Fic: Vizzini's Rule (87/105)
Title: Vizzini's Rule, Chapter 87
Rating: R
Warnings: More bad language
Spoilers: Season One thru Captain Jack Harkness (1x12)
Disclaimer: Torchwood and all its wonderfulness belong to Russell T. Davies and the Mighty Beeb. Just goofin' around! All ©’s to Catherine Tregenna for dialogue and situations borrowed from Captain Jack Harkness - no infringement, only worship intended.
Summary: In which Ianto and Owen have a quiet, calm and rational discussion about the possible ramifications of opening the rift vs. not opening the rift (yeah, right!)…
Notes: Here’s the next bit of the action in CJH. Got a little off my normal schedule this week, so posting today instead of tomorrow. As always, I hope ya’ll enjoy! I also wanted to take a quick sec to say THANK YOU and send big *hugs* to thrace_adams who is doing her usual marvelous job of betaing for me even tho she’s in the middle of a brilliant story for NaNo. You rock, hun!! :o)
Previous Chapters
Vizzini's Rule: Chapter Eighty-Seven
Ianto sighed deeply and followed Owen’s path through the Hub. When he caught up, Owen was on his knees, pulling cabling from the floor.
“What are you doing?” Ianto asked, almost afraid to hear the answer. When he didn’t respond, Ianto crouched down to get closer. “Owen!” he said urgently.
“We haven’t got the missing numbers,” Owen said as he pulled more cabling out from the floor. “We’ll have to improvise with the Rift Manipulator.”
Ianto was appalled. “We can’t! It’s risky enough with the equation. If we don’t do this properly anything can happen.”
“Bombs are falling!” Owen said dramatically. “They’re stuck in the middle of the Cardiff Blitz. It’s our duty to get them out.”
Ianto clutched at his hair and stared into the hole in the floor. I can’t do this, Jack, he thought despondently. I don’t know how to stop him. He watched Owen dragging the cabling across the Hub. Well do something, you stupid git, the little voice in his head sniped. Just sitting here isn’t doing anyone any good. Try something. Anything!
Ianto ran across the Hub to intercept Owen. “Open the rift now and the whole world could suffer. We could all get sucked in, or who knows what will come out!”
Owen just ignored him.
Okay, sense of a larger responsibility was obviously the wrong way to go with Owen. Ianto took a deep breath and went on the attack instead. “This is about Diane, isn’t it? When will you accept that she chose to leave you?”
That got his attention. Owen glared at Ianto and, most importantly, stopped working. “Whereas your cyber-girlfriend stuck around of course, not that she had much choice, wired up in the cellar!”
Ianto flinched, but tried to keep Owen talking. “That was different”
“Yeah, it was,” Owen agreed. “Mainly because Diane didn’t try and kill us all and, oh yeah, she also happened to be a human being.”
“Stop it,” Ianto said quietly.
But Owen wouldn’t stop. “Not some screwed-up metal monster!”
Ianto’s calm broke as memories of Lisa washed over him. “I thought she was still Lisa. I loved her! You only knew Diane for a week,” he sneered.
“And it wasn’t enough,” Owen said with pain shining in his dark eyes. He shoved a bundle of cable into Ianto’s arms. “Maybe the manipulator can calculate the missing figures.”
Owen leaned over again to wire up the machine. Ianto threw the cables at his feet and resumed his pacing. Owen fired up the manipulator but nothing happened. Ianto felt his terror fade a little at the unmistakable sound of machinery failing.
“It isn’t working,” Owen said unnecessarily.
“Good. Jack would never have wanted us to use it this way,” Ianto said firmly and then paused as his stomach clenched. God, I’m talking like he’s already dead!
Owen was frantically scanning the machine. “There’s a… there’s a piece missing. We’ve got to find it!”
As Owen pushed past him, Ianto grabbed his arm and spun him around again. Owen pulled free and stared at Ianto.
“Maybe you should go home,” Ianto advised.
Owen scoffed at his attempt to sound commanding. “You don’t have any power over me.”
But Ianto refused to drop his eyes, staring at Owen until he backed down.
“Okay, Ianto,” Owen said. “We’ll play it your way - safe and boring.” He turned and walked over to the sofa and sat down. “Well?” he asked as he crossed his arms.
Ianto swallowed hard. “Well… what?”
“What’s next, Ianto? You’re in charge. You’re all clear on what we shouldn’t do, want to follow all the rules. So what are we going to do next?”
“I… well, we can look through the files -”
“The files? We’ve been through the fucking files, Ianto. There’s nothing else there. Any more brilliant ideas?”
Ianto had had enough. “Fuck you, Owen.” He strode over to Tosh’s workstation as Owen applauded sarcastically.
“Nice one. Succinct. To the point. Not sure it qualifies as helpful, though,” Owen said.
Ianto ignored him and checked the CCTV feed on Sage Street again, rolling the footage back to make sure he hadn’t missed anything. Owen sulked on the sofa while he worked.
“No sign of Bilis leaving the area,” Ianto reported in a disappointed tone. We have to find something to help, he thought desperately. Anything!
He spun around in his chair as Owen brushed past him to grab his jacket. The proximity alarm began to sound as the door rolled back.
“Uh… where are you off to?” he asked Owen.
“The dancehall.” Owen grabbed his backpack as well and headed for the door. “Bilis’s office. He must know how the rift works, maybe we’ll find a clue there.”
Ianto didn’t try to stop him this time. He was sure Owen still planned to open the rift but at least he was looking for more information now instead of going off half-cocked. Ianto returned to Tosh’s workstation and kept an eye on the CCTV while he scrolled through all the information he had found one more time, searching for anything that could help them get Jack and Tosh back safely without having to risk opening the rift.
About ten minutes after Owen had left, Ianto noticed movement on the CCTV and saw Gwen step outside the dancehall.
“Gwen? How’re you doing?” he asked.
She looked around for a moment before answering. “What would Jack and Tosh do? How would they try and help us?”
Ianto sighed. “I don’t -” He broke off when Gwen clicked off her comm. He saw her disappear around the corner of the building. Cursing under his breath, he worked the CCTV feeds until he was able to see Gwen again. She was kneeling by a meter box. As he watched, she reached in and pulled something out.
“Gwen,” he said into his comm. “What is it?”
“Ianto, it’s… it’s an old photograph with a formula on it and it’s in Tosh’s handwriting!” Gwen said excitedly.
“Oh thank God! Read me the numbers. I’ll plug them in,” Ianto said.
As Gwen read the information off the paper, Ianto felt the first glimmer of hope that they might just be able to safely control the rift and bring Jack and Tosh home. But when Gwen finished, Ianto’s spirits plummeted once more.
“I need more equations, Gwen.”
He heard Gwen sign and say quietly, “What happened here, Tosh.”
“Dammit!” he yelled and slammed his fist on the desktop. “Sorry, Gwen, it’s just…”
“I know, pet,” Gwen said soothingly. “I know.”
For once, the nickname didn’t bother Ianto. It actually made him feel just a little bit better. “Be careful Gwen, Bilis is still around.”
Ianto watched, feeling remarkably useless, as Gwen continued to search outside the building and Owen searched the inside. He explored Tosh’s files on her computer again and again, even tidied up her workstation, looking at every scrap of paper hoping to find something they could use. He saw Gwen go back in the dancehall and saw Owen come out a moment later. Ianto tried to raise him on the comms to see if he found anything, but Owen refused to answer.
Ianto was just sitting and staring at the partially completed equation unable to think of what to do next when Gwen spoke again.
“Ianto?”
“Gwen?”
“Yeah, it’s me. I’ve found it. It’s written in blood.”
Ianto closed his eyes for a moment as his stomach churned. He heard the proximity alarm go off and glanced over his shoulder to see Owen running in. “Gwen’s found the rest of Tosh’s readings,” he said.
Owen clicked in to the conversation. “What’s she got for us?”
As Gwen read the equation, Ianto typed it into the computer. When she finished, Owen shook his head.
“No, need at least three more numbers, Gwen. They must be somewhere else.”
“Nope, they’re not.”
Owen and Ianto looked at one another in surprise.
“Well, how do you know?” Owen asked.
“Somebody scraped out the final numbers.”
Ianto felt his heart sink. She wouldn’t have known to keep trying, he thought with despair.
Gwen spoke again. “Tosh has written a message at the end. It says… ‘Tell my family I love them.’”
Ianto slumped forward, completely defeated. Tosh didn’t believe we could get them back, he thought. What if she’s right?
TBC in Chapter Eighty-Eight
Rating: R
Warnings: More bad language
Spoilers: Season One thru Captain Jack Harkness (1x12)
Disclaimer: Torchwood and all its wonderfulness belong to Russell T. Davies and the Mighty Beeb. Just goofin' around! All ©’s to Catherine Tregenna for dialogue and situations borrowed from Captain Jack Harkness - no infringement, only worship intended.
Summary: In which Ianto and Owen have a quiet, calm and rational discussion about the possible ramifications of opening the rift vs. not opening the rift (yeah, right!)…
Notes: Here’s the next bit of the action in CJH. Got a little off my normal schedule this week, so posting today instead of tomorrow. As always, I hope ya’ll enjoy! I also wanted to take a quick sec to say THANK YOU and send big *hugs* to thrace_adams who is doing her usual marvelous job of betaing for me even tho she’s in the middle of a brilliant story for NaNo. You rock, hun!! :o)
Previous Chapters
Vizzini's Rule: Chapter Eighty-Seven
Ianto sighed deeply and followed Owen’s path through the Hub. When he caught up, Owen was on his knees, pulling cabling from the floor.
“What are you doing?” Ianto asked, almost afraid to hear the answer. When he didn’t respond, Ianto crouched down to get closer. “Owen!” he said urgently.
“We haven’t got the missing numbers,” Owen said as he pulled more cabling out from the floor. “We’ll have to improvise with the Rift Manipulator.”
Ianto was appalled. “We can’t! It’s risky enough with the equation. If we don’t do this properly anything can happen.”
“Bombs are falling!” Owen said dramatically. “They’re stuck in the middle of the Cardiff Blitz. It’s our duty to get them out.”
Ianto clutched at his hair and stared into the hole in the floor. I can’t do this, Jack, he thought despondently. I don’t know how to stop him. He watched Owen dragging the cabling across the Hub. Well do something, you stupid git, the little voice in his head sniped. Just sitting here isn’t doing anyone any good. Try something. Anything!
Ianto ran across the Hub to intercept Owen. “Open the rift now and the whole world could suffer. We could all get sucked in, or who knows what will come out!”
Owen just ignored him.
Okay, sense of a larger responsibility was obviously the wrong way to go with Owen. Ianto took a deep breath and went on the attack instead. “This is about Diane, isn’t it? When will you accept that she chose to leave you?”
That got his attention. Owen glared at Ianto and, most importantly, stopped working. “Whereas your cyber-girlfriend stuck around of course, not that she had much choice, wired up in the cellar!”
Ianto flinched, but tried to keep Owen talking. “That was different”
“Yeah, it was,” Owen agreed. “Mainly because Diane didn’t try and kill us all and, oh yeah, she also happened to be a human being.”
“Stop it,” Ianto said quietly.
But Owen wouldn’t stop. “Not some screwed-up metal monster!”
Ianto’s calm broke as memories of Lisa washed over him. “I thought she was still Lisa. I loved her! You only knew Diane for a week,” he sneered.
“And it wasn’t enough,” Owen said with pain shining in his dark eyes. He shoved a bundle of cable into Ianto’s arms. “Maybe the manipulator can calculate the missing figures.”
Owen leaned over again to wire up the machine. Ianto threw the cables at his feet and resumed his pacing. Owen fired up the manipulator but nothing happened. Ianto felt his terror fade a little at the unmistakable sound of machinery failing.
“It isn’t working,” Owen said unnecessarily.
“Good. Jack would never have wanted us to use it this way,” Ianto said firmly and then paused as his stomach clenched. God, I’m talking like he’s already dead!
Owen was frantically scanning the machine. “There’s a… there’s a piece missing. We’ve got to find it!”
As Owen pushed past him, Ianto grabbed his arm and spun him around again. Owen pulled free and stared at Ianto.
“Maybe you should go home,” Ianto advised.
Owen scoffed at his attempt to sound commanding. “You don’t have any power over me.”
But Ianto refused to drop his eyes, staring at Owen until he backed down.
“Okay, Ianto,” Owen said. “We’ll play it your way - safe and boring.” He turned and walked over to the sofa and sat down. “Well?” he asked as he crossed his arms.
Ianto swallowed hard. “Well… what?”
“What’s next, Ianto? You’re in charge. You’re all clear on what we shouldn’t do, want to follow all the rules. So what are we going to do next?”
“I… well, we can look through the files -”
“The files? We’ve been through the fucking files, Ianto. There’s nothing else there. Any more brilliant ideas?”
Ianto had had enough. “Fuck you, Owen.” He strode over to Tosh’s workstation as Owen applauded sarcastically.
“Nice one. Succinct. To the point. Not sure it qualifies as helpful, though,” Owen said.
Ianto ignored him and checked the CCTV feed on Sage Street again, rolling the footage back to make sure he hadn’t missed anything. Owen sulked on the sofa while he worked.
“No sign of Bilis leaving the area,” Ianto reported in a disappointed tone. We have to find something to help, he thought desperately. Anything!
He spun around in his chair as Owen brushed past him to grab his jacket. The proximity alarm began to sound as the door rolled back.
“Uh… where are you off to?” he asked Owen.
“The dancehall.” Owen grabbed his backpack as well and headed for the door. “Bilis’s office. He must know how the rift works, maybe we’ll find a clue there.”
Ianto didn’t try to stop him this time. He was sure Owen still planned to open the rift but at least he was looking for more information now instead of going off half-cocked. Ianto returned to Tosh’s workstation and kept an eye on the CCTV while he scrolled through all the information he had found one more time, searching for anything that could help them get Jack and Tosh back safely without having to risk opening the rift.
About ten minutes after Owen had left, Ianto noticed movement on the CCTV and saw Gwen step outside the dancehall.
“Gwen? How’re you doing?” he asked.
She looked around for a moment before answering. “What would Jack and Tosh do? How would they try and help us?”
Ianto sighed. “I don’t -” He broke off when Gwen clicked off her comm. He saw her disappear around the corner of the building. Cursing under his breath, he worked the CCTV feeds until he was able to see Gwen again. She was kneeling by a meter box. As he watched, she reached in and pulled something out.
“Gwen,” he said into his comm. “What is it?”
“Ianto, it’s… it’s an old photograph with a formula on it and it’s in Tosh’s handwriting!” Gwen said excitedly.
“Oh thank God! Read me the numbers. I’ll plug them in,” Ianto said.
As Gwen read the information off the paper, Ianto felt the first glimmer of hope that they might just be able to safely control the rift and bring Jack and Tosh home. But when Gwen finished, Ianto’s spirits plummeted once more.
“I need more equations, Gwen.”
He heard Gwen sign and say quietly, “What happened here, Tosh.”
“Dammit!” he yelled and slammed his fist on the desktop. “Sorry, Gwen, it’s just…”
“I know, pet,” Gwen said soothingly. “I know.”
For once, the nickname didn’t bother Ianto. It actually made him feel just a little bit better. “Be careful Gwen, Bilis is still around.”
Ianto watched, feeling remarkably useless, as Gwen continued to search outside the building and Owen searched the inside. He explored Tosh’s files on her computer again and again, even tidied up her workstation, looking at every scrap of paper hoping to find something they could use. He saw Gwen go back in the dancehall and saw Owen come out a moment later. Ianto tried to raise him on the comms to see if he found anything, but Owen refused to answer.
Ianto was just sitting and staring at the partially completed equation unable to think of what to do next when Gwen spoke again.
“Ianto?”
“Gwen?”
“Yeah, it’s me. I’ve found it. It’s written in blood.”
Ianto closed his eyes for a moment as his stomach churned. He heard the proximity alarm go off and glanced over his shoulder to see Owen running in. “Gwen’s found the rest of Tosh’s readings,” he said.
Owen clicked in to the conversation. “What’s she got for us?”
As Gwen read the equation, Ianto typed it into the computer. When she finished, Owen shook his head.
“No, need at least three more numbers, Gwen. They must be somewhere else.”
“Nope, they’re not.”
Owen and Ianto looked at one another in surprise.
“Well, how do you know?” Owen asked.
“Somebody scraped out the final numbers.”
Ianto felt his heart sink. She wouldn’t have known to keep trying, he thought with despair.
Gwen spoke again. “Tosh has written a message at the end. It says… ‘Tell my family I love them.’”
Ianto slumped forward, completely defeated. Tosh didn’t believe we could get them back, he thought. What if she’s right?
TBC in Chapter Eighty-Eight