torchwoodinstitute | Well Hello There

"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."

"You know that sounds really messed up right? And that's coming from me." He wasn't sure if Jsck told Henry was his was but Mitchell didn't hide it from anyone. He took tea like the other Brits and liked a good sandwich. Blood-- well he knew what happened if he slipped. Jack was clear on that.

But he hadn't slipped. Not yet. He'd been dry for whole decades before. He could be dry now too. For however long it took. Even if every day was a struggle of guilt without it.

Mitchell guided Henry down to the living space. "Kitchen is communal. You've got your own bedroom and bathroom though. Showers don't work like the ones up a few levels. But some people appreciate soap and water. Access to some search engines online are limited because of an infestation of parasitic works they had about a year ago. But just use Tor instead of a browser and you're fine."

Henry thought back over what he said, and yeah- that sounded pretty messed up. He nodded in agreement. "It is messed up. It's hard to explain any of it without sounding...uh, crazy. But you saw that place. It wasn't right."

He wasn't sure what sort of 'messed up' Mitchell was, but figured that being a vampire could cause all sorts of problems. If he wanted to talk about it, he would.

The living space sounded perfect for Henry, right now. It was nothing like a normal apartment, and he'd be close to other people he would be forced to talk to. He wouldn't be able to disappear for days here, without anyone noticing or caring.

But as soon as Mitchell got talking about search engines, his eyes started glazing over. "Search engines? Like Ask Jeeves...? I'm sorry, I don't know what Tor is." He tried to parse it again, and- nope, no better this time. "Guess I have more things to learn."

"Tor's untraceable. It's like Firefox on...you can't access registered websites on it. Ever heard of the Deep Web? Well, it's really all that great, lots of black market stuff, but sometimes you get a gem and that's pretty awesome. I'll get you set up."

Mitchell leaned back against the wall after they entered a curving hall lined in doors. He held out a key on a telephone bungie cord and let Henry take it from him.

"Home sweet home," he said softly. "You're not going to be allowed to leave the Hub for a little while. You're not exactly a prisoner, you didn't do anything wrong, but it's just in case something followed you. We have the ability to protect you and the whole world from it here. But up there? All bets are off."

Henry didn't understand half the words Mitchel was saying, but he was trying not to get totally lost. It was about websites and security and stuff like that, and it made him wonder for the first time if he was out of his depth here. Hopefully he'd be able to pick it up.

Henry took the key, but at the mention of not being allowed to leave, his eyes shot up to look at Mitchell. It'd been unlikely he would want to leave for awhile, but- well. Not being able to leave was another creature entirely. He paled and felt his breath leave him, even though it would be more accurate to say that he stopped breathing for a few seconds.

But Mitchell continued explaining the why of it, and it filtered into his cloudy mind eventually. It was in case something followed him, which was honestly something of a concern. That made perfect sense. "...right. Okay. How long do you think I'll have to stay...?" He was starting to think of other reasons why this wasn't the same. The apparent enormity of the Hub would help him out a lot here.

"A few weeks. Maybe a month in case there's a lunar element? Jack is a thorough man. And full moons have a tendency to bring out the worst." Definitely the worst. But George was doing just fine. So was Nina. They were much better off without him.

But Annie he was having trouble separating completely from. There wasn't much he could do about that now though. He couldn't to back.

"Promise you it's not going to feel like you're a prisoner, mate. You can go anywhere in the Hub you'd like. Anything dangerous should be labeled. Obviously if testing units are in use, don't open the door but you should be all right otherwise."

Henry nodded when he heard it might be a month. He didn't think there was a lunar element, but it was best to be sure, certainly.

Upon being told that he wouldn't feel like a prisoner, he went from tense back to relaxed- not that it was noticeable, really. His shoulders just moved back slightly, making him less slouched. "I was telling myself that...this place looks huge. I'll be careful of any signs."

Looking at the key, he matched it up with a door, and pleased that it wasn't some combination of 302, he opened the door. "You said you're my neighbor...?"

Mitchell used both hands to point at the door to the left. "Right there. We share a party wall," he grinned. "I don't party much but I'm always up for tea and a chat if I'm in."

He tapped at the wrist cuff he wore before giving Henry just a small run down of how to use it to call someone. Or order pizza. "Jack isn't too fond of delivery because we're meant to be secret and all but you can have me go for take away if you need."

He appreciated the party wall as an additional exit, if need be. It was also good to know that there was someone he could easily reach. Henry would probably be in survival mode for a little while. Still, tea together with someone sounded nice, even if Henry wasn't the best conversationalist. "Sure, thanks," he said in reply.

The wrist cuff was a lot easier to understand than the computer talk, oddly enough. Maybe it was because Henry didn't feel like it was something he should automatically know about. He listened carefully and made sure he got the right buttons. "I was wondering how I'd get food down here," he said, pleased to have a means to contact the outside world, even if there was no one he knew in it.

He looked at his room, and then back down the hall. With a sigh, he added, "Jack said there were some things about Silent Hill you wanted to ask me...?" As much as he'd rather leave it, he wanted to make sure he helped if he could.

"It can wait if you want to get settled. The flat isn't going anywhere." Mitchell wasn't sure why Jack liked to get him involved in all of the crazy supernatural stuff. It wasn't like he was a ghost. Vampires were natural sorts of things, as unnatural and demonic as their origins might be. Honestly, Mitchell didn't buy into all of that stuff. "But if you're hungry, go round about clockwise, up a level and there's a kitchen. Feel free. Bit of TARDIS technology there. Some sentient slime named Larry lives in there but he's pleasant enough and just stays in his corner. Might be up for a chat if you're so inclined."

It was easy to get use to the weird, Henry. Once you lived it every single day, it was more...normal.

"But mostly, I wanted to know why it wasn't quite like the other iterations we've seen of the place. If you had any insight into that. And what the bloody hell this 21 Sacrament thing is. But again, can be later."

Being told about Larry made him squint. Sentient slime? As in, slime that was a person? Kind of? He honestly might have to see how that worked. It was going to be awhile before he stopped being surprised by all these things. Although when all eras and many timelines were available, it'd be weird if there weren't a lot of strange things here, right? Henry was starting to get that.

At Mitchell's insistence that they could do this later, he should his head. "I'd rather get it over with, if...uh, that's okay." He opened the door to his room wider. "Let's go sit down, though." It would be a little easier to handle that way.

There was a little nook in the back corner with two fairly comfortable-looking chairs, and he headed towards that. "I'll tell you about the 21 Sacraments first. It's a ritual which is supposed to bring down the Holy Mother of that religion. Once they brought Her down, she was supposed to be able to make Paradise...I don't think our ideas of 'Paradise' are the same." He frowned and a spark of anger appeared in his eyes, if only for a moment.

"The ritual is...uh, very involved. First, the...whoever is doing it has to do the Ritual of Holy Assumption, which uses taking the blood of ten 'sinners', the Crimson Tome, the white crism, and the obsidian goblet. Walter pulled out all their hearts, too- I'm not sure if he had to use those or not." He let out a heavy breath. The eleventh victim is the one doing the ritual himself. In suicide, he ascends. I think it opens a new world. And I think it's based on the...uh, person doing the ritual. So this was Walter's, and he was invincible in it. I...don't know if anyone else did this." Mitchell seemed to be implying that this one was different, so that meant other people had tried, at least in some capacity. "From then on, every sacrament, every victim, has a name and a role. And their mangled-up souls get trapped in his world while he's completing the ritual. Maybe forever." And Eileen was there now, too. Henry closed his eyes for a moment.

Well Hello There

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