I saw a shimmering light- part six
Title: I saw a shimmering light (Part 6 of ? )
Rating: PG-13 Gen fic
Fandom/Characters: Torchwood/ Jack Harkness, Ianto Jones, Toshiko Sato, Owen Harper
Outline: The team settle into the hotel and begin plotting their escape.
Notes: Inspired by the Hotel California rpg plentyofroom (it triggered the plot bunnies off and this is the result, so it's all their fault).
Set during series 2 but before Reset
Disclaimer: I have no ownership of these or any other characters connected with Torchwood or any other copyrighted work mentioned or alluded to.
Jack Harkness marched down the hallway, glancing at the room numbers on the key fobs as he went. "We have...105 and 106 sooo," he glanced at the doors as they passed them, "I vote we use 105," he said looking back at the others to see if anyone objected.
Owen shrugged, "Whatever," and looked towards the other two, not expecting them to be bothered either, it made sense to keep together, especially if it seemed like they were being encouraged to split up (even if it was only into twos).
Putting the key into the lock, Jack paused, glancing right and then left to make sure he had backup (just in case).
"Okay?" Drawing his revolver, he took a breath and then turned the key, pushed open the door and charged in, the others following quickly behind.
The word "clear," repeated again and again as the bathroom, wardrobe and anywhere that could be used as a hiding place was checked.
"Double bed," Toshiko murmured, deliberately not looking in Owen's direction.
Ianto suddenly became fascinated by the light fittings and Jack returned his revolver to it's holster and glanced towards Owen who had just dumped his bag beside a large easy chair and slumped into it. "This'll do me," he announced, glancing over the arm to look at the floor for no apparent reason. "Had plenty of practice at sleeping in chairs," he added, to no one in particular.
Toshiko stared vacantly at the door and said nothing.
Jack glanced around at the members of his team and grinned, twenty-first century reactions to a room with only one double bed, it wasn't as if they were likely to have much time for sleeping!
"Right!" Jack clapped his hands and tilted his head slightly. "Ianto, Owen. Go down and bring up as much as you can form the SUV. Tosh clear yourself a space to work on. "
Ianto raised his eyebrows in Owen's direction, wanting to know if he was ready to go, Owen stood up slowly and shrugged, giving Jack a look that suggested he was expecting him to do something useful as well.
"And while you are doing that... I'll see if I can find out how you get room service in this place," Jack said, glancing towards the bedside cabinet, in the vague hope of spotting a phone and some kind of menu.
* * *
Arriving back in the Lobby, Owen and Ianto glanced around them, everything was silent, no suggestion that there was anyone else in the hotel. As they passed the reception desk, Ianto slowed, glancing at the highly polished wood that showed no sign of wear, then something made him look to one side, there was nothing there, but for a split second he had thought there was someone, shrugging he moved to follow Owen and then stopped dead. Gasping for breath he clutched at his chest, it was as if something had moved through his body, leaning forward, he looked towards Owen who had just opened the door and was turning back to see where he was.
"You alright?" Owen called, starting to move back towards him.
Ianto nodded and straightened up again, then waved his hands as if shooing the other man away. "Yes," he mumbled glancing back to see if there was anything behind him, although if there had been Owen would surely have seen it and said something.
Owen didn't ask what had bothered Ianto, if he had thought it was worth while mentioning (whatever it was), he would have. Shrugging, he waited until the other man had caught up and then lead the way towards the SUV.
* * *
After systematically working his way around the room, Jack finally conceded defeat, if they wanted anything to eat it was going to mean leaving the room to look for it, it clearly wasn't going to come to them.
Toshiko had cleared the desk, moving a laptop out of the way to give herself more room to work, settling herself in the chair, she leaned back and waited for Ianto and Owen to come back, she didn't bother asking if Jack had found a phone to call room service, the fact that she hadn't heard him putting in an order told its own tale.
"What do you think this place is?" She asked, turning towards him.
Jack shrugged, "The forcefield only allows access in one direction, which suggests its some kind of trap, if it had been purely for camouflage we would have been able to leave without any problem- or not be able to get past the barrier in the first place."
"So, it was stalking us? Luring us towards it?" She murmured back, "But why would it be interested in us?"
"We're Torchwood, probably reason enough," he said, then suddenly paused, there was something about the way they had been trapped that was nagging at him, but he couldn't think what it was.
She could tell that something was bothering him, he wasn't the only one. "Do you think it was one of us particular that it wanted, or all of us?"
One of us in particular, Jack blinked, then suddenly realised what it was that had seemed odd. "That's it!" He moved towards her, grinning. "I just walked through, so did you, Ianto drove though, but Owen... it closed in on Owen."
"Yes, it did!" She stared back at him, "He had his back to us and it actually moved towards him, he has to be the one it wants."
"Okay, we are going to have to make sure that he's never on his own, if whoever is doing this really only wants him, then they are going to want to get rid of us, which means they have two options, either separate us and then force us to leave without him, or...."
"Or they wait until we think that we've solved the problem of getting out, we go through the field but it blocks Owen," Toshiko licked her lips nervously. "If they did it that way... we wouldn't realise he wasn't with us until it was too late."
Jack looked up at the ceiling, how the hell were they going to work this? "Best thing we can do for now is to make sure that Owen is never left on his own, there will always have to be one of us with him at all times."
Toshiko grimaced, "He's going to love that!"
"If he wants a shot at getting home, he's jut going to have to put up with it," he replied, although knowing how bloody-minded Owen could be, he doubted it was going to be an easy (or quiet) solution to the problem.
"Well as you're the boss, I'll leave you with the pleasure of telling him," she smirked back at him. "I'll also have to leave the babysitting to you... I'll be far too busy." Turning back towards the desk, she murmured to herself, "And I'm sure he won't be heartbroken about that."
Jack sat down on the end of the bed and sighed, maybe he should do them all a favour and just lock Owen into the other bedroom and put a chair outside the door so he and Ianto could take turns at doing guard duty.
* * *
Owen and Ianto had finally succeeded in getting most of the equipment from the SUV into the lift and up to the first floor.
"Why the bloody hell did you bring all this lot?" Owen demanded, dragging one of the longer bags out of the lift by its handles. "I'm amazed you didn't include camping gear," he paused and glared at the other man. "You didn't, did you? Tell me you didn't!"
Ianto sighed, giving Owen an impatient look. "What on Earth makes you think that I'd consider packing camping equipment?"
"What? You mean apart from the fact that you are always so bloody anal when it comes to leaving anything behind- just in case?"
"I do not bring along anything just in case, I only ever bring what's likely to be useful, given what I know the situation to be."
"What you know the situation to be," Owen parroted back. "Well, if I find a bloody snorkel and flippers in this lot anywhere... you're toast." He grumbled back, then set off towards their room still dragging one bag and carrying another one.
Carrying a collection of smaller bags, Ianto followed him. When Owen reached the door, he kicked it and yelled, "Open up," then kicked it once more for good measure.
Jack opened the door and grinned. "Owen! What a surprise."
"Yeah, right," Owen grumbled, pushing past him, "Just call me Pickfords." Dumping the smaller bag on the end of the bed, he let go of the handles to the larger one that he had been dragging. "And how come he gets all the lighter bags and I get lumbered with these?"
"Luck of the draw," Ianto retorted, putting his bags down on the floor.
"How the hell can it be luck of the draw when you know what's in them?" He protested, starting to pace up and down in frustration.
"Owen, will you stop doing that?" Jack glared at him, the situation was bad enough without him making it worse.
Scowling back at Jack, he slumped down in the chair, then sat in silence, lips pursed, staring at the floor.
Oh wonderful! Jack sighed, "This everything?" He asked, looking cheerfully in Ianto's direction.
Owen snorted loudly.
Ianto glared at Owen, then cleared his throat. "They are the ones I thought might be most useful."
"Great, thanks Ianto." Jack nodded, then paused for a second expecting Owen to add something, when he didn't he turned towards him. "And you," he added, "are now under house arrest."
"What! Why?"
"Because I say so," he announced, moving back across the room. "You never let him out of your sight, you understand?" He told Ianto.
Ianto nodded, eyebrows raised in enquiry.
Jack ducked his head slightly, the expression on his face telling him that he'd tell him if he got the chance when Owen was out of earshot.
"Why couldn't you have done the house arrest before I had cart all that lot up here?" Owen complained loudly from the other side of the room.
"What and miss the fun of hearing you complaining endlessly about it?" Jack retorted.
Owen folded his arms across his chest and leaned back in the chair, glaring at Jack. He couldn't be bothered to argue the toss any longer, as usual with these things he always ended up with the short straw.
Meanwhile Toshiko had been checking the bags, selecting various pieces of equipment and taking them over to the desk, were she carefully placed them where she wanted them and then sat down again, opened up a small tool kit and began to remove the cases of what he hoped would provide her with the parts to construct something that would help.
Continued here