tw_classic_bb In Demand (part four)
There was a knock on Jack’s office door and Toshiko stood there, a look of concern writ on her delicate features. “What’s wrong, Tosh?”
“Did Ianto call out again?” she asked. She lingered uncertainly at the door.
Jack shook his head, slowly. “No, but he was here late last night working on a project. He isn’t in yet?”
She shook her head. “No. It’s just not like him.”
Jack sighed. “No, it isn’t.” He turned back to the papers on his desk.
“Aren’t you going to check on him?” she asked, taking a small step inside the office.
Jack shook his head again. “Why should I?” He knew he wasn’t welcome to check on him anymore. Ianto had Tony now.
She cocked her head to the side. “Because you care, Jack. Because you are just as worried as I am and even if he’s just hung-over you know you won’t get anything accomplished until you know he’s safe.” Jack shot her a look that would normally have sent her back to her desk but Tosh stepped further into the room. “I don’t know what is going on between you two but I know you care, Jack. You’re both hurting and I don’t understand why but this isn’t like you to just ignore him.”
Jack slammed his hands onto his desk. “I’m. Not. Welcome. He made it clear after the last time I burst through the door in a panic. He has someone else to watch over him and I don’t appreciate you accusing me of not caring.”
“But it’s all right for Gwen to tell you how she feels?” Tosh said indignantly.
Jack looked at her in shock. “It’s not like that.”
“No, it’s not but that is how it seems.” Her voice softened as she spoke. “If you’re worried, check on him. I’ve tried calling but he isn’t answering his mobile.”
“I can’t, Tosh. If I keep running to check on him every time he gets drunk that isn’t going to help him heal,” he pleaded.
Tosh shook her head. “If I don’t hear from him by tomorrow I’m going over there. It would probably mean more if you went, though.” She turned her back on him and left.
Jack pulled up the CCTV from outside Ianto’s flat and watched. Nothing was happening and nothing had happened since Ianto rushed in there. He had to assume it was all right. Unfortunately, he didn’t think it was.
~*~
Ianto woke up in a dark room. He was lying on a cold, stone floor and his ribs hurt. He reached up and winced at the pain in his face. He didn’t listen to Tony and he didn’t go quietly. If they were going to take him somewhere he would at least hurt a few on the way out. He rolled over onto his side and groaned. He didn’t think anything was broken but he felt properly tenderized. Perhaps not to the extent that the cannibals had inflicted upon him in the Beacons but it was close. He hadn’t seen Tony since his apartment and he was glad. If he saw him now he would probably try to kill him. Well, at least hurt him really bad. It was the least he deserved.
The room was suddenly blinding him with light and he heard a door open from somewhere off to his left. “Mr. Jones, I see you’re finally awake.” A small man in a wheel chair rolled into the room. Ianto struggled to gain his feet but two of the man’s guards stormed in and pulled him up. Ianto cried out as his sore ribs were strained. “Now boys, we don’t want to break Mr. Jones. We just want his cooperation.”
Ianto wrapped his arms around his chest and glared at the man in the wheel chair. “I’m not going to cooperate so you may as well kill me.”
“Well, we really don’t need your physical being any longer but it would make bargaining with your Captain a bit hard if you were already dead,” the man said. “Where are my manners? My name is John Lumic and you, my son, are the key to getting me everything I want.”
Ianto shook his head. “Jack won’t bargain. Not even for me. I’m just an archivist.” He didn’t want them to use him against Jack. He’d much rather die. He threw himself on the nearest guard and tried to get his gun. The guy was easily stronger than Ianto and he took out his gun and whipped Ianto in the head with it. Ianto didn’t pass out, but he did see a lovely collection of stars blurring his vision.
“Are you quite finished? I would actually rather offer you a position within Cybus Industries. Someone of your caliber and ability is always welcome,” Lumic said, watching Ianto like a snake watches its prey.
“I’m nothing,” Ianto repeated, but this time it was low and mainly to himself.
“Oh no, you are so much, Mr. Jones. You have kept a cyber-unit functioning with very little education on the creatures. You have access to those luscious archives of Torchwood’s and you adapt, learn and manipulate. I’ve read all about your handy work. You would be such an asset here, much better than Mr. Brooke, I’ll tell you. We wanted you but we couldn’t touch you. We needed Mr. Brooke to get close. That was a challenge as well. He was all sanctimonious just like yourself but we managed to break him with promises of you.” Lumic raised an eyebrow and smirked. “Oh, you didn’t know he has had feelings for you for a long time.” Lumic’s smile spread and it sickened Ianto to his core. “I love playing matchmaker.”
Ianto only stared at the man, blankly. He didn’t want to think Tony was being used even if it was better than the alternate of Tony being malicious. He wanted Jack. Jack would fix this but Jack didn’t even know he was missing. And whose fault is that? he chastised himself. He had barked at Jack for being concerned and now Jack wouldn’t even try to look for him.
“Well, I’ve got to see a man about a Dalek. It’s only the shell, mind, but I’m really not interested in the squishy bits.” Lumic’s chair began to reverse.
“Wait!” Ianto called out, he had a question. “Tony said you want to use this technology to better the world. Is that true?”
Lumic’s smile curled his lips and Ianto suddenly wished he hadn’t opened his mouth. “I’m a wasted body with a brilliant mind. I want to use alien technology to build a better human. A cyber-human.” He continued out of the cell and as soon as the guards left the metal door shifted back into place.
Ianto felt his legs collapse from under him as Lumic’s words rang through his head. Lumic wanted to build cybermen.
~*~
Jack tried to contact Ianto but he still wouldn’t answer his calls. He was beginning to think Ianto was being a child but there was still that feeling deep down that told him that something was wrong and that he was being the child.
It was evening and he was getting hungry. He wondered if there were more éclairs in the fridge and so he decided to go check. He wanted a cup of coffee, a cup of Ianto’s coffee but he had to settle for instant. He couldn’t even get Tosh to make him tea, she was still mad at him. There were no éclairs left. This just wasn’t his day. He had sent the team home an hour ago so the Hub was quiet. He wanted to go check Ianto. That thought kept popping into his mind but he quickly pushed it aside. It wasn’t his place anymore. He didn’t check up on Owen when he refused to answer his phone. He didn’t check on Gwen when she was late. Tosh was never late but he might give her a call if she was. Ianto was different and he had made it clear that Jack wasn’t welcome to be worried.
He took a seat at Owen’s desk. He figured he’d play a game or something to take his mind off of Ianto. He was a couple of levels in when he got an alert telling him that the Tourist Centre door was used. Maybe one of the others had forgotten something. Maybe Ianto was finally coming into work.
Jack shut down Owen’s station real quick. He didn’t want Owen to walk in and catch him playing on computer; he’d never hear the end of it. He swiftly disappeared into his office and paused when he realized he’d forgotten his mug. He was about to go back to get it when the cog door rolled back to reveal two men Jack did not know. He was immediately on alert. He waited for them to take a few steps away from the door and, using his wrist strap, put the Hub in lockdown. Drawing his Webley, he kept to the shadows as he watched the two men quietly panic. They weren’t sloppy, though. The one pulled out some tech from a backpack and began scanning the room. The other pulled out weapons. Jack sent out a text to Owen through the wrist strap -they’d learned their lesson about not having back-up to the outside world when Suzie had locked them in. The one with the tech pointed to where Jack was hiding and pulled out his own gun. Jack mentally cursed. They had the ability to locate him so hiding was out of the question. They probably already knew that he’s armed. He placed his gun on his desk and, with his hands up, exited the office and moved toward the men.
“Hey, fella’s! If this is a home invasion, the jewels are in the safe behind the painting,” Jack joked. “But no, seriously, who the hell are you and why are you in my home?”
They answered by shooting him down.
~*~
“For fucksake, Harkness!” Owen groaned as his phone went off. “I just got to slee-“ he broke off as he read the text.
Hub Lockdown!
Protocol: Intruder
Assistance Mandatory!
It was Jack’s automated text he’d set up through his wrist strap. Owen knew that shit must really be bad if Jack had to use that to call him in. Dragging his body out of his warm bed, Owen quickly text Tosh, Gwen and Ianto to tell them what was happening. He got a reply from the girls but nothing from Ianto. That didn’t sit well with Owen but he was already dressed and out the door and he figured Ianto didn’t want to waste time with a reply. Or he was still too hung over.
He reached the Hub just as Tosh and Gwen got there.
“Have you heard from Jack?” Gwen asked, checking her gun.
Owen shook his head. “Nothing since the first text. Nothing from Tea-boy either.”
Tosh flinched. “Ianto hasn’t said anything? I’m worried. That isn’t like him.”
“Yeah, well, he’s been doing a lot of things that aren’t like him. Just add this to the top of the pile,” Owen spat. “We can’t just walk through the front door. Tosh, are there any other entrances other than the lift and the Tourist Centre?”
Tosh pulled out her PDA and pulled up some blueprints from Mainframe. “There is an entrance that leads into the Archives. It’s hidden in the basement of the Millennium Centre,” she said and took off running for the large building. It was locked but Tosh was prepared. She pulled out a piece of tech that could break through any lock and before the others could catch up she was pulling the door open and using another piece of tech to shut off the alarms. Using the information on her PDA, she rushed down through the building and toward the basement levels. She found the wall where the door should be and began to look about frantically. “It should be here,” she said, her voice full of panic.
“Tosh, calm down. Let me look,” Owen said, gently pulling her aside. The wall he stood before looked like all the others. It had to be a fake wall but where was the release? He began to run his hands over every inch of the wall and all the shelves around it. He tried to move one of the shelves out of the way when he heard a click. The wall shifted back and slid to the left revealing a large steel door like something from a submarine. He rushed for it and saw the number pad for a pin. He tried his own access but it wouldn’t work. “Tosh?”
“The Hub is in lockdown. Our codes won’t work. I’ll try this, it’s worked during lockdown before,” Tosh replied as Owen moved aside. She pushed forward, her lock breaker in hand. It took a bit longer as this was a more sophisticated system to break into but eventually the wheel on the front began to turn and there was a gasp of air being released as the door opened. They were hit by the stale smell of the Archives as they, one by one, entered the dark hallway. Owen turned to shut the door behind them but the wall was resealing and they were suddenly plunged into darkness.
~*~
Jack gasped back to life on the floor of the Hub. Apparently his attackers didn’t know of his little condition since they hadn’t tied him up or even waited around to kill him again. He kept still just in case one was nearby. When he couldn’t sense any movement he jumped up and ran to Tosh’s station and pulled out a PDA from her desk. He did a quick sweep of the Hub and the lower floors. They weren’t the only ones with the ability to check for heat signatures. There were two blips down in one of the Archives and at the other end there were three more blips. He wasn’t sure if it was Owen and the others but he figured he’d take a chance and tried to send a text to Owen.
He ran back up to his office and grabbed his gun and slid back into the shadows. Owen replied saying it was them. Jack sent him another telling him the position of the intruders and made his way down to the sub-levels. It was dark going and he didn’t dare use a torch. He wanted these idiots to think he was dead and the Hub empty. Obviously they weren’t doing continual scans since, according to his PDA, they hadn’t split up. If Ianto was here he would know exactly what they were after based on the location of the blips. Of course, if Ianto had been here there was a good chance he would have been shot with Jack. No, where ever Ianto was he was safe. Maybe.
He came around a corner and was almost shot by Owen as the other man turned the corner and aimed his gun at Jack. Jack gave a curt shake to his head and then held a finger to his lips as the girls saw him. He pointed down the hall and handed the PDA to Tosh so she could continue scanning the heat signatures. Motioning for them to follow him, he silently slid down the hall with his gun at the ready. When they reached the outside of the room the men were in, he signaled for Tosh to stay by him and for Gwen and Owen to take the other side. With a nod, he rolled around the door way and he and Tosh disappeared into the shadows on the right while Gwen and Owen did the same on the left. They skirted the outside of the room and listened to the pair.
“I found the file on the inhibitor chips but not the actual chip. Did you find that power supply? They should have hardware for the stuff they have files on. ” the first one asked, his voice was posh London accent gone lazy.
“I can’t find anything and what I am finding I’m not wanting to touch. Brooke said this place would be immaculate. Guess he doesn’t know Jones as well as he thought,” the other said with a snort. This one sounded more Welsh.
London gave a sharp laugh. “Yeah, well we’re not exactly here to poke fun of someone’s filing system. We need to hurry and get out before any of the others come and discover their Captain is dead.”
“Do you think Jones will cry?” Welsh asked.
“I hope so,” London answered, darkly.
Jack had heard enough. He came out of the shadows and held his gun up to London’s head as Owen did the same to Welsh. “Hello, boys. Guess it’s my turn to do the surprising,” he said and slammed the butt of his gun into the man’s head. Owen followed suit and let out a breath of relief as the pair crumpled to the floor.
“Who are they, Jack? They were talking about Ianto,” Gwen said, kneeling beside one of the men as she began to search through their pockets and gear.
“No idea but I think they were also talking about Ianto’s friend.” He felt a rush of anger surge through him at the thought of Ianto allowing this man to infiltrate the Hub. But no, that didn’t even feel right. Ianto wouldn’t do that. If Jack knew anything it was Ianto’s loyalty towards him and this team. No. Something bad had happened and he needed to find out what.
“Jack? Look at this,” Gwen said and handed him a small plastic card.
Jack blanched. “This is Ianto’s passkey into the Hub. How could they have it?”
“You don’t think he’d give it to anyone?” she asked and by the look on Jack’s face she wished she hadn’t.
Jack shook his head and tucked the card in his breast pocket. “No. He wouldn’t.” He turned to Owen. “I want these two separated and ready for interrogation when I get back.” He turned and began to leave the archive.
“Where are you going, Jack?” Gwen asked as Owen began to pull one of the men.
Jack paused in his step. “Ianto’s.”
~*~
Jack realized as soon as he pulled up to the flat that something was wrong. Whoever took Ianto must have tampered with the CCTV. For one thing, the images he had been watching didn’t show the door to Ianto’s flat being blown inward. Another thing was the fake police tape that was strung across the door to keep people out was blaringly obvious. He pulled out his mobile and called Gwen.
“Yeah, Jack?” she answered her mobile.
“Get your PC friend over to Ianto’s flat. Someone broke in. I’m going in but I want it watched so no one goes inside,” he replied.
“Do you need backup?” she asked. Jack could hear Owen barking orders as the girls helped him with his task.
“No. I’ll be fine. Whoever it was is gone now. I’m going in. Just call your friend. I don’t want the police involved but I don’t want strangers taking advantage of Ianto’s flat.” He hung up and pulled at the police tape. Splintered wood and plaster dust covered everything in the immediate area. Jack glanced at the floor and saw the disturbance in the debris. Someone had definitely put up a fight. He wanted to smile at the idea of Ianto standing up for himself but he couldn’t, not knowing if he was dead or alive. Jack was already beating himself up for not checking on him this morning when he hadn’t shown up for work.
With his gun drawn, he made his way through the living room and ducked into the kitchen. Nothing seemed off in those rooms so he continued down the hall towards the bedrooms and bath. He passed the open door of the guest room and Jack noted that that was odd. It wasn’t a commonly used room. He glanced inside to see the bed rumpled and the drawers torn open as if someone had packed in a hurry. Bits of broken black plastic were strewn about the floor by one of the walls. Jack knelt beside it and recognized it as something from a piece of tech of some sorts, modern and Earth made. As he stood, he used the chair to help him balance. His hand slid down the arm of the chair and he hit something hard with the tips of his fingers. Reaching in, Jack pulled Ianto’s phone out and stared at it in disbelief. He hit a button and noted that it was almost dead but that it was recording. He stopped the recording and tucked into his coat pocket and finished scoping out the flat. He grabbed the charger by Ianto’s bed right before he turned to leave.
At the door, he met PC Andy Davidson. “All right, Captain?”
“No. I need someone to house-sit for a bit. You up to the task?” Jack asked as he headed past Andy to the SUV.
“Is this one of your do’s?” Andy asked, nodding toward the flat as he followed Jack.
Jack turned and flashed a smile. “Yeah. But that doesn’t mean we don’t need help.”
“This is Ianto’s flat, right? He’s a good guy, if a bit stiff. I’ll make sure no one takes his stuff,” Andy replied, making a mental note to tell Gwen that Captain Jack the Great had just admitted that they needed help.
“Good man, Andy,” Jack said as he climbed into the car and Andy actually startled to realize Jack did know his name. He pulled away as Andy went back up to the house and began to clear away some of the more offending bits of debris.
~*~
Jack stormed into the Hub and handed Tosh the mobile and the charger. “Get this up and running. Ianto may have left us some clues. Also, see if you can figure out what they tried to steal.”
“Jack, there has been some question about Ianto’s access. The other day when he was home someone used his Mainframe account to access files. Ianto said he hadn’t been using it and figured it was you. Should I check to see what was being accessed?”
Jack narrowed his eyes as another wave of anger swept over him. “Someone has been playing a game with us for a while now. Yeah, check it out. ”
“What about those files Ianto’s been squirreling away?” Owen piped in.
Jack only glared at him. “No. That has nothing to do with this. I just want the account checked from the other day and that phone readied,” he said, turning his attention back to Tosh. She nodded and set to work. “Gwen, with me. Owen, standby with a medkit.”
Before either of them could protest, Jack burst into the interrogation room where London was just waking up tied to a chair. He looked up at Jack and his eyes bulged from his skull.
“You were dead! We killed you,” London stated, eyeing the bullet holes in Jack’s shirt.
“Must’ve missed,” Jack said as he stormed over and punched the man in the jaw. “Where is Ianto Jones?”
London only spat blood at him and smirked. “Dead, probably. Don’t need him if we’ve got his information.”
Jack snarled and made to go at him again. Gwen stepped between them and asked, “Who is ‘we’?”
London laughed. “You don’t know? Well, kill me because I’m not telling.”
“Gwen, you heard him. Get out of my way,” Jack growled and pulled at Gwen’s shoulder.
Gwen stood her ground. “I can get him to talk, Jack.”
“No you won’t,” London taunted.
Gwen shook her head, slowly. “Wrong answer,” she said and gave the man a sad look before she moved aside.
London’s eyes grew large as Jack moved in. He punched him again and again and by the third punch London cried out, “You’re really going to kill me?”
Jack looked at him with a raised eyebrow as he rubbed his slightly sore fist. “You gave us permission.”
“But you won’t find your boy that way,” London slurred through his broken mouth.
Gwen, who had been looking away from the whole mess, moved closer and leaned into the man. “Then tell us who has Ianto Jones.”
The man looked between Gwen and Jack and seemed to be weighing his options but he was taking way too long so Jack pushed Gwen aside and resumed his punishment. Gwen, with a tear running down her cheek, turned away. Owen stood in the doorway staring at her. They thought they knew what Jack was capable of, they thought they knew what he would do for any of them but they had no idea he could be so utterly brutal. They couldn’t watch and winced at the man’s cries of pain. The same cries that were being piped into the conference room where Welsh was tied up. When Jack laid a particularly heavy blow to London’s ribs and he began to make a gurgling noise, Owen stepped it.
“Jack! Jack, stop! Killing him won’t bring Ianto back,” he pleaded, pulling Jack by the arm. “He’s got the point.” Jack blinked at Owen as if he was seeing him for the first time. Owen noted that Jack’s eyes were red-rimmed and there were flecks of blood on his face. Hell, his shirt had two bullet holes in it and Owen only then realized that these fools had killed him. He shook his head slowly and pushed Jack away from the man in the chair. “Gwen, take him upstairs and clean him up.”
“C’mon Jack,” Gwen said and gently tugged Jack’s arm. Silently, he followed and allowed Gwen to lead him away. It seemed he had run out of steam.
Owen turned to the mince that had once been a man. “You’re an idiot. All he wanted was the location of Jones and who sent you. He didn’t even ask you why you were here and what you were looking for,” he said as he gently cleaned the blood off the broken man.
“Harkness won’t kill me,” the man slurred triumphantly, if not painfully. “You lot won’t let him.”
“If something happens to Jones I can promise you I won’t stop him,” Owen replied.
“But you won’t. You are all too full of heart.” London gave a strained laugh that bubbled at the end.
Owen only shook his head. “Yup, a punctured lung. Damnit, Jack!”
“If that’s all he’s got, then I’ll take my chances with my employer,” London spat.
“Yeah, but does your employer know who he has?” Owen asked, gently listening to the man’s lung with his stethoscope. When the man didn’t answer Owen nodded. “Didn’t think so. Ianto Jones is Jack Harkness’ lover. You guys couldn’t manage to kill him before he knew you took Ianto’s passkey, do you think you can stop him now that he knows your employer has Jones held captive or has already killed him?”
Under the blood, London turned ghostly white.
“Yeah, just be grateful I stopped him because a gun to the head will only be a mercy killing. If Harkness finds you’ve hurt a hair on Jones’ head I can promise they won’t find enough of you to test for DNA,” Owen said as he did what he could while the man was still tied to the chair.
~*~
“Did the other one hear it all?” Jack asked as Gwen cleaned the broken skin on his knuckles.
“He was awake before you got here and we’ve been piping in the encounter in the interrogation room.” Her voice was soft and distant. “You went too far, Jack.” She looked up and tried to catch his eye.
Jack refused to look at her. “Nothing they didn’t deserve. If Ianto had been here - if any of you had been here - they would have tried to kill you when they killed me. As it is they probably think they missed.”
“Then they really are idiots, Jack. You’ve got two massive bullet holes right over your heart,” she said, tugging on the torn material. “I’m amazed this pocket is still intact.” She pulled out the passkey and looked at it. Ianto’s face looked back at her and she felt an overwhelming surge of protection for the younger man. “We’ll find him,” she said but Jack was unsure if it was a statement or a question.
~*~
Ianto woke up in pain once more. This time, he just knew he had at least one broken rib and probably something serious going on with his wrist but that could just be a severe sprain. Not to mention the bruises and knots all over his body. Lumic was a very thorough man. When his men didn’t report back after breaking into the Hub, Lumic had him dragged into another room and strapped into a seat. They probed his mind for information using alien technology much like the probe they had at the Hub. Ianto fought until he passed out. When he woke, he was still strapped to the chair and he began to fight. Lumic had his men beat Ianto before tossing him back into his cell. Ianto still had no idea why they were keeping him alive. Perhaps they really thought Jack would look for him. Perhaps all he needed to do was agree to work for him and the pain would stop. He still hadn’t seen Tony and that was definitely for the best as he would probably try to murder him with his own bare hands.
He wanted Jack. Even just to say goodbye. Ianto knew it in his heart that no matter how this ended he wasn’t going to come out of it unscathed. He wouldn’t go and work for Lumic. Even if it would save his life it would only tear him further away from Jack. His only option was death. At one time that had been an acceptable option but lately he knew he wasn’t ready. He needed to be there for Jack. He wanted more time with the man. He kept getting taken from him and he knew his time with him was so small to begin with.
Ianto rolled onto his side, pulling his tattered suit jacket tight around his chest and whispered into the dark the three words that had become his mantra. “Find me, Jack.”
~*~
“I’ve got the phone charged enough to hear the recording, Jack,” Tosh said, drawing Jack out of his thoughts. He stood and walked over to her. Gwen had bandaged his hands and he felt like he was wearing mittens. Owen had finished up with London and had sidled up to them with Gwen coming out of the kitchen with tea.
“Some of it is muffled, but here it goes,” Tosh said and hit the play button.
“I also didn’t have a clue that His Harkness would barge in all heroic like. How do you stand him?”
The others didn’t recognize the voice and looked to Jack. Jack only shook his head and listened.
“How can you stand yourself, Tony? We were friends and you used me. Was that kiss even for real?”
“Do you want it to be? You pine over Harkness and all he does is drag you around like a ragdoll. If you’d let me I could bring you over with me to CI and we could have a real relationship, Ianto. We could be happy and I would never push you away and play head-games with you. You are so much better than Torchwood.”
“I am Torchwood!”
They heard Ianto shout just before a loud explosion. Jack held onto his emotions so tightly. He wouldn’t lose it. He wouldn’t go and finish the man in the interrogation room just for the sake of venting
“Just go quietly, Ianto. They won’t hurt you if you don’t fight.”
“Find me, Jack!”
This last part was followed by the sound of men shouting and a fight ensuing. Ianto yelled out incoherently and then there was more shuffling. Eventually it all died away, even the men giving orders disappeared.
Then another sound started. Drawers were being opened and shut and then a man spoke. “He’s on his way. You said you wouldn’t hurt him.” Silence. “I know some things can’t be helped but if you hurt him I’ll go to UNIT.” Silence. “You know I trust Harkness as much as I trust you. Just make sure Ianto is kept safe and I won’t feel the need to do something stupid.”
There was more silence then the sounds of packing resumed before even that faded into the distance. Tosh turned off the recording and turned to look at Jack, expectantly.
“Who was that?” Owen asked what they were all thinking.
Jack cleared the thickness from his throat and said, “Ianto’s friend.”
Owen snorted, derisively. “Some friend. He kissed him?”
Jack nodded, numbly. Gwen frowned. “What is CI?
Jack had to think about this. “It’s familiar,” he said, trying hard to think of where he had seen or heard it before and all he could picture was Ianto clutching files to his chest as Jack spoke on the phone. “That’s it!” he cried and ran to his office. He began to pull papers out of his in and out box trying to find the one that sat on his desk the day Ianto was clutching the other files. He pulled open and drawer and there it was, the affidavit from Cybus Industries demanding the right to have full access to Torchwood’s Archives. “Those bastards!”
He grabbed the receiver off his phone and dialed UNIT from memory. “I want to talk to Colonel Mace. This is Captain Jack Harkness.”
~*~
Ianto sat on the floor of the cell, curled in on himself, shivering. The door shifted aside and Ianto expected to see the guards and Lumic once more. Lumic was there but instead of the guards, Tony lingered just behind.
Ianto struggled to get to his feet. Tony rushed over to help him but Ianto only glared and pushed him away. He leaned against the wall for support as Tony looked over his bruised and swollen face and destroyed suit. “Not so pretty, yeah?” Ianto half-heartedly joked. Tony winced and looked away. “I thought so.” Ianto turned his attention back to Lumic. “Is this going to be another round of you promising me the pain will end if I only come to work for you?”
Lumic smiled. “Not this time, Mr. Jones. Actually, based on the information our Mr. Brooke was able to gather from your Archives and what we pulled from your own brain, we no longer need the hardware you hold within Torchwood.”
“There isn’t any hardware! I could have told you that! You have been accessing files on cyber-technology thinking we kept bits and pieces?” He felt like his world was spinning into insanity. “You obviously have no idea who you’re dealing with. Jack Harkness despises all cyber-tech and when he finds it he melts it down, destroys every last circuit. This isn’t just future tech; this is technology that will destroy all of human-kind. It shouldn’t exist in any universe.”
Lumic shook his head. “It is brilliant technology that should be used to make us into perfect humans. Humans that can live without the restraints of these sad pathetic bodies. We could be gods.”
“Oh my God, you are insane!” Tony said, speaking for the first time since he had arrived.
Ianto looked at him incredulously. “You figure that out now? What did he offer you, Tony? Me? Well look at your prize. Did you really think you could be with me after you betrayed me like this?”
“Harkness forgave your betrayals, why couldn’t you forgive mine?” Tony asked, his voice open and full of hope.
“You’re kidding, right? I’m not half the man Jack is and I don’t have all the time in the world to be nice,” he spat and turned back to Lumic. “So kill me. You said it yourself, you don’t physically need me anymore- oh God!” Reality slammed into him as he mentally put all the puzzle pieces into place.
“He’s so much more astute than you, Mr. Brooke. I don’t need either one of you…physically.” He began to slide out of the room.
Tony bolted for the door but it was already almost closed. He slammed his fists against the metal. “Let me out! We had a deal!”
Ianto began to laugh. It was harsh and bordered on manic. “You fucking idiot.”
Tony turned to face Ianto. “He promised me,” he whispered in defeat.
“Promised you what? That he wouldn’t hurt you? You gave him everything he asked for and now you get to be just like me,” Ianto said, his voice sounded crazed.
“Ianto? What do you mean?” Tony asked, taking a few steps toward the other man.
“You heard him,” Ianto said, wrapping his arms tightly over his broken chest. “He doesn’t need our bodies, only our minds. Our brains. He used the files and my knowledge and he made his own hardware.”
“But they’ve only had that information for a couple of days,” said Tony.
Ianto shook his head. “Do you really think they haven’t been working on this for a long time? The files probably only helped them fine tune what they already knew. Don’t be so stupid, Tony.”
Tony began to shake his head slowly in denial. He moved away from Ianto to hit the door with his back. He slid down to the floor as what Ianto said began to drive home. “No. No, he can’t!”
Ianto smiled at him and it was obvious to Tony that his brain had cracked. “Yes. Yes, he can and he will. We’re about to become the first generation of his new cybermen.”
~*~
Jack slammed the phone down and faced his team. They had slowly assembled inside his office as he spoke to Colonel Mace. Mace wasn’t happy to be woken up but when Jack told him the details of what had been happening the man woke up and they began to work on a plan.
“They’re dead, Jack,” Owen said. He had gone to check on the two men and found them both dead. “Apparently, they were a bit old school and had cyanide capsules.”
Jack waved a dismissive hand. “We’ll deal with the bodies later. They were dead either way. If we didn’t do it, their boss surely would have. Now that I know what we’re dealing with, they got off easy.”
Gwen looked sickened by all this but even she knew that they couldn’t have stopped the men from offing themselves. You can’t predict cyanide capsules in a false tooth. Who did that nowadays?
Jack turned his attention away from the dead men. “What do you have for me, Tosh?” he asked.
She placed a print-out on his desk. “This is the list of files that had been accessed during that day Ianto claims he wasn’t using it. Information on all things cyber and Dalek related with only a few side searches for random bits but all of it related to the technology held within a cyberman and their conversion units. Jack, these people want to rebuild the cybermen.”
“That was what Colonel Mace and I feared. This Cybus Industries,” he said, pointing to the affidavit. “This lot have been trying to get access to our archives for awhile. They tried to go through legal channels at first and even had a go at UNIT. Unfortunately for them, we’re backed by the Queen and she wouldn’t go against my wishes and UNIT isn’t going to share with God if he asked.”
“What are we going to do, Jack?” Gwen asked, leaning forward to look at the affidavit.
Jack smiled. “We’re going in. Colonel Mace is sending us a helicopter that will pick us up on the Plass in about fifteen minutes. He’s sending in a unit to help us out. They’re going in first to shut down their technology. We don’t know how far they may have gotten with the information they’ve stolen. We can’t only assume they’ve been working on this for a short time. We have to assume the worst and if they have working cyber units then we need to be fully prepared.”
“The big gun?” asked Owen.
Jack nodded. “The big gun.”
They gathered all the kit they would need and silently made their way up to the Plass and watched as the UNIT helicopter landed.
~*~
It seemed like they were alone for days when in fact it had only been a few hours. Ianto could hear Tony’s breath hitch as he tried to not cry loudly and he felt no concern for the man. This was his friend, the man that had kissed him and said he had wanted him for a long time only to betray him in the end. No, he wouldn’t feel bad for him even if he didn’t deserve to be turned into a cybermen.
Ianto thought it was unfair. He had survived being converted once before but he didn’t think he would survive this time. This time he would die, well, his body would die, and he would become a metal killing machine. He didn’t care what Lumic said, he hadn’t been at Canary Wharf, and he didn’t know what he was playing with.
The door shifted open and four guards came in. No Lumic. Two of them pulled Tony to his feet while the other two roughly grabbed Ianto. They were being taken out of the cell and led through a maze of hallways. Ianto didn’t bother trying to keep track of how they were going because he wouldn’t live to find his way out again. He only prayed that if Jack found him he didn’t do to him what Ianto had done to Lisa. He prayed Jack had the strength that he hadn’t had and would put a bullet in his head.
They were brought into a large, cavernous room that held three conversion units. Ianto recognized them right away. They looked to be exact replicas of what he himself had created for Lisa. His heart shuttered in his chest and he could feel tears sliding down his face as, beside him, Tony cried out.
“No! I don’t want to die like that! No!” he screamed, pulling against the guards holding him. Ianto didn’t bother to struggle. There was just no point in it.
They brought the two men over to their respective units and began to strap them down. Tony continued to struggle even when the one guard cracked him in the head with his gun. When they were secure, the guards moved away. Ianto couldn’t move his head but he could move his eyes. He glanced around the room and saw a window set high up. There were men behind the glass and they were watching him. Tony no longer hid his fears and was sobbing openly. Ianto refused to show such emotion though he wasn’t sure he had any emotion left to give. He closed his eyes and thought of Jack as the sounds of machinery warming up filled the air.
Tony let out with a strangled cry as the blades above his head began to whir and spin. Ianto glanced up and shut his eyes tightly against the sight. He didn’t want to watch. He wasn’t brave enough to watch. There was a soft wind from the blades as they began to lower and Ianto held his breath. He tried to block out the sound of Tony screaming and he tried to fight with himself to keep from doing the same.
Ianto felt the first blade pierce his skin just above his left eyebrow before there was a muffled explosion and the room went dark. The blade was still there, pressed against his skull. Ianto could feel his warm blood trickling down the sides of his head and into his hair. Tony continued to cry but it was softer now and less frantic. Ianto could hear pinging noises outside the room. It sounded like gunfire but it was coming from a distance and through layers of steel. Ianto did the only thing he could do, breathe slowly, in and out and pray that the cavalry had arrived.
~*~
Jack and the others landed on a hill just far enough away from the outside of large building that was encircled with brick walls topped with rolls of barbed wire. It looked like a small compound and something UNIT would work out of. It wasn’t very large but it was large enough for Jack to mentally curse himself for not knowing its existence. As the helicopter left them, they made their way down the other side of the hill, away from the building. There was a group of men waiting for them at the bottom.
Jack strode up to the man in charge. “Colonel Mace, sir,” Jack said, his hand outstretched.
“Captain Harkness. Good to see you again. Too bad it’s under such horrid circumstances,” Colonel Alan Mace replied, taking Jack’s hand and shaking it. “And this is your team?” he asked, motioning to the others behind Jack.
Nodding, Jack said, “This is Owen Harper, Gwen Cooper and Toshiko Sato.”
Colonel Mace glanced at each one and lingered on Tosh who lowered her head, slightly. “You are looking good, Miss Sato. I’m very glad.”
Tosh gave him a shy smile and turned her full attention to the PDA in her hands. Mace had been against her incarceration from the get-go and he was the reason she was now in Jack’s care. Tosh had no idea of all this and that was exactly how Alan wanted it.
“So, what’s the plan?” Jack asked, pulling Alan’s attention back toward him.
Alan smiled. “Well, basically, my men will go in first, short the place out with a series of small electro-magnetic pulses and then we start cleaning up. You will follow us shortly after the pulses so you can get your man out. We’re basically going in for Lumic and to destroy what technology he has managed to acquire. We want him alive to stand trial.”
Jack nodded but said, “Though, I’m sure no one will cry if he doesn’t survive.”
Alan shook his head. “Jack, that isn’t how I work.”
Jack huffed. “Yes, well, accidents do happen.” He turned and walked away. He needed a moment away from the others to prepare himself for the task at hand. Ianto was in that building and for all Jack knew he wasn’t even alive, let alone still human.
After a few attempts by Gwen to talk to him and Alan shouting orders to his men, the plan was set into action. Torchwood hung back only slightly so that their equipment wasn’t affected by the pulses. Alan’s men were silent as they pushed past guards and security with relative ease. Lumic had the place rigged tightly but even his technology couldn’t stand up to an EMP, or ten.
Jack knew the tech UNIT was using. It was designed by a group of Xerant’s for this exact use. The pulses were strong enough to knock out all electronics within a small circumference so that you could use it against your enemy and still manage to keep your own tech up and running. This would be a controlled and specific pulse and Jack made a note to see if Alan would let him have a couple in trade. After a small bout of gunfire, they were in and Jack was running fast toward the building. Inside was dark but he would occasionally glance over his shoulder to see Tosh pointing him in the right direction, her face illuminated by her PDA as they burst through rooms and hallways to find Ianto. Gwen and Owen went off to help a couple solders that were being blocked by a stubborn group of Lumic’s men that obviously hadn’t gotten the message that they had lost as Jack and Tosh kept going. Jack refused to get side-tracked. He needed to find Ianto and get him out of this place.
“There, Jack!” Tosh called, pointing to a steel door ahead. Jack ran forward and slammed into the door. It was sealed shut. Jack began to pound on it frantically but Tosh only pushed him aside. She still had her lockbreaker and she held it to the door. Jack watched her in awe as she calmly waited for the door to unlock. After a few minutes - which, to Jack, felt like years - the door released and Jack pushed his way inside. To his horror, he saw two bodies strapped to conversion units. One was crying and with a glance, Jack dismissed him as being someone of unimportance. He ran to the other body, the one lying there silently, and Jack felt his world fall apart.
Ianto was held down and a blade was lodged into his head. He gently reached out a hand and touched Ianto’s face. It was still warm and wet from the tears Ianto must have shed. “I’m so sorry,” Jack whispered, leaning as close as he could to the younger man.
~*~
When the machinery had stopped and the noises had begun, Ianto found himself lying there, silently praying that Jack had found him. Since his capture, he hadn’t allowed himself any form of hope because he couldn’t see any way for him to survive. Now, though, with the sounds coming from beyond the steel doors he felt hope crawl back into his heart and with it came the tears. He wouldn’t allow himself to cry even when they were beating him. He had shut himself off and kept his emotions in check but now he couldn’t fight the emotions that were bubbling up within him. He didn’t cry. Hearing Tony’s sobs only forced him to stay as quiet and stoic as possible. The tears, however, flowed freely and mingled with the blood and sweat that were already caked within his hair.
The sound of voices drew his attention away from his thoughts and he strained to hear them over Tony’s cries. He wanted to shout at him to shut up but he didn’t have the heart. Tony had been duped into believing he was going to win in the end. This wasn’t the reality he had pictured. Ianto could commiserate with him, the knowledge of knowing you had survived one tragedy to only be placed within the same tragedy once more. It’s like crossing the street and almost getting hit by a bus and as you pause to count your blessings another comes by and flattens you into the road.
When the door opened, Ianto schooled his breathing. He still didn’t dare open his eyes; he didn’t want to see how close the blades were to his face. He couldn’t take a chance that it was one of Lumic’s men so he pretended to be dead and maybe they would leave his body alone. He didn’t have time to convey that same message to Tony and he sent a small prayer that whatever deity was watching would protect the man. He no longer wished him dead. Tony had suffered enough punishment.
Ianto would have flinched when the hand touched his face, if he could have moved, but between the restraints and the blade pushing on his skull, he couldn’t do a thing. A scent filled his nostrils and he knew he was hallucinating. It smelled like Jack. It felt like Jack but he wasn’t convinced until he heard the voice whisper, “I’m so sorry,” that he knew it was Jack.
Ianto still couldn’t open his eyes. Instead, he forced his voice to work. “Jack?”
Jack looked at Ianto and for a moment thought he’d imagined the voice. “Ianto?”
“Get me out of this thing,” Ianto ground out, barely holding back the sob that threatened to escape.
Jack called Tosh over and she began to scan Ianto. “The restraints are locked into place but the blade has only broken the skin. It is pushing against his skull but it hasn’t cut through.”
“Can you get him out?” Jack asked and Tosh tried to ignore the unspoken ‘please’.
She looked up to the window above. “I need to get to the main controls and hope they aren’t too fried. Then I have to get the machinery working again and pray I have time to reverse them before they continue to cut through him. This may not work, Jack.”
Jack went pale. “There has to be another way. Can’t we just take it apart?”
“Do you know how to take it apart without hurting him?” Tosh countered.
“No, but you’re saying that we can still hurt him by turning the machine back on,” Jack said, he closed his eyes against the pain that clenched his heart.
“I know how. I’ve done it before,” Ianto said, softly. “I can talk you through it.”
“I’ll need tools,” Tosh said. “Let me see what I can find and I’ll be right back.”
“Ianto, are you sure you’re up to this?” Jack asked as he gently touched the skin on Ianto’s jaw. It was stubbly and the simple human-ness, the defiant act of living that the new beard represented to Jack was enough to make him want to cry.
“I’m sure, Jack. It’s either that or I’m stuck here forever,” Ianto said and he tried to smile.
Jack asked, “Why won’t you open your eyes? Did the blades-?” He swallowed, unable to fully finish the question.
“No. No, Jack. My eyes are fine. I just really don’t want to see how close they are. I’m trying to save myself from some horrific nightmares,” he said in a very matter-of-fact tone.
Jack’s breath hitched. “You are amazing, Jones, Ianto Jones.”
“You’re smart enough to acknowledge how amazing I am and yet you are too stupid to be with me,” Ianto tried to joke but it only fell flat.
Jack leaned in and his voice was soft and low as he said, “Not any more. I’m so sorry.”
This time, Ianto did sob out loud. He couldn’t help it. “It took my near death to make you change your mind?” He wasn’t angry, though, only curious.
“No. It took the idea of losing you forever to make me see how stupid I’m being. You were right. You could be gone tomorrow and I’ll have wasted the time we have now. I don’t want to regret not spending more time with you. I want to be selfish and keep you for myself. If you’ll still have me, I want to keep you by my side, the world be damned.” He kissed the torn material of the jacket that covered Ianto’s shoulder; it was the only piece of him he could kiss safely without hurting himself or Ianto.
Tosh came back with a toolbox and Ianto was immediately explaining to Tosh what she needed to do while Jack held a torch so she could see. Gwen and Owen arrived with Colonel Mace and immediately began to tell Jack that they’d captured Lumic and he was being taken to the nearest UNIT base to be held for trial. After they freed Ianto and Tony, the two men were questioned, Ianto by Alan and Tony by Jack, before they were able to leave the compound. UNIT gathered all the evidence they could and promised Jack that as soon as Lumic was tried that the compound would be destroyed.
“I want to be here when it happens,” Jack demanded.
“I wouldn’t have expected any less,” Alan conceded.
Tony was taken by UNIT. He was mentally broken and there was nothing Torchwood could do to help him. He was guilty of hacking into Torchwood and should be held accountable but until his mental facilities were once again broken and he was only capable of occupying a softly padded room. Ianto wanted to feel bad but in the end it was probably for the best.
Ianto did indeed have two broken ribs and a hairline fracture in his right wrist. Owen didn’t hold back on all the masturbation jokes as he tended to Ianto’s wounds. Ianto took the jokes in stride. He was just happy to be alive to be taunted and Owen was glad to have his Tea-boy back to, in fact, taunt. The conversion unit had caused minimal damage and though he needed a few stitches, Ianto agreed it could have been so much worse.
The bodies of the two intruders had been handed over to UNIT. They had been identified as two of Lumic’s men and that was just another point against the man.
Lumic would sit in a UNIT prison for a very long time. It was agreed that death would be only too kind and making him suffer with his brilliant mind and his betraying body would be the best form of punishment for his actions against humanity, as his deeds had been deemed. If Lumic had succeeded there would have been break-outs of cybermen all over the globe and the death toll would have been astronomical. Lumic was genius but he was mad. He would have to live with his madness for a long time.
~*~
Ianto was curled up on the sofa in the living room of his flat. It had been a few weeks since he had been rescued from Cybus Industries. Jack offered to help him find another flat but he refused. They replaced the door and he thanked Andy for watching over his place while he was gone. The pastries and coffee he had delivered to the police station went over well and was much appreciated. Jack had hired someone to repair the destroyed plaster in the foyer and he had the rugs and furniture cleaned for him.
They still hadn’t really had a chance to talk. At first, there was all the clean up and questioning and then the Rift decided it needed to rear its ugly head for a time. Tonight was the first night in all that time that Ianto was able to be home without some stranger working on something in his flat. He was in a pair of track bottoms and a t-shirt and he had a blanket wrapped around his legs. His wrist was still in a cast and his chest was still wrapped but his bruises were almost completely faded away. Owen could have been a plastic surgeon; his stitches were so small that the slice from the conversion unit was fading nicely. It looked like a natural crease in his forehead.
Ianto was dozing off watching television when the sound of a key in the door woke him up. He looked up to see Jack come in with a take-away bag in his hands. “I thought you might be hungry,” he said, smiling sheepishly.
Patting the empty spot beside him, he motioned for Jack to join him. “Starving,” he said, honestly. He could smell the curry in the bag and his mouth began to water. Jack smiled at him and Ianto watched as the older man set about gathering forks and plates. He served Ianto a plate of curry and, after removing his coat, he settled next to him with his own plate. “I guess it’s quiet at the Hub,” Ianto said, tucking in.
Jack scooped some curry into his mouth and said, “Yeah. I thought we could take advantage of it tonight.”
Ianto’s eyebrows shot upward. “I’m still quite battered. I’m not sure I’m up for anything physical, Jack.”
Jack almost choked on his food. “No. I thought we could talk.”
“Oh,” Ianto replied, taking another bite of his food but no longer feeling as hungry as he had been.
Jack put his fork on his plate and reached forward, placing his hand on Ianto’s face. “We haven’t had a chance since you were locked in that machine. You never gave me an answer. I meant what I said, Ianto. I want to be selfish. I want to have as much time as I can get with you. You were right. I lost Greg and didn’t get to have as much time with him as I would have liked but I had something. I don’t want to lose you and one day realize I had wasted all this time we do have.”
Ianto felt his heart swell. “You do realize that we are measuring our relationship in units of morbidity? Time spent together in relation to the day I die.”
Jack lowered his hand and nodded, sadly. “I know. It’s the theme of my life.” Ianto put his plate on the coffee table and took Jack’s and placed it beside his own. He moved closer to Jack and settled against his chest. Jack wrapped his arms around Ianto, careful not to hurt him. He didn’t have to say anything. Jack needed to feel how he felt even if he couldn’t give in to sex at the moment. “I’m so sorry. If I hadn’t pushed you away you wouldn’t have-“
“No, Jack. Tony was an old friend and I would have welcomed him into my life either way. I didn’t know he had feelings for me, well, I’m still not sure if that was real. When I was suffering from that horrible hang-over, he was surprisingly not affected. I think he faked his inebriation so he could get access to my account. All he needed was my passkey and he was in. He couldn’t steal it, though. That would have alerted me to his actions sooner. This was planned out, Jack, and our issues had nothing to do with it.” He laced the fingers of his left hand with Jacks right.
They sat there in silence, enjoying the warmth of their bodies against one another. Jack kissed the top of Ianto’s head and asked, “Did you ever finish Llinos’ game?”
Ianto smiled against Jack’s chest before pushing away. Jack looked at him in confusion as Ianto disappeared down the hall. “Through all our crazy Rift alerts and UNIT meetings I managed to find a bit of time to finish it,” he called down the hall as he went to gather the prize. “I had no idea that this tech was even possible in 1939 but being Torchwood it only makes sense.”
He came back into the living room with the small piece of tech and placed it on the coffee table. “She had built this and then broke it into three parts. She hid the parts all over the Hub with the instructions on how to put it back together.”
Jack leaned forward, mesmerized by the small tech. “What does it do?” he asked.
Ianto smiled and pushed the tiny button on the side. A blue-white light flashed from within and glowed upward into a five inch column. The column coalesced into the image of Llinos, in all her curvy glory. Jack gasped softly and Ianto leaned against his shoulder.
“Hey, boys. I knew you’d figure this out. Ianto, you took me as a man who liked a good challenge. Well, I just wanted to say that I miss you, Jones. I miss your stupid face and I miss the way you smile. I miss playing cards with you and Greg and I miss the way you would stand up to Tilda. It’s lonely here without you. Even His Harkness seems lost since you’re gone. Of course, he doesn’t remember you so that makes it even more pathetic.
“I hope that, if I’m still alive, you come to see me. Well, maybe not. Maybe I don’t want you to see me all wrinkled and grey. Then, maybe, working for Torchwood, you lot have discovered the fountain of youth and we’re all still young and beautiful like Jack.
“I know you’re there too, Jack. Ianto wouldn’t keep this from you, well, not for long. You’re too sweet on him, Jones. Anyway, this is getting to be too emotional so I’ll just end it with a goodbye and take care and maybe we’ll all meet again, some sunny day.”
The image of Llinos flickered and disappeared. Ianto turned his head into Jack’s shoulder and he felt Jack wipe at his face before wrapping his arms around Ianto. “I miss them both so much. I miss you all so much.”
Ianto shifted up so he could claim Jack’s lips in a soft kiss. “Just as long as you never forget us, that’s all we ask.”
The End