torchwoodinstitute | Well Hello There

Henry's face relaxed, and he nodded. Noticing Jack's hand, he reached out to shake. "Good. Thanks. -oh." He thought about what he originally wanted them to take care of. "Maybe I should be in there while they do it. There's a couple of things...uh, it'd be better if I'm the only one to handle them." He wasn't sure what sort of horrible curse that doll had on it, but he definitely didn't want to stick anyone else with it.

Wow, that terrible thing was the all he had left of Eileen, wasn't it? Damn.

"I'm not sure how much help I'll be with your work," he admitted, leaning back in the bench to look back up at that apartment. "But I'll try. Do you really save the universe?"

"I don't think you should go back inside," Jack said bluntly. "Once your things are removed... They're going to try to figure out if your apartment can still be used to get to Silent Hill and how to seal it up if they can." Blunt. Jack wasn't going to sugar coat any of this.

But then again, they were doing important work. They couldn't rely on the Doctor saving the day so Jack had to do it.

He moved to stand up and flicked open his vortex manipulator before he grinned down at Henry. "But yeah. We really do save the universe. We try to give everyone weekends off when possible though."

He was going to protest, but then he actually, really thought about it. Did he need to go back in? Maybe he could just tell them what to watch for.

He leaned back even further, looking up at the sky. He was never going back inside again. He'd never have to walk past Eileen's door again, hearing screams he knows aren't there. He was finally leaving. He'd go to a place where he'd have another chance to save lives, and he'd make good on it this time. It wouldn't make up for the people he failed to save, but it'd make him feel slightly better.

And if this turned out to be some sort of crazy plot, and he was handing everything over to bad people- well, he'd take that chance. He was tired. He closed his eyes and let out a long, relieved sigh. "Thank you," he said.

But there were still things to go over, so after a moment, he sat up and looked at Jack again. "Uh...there's a box in my living room- it has a lot of things in it. It also has an old doll. Don't touch it, okay? Don't let anyone touch it. And there are a few things in that back room..." His face scrunched up as he thought about it. "Some ritual stuff. Be careful with that, too." Yeah, the dead body would've probably tipped them off there. (oh god, had he left Walter's dead body back there? What was wrong with him?)

Rubbing at his face, he added, "I think the apartment's still connected- but it's...connected to Walter's other world, not. Uh, not the real Silent Hill." Did Jack know about any of that? He had some sort of weird device strapped to his wrist- it was comforting, somehow.

"We'll be careful," Jack said, which was more or less the truth. Maybe less. It was really hard, sometimes, to do both but Jack somehow managed it like a pro. He dialed in the vortex for home and set it blazing up behind him.

"This doesn't go to Silent Hill. It goes to Cardiff." Hopefully. "It's a dimension without a direct connection to Silent Hill. You're going to be safe from it there, Henry, but I can't promise that you'll be safe from everything. What we do is dangerous work."

Henry's eyes widened in worry when Jack set up the vortex, so it was good that it was explained immediately. He took a deep breath, figuring he had to go through it. If he'd be safe from that place there, then it was worth jumping through another hole.

Jack just gets stared at for a moment, after telling Henry it would be dangerous. "Yeah, I figured. I guess..." He gave the place one last look. "As long as I don't die here, it's fine." He wasn't sure if that was really how it worked, but he felt like he was marked already, like the apartment was holding onto him. He was already the Receiver of Wisdom, so it could still be finished, right? He had to keep that from happening, now that he had a chance.

So he stood and stepped in front of the vortex. "Do we just walk through it?" he asked.

"You could try jumping, but you might crash into a wall. And it's not exactly pleasant. Keep your eyes closed, it helps with the dizzyiness and... Henry? There's no shame in throwing up."

It wasn't the best of speeches, but these things happened on the fly and Henry was taking this remarkably well now.

He held out his hand with a sly grin.

"Want to go together?"

Henry couldn't think of a time when he hadn't felt nauseous, so the warning was taken with a serious nod. He'd been ready to walk through on his own, but Jack held his hand out.

Henry was reminded of trying to guide Eileen back to his room through one of the holes in the hospital. Would this place let him go? Would he be stuck just like she was?

Only one way to find out. "Yeah. Thanks." He took Jack's hand and held it tightly as he stepped through. He closed his eyes as instructed, wondering if it would help.

"Woah there!" Mitchell was actually very use to people just showing up sometimes, especially holding the Captain's hand. Exceptionally Irish in tone and look, the grinned somewhat amusedly at Henry and nodded as he brushed him a bit off. "Not about to throw up on me, are you now?" he asked.

He just had to make sure.

Once Henry got a good look at him, he was bound to see another dead man...which might not be so good for his poor mental state. Even if Mitchell really was friendly enough!

Henry wasn't waking up on the floor, so it was an improvement on his interdimensional traveling experiences. He thought he might make it to a different space, but he hadn't been expecting to run into someone. He swayed in place, feeling more dizzy when he opened his eyes. But throwing up? No. He blinked several times and clutched his head with his free hand for a moment, then focused on the man in front of him. "No, I'm not," he replied. "Uh, hi. I'm Henry."

His eyes finally focused all the way, and he realized this man also had dead eyes. But wherever he was, it sure didn't look like the other world. It was strange, but it had its own style to it. This was encouraging. He would hold out his hand, except he was still holding on to Jack's. He should probably let go, huh? "Thanks," he said, both to Jack and to Mitchell.

"Well met, mate. John Mitchell. Just Mitchell's fine indeed." He glanced down at the hand holding and then snorted at Jack. "Oh honestly, every new recruit?" he asked, and gave the pair a bit of a wave. "Welcome to Torchwood, Henry! Be seeing you, I'm sure! Got a bit of a mess to clean up. Should be back by dinner if this is working correctly." He opened up his own portal after a salute to Jack and slipped through the golden light of the vortex, which disappeared behind him.

Jack, thankfully, decided it was best, yet again, to explain.

"Vampire. More of a tea drinker than a blood drinker. We have a synthetic drink that keeps him from being an asshole." Yep. He'd met John Mitchell off the wagon. He really didn't mind the amazing sex that came with the blood lust but it was weird to sleep with your employees.

Once their joined hands were being pointedly stared at, Henry did finally let go, looking vaguely embarrassed. Mitchell moved a bit too quickly for him, and so he didn't say anything before the man was gone. But he did nod when he was welcomed, at least.

When Jack explained, Henry stared at the spot where the portal had been and let out a small 'huh.' He looked back over to Jack. "I didn't know vampires actually existed," he said, somewhat obviously. "It's kind of a relief...my world isn't the only one with, uh, strange things in it."

"As far as strange things go, your world is pretty tame," Jack said, gesturing with his now freed hand for Henry to follow him to his office. Jack had such a strange collection of modern and retro styles and as he hung up his coat on the old fashioned coat rack and fell into a creaking wooden chair, Henry would be able to see the photos behind him of things that couldn't possibly exist from worlds that couldn't possibly exist either.

And still, there was no way that they were artist renderings.

"Paperwork first or do you want to see where you're going to be living?" Sorry, Henry. You'll have to stay on site for awhile, no nice house by the water for you yet.

Henry's eyes immediately went to the photos. He would have to get a new camera, and see if they'd mind if he took pictures after they finished saving whoever they were trying to save. Each strange thing he took in and accepted as a possibility, one by one. There was some scary stuff in there, but nothing that left him feeling sick and slimy, like back home, at least.

It took him a moment to realize Jack had been asking him a question. "Uh...paperwork first," he replied, finding a chair on the other side of the desk to sit in. They could get it out of the way. He was curious about where he'd be living, but it'd wait. As long as it wasn't a small, old apartment building, he'd be fine with it.

It would be underground with artificial window simulations, but definitely not small.

Jack turned to an old filing cabinet and, pulling open a drawer, thumbed through some of the manila folders until he came across a thick file filled with wrinkle edged papers. Evidently, despite having a portal creator, Jack liked doing things the old fashioned way.

He picked up a number 2 pencil and set the file down. Pinned to the inside left was Harry's picture and a date.

The date was from a week ago, when Jack first made contact.

"Here's the release form that if you die while employed by Torchwood, your remains and your possessions will remain here in case of chronoton particle dispersion. And this one here is your salary statement. Sign and initial at the Xes."

Henry watched as Jack grabbed everything. It was rather nice to be dealing with paper files and not typing it all into the computer, but it'd be that way if signatures were involved.

He looked over the release form with a nod. That was also comforting. He didn't want his remains going back, that was for sure. "What's 'chronoton particle dispersion'?" he asked, as he signed the paper. He should probably know something like that, right?

The salary statement was met with confusion. "...is this right?" he asked, sure there was a typo and someone made it way too high. If so, they should probably work that out right away.

"Traveling through time and space can leave chronotons attached to your body. It's not harmful while you're alive because you're always moving even when sedentary. But when you die... Those particles has a chance to leave and we've had too many rips in dimensions. I'm sure you've experienced something annoyingly similar." He didn't feel the need to sugarcoat any of that. Nor did he feel the need to downplay the reason for the high salary. Cost of living, to Jack, was important. He wanted to give his employees enough money that they could do what they liked...but not enough to get them to quit.

Making them millionaires tended to do that unless he was able to spread it out.

Jack slid across a new leather wrist strap across the table once he told Henry the truth about the small issue with a likely premature death and the other man signed the line.

"Welcome to Torchwood."

Henry didn't completely understand the explanation about the chronotons, but he definitely did not want any more rips in dimensions. That was plenty to convince him that the measure was justified, even past his own reasons.

He was still really surprised by the high salary. He made about a month's worth of this salary every year- he wasn't even thinking in terms of pounds. Oddly enough, that was what sunk all of this in, to him. The premature death wasn't what phased him, because he already felt like he was living on borrowed time. But the salary was an indication that he was really going to live here, and he'd help save people, and he'd finally be able to afford some nice camera equipment.

He took the leather wrist strap from Jack, fumbled with it for a moment, then managed to strap it on correctly. He looked up at Jack and smiled. Jack will eventually realize that smiles from Henry are very few and far between- he just didn't have a very expressive face. But when he did manage to smile, it went through his whole body, from his relaxed posture to the crinkle of skin around his eyes. "Thank you," he said simply.

Jack just smiled and leaned back in his chair as he heard a beeping from his cuff. Flipping up the cover, he projected a familiar face on the wall, though he looked tired and a little worse for wear.

"So hi, Captain. This is gonna be a lot trickier than we were thinking," Michell said. "Just got back. We spent three days there." Ah, time travel was a crazy thing. "I'm going to need a whole team, but it's sealed up for now, should hold for ahile. What--"

Jack interrupted him. "How about you take Henry here to his quarters and talk about it with him? No one knows that part of Silent Hill better." The projection cut off and Mitchell arrived in the doorway, covered in blood. It wasn't his own. "You could have taken a shower first," he pointed out.

"Could have. Didn't. Hi again, Henry!"

It took Henry a little while for him to realize where they were talking about. Of course, by the time 'Silent Hill' was mentioned, it was very clear. The blood confirmed it.

"Uh...hi," he said to Mitchell. He stood up to look the vampire over some more, trying to make sure there weren't any injuries. "You were gone three days? Are you all okay? You didn't get...uh-" What was the best word to use for that? "-stuck, did you?"

"Oh, I did. Very stuck." But it was hard to really torment Mitchell when he wasn't human. Not anymore. He was just very lucky that all of this blood wasn't even human or else there might be some problems with his little addiction issue. "Everything's more or less all right now, boss."

He grinned, flashing white and even teeth.

"C'mon, you're actually rooming next to me. Gotta be on our best behaviour, us newbies." Jack didn't correct him or even try to.

Henry's face fell when he heard they did get stuck, but Mitchell didn't seem to be in bad spirits, at least. And if they came out with everything 'more or less all right', then that was a lot better than his trip.

So he nodded, and stepped towards Mitchell, intending to follow him. "You're new here, too?" he asked, curious.

"About eight months," Mitchell responded easily for a guy in ripped clothes and gore. He headed back down the hall and paused at one of the shower units, holding up a finger. "Give me one second. This might be a little triggering for you, yeah?" He literally was gone only one second. Henry wasn't going to get any time to himself to poke around the strangely homey and yet still dark circular hallways.

They passed a woman and a man at a computer terminal, Mitchell never stopping to explain how one second inside a room could clean him up, who waved at them but the vampire didn't stop to make small talk.

"How are you holding up?"

The place itself was very interesting, with all the circular archways, brick and concrete, high tech gear and other items he wouldn't care to guess at. He wanted to take photos of it; he was fairly sure he wouldn't be able to share them with anyone outside this group, but that would be okay.

He wasn't sure what 'triggering' meant, so that question got a bit of a blank stare. He had a feeling it meant something like 'upsetting,' and if that was the case, then yeah. Henry didn't have time to even lean back against the wall before Mitchell was back from the shower thing. He wondered if he'd missed something and Mitchell just had to pick something up, but no- he was clean. Huh. He decided not to question it.

"I don't know," he answered honestly to the second question. "This still sort of feels like a dream. I wouldn't be surprised if I woke up back in that apartment tomorrow, I guess." He shrugged and ran a hand through his hair, vaguely trying to get it out of his eyes. It didn't work very well. "Other than that, I'm better than I have been for...awhile." He needed to get away from that place. It was still very much messing with him.

He didn't really want to talk about his experiences unless he had to, to help them out. So he found another topic. "Have you liked it here, so far?"

Mitchell was really good at lying, but he didn't want to do that now. He gave Henry a shrug. "It's not always easy," he admitted. "Actually, it pretty much is never easy. But I don't have anywhere else to go. I think that must be the same for you too. Everyone here seems a little...um... Out of options."

But that made this sound more like a orphanage. And it wasn't. At all.

"We do good work here. We're paid really fantastically well... We have each other-- And our demons. I can't say I'm happy here, Henry, but I wasn't happy back home either. Fact, I think I was just about to die there."

Funny. Jack seemed to do that to people. He plucked them up when everything would have changed for the worse.

'Out of options' sounded about right. Or maybe it was just that this was such a fantastic option compared to the other one or two he had.

He was glad to hear what sounded like a realistic assessment of everything. If people had told him it was nothing but sunshine and rainbows, he would have been far more worried about what he'd signed up for. Mitchell telling Henry about his imminent death back home made Henry nod as well. "Yeah...me, too. I don't know for sure, but...either someone from that cult would've come for me, or..." He trailed off for good that time, frowning but not finishing that sentence.

"So I'm glad for the save. It'd be bad if I died over there, I think. I didn't want to complete the 21 Sacraments, but I didn't know how to get out of it." He let out a small relieved sigh. "Now I can rest easier."

Well Hello There

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