fic - Lazarus 25/? [Torchwood]
Title: Lazarus (Chapter 24)
Fandom: Torchwood
Rating: PG-13 (mostly swearing)
Pairing/Characters: Ianto; Jack; Gwen; Martha; Mickey; Rhys; Alonso; Sarah Jane Smith; Luke Smith; Rani Chandra; Clyde Langer; OCs (Jack/Ianto and there probably will be mentions of Gwen/Rhys)
Genre: General so far, but maybe romance eventually? It is after all a Janto fic
Summary: Nine months later and Ianto wakes up from death.
Warning: None
Spoiler: Mentions of Children of Earth, but nothing especific, except Ianto's death, but I don't consider it a fix it fic; at least not yet.
Disclaimer: Sadly, they are not mine. I'd never kill Ianto and ruin the best cannon shipper ever!
Notes: Huge thanks to specialj67 for being my beta. Jackie, you rock!
Chapter 24
Ianto sighed. It was 8 o’clock in the morning according to the old-school Bulova on the wall; he’d been in that hell, to the autopsy table, for 19 hours. He was so sore, so uncomfortable. His wrists hurt the most; he had spent most of the night pulling at the restraints, the steel sawing his flesh open as he tried to break free, but only for a second before it restored itself. The General was a sadistic bastard and made sure to lock him with reinforced shackles. He was tired, so tired; he was afraid; he was hurting; he was hopeless. He couldn’t escape. Maybe he should give up.
‘Don’t give up, Ianto.’ The tinkling voice pleaded in his head. Agatha. ‘Help is on its way.’
A warmth cascaded over him his body and images of his friends, Jack, Rhi flitted through his mind. It was Agatha, trying to calm him and keep him fighting, but not even that was working anymore.
“I don’t think I can,” Ianto whispered, a tear trickled from the corner of his left eye. He didn't know how much more he had left in him to fight this.
‘You must Ianto. You must. It’s not your time to die yet.’ He let out a humorless chuckle, and his throat clenched in protest. There wasn't a muscle in his body right now that wasn't overworked or strained beyond use.
“I think my time of dying has long since passed, Agatha. We both know I shouldn’t be alive.”
‘I don’t believe that, and neither do you,’ she chided him. ‘You came back for a reason.’
“Yes. To be their lab rat.” He felt Agatha’s exasperation tickled the base of his skull. “I’m sorry, but I can’t fight any longer.”
‘You have to,’ Agatha insisted.
“No, I don’t,” Ianto sighed, voice laced with defeat. “Maybe it will be less painful if I don’t.”
‘Ianto…’ she started pleading urgently.
“Goodbye Agatha,” he said with regret before blocking her from his mind.
He closed his eyes and brought forward more memories in search for comfort. Some were of his family, before he became so resentful of his father; some were of Lisa and their happy times; some of Torchwood, Tosh, Gwen, even Owen; but most were about Jack.
Just little things, like the thankful grin he gave every time Ianto brought his coffee and the easy banter and flirtation over the counter in the tourist office. And those times he watched Jack sleep so peacefully, the slow dance in Gwen’s wedding, and the domesticity of sharing the bathroom sink while brushing their teeth and realizing Jack's clothes were taking up more space in the closet and since when did Jack have his own toothbrush over here anyway? All those memories cheered and pained him. He couldn't ever get that back.
The noise of the lab door sliding open cut through his thoughts, but Ianto ignored it. The sound of footsteps registered, but he ignored them. A feminine perfume brushed against his nose, but he ignored it. Ianto ignored everything and tried to return to his safe haven of memories.
“Ianto.” The whispering voice made him crash back into reality. He knew that voice. Not the voice he was expecting if this was a hallucination. “Ianto.” The voice got a little louder and was accompanied by a touch on his shoulder.
Slowly, Ianto opened his eyes and caught sign of a very familiar face. His breath caught and his heart beat a little faster. Mackenzie smiled above him and Ianto smiled back. A true, happy smile.
“What...? How…?” he asked shocked, but he couldn’t stop smiling.
“Would you really think I’d leave you?” Her smile was comforting.
“Thank you.” Ianto replied around the lump in his throat. Mackenzie didn’t have to be here, didn’t have to help someone she barely knew, but still she came anyway.
Still smiling, she reached inside the pocket of the white lab coat she was wearing and took out a gold lipstick tube. Ianto frowned in confusion, until she uncapped the cosmetic and showed him the glowing pink light bulb on the inside. She pointed it towards the shackle around his left wrist, and after a couple of seconds of a low fluctuating buzzing noise the cuff fell open.
“Where did you get that?” Ianto asked, watching as she went around the table releasing his feet and other hand. “That's not from here.”
“Sarah Jane lent it to me. 'Sonic Lipstick'. Not that I know what the hell that’s supposed to mean,” she shrugged, but that information had been enough for Ianto.
He knew a little about sonic modulation technology from research at Torchwood One. He knew the Doctor had a tool very similar to that; that’s why they were all so keen on understanding the process, so they could neutralize it in order to capture the alien. Jack had also explained a bit about it too, and he obviously had more knowledge since the technology was created around the century he had been born.
After Mackenzie was done with the shackles, Ianto took a great pleasure in releasing himself of the straps around his waist and chest and sat up for the first time in 19 hours, swinging his legs over the edge of the table. They were all pins and needles as the blood rushed back to the previously unmoving limbs; it was an incredibly satisfying experience.
“There are two guards outside,” Mackenzie informed, head turned away from Ianto, focused on the door. He was thankful for her attempt to preserve his modesty.
“I heard them talking earlier,” he nodded, finally sliding off the autopsy table and wrapping a paper-thin blanket around the lower half of his body. “I might manage to take them out.”
“Luke’s giving me a better idea.” Mackenzie remarked and Ianto frowned in confusion. As far as he could see, she wasn’t wearing any comm. And who the hell was Luke? “Contact lenses,” she elaborated. “They’re…”
“Cameras. I know.” He nodded in understanding. Things were starting to make sense now. “You met up with Gwen.” Mackenzie nodded.
“And Jack.” For only a brief second, Ianto looked relieved then he covered it up with a blank expression, just nodding in reply.
“So… what did Luke suggest?” he asked, quickly changing the subject. Mackenzie grinned wickedly (apparently she was starting to enjoy herself) and waved the sonic lipstick.
“Wait here.” She exited the room.
As she had requested, Ianto waited inside, listening what she was doing, but standing by in case she needed help. He heard the two guards groan in pain before the telltale soft thuds of bodies hitting the ground. The door slid open again and Mackenzie poked her head inside, a big smile lighting up her face.
“Modified high-frequency Interference in the earpieces,” she explained, struggling to drag one of the soldiers inside the room, Ianto moved over to help her. “Pitched just so to short out their earpieces and knock them out.” He smiled, impressed she shrugged self-conscious. “Luke’s idea.”
After pulling both guards into the room, they divested the tallest one out of his clothes, so Ianto could get dressed, and strapped him onto the table, while the other, they just tied and gagged, leaving him unconscious in a corner.
“Come on.” Mackenzie led the way. “Let’s find Martha and Mickey.”
Once again, he was escaping this hell, right under their noses. Ianto couldn’t stop the smile of satisfaction.
---
The General stood by the window of his office, staring out at the rosy gray dawn of another London morning. There was something about Sol 3 during the 21st century that had always attracted him. Maybe it was the fact that Earth was starting to notice the existence of extraterrestrial beings but were still too thick and too arrogant to accept the fact that they were not alone--or the most intelligent--in the universe. It made them easy to manipulate, especially the military and government leaders; they were all so hungry for power and war. All he had to do was offer the opportunity to make them stronger than the next country, more powerful and they were throwing money on his feet. Yes, this was one of the best centuries in human history. No wonder Captain Jack Harkness was so fond of it.
He smiled a little as he remembered his old friend and partner. A man he had met in another life, under another name. So clever, so sneaky and yet, Emma Waters had managed to catch him. That girl was arrogant and stupid. Did she not realize that Jack was the kind of man who chooses to be captured? Nevertheless, he was on his way, and the General was eager to meet him once again.
That’s why he made sure to get Ianto Jones as a test subject. That’s why he allowed the boy to escape. From what he had discovered, Jones was the only thing capable to make the ex-time agent return to Earth.
Someone knocked on his door once and the General’s smile grew. It could only mean one thing: Jack was here.
Emma Waters strode in, her triumphant smile faintly tainted with fear and hesitation. He wondered if she had finally guessed that Jack wanted to be there.
“Sir, I--” she started, but he cut her off with a Look.
“Where is he?”
“Outside,” Emma replied quickly. “Sir, I really think--”
“Bring him in.” He cut her off again, impatiently.
“But--”
“Now!” he shouted angrily.
This time, she hurried out again and a couple of seconds later, two soldiers shoved the man inside. The General looked Jack up and down and smiled.
“Leave us!” he ordered, and the two men quickly left. That’s why he liked soldiers--they were all so obedient. “You too Emma.” His eyes never left Jack, but he could feel her hesitation. After a couple of seconds, she left too.
In two short strides, he was in Jack’s personal space, scrutinizing him. He was so perfect that it made the General want to hit him.
“Long time, no see Jack.”
“Trust me, not long enough.” Jack’s reply was uttered in a harsh, cold tone. “Drop the act now, Sam. I’m not in the mood.”
No surprise that Jack knew who he was. He was always smarter than people gave him credit for. Sam showed the Vortex Manipulator hidden under the uniform sleeve and typed a few buttons to deactivate the image translator. Instead of the middle-aged General, stood before Jack was a beautiful blonde woman with sparkling green eyes and blood red full lips, drawn in a dangerous smirk.
“Well, I’ve always known you had a thing for cross dressing, but this is a bit too much even for you,” Jack quipped in a mix of amusement and anger. Sam laughed.
“I have to say, I did miss this: the innuendo, the awful jokes…” She paused, looking almost nostalgic. “We were a good team Jack, well, at least until you back-stabbed me and ran away with my cut of the score.”
Jack actually rolled his eyes at that and dropped down in one of the comfortable chairs in front of the General’s desk.
“Don’t be dramatic, Sam. I didn’t back-stab you. The con went south; it was you or me… I know you’d have done the same.”
“That’s probably true.” She grinned in response and sat opposite to him. “But that doesn’t mean I enjoyed spending three years locked away in that damn ice block they call a planet.” Sam remarked sourly, and Jack just nodded. He knew just how awful Volag-Noc could be, that was precisely why he made sure to disappear when things went to shit in their last con.
“So, now you out and running a new con. Why here?”
“Why not?” She shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal.
Sam really didn’t need to elaborate. Jack understood what she meant. He had been like that once, unscrupulous, always looking for how much money he could take out of people, and 20th and 21st century people were always the best marks. But then came the Doctor and Rose showed him a new way and now he couldn’t stand the thought of someone putting this planet in danger while looking for profit.
“So what’s the plan? Show the army how you can make their soldiers invincible and immortal, sell the Superman Gene and get out before they figure out it won’t work on them?" That was what he’d do if it was his con.
“Pretty much, yeah.”
“And how exactly did you get the resources to pull this off, Sam?” Jack asked cautiously. “This is not just some piece of alien junk you brought to Earth. Dr. Sanders were actually able to recreate the Superman Gene.”
“Yes, that’s true. A lovely surprise, should I add,” Sam smiled wistfully. “The lad is much more brilliant than I gave him credit for.”
“You didn’t answer my question,” he prompted, trying to force some more information out of her. The woman considered him for a moment.
“Let’s say I have a very well connected partner in all this.” She was vague, but Jack didn’t expect anything less out of her. Sam was arrogant and cocky, but not stupid. And learning that there was a second part in this whole thing wasn’t a surprise either. No, long cons were never Sam’s strong suit; they didn't give the same visceral thrill of the smash-and-grab she loved so much.
“And Ianto?” Jack asked, his jaw visibly tensing in anger. He saw her hesitate.
“He was supposed to be bait for you.” She answered slowly. “A little bird told me how smitten you were about this cute little thing and I really wanted some payback after that whole Boromeo thing.”
John Hart. It had to be him and that made Jack furious. Even after that whole mess with Gray, his ex-lover was still trying to screw with Jack. As soon as this was all over, he was going to search the entire universe for that son-of-a-bitch and kill him.
But while he was still here, there was something about the way Sam spoke that was really bothering him.
“'Was supposed to be the bait'? You didn’t expect it to work on him did you?” He smiled an ugly, humorless smile as he caught the slightly uncomfortable way she shifted in her seat. “It was an accident! Ianto was an accident.”
“A very fortunate accident.” She smiled again. “If Sanders can make the Superman Gene work on your pretty boy toy, he’s going to make it work on me. And I’ll be, well...”
They stared at each other, Sam glowing in the geniality of her plan, Jack with a serious but neutral expression, until a heartbeat later, he broke down laughing.
“You seriously think that he can make it work on you? That’s not how it’s done, Sam. Your genetic code has to be compatible with the gene. 0.8% of the world’s population has such luck, maybe even less considering the time we're now, humans don’t miscegenate with aliens yet. There’s just no way you get to be 'immortal'.”
Sam glared at Jack, at the way he was just lounging on the chair, completely undisturbed by the fact that he was before an old partner, without a weapon and with his hand cuffed. She was positively seething at the condescending tone his voice has taken while he spoke. He thought she was stupid. He underestimated her. Well, not for long.
The phone on the desk rang and Sam reactivated the image translator before answering. She listened as the person on the other side of the line spoke in a quick, hurried tone and when it was finally over, she had trouble keeping the satisfied smile off her face. The woman knew Jack had noticed by the way he sat a little straighter on the chair. Finally she hang up and looked back at her ex-partner.
“This was a very nice chat, Jack, but I have things to do now,” Sam said conversationally, opening a drawer in the General's desk and roaming through it.
"What was that?" He demanded. Jack Harkness never asked for anything. He demanded.
“Oh you know, business.” The General smiled and pulled out a gun, pointing at Jack. “But it was nice to see you again though, even if only briefly. Time to say goodbye.”
And then she emptied the clip in his chest.
xxx
Chapter 25
Fandom: Torchwood
Rating: PG-13 (mostly swearing)
Pairing/Characters: Ianto; Jack; Gwen; Martha; Mickey; Rhys; Alonso; Sarah Jane Smith; Luke Smith; Rani Chandra; Clyde Langer; OCs (Jack/Ianto and there probably will be mentions of Gwen/Rhys)
Genre: General so far, but maybe romance eventually? It is after all a Janto fic
Summary: Nine months later and Ianto wakes up from death.
Warning: None
Spoiler: Mentions of Children of Earth, but nothing especific, except Ianto's death, but I don't consider it a fix it fic; at least not yet.
Disclaimer: Sadly, they are not mine. I'd never kill Ianto and ruin the best cannon shipper ever!
Notes: Huge thanks to specialj67 for being my beta. Jackie, you rock!
Chapter 24
Ianto sighed. It was 8 o’clock in the morning according to the old-school Bulova on the wall; he’d been in that hell, to the autopsy table, for 19 hours. He was so sore, so uncomfortable. His wrists hurt the most; he had spent most of the night pulling at the restraints, the steel sawing his flesh open as he tried to break free, but only for a second before it restored itself. The General was a sadistic bastard and made sure to lock him with reinforced shackles. He was tired, so tired; he was afraid; he was hurting; he was hopeless. He couldn’t escape. Maybe he should give up.
‘Don’t give up, Ianto.’ The tinkling voice pleaded in his head. Agatha. ‘Help is on its way.’
A warmth cascaded over him his body and images of his friends, Jack, Rhi flitted through his mind. It was Agatha, trying to calm him and keep him fighting, but not even that was working anymore.
“I don’t think I can,” Ianto whispered, a tear trickled from the corner of his left eye. He didn't know how much more he had left in him to fight this.
‘You must Ianto. You must. It’s not your time to die yet.’ He let out a humorless chuckle, and his throat clenched in protest. There wasn't a muscle in his body right now that wasn't overworked or strained beyond use.
“I think my time of dying has long since passed, Agatha. We both know I shouldn’t be alive.”
‘I don’t believe that, and neither do you,’ she chided him. ‘You came back for a reason.’
“Yes. To be their lab rat.” He felt Agatha’s exasperation tickled the base of his skull. “I’m sorry, but I can’t fight any longer.”
‘You have to,’ Agatha insisted.
“No, I don’t,” Ianto sighed, voice laced with defeat. “Maybe it will be less painful if I don’t.”
‘Ianto…’ she started pleading urgently.
“Goodbye Agatha,” he said with regret before blocking her from his mind.
He closed his eyes and brought forward more memories in search for comfort. Some were of his family, before he became so resentful of his father; some were of Lisa and their happy times; some of Torchwood, Tosh, Gwen, even Owen; but most were about Jack.
Just little things, like the thankful grin he gave every time Ianto brought his coffee and the easy banter and flirtation over the counter in the tourist office. And those times he watched Jack sleep so peacefully, the slow dance in Gwen’s wedding, and the domesticity of sharing the bathroom sink while brushing their teeth and realizing Jack's clothes were taking up more space in the closet and since when did Jack have his own toothbrush over here anyway? All those memories cheered and pained him. He couldn't ever get that back.
The noise of the lab door sliding open cut through his thoughts, but Ianto ignored it. The sound of footsteps registered, but he ignored them. A feminine perfume brushed against his nose, but he ignored it. Ianto ignored everything and tried to return to his safe haven of memories.
“Ianto.” The whispering voice made him crash back into reality. He knew that voice. Not the voice he was expecting if this was a hallucination. “Ianto.” The voice got a little louder and was accompanied by a touch on his shoulder.
Slowly, Ianto opened his eyes and caught sign of a very familiar face. His breath caught and his heart beat a little faster. Mackenzie smiled above him and Ianto smiled back. A true, happy smile.
“What...? How…?” he asked shocked, but he couldn’t stop smiling.
“Would you really think I’d leave you?” Her smile was comforting.
“Thank you.” Ianto replied around the lump in his throat. Mackenzie didn’t have to be here, didn’t have to help someone she barely knew, but still she came anyway.
Still smiling, she reached inside the pocket of the white lab coat she was wearing and took out a gold lipstick tube. Ianto frowned in confusion, until she uncapped the cosmetic and showed him the glowing pink light bulb on the inside. She pointed it towards the shackle around his left wrist, and after a couple of seconds of a low fluctuating buzzing noise the cuff fell open.
“Where did you get that?” Ianto asked, watching as she went around the table releasing his feet and other hand. “That's not from here.”
“Sarah Jane lent it to me. 'Sonic Lipstick'. Not that I know what the hell that’s supposed to mean,” she shrugged, but that information had been enough for Ianto.
He knew a little about sonic modulation technology from research at Torchwood One. He knew the Doctor had a tool very similar to that; that’s why they were all so keen on understanding the process, so they could neutralize it in order to capture the alien. Jack had also explained a bit about it too, and he obviously had more knowledge since the technology was created around the century he had been born.
After Mackenzie was done with the shackles, Ianto took a great pleasure in releasing himself of the straps around his waist and chest and sat up for the first time in 19 hours, swinging his legs over the edge of the table. They were all pins and needles as the blood rushed back to the previously unmoving limbs; it was an incredibly satisfying experience.
“There are two guards outside,” Mackenzie informed, head turned away from Ianto, focused on the door. He was thankful for her attempt to preserve his modesty.
“I heard them talking earlier,” he nodded, finally sliding off the autopsy table and wrapping a paper-thin blanket around the lower half of his body. “I might manage to take them out.”
“Luke’s giving me a better idea.” Mackenzie remarked and Ianto frowned in confusion. As far as he could see, she wasn’t wearing any comm. And who the hell was Luke? “Contact lenses,” she elaborated. “They’re…”
“Cameras. I know.” He nodded in understanding. Things were starting to make sense now. “You met up with Gwen.” Mackenzie nodded.
“And Jack.” For only a brief second, Ianto looked relieved then he covered it up with a blank expression, just nodding in reply.
“So… what did Luke suggest?” he asked, quickly changing the subject. Mackenzie grinned wickedly (apparently she was starting to enjoy herself) and waved the sonic lipstick.
“Wait here.” She exited the room.
As she had requested, Ianto waited inside, listening what she was doing, but standing by in case she needed help. He heard the two guards groan in pain before the telltale soft thuds of bodies hitting the ground. The door slid open again and Mackenzie poked her head inside, a big smile lighting up her face.
“Modified high-frequency Interference in the earpieces,” she explained, struggling to drag one of the soldiers inside the room, Ianto moved over to help her. “Pitched just so to short out their earpieces and knock them out.” He smiled, impressed she shrugged self-conscious. “Luke’s idea.”
After pulling both guards into the room, they divested the tallest one out of his clothes, so Ianto could get dressed, and strapped him onto the table, while the other, they just tied and gagged, leaving him unconscious in a corner.
“Come on.” Mackenzie led the way. “Let’s find Martha and Mickey.”
Once again, he was escaping this hell, right under their noses. Ianto couldn’t stop the smile of satisfaction.
---
The General stood by the window of his office, staring out at the rosy gray dawn of another London morning. There was something about Sol 3 during the 21st century that had always attracted him. Maybe it was the fact that Earth was starting to notice the existence of extraterrestrial beings but were still too thick and too arrogant to accept the fact that they were not alone--or the most intelligent--in the universe. It made them easy to manipulate, especially the military and government leaders; they were all so hungry for power and war. All he had to do was offer the opportunity to make them stronger than the next country, more powerful and they were throwing money on his feet. Yes, this was one of the best centuries in human history. No wonder Captain Jack Harkness was so fond of it.
He smiled a little as he remembered his old friend and partner. A man he had met in another life, under another name. So clever, so sneaky and yet, Emma Waters had managed to catch him. That girl was arrogant and stupid. Did she not realize that Jack was the kind of man who chooses to be captured? Nevertheless, he was on his way, and the General was eager to meet him once again.
That’s why he made sure to get Ianto Jones as a test subject. That’s why he allowed the boy to escape. From what he had discovered, Jones was the only thing capable to make the ex-time agent return to Earth.
Someone knocked on his door once and the General’s smile grew. It could only mean one thing: Jack was here.
Emma Waters strode in, her triumphant smile faintly tainted with fear and hesitation. He wondered if she had finally guessed that Jack wanted to be there.
“Sir, I--” she started, but he cut her off with a Look.
“Where is he?”
“Outside,” Emma replied quickly. “Sir, I really think--”
“Bring him in.” He cut her off again, impatiently.
“But--”
“Now!” he shouted angrily.
This time, she hurried out again and a couple of seconds later, two soldiers shoved the man inside. The General looked Jack up and down and smiled.
“Leave us!” he ordered, and the two men quickly left. That’s why he liked soldiers--they were all so obedient. “You too Emma.” His eyes never left Jack, but he could feel her hesitation. After a couple of seconds, she left too.
In two short strides, he was in Jack’s personal space, scrutinizing him. He was so perfect that it made the General want to hit him.
“Long time, no see Jack.”
“Trust me, not long enough.” Jack’s reply was uttered in a harsh, cold tone. “Drop the act now, Sam. I’m not in the mood.”
No surprise that Jack knew who he was. He was always smarter than people gave him credit for. Sam showed the Vortex Manipulator hidden under the uniform sleeve and typed a few buttons to deactivate the image translator. Instead of the middle-aged General, stood before Jack was a beautiful blonde woman with sparkling green eyes and blood red full lips, drawn in a dangerous smirk.
“Well, I’ve always known you had a thing for cross dressing, but this is a bit too much even for you,” Jack quipped in a mix of amusement and anger. Sam laughed.
“I have to say, I did miss this: the innuendo, the awful jokes…” She paused, looking almost nostalgic. “We were a good team Jack, well, at least until you back-stabbed me and ran away with my cut of the score.”
Jack actually rolled his eyes at that and dropped down in one of the comfortable chairs in front of the General’s desk.
“Don’t be dramatic, Sam. I didn’t back-stab you. The con went south; it was you or me… I know you’d have done the same.”
“That’s probably true.” She grinned in response and sat opposite to him. “But that doesn’t mean I enjoyed spending three years locked away in that damn ice block they call a planet.” Sam remarked sourly, and Jack just nodded. He knew just how awful Volag-Noc could be, that was precisely why he made sure to disappear when things went to shit in their last con.
“So, now you out and running a new con. Why here?”
“Why not?” She shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal.
Sam really didn’t need to elaborate. Jack understood what she meant. He had been like that once, unscrupulous, always looking for how much money he could take out of people, and 20th and 21st century people were always the best marks. But then came the Doctor and Rose showed him a new way and now he couldn’t stand the thought of someone putting this planet in danger while looking for profit.
“So what’s the plan? Show the army how you can make their soldiers invincible and immortal, sell the Superman Gene and get out before they figure out it won’t work on them?" That was what he’d do if it was his con.
“Pretty much, yeah.”
“And how exactly did you get the resources to pull this off, Sam?” Jack asked cautiously. “This is not just some piece of alien junk you brought to Earth. Dr. Sanders were actually able to recreate the Superman Gene.”
“Yes, that’s true. A lovely surprise, should I add,” Sam smiled wistfully. “The lad is much more brilliant than I gave him credit for.”
“You didn’t answer my question,” he prompted, trying to force some more information out of her. The woman considered him for a moment.
“Let’s say I have a very well connected partner in all this.” She was vague, but Jack didn’t expect anything less out of her. Sam was arrogant and cocky, but not stupid. And learning that there was a second part in this whole thing wasn’t a surprise either. No, long cons were never Sam’s strong suit; they didn't give the same visceral thrill of the smash-and-grab she loved so much.
“And Ianto?” Jack asked, his jaw visibly tensing in anger. He saw her hesitate.
“He was supposed to be bait for you.” She answered slowly. “A little bird told me how smitten you were about this cute little thing and I really wanted some payback after that whole Boromeo thing.”
John Hart. It had to be him and that made Jack furious. Even after that whole mess with Gray, his ex-lover was still trying to screw with Jack. As soon as this was all over, he was going to search the entire universe for that son-of-a-bitch and kill him.
But while he was still here, there was something about the way Sam spoke that was really bothering him.
“'Was supposed to be the bait'? You didn’t expect it to work on him did you?” He smiled an ugly, humorless smile as he caught the slightly uncomfortable way she shifted in her seat. “It was an accident! Ianto was an accident.”
“A very fortunate accident.” She smiled again. “If Sanders can make the Superman Gene work on your pretty boy toy, he’s going to make it work on me. And I’ll be, well...”
They stared at each other, Sam glowing in the geniality of her plan, Jack with a serious but neutral expression, until a heartbeat later, he broke down laughing.
“You seriously think that he can make it work on you? That’s not how it’s done, Sam. Your genetic code has to be compatible with the gene. 0.8% of the world’s population has such luck, maybe even less considering the time we're now, humans don’t miscegenate with aliens yet. There’s just no way you get to be 'immortal'.”
Sam glared at Jack, at the way he was just lounging on the chair, completely undisturbed by the fact that he was before an old partner, without a weapon and with his hand cuffed. She was positively seething at the condescending tone his voice has taken while he spoke. He thought she was stupid. He underestimated her. Well, not for long.
The phone on the desk rang and Sam reactivated the image translator before answering. She listened as the person on the other side of the line spoke in a quick, hurried tone and when it was finally over, she had trouble keeping the satisfied smile off her face. The woman knew Jack had noticed by the way he sat a little straighter on the chair. Finally she hang up and looked back at her ex-partner.
“This was a very nice chat, Jack, but I have things to do now,” Sam said conversationally, opening a drawer in the General's desk and roaming through it.
"What was that?" He demanded. Jack Harkness never asked for anything. He demanded.
“Oh you know, business.” The General smiled and pulled out a gun, pointing at Jack. “But it was nice to see you again though, even if only briefly. Time to say goodbye.”
And then she emptied the clip in his chest.
xxx
Chapter 25