Fic: Twisted Mind 11/21
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“Take time to deliberate; but when the time for
action arrives, stop thinking and go in.”
Andrew Jackson
The lights were all off when Gwen got back to the Hub. It was slightly unnerving to find the Hub in a state of quiet in the middle of the afternoon.
“Hello?” she called out, moving to switch the lights on, her voice echoing around the cavernous room. She half expected to catch a reconciled Jack and Ianto with their trousers down - and that was not a euphemism.
“Anyone about?” Gwen called out again, an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach as she cautiously ascended the stairs towards her desk.
“Jack? You here?” Gwen pressed, not removing her coat as she crossed to the autopsy stairs, peering down them into the medical bay. Nothing. She jumped as someone let out a gasp of pain and fear, a sharp inhalation that came from Jack’s office.
“Jack?” she called again, moving swiftly towards the door, her hand already reaching for the gun in the back of her trousers. Her hand fell away as she caught sight of Jack awkwardly pulling himself into a sitting position. She crossed the expanse of his office, grabbing a hold of his arm and helping him to his feet.
“What happened to you?” Gwen questioned, looking down at the drying blood on the floor of Jack’s office.
“Ianto,” Jack managed to struggle out as he leant on the edge of his desk, trying to calm his breathing as he regained his bearings.
“Ianto? Is he alright?” Gwen asked, suddenly jumping to conclusions as she searched Jack’s office with her eyes, as if she was expecting to find Ianto in a puddle of his own blood.
Jack shook his head once before drawing in a long breath. He raised his head to look Gwen in the eye, a mix of worry and confusion in her own gaze.
“Ianto,” Jack said again. “He did this to me. He shot me in the head.”
There was a pause before Gwen shook her own head, letting out a slightly hysterical laugh.
“Don’t be daft, Jack,” Gwen said, laughing again. “Ianto wouldn’t shoot you in the head.”
“No,” Jack agreed. “But whatever has got a hold of him would.”
Gwen sobered remarkably quickly, sitting down on the desk beside Jack, both of them looking down rather morbidly at Jack’s own dried blood.
“Not Ianto then?” Gwen enquired, a blasé tone to her voice that was nowhere near a reflection of what she was feeling.
“Definitely not Ianto,” Jack replied, trying not to move his head too much as it gave a dull throb - hopefully due only to the after-effects of being shot in the head and not the start of an alien trying to take him over.
“So...” Gwen started, as if she was hoping a plan would come tumbling out, fully formed, from her lips. It didn’t.
“What happened up at Penarth?” Jack enquired, apparently desperate to avoid the subject of Ianto and the question of what they were going to do with him that hung over them like a black cloud.
“Head was missing from the body,” Gwen answered, her voice rather flat and void of emotion.
“Missing? As in taken?” Jack asked, slightly alarmed.
“No.” Gwen shook her head slowly. “Missing, as in exploded,” Gwen said, her voice quiet. “Jack, what if that’s how-” Gwen paused, swallowing past the lump in her throat. “What if-”
“What if that’s what’s going to happen to Ianto?” Jack finished for her, pushing himself to his feet just as his phone started ringing. He reached for it automatically, answering it while noticing he had several missed calls.
“Hello?” he answered, his voice void of its usual buoyant tone.
“Jack!” Martha sounded panicked. “What happened? Is everything alright?”
“Not really,” Jack replied, sitting back down on the desk beside Gwen as he ran a hand down his face. He could still feel the sticky residue of blood in his hair and his shirt was sticking to him as the blood dried.
“What happened?” Martha asked, slightly calmer now. Jack could hear the background of road noise that suggested Martha was now in a car as he gathered his thoughts.
“Ianto shot me in the head. Killed me. Is that odd enough for you?” Jack questioned placidly. There was a pause down the phone line and Gwen shifted awkwardly on the desk next to Jack, biting on her thumbnail in a way that reminded Jack painfully of Ianto.
“Where is he now, Jack?” Martha asked, voice serious and low.
“We don’t know,” Jack confessed, suddenly worried about any other damage this other Ianto - Jack refused to think of him as his Ianto - was doing in Cardiff. “We’ll track him down, though. Like I said before, we think that this is all connected to that artefact Ianto and I brought in the other night. Ianto was the one to retrieve it, I don’t know if he touched it or not but I keep thinking Ianto wouldn’t be that careless. Also, Gwen’s just been on a callout to a body up in Penarth, right next door to where we found the artefact,” Jack explained.
“Jack, you need to find him,” Martha told Jack urgently. “I’m already on my way to Cardiff so I’ll be with you as soon as I can. Is that artefact still in containment?”
“No one’s touched it since Ianto retrieved it, and I plan to keep it that way until we can figure out what it is and what it does,” Jack told Martha calmly, at complete odds with how he felt.
“Good. Just find Ianto, before...” Martha let her sentence trail off and Jack could hear her sighing down the phone.
“We will. Drive safe, Martha, and we’ll see you soon,” Jack told her before he hung up. He barely had a chance to open his mouth before Gwen’s mobile was ringing.
“Andy, we’re a bit busy at the moment-” Gwen started in greeting, but was almost immediately cut off by Andy.
“I don’t care if Tom Jones is coming for tea, Gwen, what the bloody hell do your lot think you’re playing at?” Andy asked, a cutting tone to his voice.
“What do you mean?”
“Well one of your lot - that smart fella in a suit - is up here trying to bail out Cardiff’s least most wanted,” Andy answered curtly.
“Ianto’s there?” Gwen asked, standing up quite suddenly from Jack’s desk and knocking some folders to the floor. Neither Jack nor Gwen noticed.
“I dunno his name, I just know that he’s marshalling petty criminals into the back of an unmarked police van with a young girl helping him,” Andy informed her, his tone indicating that he was clearly losing patience on the matter.
“Just don’t get in his way, Andy,” Gwen warned.
“Bloody typical that is, I phone you to tell you one of your agents has gone rogue and you tell me he’s not rogue at all, that he’s meant to be doing what he’s doing,” Andy grumbled.
“No, Andy, he’s not supposed to be doing what he’s doing, but he’s armed and dangerous and I don’t want anyone else killed today, so just stay out of his way until I get there,” Gwen snapped back, losing her patience with Andy. She didn’t know how she’d worked with him for so long.
“Right then,” Andy said with a sigh of defeat before Gwen hung up on him.
“Ianto’s at the police station stealing criminals,” Gwen told Jack. Jack’s eyebrow rose slightly. The irony of the situation would be something to laugh at later. Gwen was already moving towards the door of Jack’s office.
“I’m going to go and see what he’s up to, maybe follow him, while-”
“Hold on, Nancy Drew.” Jack put a hand up to stop her in her tracks as he brought himself to his feet. “Whatever has a hold of Ianto has just shot me through the head in cold blood,” Jack said, with such a placid air that it unnerved Gwen somewhat.
“Do you really think it’s a good idea for you, someone who can die, to go blundering in?” Jack questioned. Gwen frowned, placing her hands on her hips.
“Unlike you, Jack Harkness, I do not blunder. I have enough tact not to get myself shot,” Gwen retorted. She wasn’t in the mood for arguments now, or to be put down by work colleagues - she’d already had enough of that today. Her stare softened slightly at the remorseful look on Jack’s face.
“Look, Jack, if he sees you again he might just shoot you again, and then how are you going to talk sense into him? If there’s anything of Ianto in there he can be reasoned with, and sometimes you’re a little too blunt for your own good,” Gwen tacked on the end, looking nervously away from him.
Jack didn’t argue. There was a brief moment where he seemed to process Gwen’s reasoning before he gave a slight nod of the head. Gwen turned on her heels, moving out of Jack’s office as she pocketed her phone, grabbing her comm. from her desk.
“Make sure you keep in touch at all times,” Jack told her quickly, picking up her gun from her desk and checking it was loaded. “If it’s you or him...” Jack started as he handed the gun to Gwen, butt first. Gwen stared at him in disbelief for a moment as he returned her gaze. She could see the inner battle between boss and lover going on that made Jack’s eyes look glassy, and she didn’t know how he did it. She shivered slightly at the memory of a cold warehouse, the metallic smell of blood in the air and Rhys lying in her arms.
“Just be careful,” he said softly, before he let go of the gun, allowing Gwen to tuck it into the back of her jeans. She gave him a hesitant smile, nodding slightly before she turned and ran for the cog door.
< Chapter 10 | Chapter 12 >
“Take time to deliberate; but when the time for
action arrives, stop thinking and go in.”
Andrew Jackson
The lights were all off when Gwen got back to the Hub. It was slightly unnerving to find the Hub in a state of quiet in the middle of the afternoon.
“Hello?” she called out, moving to switch the lights on, her voice echoing around the cavernous room. She half expected to catch a reconciled Jack and Ianto with their trousers down - and that was not a euphemism.
“Anyone about?” Gwen called out again, an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach as she cautiously ascended the stairs towards her desk.
“Jack? You here?” Gwen pressed, not removing her coat as she crossed to the autopsy stairs, peering down them into the medical bay. Nothing. She jumped as someone let out a gasp of pain and fear, a sharp inhalation that came from Jack’s office.
“Jack?” she called again, moving swiftly towards the door, her hand already reaching for the gun in the back of her trousers. Her hand fell away as she caught sight of Jack awkwardly pulling himself into a sitting position. She crossed the expanse of his office, grabbing a hold of his arm and helping him to his feet.
“What happened to you?” Gwen questioned, looking down at the drying blood on the floor of Jack’s office.
“Ianto,” Jack managed to struggle out as he leant on the edge of his desk, trying to calm his breathing as he regained his bearings.
“Ianto? Is he alright?” Gwen asked, suddenly jumping to conclusions as she searched Jack’s office with her eyes, as if she was expecting to find Ianto in a puddle of his own blood.
Jack shook his head once before drawing in a long breath. He raised his head to look Gwen in the eye, a mix of worry and confusion in her own gaze.
“Ianto,” Jack said again. “He did this to me. He shot me in the head.”
There was a pause before Gwen shook her own head, letting out a slightly hysterical laugh.
“Don’t be daft, Jack,” Gwen said, laughing again. “Ianto wouldn’t shoot you in the head.”
“No,” Jack agreed. “But whatever has got a hold of him would.”
Gwen sobered remarkably quickly, sitting down on the desk beside Jack, both of them looking down rather morbidly at Jack’s own dried blood.
“Not Ianto then?” Gwen enquired, a blasé tone to her voice that was nowhere near a reflection of what she was feeling.
“Definitely not Ianto,” Jack replied, trying not to move his head too much as it gave a dull throb - hopefully due only to the after-effects of being shot in the head and not the start of an alien trying to take him over.
“So...” Gwen started, as if she was hoping a plan would come tumbling out, fully formed, from her lips. It didn’t.
“What happened up at Penarth?” Jack enquired, apparently desperate to avoid the subject of Ianto and the question of what they were going to do with him that hung over them like a black cloud.
“Head was missing from the body,” Gwen answered, her voice rather flat and void of emotion.
“Missing? As in taken?” Jack asked, slightly alarmed.
“No.” Gwen shook her head slowly. “Missing, as in exploded,” Gwen said, her voice quiet. “Jack, what if that’s how-” Gwen paused, swallowing past the lump in her throat. “What if-”
“What if that’s what’s going to happen to Ianto?” Jack finished for her, pushing himself to his feet just as his phone started ringing. He reached for it automatically, answering it while noticing he had several missed calls.
“Hello?” he answered, his voice void of its usual buoyant tone.
“Jack!” Martha sounded panicked. “What happened? Is everything alright?”
“Not really,” Jack replied, sitting back down on the desk beside Gwen as he ran a hand down his face. He could still feel the sticky residue of blood in his hair and his shirt was sticking to him as the blood dried.
“What happened?” Martha asked, slightly calmer now. Jack could hear the background of road noise that suggested Martha was now in a car as he gathered his thoughts.
“Ianto shot me in the head. Killed me. Is that odd enough for you?” Jack questioned placidly. There was a pause down the phone line and Gwen shifted awkwardly on the desk next to Jack, biting on her thumbnail in a way that reminded Jack painfully of Ianto.
“Where is he now, Jack?” Martha asked, voice serious and low.
“We don’t know,” Jack confessed, suddenly worried about any other damage this other Ianto - Jack refused to think of him as his Ianto - was doing in Cardiff. “We’ll track him down, though. Like I said before, we think that this is all connected to that artefact Ianto and I brought in the other night. Ianto was the one to retrieve it, I don’t know if he touched it or not but I keep thinking Ianto wouldn’t be that careless. Also, Gwen’s just been on a callout to a body up in Penarth, right next door to where we found the artefact,” Jack explained.
“Jack, you need to find him,” Martha told Jack urgently. “I’m already on my way to Cardiff so I’ll be with you as soon as I can. Is that artefact still in containment?”
“No one’s touched it since Ianto retrieved it, and I plan to keep it that way until we can figure out what it is and what it does,” Jack told Martha calmly, at complete odds with how he felt.
“Good. Just find Ianto, before...” Martha let her sentence trail off and Jack could hear her sighing down the phone.
“We will. Drive safe, Martha, and we’ll see you soon,” Jack told her before he hung up. He barely had a chance to open his mouth before Gwen’s mobile was ringing.
“Andy, we’re a bit busy at the moment-” Gwen started in greeting, but was almost immediately cut off by Andy.
“I don’t care if Tom Jones is coming for tea, Gwen, what the bloody hell do your lot think you’re playing at?” Andy asked, a cutting tone to his voice.
“What do you mean?”
“Well one of your lot - that smart fella in a suit - is up here trying to bail out Cardiff’s least most wanted,” Andy answered curtly.
“Ianto’s there?” Gwen asked, standing up quite suddenly from Jack’s desk and knocking some folders to the floor. Neither Jack nor Gwen noticed.
“I dunno his name, I just know that he’s marshalling petty criminals into the back of an unmarked police van with a young girl helping him,” Andy informed her, his tone indicating that he was clearly losing patience on the matter.
“Just don’t get in his way, Andy,” Gwen warned.
“Bloody typical that is, I phone you to tell you one of your agents has gone rogue and you tell me he’s not rogue at all, that he’s meant to be doing what he’s doing,” Andy grumbled.
“No, Andy, he’s not supposed to be doing what he’s doing, but he’s armed and dangerous and I don’t want anyone else killed today, so just stay out of his way until I get there,” Gwen snapped back, losing her patience with Andy. She didn’t know how she’d worked with him for so long.
“Right then,” Andy said with a sigh of defeat before Gwen hung up on him.
“Ianto’s at the police station stealing criminals,” Gwen told Jack. Jack’s eyebrow rose slightly. The irony of the situation would be something to laugh at later. Gwen was already moving towards the door of Jack’s office.
“I’m going to go and see what he’s up to, maybe follow him, while-”
“Hold on, Nancy Drew.” Jack put a hand up to stop her in her tracks as he brought himself to his feet. “Whatever has a hold of Ianto has just shot me through the head in cold blood,” Jack said, with such a placid air that it unnerved Gwen somewhat.
“Do you really think it’s a good idea for you, someone who can die, to go blundering in?” Jack questioned. Gwen frowned, placing her hands on her hips.
“Unlike you, Jack Harkness, I do not blunder. I have enough tact not to get myself shot,” Gwen retorted. She wasn’t in the mood for arguments now, or to be put down by work colleagues - she’d already had enough of that today. Her stare softened slightly at the remorseful look on Jack’s face.
“Look, Jack, if he sees you again he might just shoot you again, and then how are you going to talk sense into him? If there’s anything of Ianto in there he can be reasoned with, and sometimes you’re a little too blunt for your own good,” Gwen tacked on the end, looking nervously away from him.
Jack didn’t argue. There was a brief moment where he seemed to process Gwen’s reasoning before he gave a slight nod of the head. Gwen turned on her heels, moving out of Jack’s office as she pocketed her phone, grabbing her comm. from her desk.
“Make sure you keep in touch at all times,” Jack told her quickly, picking up her gun from her desk and checking it was loaded. “If it’s you or him...” Jack started as he handed the gun to Gwen, butt first. Gwen stared at him in disbelief for a moment as he returned her gaze. She could see the inner battle between boss and lover going on that made Jack’s eyes look glassy, and she didn’t know how he did it. She shivered slightly at the memory of a cold warehouse, the metallic smell of blood in the air and Rhys lying in her arms.
“Just be careful,” he said softly, before he let go of the gun, allowing Gwen to tuck it into the back of her jeans. She gave him a hesitant smile, nodding slightly before she turned and ran for the cog door.
< Chapter 10 | Chapter 12 >