely bypassing security. Just one word. Torchwood." Esther said.

"Following up this Torchwood incident, wondering if you can access the EU files." Noah said, talking to another person on Esther's headset.

"No, no, no, it's not, it's not Touchwood, it's Torchwood. T O R C H W…" Charlotte said.

"So what is Torchwood anyway?" Rex asked.

"I've looked it up. It's some pretty freaky stuff. I'll send it to you now." Esther said.

"It sounds more intelligence, not clandestine." Rex said.

"Are you getting this?" Noah asked, as the screens are starting to display static.

"And if it's got the title Institute, that means that it's been officially sanctioned by the UK government, which we all know is a big hassle because that administration is like kindergarten." Rex said.

"It's gone. It just got wiped, like a virus. It just vanished." Esther said.

"Okay. I guess that's that. Now go ask around about Steve's wife. Get a proper diagnosis. We need a timeline on this. And pass that Torchwood thing on to somebody else. It has absolutely nothing to do with me."

The truck ahead of Rex brakes suddenly. Its load of steel pipes shoot off the back and through his windscreen, impaling him in his seat.

"Rex? Rex?" Esther asked.

Bedroom…

Gwen Cooper Williams awakes with a start.

"You okay?" Rhys asked.

"Yeah. Yeah. Don't know. Just, bad dream." Gwen said, sadly.

"What about?"

"Oh. Oh, what do you think. Torchwood."

Emergency clinic…

"His pulse is fast and weak. Systolic BP of seventy. Beats me how he's still alive." A paramedic said.

"Rex, my name is Doctor Juarez, okay? We're taking you straight into surgery. Do you understand?" Vera asked, looking down at Rex.

"Is he okay? His name is Rex Matheson." Esther said, frowning.

"You family?"

"No, I'm just a colleague. We work in the same…"

"It's family only. He's the second one tonight. DOAs who just won't die."

"We had a jumper this afternoon. Twenty two floors, everything pulverised. Pneumothorax both sides, but she wouldn't die. Same thing. Just wouldn't die." The paramedic said.

Welsh Farm…

A black helicopter flies over the remote farmhouse where Gwen and Rhys are living. Rhys is working in their vegetable garden.

"Don't be so suspicious." Rhys said.

"What they flying past for?" Gwen asked.

"Because they can. This is God's own country, that's all. Just looking. Now stop it."

It is 8 am. Gwen goes inside to feed their child.

Farmhouse…

"So went outside all on my own. It was midnight, not a sound to be heard. And I looked up and a woman came out of the sky. Oh, shining she was, like moonlight. Her eyes white, blazing white. And then she started to sing like a thousand choirs. One woman with a thousand voices and it was beautiful." Gwen said, smiling.

"That's enough, don't you think?" Rhys asked.

"Who's being paranoid now?"

"You promised me you'd keep her away from this stuff."

"Yeah, well, be fair. She's too young. She thinks it all sounds like a fairy tale."

"It was a nightmare, Gwen. Your life back then was a living nightmare, love." Rhys said, and he heard three knocks. "There's someone at the door."

"Shush." Gwen said, angrily.

"What do we do?" Rhys asked.

"Shush."

"You and…" Rhys said, hearing more knocks.

They get weapons from their extensive armoury. Gwen answers the door to a pair of middle-aged hikers.

"Ah, hello." A man said, happily.

"Sorry." A woman said.

"I hope we're not disturbing you. Just wondering, if we're going back to the village, is it quicker to cut back across to the beach or would we get cut off at this time of the day? Better to ask, I thought, just in case."

"We have got proper shoes. We can get across nice and quickly."

"It's private property. I'm busy." Gwen said, shutting the door on them, and the hiking couple left.

"Get off my land." Rhys said.

"Shush. I could have shot them."

"Hey, hey. We're safe, sweetheart. No one knows we're here. All that stuff's long since gone. And all that stuff you used to do are in the hands of the Avengers, S.O.N.G, Judgement, T.S.A.B., and Magical Girls. No more Torchwood, right? Jared has helped make it incredibly safe, Gwen, so you don't have to do Torchwood anymore."

"Yeah. Okay." Gwen said, frowning.

"It's gone. Torchwood's gone. Forgotten, eh?"

"Yeah, all right. Sorry. Okay."

"Come here." Rhys said, hugging Gwen.

Hospital…

Washington DC, 3 am. Esther is in a waiting room when Vera comes by.

"Popular man, Rex Matheson. We've had three different station chiefs on the phone. No sign of his family?" Vera asked.

"We only have a number for his father. I left a message, but no one's called back. Is he?" Esther asked.

"No. No, he made it. He's alive."

"God! Er, thank you. I. The paramedics, they said he didn't stand a chance."

"Well, looks like someone changed the rules. Miracles got easy. It's not only Rex who's still alive. So is everyone else."

"Sorry, I don't get you."

"It started last night." Vera said, while she and Esther get coffee from a machine. "First I knew, they called up from the morgue. They were laughing. They said, what's happening up there? You on strike? Turns out no one had died. Twenty four hours since this hospital had a death. Not one. Not from old age, not from injury, not from sickness, all day long."

"Just a coincidence, I suppose." Esther said.

"That's what I said, yeah. Then I was on a call to Saint Jude's in Chicago. And they said, well, here's a funny thing. Past twenty four hours, we've registered no deaths, not one. So I called my ex-husband. He's at Cedarbrook. Same story. All day, no deaths. I tried London. I have this friend at the Royal Free Hospital. I called her. She said, Oh, that's weird. It's the same thing over here. Twenty four hours, no one's died. What do you think of that, hmm? One lucky day."

"The survival of Oswald Danes turns out to be the first incident in a much bigger story breaking live this morning." AWM reporter said.

"When the Kentucky Medical Authority made a chance comment that it hadn't recorded a single death over twenty four hours…" The male anchor said.

"Seventeen more authorities immediately reported the same thing. The story exploded on social network sites." The senior male anchor said.

A Spanish language reporter speaks.

"Miracle trending as the number one topic. From Maine to California, the story is the same." The AWM reporter said.

"For the past thirty six hours…" The male anchor said.

"No fatalities have been reported." All the reporters said, at the same time.

"No one has died." A reporter said.

"Not one person in the United States…" Male anchor 2 said.

"Not a single death." The male anchor said.

"Miracle Day." All the reporters said, at the same time.

"Miracle Day. That's what's being called." The senior male anchor said.

"Miracle Day." The male anchor said.

Hiding place…

Jared, Mikoto, Shirai, Saten, and Uiharu are in an abandoned building with Captain Jack Harkness while the immortal cooks his meal on a small stove. Uiharu looked over at one of the laptops and monitors while she then looked over at Jack.

"I did it." Uiharu said, smiling.

"Thank you, Uiharu." Jack said, giving Uiharu a high five. "How did you know how to navigate the Torchwood software?"

"It was as easy as the software I have back at Judgement."

"That does make some sense because of her hacking skills." Shirai said, sadly.

"So what is this Miracle Day anyway?" Mikoto asked, watching the news on one of the screens. "How did the people stop dying?"

"Spoilers…" Jared said, eating some ramen. "I wish I could tell you. But it would be too soon."

"Too soon for everything to go back to normal." Saten said, looking at Jared. "Why did you even drag us to Washington DC?"

"Yeah. You could have asked your Magical Girl friends." Shirai said.

"They're dealing with their own problems. Without humanity dying, they're dying. Now they don't have any Grief Seeds to hunt. Or any Familiars to catch." Jared said, looking at Shirai. "This is how bad it is on their end."

"Oh. So it's like we're trying to fix the world. Weren't we dealing with World War Three a while back?" Mikoto asked.

"If you girls feel like you can't handle Miracle Day, Jack could always take you back home."

"I would." Jack said, smirking. "I do have a vortex manipulator."

"Or you could rely on my teleport." Shirai said, smiling.

"Your teleportation is primitive compared to my vortex manipulator. But it is more versatile."

"Exactly. Why do you even rely on a time traveling teleport?"

"Kuroko, don't question his antics." Mikoto said, an electrical shock coming out of her head. "Jack is someone we can rely upon to fix this. After this is fixed, we can go home."

CIA Analysts Office…

"Hey. Heard about Rex. Is he okay?" Charlotte asked.

"Yeah. Thought it was a miracle, turns out it's everyone. Did you get any more on that Torchwood thing?" Esther asked.

"No, it's been shut down. Orders of Brian Friedkin? Goes through his office only. Case closed."

"But what was it? Because the way those files disappeared…"

"The world changed overnight, yeah? Some old British thing is not on the top of the list."

"Torchwood. If that wasn't a virus, it's got to be some sort of malware." Esther said.

"It's like nothing I've ever seen. The word Torchwood is vanished. It's been eradicated. If you search for Torchwood, you get no results. Nothing gets no results." Noah said.

"Then there's got to be something on paper."

"The shelves are bare. It's all gone to Friedkin. I asked Yvonne. Ahem. She said it was classified under the 456 regulations. She said you want to stay away."

"Why?"

"They all died. So the story goes. Anyone that worked for Torchwood was killed in action. And they died young."

Hospital room…

"Seen the TV? It's not just you." The nurse said, happily.

Rex flicks through the multitude of news reports and vox pop.

"This goes beyond America. It's worldwide. You've got the same reports from Europe, from Asia, from Africa. Every death is different. You can't suspend death like it's a fixed concept. This goes against the fundamental rules of life on Earth. They shot him! They shot my brother like bam, bam, bam, but you know, he's still alive and his heart's still going. He reached out." Someone on the TV said.

"Whether it's a disease or an experiment or a project gone wrong, it's obvious we're the victims now. We're the lab rats." A WNKW reporter said, on TV.

"These people are dead. That's what they are. Dead people sitting up in bed. They terrify me. I'm not touching them. I'm sorry, but they should be corpses. That's what they are, living corpses." An angry reporter nurse said, on the TV.

Rex pulls out his tubes and the nurse runs in.

Later, when Rex had calmed down, Vera walked into the room.

"The metal missed the spine, but the pericardium was lacerated and a coronary artery was crushed and thrombosed. That's the one in your leg. I had to transplant a section of vein from your thigh." Vera said, showing Rex an x-ray scan.

"But how did I survive?" Rex asked.

"I don't know. But even when your heart stopped beating, the process continued. The process of life, the viability of the flesh, the transfer of oxygen. It just didn't stop."

"But do I get better? Do I heal? Or do I just hurt for the rest of my life? Because if this thing keeps going, the rest of my life is forever, right?"

"Rex, now listen to me. Because you might want to take something under consideration. That maybe you were lucky. You should've died last night, but when this thing happened, the miracle, it gave me time to fix you. Without the miracle, you'd be dead."

"It's like someone cast a spell over the whole world. But what happens when it stops, huh? What happens to me then? Do I die?"

Farmhouse…

"Oh, you are so cheating." Rhys said, annoyed.

"Cheating? How can I cheat painting a wall? Only a man could turn this into a competition." Gwen said, holding a paint roller.

"You just went whoosh."

"Well, look, whoosh."

"With one stroke. That's hardly a coat." Rhys said, while a mobile phone rings.

They have a signal in the middle of nowhere.

"Oh, bollocks. Oh bollocks, bollocks." Gwen said, going to get the phone from the drawer.

"It might be nothing." Rhys said.

"There's only one reason why that phone could ring. Look, where have you put it? Where have you put it?"

"It's in here, it's in here."

Gwen finds and answers it, "What is it? What is happened?"

Cardiff…

"This is Sergeant Davison with a phone-in report of one suspect, male, in the vicinity of Saint Helen's Hospital, Cardiff City. Suggest rendezvous at oh two hundred hours in the agreed position." Andy said, phone near his ear.

Farmhouse…

"It's my dad. He's in hospital. Er, I've got to see him. I'm sorry, Rhys. We've got to go back." Gwen said, phone near her chest.

CIA Archive…

"Friedkin's office took all the Torchwood files, cleared us out." The archivist said.

"I know. He sent me the double check. Because files get left behind, and especially if there's a hard copy inside an associated pile. That sort of thing always gets missed. Just need to check on all the associations." Esther said.

"Okay."

"Not sure where to begin."

"Better find out then."

"Right. Okay. Thanks." Esther said, searching the stacks, up ladders and on her hands and knees. Finally, she finds a partially redacted one that references the 456 files as XR-ed under the JF3238 designation. "456. 456. 456. 456!"

Bingo! Newspaper cuttings about Children Of Earth, files and photographs of the Torchwood team. Esther looks up to see a shadowy figure in a long coat, a shadowy figure in a hoodie, and a shadowy figure wearing a baseball cap.

"Come with us." Jared said, grabbing Mikoto's hand.

"Please." Mikoto said, and Jared squeezes her hand.

Esther runs. The Archivist is still at his desk, his chest covered in blood.

"Get down." Jared said, while Esther ducks.

"On it!" Mikoto said, using her ability to shock the man with the machine gun in the neck to the point of death.

"Oh, my God. Is he gonna die?" Esther asked.

"Don't worry about it. No one dies these days." Jack said, sadly.

"You want to bet?" The assassin asked.

Jack rips open the man's flak jacket to reveal lots of packs of C4 explosive. Jack, Esther, Mikoto, and Jared jump out of a window just as the bomb goes off, and land in the ornamental fountain outside the building.

"Whoa. Anyway, Captain Jack Harkness. This is Jared Shay and Mikoto Misaka. Nice to meet you." Jack said, happily.

Outside the CIA Archive…

Jack, Esther, Mikoto, and Jared watch the fire department arrive to deal with the fire.

Jared brings Esther a bottle of water, "Here you go."

"That man…" Esther said.

"He was after us, not you." Jared said, eating a cheeseburger.

"Why? Why would he want you three dead?"

"On the very day that no one's dying? Wish I knew. And what got you so involved?" Jack asked, looking at Esther.

"I'm not even authorized for this, but this friend of mine, I was telling him about Torchwood and he crashed his car while I was talking to him. And I can't help but thinking that it's all my fault." Esther said.

"We know the feeling." Jared said, looking down at the floor.

"So what is Torchwood?" Esther asked.

"Torchwood no longer exists." Jack said.

"Then what was it? Because there were photos in that file of a man who looked just like you, but it said 1939, then 1925. Is he your father?" Esther asked, looking at Jack.

"I suppose it could be his father." Mikoto said, eating some mint chocolate chip ice cream. "Haagen Daaz?"

"No. Ben and Jerry's." Jared said, looking at Jack. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I hurt my arm." Jack said, looking down at his arm.

"Considering what we just went through, I would say that was a miracle." Esther said.

"Yeah, another one. The Torchwood Institute was set up by the British royal family in 1879 to defend the realm of Great Britain by investigating the unusual, the strange and the alien."

"I'm kind of guessing alien doesn't mean foreign."

"Alien, meaning extraterrestrial." Jared said, sadly.

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

"This whole thing worldwide. That's something Torchwood used to investigate." Mikoto said.

"Torchwood, they said that people died, but there was that other photo. Gwen Cooper. There was no date of death." Esther said.

"She's still alive. Gwen. She's the last member of Torchwood left. The one I hoped would survive the 456." Jared said, letting out a sigh. "She has a family."

"And we're gonna keep her safe, which means making sure that the Institute stays dead and buried." Jack said, looking at Esther.

"So that first email last night, the one that just said Torchwood?" Esther asked, taking a drink of water.

"Wasn't us. God knows who it was. But that was enough to call me back, and Uiharu Kazari got to work releasing the malware, with me working with Jared and the Railgun to destroy hard copies, removing all traces of the word, using Retcon." Jack said.

"What's Retcon? Go on, ask that question." Mikoto said, finishing her mint chocolate chip ice cream.

"What's Retcon?" Esther asked.

"Retcon is a smart drug. It induces selective amnesia." Jared said, finishing his cheeseburger.

"No." Esther said, sadly.

"You won't remember a thing." Jack said, catching Esther as she passes out. "Nice to meet you, Esther."

Hospital room / Corridor…

"The fire at the CIA archive is now under control…" WVBS said.

Rex is on his phone to Vera in another part of the hospital, "An explosion right at our doorstep. It's a gift. Now take a look at the victims. Are they dead or not?"

"You're not the first to think of it, Mister Matheson. Now, you can stop running the case from a hospital bed." Vera said.

"Wait, wait, wait, what are you talking about? Who else is there?" Rex asked.

"I really can't talk."

"Who else is onto this?"

"I'll check the Ringmain." Vera said.

"The what? Hello?" Rex asked.

Jack and Jared are in dark suits. They meet Vera and they are escorted by men with lots of gold braid on their uniforms.

"FBI." Jack said.

Hospital room…

"Hey, my man, what the hell is the Ringmain?" Rex asked.

"It's the internal cameras. Security system, that's all." A male nurse said.

Rex makes another call. Reaching over for his laptop hurts.

"Yeah. Yeah, this is Rex Matheson with the CIA. Put me on with your chief of security. Yeah, right now." Rex said.

Mortuary…

Vera, Jack, and Jared enter.

"Session begins supervised by attending surgeon Professor Victor Louis Santini and witnesses to be listed in the hospital register. The purpose of this enquiry is to determine. Well, as you'll see, following the explosion at the CIA archive…" Santini said.

Hospital room…

"Got it." Rex said, logging into Ringmain using Admin123.

Rex watches the autopsy.

Mortuary…

"One of the victims has been…" Santini said, while the pieces under the white sheet groan. "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."

The assistants remove the sheet. The humanoid remains are bits of bone and muscle, all burnt and flayed.

"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." Santini said.

"Is that actual consciousness? It seems like he's still aware." Vera asked.

"Excuse me, we were wondering. Owen Harper and Ianto Jones, we're FBI. But what if you detach the head?" Jack asked.

"Well, would he stay alive without his head? Is that possible?" Jared asked, grabbing Jack's hand.

"I suggest we find out." Santini said, smiling.

"Excuse me. you can't do that. I mean you literally can't. This man is not dead. He's our patient." Vera said, annoyed.

"Your comments have been noted, Doctor Juarez. Now, shall we begin?" Santini asked, beginning to cut the bits that are connecting the skull to the torso.

After a few moments, the eyes open.

"Oh my God." Vera said.

"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." Santini said.

"But how? Who could do this?"

"Well, who's got the technology? Simple answer. No one on this Earth."

Cardiff…

Rhys and Gwen park their car by a shrine in front of the hospital. People are lighting candles.

"What the hell?" Gwen asked.

"Long time no see." Andy said.

"Oh, my God. Hey." Gwen said, hugging Andy.

"And you, big lunk. Daddy Day Care. Look at her. So your father had a mild heart attack on Saturday night and then a second on the Sunday, and that was quite bad, to be honest. But he's stable now. He's out of ICU. Funny thing is, if you're gonna get sick, he didn't half choose the right day." Andy said.

"What do you mean?" Gwen asked.

"Look at them. They're all gathering around the hospitals like they're the new churches. I'm not kidding. We've had doctors being worshipped since Miracle Day."

"What's Miracle Day?"

"Are you kidding me? Haven't you heard?"

"Heard what?"

"Come on. It started two nights ago. People stopped dying. They still get hurt, sick, they just won't die."

Cardiff hospital room…

Gwen's mother is sitting with her father.

"Oh, you silly girl. I said stay away." Mary said, looking at Gwen.

"How could I do that, Mam?" Gwen asked.

"What if someone sees you? It's not safe. You told me. What if someone's watching?" Mary asked, while Rhys carries their daughter in. "Oh, look at her. Come here. Oh, good God, she's enormous."

"That's your grandma, remember?" Rhys asked.

"How could she? Never sees me, does she? Not since the day she was born. Oh, hey, come see your granddad." Mary said, picking up Anwen from Rhys.

"Hi, Dad. Hey. It's me. Hello." Gwen said, smiling.

"You shouldn't have." Geraint said.

"Well, there we are, then. Tough. And you can stop all this nonsense, okay? I want you up and out this bed, lazy old thing."

"Ah, there she is. Princess." Geraint said, looking at Anwen.

"Look at her though. She's huge." Mary said, carrying Anwen.

"She's perfectly normal, Mam." Gwen said, sadly.

"I thought you were being frugal. What are you feeding her, lard?"

"Yes, Mam. I'm feeding her lard. Keep telling her that, and by the time she's thirteen, she'll have a complete psychological complex."

"Stop it now, you two." Rhys said, looking between Mary and Gwen.

"Sorry." Mary said, sadly.

"It's okay." Gwen said.

"What do you think it is, Gwen? What happened to us? This never-ending life, what is it?" Mary asked.

"Should I be dead, sweetheart?" Geraint asked, looking at Gwen.

"I don't know, Dad." Gwen said.

"It's the sort of thing your lot used to tackle."

"Yeah, but Torchwood's gone, Dad. There's no one else left on Earth. Just me, okay? Everyone else that could help is dealing with all this in their own ways. And I'm sorry, because I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do, Dad."

Hiding place…

Jack and Jared return to their hiding place in Washington DC. He climbs a fire escape into an abandoned building and cooks his meal on a small stove.

"Look at this headline." Uiharu said, calling up BBC News on a laptop. Headline, the Death of Death. "Pretty bleak."

Nurse's station…

Gwen and Andy are looking at the same report.

"It's all over the world the world. Look. Look at this. Somalia has stopped fighting." Gwen said.

"Warfare is even worse when the bodies refuse to die. But take a look at North Korea. Huh, spoiling for a fight. They've got a lot of soldiers who think they're immortal." Andy said.

"But this miracle, it's specifically human. I mean, it's got to be. It won't be affecting any Magical Girl because they girls are no longer human. This website says if insects stopped dying, we'd be overrun within forty eight hours flat. And that hasn't happened. So this thing is being targeted at us. At humanity, I mean."

"Have a look-see. Budge over. I've missed all this."

"I haven't."

"It's quiet without you."

"Oh, tush."

"Here we go, look. Planet Earth. On average, three hundred thousand people die every day. So if they stop dying, humanity, that is, that's an extra what, million people in just over three days. Add to that five hundred thousand people born every day. And that is on top of all the Magical Girls that have made contracts to the Incubators." Andy said, loading up a Wikipedia page.

"That's another million humans every two days plus the first million. Bloody hell." Gwen said.

"That's the fastest population boom in history."

"We're gonna run out of room."

"We'll run out of food first. Magical Girls have their needs like humans do to survive. They need their essentials as much as we do. A guy on the telly was saying we've got four months like this. Just four months, and then that's it, society just collapses. Everyone fighting each other for food, like animals."

"Oi, what are you two doing?" Rhys asked.

"I was just asking for some advice." Andy said, sadly.

"Yeah, don't you start. Gwen?" Rhys asked.

"Yes?" Gwen asked.

"No more investigations. You promised. We're here to see your Dad. That's it, yeah?"

"Do you want to come and have a look? Come on, bright eyes, follow me." Gwen said, leading Rhys into a hallway.

Hospital basement…

There are beds in the tiny corridors.

"Look, intensive care overflow. They've got twelve beds with seventeen patients already. What's gonna happen tomorrow? And the day after that? And the day after that? And the day…" Gwen said.

"Listen, now. Every time you investigate something, you end up in danger, Gwen." Rhys said, angrily.

"Because I can help."

"Don't you dare."

"So you just…"

"I said don't you dare! Have you got that? Don't you bloody dare, Gwen! See, the thing is, right, if you think Miracle Day is like a Torchwood case, others are going to think the same, aren't they? They're gonna come looking for you with guns like they did the old days."

"I suppose, yeah."

"We shouldn't even be in the city. There are cameras everywhere, man. And it's different now. You've got a daughter, and you can't go putting her into danger. That is why we live in the back of beyond, to keep her safe. We've got to go back." Rhys said, looking at Gwen.

"My dad is sick."

"Oh, think about it! People aren't dying. He's gonna survive."

"Shush, now. Shush."

"Think about Anwen. Maybe our daughter's going to live forever."

"Don't, okay? Don't make her part of this this thing, okay? Don't. Do you think she could?"

"Possible, yeah. See, maybe you should let this happen for once. Like how the Railgun let Level 6 Shift and Project Radio Noise happen." Rhys said, happily.

"Let's go home." Gwen said, sadly.

"Yes."

"Let's go home."

Esther's apartment…

Esther wakes up fully clothed, lying on her bed. She gets up and checks why her side is hurting. There is a massive bruise on her torso from the fall.

"What the hell?" Esther asked.

Hiding place…

Jack, Jared, and Mikoto are also sporting bruises and the former immortal has cuts on his arm from broken glass.

"Jared, girls…" Jack said, looking down at his arm to see that he hasn't healed. "This is bad."

CIA Analysts Office…

"The search or suspects continues after last night's massive explosion at the CIA archives…" Someone on the TV said.

"Nice for some, having the morning off?" Charlotte asked.

"Yeah, I, er had things to do. Missed all this." Esther said, happily.

"You owe me. Yasmin works in Friedkin's office. She got me the last remaining copy of the Torchwood file. Now you can take me to dinner." Noah said, and Esther takes the big file and puts it in her desk drawer.

Esther's phone rings, "Esther Drummond. Hello."

Hospital room / CIA Analysts Office…

"Is there a database correlating mortality rates from every single hospital in the world?" Rex asked.

"Are you on your cell phone? Because you're not allowed to be using it." Esther said.

"And is anyone talking to morticians? Because, I mean, they've got to be the first to notice, right?"

"There's nothing. There's no news. The whole thing, it's kind of intangible. How do you investigate something not happening? And all that Torchwood stuff that's gone up to Friedkin."

"Oh, yeah? So what's Torchwood got to do with it?"

"I don't know. It's sort of connected, isn't it?"

"No. No, it's not. It's a completely different case."

"Sure. Of course it is."

"Then why'd you mention it?"

"Don't know. I suppose it just happened at the same time?" Esther asked.

"So what is Torchwood, anyway?" Rex asked.

"Er, some kind of British intervention agency. Closed down. Used to specialise in 456 cases and above." Esther said, flicking through the file.

"So that first email with Torchwood, you know, the security breach, when did that come through?"

"Sunday night, twenty two thirty six."

"Twenty two thirty six, huh?"

"Yep."

"Twenty two thirty six. Twenty two thirty six was the last reported death. The last death on planet Earth."

"Well, that's disputable. They said that the last death was on Monday."

"No, no, no. Monday in Shanghai. At eleven thirty six. Washington DC is thirteen hours behind at twenty two thirty six. Both those things happened at the same time. Don't you see? You were right. It's all connected. Torchwood's the key to this whole thing." Rex said, trying to get dressed.

"Rex, I've warned you. You're gonna kill yourself!" The nurse said, angrily.

"I can't. That's the point." Rex said.

Later, Rex is dressed and on his way out.

Hospital / CIA Analysts Office…

"All right, so give me those names again." Rex said.

"Captain Jack Harkness, Gwen Cooper, and Jared Shay. Zero information on Harkness and Shay and no sightings of Cooper for the last twelve months. It's like she's gone underground." Esther said.

Rex borrows a crutch and downs some painkillers, "Yeah, that's them."

"The case details have been censored by UNIT Headquarters. This file's got referrals going all the way to Geneva and above. The above being someone called Mycroft Holmes. He is the British government. It's way beyond top secret." Esther said.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. CIA. Move out of my way." Rex said, taking another bottle of painkillers.

"You can't take them." A doctor said, looking at Rex.

"Rex, what do you think you're doing?" Vera asked.

"Sorry, Doc, I'm too busy." Rex said.

"You are in no condition to leave." Vera said, as Rex snatched a wheelchair.

"Oh, I'm not just leaving. I'm flying all the way to the United Kingdom. Esther, book me a flight." Rex said, wheeling himself outside the hospital.

Outside the hospital / CIA Analysts Office…

"Hey, CIA. I'm taking that cab. Move the hell out of the way. Move! Now, make sure you get a hold of supplies, because I'm gonna need a requisition fifteen." Rex said, phone still near his ear.

"What do you need that for?" Esther asked.

"You do know what a requisition fifteen is, right?"

"Of course I do. It's clearance to take a handgun on a plane."

"Well then, I'm taking a handgun on a plane. Now book that flight."

CIA Analysts Office / Airport…

Rex's housekeeper meets him with his passport.

"Okay, your flight departs at oh two hundred hours, but your requisition has been refused." Esther said.

"Tengo tu pasaporte." Rosita said.

"If requisitions won't move, then get me a handgun from UK security." Rex said.

"How am I supposed to do that?" Esther asked.

"Shush! Get me the gun. Rosita, Rosita, here. I don't know when I'm coming back, all right? I don't want you letting your husband into my house. You got that? No husbando. No husbando." Rex said, leaving Rosita holding the hospital crutch.

Airplane / Esther's apartment…

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to your flight to London Heathrow." An announcement said.

"All right, now concentrate. The life of Gwen Cooper. What do we know?" Rex asked.

"Ex-police. It says that she joined the Torchwood Institute in October 2007." Esther said.

"All right, now hold on, hold on. Go through her police records. Find out everyone she worked with, everyone she trained with."

"I'm sorry, sir. I have to ask you to turn your phone off now." The flight attendant said, looking at Rex.

"CIA, and I'm sick. Gwen Cooper. Find out everything." Rex said.

"I can't get into the database. I'll need your password." Esther said, and a hand takes Rex's phone and turns it off.

"She said to turn off the phone." Jack said, holding Rex's phone.

"Now hang up on Esther." I said, sadly. "I'm sorry, Rex."

"Rex!" Esther yelled, her phone near her ear.

"Unless you want your phone to be fried." Mikoto said, an electrical shock coming out of her head.

"Sissy's right, you know. You better listen to us." Shirai said, drinking some water.

Heathrow Airport / Esther's apartment…

9 am. A policeman lets Rex out of a back door. He has his phone back.

"Hi. So where the hell was I? Right. The password's Madrid 66211. That's Madrid with a capital M. Now go through that list and scan through their records using a level one filter. You should highlight anything with a red flag or a caution pertaining to Homeland Security." Rex said, collecting a gun from a police officer.

"I've got one positive response. Police Sergeant Andrew Davison, Cardiff resident. There's a note in his file, says he was Gwen Cooper's unofficial liaison. I can access his private calls." Esther said.

Car / Esther's apartment…

"I've got to filter this through Whitehall." Esther said.

Another bottle of painkillers is finished.

"How long's it gonna take?" Rex asked.

"Any minute now." Esther said.

"And what the hell is this bridge? The Severn Bridge?"

"It connects England to Wales."

"What, you mean Wales is separate? It's like the British equivalent of New Jersey."

"Hold on, hold on. I think I've got something. Sergeant Davison made one call on Tuesday at seventeen oh eight to a number that's on the UK Hickman register. That's a list of cell numbers allocated to witness protection schemes." Esther said.

"That's it then, we've got her." Rex said.

"I can request that through MI5."

Rex arrives at the toll booths. He crossed the M4 Second Severn Crossing.

"Now what is this? Wait a minute, I've got to pay for this bridge? Goddamn Wales." Rex said.

"I've traced the handset. Sending you the coordinates now. It's at fifty one degrees thirty four north, four degrees seventeen west."

"I got it."

Welsh Farm…

Rex and Gwen point guns at each other.

"CIA!" Rex said, angrily.

"Yeah? So what?" Gwen asked, when Rex collapses.

"Extraordinary scenes in Kentucky as the governor's office releases Oswald Danes on parole. The charity Freedom and Liberty has employed a force majeure ruling to define Danes' survival as an act of God, with liability now on the state to prove otherwise." KCNU said, on TV.

(Jared's POV)

Farmhouse…

Rex is tied to a radiator with thin rope. One of his chest wounds has been bleeding again.

"Right, we're off. We're gonna get a good head start and phone you an ambulance. Don't follow us. Don't even try. We just want to be left alone, okay?" Gwen asked, while Rex easily gets free. "Hold it right there, mate. So much for tying him up."

"I've never tied up a person." Rhys said, looking at Gwen.

"Men are good at knots. How many times have you told me that?"

"Yeah, at Christmas."

"Hey! Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. I had a pole through my chest. I was dead, then I wasn't. I had to pay for this Bridge and now I want to know what the hell is going on, all right? Because I was dead and now I'm not. And if that has anything to do with Torchwood or you or anyone, then I need…" Rex said, as a helicopter is hovering, looking through a window. "You know, it would really help if could hear myself think. What the hell is he doing?"

"It's a tourist thing." Rhys said.

"No. No, I don't think it is. Oh, sweetheart." Gwen said, and a man fires a bazooka from the helicopter. It goes through the window, through the house and impacts on the slope behind them. "Get back!" She shoots their would-be assassin whilst holding Anwen in her arms, and the helicopter flies off. "Get in the car. Come on!"

"Here they come, Mikoto." I said, while he watches Gwen, Rhys, Rex, and Awen getting strafed as they run out of the house towards the car. "Ready?"

"Yeah." Mikoto said, tossing up an arcade coin in the air and using her Railgun at the helicopter from Jack's open top Land Rover 90.

"Can't leave you alone for a minute." Jack said, smiling.

"It's you four." Rex said, looking at Mikoto, Shirai, Jack, and I.

"Never annoy us again. Now get in." Jack said, looking at Rex.

Land Rover…

The helicopter chases us along the long, smooth beach and Jack, Gwen, Rhys, Anwen, Mikoto, Shirai, and I enter the Land Rover.

"Duck!" Jack said, angrily.

"Jack, Jared, Mikoto, Shirai, for God's sake, there's a kid here!" Rhys said, looking up at the helicopter that is shooting bullets at us.

"Shirai, I got a present for you in the back! I hope you know how to use it." I said, looking at Shirai.

"Give her to me, Gwen, the baby." Rhys said, as Gwen handed Anwen to him.

"Kuroko!" Mikoto said, and she looked over at Shirai. "Do you know how to use this?"

"It can't be that different from a pistol." Shirai said.

"Wales is insane. Is it as insane as Academy City from what I've heard?" Rex asked.

"No. It isn't. It's full of Level 0 to Level 5 espers. Get down!" Shirai said, firing the machine gun at the helicopter.

Then Jack comes to a halt and Mikoto tosses two arcade coins into the air.

"Who the hell are you people?" Rex asked.

"Jared, Jack, and I are Torchwood." Gwen said, looking at Rex. "Shirai is a Judgement officer while Mikoto is the Railgun."

Mikoto fires her Railgun.

"Torchwood and Judgement are allies, Rex." I said, and we have to duck as the burning helicopter passes overhead before crashing into the sand. "I like Judgement as much as Torchwood for different reasons."

Roald Dahl Plass…

10 pm

"Right, so that's sorted. Rhys, take Anwen to my mother's and keep her safe and sound. Jack, Jared, if you've got access to any weapons, what else have we got? Besides the arcade coins used to make Mikoto's Railgun and Shirai having her darts. Jared and I have still got two sets of the old Eye 5s, but everything else is gone." Gwen said, sadly.

"I knew it though. Didn't I say? First sign of trouble, you go running off with Captain Jack Bollocks." Rhys said, annoyed.

"What choice have I got? I mean, they rebuilt to the tower, now we're rebuilding Torchwood. Isn't that right, Jack? You even listening to me?" Gwen asked, looking at Jack.

"Gwen, Jack cut his arm. He was with Mikoto and I in Washington DC. Uiharu, Saten, and Shirai were nearby at the time." I said, grabbing Mikoto's hand.

"Okay. Can't help but thinking there's more important things to be worrying about here."

"No. I cut my arm as Jared said. Look at it. It's not healing." Jack said, showing his arm to Gwen.

"Do you mean…" Gwen said, frowning.

"I'm staying hurt."

"Oh, my God."

"I know."

"Seriously, though."

"It's only a cut." Rhys said, scoffing.

"It's Jack. He is supposed to be this impossible thing." Mikoto said, as I squeezed her hand.

"You're right, sissy. The whole world becomes immortal…" Shirai said, sadly.

"And I'm mortal. I don't mend. I'm normal again. I'm plain old human." Jack said.

"You're what?" Rex asked.

"Doesn't concern you."

"You talk some crazy shit, you know that?"

"You should get your injury looked at." Shirai said, looking at Rex.

"Yeah, any minute now. Ah, here comes my ride." Rex said.

"Shit…" I said, when sirens approach.

"Police?" Shirai asked.

Gwen, Jack, Rhys, Mikoto, Shirai, and I try to run but get cut off by armed police.

"You have got to be kidding me." Mikoto said, and I let go of her hand.

"Andy, you can't do this." Gwen said, looking at Andy.

"Orders from above. I'm sorry. He's in charge." Andy said, sadly.

"Since when?" Jack asked.

"He can't arrest us. He's American like Jared." Rhys said.

"I hate to bust up your sweet little tea party, but this isn't an arrest. This is a rendition. And on behalf of the CIA, under the 456 amendments to US code 3184, I'm extraditing these so-called Torchwood and Judgement teams to the United States of America. Now, get me out of here. Take me home." Rex said.