Fic: The Sea After a Storm (78/?)
Title: The Sea After a Storm, Chapter 78
Rating: R
Warnings: None really, just Zombie!Owen ;-)
Spoilers: Season Two thru Dead Man Walking (2x07)
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 Matt Jones for situations and dialogue borrowed from Dead Man Walking. No infringement, only worship intended!
Summary: In which Owen's situation goes from bad to worse...
Notes: *sigh* Getting back on track - slowly but surely! 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 Seventy-Eight
Previously on The Sea After a Storm: The team is worried about the energy that is keeping Owen alive - how it works and what it's turning him in to...
It was almost two hours before Jack reported in, but at least he had good news when he finally contacted them.
"Jack's found Owen," Gwen told Ianto.
"You heard from him?"
"He just rang," she said, sliding her phone back in her pocket. "Found Owen in a club, no surprise there."
They shared a relieved smile and then Ianto went back to his computer. He was still hoping there might be something in the archives that could help them, but his optimism was growing fainter with every search.
Gwen wandered back to her workstation, letting Tosh and Martha know that Owen had been located.
"Is he himself?" Tosh asked, sounding worried.
Himself? Ianto thought. He stopped his searching and listened more carefully to the women's conversation.
"What do you mean, himself?" Gwen asked, saving Ianto the trouble of asking for clarification.
"I wanted to know why Owen left," Tosh explained. "Actually, more if he talked to anyone about what I said, so I checked the CCTV."
"That's a bit like stalking, Tosh." Gwen sounded more amused at Tosh's behaviour than worried about what her cryptic words meant.
Ianto stood up and walked over to join them just as Tosh spun her monitor around to show them what had her concerned.
"I know! Only now I wish I hadn't, look!"
On the monitor, Owen's back was clearly displayed. Then suddenly, he turned and his eyes were completely black like something from a bad horror movie. As if that wasn't bad enough, Owen opened his mouth and spoke in a voice that was not his own.
"Melenkurion abatha... duroc minas mill khabaal!"
"Ohhh, my God," breathed Gwen.
"What is that?" Martha asked.
But Tosh just shook her head and replayed the CCTV feed again. "Ianto?" she asked.
He stepped closer to the monitor, his eyes closing as he focused on the words this time, not the fact that they were emanating from a clearly possessed Owen. He shook his head regretfully. "It's not any language I recognise," he admitted. "Did you run it through the computer."
"Yes," Tosh said in frustrated tones. "It didn't recognise it either. I couldn't search on any of the words because I couldn't spell them or, at least, the spelling I guessed at didn't get any hits."
"What about that translator artefact?" Ianto suggested.
Tosh looked confused for a moment and then brightened. "The one I nicked? That might work, oh - but Jack confiscated it," she said deflating.
Ianto raised one eyebrow. "And who stored it after he confiscated it?"
Tosh grinned at him.
They got up and headed to Jack's office, Gwen and Martha trailing along exchanging confused glances.
Ianto consulted the archive database for the bin number and then moved to the secure archives and entered in the nine digit passcode - easy to remember since Jack had insisted on using Ianto's birthday plus an extra zero - then the password which was still Rhea Silva.
"So what does this thing do?" Martha asked.
"As far as I discovered, it translates or transmits any data it comes in contact with. I used it to scan an entire book to digital just by placing it against the spine of the novel. It should work on the audio on the computer. I need to know what Owen was saying," Tosh said.
"We all do," Martha agreed.
Ianto called up the bin that contained the translator and removed it, handing it to Tosh.
She looked at it, hope written across her face. "This has never let us down before."
Back at her workstation, Tosh attached the translator to her computer monitor. "We should be able to play the translation through the computer's speakers," she said but before she could do anything the translator beeped repeatedly. "It's never done that before," she noted.
However, the alien device did not fail. After a few seconds of frantic beeping, the translation broadcast over the speakers.
"I shall walk the earth and my hunger will know no bounds."
"I've got a really bad feeling about this," Gwen observed.
"You don't know the half of it," Jack said darkly. The all turned in surprise to see Jack and Owen standing in front of the cog door as it rolled shut again. They'd all been so focussed on the computer that no one heard the alarms.
"Owen's been possessed," Jack added. He looked a little disappointed when no one reacted to his dramatic statement.
"We know," Tosh said. "This is what he was saying when... whatever it was took him over."
She played the translation again. "I shall walk the earth and my hunger will know no bounds."
Owen visibly shivered. "Well, that's right cheerful, innit?" He gave Jack an inscrutable look and took off for the stairs to the vaults.
"Where's he going?" Martha cried.
"We... uh... ran into some weevils on the way back," Jack explained. "They were behaving... oddly. Owen wants to see if it was just the pack we ran into or all of them."
Martha and Jack ran after Owen, with Tosh and Ianto close behind. Gwen, however stayed behind, moving back to her workstation. When Ianto slowed up to ask her what was wrong she just waved him off.
"Looking up that phrase," she said.
Ianto nodded and followed the others, wondering how long Gwen was going to come up with reasons to avoid being near Owen. Or how long he'll be around for her to avoid, he thought darkly as he hurried down the stairs.
They found Owen at the first vault, staring through the plexiglass wall at the weevil captive inside. Jack and Martha kept walking until they were right behind Owen, observing him as well as the weevil, while Tosh and Ianto hung back on the stairs. The weevil was indeed behaving oddly. It growled low in its throat and inched forward in a half-crouch. When it got close to the window, Owen reached up and stuck his fingers through the air holes like he was trying to make friends with a strange dog. The weevil sniffed at Owen's fingers and made a new sound, somewhere between fear and reverence, as it moved back, bowing even lower to Owen.
"So I'm King of the Weevils," Owen said.
Ianto chuckled quietly until Tosh gave him a dirty look. He turned the laugh into a cough as the weevil huddled in the far corner of its cell, kneeling before Owen with its head bent in supplication.
"Maybe even the Weevil Messiah," Owen joked again, but sounding more shocked than amused by the weevil's actions.
Ianto heard a noise on the stairs behind them and nudged Tosh. They moved up a few stairs to the landing, giving Gwen enough room to pass them by. She had a folder in her hand and looked determined.
"But whichever way you look at it, it ain't good," Owen observed bleakly.
Gwen moved down the last step and replied, "No, it isn't, and I think it's happened before."
She opened the folder and handed Jack a few photos.
"Where did you get this?"
"I found it in an article about black death and what you're looking at are the first images of the Grim Reaper. I shall walk the Earth and my hunger will know no bounds. In legend, the person who said those words was Death himself."
Ianto, who had resumed his position at the bottom of the staircase, glanced over at Owen who didn't react to Gwen's words at all - his complete focus was on the weevil.
Martha, however, protested, "But there's no such thing."
"Yeah, I'm dead, I'm not Death. There is a difference," Owen pointed out, still not turning around.
"Does he know that?" Gwen asked, motioning to the weevil.
Owen finally moved away from the plexiglass. He glanced at the photos in Jack's hands and then back at the weevil again. Ianto could see Owen vibrating with frustration and worry, could see the moment when he hit his limit and simply couldn't take it anymore and ran for the stairs, shoving between Ianto and Tosh.
"Owen!"
Jack's stern voice echoed around the vaults. Owen halted his pell-mell retreat up the stairs, but he didn't turn to look at any of them.
"Boardroom," Jack said in a quieter voice. "We'll figure this out," he promised.
Owen hunched his shoulders and didn't reply. After a long, tense moment he nodded and continued up the stairs at a slower pace. Tosh gave Ianto a worried look and then followed close behind Owen. The rest of them filed slowly up the stairs, giving Owen some time to get himself together.
TBC...
. This entry was originally posted at http://buttononthetop.dreamwidth.org/111281.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
Rating: R
Warnings: None really, just Zombie!Owen ;-)
Spoilers: Season Two thru Dead Man Walking (2x07)
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 Matt Jones for situations and dialogue borrowed from Dead Man Walking. No infringement, only worship intended!
Summary: In which Owen's situation goes from bad to worse...
Notes: *sigh* Getting back on track - slowly but surely! 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 Seventy-Eight
Previously on The Sea After a Storm: The team is worried about the energy that is keeping Owen alive - how it works and what it's turning him in to...
It was almost two hours before Jack reported in, but at least he had good news when he finally contacted them.
"Jack's found Owen," Gwen told Ianto.
"You heard from him?"
"He just rang," she said, sliding her phone back in her pocket. "Found Owen in a club, no surprise there."
They shared a relieved smile and then Ianto went back to his computer. He was still hoping there might be something in the archives that could help them, but his optimism was growing fainter with every search.
Gwen wandered back to her workstation, letting Tosh and Martha know that Owen had been located.
"Is he himself?" Tosh asked, sounding worried.
Himself? Ianto thought. He stopped his searching and listened more carefully to the women's conversation.
"What do you mean, himself?" Gwen asked, saving Ianto the trouble of asking for clarification.
"I wanted to know why Owen left," Tosh explained. "Actually, more if he talked to anyone about what I said, so I checked the CCTV."
"That's a bit like stalking, Tosh." Gwen sounded more amused at Tosh's behaviour than worried about what her cryptic words meant.
Ianto stood up and walked over to join them just as Tosh spun her monitor around to show them what had her concerned.
"I know! Only now I wish I hadn't, look!"
On the monitor, Owen's back was clearly displayed. Then suddenly, he turned and his eyes were completely black like something from a bad horror movie. As if that wasn't bad enough, Owen opened his mouth and spoke in a voice that was not his own.
"Melenkurion abatha... duroc minas mill khabaal!"
"Ohhh, my God," breathed Gwen.
"What is that?" Martha asked.
But Tosh just shook her head and replayed the CCTV feed again. "Ianto?" she asked.
He stepped closer to the monitor, his eyes closing as he focused on the words this time, not the fact that they were emanating from a clearly possessed Owen. He shook his head regretfully. "It's not any language I recognise," he admitted. "Did you run it through the computer."
"Yes," Tosh said in frustrated tones. "It didn't recognise it either. I couldn't search on any of the words because I couldn't spell them or, at least, the spelling I guessed at didn't get any hits."
"What about that translator artefact?" Ianto suggested.
Tosh looked confused for a moment and then brightened. "The one I nicked? That might work, oh - but Jack confiscated it," she said deflating.
Ianto raised one eyebrow. "And who stored it after he confiscated it?"
Tosh grinned at him.
They got up and headed to Jack's office, Gwen and Martha trailing along exchanging confused glances.
Ianto consulted the archive database for the bin number and then moved to the secure archives and entered in the nine digit passcode - easy to remember since Jack had insisted on using Ianto's birthday plus an extra zero - then the password which was still Rhea Silva.
"So what does this thing do?" Martha asked.
"As far as I discovered, it translates or transmits any data it comes in contact with. I used it to scan an entire book to digital just by placing it against the spine of the novel. It should work on the audio on the computer. I need to know what Owen was saying," Tosh said.
"We all do," Martha agreed.
Ianto called up the bin that contained the translator and removed it, handing it to Tosh.
She looked at it, hope written across her face. "This has never let us down before."
Back at her workstation, Tosh attached the translator to her computer monitor. "We should be able to play the translation through the computer's speakers," she said but before she could do anything the translator beeped repeatedly. "It's never done that before," she noted.
However, the alien device did not fail. After a few seconds of frantic beeping, the translation broadcast over the speakers.
"I shall walk the earth and my hunger will know no bounds."
"I've got a really bad feeling about this," Gwen observed.
"You don't know the half of it," Jack said darkly. The all turned in surprise to see Jack and Owen standing in front of the cog door as it rolled shut again. They'd all been so focussed on the computer that no one heard the alarms.
"Owen's been possessed," Jack added. He looked a little disappointed when no one reacted to his dramatic statement.
"We know," Tosh said. "This is what he was saying when... whatever it was took him over."
She played the translation again. "I shall walk the earth and my hunger will know no bounds."
Owen visibly shivered. "Well, that's right cheerful, innit?" He gave Jack an inscrutable look and took off for the stairs to the vaults.
"Where's he going?" Martha cried.
"We... uh... ran into some weevils on the way back," Jack explained. "They were behaving... oddly. Owen wants to see if it was just the pack we ran into or all of them."
Martha and Jack ran after Owen, with Tosh and Ianto close behind. Gwen, however stayed behind, moving back to her workstation. When Ianto slowed up to ask her what was wrong she just waved him off.
"Looking up that phrase," she said.
Ianto nodded and followed the others, wondering how long Gwen was going to come up with reasons to avoid being near Owen. Or how long he'll be around for her to avoid, he thought darkly as he hurried down the stairs.
They found Owen at the first vault, staring through the plexiglass wall at the weevil captive inside. Jack and Martha kept walking until they were right behind Owen, observing him as well as the weevil, while Tosh and Ianto hung back on the stairs. The weevil was indeed behaving oddly. It growled low in its throat and inched forward in a half-crouch. When it got close to the window, Owen reached up and stuck his fingers through the air holes like he was trying to make friends with a strange dog. The weevil sniffed at Owen's fingers and made a new sound, somewhere between fear and reverence, as it moved back, bowing even lower to Owen.
"So I'm King of the Weevils," Owen said.
Ianto chuckled quietly until Tosh gave him a dirty look. He turned the laugh into a cough as the weevil huddled in the far corner of its cell, kneeling before Owen with its head bent in supplication.
"Maybe even the Weevil Messiah," Owen joked again, but sounding more shocked than amused by the weevil's actions.
Ianto heard a noise on the stairs behind them and nudged Tosh. They moved up a few stairs to the landing, giving Gwen enough room to pass them by. She had a folder in her hand and looked determined.
"But whichever way you look at it, it ain't good," Owen observed bleakly.
Gwen moved down the last step and replied, "No, it isn't, and I think it's happened before."
She opened the folder and handed Jack a few photos.
"Where did you get this?"
"I found it in an article about black death and what you're looking at are the first images of the Grim Reaper. I shall walk the Earth and my hunger will know no bounds. In legend, the person who said those words was Death himself."
Ianto, who had resumed his position at the bottom of the staircase, glanced over at Owen who didn't react to Gwen's words at all - his complete focus was on the weevil.
Martha, however, protested, "But there's no such thing."
"Yeah, I'm dead, I'm not Death. There is a difference," Owen pointed out, still not turning around.
"Does he know that?" Gwen asked, motioning to the weevil.
Owen finally moved away from the plexiglass. He glanced at the photos in Jack's hands and then back at the weevil again. Ianto could see Owen vibrating with frustration and worry, could see the moment when he hit his limit and simply couldn't take it anymore and ran for the stairs, shoving between Ianto and Tosh.
"Owen!"
Jack's stern voice echoed around the vaults. Owen halted his pell-mell retreat up the stairs, but he didn't turn to look at any of them.
"Boardroom," Jack said in a quieter voice. "We'll figure this out," he promised.
Owen hunched his shoulders and didn't reply. After a long, tense moment he nodded and continued up the stairs at a slower pace. Tosh gave Ianto a worried look and then followed close behind Owen. The rest of them filed slowly up the stairs, giving Owen some time to get himself together.
TBC...
. This entry was originally posted at http://buttononthetop.dreamwidth.org/111281.html. Please comment there using OpenID.