The Hitchhiker Job - Ch. 1
Title: The Hitchhiker Job
Topic: Torchwood/Leverage Crossover
Pairings: Jack/Ianto, slight Parker/Hardison and Nate/Sophie
Summary: Torchwood is missing it's two top operative, and the Leverage team has found them. Cons, aliens, and lots of flirting. What could possibly go wrong?
Rating: T
Genre: Crossover, Humour, Action, General
Author's Note: First longterm crossover as well. My two favorite television shows of all times come together. Dear god. Feel free to leave comments. ^_^
The alarm sounded, alerting Tosh and Gwen that one of their teammates had arrived. They glanced up to see Owen waltzing in, several hours late and looking as if he had a splitting headache -which he probably did.
"Mornin' Owen." Gwen's voice greeted from behind her computer, where she was doing nothing, really. She had work to do, as they all did. However, the rift has been quiet, and since Jack nor Ianto were in at the moment, there was no incentive to finish said work. Tosh was focusing on re-writing some software update for the computers, and stopped only long enough to give Owen a cheerful smile.
"Bugger off." Came Owen's snark reply. He gave a half-hearted wave to the two woman as he made his way into the autopsy bay, throwing down his back with a loud thump before sitting in his chair and leaning his head back, pinching the bridge of his nose. It was only a little before noontime, and he was already wishing it was night. It was then that the dead doctor noticed that things were quiet. Too quiet. "Oi, where Jack an' Ianto?"
Tosh and Gwen exchanged a look, their eyes daring the other one to answer the question. Finally, the newest of the two gave in. "Rift was quiet, so they went Weevil Hunting."
"Oh."
--Torchwood--
"Idiot." Mumbled Ianto under his breath, re-entering his bedroom, a few pain pills and a glass of water in hand. Once he reached his destination, the Welshman passed off both items to the man laying in his bed -the one and only Jack Harkness.
The Captain was currently sporting a good-sized gash in his head, which was being covered by a sock. A thin line of blood was running down his head from the wound. The man was without a shirt or undershirt, both of which had been tossed haphazardly across the room only minutes before. His belt was undone and zipper down, allowing his white briefs to say hello to the world. Jack, his smirk ever-lasting, thanked the younger man, removing his hand -and the sock- from his fast healing wound before swallowing the pills.
Ianto just rolled his eyes and bent over to pick up his shirt from the floor. He ignored the whistle emanating from the bed and shrugged the clothing back on, his still-shaking fingers having slight problems buttoning.
Jack frowned and changed his position on the bed, patting the empty space next to him. "You know, I worked hard to take that off, now you're ruining it."
"Jack." Came Ianto's voice.
"Yeah?"
"You hit your head….on my bed post." The young man deadpanned, finishing buttoning his shirt and moving to his dress pants, which he pushed down a little, giving himself enough room to comfortably tuck his shirt in before re-closing the zipper.
Another frown. "So? It's basically healed, and the others aren't expecting us back for…" He checked his wrist strap, which was always in its correct place. "Another hour."
"There's blood." Ianto stated. "On my bed post."
It was Jack's turn to roll his eyes. The Captain jumped off the bed, holding his pants with one hand while he fished for his braces. Finding them, he proceeded to clip them back into their rightful place. "You're no fun."
"That's not what you were saying a few minutes ago, sir." The Welshman said sarcastically as he went to inspect the damage done to his bed piece. It wasn't that bad, just a few spots of blood and a small dent. Now Jack could no longer say he wasn't hardheaded.
--Torchwood--
"Tosh, turn off your fucking computer!" Owen's voice filled the large and spacious hub, jolting the techie out of her focus. She turned to stare at the monitor, her eyes growing wide, her fingers touching a few keys to make the annoyingly shrill beeping stop.
"Uh, guys…you may want to call Jack and Ianto."
Gwen frowned and checked the time. "Jack said no calls unless it was universe-ending."
"Well…" The uncertainty and fear in Tosh's voice caught the others attention, and they crowded around her computer.
"What is that?" Gwen asked, confused by all the strange figures floating on the screen.
Owen sighed. "Please Tosh, spare us the techno babble."
The woman nodded, her fingers already flying across the keys, trying to gather as much information as possible. "There is a huge time shift right over Ianto's flat, only…."
"What is it, Tosh?" Gwen stressed, already dialing Jack's number. No answer.
"It looks like a time shift, but the numbers are a little off. Remember when Jack and I jumped through the one at the hotel? That went back in time. This one, if my calculations are correct….is going through dimensions."
"So what you're telling me is Jack and Ianto are getting sucked through into another dimension?" Owen asked.
"Basically." Tosh answered, slumping in her seat. They all exchanged a look.
"Shotgun!" Yelled Gwen as all three of them jumped out of their seats, racing for the car.
--Leverage--
"I'm bored." Parker stated yet another time within the past five minutes. Groans and sighs passed through the room, none of the others having the patience or the energy to reply.
It had been a rough few days. What looked like a simple in-and-out con was now stretched into a two to three week affair, and they were all drained. As always, mistakes had been made; turns out that the mark had been a lot smarter than they originally thought. That, and another wild card had made its way into the game.
Turns out that the mark had a daughter that chose now of all times to decide to spend a few weeks with daddy. And the heirloom necklace that they had been hired to steal back was a present from the mark to his daughter, a necklace that the girl only took off when she went to bed. Of course, they had tried to break into the house at night and take the jewelry, a strategy that they had epically failed at.
So they were back to square one, trying to figure out what to do. The mark knew all of their faces, and although he hadn't figured out the game just yet, they were on rocky ground. What the team needed was some new faces, which they weren't going to get stranded in Cardiff.
"We could take out a few security an' I could get myself hired." That was Eliot, who was leaning back against the large two-seater couch, his arms stretched out. One was empty, the other holding a half-empty beer, not his first.
"Yeah, and wait for a few years so they will trust you long enough to give them the plans." Came Hardison's snippy reply, earning a rude gesture from the hitter.
"Hey!" Nate yelled, already pushed to his limit and eyeing Eliot's beer with an almost hungry look in his eyes. It was times like these that reminded him why he became a drunk in the first place.
"Look, fighting isn't going to help." Sophie's calm voice tried to soothe everyone. The grifter had somehow remained neutral in the whole affair, not getting outwardly annoyed or even angry at their situation. "There's got to be a way to get this guy. We just have to think of it."
"I have to think of it." Nate corrected her, getting a look that bordered ugly.
Hardison sighed and stood up, stretching. "I don't know about ya'll, but I gotta pee."
With that declaration made, the hacker stood up and walked in the direction of the bathroom. The flat they were currently staying in was a small one, with two bedrooms and one bath. The group had rented this apartment and the one across the hall, which was only slightly bigger. A hotel room would have been a hinder to their con, and the places had been vacant so long that the landowner had given them a great deal.
"I wanna go home." Parker whined. "Everyone here talks funny."
More sighs.
Then, the lights flickered, and for a fraction of a second, the room was bathed in darkness. "Whoa, anyone else see that?" Sophie asked, sitting up straight in her chair.
"Yeah, strange." Nate said, his eyes flickering to Hardison's open computer. The screen was fuzzy, and there were several bars running through it. Looked like it might have crashed or something, the man thought. Great, more whining. Then, he realized that Hardison had been gone for a substantial amount of time. "Eliot, go check on Hardison."
"Seriously man?" The hitter asked, a look of disturbance and shock crossing his face.
"I'll go!" Parker offered, bouncing up from her position on the armrest of the two-seater. Happy to be given a task, she set off in the direction of the bedroom.
Silence, then a very loud and (mostly) manly scream came from the direction the thief had just gone, following by several thwacking sounds and a few yelps. Parker ran back into the living room, her face red and eyes wide, the converse she had previously been wearing in her hand.
"There are two men in the bedroom!" She squeaked. "One's half naked!"
Eliot, always the first to respond, jumped up from the couch and sat his beer down before entering the bedroom, fists clenched. Seconds later he returned, pushing two rather confused looking men into the room in front of him. One wore what looked like an incomplete suit, the dress shirt being only half button and tucked into a nice pair of pants. The other man was without a shirt and had suspenders on, holding up his pants. Both of them were without socks or shoes, and had very disheveled hair. The shirtless one had some almost-dried blood on his forehead, but there was no cut or wound.
Both Sophie and Parker's head tilted slightly as they gazed in curiosity at the rather good-looking men. Nate frowned, the tips of his mouth turning down, his arms crossing as he tried to figure them out. "Who are you, what are you doing in the bedroom? Where's Hardison?"
"What?" The one in the suit sputtered, his face red. The other just held this cocky grin, his eyes roaming over all three of the people in front of him.
Behind them, Eliot growled and poked their backs, annoyed and worried for his friend.
"Easy tiger." The shirtless one said suggestively, earning another growl. His smile grew even larger. "Captain Jack Harkness, at your service. And I do mean, at your service."
Parker giggled and Sophie turned a slight shade of red. The one in the suit just rolled his eyes.
"Jones, Ianto Jones."
"Right, now that we're all acquainted, can you answer my questions?" Asked Nate, eyebrows raised.
Jack and Ianto exchanged looks. "This is my flat, and I don't know your friend." The Welshman replied, answering the final two of Nate's questions. His accent elicited another giggle from Parker.
Eliot stepped around in front of the men, his face set in his serious mode, strong arms crossed over his chest. "Don't play games."
Jack raised his eyebrow and glanced at Ianto. "He is quiet sexy." The Captain then turned to Eliot. "Love the hair, what shampoo do you use?"
The hitter growled, his hands curling into fists, as he tried not to lung at the cocky man. Ianto reached a hand out and placed it on Jack's shoulder as a warning. "Don't taunt the angry man." He whispered in a monotonous voice.
Nate stood up and placed a hand in Eliot's arm, trying to get the man to back down. The hitter, after giving Jack one last shriveling glance, backed down. "How did you get in here?"
"We seemed to have gotten stuck in a temporal time shift!" Jack exclaimed, way too excitedly.
"Again." Ianto breathed.
--Torchwood--
Hardison turned off the water and washed his hands on the towel provided, frowning slightly when the lights flickered. He hoped that his computer didn't react to the power surge. The man left the bathroom and flicked off the lights, to come face to face with a woman holding a very large handgun.
"Woah! Woah! Woah!...Woah." Hardison yelled, holding his hands up in the air to show he was unarmed. Then he realized who the woman was on the other end of the gun and his hands relaxed slightly. "Gwen Cooper?"
"Oi, shut it!" She yelled, her eyes growing wide, wondering how the strange man in Ianto's flat knew her name. Not finding him a threat, Gwen held her gun with one hand -though not lowering it- as she brought her left hand away from the grip and to her ear, where a Bluetooth piece was nestled. "Tosh?"
She paused, frowning as the man's eyes became even larger. "Yeah, seems like Jack and Ianto were taken."
"Jack and Ianto!" Hardison squeaked, shutting up when Gwen shook her gun at him.
"And it gave us something in return." Gwen said, sounding a bit annoyed, as she eyed Hardison. "No nothing special."
"Hey!"