torchwoodinstitute | (no subject)

(no subject)

Who: Torchwood + Killgrave
When: January 10th
What: The gang meets a different sort of pheromone driven asshole

They'd been engaged for a few weeks now, but Mohinder had not grown tired of it in the slightest. His face actually hurt from the sheer around of grinning he had been doing and luckily, he was well liked enough not to have everyone at work hating his guts for being on the level of a Disney princess with the way he kept humming or sighing and staring off into the distance.

Gabriel had been off on some sort of mission with Jim, which he knew ended up tiring them both out since neither really got on, and as always when he knew that his fiancé could return at any moment and the vortex opening klaxon went off, Mohinder wrapped up what he was doing, removed his gloves, and went to go and hopefully greet Gabriel immediately after his return. He'd done the same twice today already, though the first time had been the return of Mitchell and Henry and the second was a false alarm.

Those false alarms had been happening a lot recently. Jack said that the Rift was acting up, opening vortexes for a split second in multiple realities when one of their agents did so to return home. He said that there was nothing to worry about, that the false alarms couldn't possibly remain open long enough for anyone or thing to come through.

So far, he'd been right.

But as Mohinder came to lean over the railing of the catwalk overlooking the return platform, he couldn't help but frown. He didn't recognize the person that was standing there. Technically, that was very possible. Sometime the manipulators didn't get the time just right. This could be an agent from the past or future. They tended to right themselves out pretty quickly. "Hello?"

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"Oh, a bit of one," he said up towards the ceiling, rather congenially. "It's not every day that I get attacked and knocked out, after all. Go get me some water? Whatever it was your man injected me with, it left me parched."

Since it was a test of sorts, he was being a little more cautious than usual. It was easy to pretend that one wasn't a threat with no visible weapon and an easy manner. Most people didn't see it coming. Of course, Mohinder had probably blabbed about it all to Jack- he really should've set in on those initial instructions earlier. But even in these situations, he could usually manage to be convincing enough until he got hold of someone.

He found the camera Jack must be spying on him with, and his attention turned to it. It always was nice to have something to talk to. He was, unfortunately, also noticing that this cell seemed to be really well sealed. ...that could be a problem.

Jack didn’t feel a tingle. Either it had worn off of they needed to be in proximity with each other. Or, he supposed faintly, he was immune. He would not keep that possibility at the forefront of his mind. It was too dangerous.

“You’ll find a few bottles of water under the cot,” Jack said blandly enough. “And just so you know, what he injected you with is nothing compared to what I can pump in there with you.”

And that wasn’t a bluff. The cell was sound proof and air tight for a reason. Kilgrave was a dangerous man, even if he looked and sounded exactly like the Doctor.

“So we have an office pool going right now. Kilgrave: Real name or childhood alter ego?”

The deep frown that etched itself onto Kilgrave's face was not very Doctor-like at all. Even worse, it seemed like a rather standard expression for this man. This was, of course, not a standard situation for him.

Still, it was different. He felt a bit conflicted to realize that he was slightly excited, under all the annoyance. He had no idea what was going to happen here.

Kilgrave reached under the cot with one hand and pulled out a bottle of water. Jack hadn't been lying, at least. "Thank you," he said, feeling rather creaky with the expression.

"It's the only name you'll get from me," he replied, uncapping the water and taking a sip. "So it honestly doesn't matter. Should I expect to be here for awhile?"

"So the latter. Damn it. I never bet on the right one," Jack sighed as if this whole thing was really amusing and he and Kilgrave had met at a pub or a coffee shop. There was no cute barista or bartender to laugh, though and so Jack sat himself back down.

They didn't need to have a report. There was no need for them to be friends. But damn his face and his voice and his hair. Jack was a sucker sometimes.

"Oh probably. You're pretty fascinating so we have our science team working on that before we release you back to the wild."

Now that didn't sound very promising. Kilgrave wouldn't let himself look too concerned, however- he had a lot of information to collect. Instead, he just sighed heavily. "I imagine Mohinder is looking forward to that."

He looked around the cell, trying to imagine what it would be like to be stuck here for a great deal of time. Perhaps he'd get lucky and he'd only have to wait until they fed him. "Well," he said, drawing in a fairly loud breath. "At least you're planning on letting me go eventually. Until then, I suppose I'll just sit here, shall I?" And Jack would be wherever he was.

This was likely going to be a very boring time, but Kilgrave would see what he could make out of it. Done with the water for now, he capped it and placed it back on the ground. And then he leaned back into a slouch against the wall that probably looked more comfortable than it felt.

"If it were up to me, you could mention anyone you wanted to. But Mohinder-- You're going to want to be careful with him." Jack was actually fairly glad that Gabriel wasn't here. He wasn't exactly in the right mind frame at the moment for any of this banter. When Mohinder was in danger, he bared his teeth. And that... That was bad for business. "But feet free to put your feet up. It shouldn't be more than a few days."

Jack still wasn't sure what to do. He could easily give Kilgrave an amnesiac. Retcon could be pumped right into the room and then it would be over.

But that might be cheating.

"So how did you figure out what you could do? It's always amusing to discuss origin stories. And we have the time."

His eyes rolled as Jack warned him off talking about Mohinder. He hadn't been threatening. Why does everyone think he's always threatening? He saw the look in Mohinder's eyes, especially while talking about their research capabilities. He was fairly certain the man could make things very uncomfortable for him on his own if he wanted. "Duly noted," he replied simply, looking vaguely annoyed.

The question about his origins was just about as welcome. He heaved a deep sigh (he would eventually grow bored of sighing, but certainly wasn't yet), and sat back up on the cot. It could actually do him some good to gain some sympathy, and he could just tell Jack to forget when he got free. "Well, it's not exactly a fun story, mind you. I didn't exactly figure it out so much as it was done to me." He stared up at the camera. "My parents were scientists, you see. And what better subject than one they had full control over, eh?"

He didn't exactly hide the look of bitter distaste when he looked back down. "When they found out that their trials were more successful than they thought, they...how did you put it? 'Released me back to the wild.' I was ten."

Poor Kilgrave would find that while Jack Harkness could feel sympathy and compassion and actually often did, he was also just a bit ruthless. The things he had done and had seen caused him to scar up. His heart wasn't easily swayed.

"Turned you out? Did you suggest to them that they might do that? It's how it works, right? You want something, you express that want, and anyone around you that understands you fulfills that want?" Jack wasn't giving the pheromone knowledge away. Not yet. Not so easily. It wasn't a trump card, but a little with held information during an interrogation never hurt.

Perhaps this wasn't the best idea, because now he's getting visibly upset. "What ten year old wants their parents to leave?! No, they ran away from me. They were terrified of me. I think I had a tantrum at one point, or something, and that was it. I certainly didn't know what I was doing. I didn't figure it out until-" He cut himself off and huffed, crossing his arms. He didn't want to be talking about this.

"It doesn't matter," he said quietly. He took a moment, staring thoughtfully at the floor, but he bounced back. "Besides, you haven't told me anything at all about you. I hear you don't die? How'd that come about?"

So Kilgrave was indeed a child, as had been hinted at. He felt himself lost and abandoned. He thought it more prudent to blame everyone but himself. He had tantrums. And then he deflected. Jack played along, knowing he had his thumb on the other man.

This he could deal with. This he knew exactly how to plan for the rest. Eventually, Kilgrave would tell him his version of everything and Jack could find the trust from that.

"I die just fine actually," he admitted, a humorous thump to his voice. "It's staying that way that causes all the problems."

That got a small chuckle out of Kilgrave, at least in part because he was pleased that Jack took the cue and moved on from the uncomfortable subject. He hadn't been entirely expecting that, but it appeared that this Harkness fellow was at least trying to be somewhat pleasant.

"That's got to be a bit inconvenient," he noted, with a small smile. "But I don't suppose you chose for it to be that way, either. Invulnerability is where the real fun has to be." He looked up at the camera and shrugged. "Still, I imagine it's come in handy for you before."

Jack could see where this was going. Kilgrave's arrogance matched his own. He liked the challenge. He liked the conversation to. Kilgrave reminded him a little of a boyfriend he once had-- But that wasn't important, considering that he was the reason that John Hart, his former partner at the Time Agency, had to go back to rehab for murder again.

"You do lose a sense of self preservation," Jack replied, chuckling, "but you're right. It can be useful sometimes." And he was to the point where it was the only way he could get any restful sleep at all. Thankfully, John Watson was discrete when it came to certain things.

In the lab, Mohinder was moving from slide to slide, or asking Gabriel to grab him something or put something else in the centrifuge. It paid to have a fiancé that could help out with a flick of a wrist and a will to do it.

"It's artificial," he breathed. "This is amazing!" Only Mohinder would think so. "I doubt he's done this to himself... I'm not quite sure how ethical it is to conduct human testing, even with consenting volunteers, but think of the posiibilities, Gabriel. This isn't gene therapy, it's not an attempt to jumpstart human evolution either. That's what makes this so fascinating. It's piggybacking onto his DNA, not encorporated into it."

Gabriel did like to watch Mohinder work, but he felt a little conflicted when it came to this. He wasn't able to approach an understanding of the subject, and he should, considering this was so much like an ability. But watching Mohinder get so focused and then light up when results came back? That was satisfying in its own way.

So by the time Mohinder had it figured out, Gabriel had several slides floating near Mohinder, within easy reach. He seemed to be looking at them with increasing enthusiasm. Gabriel had been carting things back and forth manually as well, but he stopped as soon as Mohinder began speaking.

He tilted his head, listening carefully. Artificial? Moreso than what Gabriel had done, in that case. His eyebrow raised as Mohinder went on. "It's extra, piggybacking DNA. Kind of like an artificial virus? That-" He blinked, with wide eyes, thinking it over. "Would that be hard to keep under control?" It seemed like it would be very hard to keep under one's thumb, even if they knew what they were doing.

"Yes, precisely!" Mohinder lightly brushed aside a slide cover that hat floated a little too close to his face. When Gabriel grew excited, his telekinesis did as well. But he was more than use to that. He often dressed after selecting from shirts that floated around him on hangars. Gabriel was not just useful, though, not just helpful, Mohinder actually seemed to get a buzz from being around him when he showed off.

And how he did love it when they could speak like this as well. This was more align to their life before Torchwood and Mohinder's eyes sparkled as they enjoyed this particular moment of enthusiasm.

"I would go so far to say that he will be unable to ever find much control. There is not a mechanism build in to do that. He can not flip the switch on or off. Perhaps he could learn to do so with his voice, to teach himself to express himself without triggering the effect of the pheromone--"

Mohinder stood to allow Gabriel to view the sequence he had created for Kilgrave should he wish.

Gabriel was glad to get a look at the sequence for himself, and he actually moved the slides slowly to the counter as he looked. This was a testament to just how much concentration he was going to need. Mohinder's encouragement was downright enthusiastic, and it never seemed to stop being special to the man. So Gabriel had been practicing with the telekinesis near constantly, and in many different situations. It was getting a lot easier to use it without hand gestures.

However, right now he had something complicated to figure out, so he needed to keep the breakable things on counters and out of the air. It was really nice to be able to talk science with Mohinder, too. Too often they'd been separated into what Gabriel could do and what Mohinder knew. But Gabriel loved all of this sort of thing, and Mohinder never talked down to him while explaining it.

"I imagine he's learned to be fairly particular in his wording, at least," Gabriel murmured in reply. But his attention was on the sequence. "I see it. Someone had to build this specifically...but why? Maybe they were trying to replicate special abilities?" He shook his head in confusion. Even if that was what they were going for, there's no way they would've been happy with this. Who would want to give someone this ability anyway? "I don't see anyone doing this on purpose. But then again, people have always surprised me."

"I think,perhaps, that the virtual component affects everyone differently.. Perhaps it was even an accidental introduction, or a byproduct of whatever it was that led them to what Kilgrave had been meant to become. Without interviewing him or those that know him, we can't know ourselves."

And any interviewing could be extremely difficult.

"We can not trace the rift opening so we can not tell exactly the universe he came from. We know already that he can not have a doppleganger from this reality as that person seems to have been old friends with the Captain." Mohinder scratched his chin and there was already stubble growing upon his cheeks. How long had they been at this?

"It might be time to seek Jack's advice. I can experiment with these viral genes on a control--". He'd use his own cells, separate from his own body of his course. "But nothing will get solved unless we speak to Kilgrave."

Gabriel frowned slightly as Mohinder talked about not being able to trace Kilgrave's home universe. They could hardly toss him back into any place, and Gabriel really didn't want him here. At least the cell for him seemed like it would take care of the pesky control issue.

And it was definitely time to bring Jack back in on this. He nodded and opened up his wrist cuff, pinging Jack's manipulator. "Jack? We've got some information for you." He continued to stand next to Mohinder, in case he wanted to add anything.

Gabriel was pretty sure the pheromones (or whatever they were) had enough time to wear off. He didn't feel like his head was being pushed under any longer. So talking to Jack would hopefully be fine.

Mohinder didn't have anything add, having learned not to speak until privacy could be guaranteed. He took Gabriel's hand when Jack agreed and mentioned that he had to pee and really would like some pizza for lunch.

Their boss was such a strange man. Mohinder had yet to figure him out but he was fairly certain such a thing was possible. "I'll handle the pizza. You fetch the Captain. I'm sure Jim will want to be here for this too."

He often saw Gabriel and Jim as brothers competing for Jack's attention, though both men might disagree. Violently.

They had a place not too far away that was use to their strange orders but he did give Sasan a personal call first anyway to see what he might like.

Given their history, perhaps it was strange that Mohinder felt a close friendship with the younger man.

Sasan was happy to hear from Mohinder, and it was obvious he was curious as to what was going on- but he knew that when they were all working hard, he needed to let them concentrate. He was around to help clean up any collateral damage there'd been from saving the world.

He was also happy to be a bit of a companion for Mohinder, on those times Gabriel was on assignment. They got on very well, but he was very careful not to even play-flirt with the man. He did not need his tongue pulled out through his nostrils by his own scary doppelganger, thanks very much. Unfortunately, Mohinder had the tendency to flirt without knowing that, and Sasan just had to keep that to himself.

He requested something with sun-dried tomatoes, then remembered he wasn't in LA anymore and said sausage was fine. And he wanted to hear the basic rundown of what was going on, and goodness- had Mohinder even slept last night?

Gabriel's call to Jim was not quite as congenial. He did so on the way to the monitor room, to let him know there was going to be a pizza party in the conference room in about ten minutes or so. Also, if he or Jack was acting weird to get the hell out of there, although Jim probably knew that part. He didn't think it was too likely there'd be a problem.

Once he got to the room, he immediately unhooked the metal bar and took a look at the long part of the T. It didn't appear bent, which was a good sign. He opened the door with the intent of evaluating Jack, and also to get a look at their prisoner. Kilgrave appeared to be sleeping at the moment, curled up in a rather undignified way. "Looks like I called at a good time. Any problems?"

"None," Jack replied, flipping off the two way communication. "He's manipulative even without the pheromones to help him with that." He stood slowly and made a show of cracking his back, as if that was a problem. It likely was not, given his physiology. "He said his parents experimented on him and then turned him out on the street when he was a child."

So far, at least, Jack was acting normally. He pulled the coat from the back of the chair and threw it under his arm.

"I don't know how much of that I believe. He was testing me for the sympathy vote--". Jack shrugged at Gabriel. "And that might have worked if I was Mohinder or Sasan. He's dangerous. I don't want anyone interacting with him without full hazmat protection."

Jack seemed all right, and Gabriel was counting on the fact that Kilgrave didn't know he could heal. So if he got attacked while unaware, he'd recover fairly quickly. But honestly, he didn't think there was much of a danger, not by this point.

Gabriel nodded along with Jack's assessment of Kilgrave, especially hearing who it was that was running tests on him. Mohinder could be soft-hearted- but in this case, it might not get Kilgrave too far. Gabriel was well aware of what a terrible idea it was to get on Mohinder's bad side.

"Good idea," he told Jack. "Sounds like we're going to have to be extra careful with him. And of course he's manipulative- he might not know how close he needs to be for his commands to start working." Again, that would be another thing Sylar had in common with him, so it just sort of followed. "We'd determined that he'd been experimented on. Mohinder will explain it better, but it seems to be sort of an artificial virus that's causing all of this. The alterations are piggybacking onto his normal DNA."

Jack didn't pause as they headed back up to where the rest of civilization typically started, though his frown was probably visible on his face in Gabriel's peripheral vision. "So evidence is at least telling us that he wasn't completely lying." It didn't sit well with Jack to think that someone's parents could hurt their child like that unless there was a good reason... He had a good reason. Not many others could say the same.

It made him press his fingertips lightly together in thought beneath where his coat was draped. By the time they reached the conference room, a good portion of Torchwood was there. One mention of food generally brought everyone on duty running. It was a good thing that Mohinder had learned the lesson about this the hard way, though.

He had ordered entirely too much. All they needed to do was let the crowd thin out, take whole pies with them, and eventually they would just be left with those that needed to learn what Mohinder found out.

Jim and Sasan were seated at the table, Mitchell was still sticking around and there were a dozen or so other agents or technicians there when Mohinder finally got up to give his presentation on the pheromone enabling virus.

"As with all pheromones, it promotes the lowering of inhibitions. In this case, it allows our subject to tone his voice in a way to play upon the weakness a victim exposed to those pheromones suddenly possess. They become suspetible to suggestion, to the point where they maybe believe the suggestion to be their own thought, or if exposed for long enough, to have the unfortunate side effect of being fully away of their lack of desire to do as directed while still being helpless to do it."

As far as this group was concerned, there was no such thing as ordering too much pizza. Gabriel would be more than willing to eat a full pizza himself (he'd excuse it by saying he'd used more abilities than usual today). Even Henry tended to eat quite a bit, although it was hard to tell where it all went.

Henry stuck around, actually. Although he had little to contribute, he'd started to learn that food generally meant something was going on. And he had gotten wind of something serious among the more active agents. He didn't know what he'd expected to hear, but it wasn't this. The idea of being helpless against commands was terrifying- he could come up with all sorts of scenarios better left alone.

Sasan had put a hand to his mouth, looking as horrified as Henry felt. He'd looked to what almost looked like a permanent frown on Gabriel's face as Mohinder spoke, and it wasn't too terribly difficult to figure out what had happened. Someone had been controlled, and thank goodness they weren't hurt. He wished he could squeeze Jim's hand, just for reassurance. But they weren't drunk and he couldn't pass off such a thing as an accident.

"So that's why Kaylee was running all over the place, earlier," he said, shaking his head slowly. "Is there any way to fight against these pheromones, in that case? Turn off the effects, anything? Or-- are we punting him back to his own reality soon? I mean, we hardly want to keep him around here."

"It could well be a disservice to do so," Mohinder explained, the warmth of his voice and the tone of his not quite British accent leaving him somewhat more reassuring than clinical. He made a fantastic professor, often leading the debriefings because he could keep people interested in what he had to say. But this lecture and the subject material was still terrifying. "Where he is from may be better off without him. In fact, it might be prudent to find more instances of Kilgrave and find a way to neutralise them as quickly as it becomes possible to do so. It should be fairly easy to keep ourselves safe should we need to interact with him. If we use respirators--"

Mitchell interrupted, somehow managing not to splatter red sauce on his fingerless gloves. "So we're treating this like a bloody disease?"

Mohinder always found it strange that the vampire used that term. "Yes. For now, at least. It will take time to find a way to make an antihistamine that will react properly to the pheromone. And we will need to run tests to decide how long of a period it is between affect and dissipation of the effect. Which is why I will be the one delivering Kilgrave his dinner."

"What?! Mohinder, no." Yeah, that was Gabriel. Did Mohinder think he wasn't going to protest that decision? He'd been leaning against the wall, and with this, he uncrosses his arms and marches over to his fiancé. For the benefit of the rest of the room, he did at least lower his voice and speak to the man in a fast near-whisper. "You've done your time with this, Mohinder. You can't just offer yourself up every time something dangerous comes up. Don't you need to run the tests, anyway?"

This might turn into a fight. But this was honestly one of the worst-case scenarios for Gabriel. He knew he couldn't offer to do it, because he might wreck half the place before they took him down. But thinking of Mohinder subjecting himself to being controlled again...damn it. Why couldn't they just kill this guy and be done with it, again?