Beautiful Iris 1/20
Pairings: Jack/Ianto, Tosh/Owen, Ianto/Gwen (sort of)
Summary: when a seemingly cut-and-dried incident calls out Torchwood early one morning all is not as it originally seems. Alien technology leads the team into a trap of danger and curiosity, propelling them to an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar faces. Split into two, the team must find a way back before past events puts one member of Torchwood into danger.
Spoilers: season1 up to episode 7.
A/N : I haven't written anything for a while, so I decided to finish this fic. It now has 20 parts an an actual ending :) please r&r
Heavy rain pelted the windscreen of the SUV as it raced down the deserted Cardiff street. Owen grabbed onto the seat in the back and gritted his teeth; Ianto was exceeding the speed limit again, almost eighty miles per hour this time and loving every minute. The large vehicle skidded around a tight corner and sent Toshiko flying across Owen’s lap, her hair falling in front of her face and, as she looked up to her skinny colleague through her fringe, he held back a smirk.
“Watch where you’re putting your hands Sato,” he said, pushing her back upright. “I’m not a groping toy.”
“Owen, if I could have avoided having any kind of personal contact with you I would’ve” Toshiko fixed her hair and managed to stay upright as the SUV skidded around another narrow bend. “Believe it or not, not every woman in the world falls to your feet.”
"Who said anything about feet?"
She looked at the reading on her hand-held computer and gazed out of the window, trying to see past the beads of rain that tumbled down the glass. "Ianto, take your next left and then your second right."
The Captain clung to the dashboard with a grin like a Cheshire cat and glanced over his shoulder. The rush of adrenaline and the thrill of the hunt filled his eyes, almost glazing them over. “I love a good chase!"
The SUV skidded around another corner and this time Owen fell into Toshiko’s chest face down; she opened her mouth to speak just as Owen lifted himself upright. “One word!” he warned.
“I wasn’t going to say a thing.”
Gwen looked at her mobile and stared at the text message on the screen as she flew from left to right, almost dropping the phone twice, as Ianto manoeuvred the vehicle. It was another message from Rhys, another worried message asking if she was coming home. She dropped her phone when Ianto finally sent the SUV into a hairpin turn, resulting in a perfectly parallel parking position beside the curb. Reaching for her phone, she quickly text Rhys back. She hated the lies, they were necessary lies, but a lie was still a lie.
“Nice work Ianto,” Jack said, releasing himself from the confines of the seat belt. “Couldn’t have done it better myself.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“You really know how to set my heart racing.”
"Good to know." There was a glint in his eye, an inner satisfaction that nobody but Jack ever noticed.
“I think I’m going to be sick,” Tosh said, putting her hand against her forehead.
“It’ll be fine when the world stops spinning,” Owen added, leaning against the backrest. “Ianto, you need driving lessons, mate.”
The Welshman hopped out of the SUV and closed the door, then walked around to the rear door and opened it, popping his head inside. “What's wrong with it?”
“One day you're going to kill us.”
“You're alive now aren't you?”
“Obviously.”
“Then stop complaining.”
“Are you going to sit in the car all morning or are you going to get to work?” Jack asked, jumping out the SUV and slamming the door.
The two corpses lay in the alleyway, lying almost on top of each other; the blood was being washed away by the torrential rain that hammered the pavement, running in a stream down the pathway and disappearing down into the drain. Owen crouched down beside the bodies and put on his gloves.
“Cause of death?” Jack asked, putting his hands on his hips as he looked down at him.
“Weevil, or at least that would be my guess, I really couldn’t say without a post mortem.”
“Cut-and-dried then?” he asked.
“More or less.”
“Okay then what’s say we pack these babies up and head back then?”
“There’s nothing else we can do here.”
“Ianto!” Jack called, pointing to the corpses at his feet. “Two more for the wagon!”
Toshiko walked over to the corpses with her hand-held device and scanned them carefully, glaring at her screen and wiping the rain from it; it was just lucky they were waterproof. The water dripped off her eyelashes in large beads, almost blinding her view. “Everything seems fine. Low level radiation, but nothing out of the ordinary for us. I’d say this was a bog-standard case; boring but quick,” she said standing up and putting her away her equipment. She wiped the rain away from her face again. “But, where’s the Weevil?”
“No reports of it," Ianto said. "Maybe I'll get an early night for once."
"That's no fun." Jack pouted. "Who wants to sleep when there are weevils to hunt?"
"Me."
"Well, these bodies have been here at least four hours by the looks of it, so I think it's safe to say that all the Weevils are tucked up underneath the city again." Owen said, helping Ianto drag one of the bodies up by their arms.
"I'll get these back to the hub then." Ianto hoisted the corpse onto his shoulder, with the help of Owen, then groaned when blood splattered onto his face. “I love field work.”
“Glamorous isn’t it?” Tosh joked.
“Champagne and strawberries have nothing on Weevil shit and blood splatters.”
“Come on le'ts get these loaded. I need a coffee.”
“Is that it?" Gwen asked, looking around at the team. Ianto paused and turned around, rolling his eyes at the Gwen-morality speech he could tell was coming. "Two people; dead, and that’s all you say? We take two minutes to look at them without even thinking of who they are, where they come from or who might be missing them and then just pack up and leave, just like that?"
“We’re not the police Gwen,” Jack said. "Identifying and informing just isn’t our bag. We just show up and do what needs be. I genuinely thought you would have got the hang of it by now."
"But what about respect?" She asked the question, but nobody answered; nobody ever answered.
Toshiko turned away and walked down the alley towards the SUV with Jack who was now carrying the second corpse over his shoulders. Ianto started to move again; the body was getting heavy. The only person beside her was Owen, who was fastening up his examination bag. "What about respect for the dead, Owen? You're a doctor for God's sake, it must mean something to you"
"Gwen,“ Owen said, hurling the bag over his shoulder, almost drowning in the rain. “It’s one o’clock in the morning, and I've yet to have my coffee so try talking to me about respect at a tolerable hour."
“Where’s your humanity?” She shouted down the street after them. “What happened to your compassion, or didn’t you have any to start with? Is that a requirement for Torchwood?”
Jack took a deep breath and deposited the corpse in the SUV with a thud before taking his time to walk back to Gwen who stood in the street, soaked with rain. Her hands stayed firmly docked to her hips, with one foot slightly forward and a scowl on her face. Her mouth was open, and her eyes half closed as she tried to see through the rain at the figure walking towards her.
“If I spent all my time grieving for the people that we scrape off the pavement, or searching for long lost relatives to break the news to I would never do anything else. You have to separate yourself; you know this.”
“Separate myself from my humanity?” She scoffed. “No thanks, Jack.”
“I hired you for your dose of humanity,” he reminded her. "But you have to remember that we’re not here to feel sorry for them, or to feel sad for them. We’re here to do our job and protect the rest of them so that they don‘t meet the same fate.”
“But these people, all these dead people, am I really supposed to pretend I don’t care?”
“You can’t do anything for these people now, they’re gone Gwen.”
“I can’t just separate myself the way that you do, I have feelings Jack, I’m not an immortal monster like you; I’m not heartless,” she spat and watched Jack as he lost his usually calm composure.
“You think I’m a monster?" Jack asked. "You think that I’m a heartless monster because I don’t react the way you do?”
“That’s exactly why Jack. You have no human emotion left.”
“Then maybe I am a monster, but sometimes a monster is the only thing there to stop the others from getting through! So if you don’t like it, if you can’t get used to the way that we operate, then you know what you can do. You know where the door is!”
“Right through a large dose of Retcon I would imagine.” She stepped closer to him.
“You would imagine right.”
“That seems to be your answer for everything. If anyone even comes so close as to finding out about your little club or what you do, you slip them a dose of Retcon and they wake up none the wiser.”
“You know how Torchwood is and how important it is that we stay under the radar. Our business is a need to know business.” He turned away and started to walk down the street. “Now collect your things and get in the SUV. Go back to the hub and do your job without the side-order of emotional blackmail if at all possible.”
“Jack!” Ianto’s voice commanded from the SUV. “I think you had better come and see this.”
PART 2
Summary: when a seemingly cut-and-dried incident calls out Torchwood early one morning all is not as it originally seems. Alien technology leads the team into a trap of danger and curiosity, propelling them to an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar faces. Split into two, the team must find a way back before past events puts one member of Torchwood into danger.
Spoilers: season1 up to episode 7.
A/N : I haven't written anything for a while, so I decided to finish this fic. It now has 20 parts an an actual ending :) please r&r
Heavy rain pelted the windscreen of the SUV as it raced down the deserted Cardiff street. Owen grabbed onto the seat in the back and gritted his teeth; Ianto was exceeding the speed limit again, almost eighty miles per hour this time and loving every minute. The large vehicle skidded around a tight corner and sent Toshiko flying across Owen’s lap, her hair falling in front of her face and, as she looked up to her skinny colleague through her fringe, he held back a smirk.
“Watch where you’re putting your hands Sato,” he said, pushing her back upright. “I’m not a groping toy.”
“Owen, if I could have avoided having any kind of personal contact with you I would’ve” Toshiko fixed her hair and managed to stay upright as the SUV skidded around another narrow bend. “Believe it or not, not every woman in the world falls to your feet.”
"Who said anything about feet?"
She looked at the reading on her hand-held computer and gazed out of the window, trying to see past the beads of rain that tumbled down the glass. "Ianto, take your next left and then your second right."
The Captain clung to the dashboard with a grin like a Cheshire cat and glanced over his shoulder. The rush of adrenaline and the thrill of the hunt filled his eyes, almost glazing them over. “I love a good chase!"
The SUV skidded around another corner and this time Owen fell into Toshiko’s chest face down; she opened her mouth to speak just as Owen lifted himself upright. “One word!” he warned.
“I wasn’t going to say a thing.”
Gwen looked at her mobile and stared at the text message on the screen as she flew from left to right, almost dropping the phone twice, as Ianto manoeuvred the vehicle. It was another message from Rhys, another worried message asking if she was coming home. She dropped her phone when Ianto finally sent the SUV into a hairpin turn, resulting in a perfectly parallel parking position beside the curb. Reaching for her phone, she quickly text Rhys back. She hated the lies, they were necessary lies, but a lie was still a lie.
“Nice work Ianto,” Jack said, releasing himself from the confines of the seat belt. “Couldn’t have done it better myself.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“You really know how to set my heart racing.”
"Good to know." There was a glint in his eye, an inner satisfaction that nobody but Jack ever noticed.
“I think I’m going to be sick,” Tosh said, putting her hand against her forehead.
“It’ll be fine when the world stops spinning,” Owen added, leaning against the backrest. “Ianto, you need driving lessons, mate.”
The Welshman hopped out of the SUV and closed the door, then walked around to the rear door and opened it, popping his head inside. “What's wrong with it?”
“One day you're going to kill us.”
“You're alive now aren't you?”
“Obviously.”
“Then stop complaining.”
“Are you going to sit in the car all morning or are you going to get to work?” Jack asked, jumping out the SUV and slamming the door.
The two corpses lay in the alleyway, lying almost on top of each other; the blood was being washed away by the torrential rain that hammered the pavement, running in a stream down the pathway and disappearing down into the drain. Owen crouched down beside the bodies and put on his gloves.
“Cause of death?” Jack asked, putting his hands on his hips as he looked down at him.
“Weevil, or at least that would be my guess, I really couldn’t say without a post mortem.”
“Cut-and-dried then?” he asked.
“More or less.”
“Okay then what’s say we pack these babies up and head back then?”
“There’s nothing else we can do here.”
“Ianto!” Jack called, pointing to the corpses at his feet. “Two more for the wagon!”
Toshiko walked over to the corpses with her hand-held device and scanned them carefully, glaring at her screen and wiping the rain from it; it was just lucky they were waterproof. The water dripped off her eyelashes in large beads, almost blinding her view. “Everything seems fine. Low level radiation, but nothing out of the ordinary for us. I’d say this was a bog-standard case; boring but quick,” she said standing up and putting her away her equipment. She wiped the rain away from her face again. “But, where’s the Weevil?”
“No reports of it," Ianto said. "Maybe I'll get an early night for once."
"That's no fun." Jack pouted. "Who wants to sleep when there are weevils to hunt?"
"Me."
"Well, these bodies have been here at least four hours by the looks of it, so I think it's safe to say that all the Weevils are tucked up underneath the city again." Owen said, helping Ianto drag one of the bodies up by their arms.
"I'll get these back to the hub then." Ianto hoisted the corpse onto his shoulder, with the help of Owen, then groaned when blood splattered onto his face. “I love field work.”
“Glamorous isn’t it?” Tosh joked.
“Champagne and strawberries have nothing on Weevil shit and blood splatters.”
“Come on le'ts get these loaded. I need a coffee.”
“Is that it?" Gwen asked, looking around at the team. Ianto paused and turned around, rolling his eyes at the Gwen-morality speech he could tell was coming. "Two people; dead, and that’s all you say? We take two minutes to look at them without even thinking of who they are, where they come from or who might be missing them and then just pack up and leave, just like that?"
“We’re not the police Gwen,” Jack said. "Identifying and informing just isn’t our bag. We just show up and do what needs be. I genuinely thought you would have got the hang of it by now."
"But what about respect?" She asked the question, but nobody answered; nobody ever answered.
Toshiko turned away and walked down the alley towards the SUV with Jack who was now carrying the second corpse over his shoulders. Ianto started to move again; the body was getting heavy. The only person beside her was Owen, who was fastening up his examination bag. "What about respect for the dead, Owen? You're a doctor for God's sake, it must mean something to you"
"Gwen,“ Owen said, hurling the bag over his shoulder, almost drowning in the rain. “It’s one o’clock in the morning, and I've yet to have my coffee so try talking to me about respect at a tolerable hour."
“Where’s your humanity?” She shouted down the street after them. “What happened to your compassion, or didn’t you have any to start with? Is that a requirement for Torchwood?”
Jack took a deep breath and deposited the corpse in the SUV with a thud before taking his time to walk back to Gwen who stood in the street, soaked with rain. Her hands stayed firmly docked to her hips, with one foot slightly forward and a scowl on her face. Her mouth was open, and her eyes half closed as she tried to see through the rain at the figure walking towards her.
“If I spent all my time grieving for the people that we scrape off the pavement, or searching for long lost relatives to break the news to I would never do anything else. You have to separate yourself; you know this.”
“Separate myself from my humanity?” She scoffed. “No thanks, Jack.”
“I hired you for your dose of humanity,” he reminded her. "But you have to remember that we’re not here to feel sorry for them, or to feel sad for them. We’re here to do our job and protect the rest of them so that they don‘t meet the same fate.”
“But these people, all these dead people, am I really supposed to pretend I don’t care?”
“You can’t do anything for these people now, they’re gone Gwen.”
“I can’t just separate myself the way that you do, I have feelings Jack, I’m not an immortal monster like you; I’m not heartless,” she spat and watched Jack as he lost his usually calm composure.
“You think I’m a monster?" Jack asked. "You think that I’m a heartless monster because I don’t react the way you do?”
“That’s exactly why Jack. You have no human emotion left.”
“Then maybe I am a monster, but sometimes a monster is the only thing there to stop the others from getting through! So if you don’t like it, if you can’t get used to the way that we operate, then you know what you can do. You know where the door is!”
“Right through a large dose of Retcon I would imagine.” She stepped closer to him.
“You would imagine right.”
“That seems to be your answer for everything. If anyone even comes so close as to finding out about your little club or what you do, you slip them a dose of Retcon and they wake up none the wiser.”
“You know how Torchwood is and how important it is that we stay under the radar. Our business is a need to know business.” He turned away and started to walk down the street. “Now collect your things and get in the SUV. Go back to the hub and do your job without the side-order of emotional blackmail if at all possible.”
“Jack!” Ianto’s voice commanded from the SUV. “I think you had better come and see this.”
PART 2