Fic: The Sea After a Storm (69/?)
Title: The Sea After a Storm, Chapter 69
Rating: R
Warnings: None really, just didn't feel like changing the rating
Spoilers: Season Two thru Reset (2x06)
Pairings: Jack/Ianto
Disclaimer: Torchwood, Doctor Who and all their wonderfulness belong to the Mighty Beeb and He Who Must Not Be Named. All ©'s to J.C. Wilsher for situations and dialogue borrowed from Reset. No infringement, only worship intended!
Summary: In which the team discovers the link between the dead bodies...
Notes: So sorry I missed Wednesday's post! :( Real life and all that - ugh. You can find all the previous chapters of The Sea After a Storm here. This is a sequel to Vizzini’s Rule and To The Pain. Thanks again and forever to my amazing beta and wonderful friend
thraceadams for all the help and support and beta work; any mistakes are mine!
The Sea After a Storm: Chapter Sixty-Nine
Previously on The Sea After a Storm: The team investigated yet another "cleansing" murder and a survivor of an attack, leading them to more questions than answers...
Ianto set the SUV on the same path it had followed earlier that morning. The University lay just south of Heath Park where the body of Barry Leonard had been found a few hours before. The rain was just letting up again as they made their way across the campus to the address Tosh had found for the murdered student.
A beefy young man opened the door of the flat at their knock. He half-heartedly covered up his yawn as he greeted them with a muffled, "Yeah?"
"Is this Barry Leonard's flat?" Gwen asked.
"Yeah, his and mine. Uhhh..." The boy's head disappeared behind the door for a second. "Yeah, he's not here."
"Can we come in for a moment?"
"Why?"
"Well, um... I'm afraid we have some bad news, pet," Gwen said softly.
"What's wrong? Did something happen to Barry?"
"Yes, it has, rather."
The boy stepped back and let the door swing open, motioning them into the small room. They passed a cluttered table where an electric kettle was just beginning to boil.
"D'you want some tea?" the boy asked politely.
"Yes, thank you, we'd love some," Gwen answered for both of them.
There was a long moment of silence whilst the boy added the hot water and tea bags to three mugs. He picked up all three and passed them round, saying, "Oh, I'm Tom, by the way, sorry." He sat on one of the beds as he took a sip of his tea.
Ianto rather thought the poor fellow would need it.
"Thanks, Tom, I'm Gwen and this is Ianto."
"So what's happened to Barry?"
Gwen took a chair across from the bed where Tom was sitting. She crossed her legs and leaned closer to him. "We're working with police on a case and this morning... I'm afraid we discovered Barry... in the park. He's... he'd dead, pet."
"What?" Tom asked. "What do you mean dead?"
"Barry's been killed, Tom," Ianto said gently.
"What? How?" Tom whispered.
"That's what we're trying to find out," Gwen said. "How well did you know him?"
Tom took another drink of his tea and seemed to settle a bit. "Barry was my best mate," he said in a stronger voice. "We were doing the same course. Met him on the first day."
"Was Barry doing any sort of drugs at all?" Gwen asked neutrally. Ianto had to admire her ability to ask that type of question with no judgment in her voice.
"Well," Tom hedged. "He used to be really clean. Reckoned he had to be careful about what went into his body because of his diabetes."
"Barry was diabetic?" Ianto interjected.
"Sure, but when they cured that, he was doing booze, blow..."
At the word cured, Ianto's eyebrows shot up. He looked over at Gwen who met his eyes for a second, but didn't change her expression or her calm tone of voice.
"Wait a minute," Gwen interrupted Tom. "You're telling me Barry's diabetes was cured?"
"Sure," Tom said again.
Ianto frowned. "That's impossible."
"Well, he stopped taking insulin," Tom argued. "He was fine!"
Ianto turned away, letting Gwen continue her questions. He tapped his comm. "Owen? Something you should know."
There was a pause and then Owen answered. "What's that?"
"Barry Leonard is said to have recovered... from diabetes."
"Thanks, Ianto," Owen said.
"Yep." Ianto tapped his comm again took another sip of his tea as he turned back to Gwen and Tom.
She was finishing up, thanking Tom for the information he'd shared and restating her sympathies for the loss of his friend. Tom got a little choked up at that, retreating to his tea and sort of waving them out of the room with muffled thanks.
"Bloody hell!" Gwen said as soon as they were a few doors away from Tom's flat. She clenched her hands together, practically wringing them.
"What's wrong?"
"Oh, notifications like that always get to me," she said mournfully. "Doesn't matter how much they train or prepare you, it's the absolute worst part of the job."
Ianto raised his eyebrows in surprise as he opened the door to the car park for Gwen. "Well, it didn't show a bit. You we're excellent in there," he said. "Calm, comforting, unflappable. You didn't even blink when Tom mentioned curing diabetes - very impressive."
Gwen flushed slightly. "Thanks, Ianto. Did you let Owen know?"
Ianto nodded.
"Good. Hopefully that interesting tid-bit will help them out. Did he say anything about Marie? Oh, here -" Gwen dug in her pocket and tossed him the keys to the SUV. "You drive, my hands are still shaking."
Catching the keys, Ianto unlocked the vehicle and got situated behind the wheel, scooting the seat back several inches to allow for his long legs, before he spoke again.
"Owen didn't really say anything when I comm'd him. He sounded distracted, like they were in the middle of something."
"Hmmm," Gwen mused. "Well, we'll know more when we get back to the Hub. I wonder if all the victims had diabetes?"
"That would be the link we've been looking for. Not sure how we can find out quickly without the medical records, though," Ianto said darkly as he navigated them back out to the road and headed for the Hub.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
The likely link between the patients became clear about an hour later when Owen and Martha presented their findings from their interview with the now deceased Marie Thomas.
"This, folks," Owen said, pointing at the monitor, "is a molecular model of the drug that we found in Marie's blood."
"She called it Reset," Martha noted.
"So, what does it do?" Ianto asked, thinking that he had a good guess.
Owen explained. "Think about when you run a virus scan through your computer, yeah? The software works its way through the files and when it finds a Trojan or a virus or whatever, identifies it and then it deletes it. That is what this stuff does to the human body."
Ianto caught Gwen's eye and nodded before handing out the printed details of the information Owen was describing. He and Gwen had tossed around a similar hypothesis on their drive back from the park.
"But it's not just viruses," Owen continued. "It's harmful bacteria, toxins, even mutant cells, you name it. It's like the body's been turned back to its factory settings."
"It's the ultimate magic bullet," Martha added, sounding excited. "Supersedes anything and everything in the pharmacological armoury."
"But that would be the greatest medical discovery in history," Gwen said, clearly waiting for the other shoe to drop.
"Exactly," Martha agreed. "Except, it comes bundled with a lethal alien parasite."
Ianto shuddered as the screen changed to show an insect of some sort.
Jack grimaced. "Ah, not so good a discovery."
"The parasite needs a healthy body until it's incubated. So the parasite egg incorporates this magic bullet, which puts everything in the system back to its factory settings."
"Reset." Jack waved his hands like a magician at the end of a trick. "Neato," he added sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "So who runs the Pharm?" he asked, looking to Ianto who opened the file of information he'd gathered on the institute at Martha's request.
"Well, the public image is innocent enough. Private-public partnership between the government and a consortium of the pharmaceutical companies. Researching and developing cutting-edge biotechnology."
He handed the folder across the table to Gwen as Tosh chimed in to share her findings.
"Their IT systems are way more cutting-edge than they need to be. Plus they've got seeming unrestricted security clearance."
"Which means," Martha jumped in, "they'd have the capability to erase medical records if they wanted to."
Tosh gave Martha a tight smile. "Exactly," she said.
"Who runs this outfit?" Jack asked.
Gwen glanced at the file she was holding. "Institute director is a Dr. Aaron Copley."
Ianto reached over to the display controls and pulled up a screen with Copley's bio and photo.
"Yeah," Owen said. "I know his work. He's one of the most respected research scientists in his field."
"Harvard graduate," Ianto added. "Did research at Cambridge. Last job, Harvard Professor of Molecular Pharmacology. Came to the UK to set up the Pharm," he finished rolling his eyes at the name while he made a showy gesture with his hand.
Jack gave him a quick grin and then glanced at the screen again. "Hmmm... he'd kinda handsome, too. D'you think he'll like visitors?" he asked in an innocent voice.
"Doubtful, sir," Ianto replied dryly, leaning back against the structural column with his hands in his pockets.
Jack grinned at him again. "That's even better. Owen, with me. Let's pay a call on the Pharm."
Ianto let his gaze linger on Jack as he left the boardroom with Owen on his heels. When he turned back to the table, he caught Martha watching him with a little smirk on her lips. He gave her a bland smile and began gathering up the papers left on the table, grateful that Gwen distracted Martha just then with a question about Reset.
TBC…
. This entry was originally posted at http://buttononthetop.dreamwidth.org/108778.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
Rating: R
Warnings: None really, just didn't feel like changing the rating
Spoilers: Season Two thru Reset (2x06)
Pairings: Jack/Ianto
Disclaimer: Torchwood, Doctor Who and all their wonderfulness belong to the Mighty Beeb and He Who Must Not Be Named. All ©'s to J.C. Wilsher for situations and dialogue borrowed from Reset. No infringement, only worship intended!
Summary: In which the team discovers the link between the dead bodies...
Notes: So sorry I missed Wednesday's post! :( Real life and all that - ugh. You can find all the previous chapters of The Sea After a Storm here. This is a sequel to Vizzini’s Rule and To The Pain. Thanks again and forever to my amazing beta and wonderful friend
thraceadams for all the help and support and beta work; any mistakes are mine!
The Sea After a Storm: Chapter Sixty-Nine
Previously on The Sea After a Storm: The team investigated yet another "cleansing" murder and a survivor of an attack, leading them to more questions than answers...
Ianto set the SUV on the same path it had followed earlier that morning. The University lay just south of Heath Park where the body of Barry Leonard had been found a few hours before. The rain was just letting up again as they made their way across the campus to the address Tosh had found for the murdered student.
A beefy young man opened the door of the flat at their knock. He half-heartedly covered up his yawn as he greeted them with a muffled, "Yeah?"
"Is this Barry Leonard's flat?" Gwen asked.
"Yeah, his and mine. Uhhh..." The boy's head disappeared behind the door for a second. "Yeah, he's not here."
"Can we come in for a moment?"
"Why?"
"Well, um... I'm afraid we have some bad news, pet," Gwen said softly.
"What's wrong? Did something happen to Barry?"
"Yes, it has, rather."
The boy stepped back and let the door swing open, motioning them into the small room. They passed a cluttered table where an electric kettle was just beginning to boil.
"D'you want some tea?" the boy asked politely.
"Yes, thank you, we'd love some," Gwen answered for both of them.
There was a long moment of silence whilst the boy added the hot water and tea bags to three mugs. He picked up all three and passed them round, saying, "Oh, I'm Tom, by the way, sorry." He sat on one of the beds as he took a sip of his tea.
Ianto rather thought the poor fellow would need it.
"Thanks, Tom, I'm Gwen and this is Ianto."
"So what's happened to Barry?"
Gwen took a chair across from the bed where Tom was sitting. She crossed her legs and leaned closer to him. "We're working with police on a case and this morning... I'm afraid we discovered Barry... in the park. He's... he'd dead, pet."
"What?" Tom asked. "What do you mean dead?"
"Barry's been killed, Tom," Ianto said gently.
"What? How?" Tom whispered.
"That's what we're trying to find out," Gwen said. "How well did you know him?"
Tom took another drink of his tea and seemed to settle a bit. "Barry was my best mate," he said in a stronger voice. "We were doing the same course. Met him on the first day."
"Was Barry doing any sort of drugs at all?" Gwen asked neutrally. Ianto had to admire her ability to ask that type of question with no judgment in her voice.
"Well," Tom hedged. "He used to be really clean. Reckoned he had to be careful about what went into his body because of his diabetes."
"Barry was diabetic?" Ianto interjected.
"Sure, but when they cured that, he was doing booze, blow..."
At the word cured, Ianto's eyebrows shot up. He looked over at Gwen who met his eyes for a second, but didn't change her expression or her calm tone of voice.
"Wait a minute," Gwen interrupted Tom. "You're telling me Barry's diabetes was cured?"
"Sure," Tom said again.
Ianto frowned. "That's impossible."
"Well, he stopped taking insulin," Tom argued. "He was fine!"
Ianto turned away, letting Gwen continue her questions. He tapped his comm. "Owen? Something you should know."
There was a pause and then Owen answered. "What's that?"
"Barry Leonard is said to have recovered... from diabetes."
"Thanks, Ianto," Owen said.
"Yep." Ianto tapped his comm again took another sip of his tea as he turned back to Gwen and Tom.
She was finishing up, thanking Tom for the information he'd shared and restating her sympathies for the loss of his friend. Tom got a little choked up at that, retreating to his tea and sort of waving them out of the room with muffled thanks.
"Bloody hell!" Gwen said as soon as they were a few doors away from Tom's flat. She clenched her hands together, practically wringing them.
"What's wrong?"
"Oh, notifications like that always get to me," she said mournfully. "Doesn't matter how much they train or prepare you, it's the absolute worst part of the job."
Ianto raised his eyebrows in surprise as he opened the door to the car park for Gwen. "Well, it didn't show a bit. You we're excellent in there," he said. "Calm, comforting, unflappable. You didn't even blink when Tom mentioned curing diabetes - very impressive."
Gwen flushed slightly. "Thanks, Ianto. Did you let Owen know?"
Ianto nodded.
"Good. Hopefully that interesting tid-bit will help them out. Did he say anything about Marie? Oh, here -" Gwen dug in her pocket and tossed him the keys to the SUV. "You drive, my hands are still shaking."
Catching the keys, Ianto unlocked the vehicle and got situated behind the wheel, scooting the seat back several inches to allow for his long legs, before he spoke again.
"Owen didn't really say anything when I comm'd him. He sounded distracted, like they were in the middle of something."
"Hmmm," Gwen mused. "Well, we'll know more when we get back to the Hub. I wonder if all the victims had diabetes?"
"That would be the link we've been looking for. Not sure how we can find out quickly without the medical records, though," Ianto said darkly as he navigated them back out to the road and headed for the Hub.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
The likely link between the patients became clear about an hour later when Owen and Martha presented their findings from their interview with the now deceased Marie Thomas.
"This, folks," Owen said, pointing at the monitor, "is a molecular model of the drug that we found in Marie's blood."
"She called it Reset," Martha noted.
"So, what does it do?" Ianto asked, thinking that he had a good guess.
Owen explained. "Think about when you run a virus scan through your computer, yeah? The software works its way through the files and when it finds a Trojan or a virus or whatever, identifies it and then it deletes it. That is what this stuff does to the human body."
Ianto caught Gwen's eye and nodded before handing out the printed details of the information Owen was describing. He and Gwen had tossed around a similar hypothesis on their drive back from the park.
"But it's not just viruses," Owen continued. "It's harmful bacteria, toxins, even mutant cells, you name it. It's like the body's been turned back to its factory settings."
"It's the ultimate magic bullet," Martha added, sounding excited. "Supersedes anything and everything in the pharmacological armoury."
"But that would be the greatest medical discovery in history," Gwen said, clearly waiting for the other shoe to drop.
"Exactly," Martha agreed. "Except, it comes bundled with a lethal alien parasite."
Ianto shuddered as the screen changed to show an insect of some sort.
Jack grimaced. "Ah, not so good a discovery."
"The parasite needs a healthy body until it's incubated. So the parasite egg incorporates this magic bullet, which puts everything in the system back to its factory settings."
"Reset." Jack waved his hands like a magician at the end of a trick. "Neato," he added sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "So who runs the Pharm?" he asked, looking to Ianto who opened the file of information he'd gathered on the institute at Martha's request.
"Well, the public image is innocent enough. Private-public partnership between the government and a consortium of the pharmaceutical companies. Researching and developing cutting-edge biotechnology."
He handed the folder across the table to Gwen as Tosh chimed in to share her findings.
"Their IT systems are way more cutting-edge than they need to be. Plus they've got seeming unrestricted security clearance."
"Which means," Martha jumped in, "they'd have the capability to erase medical records if they wanted to."
Tosh gave Martha a tight smile. "Exactly," she said.
"Who runs this outfit?" Jack asked.
Gwen glanced at the file she was holding. "Institute director is a Dr. Aaron Copley."
Ianto reached over to the display controls and pulled up a screen with Copley's bio and photo.
"Yeah," Owen said. "I know his work. He's one of the most respected research scientists in his field."
"Harvard graduate," Ianto added. "Did research at Cambridge. Last job, Harvard Professor of Molecular Pharmacology. Came to the UK to set up the Pharm," he finished rolling his eyes at the name while he made a showy gesture with his hand.
Jack gave him a quick grin and then glanced at the screen again. "Hmmm... he'd kinda handsome, too. D'you think he'll like visitors?" he asked in an innocent voice.
"Doubtful, sir," Ianto replied dryly, leaning back against the structural column with his hands in his pockets.
Jack grinned at him again. "That's even better. Owen, with me. Let's pay a call on the Pharm."
Ianto let his gaze linger on Jack as he left the boardroom with Owen on his heels. When he turned back to the table, he caught Martha watching him with a little smirk on her lips. He gave her a bland smile and began gathering up the papers left on the table, grateful that Gwen distracted Martha just then with a question about Reset.
TBC…
. This entry was originally posted at http://buttononthetop.dreamwidth.org/108778.html. Please comment there using OpenID.