Ianto's Journey - Chapter 13
Title: Ianto’s Journey - Chapter 13
Author: Timelordshines
Characters: Ianto Jones, Lisa Hallet, Jack Harkness, Owen Harper, Toshiko Sato, Gwen Cooper
Series Rating: 15
Words: 1166 / 25351
Spoilers: S1E4, S2E12, DW-S2E12, DW-S2E13
Disclaimer: Characters belong to RTD and the BBC - I’m just borrowing them.
Written for hc_bingo prompt "Secret Identity discovered".
Start at the Prologue
Previous chpater - Chapter 12
“What's happening?” Gwen asked as the lights flickered.
“Internal power drain.” Tosh sounded confused as she looked at her screens
“What's causing it?” Gwen wanted to know.
“Something big to drain that amount of power. Tosh, run a system diagnostic,” said Jack, taking charge.
“Actually... We've been having generator problems all evening.” Ianto explained, praying the others would believe him. “I was down there checking earlier. Couple of bits of cabling have come loose. I thought I'd fixed it.”
Everyone turned to look at him as it was obvious that whatever it was isn’t fixed. Ianto paled and tried to remain calm, asking over casually “Let me have another look?” he held his breath, expecting Jack to tell Tosh to go with him to do it right this time, but luckily Toshiko and the others were busy dealing with their UFO sighting.
Jack folded his arms across his chest. “Fine. Go check.”
“Want some help?” Gwen offered.
“It's fine” Ianto called as he passed, forcing himself to walk.
Once out of sight of the others Ianto broke into a run.
“You've got to shut down the power!” he shouted as he burst through the door into Lisa’s room, expecting to find Dr Tanazaki working on her to help restore her strength.
Ianto hit the off switch for the conversion unit, then turned and saw the horribly mutilated corpse of Tanizaki.
“Oh, God!” Ianto breathed, “Oh, my God!, what happened?” he asked, kneeling down next to him and looking up at Lisa.
“His upgrade failed.” Lisa stated simply, her voice robotic and devoid of emotion.
“Was it an accident? Tell me you didn't do this!”
“I wanted to repay him for helping me. By removing the weaknesses of his humanity.”
“What have you done?! You've killed an innocent man!” Ianto wailed.
“It's all right.”
“It's not all right! They're gonna come looking for me in a minute. If they see the body, if they find out what we've been doing... “
“I can deal with them.“
“Don't you go near them!” Ianto shouted as his mind provided images of the four of them lying in pools of their own blood, just as the doctor was now. He paused and looked at the ceiling to clear the scenes form his mind. “You didn't mean to do this. Something's happened to your mind. Um... just, um... Some kind of side effect from this whole process. It's post-traumatic. You didn't mean to... “he pushed her and screamed “You've ruined everything now!”
Lisa regained her balance and stared at him before walking towards him intimidatingly.
Ianto didn’t see the menace of the cyber threat. All he saw was his girlfriend, broken and needing his help to cover up her mistake. He took her chin tenderly in his hands, “How hard have we had to work to keep you alive? And now you do this.” He leant their forehead together in a gesture he had done a hundred times before, but this time was different, her forehead cold and metallic. ”I need you to stay in here. Rest. Don't come out unless I tell you. This can't happen again, Lisa. If you harm anyone else, I'll...” he ran out of words.
“Yes? What will you do?” she asked curiously.
Ianto looked lost, he didn’t have an answer. He realised that he was out of his depths. He didn’t know how much of Lisa was still inside that metal cage, he didn’t know what to do with the monster that was destroying her.
“OK, the body. I've got to deal with the body. I can do this.” He has disposed of bodies before, after all he did work for Torchwood. But this was different. He sobbed and hid his head in his hands. “This is my fault! I'm responsible for this!”
Pulling himself together he got his hands under the corpse’s arms and dragged it out of the room.” I'll hide the body.” He said to Lisa, “Everything's gonna be OK.” He wasn’t sure if he said that to Lisa or to himself.
As Ianto struggled to lug the body down the corridor, a voice came over the comms “Ianto, we've got another dose of darkness. You found anything?”
Ianto sobbed as the lights flash around him and alarms blare. Lisa had turned the conversion unit back on. He couldn’t keep her hidden any more, the others would surely find her. His deception was about to be found out.
“Ianto? I need to hear those beautiful Welsh vowels!”
Ianto couldn’t answer. He got the body to a disused storeroom, he would hide it for now and dispose of it later. He covered it with a tarpaulin, before letting the cloth fall over Tanazaki’s head he looked into the doctor’s one remaining eye which was still open and staring accusingly at him. “I’m sorry,” Ianto sobbed.
He stood for a moment, then turned and ran back towards Lisa’s room. He had to stop her before the others found her.
Bursting into the room Ianto knew he was too late. He launched himself at Jack who’s gun was trained on Lisa. The weapon went off impotently shooting the ceiling. Ianto tussled with Jack pushing him against the wall before the stronger captain got the upper hand and shoved him away, holding him by the throat. “You are fighting the wrong guy!” Jack shouted into his face and Ianto began to wonder if just maybe jack was right. Just then Gwen’s screams reached a new pitch as the knives came down from the ceiling unit. Ianto had wondered what that part of the machine was for as he followed Lisa’s instructions to build it. The men looked at each other then broke apart, Ianto running for the controls and Jack running to Gwen.
The machine wouldn’t stop. “Shut off the power everywhere!” Ianto shouted, his accent thick with panic.
Jack just as frantically relayed the instruction to Tosh, “Toshiko, cut all power in the base!” he paused as she answered then yelled “Just do it!”
“Switch it off!” Gwen shrieked as the blades flashed.
The knives stopped and the red emergency lighting kicked in. There was silence as Jack checked Owen’s pulse, making sure that the unconscious doctor was still alive. Jack stood up, “Gwen?” he asked leaning over her.
“I'm fine. I'm fine, I'm fine. Sort of. Jack, please get me out of here!”
“It's all right.”
“Where is she? Where did she go? Please tell me you got her!”
Jack turned and shone his torch in Ianto’s face “Stand guard by the door.” Ianto just looked at him in a state of shock before moving to do as he was told.
Then he addressed Gwen, “I'm sorry. I'm really sorry.” if Jack hadn’t come looking for Gwen and Owen, if he hadn’t found out what Ianto was hiding and taken charge, Ianto would be looking at another dead body right now. He shivered as his entire body went cold and he just felt numb.
On to Chapter 14
Author: Timelordshines
Characters: Ianto Jones, Lisa Hallet, Jack Harkness, Owen Harper, Toshiko Sato, Gwen Cooper
Series Rating: 15
Words: 1166 / 25351
Spoilers: S1E4, S2E12, DW-S2E12, DW-S2E13
Disclaimer: Characters belong to RTD and the BBC - I’m just borrowing them.
Written for hc_bingo prompt "Secret Identity discovered".
Start at the Prologue
Previous chpater - Chapter 12
“What's happening?” Gwen asked as the lights flickered.
“Internal power drain.” Tosh sounded confused as she looked at her screens
“What's causing it?” Gwen wanted to know.
“Something big to drain that amount of power. Tosh, run a system diagnostic,” said Jack, taking charge.
“Actually... We've been having generator problems all evening.” Ianto explained, praying the others would believe him. “I was down there checking earlier. Couple of bits of cabling have come loose. I thought I'd fixed it.”
Everyone turned to look at him as it was obvious that whatever it was isn’t fixed. Ianto paled and tried to remain calm, asking over casually “Let me have another look?” he held his breath, expecting Jack to tell Tosh to go with him to do it right this time, but luckily Toshiko and the others were busy dealing with their UFO sighting.
Jack folded his arms across his chest. “Fine. Go check.”
“Want some help?” Gwen offered.
“It's fine” Ianto called as he passed, forcing himself to walk.
Once out of sight of the others Ianto broke into a run.
“You've got to shut down the power!” he shouted as he burst through the door into Lisa’s room, expecting to find Dr Tanazaki working on her to help restore her strength.
Ianto hit the off switch for the conversion unit, then turned and saw the horribly mutilated corpse of Tanizaki.
“Oh, God!” Ianto breathed, “Oh, my God!, what happened?” he asked, kneeling down next to him and looking up at Lisa.
“His upgrade failed.” Lisa stated simply, her voice robotic and devoid of emotion.
“Was it an accident? Tell me you didn't do this!”
“I wanted to repay him for helping me. By removing the weaknesses of his humanity.”
“What have you done?! You've killed an innocent man!” Ianto wailed.
“It's all right.”
“It's not all right! They're gonna come looking for me in a minute. If they see the body, if they find out what we've been doing... “
“I can deal with them.“
“Don't you go near them!” Ianto shouted as his mind provided images of the four of them lying in pools of their own blood, just as the doctor was now. He paused and looked at the ceiling to clear the scenes form his mind. “You didn't mean to do this. Something's happened to your mind. Um... just, um... Some kind of side effect from this whole process. It's post-traumatic. You didn't mean to... “he pushed her and screamed “You've ruined everything now!”
Lisa regained her balance and stared at him before walking towards him intimidatingly.
Ianto didn’t see the menace of the cyber threat. All he saw was his girlfriend, broken and needing his help to cover up her mistake. He took her chin tenderly in his hands, “How hard have we had to work to keep you alive? And now you do this.” He leant their forehead together in a gesture he had done a hundred times before, but this time was different, her forehead cold and metallic. ”I need you to stay in here. Rest. Don't come out unless I tell you. This can't happen again, Lisa. If you harm anyone else, I'll...” he ran out of words.
“Yes? What will you do?” she asked curiously.
Ianto looked lost, he didn’t have an answer. He realised that he was out of his depths. He didn’t know how much of Lisa was still inside that metal cage, he didn’t know what to do with the monster that was destroying her.
“OK, the body. I've got to deal with the body. I can do this.” He has disposed of bodies before, after all he did work for Torchwood. But this was different. He sobbed and hid his head in his hands. “This is my fault! I'm responsible for this!”
Pulling himself together he got his hands under the corpse’s arms and dragged it out of the room.” I'll hide the body.” He said to Lisa, “Everything's gonna be OK.” He wasn’t sure if he said that to Lisa or to himself.
As Ianto struggled to lug the body down the corridor, a voice came over the comms “Ianto, we've got another dose of darkness. You found anything?”
Ianto sobbed as the lights flash around him and alarms blare. Lisa had turned the conversion unit back on. He couldn’t keep her hidden any more, the others would surely find her. His deception was about to be found out.
“Ianto? I need to hear those beautiful Welsh vowels!”
Ianto couldn’t answer. He got the body to a disused storeroom, he would hide it for now and dispose of it later. He covered it with a tarpaulin, before letting the cloth fall over Tanazaki’s head he looked into the doctor’s one remaining eye which was still open and staring accusingly at him. “I’m sorry,” Ianto sobbed.
He stood for a moment, then turned and ran back towards Lisa’s room. He had to stop her before the others found her.
Bursting into the room Ianto knew he was too late. He launched himself at Jack who’s gun was trained on Lisa. The weapon went off impotently shooting the ceiling. Ianto tussled with Jack pushing him against the wall before the stronger captain got the upper hand and shoved him away, holding him by the throat. “You are fighting the wrong guy!” Jack shouted into his face and Ianto began to wonder if just maybe jack was right. Just then Gwen’s screams reached a new pitch as the knives came down from the ceiling unit. Ianto had wondered what that part of the machine was for as he followed Lisa’s instructions to build it. The men looked at each other then broke apart, Ianto running for the controls and Jack running to Gwen.
The machine wouldn’t stop. “Shut off the power everywhere!” Ianto shouted, his accent thick with panic.
Jack just as frantically relayed the instruction to Tosh, “Toshiko, cut all power in the base!” he paused as she answered then yelled “Just do it!”
“Switch it off!” Gwen shrieked as the blades flashed.
The knives stopped and the red emergency lighting kicked in. There was silence as Jack checked Owen’s pulse, making sure that the unconscious doctor was still alive. Jack stood up, “Gwen?” he asked leaning over her.
“I'm fine. I'm fine, I'm fine. Sort of. Jack, please get me out of here!”
“It's all right.”
“Where is she? Where did she go? Please tell me you got her!”
Jack turned and shone his torch in Ianto’s face “Stand guard by the door.” Ianto just looked at him in a state of shock before moving to do as he was told.
Then he addressed Gwen, “I'm sorry. I'm really sorry.” if Jack hadn’t come looking for Gwen and Owen, if he hadn’t found out what Ianto was hiding and taken charge, Ianto would be looking at another dead body right now. He shivered as his entire body went cold and he just felt numb.
On to Chapter 14