Fic: On A Mission
Title: On A Mission
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Ianto, Jack, Nosy, Dizzy, OC.
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: Out for a walk in the Brecon Beacons, Jack and Ianto’s hiking companions have inexplicably run off by themselves! They must be found before they get themselves in trouble.
Word Count: 2288
Written For: Challenge 212: Signal at beattheblackdog.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters.
“Okay, I’m picking up a signal,” Ianto said, eyes glued to the SUV’s onboard computer. “It’s faint, still a few miles away, but it’s definitely them. They can really move fast when they want to, even over this kind of terrain.” He glanced at Jack who was driving with a kind of grim determination, worry creating furrows in his forehead. “Bet you’re glad now that I had Tosh fit them with tracking chips.”
Jack had protested when Ianto had first suggested the security measure, claiming it wasn’t necessary for their friends, who never went out by themselves due to being aliens and way too conspicuous, but Ianto had gone ahead with the implants anyway. The Hub was a big place, not everyone was as careful as they should be when closing doors behind them, and over the years several human members of the team had managed to get themselves lost in the lower levels, which was why Tosh had made their phones and comm. units traceable even when switched off.
“I didn’t think they’d be needed! I mean they never leave the Hub or the flat unless they’re with someone. I just don’t understand why they’d suddenly run off like this!”
“Technically they’re not exactly running,” Ianto pointed out.
“Don’t split hairs, you know what I mean! They were right there, mooching about among the rocks, enjoying the sunshine and the chance to explore, and then they just took off!”
“I know; I was there.”
“Why’d they do that?”
Ianto sighed. “I wish I had an answer for you.”
“Do you think something scared them?”
“No. If they were scared, they would have come to us for protection; they know we’d keep them safe. Turn left at the next junction; the signal’s getting stronger.”
Jack and Ianto had opted to drive rather than trying to follow Nosy and Dizzy on foot. Even running at their best speed, they couldn’t hope to overtake two speedy and highly manoeuvrable Fluffs over the rough terrain, especially not with the head start the aliens had; it would have taken them far too long. Thankfully there were a lot of narrow lanes and dirt tracks in this part of the Brecon Beacons, and the SUV had four-wheel drive, making it capable of handling just about anything. So far, they’d been able to stick to the paved roads and were gradually closing the distance between themselves and the two fugitives.
Swinging the wheel hard left, Jack all but skidded around the tight turn. Ianto made no comment; he was well used to Jack’s driving by now and had his feet firmly braced against the sides of the foot-well to keep from getting jolted too much.
He checked Google Maps again. “Okay, there should be a narrow track coming up on the left in a few minutes; you might want to slow down a bit so you don’t miss it, we don’t want to waste time having to reverse or turn around.”
Slowing to around fifty, Jack whipped the SUV around a few more curves in the road, then slipped neatly into the narrow opening as it appeared, immediately gunning the engine and picking up speed again. As the modified Range Rover jounced along a rutted dirt track barely wide enough to accommodate the vehicle’s bulk, Ianto spared a moment to appreciate his lover’s skill behind the wheel. With his fifty-first century reflexes he would have made a good rally driver.
He pulled his attention back to tracking the Fluffs’ movements as Jack asked, “How much further?”
“The track runs out in about a mile; we’ll probably have to walk the rest of the way. On the plus side, it looks like they might’ve stopped.”
“When we catch up to them, they’re grounded for eternity!” Jack muttered, scowling through the windscreen. “They know they’re supposed to keep in sight when we’re out on walks!”
“Let’s find out why they went off like that before we start handing out punishments. It’s completely out of character for them, so they must have had a good reason.”
“Hmpf.” Clearly Jack wasn’t in a forgiving mood. Worry did that to him.
When the track they were following faded to nothing, Jack kept right on going over open moors until they arrived at the lip of a slope too steep even for the SUV. Backing up, he stopped at a safe distance and turned the engine off.
“Right, let’s find our errant Fluffs, shall we?” He was out of the car before Ianto had even unfastened his seatbelt.
“Wait up, Jack! No use just haring off when we don’t know what we might be facing. Here, take this and give me the keys.” Ianto tossed Jack the backpack he’d been carrying earlier, containing food and drink and a few other essentials, caught the car keys Jack threw to him, then went to the boot of the SUV and started digging out some useful equipment, shoving it into a second backpack; a length of rope, a handful of pitons, emergency survival gear, and a first aid kit. It always paid to be prepared; accidents could happen anywhere, especially in remote places such as this, the weather could be unpredictable, and they might have to climb to reach the Fluffs. Dizzy was still not much more than a baby and had a bad habit of getting itself into silly predicaments. Nosy was generally more sensible but there was no knowing what it might do if it felt its Flufflet was in danger. Its parental instincts were strong.
“Will you hurry up?” Jack was itching to get going.
Ianto slammed the boot and made sure the SUV was locked before pocketing the keys and slinging his backpack over his shoulder. He switched on a handheld tracker and homed in on the signals from the Fluffs’ tracking chips, noting with amusement that left to his own devices Jack would have headed off in the wrong direction.
“That way.” He pointed. “About a mile and a half,” and he started down the steep incline, angling across the slope in the direction they needed to go, with Jack hard on his heels.
Reaching the bottom they followed a diagonal path across the valley, up the other side, and along a narrow ridge, until they found a path down into a second, deeper valley. They wended their way along the bottom, scrambling over rocks and crossing a small brook, then started upslope again.
“Up there!” Jack said suddenly, pointing towards a jumble of rocks further up the slope at the bottom of a cliff, his sharp fifty-first century eyesight picking out a splash of vivid purple against the greys, browns, and greens.
Ianto squinted against the sunlight and raised binoculars to his eyes. They were still hanging around his neck from their walk earlier.
“Got them! What are they doing?”
“Don’t ask me! I can’t read minds.” The slope was getting steeper; Jack and Ianto almost had to climb the last hundred yards or so, arriving at last on a narrow, rock-strewn ledge at the base of the cliff, where the Fluffs were huddled together.
They weren’t alone.
A young man, maybe in his late teens or early twenties, lay at the base of the cliff, his face pale and streaked with blood from a head wound, one leg twisted awkwardly beneath him, obviously broken. The Fluffs had carefully arranged themselves over and around him, keeping him warm and calm. He was conscious, one hand tangled in Nosy’s thick, green fluff.
“Hi.” His concern for the runaway Fluffs forgotten, Ianto knelt beside the injured man. “Don’t worry, everything’s going to be fine. I’m Ianto and that’s Jack.”
“Michael,” the man murmured. “I was out hiking, stepped on a loose rock and I fell. Thought I was a goner, I was shouting for help, but I didn’t think anyone would hear me, there’s no one about, and then these…” He trailed off, his hand stroking through Nosy’s fur. “They’re not real, they can’t be. Am I seeing things? I mean they feel real, warm and soft, but they’re not like anything I’ve ever…” He trailed off, zoning out for a moment, then his eyes focused again. “It’s got to be concussion, or exposure, shock, something like that. I’m hallucinating. You’re probably not real either.”
“I promise you we are, all four of us, and we’re going to get help for you. Trust me, alright?”
“Okay.” Michael licked at dry lips. “If they’re real, wh… what are they?”
“Can you keep a secret?” Ianto dug in the backpack he’d set down beside the injured man and pulled out the small medical scanner Owen kept with the kit in the SUV, running it over Michael, checking for damage other than that which was immediately obvious. “They’re aliens, but they’re very friendly. They must have heard you shouting and come to help, knowing we’d follow them. They’re microchipped so we can track them if they get lost. The green one’s Nosy and the purple and black one’s Dizzy.” Ianto smiled at the Fluffs. “Good work, guys. You’ve probably saved his life.”
Dizzy fluffed itself up with pride.
“Hum,” Nosy said modestly.
A few feet away, Jack had his phone out and was calling Tosh back at the Hub, asking her to send rescue services out to their location. Only a Torchwood mobile could get a signal this far out in the middle of nowhere.
There was no way a helicopter could land on the ledge, or at the bottom of the valley, so leaving his backpack and coat behind, Jack set off along the ledge until he found a promising spot, then climbed to the top of the cliff, where he found himself in a wide grassy meadow. There’d be no problem landing there so he had Tosh relay the coordinates to the rescue team; that done, he made his way back down to the ledge.
“Help’s on the way, should be here in about twenty minutes. How is he?”
Ianto looked up. “Broken leg, fractured wrist, concussion, cuts, bruises… No back or neck injuries as far as I can tell, and miraculously no internal bleeding. He was lucky, all things considered.”
“I grabbed a bush on my way down,” Michael said. “It slowed my fall a bit, before it broke off.”
From somewhere nearby, Nosy picked up a small, scrubby bush in its mouth and waved it.
“Ah, I see. That’s probably how you fractured your wrist.”
Digging in the backpack again, Ianto pulled out a foil emergency blanket and shooed the Fluffs off Michael, spreading the blanket over him instead.
Michael was finally able to get a proper look at his rescuers and stared at them in wonder. “They’re really aliens?”
“Yes, but it would be best if you don’t tell anyone about them. If people knew they existed, it would put them in danger.”
“I won’t say a word, I swear; I wouldn’t do anything that might harm them. They saved me. I thought I was going to die out here alone.”
Nosy rested its head on Michael’s chest, humming softly, and he smiled.
“I like you too; both of you. Thank you.”
A while later, Jack’s phone rang. It was Tosh, telling him that the rescue helicopter was about ten minutes out; they’d be able to hear it soon.
“Okay, kids,” he addressed the Fluffs as he put his phone away. “Time to make yourselves scarce. Can’t have anyone else seeing you.”
Dizzy and Nosy hummed farewells and slithered away among the rocks, already changing colour to blend in with their surroundings. Soon there was no sign they’d ever been there.
Michael watched them until they were out of sight. “Will I ever see them again?” he asked Ianto.
“Who knows? Perhaps, when you’re back on your feet.”
Jack made his way up to the meadow to wait for the rescue team to arrive, keeping well back as the chopper landed, then showing the medics the best way down to the ledge. Ianto stayed with Michael until he was strapped to a stretcher ready to be winched up into the helicopter for the trip to the hospital.
“They’ll take good care of you, and we’ll come visit when we get back to Cardiff. That’s a promise.”
“Thanks. And thank your… dogs for me. If they hadn’t heard me…”
“They’ll get a special reward, count on it.”
“Good. They deserve it.”
Ianto and Jack moved back as the helicopter was manoeuvred to hover overhead, letting down a cable, which the medic hitched firmly to the stretcher. Then Michael and the medic were rising smoothly into the air as the cable was reeled in, and within a few minutes, the copter was heading back the way it had come.
As soon as it was out of sight, Nosy and Dizzy emerged from hiding, humming apologies.
“You shouldn’t have gone off like that,” Ianto chastised them, “but I understand why you did. Just, if anything like this ever happens again, let us know first, okay? You scared us.”
“Hummm,” Nosy assured him.
“Right, well, I think we’ve all had enough exercise and excitement for one day.” Ianto shoved everything back into his backpack and slung it over his shoulder once more. “Back to the SUV, then home for a good grooming. Looks like you’ve got half the countryside caught in your fluff.”
He and Jack set off down the slope, heading back the way they’d come, the two Fluffs slithering obediently along behind them, tired but happy. They’d had quite an adventure, it had been good to be able to help the hurt man, but they were glad they didn’t have to slither all the way back to the Hub!
The End
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Ianto, Jack, Nosy, Dizzy, OC.
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: Out for a walk in the Brecon Beacons, Jack and Ianto’s hiking companions have inexplicably run off by themselves! They must be found before they get themselves in trouble.
Word Count: 2288
Written For: Challenge 212: Signal at beattheblackdog.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters.
“Okay, I’m picking up a signal,” Ianto said, eyes glued to the SUV’s onboard computer. “It’s faint, still a few miles away, but it’s definitely them. They can really move fast when they want to, even over this kind of terrain.” He glanced at Jack who was driving with a kind of grim determination, worry creating furrows in his forehead. “Bet you’re glad now that I had Tosh fit them with tracking chips.”
Jack had protested when Ianto had first suggested the security measure, claiming it wasn’t necessary for their friends, who never went out by themselves due to being aliens and way too conspicuous, but Ianto had gone ahead with the implants anyway. The Hub was a big place, not everyone was as careful as they should be when closing doors behind them, and over the years several human members of the team had managed to get themselves lost in the lower levels, which was why Tosh had made their phones and comm. units traceable even when switched off.
“I didn’t think they’d be needed! I mean they never leave the Hub or the flat unless they’re with someone. I just don’t understand why they’d suddenly run off like this!”
“Technically they’re not exactly running,” Ianto pointed out.
“Don’t split hairs, you know what I mean! They were right there, mooching about among the rocks, enjoying the sunshine and the chance to explore, and then they just took off!”
“I know; I was there.”
“Why’d they do that?”
Ianto sighed. “I wish I had an answer for you.”
“Do you think something scared them?”
“No. If they were scared, they would have come to us for protection; they know we’d keep them safe. Turn left at the next junction; the signal’s getting stronger.”
Jack and Ianto had opted to drive rather than trying to follow Nosy and Dizzy on foot. Even running at their best speed, they couldn’t hope to overtake two speedy and highly manoeuvrable Fluffs over the rough terrain, especially not with the head start the aliens had; it would have taken them far too long. Thankfully there were a lot of narrow lanes and dirt tracks in this part of the Brecon Beacons, and the SUV had four-wheel drive, making it capable of handling just about anything. So far, they’d been able to stick to the paved roads and were gradually closing the distance between themselves and the two fugitives.
Swinging the wheel hard left, Jack all but skidded around the tight turn. Ianto made no comment; he was well used to Jack’s driving by now and had his feet firmly braced against the sides of the foot-well to keep from getting jolted too much.
He checked Google Maps again. “Okay, there should be a narrow track coming up on the left in a few minutes; you might want to slow down a bit so you don’t miss it, we don’t want to waste time having to reverse or turn around.”
Slowing to around fifty, Jack whipped the SUV around a few more curves in the road, then slipped neatly into the narrow opening as it appeared, immediately gunning the engine and picking up speed again. As the modified Range Rover jounced along a rutted dirt track barely wide enough to accommodate the vehicle’s bulk, Ianto spared a moment to appreciate his lover’s skill behind the wheel. With his fifty-first century reflexes he would have made a good rally driver.
He pulled his attention back to tracking the Fluffs’ movements as Jack asked, “How much further?”
“The track runs out in about a mile; we’ll probably have to walk the rest of the way. On the plus side, it looks like they might’ve stopped.”
“When we catch up to them, they’re grounded for eternity!” Jack muttered, scowling through the windscreen. “They know they’re supposed to keep in sight when we’re out on walks!”
“Let’s find out why they went off like that before we start handing out punishments. It’s completely out of character for them, so they must have had a good reason.”
“Hmpf.” Clearly Jack wasn’t in a forgiving mood. Worry did that to him.
When the track they were following faded to nothing, Jack kept right on going over open moors until they arrived at the lip of a slope too steep even for the SUV. Backing up, he stopped at a safe distance and turned the engine off.
“Right, let’s find our errant Fluffs, shall we?” He was out of the car before Ianto had even unfastened his seatbelt.
“Wait up, Jack! No use just haring off when we don’t know what we might be facing. Here, take this and give me the keys.” Ianto tossed Jack the backpack he’d been carrying earlier, containing food and drink and a few other essentials, caught the car keys Jack threw to him, then went to the boot of the SUV and started digging out some useful equipment, shoving it into a second backpack; a length of rope, a handful of pitons, emergency survival gear, and a first aid kit. It always paid to be prepared; accidents could happen anywhere, especially in remote places such as this, the weather could be unpredictable, and they might have to climb to reach the Fluffs. Dizzy was still not much more than a baby and had a bad habit of getting itself into silly predicaments. Nosy was generally more sensible but there was no knowing what it might do if it felt its Flufflet was in danger. Its parental instincts were strong.
“Will you hurry up?” Jack was itching to get going.
Ianto slammed the boot and made sure the SUV was locked before pocketing the keys and slinging his backpack over his shoulder. He switched on a handheld tracker and homed in on the signals from the Fluffs’ tracking chips, noting with amusement that left to his own devices Jack would have headed off in the wrong direction.
“That way.” He pointed. “About a mile and a half,” and he started down the steep incline, angling across the slope in the direction they needed to go, with Jack hard on his heels.
Reaching the bottom they followed a diagonal path across the valley, up the other side, and along a narrow ridge, until they found a path down into a second, deeper valley. They wended their way along the bottom, scrambling over rocks and crossing a small brook, then started upslope again.
“Up there!” Jack said suddenly, pointing towards a jumble of rocks further up the slope at the bottom of a cliff, his sharp fifty-first century eyesight picking out a splash of vivid purple against the greys, browns, and greens.
Ianto squinted against the sunlight and raised binoculars to his eyes. They were still hanging around his neck from their walk earlier.
“Got them! What are they doing?”
“Don’t ask me! I can’t read minds.” The slope was getting steeper; Jack and Ianto almost had to climb the last hundred yards or so, arriving at last on a narrow, rock-strewn ledge at the base of the cliff, where the Fluffs were huddled together.
They weren’t alone.
A young man, maybe in his late teens or early twenties, lay at the base of the cliff, his face pale and streaked with blood from a head wound, one leg twisted awkwardly beneath him, obviously broken. The Fluffs had carefully arranged themselves over and around him, keeping him warm and calm. He was conscious, one hand tangled in Nosy’s thick, green fluff.
“Hi.” His concern for the runaway Fluffs forgotten, Ianto knelt beside the injured man. “Don’t worry, everything’s going to be fine. I’m Ianto and that’s Jack.”
“Michael,” the man murmured. “I was out hiking, stepped on a loose rock and I fell. Thought I was a goner, I was shouting for help, but I didn’t think anyone would hear me, there’s no one about, and then these…” He trailed off, his hand stroking through Nosy’s fur. “They’re not real, they can’t be. Am I seeing things? I mean they feel real, warm and soft, but they’re not like anything I’ve ever…” He trailed off, zoning out for a moment, then his eyes focused again. “It’s got to be concussion, or exposure, shock, something like that. I’m hallucinating. You’re probably not real either.”
“I promise you we are, all four of us, and we’re going to get help for you. Trust me, alright?”
“Okay.” Michael licked at dry lips. “If they’re real, wh… what are they?”
“Can you keep a secret?” Ianto dug in the backpack he’d set down beside the injured man and pulled out the small medical scanner Owen kept with the kit in the SUV, running it over Michael, checking for damage other than that which was immediately obvious. “They’re aliens, but they’re very friendly. They must have heard you shouting and come to help, knowing we’d follow them. They’re microchipped so we can track them if they get lost. The green one’s Nosy and the purple and black one’s Dizzy.” Ianto smiled at the Fluffs. “Good work, guys. You’ve probably saved his life.”
Dizzy fluffed itself up with pride.
“Hum,” Nosy said modestly.
A few feet away, Jack had his phone out and was calling Tosh back at the Hub, asking her to send rescue services out to their location. Only a Torchwood mobile could get a signal this far out in the middle of nowhere.
There was no way a helicopter could land on the ledge, or at the bottom of the valley, so leaving his backpack and coat behind, Jack set off along the ledge until he found a promising spot, then climbed to the top of the cliff, where he found himself in a wide grassy meadow. There’d be no problem landing there so he had Tosh relay the coordinates to the rescue team; that done, he made his way back down to the ledge.
“Help’s on the way, should be here in about twenty minutes. How is he?”
Ianto looked up. “Broken leg, fractured wrist, concussion, cuts, bruises… No back or neck injuries as far as I can tell, and miraculously no internal bleeding. He was lucky, all things considered.”
“I grabbed a bush on my way down,” Michael said. “It slowed my fall a bit, before it broke off.”
From somewhere nearby, Nosy picked up a small, scrubby bush in its mouth and waved it.
“Ah, I see. That’s probably how you fractured your wrist.”
Digging in the backpack again, Ianto pulled out a foil emergency blanket and shooed the Fluffs off Michael, spreading the blanket over him instead.
Michael was finally able to get a proper look at his rescuers and stared at them in wonder. “They’re really aliens?”
“Yes, but it would be best if you don’t tell anyone about them. If people knew they existed, it would put them in danger.”
“I won’t say a word, I swear; I wouldn’t do anything that might harm them. They saved me. I thought I was going to die out here alone.”
Nosy rested its head on Michael’s chest, humming softly, and he smiled.
“I like you too; both of you. Thank you.”
A while later, Jack’s phone rang. It was Tosh, telling him that the rescue helicopter was about ten minutes out; they’d be able to hear it soon.
“Okay, kids,” he addressed the Fluffs as he put his phone away. “Time to make yourselves scarce. Can’t have anyone else seeing you.”
Dizzy and Nosy hummed farewells and slithered away among the rocks, already changing colour to blend in with their surroundings. Soon there was no sign they’d ever been there.
Michael watched them until they were out of sight. “Will I ever see them again?” he asked Ianto.
“Who knows? Perhaps, when you’re back on your feet.”
Jack made his way up to the meadow to wait for the rescue team to arrive, keeping well back as the chopper landed, then showing the medics the best way down to the ledge. Ianto stayed with Michael until he was strapped to a stretcher ready to be winched up into the helicopter for the trip to the hospital.
“They’ll take good care of you, and we’ll come visit when we get back to Cardiff. That’s a promise.”
“Thanks. And thank your… dogs for me. If they hadn’t heard me…”
“They’ll get a special reward, count on it.”
“Good. They deserve it.”
Ianto and Jack moved back as the helicopter was manoeuvred to hover overhead, letting down a cable, which the medic hitched firmly to the stretcher. Then Michael and the medic were rising smoothly into the air as the cable was reeled in, and within a few minutes, the copter was heading back the way it had come.
As soon as it was out of sight, Nosy and Dizzy emerged from hiding, humming apologies.
“You shouldn’t have gone off like that,” Ianto chastised them, “but I understand why you did. Just, if anything like this ever happens again, let us know first, okay? You scared us.”
“Hummm,” Nosy assured him.
“Right, well, I think we’ve all had enough exercise and excitement for one day.” Ianto shoved everything back into his backpack and slung it over his shoulder once more. “Back to the SUV, then home for a good grooming. Looks like you’ve got half the countryside caught in your fluff.”
He and Jack set off down the slope, heading back the way they’d come, the two Fluffs slithering obediently along behind them, tired but happy. They’d had quite an adventure, it had been good to be able to help the hurt man, but they were glad they didn’t have to slither all the way back to the Hub!
The End