Fic - Inter-agency Co-operation
Hello and welcome to the very last installment of the Overtime series. The Author would like to thank you for your patience.
The Overtime Series
Title: Inter-agency Co-operation
Author: szm
Rating: PG (for blood and shooting etc)
Summary: Suzie is back...
Betaed by crowson75 and hellenebright
The problem with two seater sofas, Ianto mused, is that once you have two fully grown men sitting on one there isn’t a lot of room. And when one of them is Jack Harkness, a man who can fill a whole room with the force of his personality, it’s even worse.
Ianto finds himself pressed up against Jack’s side, clutching the paper coffee mug. Jack kicks out heat like a furnace and Ianto finds himself biting his lip to keep from squirming. He hasn’t felt this awkward since his first ‘date’ with Lisa. He feels a familiar stab of pain in his chest as he thinks of her, and the guilt that it’s not quite as bad as it used to be.
“A penny for them,” asked Jack softly breaking into Ianto’s thoughts.
Ianto smiled back. “You’d probably get change.”
“I have no doubt your thoughts are endless fascinating.” Jack winked and Ianto took a drink of the coffee to hide his blush. Honestly, it was unbelievable that Jack could undo him with just a look.
“So, Mr Jones?” continued Jack pleasantly, “What thoughts could be causing you turn such a pretty colour?”
Jack leaned in ever so slightly. Ianto resisted the urge to lean as well, if only because he couldn’t decide whether to lean away or towards.
“I think this counts as sexual harassment, Captain,” replied Ianto with a smirk.
Jack gave him a toothy grin in return. “Technically you’re my boss, so if anyone is doing the harassing it’s you.”
Ianto just raised his eyebrow at the other man, who chuckled and somehow managed to make that simple sound utterly filthy.
Jack seemed unable to stop talking, “it occurs to me, Mr Jones, that I promised you dinner last time I was in London, you owe me a date.”
Ianto frowned. “We had dinner.”
“No, we had takeout, which doesn’t count. I meant dinner. Which means a restaurant so I can show you off.”
“I’m not a show horse, Captain.”
“If you call me Captain, we’re going to have to talk about work. And then I’m going to have to ask you about UNIT and Richard Segar.”
Ianto felt himself freeze at Jack’s words. He forced himself to relax. There was no way Jack could know anything; he was just fishing. “In that case, I’ll have to ask you about Miss Costello and her glove, and why your monitoring of the situation has been so lax. Could this have something to do with her ‘sabbatical’? You certainly left London in a hurry.”
Ianto felt Jack tense at his words. “See,” replied Jack forcing a grin. “It’s much better if we stick to Jack and Ianto. Captain Harkness and Mr Jones are no fun at all.”
“I don’t know, watching you squirm is fun…” Ianto felt himself flush as he said it. What the hell was he doing?
**
Far too close. Ianto was far too close to the truth and Jack really should be more worried. But it’s been years since Jack’s had this much fun, and Ianto seems more than willing to play.
Jack opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted by a buzz in his ear. “Sorry, just a moment…” he said to Ianto pushing the button on his headset. “Yes? This better be good.”
Andy’s panicked voice fizzled down the line. “I can find Gwen! She left the pub hours ago. She been to the flat, she spilled some juice and her coat’s here. But she’s gone now.”
“Andy, calm down,” said Jack, standing and moving away from Ianto. “We’ll find her…”
The main door ground open and Jack saw Gwen walk through.
“Andy? It’s okay she’s here.” He waved to Gwen, who gave him a shaky smile and waved back. Jack started off towards her, heading down the steps to the main hub.
“Okay, sorry Jack,” replied Andy. “See you tomorrow. Ask Gwen to call me if she wants a lift home?” Andy hung up.
Jack met Gwen halfway. “Hey Gwen, you gave Andy a fright. He’s pulling the mother hen routine again.”
Gwen looked terrified. “Jack, I’m so sorry,” she breathed.
Jack opened his mouth to ask why. Gwen pulled out her gun and shot him, straight through the heart. Jack dropped down dead.
**
Ianto couldn’t quite contain the gasp when he saw Jack fall. Gwen looked up and saw him. Ianto was unable to move. For a long moment they just stood there looking at each other, Gwen still holding the gun loosely by her side. She looked panicked and was shaking. She raised a finger to her lips, then typed something onto the computer next to her and shut the monitor off. Then she leant over Jack’s body and pressed something on his wrist cuff. There was the sound of rumbling and gears turning. The lift from the street was lowering and there was somebody on it. Ianto eased himself into the shadows, suddenly regretting telling Tamsin she couldn’t come.
The figure hurried over to Gwen. It was a woman, Suzie Costello, not on ‘sabbatical’ then.
**
Suzie stood over Jack’s body, something unreadable on her face. Gwen felt sick. She forced her eyes to stay on the scene in front of her and not flick upwards to where Ianto Jones was hiding.
“Good girl Gwen,” said Suzie softly, unable to take her eyes off Jack.
Gwen closed her eyes, feeling the rush of relief and warmth at being called ‘good’, despite the horrible sick feeling at what she’d just done.
Suzie tore her eyes away from Jack. “So the Hub’s empty now?” she asked.
Gwen braced herself. “The rest of the team went to the pub.” It wasn’t a direct lie but it still tore at her. She forced herself to look Suzie in the eye and not to look up.
Suzie glanced down at Jack again. “Sorry,” she whispered more to herself than anyone else. “I had to.” She looked back up at Gwen. “Where did he put the glove?”
“This way,” replied Gwen, leading Suzie up to Jack’s office.
**
Ianto watched them leave. He crept down to the computer that Gwen had been typing on. He turned on the monitor. Gwen had left him a message.
’Put the Hub into lockdown. You can’t let us leave.’
Ianto stared at the screen. He sent an e-mail to London and then tried to work out how to put the Hub into lockdown. He was surprised when his clearance code worked. He was just about to slip away when there was a loud gasp behind him. He spun around to find Jack sitting up, looking confused.
“But you…” Ianto was interrupted by the alarms going off and the doors sliding shut. He could hear Suzie shouting from the office, but she was locked in. He heard her banging on the door. “Never mind, time to go.” He helped Jack to his feet and steered him in the direction of the archives.
**
Gwen watched as Suzie tried to break into the safe. The alarms went off, which meant Ianto had managed to put the Hub into lockdown. Gwen tried to stifle her smile. Suzie couldn’t go anywhere now. She looked at Gwen confused before rushing to the door. Though the glass they could see Ianto carrying Jack’s body… no wait, Jack was walking. That meant Gwen didn’t kill him. Gwen couldn’t help but laugh, she didn’t understand how it was possible but she didn’t care right now.
“Who is that?” Suzie was shouting now.
“Ianto Jones, from London.”
“Did you know he was here?”
Gwen opened her mouth to say ‘no’ but she can’t tell Suzie a direct lie. “Yes, I saw him before you arrived.”
Suzie let out a scream, she raised Gwen’s gun and shot the glass door. Gwen covered her eyes with her sleeve.
**
The door to the archives was locked but Jack had a piece of alien tech that took care of that. He locked the heavy metal door behind them and turned to find himself face-to-face with a very pissed-off Ianto Jones.
“What the hell is going on, Captain? You were dead!”
“Well I’m not now, Gwen must have missed.”
Ianto’s eyes slid down to Jack’s chest. His shirt was covered in blood and there was a hole surrounded by power burns. Ianto touched the small piece of unblemished skin visible underneath gently, then dropped his hand looking Jack in the eye. “Yeah,” he said with a hard stare. “She missed.”
“All we have to do is stay out of the way until morning. Then the others will come in, find the lockdown and know something is wrong. Sooner than that if Andy comes looking for Gwen. I’m sorry to get you involved, but it’s all under control.”
Ianto gave him a disbelieving look. “This is under control? Besides we don’t have to wait till morning. I e-mailed Tamsin. She’ll have a team here in less than two hours.”
“Two hours? How’s she going to manage to get from London to Cardiff in two hours?”
“Don’t ask me and I won’t have to lie to you.”
Jack gave Ianto a look, but Ianto remained impassive. “Fine. Come on we can’t stay here.”
**
Suzie was livid when she found she couldn’t follow them though the archive door. She was going to try and shoot it before she realised that she was nearly out of bullets and there was no way she’d be able to get into the armoury.
She grabbed Gwen’s hand. “Come on, let’s get the glove. I have an idea.”
It took Suzie over an hour to get into the safe. She felt her heart beat a little faster when she pulled out the box containing the glove. Gwen’s breathing changed, Gwen felt it too. Suzie set the box on the table and carefully opened it, picking the glove out and cradling it to her chest almost reverently.
“Time to get Jack,” she said to Gwen, eyes bright and voice breathy. She led Gwen back down to the main Hub. She managed to get the PA system working, she spoke into it and her voice rebounded round the Hub.
“Jack, I know you can hear me Captain. I know you’ve got some way of opening the locks. I want it. Or…” She knocked the safety off the gun and levelled it at Gwen’s head. “I’ll kill Gwen.”
**
Ianto was hopelessly lost. After an hour of apparent aimless wandering, he was beginning to suspect Jack was too.
“I know there’s a back door around here somewhere,” Jack mumbled to himself. “I helped build the thing.”
Ianto bit his tongue and didn’t ask how Jack had managed to be part of the building process in 1923. He was getting tired of watching Jack lie.
Then came Suzie’s announcement over some kind of internal PA system.
Jack took off at a run back towards the main Hub. Ianto chased after him.
“Gwen? That’s the woman who shot you,” Ianto shouted, managing to keep up.
“I thought we already established that she missed.”
“Of course.”
“None of this is her fault, Suzie drugged her. We thought it had mostly worn off. She gave you that message right? She’s fighting it.”
They got to the door to the Hub relatively quickly. But it was too late. Suzie’s voice came back over the speaker.
“Too slow, Captain. Did you not think I was serious?”
They heard a woman scream. Jack doubled his pace and sprinted the last few yards to the door, swearing as he used the tech to unlock it. He wrenched it open and darted though. Ianto close on his heels.
“That’s close enough, Captain,” said Suzie. She was standing by the water tower, gun pressed to Gwen’s temple. There was a large sharp-looking piece of metal sticking out of Gwen’s shoulder. She was bleeding heavily and leaning against Suzie for support. “Toss the device over.”
Jack held his hands up, the alien device in one hand. “Let her go first, Suzie.”
“No,” replied Suzie, looking shocked. “She belongs with me. She understands you see, about the glove. Don’t you Gwen?”
“Yes Suzie,” Gwen sobbed.
Ianto caught movement out of the corner of his eye; he turned his head slightly to look. Suzie noticed and started to turn.
“Here you go,” called Jack, tossing the device to Suzie. It landed by her feet.
Suzie looked at the device, distracted from the movement behind her.
“Put the gun down,” said Andy stepping forward, his own gun levelled at Suzie.
“How did you get in?” asked Suzie calmly, carefully placing her gun on the floor and picking up the device. Gwen winced as the movement translated through her damaged shoulder.
“Kick the gun over here. Tosh managed to open a back door, but only for a few minutes. They’re outside, you’ve got no where to go.”
Suzie kicked the gun across the floor; Jack quickly picked it up and pointed it at her. “I’ve got the glove,” she said motioning to the bag on her back. “And I’ve got Gwen. You want to come with me don’t you?”
Gwen looked up, eyes wide and helpless. She locked eyes with Andy for a moment. Andy nodded slightly.
“No,” said Gwen. Shoving an elbow into Suzie’s stomach and dropping to the floor. There was a large bang and Suzie crumpled, a surprised look on her face and a hole though her head.
Ianto looked at Jack, but Jack wasn’t the one who fired. Andy stood staring at his gun like he’d never seen it before.
Gwen cried out snapping the three men out of their trance. Ianto was closest; he got there first, trying to apply pressure to the wound.
Gwen gripped his hand. “I want Rhys… please…”
At that moment, Tamsin burst in with a team from London and the rest of Torchwood Three.
“Sir!” She rushed over to Ianto’s side. She saw the state Gwen was in. “Medic!”
Owen pushed his way past the medic from London. “Back off pal, she’s one of mine.”
The medic looked at Tamsin who nodded and he let Owen past. Ianto gently passed Gwen over. Jack was standing with Andy talking quietly to him; he’d taken Andy’s gun.
“What happened, Sir?” asked Tamsin.
Ianto blinked. “Miss Costello and Miss Cooper where affected by some kind of alien influence…
Jack glared at Ianto. “Mr Jones…” he started.
Ianto gave him a blank stare back, trying not to acknowledge that he was covered in someone else’s blood, or remember the last time he had been. “Let me help, Jack.”
“Miss Costello’s dead,” he paused and looked at Jack, who nodded slightly. “Miss Cooper needs a hospital. But the alien influence is gone.”
“The glove needs to be destroyed,” added Jack.
Tamsin looked at Ianto for confirmation.
“Yes,” said Ianto nodding.
**
A few hours later, Jack and Andy were on their way to the hospital and Owen was already there. Tosh was on the computer in Jack’s office, trying to repair the damage she’d done forcing the lockdown to trip early. Ianto was clean, thanks to the decontamination showers, and was wearing an odd combination of spare clothes.
Tamsin found him on the sofa in the kitchen area nursing a coffee. Ianto looked up.
“Want one?” he asked.
Tamsin shook her head, sitting next to him on the sofa. “What really happened, Sir?”
Ianto smiled. “I have no idea.”
“You trust him?”
“For a given value of ‘trust’…”
They sat in silence for a few minutes.
“So what’s happening at home?” asked Ianto, forcing his tiredness back.
“Ianto, it can wait…” started Tamsin.
“Really?” asked Ianto with a raised eyebrow.
Tamsin sighed “UNIT’s threatening to break the door down. Dr Logan wants to restart the Section 33 research; I threatened to shoot him if he did. Miller wants to retire; his daughter just had a baby. Oh, and we’re pretty sure there’s some kind of alien activity around those new school buildings.”
Ianto tipped his head back on the sofa and closed his eyes. “Right, schedule meetings with Miller and Logan for next week. Please stop threatening to shoot the staff? It’s bad for morale. I want all the information on the new buildings on my desk when I get back to London, Friday; I’ve got one or two things to wrap up here. I’ll ring UNIT when I get back to the hotel tonight.”
Tamsin stood and held her hand out, Ianto took it and she helped to pull him up. “Ring UNIT in the morning. Sleep tonight. I’ll drive you back to the hotel and then I need to get back to London.”
“Who’s the boss here?”
“You are, I sure as hell don’t want to be. But you’re no good to anyone if you drop down from exhaustion.” She leant up and kissed him on the forehead. “You did good boss. For someone who’s not field trained.”
Ianto smirked and let Tamsin lead him out to his car. Once they were inside he said, “Tamsin, Gwen mentioned someone called Rhys? Find him and let him know she’s in the hospital.”
“Certainly, Sir,” she replied, pulling out of the car park. Ianto fell asleep on the way to the hotel.
**
Ianto rang UNIT the next day. He was put through to Major Hall.
“Mr Jones,” said the Major stiffly. “I’ve had Captain Harkness on the phone for most of the night. He rang me at home. Trust me; Torchwood is well and truly on its own now. God help you. Good day.”
**
Jack watched as Andy walked out of the hospital; he stopped at the park bench across the road.
“What brings you here, Mr Jones?” Andy asked the well-dressed young man sitting there.
Ianto smiled and stood. “I lived in Cardiff you know. 10 or so years ago”
“Oh yeah?” asked Andy with a half-hearted smile. “How old were you? Three?”
Ianto chuckled, “I’m not that much younger than you.” Andy just looked at him. “Okay. I was fifteen. There was a pub I used to go to that had a pretty good pool table.”
“A pub? When you were fifteen?” asked Andy, eyebrow raised.
“Going to arrest me officer?” smirked Ianto.
“I’m not a policeman anymore,” Andy stated flatly.
“Of course you are. Do you want to play some pool?”
Andy chuckled, a desperate substitute for sobbing. ”The world ends, and I’m supposed to play pool?”
Something dark flashed across Ianto’s face. “That wasn’t the end of the world. Trust me, I’ve been there.”
“You called Rhys.”
“Who’s Rhys?”
“I didn’t call him, and neither did Jack. Tosh and Owen wouldn’t think too. Thanks for that.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” replied Ianto flatly. “How about that game of pool?”
Andy sighed and looked back at the hospital. “Thank you, but I’m going to my sisters’ tonight. She’s going to try and cook. Should be fun.”
Ianto nodded. “Have a nice evening.”
Andy turned to leave; “By the way,” he called back over his shoulder, "Jack’s watching you from that tree over there.”
Ianto spun round to see Jack leaning against a tree a few feet away.
“Snitch!” Jack shouted after Andy, who just waved as he walked away. Jack turned to Ianto and smirked. “Mr Jones.”
“Captain Harkness,” replied Ianto. “You’re not going to tell me what exactly went on here are you?”
“Nope,” said Jack cheerfully, crossing the distance. “No more than you’re going to tell me what happened in London, or what UNIT is so pissed about.”
“Then how are we any better than Yvonne?” asked Ianto seriously.
Jack grinned, “Cus we’ve got each other.”
Ianto couldn’t help it, he laughed out loud. “Every story I ever heard about you was true wasn’t it?”
“Everything and more,” said Jack, winking at Ianto. “But it occurs to me that I said I’d buy you dinner.”
“So you did,” agreed Ianto. “I know a pub with a pool table that does good chips. Not far from here.”
Jack cocked his head to one side. “Chips?”
“Chips,” confirmed Ianto.
“Sounds perfect to me,” agreed Jack. The two men walked off together towards the setting sun. “Also, any activity that has you bending over a table in those trousers? Well worth my time.”
******************************************
Sequel - Sharing Resources (set 13 months later)
The Overtime Series
Title: Inter-agency Co-operation
Author: szm
Rating: PG (for blood and shooting etc)
Summary: Suzie is back...
Betaed by crowson75 and hellenebright
The problem with two seater sofas, Ianto mused, is that once you have two fully grown men sitting on one there isn’t a lot of room. And when one of them is Jack Harkness, a man who can fill a whole room with the force of his personality, it’s even worse.
Ianto finds himself pressed up against Jack’s side, clutching the paper coffee mug. Jack kicks out heat like a furnace and Ianto finds himself biting his lip to keep from squirming. He hasn’t felt this awkward since his first ‘date’ with Lisa. He feels a familiar stab of pain in his chest as he thinks of her, and the guilt that it’s not quite as bad as it used to be.
“A penny for them,” asked Jack softly breaking into Ianto’s thoughts.
Ianto smiled back. “You’d probably get change.”
“I have no doubt your thoughts are endless fascinating.” Jack winked and Ianto took a drink of the coffee to hide his blush. Honestly, it was unbelievable that Jack could undo him with just a look.
“So, Mr Jones?” continued Jack pleasantly, “What thoughts could be causing you turn such a pretty colour?”
Jack leaned in ever so slightly. Ianto resisted the urge to lean as well, if only because he couldn’t decide whether to lean away or towards.
“I think this counts as sexual harassment, Captain,” replied Ianto with a smirk.
Jack gave him a toothy grin in return. “Technically you’re my boss, so if anyone is doing the harassing it’s you.”
Ianto just raised his eyebrow at the other man, who chuckled and somehow managed to make that simple sound utterly filthy.
Jack seemed unable to stop talking, “it occurs to me, Mr Jones, that I promised you dinner last time I was in London, you owe me a date.”
Ianto frowned. “We had dinner.”
“No, we had takeout, which doesn’t count. I meant dinner. Which means a restaurant so I can show you off.”
“I’m not a show horse, Captain.”
“If you call me Captain, we’re going to have to talk about work. And then I’m going to have to ask you about UNIT and Richard Segar.”
Ianto felt himself freeze at Jack’s words. He forced himself to relax. There was no way Jack could know anything; he was just fishing. “In that case, I’ll have to ask you about Miss Costello and her glove, and why your monitoring of the situation has been so lax. Could this have something to do with her ‘sabbatical’? You certainly left London in a hurry.”
Ianto felt Jack tense at his words. “See,” replied Jack forcing a grin. “It’s much better if we stick to Jack and Ianto. Captain Harkness and Mr Jones are no fun at all.”
“I don’t know, watching you squirm is fun…” Ianto felt himself flush as he said it. What the hell was he doing?
**
Far too close. Ianto was far too close to the truth and Jack really should be more worried. But it’s been years since Jack’s had this much fun, and Ianto seems more than willing to play.
Jack opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted by a buzz in his ear. “Sorry, just a moment…” he said to Ianto pushing the button on his headset. “Yes? This better be good.”
Andy’s panicked voice fizzled down the line. “I can find Gwen! She left the pub hours ago. She been to the flat, she spilled some juice and her coat’s here. But she’s gone now.”
“Andy, calm down,” said Jack, standing and moving away from Ianto. “We’ll find her…”
The main door ground open and Jack saw Gwen walk through.
“Andy? It’s okay she’s here.” He waved to Gwen, who gave him a shaky smile and waved back. Jack started off towards her, heading down the steps to the main hub.
“Okay, sorry Jack,” replied Andy. “See you tomorrow. Ask Gwen to call me if she wants a lift home?” Andy hung up.
Jack met Gwen halfway. “Hey Gwen, you gave Andy a fright. He’s pulling the mother hen routine again.”
Gwen looked terrified. “Jack, I’m so sorry,” she breathed.
Jack opened his mouth to ask why. Gwen pulled out her gun and shot him, straight through the heart. Jack dropped down dead.
**
Ianto couldn’t quite contain the gasp when he saw Jack fall. Gwen looked up and saw him. Ianto was unable to move. For a long moment they just stood there looking at each other, Gwen still holding the gun loosely by her side. She looked panicked and was shaking. She raised a finger to her lips, then typed something onto the computer next to her and shut the monitor off. Then she leant over Jack’s body and pressed something on his wrist cuff. There was the sound of rumbling and gears turning. The lift from the street was lowering and there was somebody on it. Ianto eased himself into the shadows, suddenly regretting telling Tamsin she couldn’t come.
The figure hurried over to Gwen. It was a woman, Suzie Costello, not on ‘sabbatical’ then.
**
Suzie stood over Jack’s body, something unreadable on her face. Gwen felt sick. She forced her eyes to stay on the scene in front of her and not flick upwards to where Ianto Jones was hiding.
“Good girl Gwen,” said Suzie softly, unable to take her eyes off Jack.
Gwen closed her eyes, feeling the rush of relief and warmth at being called ‘good’, despite the horrible sick feeling at what she’d just done.
Suzie tore her eyes away from Jack. “So the Hub’s empty now?” she asked.
Gwen braced herself. “The rest of the team went to the pub.” It wasn’t a direct lie but it still tore at her. She forced herself to look Suzie in the eye and not to look up.
Suzie glanced down at Jack again. “Sorry,” she whispered more to herself than anyone else. “I had to.” She looked back up at Gwen. “Where did he put the glove?”
“This way,” replied Gwen, leading Suzie up to Jack’s office.
**
Ianto watched them leave. He crept down to the computer that Gwen had been typing on. He turned on the monitor. Gwen had left him a message.
’Put the Hub into lockdown. You can’t let us leave.’
Ianto stared at the screen. He sent an e-mail to London and then tried to work out how to put the Hub into lockdown. He was surprised when his clearance code worked. He was just about to slip away when there was a loud gasp behind him. He spun around to find Jack sitting up, looking confused.
“But you…” Ianto was interrupted by the alarms going off and the doors sliding shut. He could hear Suzie shouting from the office, but she was locked in. He heard her banging on the door. “Never mind, time to go.” He helped Jack to his feet and steered him in the direction of the archives.
**
Gwen watched as Suzie tried to break into the safe. The alarms went off, which meant Ianto had managed to put the Hub into lockdown. Gwen tried to stifle her smile. Suzie couldn’t go anywhere now. She looked at Gwen confused before rushing to the door. Though the glass they could see Ianto carrying Jack’s body… no wait, Jack was walking. That meant Gwen didn’t kill him. Gwen couldn’t help but laugh, she didn’t understand how it was possible but she didn’t care right now.
“Who is that?” Suzie was shouting now.
“Ianto Jones, from London.”
“Did you know he was here?”
Gwen opened her mouth to say ‘no’ but she can’t tell Suzie a direct lie. “Yes, I saw him before you arrived.”
Suzie let out a scream, she raised Gwen’s gun and shot the glass door. Gwen covered her eyes with her sleeve.
**
The door to the archives was locked but Jack had a piece of alien tech that took care of that. He locked the heavy metal door behind them and turned to find himself face-to-face with a very pissed-off Ianto Jones.
“What the hell is going on, Captain? You were dead!”
“Well I’m not now, Gwen must have missed.”
Ianto’s eyes slid down to Jack’s chest. His shirt was covered in blood and there was a hole surrounded by power burns. Ianto touched the small piece of unblemished skin visible underneath gently, then dropped his hand looking Jack in the eye. “Yeah,” he said with a hard stare. “She missed.”
“All we have to do is stay out of the way until morning. Then the others will come in, find the lockdown and know something is wrong. Sooner than that if Andy comes looking for Gwen. I’m sorry to get you involved, but it’s all under control.”
Ianto gave him a disbelieving look. “This is under control? Besides we don’t have to wait till morning. I e-mailed Tamsin. She’ll have a team here in less than two hours.”
“Two hours? How’s she going to manage to get from London to Cardiff in two hours?”
“Don’t ask me and I won’t have to lie to you.”
Jack gave Ianto a look, but Ianto remained impassive. “Fine. Come on we can’t stay here.”
**
Suzie was livid when she found she couldn’t follow them though the archive door. She was going to try and shoot it before she realised that she was nearly out of bullets and there was no way she’d be able to get into the armoury.
She grabbed Gwen’s hand. “Come on, let’s get the glove. I have an idea.”
It took Suzie over an hour to get into the safe. She felt her heart beat a little faster when she pulled out the box containing the glove. Gwen’s breathing changed, Gwen felt it too. Suzie set the box on the table and carefully opened it, picking the glove out and cradling it to her chest almost reverently.
“Time to get Jack,” she said to Gwen, eyes bright and voice breathy. She led Gwen back down to the main Hub. She managed to get the PA system working, she spoke into it and her voice rebounded round the Hub.
“Jack, I know you can hear me Captain. I know you’ve got some way of opening the locks. I want it. Or…” She knocked the safety off the gun and levelled it at Gwen’s head. “I’ll kill Gwen.”
**
Ianto was hopelessly lost. After an hour of apparent aimless wandering, he was beginning to suspect Jack was too.
“I know there’s a back door around here somewhere,” Jack mumbled to himself. “I helped build the thing.”
Ianto bit his tongue and didn’t ask how Jack had managed to be part of the building process in 1923. He was getting tired of watching Jack lie.
Then came Suzie’s announcement over some kind of internal PA system.
Jack took off at a run back towards the main Hub. Ianto chased after him.
“Gwen? That’s the woman who shot you,” Ianto shouted, managing to keep up.
“I thought we already established that she missed.”
“Of course.”
“None of this is her fault, Suzie drugged her. We thought it had mostly worn off. She gave you that message right? She’s fighting it.”
They got to the door to the Hub relatively quickly. But it was too late. Suzie’s voice came back over the speaker.
“Too slow, Captain. Did you not think I was serious?”
They heard a woman scream. Jack doubled his pace and sprinted the last few yards to the door, swearing as he used the tech to unlock it. He wrenched it open and darted though. Ianto close on his heels.
“That’s close enough, Captain,” said Suzie. She was standing by the water tower, gun pressed to Gwen’s temple. There was a large sharp-looking piece of metal sticking out of Gwen’s shoulder. She was bleeding heavily and leaning against Suzie for support. “Toss the device over.”
Jack held his hands up, the alien device in one hand. “Let her go first, Suzie.”
“No,” replied Suzie, looking shocked. “She belongs with me. She understands you see, about the glove. Don’t you Gwen?”
“Yes Suzie,” Gwen sobbed.
Ianto caught movement out of the corner of his eye; he turned his head slightly to look. Suzie noticed and started to turn.
“Here you go,” called Jack, tossing the device to Suzie. It landed by her feet.
Suzie looked at the device, distracted from the movement behind her.
“Put the gun down,” said Andy stepping forward, his own gun levelled at Suzie.
“How did you get in?” asked Suzie calmly, carefully placing her gun on the floor and picking up the device. Gwen winced as the movement translated through her damaged shoulder.
“Kick the gun over here. Tosh managed to open a back door, but only for a few minutes. They’re outside, you’ve got no where to go.”
Suzie kicked the gun across the floor; Jack quickly picked it up and pointed it at her. “I’ve got the glove,” she said motioning to the bag on her back. “And I’ve got Gwen. You want to come with me don’t you?”
Gwen looked up, eyes wide and helpless. She locked eyes with Andy for a moment. Andy nodded slightly.
“No,” said Gwen. Shoving an elbow into Suzie’s stomach and dropping to the floor. There was a large bang and Suzie crumpled, a surprised look on her face and a hole though her head.
Ianto looked at Jack, but Jack wasn’t the one who fired. Andy stood staring at his gun like he’d never seen it before.
Gwen cried out snapping the three men out of their trance. Ianto was closest; he got there first, trying to apply pressure to the wound.
Gwen gripped his hand. “I want Rhys… please…”
At that moment, Tamsin burst in with a team from London and the rest of Torchwood Three.
“Sir!” She rushed over to Ianto’s side. She saw the state Gwen was in. “Medic!”
Owen pushed his way past the medic from London. “Back off pal, she’s one of mine.”
The medic looked at Tamsin who nodded and he let Owen past. Ianto gently passed Gwen over. Jack was standing with Andy talking quietly to him; he’d taken Andy’s gun.
“What happened, Sir?” asked Tamsin.
Ianto blinked. “Miss Costello and Miss Cooper where affected by some kind of alien influence…
Jack glared at Ianto. “Mr Jones…” he started.
Ianto gave him a blank stare back, trying not to acknowledge that he was covered in someone else’s blood, or remember the last time he had been. “Let me help, Jack.”
“Miss Costello’s dead,” he paused and looked at Jack, who nodded slightly. “Miss Cooper needs a hospital. But the alien influence is gone.”
“The glove needs to be destroyed,” added Jack.
Tamsin looked at Ianto for confirmation.
“Yes,” said Ianto nodding.
**
A few hours later, Jack and Andy were on their way to the hospital and Owen was already there. Tosh was on the computer in Jack’s office, trying to repair the damage she’d done forcing the lockdown to trip early. Ianto was clean, thanks to the decontamination showers, and was wearing an odd combination of spare clothes.
Tamsin found him on the sofa in the kitchen area nursing a coffee. Ianto looked up.
“Want one?” he asked.
Tamsin shook her head, sitting next to him on the sofa. “What really happened, Sir?”
Ianto smiled. “I have no idea.”
“You trust him?”
“For a given value of ‘trust’…”
They sat in silence for a few minutes.
“So what’s happening at home?” asked Ianto, forcing his tiredness back.
“Ianto, it can wait…” started Tamsin.
“Really?” asked Ianto with a raised eyebrow.
Tamsin sighed “UNIT’s threatening to break the door down. Dr Logan wants to restart the Section 33 research; I threatened to shoot him if he did. Miller wants to retire; his daughter just had a baby. Oh, and we’re pretty sure there’s some kind of alien activity around those new school buildings.”
Ianto tipped his head back on the sofa and closed his eyes. “Right, schedule meetings with Miller and Logan for next week. Please stop threatening to shoot the staff? It’s bad for morale. I want all the information on the new buildings on my desk when I get back to London, Friday; I’ve got one or two things to wrap up here. I’ll ring UNIT when I get back to the hotel tonight.”
Tamsin stood and held her hand out, Ianto took it and she helped to pull him up. “Ring UNIT in the morning. Sleep tonight. I’ll drive you back to the hotel and then I need to get back to London.”
“Who’s the boss here?”
“You are, I sure as hell don’t want to be. But you’re no good to anyone if you drop down from exhaustion.” She leant up and kissed him on the forehead. “You did good boss. For someone who’s not field trained.”
Ianto smirked and let Tamsin lead him out to his car. Once they were inside he said, “Tamsin, Gwen mentioned someone called Rhys? Find him and let him know she’s in the hospital.”
“Certainly, Sir,” she replied, pulling out of the car park. Ianto fell asleep on the way to the hotel.
**
Ianto rang UNIT the next day. He was put through to Major Hall.
“Mr Jones,” said the Major stiffly. “I’ve had Captain Harkness on the phone for most of the night. He rang me at home. Trust me; Torchwood is well and truly on its own now. God help you. Good day.”
**
Jack watched as Andy walked out of the hospital; he stopped at the park bench across the road.
“What brings you here, Mr Jones?” Andy asked the well-dressed young man sitting there.
Ianto smiled and stood. “I lived in Cardiff you know. 10 or so years ago”
“Oh yeah?” asked Andy with a half-hearted smile. “How old were you? Three?”
Ianto chuckled, “I’m not that much younger than you.” Andy just looked at him. “Okay. I was fifteen. There was a pub I used to go to that had a pretty good pool table.”
“A pub? When you were fifteen?” asked Andy, eyebrow raised.
“Going to arrest me officer?” smirked Ianto.
“I’m not a policeman anymore,” Andy stated flatly.
“Of course you are. Do you want to play some pool?”
Andy chuckled, a desperate substitute for sobbing. ”The world ends, and I’m supposed to play pool?”
Something dark flashed across Ianto’s face. “That wasn’t the end of the world. Trust me, I’ve been there.”
“You called Rhys.”
“Who’s Rhys?”
“I didn’t call him, and neither did Jack. Tosh and Owen wouldn’t think too. Thanks for that.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” replied Ianto flatly. “How about that game of pool?”
Andy sighed and looked back at the hospital. “Thank you, but I’m going to my sisters’ tonight. She’s going to try and cook. Should be fun.”
Ianto nodded. “Have a nice evening.”
Andy turned to leave; “By the way,” he called back over his shoulder, "Jack’s watching you from that tree over there.”
Ianto spun round to see Jack leaning against a tree a few feet away.
“Snitch!” Jack shouted after Andy, who just waved as he walked away. Jack turned to Ianto and smirked. “Mr Jones.”
“Captain Harkness,” replied Ianto. “You’re not going to tell me what exactly went on here are you?”
“Nope,” said Jack cheerfully, crossing the distance. “No more than you’re going to tell me what happened in London, or what UNIT is so pissed about.”
“Then how are we any better than Yvonne?” asked Ianto seriously.
Jack grinned, “Cus we’ve got each other.”
Ianto couldn’t help it, he laughed out loud. “Every story I ever heard about you was true wasn’t it?”
“Everything and more,” said Jack, winking at Ianto. “But it occurs to me that I said I’d buy you dinner.”
“So you did,” agreed Ianto. “I know a pub with a pool table that does good chips. Not far from here.”
Jack cocked his head to one side. “Chips?”
“Chips,” confirmed Ianto.
“Sounds perfect to me,” agreed Jack. The two men walked off together towards the setting sun. “Also, any activity that has you bending over a table in those trousers? Well worth my time.”
******************************************
Sequel - Sharing Resources (set 13 months later)