Fic: Coal-Black Cinder - Part 2 (S2: Chap 5, SoI 20), Jack/Ianto
Chapter Title: Coal-Black Cinder - Part 2 (S2: Chap 5, SoI 20)
Author: sarcasticchick
Pairing: Jack/Ianto
Rating: R
Spoilers: TW S1
Fluffers/Betas: lilithilien, fivealive
Summary: Torched.Wood.
A/N: Thanks everyone for waiting a week for the post! Needed the time. As promised, a monster of a chapter. ;) And, while you're at it, clicky the d/l link! The fabulous misty_anne has done it...she's podcasted me! Seriously, the first chapter is up at that link. Feel free to d/l and listen - it makes me squeal and giggle like a little girl. mp3 Of White Noise! That's just too cool.
For Shades of Ianto series information, please see Prologue, Chapter 1
Previous Chapters:
Prologue: Chapters 1-7 (Complete)
Series1: Chapters 1-8 (Complete)
S2: Chap 1, SoI 16
S2: Chap 2, SoI 17
S2: Chap 3, SoI 18
S2: Chap 4, SoI 19
Coal-Black Cinder - Part 1 (S2: Chap 5, SoI 20)
Scorched grass and the smell of burning wood assailed Ianto as, for a disorientating moment, he felt himself in two places at once before the ground settled beneath his feet. His first thought was "Tosh!"; his second was "shite, dragon!" It stood calmly on the ground, wings occasionally twitching, but for the most part, it remained motionless, a mountain of black-red in the middle of a grass-green airfield.
Tosh was valiantly fighting not the dragon, however, but six Weevils who threatened her position, snarling and lashing out with claw and teeth. Ianto took careful aim and shot at the creatures, not stopping until all six Weevils were dead at her feet. She appeared unscathed from the attack, a few cuts and bruises but no serious bleeding. A scorch mark ran down her coat; a close call with a dragon, probably, but it appeared not to have gone beneath the surface of the leather.
It took Tosh's cries and pointing to distract Ianto from his cursory appraisal of her health to notice who knelt at the beast's feet.
Owen.
He didn't appear injured; in fact, he was rocking slightly, to Ianto's puzzlement. Why he hadn't run ... Owen may be a prat, but he wouldn't cower in fear; the man had looked into the soul of a Weevil, for fuck's sake. A dragon was a bit different, but still ... Shivering, Ianto recalled the slick, malevolent touch at his mind during his exploration of Torchwood Four, and his heart thundered out of control with the idea that a mature alien may turn that thought against one of his team. Shouting at Sheppard and Ronon to do anything to get the dragon to move, Ianto took aim as well, shooting at the thin membrane of the wings. A red blast from Ronon's gun actually appeared to injure the dragon, sending it flailing backwards in pain before darting into the sky, retreating for the moment.
Ianto ran forward, skidding to a stop in front of Owen as he heard the squeal of tires as two SUVs approached. He knelt before Owen, giving the man a few taps to his face. Owen's eyes weren't focusing, drifting despite Ianto's attempts to draw his attention by shouting his name, and the man still rocked, back and forth, arms clutching the opposite shoulders. Growing desperate, Ianto slapped Owen hard enough to shoot pain down his arm. He restrained Owen's rocking, shaking his shoulders and bellowing his name loud enough to wake the dead. To Ianto's relief, Owen's attention slowly focused on Ianto, eyes roving over his face before something in Owen seemed to snap. His reaction was violent, hands fighting and clawing at the air. Ianto hastily backed off, trying to catch Owen's wrists before he hurt himself. He failed, but Owen quickly calmed, turning instead to vomit his lunch and probably everything he'd eaten since the previous week.
Holding Owen upright, Ianto waited until the man had settled before handing over a bottle of water from his vest. The others had crowded around he and Owen. To Ianto's surprise Jack was still there, a concerned scowl on his face as he eyed Owen. Gwen and Rhys were there as well; Ianto hoped Gwen hadn't had her heart set on a specific hairstyle for the wedding as her long locks appeared to have been hacked away at about chin level. From the appearance of her clothing, Ianto assumed she'd gotten.too close to a blast. Rhys was sporting a nasty gash above his eye, but he was breathing and that was all Ianto could ask for at the moment. Surprising Ianto, Tosh clung to Jean-Luc and Stephen stood beside them, a quick nod telling Ianto everything he needed to know about Avalon.
It was safe.
Owen, however, appeared the worst of all the team.
"Shiteshiteshiteshitefuckingshiteshite" was his mantra, repeated over and over.
"Owen," Ianto commanded, lightly squeezing the other man's shoulder. Owen was trembling, the shakes growing more noticeable the more time passed and it wasn't until Tosh spoke up that Ianto realized the problem.
"He's going into shock. We need to get him to the hospital."
A leather coat suddenly appeared over Owen's shoulders, dwarfing the man huddled on the ground. Ianto smiled his thanks to Ronon before he pulled the edges of the coat tight around Owen's shoulders.
Almost surprised by the contact, Owen looked up, as if noticing for the first time that Ianto knelt in front of him. "Torchwood Four," he whispered, making Ianto first believe he had heard Owen mistakenly.
"What about Torchwood Four?"
"Those ... those things," Owen spoke through chattering teeth, eyes now fully aware and honed in on Ianto's, "those bloody things ... they turned Torchwood Four--" His voice cut off again as once again his body reacted to either the dragon or the thought, Ianto wasn't sure but he pitied the man. He had nothing left in his stomach and he was left retching bile, each heave of his body looking like it was trying to wring everything out of Owen to paint the ground. After rinsing his mouth out yet again, Owen finally spoke, "the Weevils. Fucking ... they're Torchwood Four. The bloody aliens turned 'em into Weevils."
Ianto sat back on his heels following Owen's statement, absently noting the helicopter still circling in ready for a fight with the dragon which had fled, stunned, but god, it made sense. It was why they couldn't find the bulk of Torchwood Four. It was why they had recruited. Still didn't explain their hunt of Avalon, but the slight empathic link between them, the rise now, during the dragon attack, fuck, Gwen's attack in the sewers. It hadn't made any sense then, but slowly ... Ianto had no notion of how Torchwood Four had gone from human to Weevil, but if Owen's reaction was anything, perhaps the influence of the alien mind altered them somehow, breaking and bending until the human reflected the creator.
No wonder it made Owen sick.
Realizing that Owen was being helped to one of the SUVs by Ronon and Tosh, Ianto stood and rubbed a hand over his face, cringing at the grit he felt. He must look a mess, but then, the rest were no beauties either. His mobile distracted him from the others, turning to listen to a heavy Russian accent speaking of the combined success of the German and Russian fight against the dragons. Ianto winced at the numbers lost in Russia, both military and civilian, but the dragons were defeated. Running Tosh's scan on his PDA, Ianto realized there was only the one left in Cardiff, though he didn't know about the rest of Britain. Clicking off the mobile, he asked Sheppard if there was any word from the Americas. All targets had been destroyed, Sheppard reported, few casualties.
"Hold on, the Weevils in our cells at Torchwood ... they're Torchwood Four?" Gwen's voice echoed everyone's surprise at the information; Ianto was still trying to--
Ianto felt himself go pale, turning to look at Jack a moment as the thought flew across his mind. Jack. Jack never permitted them to kill the Weevils, just capture and lock them up in the cells. That's the way it always was; in fact, at times Jack almost seemed to mourn their deaths. His Jack knew they were Torchwood Four.
Didn't he?
The more Ianto considered it, the less confident he became in what Jack knew. His action, they made no sense. If this was truly a younger, time-traveling Jack, it made sense for his Jack not to kill the Weevils. Although, Jack was never vicious in the attacks on aliens; in fact, he went quite contrary to Standard Torchwood Operating Procedure. He allowed many to live; death only came to those who gave no alternative. That didn't mean he knew about the Weevils. But it would make a bit of sense.
Then why did his Jack never say anything about Ms. White before her death?
"Ianto, we have a problem."
Sheppard's hushed voice interrupted his thoughts, the others in tight conversation while Tosh remained in the SUV with Owen and oblivious to their conversation. "You mean outside of Torchwood employees mutating into Weevils and dragons attempting to turn the world to ash?"
From the look on Sheppard's face, Ianto knew he wasn't going to like what he heard.
"The two alien crafts, they just launched what appears to be thousands of those pods. It's estimated they'll enter Earth's atmosphere in five minutes."
If Ianto had felt pale before, he must have gone sheet-white as the conversation around them stilled as the others took notice. Gwen was the first to react with a soft "Ianto?" Jack took a more direct approach and demanded to know what was going on. Ianto ignored the others and stared at Stephen a moment before turning away, dialing his UNIT contact and inquiring as to the status of London, UNIT, and the RAF.
What he heard turned the little hope he had to dust.
They were out of enzyme, over fifty air craft had been damaged or lost, mostly over London as the dragons had engaged the fighters in a fierce air battle, including three airliners carrying two hundred civilian passengers each. London survived, with assistance from the ground; UNIT didn't know who or what the weapons were, but the ground weapons had been an effective defense against the dragons (Ianto made note to thank the survivors of Torchwood One, they must have found plenty of alien tech in the storage units Ianto had directed them to). Buildings had been destroyed and lives lost as a result of the falling dragons, but the dragons' attack on the people of London had been limited.
Cardiff was a different story, but Ianto knew that. He'd seen it.
Ianto knew Russia had suffered great loss in their defense and he had yet to hear from China or Australia. He had believed them to have emerged victorious, that they had defeated their enemy, but Ianto realized the cold facts.
They had been toyed with.
Their defenses had been scouted and partially destroyed in the first wave. At least one dragon survived; if they truly were a telepathic race, then the ships most certainly were aware of their limitations and the dangers humankind presented.
They had fought hundreds and survived with loss. Now, Earth would fight thousands.
"Ianto?"
Ianto didn't even bother trying to hide this information from Jean-Luc, feeling his friend's tickling knock on his mental door and permitting him entrance. Turning his eyes towards his friend, he opened his public mind, staring into the shocking pale blue, losing himself, just for a moment. Jean-Luc's gasp and subsequent colorful (yet eloquent) cursing in French led Ianto to believe his fear wasn't unfounded. The others were confused by Jean-Luc's reaction and it started a line of questions Ianto couldn't keep up with had he wanted to try. Jean-Luc continued to vent his distress in a blur of French, pacing and pausing to look at the SUV before starting again.
A hand on his torn sleeve, tugging at it nervously, reminded him the others were waiting for an answer. He spoke to no one and everyone, staring at the ground as he tried to work out a solution before their time was up.
"This has just been a test of our defenses. Thousands more have been launched from the ships; we have about four minutes, twenty-five seconds until they breech our atmosphere."
The silence that followed (interspersed with Jean-Luc's continued swearing) was gratingly tense, broken by a stifled sob by Gwen. She understood. They all did. They had struggled to defeat the six over Cardiff, and even if they weren't fully aware of the rest of the world, they knew how difficult it had been. Ianto didn't know the stories of their victories, but if they were anything like his and Sheppard's, he knew it had probably occurred by slim margins. And with help from UNIT and the RAF.
And now ... thousands.
Next Chapter
Author: sarcasticchick
Pairing: Jack/Ianto
Rating: R
Spoilers: TW S1
Fluffers/Betas: lilithilien, fivealive
Summary: Torched.Wood.
A/N: Thanks everyone for waiting a week for the post! Needed the time. As promised, a monster of a chapter. ;) And, while you're at it, clicky the d/l link! The fabulous misty_anne has done it...she's podcasted me! Seriously, the first chapter is up at that link. Feel free to d/l and listen - it makes me squeal and giggle like a little girl. mp3 Of White Noise! That's just too cool.
For Shades of Ianto series information, please see Prologue, Chapter 1
Previous Chapters:
Prologue: Chapters 1-7 (Complete)
Series1: Chapters 1-8 (Complete)
S2: Chap 1, SoI 16
S2: Chap 2, SoI 17
S2: Chap 3, SoI 18
S2: Chap 4, SoI 19
Coal-Black Cinder - Part 1 (S2: Chap 5, SoI 20)
Scorched grass and the smell of burning wood assailed Ianto as, for a disorientating moment, he felt himself in two places at once before the ground settled beneath his feet. His first thought was "Tosh!"; his second was "shite, dragon!" It stood calmly on the ground, wings occasionally twitching, but for the most part, it remained motionless, a mountain of black-red in the middle of a grass-green airfield.
Tosh was valiantly fighting not the dragon, however, but six Weevils who threatened her position, snarling and lashing out with claw and teeth. Ianto took careful aim and shot at the creatures, not stopping until all six Weevils were dead at her feet. She appeared unscathed from the attack, a few cuts and bruises but no serious bleeding. A scorch mark ran down her coat; a close call with a dragon, probably, but it appeared not to have gone beneath the surface of the leather.
It took Tosh's cries and pointing to distract Ianto from his cursory appraisal of her health to notice who knelt at the beast's feet.
Owen.
He didn't appear injured; in fact, he was rocking slightly, to Ianto's puzzlement. Why he hadn't run ... Owen may be a prat, but he wouldn't cower in fear; the man had looked into the soul of a Weevil, for fuck's sake. A dragon was a bit different, but still ... Shivering, Ianto recalled the slick, malevolent touch at his mind during his exploration of Torchwood Four, and his heart thundered out of control with the idea that a mature alien may turn that thought against one of his team. Shouting at Sheppard and Ronon to do anything to get the dragon to move, Ianto took aim as well, shooting at the thin membrane of the wings. A red blast from Ronon's gun actually appeared to injure the dragon, sending it flailing backwards in pain before darting into the sky, retreating for the moment.
Ianto ran forward, skidding to a stop in front of Owen as he heard the squeal of tires as two SUVs approached. He knelt before Owen, giving the man a few taps to his face. Owen's eyes weren't focusing, drifting despite Ianto's attempts to draw his attention by shouting his name, and the man still rocked, back and forth, arms clutching the opposite shoulders. Growing desperate, Ianto slapped Owen hard enough to shoot pain down his arm. He restrained Owen's rocking, shaking his shoulders and bellowing his name loud enough to wake the dead. To Ianto's relief, Owen's attention slowly focused on Ianto, eyes roving over his face before something in Owen seemed to snap. His reaction was violent, hands fighting and clawing at the air. Ianto hastily backed off, trying to catch Owen's wrists before he hurt himself. He failed, but Owen quickly calmed, turning instead to vomit his lunch and probably everything he'd eaten since the previous week.
Holding Owen upright, Ianto waited until the man had settled before handing over a bottle of water from his vest. The others had crowded around he and Owen. To Ianto's surprise Jack was still there, a concerned scowl on his face as he eyed Owen. Gwen and Rhys were there as well; Ianto hoped Gwen hadn't had her heart set on a specific hairstyle for the wedding as her long locks appeared to have been hacked away at about chin level. From the appearance of her clothing, Ianto assumed she'd gotten.too close to a blast. Rhys was sporting a nasty gash above his eye, but he was breathing and that was all Ianto could ask for at the moment. Surprising Ianto, Tosh clung to Jean-Luc and Stephen stood beside them, a quick nod telling Ianto everything he needed to know about Avalon.
It was safe.
Owen, however, appeared the worst of all the team.
"Shiteshiteshiteshitefuckingshiteshite" was his mantra, repeated over and over.
"Owen," Ianto commanded, lightly squeezing the other man's shoulder. Owen was trembling, the shakes growing more noticeable the more time passed and it wasn't until Tosh spoke up that Ianto realized the problem.
"He's going into shock. We need to get him to the hospital."
A leather coat suddenly appeared over Owen's shoulders, dwarfing the man huddled on the ground. Ianto smiled his thanks to Ronon before he pulled the edges of the coat tight around Owen's shoulders.
Almost surprised by the contact, Owen looked up, as if noticing for the first time that Ianto knelt in front of him. "Torchwood Four," he whispered, making Ianto first believe he had heard Owen mistakenly.
"What about Torchwood Four?"
"Those ... those things," Owen spoke through chattering teeth, eyes now fully aware and honed in on Ianto's, "those bloody things ... they turned Torchwood Four--" His voice cut off again as once again his body reacted to either the dragon or the thought, Ianto wasn't sure but he pitied the man. He had nothing left in his stomach and he was left retching bile, each heave of his body looking like it was trying to wring everything out of Owen to paint the ground. After rinsing his mouth out yet again, Owen finally spoke, "the Weevils. Fucking ... they're Torchwood Four. The bloody aliens turned 'em into Weevils."
Ianto sat back on his heels following Owen's statement, absently noting the helicopter still circling in ready for a fight with the dragon which had fled, stunned, but god, it made sense. It was why they couldn't find the bulk of Torchwood Four. It was why they had recruited. Still didn't explain their hunt of Avalon, but the slight empathic link between them, the rise now, during the dragon attack, fuck, Gwen's attack in the sewers. It hadn't made any sense then, but slowly ... Ianto had no notion of how Torchwood Four had gone from human to Weevil, but if Owen's reaction was anything, perhaps the influence of the alien mind altered them somehow, breaking and bending until the human reflected the creator.
No wonder it made Owen sick.
Realizing that Owen was being helped to one of the SUVs by Ronon and Tosh, Ianto stood and rubbed a hand over his face, cringing at the grit he felt. He must look a mess, but then, the rest were no beauties either. His mobile distracted him from the others, turning to listen to a heavy Russian accent speaking of the combined success of the German and Russian fight against the dragons. Ianto winced at the numbers lost in Russia, both military and civilian, but the dragons were defeated. Running Tosh's scan on his PDA, Ianto realized there was only the one left in Cardiff, though he didn't know about the rest of Britain. Clicking off the mobile, he asked Sheppard if there was any word from the Americas. All targets had been destroyed, Sheppard reported, few casualties.
"Hold on, the Weevils in our cells at Torchwood ... they're Torchwood Four?" Gwen's voice echoed everyone's surprise at the information; Ianto was still trying to--
Ianto felt himself go pale, turning to look at Jack a moment as the thought flew across his mind. Jack. Jack never permitted them to kill the Weevils, just capture and lock them up in the cells. That's the way it always was; in fact, at times Jack almost seemed to mourn their deaths. His Jack knew they were Torchwood Four.
Didn't he?
The more Ianto considered it, the less confident he became in what Jack knew. His action, they made no sense. If this was truly a younger, time-traveling Jack, it made sense for his Jack not to kill the Weevils. Although, Jack was never vicious in the attacks on aliens; in fact, he went quite contrary to Standard Torchwood Operating Procedure. He allowed many to live; death only came to those who gave no alternative. That didn't mean he knew about the Weevils. But it would make a bit of sense.
Then why did his Jack never say anything about Ms. White before her death?
"Ianto, we have a problem."
Sheppard's hushed voice interrupted his thoughts, the others in tight conversation while Tosh remained in the SUV with Owen and oblivious to their conversation. "You mean outside of Torchwood employees mutating into Weevils and dragons attempting to turn the world to ash?"
From the look on Sheppard's face, Ianto knew he wasn't going to like what he heard.
"The two alien crafts, they just launched what appears to be thousands of those pods. It's estimated they'll enter Earth's atmosphere in five minutes."
If Ianto had felt pale before, he must have gone sheet-white as the conversation around them stilled as the others took notice. Gwen was the first to react with a soft "Ianto?" Jack took a more direct approach and demanded to know what was going on. Ianto ignored the others and stared at Stephen a moment before turning away, dialing his UNIT contact and inquiring as to the status of London, UNIT, and the RAF.
What he heard turned the little hope he had to dust.
They were out of enzyme, over fifty air craft had been damaged or lost, mostly over London as the dragons had engaged the fighters in a fierce air battle, including three airliners carrying two hundred civilian passengers each. London survived, with assistance from the ground; UNIT didn't know who or what the weapons were, but the ground weapons had been an effective defense against the dragons (Ianto made note to thank the survivors of Torchwood One, they must have found plenty of alien tech in the storage units Ianto had directed them to). Buildings had been destroyed and lives lost as a result of the falling dragons, but the dragons' attack on the people of London had been limited.
Cardiff was a different story, but Ianto knew that. He'd seen it.
Ianto knew Russia had suffered great loss in their defense and he had yet to hear from China or Australia. He had believed them to have emerged victorious, that they had defeated their enemy, but Ianto realized the cold facts.
They had been toyed with.
Their defenses had been scouted and partially destroyed in the first wave. At least one dragon survived; if they truly were a telepathic race, then the ships most certainly were aware of their limitations and the dangers humankind presented.
They had fought hundreds and survived with loss. Now, Earth would fight thousands.
"Ianto?"
Ianto didn't even bother trying to hide this information from Jean-Luc, feeling his friend's tickling knock on his mental door and permitting him entrance. Turning his eyes towards his friend, he opened his public mind, staring into the shocking pale blue, losing himself, just for a moment. Jean-Luc's gasp and subsequent colorful (yet eloquent) cursing in French led Ianto to believe his fear wasn't unfounded. The others were confused by Jean-Luc's reaction and it started a line of questions Ianto couldn't keep up with had he wanted to try. Jean-Luc continued to vent his distress in a blur of French, pacing and pausing to look at the SUV before starting again.
A hand on his torn sleeve, tugging at it nervously, reminded him the others were waiting for an answer. He spoke to no one and everyone, staring at the ground as he tried to work out a solution before their time was up.
"This has just been a test of our defenses. Thousands more have been launched from the ships; we have about four minutes, twenty-five seconds until they breech our atmosphere."
The silence that followed (interspersed with Jean-Luc's continued swearing) was gratingly tense, broken by a stifled sob by Gwen. She understood. They all did. They had struggled to defeat the six over Cardiff, and even if they weren't fully aware of the rest of the world, they knew how difficult it had been. Ianto didn't know the stories of their victories, but if they were anything like his and Sheppard's, he knew it had probably occurred by slim margins. And with help from UNIT and the RAF.
And now ... thousands.
Next Chapter