Fic: Rumours
Title: Rumours
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Ianto, Lisa, OCs, Jack.
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Nothing too specific.
Summary: There have always been rumours about Captain Jack Harkness. A few are true, but most aren’t.
Word Count: 1089
Written For: Prompt 144 - Invincible at fandomweekly.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters. They belong to the BBC.
There’d been rumours around Torchwood One, back when Ianto had worked there, before the Cybermen and Daleks came, and the Tower fell. Rumours that Captain Jack Harkness, head of Torchwood Three, was invincible. Ianto had heard them all over the inter-departmental grapevine, where he’d also learned who was shagging who, which of his colleagues was likely in trouble with upper management, and what Elliott Simpson had REALLY been doing on his Special Assignment that had lasted more than three months.
Rehab for drug or alcohol addiction was what most people claimed, although Ianto knew that wasn’t the case. Not that he ever told anyone, since he’d been sworn to secrecy by the man himself, but Elliott had been mucking about with an unidentified piece of alien tech which had rearranged his DNA and left him in the care of the botany department until the effects could be reversed. His skin still had a faintly greenish tinge under fluorescent lights; they hadn’t been able to get rid of all the chlorophyl.
That was all beside the point though. Interest in Elliott Simpson was a passing fad, whereas Captain Harkness was a topic of conversation that never lost its appeal, rather like the man himself. After all, he was good-looking, charismatic, larger than life, and he got right up Yvonne Hartman’s nose. Theories about him abounded, a lot of them contradictory, but it was generally accepted that he’d been with the Torchwood Institute longer than anyone, some said over a century, and yet he never appeared to get any older.
“He can’t be human,” Deb had said one day while she, Ianto, Lisa, Craig, and Austin from accounts had been talking over lunch in the cafeteria. “Not completely, anyway. Maybe he’s some sort of long-lived hybrid, part human and part alien. An experiment that went wrong and now nobody knows what to do with him.”
“I’ve heard he has no know weaknesses,” Austin cut in. “None whatsoever, not like us poor mortals.”
Lisa snorted. “That’s not true, he’s got a weakness for pretty girls, and pretty guys. Flirts with practically everyone he meets.”
“Ah, but does he follow through or is it just casual flirting, getting people off their guard?” Ianto grinned at Lisa, and she laughed.
“It’s a possibility,” she conceded, squeezing his leg under the table.
“I don’t mean that kind of weakness,” Austin protested. “I heard he’s immortal, can’t be killed no matter what you do to him.”
Craig leaned forward, keeping his voice low. “That would explain why Hartman hasn’t just had him shot. D’you think bullets would just bounce off of him, like Superman or something?”
“Dunno, but I wouldn’t want to be anywhere near him if someone did shoot him. Might get accidentally killed by a ricochet.” Sometimes it was hard to tell whether or not Austin was joking.
A few weeks later, the Canary Wharf massacre had happened, Ianto had fled to Cardiff, taking Lisa and her life-support machinery with him, and after several false starts, had managed to get both of them inside Torchwood Three.
That hadn’t turned out so well, but following the Cyberwoman’s execution Ianto had gradually rebuilt his life, worked through his guilt, shame, and grief, and come out of it tempered by the experience. Against all odds, Jack had helped him get back on his feet, and over time, as they’d grown closer, Ianto had learned all, or at least most, of his secrets.
“You have to stop doing this,” he admonished his Captain after Jack revived from yet another nasty death.
“Doing what?” Jack feigned ignorance.
“Using yourself as bait. You’re not invincible.” Ianto helped Jack to his feet.
Jack frowned. “I never said I was.”
“No, you just act like you are. There were rumours going around Torchwood One that nothing could kill you.”
“Were you disappointed when you found out the rumours were wrong?” Jack took his Webley as Ianto held it out to him, returning it to the holster on his belt, studiously avoiding looking at his lover. There was something brittle in his tone of voice.
“No, not disappointed; anyone who was so completely impervious to everything would be… I don’t know, intimidating, unapproachable, inhuman.”
“And I’m not.” It was a statement rather than a question.
“You can be intimidating when you want to be, but you’re still human, capable of feeling, and having empathy for others. You’re not some robot, devoid of emotions.”
Jack nodded, understanding what Ianto was saying.
“I know it’s harder for you this way though,” Ianto continued. “I wish you didn’t have to suffer so much.”
“You wish I didn’t throw myself into danger, I know, but sometimes there isn’t a better choice available. If it’s my life or the life of an innocent bystander… I do what I have to, because I’m the only one that can.”
“That doesn’t mean you’re expendable.”
“I’m not a cat with only nine lives to give, Ianto: I’m a permanent fixture. No matter how many times I die, I always come back.”
“But first you have to go through the experience of dying and then reviving. I understand, I do, I just wish it didn’t have to be this way.”
“I wouldn’t mind skipping the dying and resurrecting part either, it isn’t fun, but you were wrong about one thing. In a way I am invincible; killing me doesn’t stop me, it only slows me down. Then I get right back up and finish what I started.”
That was all a very long time ago, but Ianto still remembers, so when he hears a snatch of conversation as he and Jack make their way through the lobby of Torchwood’s International Headquarters, located in New Cardiff, he feels an odd kind of déjà vu.
“That’s them, isn’t it?” a blue-skinned Olgonite murmurs to her human companion. “Captain Harkness and Director Jones, I mean.”
Her friend nods. “Torchwood’s leaders. I’ve never met them, only seen them in passing a time or two. I didn’t even know they were back on earth.”
“I heard they’re immortal, that they can’t be killed. Nothing can harm them.”
“Should we tell them the truth, do you think?” Ianto murmurs to Jack as the scanners verify their identities before allowing them into their private lift tube, the one that goes straight to the top floor.
“Why? Isn’t it better to let people believe we’re invincible? If people think we can’t be killed, they might not bother trying.”
Ianto chuckled. “Fair point.”
Sometimes a bit of mystery is a good thing. It keeps people guessing.
The End
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Ianto, Lisa, OCs, Jack.
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Nothing too specific.
Summary: There have always been rumours about Captain Jack Harkness. A few are true, but most aren’t.
Word Count: 1089
Written For: Prompt 144 - Invincible at fandomweekly.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters. They belong to the BBC.
There’d been rumours around Torchwood One, back when Ianto had worked there, before the Cybermen and Daleks came, and the Tower fell. Rumours that Captain Jack Harkness, head of Torchwood Three, was invincible. Ianto had heard them all over the inter-departmental grapevine, where he’d also learned who was shagging who, which of his colleagues was likely in trouble with upper management, and what Elliott Simpson had REALLY been doing on his Special Assignment that had lasted more than three months.
Rehab for drug or alcohol addiction was what most people claimed, although Ianto knew that wasn’t the case. Not that he ever told anyone, since he’d been sworn to secrecy by the man himself, but Elliott had been mucking about with an unidentified piece of alien tech which had rearranged his DNA and left him in the care of the botany department until the effects could be reversed. His skin still had a faintly greenish tinge under fluorescent lights; they hadn’t been able to get rid of all the chlorophyl.
That was all beside the point though. Interest in Elliott Simpson was a passing fad, whereas Captain Harkness was a topic of conversation that never lost its appeal, rather like the man himself. After all, he was good-looking, charismatic, larger than life, and he got right up Yvonne Hartman’s nose. Theories about him abounded, a lot of them contradictory, but it was generally accepted that he’d been with the Torchwood Institute longer than anyone, some said over a century, and yet he never appeared to get any older.
“He can’t be human,” Deb had said one day while she, Ianto, Lisa, Craig, and Austin from accounts had been talking over lunch in the cafeteria. “Not completely, anyway. Maybe he’s some sort of long-lived hybrid, part human and part alien. An experiment that went wrong and now nobody knows what to do with him.”
“I’ve heard he has no know weaknesses,” Austin cut in. “None whatsoever, not like us poor mortals.”
Lisa snorted. “That’s not true, he’s got a weakness for pretty girls, and pretty guys. Flirts with practically everyone he meets.”
“Ah, but does he follow through or is it just casual flirting, getting people off their guard?” Ianto grinned at Lisa, and she laughed.
“It’s a possibility,” she conceded, squeezing his leg under the table.
“I don’t mean that kind of weakness,” Austin protested. “I heard he’s immortal, can’t be killed no matter what you do to him.”
Craig leaned forward, keeping his voice low. “That would explain why Hartman hasn’t just had him shot. D’you think bullets would just bounce off of him, like Superman or something?”
“Dunno, but I wouldn’t want to be anywhere near him if someone did shoot him. Might get accidentally killed by a ricochet.” Sometimes it was hard to tell whether or not Austin was joking.
A few weeks later, the Canary Wharf massacre had happened, Ianto had fled to Cardiff, taking Lisa and her life-support machinery with him, and after several false starts, had managed to get both of them inside Torchwood Three.
That hadn’t turned out so well, but following the Cyberwoman’s execution Ianto had gradually rebuilt his life, worked through his guilt, shame, and grief, and come out of it tempered by the experience. Against all odds, Jack had helped him get back on his feet, and over time, as they’d grown closer, Ianto had learned all, or at least most, of his secrets.
“You have to stop doing this,” he admonished his Captain after Jack revived from yet another nasty death.
“Doing what?” Jack feigned ignorance.
“Using yourself as bait. You’re not invincible.” Ianto helped Jack to his feet.
Jack frowned. “I never said I was.”
“No, you just act like you are. There were rumours going around Torchwood One that nothing could kill you.”
“Were you disappointed when you found out the rumours were wrong?” Jack took his Webley as Ianto held it out to him, returning it to the holster on his belt, studiously avoiding looking at his lover. There was something brittle in his tone of voice.
“No, not disappointed; anyone who was so completely impervious to everything would be… I don’t know, intimidating, unapproachable, inhuman.”
“And I’m not.” It was a statement rather than a question.
“You can be intimidating when you want to be, but you’re still human, capable of feeling, and having empathy for others. You’re not some robot, devoid of emotions.”
Jack nodded, understanding what Ianto was saying.
“I know it’s harder for you this way though,” Ianto continued. “I wish you didn’t have to suffer so much.”
“You wish I didn’t throw myself into danger, I know, but sometimes there isn’t a better choice available. If it’s my life or the life of an innocent bystander… I do what I have to, because I’m the only one that can.”
“That doesn’t mean you’re expendable.”
“I’m not a cat with only nine lives to give, Ianto: I’m a permanent fixture. No matter how many times I die, I always come back.”
“But first you have to go through the experience of dying and then reviving. I understand, I do, I just wish it didn’t have to be this way.”
“I wouldn’t mind skipping the dying and resurrecting part either, it isn’t fun, but you were wrong about one thing. In a way I am invincible; killing me doesn’t stop me, it only slows me down. Then I get right back up and finish what I started.”
That was all a very long time ago, but Ianto still remembers, so when he hears a snatch of conversation as he and Jack make their way through the lobby of Torchwood’s International Headquarters, located in New Cardiff, he feels an odd kind of déjà vu.
“That’s them, isn’t it?” a blue-skinned Olgonite murmurs to her human companion. “Captain Harkness and Director Jones, I mean.”
Her friend nods. “Torchwood’s leaders. I’ve never met them, only seen them in passing a time or two. I didn’t even know they were back on earth.”
“I heard they’re immortal, that they can’t be killed. Nothing can harm them.”
“Should we tell them the truth, do you think?” Ianto murmurs to Jack as the scanners verify their identities before allowing them into their private lift tube, the one that goes straight to the top floor.
“Why? Isn’t it better to let people believe we’re invincible? If people think we can’t be killed, they might not bother trying.”
Ianto chuckled. “Fair point.”
Sometimes a bit of mystery is a good thing. It keeps people guessing.
The End