Tourism in Lockdown
Fandom: Torchwood
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 937
Summary: Jack's back, Ianto's pining...
Prompt: Jantolution Challenge 5 - Prompts: Crack!fic, Himalaya, Jack Returns
Tourism in Lockdown
“It’s no good. He’s locked the door, and shooting it won’t do any good. He’s rigged up that shield on the other side,” Owen muttered to Tosh, after a cursory glance at Jack’s office to make sure they couldn’t be overheard.
“What about the Hub entrance?” she asked quietly, checking the CCTV and finding that it hadn’t been turned off - that would have been easy enough to counter - but the cameras had been covered, so it was useless.
“That’s locked too,” Owen told her. “Far as I can tell he’s put it into localised lockdown and changed the codes.”
Tosh bit her lip, and opened up another screen on her computer, saying, “That shouldn’t be too much trouble. If you just give me a moment to… Oh. Crap.”
Owen took one look at the way the computer screen filled suddenly with numbers, letters and symbols, and then said, “Ah.”
“Wish I’d never taught him that,” Tosh sighed, and then they both jumped as the door to Jack’s office slammed open and Gwen stormed past, saying, “Honestly! After everything I’ve done for him,” as she marched over to her desk and flopped into the chair, banging about and muttering sulkily to herself.
The other two looked up at Jack in his office doorway, who shrugged guiltily, saying, “I only asked her how Ianto was. I haven’t seen him since I got back. Is he avoiding me?”
Knowing that Gwen had gone in to try and explain what had happened in Jack’s absence, and to make every attempt to win Jack’s favour back, this explained her sudden bad temper to Tosh and Owen.
Tosh said, “He’s not avoiding you, he’s just… he’s missing the mountains.”
Sighing, Owen stood up straight and told him, “We only got back to work the day before yesterday. He doesn’t even know you’re back yet.”
“How can he not know?” Jack asked, frowning, and Owen waved at Toshiko’s computer screen, where she’d brought back up the blocked CCTV footage.
“He’s locked himself in the Tourist Information Office. We left him alone yesterday and the day before, hoping he’d snap out of it, but he’s only snuck out in the dead of night to have a shower, and he’s getting food ordered in, and he’s not answering any communications.”
Jack blinked at them, utterly confused, and Tosh waved him over, showing him the list of Ianto’s purchases from Tesco Online.
“Well, I’m glad to see he’s eating healthily,” Jack said idly, noting the amounts of fruit and vegetables in the orders. “But… two dozen packs of cards? What the hell is he doing in there?”
The others shrugged, and Tosh said, “We don’t know. He’s blocked the cameras, and we’re getting worried - that’s why we were trying to get in today. But he’s using the Fotsali shield device to keep the front door secure. From what we can tell he’s adapted it so he can open up sections to get food in, but otherwise it’s an air tight seal, and you know shooting the Fotsali shield does no good…”
“What about the Hub entrance?” asked Jack, and Tosh looked pleased. Owen took over.
“Localised lockdown,” he repeated. “The codes are changing at random.”
Jack rolled his eyes, and told them, “I’m just going upstairs. I may be some time.”
They both turned to watch him go, Tosh calling after him to wish him good luck, and he glanced back to wave cheerfully at them, then sauntered through the open cog door and went bounding up the stairs, apparently not trusting Ianto not to have done something to the lift.
Upstairs, deactivating the cameras in the corridor so Ianto wouldn’t spot him coming if he was on the lookout, Jack sneaked up to the hidden door, and pressed his ear against the hairline crack between it and the wall. He heard nothing, and stood back again, hands on his hips to consider the door. After a moment, he opened his wrist computer, and hit a few buttons. The computer beeped quietly, the door lock clicked open, and he managed to prise it open with his fingertips far enough for him to slip inside, pulling it closed again behind him and hearing the lock fall back into place.
And then he stopped, open-mouthed.
On the floor in front of him, stretching up towards the ceiling, with a chair near beside, clearly to help Ianto reach the top, was the biggest house of cards he’d ever seen.
Ianto was kneeling in front of it, his back to Jack, opening up another pack of cards to make the thing even bigger. It took a moment, but Jack realised that every single card in the house (and that just wasn’t the right word for it) was facing outwards, creating a vivid white outer face, with spots of red and black dappled across it.
Jack looked up at the camera above him, and peeled the leaflet for the Millenium Centre off the lens, waiting a few beats before sticking it back firmly, then turning back to face Ianto, and saying, “Well, they told me you were missing the mountains, but this is a bit much.”
Ianto froze midway through standing up, then straightened and turned, swallowing hard.
“Jack, I can explain,” he started, cheeks already tinged a little red as Jack raised both eyebrows, highly doubting that Ianto could come up with a sensible explanation for rebuilding the Himalayas from cards in the Tourist Information Office. And indeed Ianto’s next faltering word was, “Um…”
So Jack just laughed instead, and gleefully tackled him into the mountain, sending hundreds of cards flying.
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 937
Summary: Jack's back, Ianto's pining...
Prompt: Jantolution Challenge 5 - Prompts: Crack!fic, Himalaya, Jack Returns
Tourism in Lockdown
“It’s no good. He’s locked the door, and shooting it won’t do any good. He’s rigged up that shield on the other side,” Owen muttered to Tosh, after a cursory glance at Jack’s office to make sure they couldn’t be overheard.
“What about the Hub entrance?” she asked quietly, checking the CCTV and finding that it hadn’t been turned off - that would have been easy enough to counter - but the cameras had been covered, so it was useless.
“That’s locked too,” Owen told her. “Far as I can tell he’s put it into localised lockdown and changed the codes.”
Tosh bit her lip, and opened up another screen on her computer, saying, “That shouldn’t be too much trouble. If you just give me a moment to… Oh. Crap.”
Owen took one look at the way the computer screen filled suddenly with numbers, letters and symbols, and then said, “Ah.”
“Wish I’d never taught him that,” Tosh sighed, and then they both jumped as the door to Jack’s office slammed open and Gwen stormed past, saying, “Honestly! After everything I’ve done for him,” as she marched over to her desk and flopped into the chair, banging about and muttering sulkily to herself.
The other two looked up at Jack in his office doorway, who shrugged guiltily, saying, “I only asked her how Ianto was. I haven’t seen him since I got back. Is he avoiding me?”
Knowing that Gwen had gone in to try and explain what had happened in Jack’s absence, and to make every attempt to win Jack’s favour back, this explained her sudden bad temper to Tosh and Owen.
Tosh said, “He’s not avoiding you, he’s just… he’s missing the mountains.”
Sighing, Owen stood up straight and told him, “We only got back to work the day before yesterday. He doesn’t even know you’re back yet.”
“How can he not know?” Jack asked, frowning, and Owen waved at Toshiko’s computer screen, where she’d brought back up the blocked CCTV footage.
“He’s locked himself in the Tourist Information Office. We left him alone yesterday and the day before, hoping he’d snap out of it, but he’s only snuck out in the dead of night to have a shower, and he’s getting food ordered in, and he’s not answering any communications.”
Jack blinked at them, utterly confused, and Tosh waved him over, showing him the list of Ianto’s purchases from Tesco Online.
“Well, I’m glad to see he’s eating healthily,” Jack said idly, noting the amounts of fruit and vegetables in the orders. “But… two dozen packs of cards? What the hell is he doing in there?”
The others shrugged, and Tosh said, “We don’t know. He’s blocked the cameras, and we’re getting worried - that’s why we were trying to get in today. But he’s using the Fotsali shield device to keep the front door secure. From what we can tell he’s adapted it so he can open up sections to get food in, but otherwise it’s an air tight seal, and you know shooting the Fotsali shield does no good…”
“What about the Hub entrance?” asked Jack, and Tosh looked pleased. Owen took over.
“Localised lockdown,” he repeated. “The codes are changing at random.”
Jack rolled his eyes, and told them, “I’m just going upstairs. I may be some time.”
They both turned to watch him go, Tosh calling after him to wish him good luck, and he glanced back to wave cheerfully at them, then sauntered through the open cog door and went bounding up the stairs, apparently not trusting Ianto not to have done something to the lift.
Upstairs, deactivating the cameras in the corridor so Ianto wouldn’t spot him coming if he was on the lookout, Jack sneaked up to the hidden door, and pressed his ear against the hairline crack between it and the wall. He heard nothing, and stood back again, hands on his hips to consider the door. After a moment, he opened his wrist computer, and hit a few buttons. The computer beeped quietly, the door lock clicked open, and he managed to prise it open with his fingertips far enough for him to slip inside, pulling it closed again behind him and hearing the lock fall back into place.
And then he stopped, open-mouthed.
On the floor in front of him, stretching up towards the ceiling, with a chair near beside, clearly to help Ianto reach the top, was the biggest house of cards he’d ever seen.
Ianto was kneeling in front of it, his back to Jack, opening up another pack of cards to make the thing even bigger. It took a moment, but Jack realised that every single card in the house (and that just wasn’t the right word for it) was facing outwards, creating a vivid white outer face, with spots of red and black dappled across it.
Jack looked up at the camera above him, and peeled the leaflet for the Millenium Centre off the lens, waiting a few beats before sticking it back firmly, then turning back to face Ianto, and saying, “Well, they told me you were missing the mountains, but this is a bit much.”
Ianto froze midway through standing up, then straightened and turned, swallowing hard.
“Jack, I can explain,” he started, cheeks already tinged a little red as Jack raised both eyebrows, highly doubting that Ianto could come up with a sensible explanation for rebuilding the Himalayas from cards in the Tourist Information Office. And indeed Ianto’s next faltering word was, “Um…”
So Jack just laughed instead, and gleefully tackled him into the mountain, sending hundreds of cards flying.