A Hunting We Will Go (Jack, Jack/Ianto, team; PG-13)
Title: A Hunting We Will Go
Author: etharei
Rating: PG-13
Timeline: late S2, after "A Day In The Death" (208)
Spoilers: mild ones for "Countrycide" (106)
Summary: Death, aliens, and a whole lot of running. In short, just another Torchwood hunt in the country.
Author's Notes: This was actually written a while ago, but I decided to wait and post it in order.
Disclaimer: Torchwood and all the characters and situations featured therein are the property of Russell T. Davies, the BBC and their affiliates. I’m only borrowing them for purely non-profit, recreational purposes.
Written for: horizonssing, Day #29.
Nash Point Lighthouse, Vale of Glamorgan
A Hunting We Will Go
by Etharei
Gasping back to life, especially when the death had been violent and painful, is occasionally followed by an echo of the death. This time Jack gasps, body arching back, three vicious slashes burning into his belly, even though he knows the skin has already healed without a mark.
Blades of grass poke at his exposed skin. The cold and distant gems of stars decorate the sky in a familiar pattern. Salt and sea, nostalgic to his nose. He’s still on Earth, along a coast, and there’d been... a hunt.
He draws in another deep breath, hears sound coming from somewhere nearby. Turns his head, sees the tiny earpiece lying on the ground, pops it back in. Voices fill his ear.
Gwen, keep going!
Don’t get too close, Ianto, it might turn around and go after you instead.
Gwen and Ianto, followed by a third voice. Can you see it?
If you mean the great bloody lighthouse, Owen, yes, I’ve seen it.
In the distance, Jack’s well-honed ears pick up the distinctive sound of gun shots. “Guys, what’s happening?”
Memories rush back: driving out to Ogmore Castle with Gwen, Ianto, and Tosh, to root out an alien, chasing it to Nash Point, leaving Tosh behind to guard the SUV, running after the alien along the coastline, they’d lost sight of the alien in the growing dark and split up. It must have jumped on Jack. No, wait, Jack had wanted to be found... so he could slap a transmitter into the alien before full nightfall.
From the feel of it, the alien had made a snack out of Jack’s intestines.
Jack’s up!
“How’s the SUV, Tosh?”
Same as you left it, the creature didn’t come this way. I’m going to drive towards the lighthouse, Gwen and Ianto are trying to corner it there.
“Good, I think we may need the big gun for this one.”
Sorry, Jack, says Gwen, between gasps for air. We’d have stayed with you-
“- but we can’t risk this thing finding people to eat, I know,” Jack assured her.
At the... lighthouse... now.
Gwen, behind you!
More gunshots. Jack takes off, boots pounding into the hard turf; he can see the light in the distance, even make out little figures moving at the base of the tall structure.
I’m goin’ up.
Be careful, Gwen, you might get trapped up there!
“Ianto, are there people in the vicinity?”
Not in the lighthouse itself... but I might have picked up movement in the adjoining buildings.
“Great.”
Tense seconds passed. “Gwen? Ianto?”
Heavy breathing filled his ears, and the sound of running in the background. Bit busy, Jack.
Gwen screams.
Jack’s legs find the energy to run faster.
A snarl, dangerously close, and two gun shots. Ianto shouting, Gwen!
He can see the lighthouse clearly now. There’s a confusion of noise, three quick shots, Gwen and Ianto yelling.
And then, IANTO, NO!
The crash and tinkle of breaking glass, though Jack is too far to have heard it on his own. He looks at the windows, heart beating impossibly loud, sees nothing. Confusion, before it occurs to him that he’s on the fucking wrong side.
Sounds of a struggle, angry roars from the creature, a human’s pained grunts. Ianto. Gwen is yelling Ianto’s name. A breeze comes in from the sea, and to Jack’s horror, he can hear the wind passing over the other earpiece.
A last unearthly snarl, cut off suddenly, then silence, sudden and sharp. Jack holds his breath, and hears the sickening whistle of air over the comm.
Transmitter on the creature indicates it’s dead, reports Tosh.
“Gwen? Ianto?” he shouts, running a wide circle around to the other side of the lighthouse.
No signal from Ianto’s comm, says Owen.
Jack’s heart misses a beat. He sees a bulky shape lying on the ground.
No. No, no, no, no. NO!
Gwen’s voice, faint. We’re fine, we’re both fine.
Jack looks up, sees two people peering out of the broken window. “Ianto?”
One of the dark figures waves, and shouts down, “Jack!”
Jack feels like collapsing. When Ianto and Gwen trudge out of the lighthouse, he grabs Ianto by his suit jacket and pulls him close, kissing him hard. Ianto’s arms came up around Jack’s shoulders, and his lips part eagerly, inviting Jack inside. The building breeze is cold, but Jack’s world narrows to the heat, the contact, the living movement in the body in front of him. The sweaty scent of life enveloping them both, tinged with adrenaline, and Jack rolls the heady taste of it on his tongue. His hand on Ianto’s chest, the racing heartbeat under his fingers; Jack would think that his own heart is speeding up in sympathy, except these days it always goes a little bit faster in Ianto’s presence.
By the time they break apart, the SUV has arrived and Tosh is helping Gwen to bag the body. But Jack delays letting Ianto go, and Ianto doesn’t move away, only resting his forehead against Jack’s.
“Scared me, there,” whispers Jack.
“I know,” Ianto breathes. Jack looks down, and realizes that Ianto’s hands are bloody, and there are big tears in the sleeves of his suit. “Got caught by a claw, once,” explains Ianto, likely reading Jack’s stillness. “Probably a few cuts from the glass, as well.”
Jack nods. “Get into the SUV. I’ll help- oh, never mind, the body’s already in the trunk.” Tosh is scanning the area for any lingering traces of alien technology or organic material, and Gwen is going back up the lighthouse with the spray that masks alien genetic material.
They’re on the road again in short order, with the addition of the dead weight in the back. “We’re coming home, Owen,” reports Gwen.
Owen’s voice emerges from the vehicle’s sound system. “So, did you kids have fun out there in the country?”
“Same old, same old,” replies Jack, behind the wheel.
“Found an alien,” says Tosh.
“Chased an alien,” chimes in Gwen.
“Nearly got killed,” calls Ianto, who’s sitting next to Jack.
“Not so different from last time, then,” says Owen. “Except for the alien bit, obviously.”
“And this time the hero of the day got a big kiss!” laughs Gwen.
“Who says I didn’t last time?” protests Jack.
“Why does every conversation always lead back to Jack’s sex life?” sighs Owen.
“It’s like gravity,” agrees Ianto. “Maybe because there’s so much of it.”
“Long way to Cardiff,” remarks Gwen. “Let’s all play a game!”
The answer comes in a chorus: “No, Gwen.”
Author: etharei
Rating: PG-13
Timeline: late S2, after "A Day In The Death" (208)
Spoilers: mild ones for "Countrycide" (106)
Summary: Death, aliens, and a whole lot of running. In short, just another Torchwood hunt in the country.
Author's Notes: This was actually written a while ago, but I decided to wait and post it in order.
Disclaimer: Torchwood and all the characters and situations featured therein are the property of Russell T. Davies, the BBC and their affiliates. I’m only borrowing them for purely non-profit, recreational purposes.
Written for: horizonssing, Day #29.
Nash Point Lighthouse, Vale of Glamorgan
A Hunting We Will Go
by Etharei
Gasping back to life, especially when the death had been violent and painful, is occasionally followed by an echo of the death. This time Jack gasps, body arching back, three vicious slashes burning into his belly, even though he knows the skin has already healed without a mark.
Blades of grass poke at his exposed skin. The cold and distant gems of stars decorate the sky in a familiar pattern. Salt and sea, nostalgic to his nose. He’s still on Earth, along a coast, and there’d been... a hunt.
He draws in another deep breath, hears sound coming from somewhere nearby. Turns his head, sees the tiny earpiece lying on the ground, pops it back in. Voices fill his ear.
Gwen, keep going!
Don’t get too close, Ianto, it might turn around and go after you instead.
Gwen and Ianto, followed by a third voice. Can you see it?
If you mean the great bloody lighthouse, Owen, yes, I’ve seen it.
In the distance, Jack’s well-honed ears pick up the distinctive sound of gun shots. “Guys, what’s happening?”
Memories rush back: driving out to Ogmore Castle with Gwen, Ianto, and Tosh, to root out an alien, chasing it to Nash Point, leaving Tosh behind to guard the SUV, running after the alien along the coastline, they’d lost sight of the alien in the growing dark and split up. It must have jumped on Jack. No, wait, Jack had wanted to be found... so he could slap a transmitter into the alien before full nightfall.
From the feel of it, the alien had made a snack out of Jack’s intestines.
Jack’s up!
“How’s the SUV, Tosh?”
Same as you left it, the creature didn’t come this way. I’m going to drive towards the lighthouse, Gwen and Ianto are trying to corner it there.
“Good, I think we may need the big gun for this one.”
Sorry, Jack, says Gwen, between gasps for air. We’d have stayed with you-
“- but we can’t risk this thing finding people to eat, I know,” Jack assured her.
At the... lighthouse... now.
Gwen, behind you!
More gunshots. Jack takes off, boots pounding into the hard turf; he can see the light in the distance, even make out little figures moving at the base of the tall structure.
I’m goin’ up.
Be careful, Gwen, you might get trapped up there!
“Ianto, are there people in the vicinity?”
Not in the lighthouse itself... but I might have picked up movement in the adjoining buildings.
“Great.”
Tense seconds passed. “Gwen? Ianto?”
Heavy breathing filled his ears, and the sound of running in the background. Bit busy, Jack.
Gwen screams.
Jack’s legs find the energy to run faster.
A snarl, dangerously close, and two gun shots. Ianto shouting, Gwen!
He can see the lighthouse clearly now. There’s a confusion of noise, three quick shots, Gwen and Ianto yelling.
And then, IANTO, NO!
The crash and tinkle of breaking glass, though Jack is too far to have heard it on his own. He looks at the windows, heart beating impossibly loud, sees nothing. Confusion, before it occurs to him that he’s on the fucking wrong side.
Sounds of a struggle, angry roars from the creature, a human’s pained grunts. Ianto. Gwen is yelling Ianto’s name. A breeze comes in from the sea, and to Jack’s horror, he can hear the wind passing over the other earpiece.
A last unearthly snarl, cut off suddenly, then silence, sudden and sharp. Jack holds his breath, and hears the sickening whistle of air over the comm.
Transmitter on the creature indicates it’s dead, reports Tosh.
“Gwen? Ianto?” he shouts, running a wide circle around to the other side of the lighthouse.
No signal from Ianto’s comm, says Owen.
Jack’s heart misses a beat. He sees a bulky shape lying on the ground.
No. No, no, no, no. NO!
Gwen’s voice, faint. We’re fine, we’re both fine.
Jack looks up, sees two people peering out of the broken window. “Ianto?”
One of the dark figures waves, and shouts down, “Jack!”
Jack feels like collapsing. When Ianto and Gwen trudge out of the lighthouse, he grabs Ianto by his suit jacket and pulls him close, kissing him hard. Ianto’s arms came up around Jack’s shoulders, and his lips part eagerly, inviting Jack inside. The building breeze is cold, but Jack’s world narrows to the heat, the contact, the living movement in the body in front of him. The sweaty scent of life enveloping them both, tinged with adrenaline, and Jack rolls the heady taste of it on his tongue. His hand on Ianto’s chest, the racing heartbeat under his fingers; Jack would think that his own heart is speeding up in sympathy, except these days it always goes a little bit faster in Ianto’s presence.
By the time they break apart, the SUV has arrived and Tosh is helping Gwen to bag the body. But Jack delays letting Ianto go, and Ianto doesn’t move away, only resting his forehead against Jack’s.
“Scared me, there,” whispers Jack.
“I know,” Ianto breathes. Jack looks down, and realizes that Ianto’s hands are bloody, and there are big tears in the sleeves of his suit. “Got caught by a claw, once,” explains Ianto, likely reading Jack’s stillness. “Probably a few cuts from the glass, as well.”
Jack nods. “Get into the SUV. I’ll help- oh, never mind, the body’s already in the trunk.” Tosh is scanning the area for any lingering traces of alien technology or organic material, and Gwen is going back up the lighthouse with the spray that masks alien genetic material.
They’re on the road again in short order, with the addition of the dead weight in the back. “We’re coming home, Owen,” reports Gwen.
Owen’s voice emerges from the vehicle’s sound system. “So, did you kids have fun out there in the country?”
“Same old, same old,” replies Jack, behind the wheel.
“Found an alien,” says Tosh.
“Chased an alien,” chimes in Gwen.
“Nearly got killed,” calls Ianto, who’s sitting next to Jack.
“Not so different from last time, then,” says Owen. “Except for the alien bit, obviously.”
“And this time the hero of the day got a big kiss!” laughs Gwen.
“Who says I didn’t last time?” protests Jack.
“Why does every conversation always lead back to Jack’s sex life?” sighs Owen.
“It’s like gravity,” agrees Ianto. “Maybe because there’s so much of it.”
“Long way to Cardiff,” remarks Gwen. “Let’s all play a game!”
The answer comes in a chorus: “No, Gwen.”