Quick as a Flash
Title: Quick as a Flash
Author: Timelordshines
Characters: Jack Harkness, Ianto Jones, Owen Harper, Toshiko Sato, Gwen Cooper
Rating: 15
Words: 1800
Spoilers: None
Disclaimer: Characters belong to RTD and the BBC - I’m just borrowing them.
Written for hc_bingo prompt "Body/Mind Swap".
The weevil snarled as Jack and Owen approached it down the side street. Both men had their guns and weevil spray drawn. The creature looked frantically about it for a way out. There was another narrower alleyway branching off to the weevil’s left and it turned to look in that direction, but Ianto was walking confidently towards it, weevil spray held high. It turned back, obviously preferring its chances down the wider street even if it meant having to pass two assailants.
The weevil roared and started to charge. Jack and Owen raised their guns.
There was a blinding white flash.
When it cleared, the weevil’s momentum was still carrying it forward. Jack noticed a change in its demeanour, it looked bewildered and its eyes widened before Owen’s gun erupted and the bullet tore into its target. Jack rushed forwards, kneeling by the creature’s side, applying pressure to the wound as he looked into those oh so familiar blue eyes. Owen approached rather more cautiously, his gun still held out in front of him.
“Help him,” Jack implored, looking up at the medic.
“It would be kinder just to end his suffering,” Owen said taking aim.
“No!” Jack shouted, putting himself between Owen’s gun and the fallen creature. “Help him. That’s an order.” He lowered his voice to a menacing hiss, “if he dies, I will personally tear you limb from limb. Understand?”
“Ok” Owen said resignedly. He didn’t understand Jack’s sudden protectiveness over this creature, but he was the boss. Owen just did as he was told. “Out of my way then, give me room to work. Go and get my medical kit from the SUV.”
Jack stood and looked down the narrow alleyway to where they had parked the SUV.
Ianto, who had been watching the exchange between the two men nervously turned and ran.
“Hey, wait!” Jack called after him, not getting, and not really expecting a response. Jack took off at a run, gaining quickly on the other man whose movements were awkward, not his usual graceful self by a long stretch. Jack rugby tackled him to the ground, using his superior bulk and coordination to keep him pinned whilst he fished some hand cuffs from his pocket. Jack secured the younger man’s wrists and hauled him to his feet. “Why did you run?” he looked into the face, which held a snarling expression that Jack had never seen before and that looked really out of place. The man remained silent.
“Thought so,” said Jack, hurriedly dragging his catch back to the SUV. He used another set of cuffs to secure him in the SUV’S large boot space. Jack then hopped into the front seat and drove the SUV the wrong way down the empty one way street to where Owen was still hunched over the weevil.
Jack grabbed the medical kit and jumped down from the vehicle.
“About time.” remarked the medic giving the creature a painkilling injection before taking some antiseptic wipes and cleaning around the wound then wrapping it in a sterile bandage.
“How is he?” asked Jack.
“Stable. I need to get it back to the Hub where I can operate to remove the bullet.”
“Is it ok to lift him?” Jack asked, moving to the creature’s side and picking up a small shiny disc that was lying in on the pavement, slipping it into his pocket.
“Yeah I’ll give you a hand.”
“It’s ok, I’ve got him. Just open the back door.” And with that Jack lifted the heavy weevil gently and put him in the back seat of the SUV then got in beside him, lifting the weevil’s head into his lap.
“Keep pressure on the wound.” Owen instructed as he got behind the wheel.
As they made the short journey back to the HUB, Owen spoke up. “So what’s going on Jack?” he glanced in the rear view mirror and saw Jack fussing over his patient. Then his eye was caught by movement further back. “Is that Ianto in the boot?”
“No. this is Ianto. That’s the weevil.”
“What?”
“That flash of light… I think the weevil activated some alien tech that was on the floor of the alleyway and it did a bodyswap with the nearest being - in this case Ianto.”
“How did you know?”
“I could just tell. And when we left the alleyway I found the tech.”
“Can we reverse it?”
“Tosh and I will find a way. You just worry about keeping Ianto alive.” Jack said, running his hand soothingly over the weevil’s brow.
As soon as Owen parked the SUV in the Hub’s garage he jumped down and fetched a trolley, bringing it back to the car for Jack to lift Ianto onto it. Owen checked his patient briefly and after ensuring he was ok, gave Jack the go-ahead to push the trolley into the Hub.
Once inside the Hub, Jack carefully lifted his partner onto the operating table in the med bay. He hovered nervously as Owen prepared his instruments. Jack ran a hand over Ianto’s face. He was cold to the touch, but Jack wasn’t sure if that was normal, he’d never been this close to a weevil before. “Come on Ianto,” he whispered, “open your eyes for me. I need to see it’s you.”
The weevil complied, whimpering softly at the effort.
“Just hang in there,” Jack whispered, his voice thick with emotion “it’s going to be ok.” He bent down and kissed Ianto on his weevil forehead.
Gwen chose that moment to appear at the railings that looked down over the medical bay. “Jack!” she almost shrieked, “what are you doing? And where’s Ianto?”
“He’s right here,” the Captain answered, taking his lover’s hand and gazing down at him lovingly.
“Jack?” Owen interrupted, “come on out of the way, I need space to work.”
Jack didn’t move.
“Jack!” Owen shouted at him before continuing at a more reasonable volume, “Go and help Tosh figure out how to reverse this.”
The women met Jack at the top of the stairs. “What’s going on?” Tosh asked quietly.
Jack pulled the alien tech out of his pocket. I think the weevil activated this somehow. Ianto was closest to it …”
“You mean they swapped bodies?” Gwen asked incredulously.
“Can I see that?” tosh asked.
Jack passed the tech to her. “We need to figure out how to change them back.”
Tosh took it from him and wasted no time walking back to her workstation to begin studying it.
“Don’t worry Jack, we’ll fix it,” Gwen said, rubbing his arm reassuringly.
He looked down at her and smiled weakly before following Tosh.
Jack leaned on the back of Tosh’s chair and watched her work for a few minutes until he couldn’t stand it any longer. “Any ideas?”
“I don’t know how it works, but the actual interface seems really simple. There’s only two buttons. As far as I can tell, one is the power switch and the other performs the swap. I think the small one on the side is the power and the larger one on the top is the swap.”
“Simple’s good. How sure are you?”
“Fairly sure, but I want to do a few more tests…”
“Jack!” Owen shouted, the panic in his voice causing all three of his team mates to run to the railings, Jack practically flying down the stairs to Ianto’s side. “What is it?” he panted.
“I think I’m losing him.” Owen said as he injected the weevil’s thigh.
“No. Ianto, hold on!” Jack said forcefully. “I’ll be right back, please” his voice broke, “just hold on.” Jack placed a quick kiss to Ianto’s weevil forehead then charged up the steps.
“Where’s he going?” Gwen asked as Jack rushed passed them.
“The garage.” Tosh realised, going back to studying the alien artefact, knowing that Jack had a plan and she had to be ready.
A couple of minutes later Jack returned, half dragging, half carrying a rather bewildered looking weevil in Ianto’s body down the steps into the autopsy bay. “Tosh,” he called, “bring the device. Gwen, find something flat and quite heavy. A big book or file or something.”
“Ok,” Gwen had no idea what Jack was planning, but now wasn’t the time to ask questions. She hurried into his office and grabbed a file off the desk. When she got back to the top of the autopsy bay steps Jack was busy handcuffing the weevil to Owen’s chair.
Gwen and Tosh waited uncertainly on the stairs. When Jack had finished with the weevil he turned his attention back to Ianto, who OWEN was still busy working on. Jack bent down and kissed Ianto’s forehead again. “Just one more minute sweetheart, not much longer I promise.” Then jack cuffed Ianto’s left hand to the autopsy table.
“Tosh, give me the device. Gwen the file,” Jack held his hand out for them to pass the items to him. When his fingers closed around the alien tech he turned to his assembled team and abruptly ordered them all to get out.
Nobody moved.
“I said get out!” he yelled, “All of you. Now! Wait for me in the conference room.”
With one last look at his patient Owen left the room, ushering the girls up the steps ahead of him.
Jack took a deep breath, hoping his plan would work.
He placed the alien device on the floor between Ianto and the weevil in his body, kissed Ianto once more and then ran up the steps. He leaned over the railings holding out the file. Jack closed his eyes briefly and whispered to whichever deity was listening “Please,” then he opened his eyes, checked his aim and dropped the file.
There was a flash of blinding white light.
Jack stumbled back then regained his footing and ran for the steps down into the autopsy bay. “Ianto?” he asked.
“I’m here, Jack” said Ianto from his rightful place inside his own body.
Jack strode across the room in three rapid strides and clasped Ianto’s head, kissing him desperately as both men gave into the relief flooding through them.
They were interrupted by a moan from the weevil on the table.
Jack broke the kiss before either or the men were really ready, and held his hand up to his ear to toggle his Bluetooth. “Owen I need you in here, now!”
Ten seconds later Owen almost fell down the steps, fearing the worst. He stopped when he saw Jack releasing the handcuffs from Ianto’s wrists. “It worked?”
“Yup, thank you.” Ianto replied.
“Can you see if you can help the weevil Owen?” Jack asked.
“Of course,” said Owen going into his professional doctor mode and checking the monitors, “It’s stronger in its own body. Looks like it should survive.”
Author: Timelordshines
Characters: Jack Harkness, Ianto Jones, Owen Harper, Toshiko Sato, Gwen Cooper
Rating: 15
Words: 1800
Spoilers: None
Disclaimer: Characters belong to RTD and the BBC - I’m just borrowing them.
Written for hc_bingo prompt "Body/Mind Swap".
The weevil snarled as Jack and Owen approached it down the side street. Both men had their guns and weevil spray drawn. The creature looked frantically about it for a way out. There was another narrower alleyway branching off to the weevil’s left and it turned to look in that direction, but Ianto was walking confidently towards it, weevil spray held high. It turned back, obviously preferring its chances down the wider street even if it meant having to pass two assailants.
The weevil roared and started to charge. Jack and Owen raised their guns.
There was a blinding white flash.
When it cleared, the weevil’s momentum was still carrying it forward. Jack noticed a change in its demeanour, it looked bewildered and its eyes widened before Owen’s gun erupted and the bullet tore into its target. Jack rushed forwards, kneeling by the creature’s side, applying pressure to the wound as he looked into those oh so familiar blue eyes. Owen approached rather more cautiously, his gun still held out in front of him.
“Help him,” Jack implored, looking up at the medic.
“It would be kinder just to end his suffering,” Owen said taking aim.
“No!” Jack shouted, putting himself between Owen’s gun and the fallen creature. “Help him. That’s an order.” He lowered his voice to a menacing hiss, “if he dies, I will personally tear you limb from limb. Understand?”
“Ok” Owen said resignedly. He didn’t understand Jack’s sudden protectiveness over this creature, but he was the boss. Owen just did as he was told. “Out of my way then, give me room to work. Go and get my medical kit from the SUV.”
Jack stood and looked down the narrow alleyway to where they had parked the SUV.
Ianto, who had been watching the exchange between the two men nervously turned and ran.
“Hey, wait!” Jack called after him, not getting, and not really expecting a response. Jack took off at a run, gaining quickly on the other man whose movements were awkward, not his usual graceful self by a long stretch. Jack rugby tackled him to the ground, using his superior bulk and coordination to keep him pinned whilst he fished some hand cuffs from his pocket. Jack secured the younger man’s wrists and hauled him to his feet. “Why did you run?” he looked into the face, which held a snarling expression that Jack had never seen before and that looked really out of place. The man remained silent.
“Thought so,” said Jack, hurriedly dragging his catch back to the SUV. He used another set of cuffs to secure him in the SUV’S large boot space. Jack then hopped into the front seat and drove the SUV the wrong way down the empty one way street to where Owen was still hunched over the weevil.
Jack grabbed the medical kit and jumped down from the vehicle.
“About time.” remarked the medic giving the creature a painkilling injection before taking some antiseptic wipes and cleaning around the wound then wrapping it in a sterile bandage.
“How is he?” asked Jack.
“Stable. I need to get it back to the Hub where I can operate to remove the bullet.”
“Is it ok to lift him?” Jack asked, moving to the creature’s side and picking up a small shiny disc that was lying in on the pavement, slipping it into his pocket.
“Yeah I’ll give you a hand.”
“It’s ok, I’ve got him. Just open the back door.” And with that Jack lifted the heavy weevil gently and put him in the back seat of the SUV then got in beside him, lifting the weevil’s head into his lap.
“Keep pressure on the wound.” Owen instructed as he got behind the wheel.
As they made the short journey back to the HUB, Owen spoke up. “So what’s going on Jack?” he glanced in the rear view mirror and saw Jack fussing over his patient. Then his eye was caught by movement further back. “Is that Ianto in the boot?”
“No. this is Ianto. That’s the weevil.”
“What?”
“That flash of light… I think the weevil activated some alien tech that was on the floor of the alleyway and it did a bodyswap with the nearest being - in this case Ianto.”
“How did you know?”
“I could just tell. And when we left the alleyway I found the tech.”
“Can we reverse it?”
“Tosh and I will find a way. You just worry about keeping Ianto alive.” Jack said, running his hand soothingly over the weevil’s brow.
As soon as Owen parked the SUV in the Hub’s garage he jumped down and fetched a trolley, bringing it back to the car for Jack to lift Ianto onto it. Owen checked his patient briefly and after ensuring he was ok, gave Jack the go-ahead to push the trolley into the Hub.
Once inside the Hub, Jack carefully lifted his partner onto the operating table in the med bay. He hovered nervously as Owen prepared his instruments. Jack ran a hand over Ianto’s face. He was cold to the touch, but Jack wasn’t sure if that was normal, he’d never been this close to a weevil before. “Come on Ianto,” he whispered, “open your eyes for me. I need to see it’s you.”
The weevil complied, whimpering softly at the effort.
“Just hang in there,” Jack whispered, his voice thick with emotion “it’s going to be ok.” He bent down and kissed Ianto on his weevil forehead.
Gwen chose that moment to appear at the railings that looked down over the medical bay. “Jack!” she almost shrieked, “what are you doing? And where’s Ianto?”
“He’s right here,” the Captain answered, taking his lover’s hand and gazing down at him lovingly.
“Jack?” Owen interrupted, “come on out of the way, I need space to work.”
Jack didn’t move.
“Jack!” Owen shouted at him before continuing at a more reasonable volume, “Go and help Tosh figure out how to reverse this.”
The women met Jack at the top of the stairs. “What’s going on?” Tosh asked quietly.
Jack pulled the alien tech out of his pocket. I think the weevil activated this somehow. Ianto was closest to it …”
“You mean they swapped bodies?” Gwen asked incredulously.
“Can I see that?” tosh asked.
Jack passed the tech to her. “We need to figure out how to change them back.”
Tosh took it from him and wasted no time walking back to her workstation to begin studying it.
“Don’t worry Jack, we’ll fix it,” Gwen said, rubbing his arm reassuringly.
He looked down at her and smiled weakly before following Tosh.
Jack leaned on the back of Tosh’s chair and watched her work for a few minutes until he couldn’t stand it any longer. “Any ideas?”
“I don’t know how it works, but the actual interface seems really simple. There’s only two buttons. As far as I can tell, one is the power switch and the other performs the swap. I think the small one on the side is the power and the larger one on the top is the swap.”
“Simple’s good. How sure are you?”
“Fairly sure, but I want to do a few more tests…”
“Jack!” Owen shouted, the panic in his voice causing all three of his team mates to run to the railings, Jack practically flying down the stairs to Ianto’s side. “What is it?” he panted.
“I think I’m losing him.” Owen said as he injected the weevil’s thigh.
“No. Ianto, hold on!” Jack said forcefully. “I’ll be right back, please” his voice broke, “just hold on.” Jack placed a quick kiss to Ianto’s weevil forehead then charged up the steps.
“Where’s he going?” Gwen asked as Jack rushed passed them.
“The garage.” Tosh realised, going back to studying the alien artefact, knowing that Jack had a plan and she had to be ready.
A couple of minutes later Jack returned, half dragging, half carrying a rather bewildered looking weevil in Ianto’s body down the steps into the autopsy bay. “Tosh,” he called, “bring the device. Gwen, find something flat and quite heavy. A big book or file or something.”
“Ok,” Gwen had no idea what Jack was planning, but now wasn’t the time to ask questions. She hurried into his office and grabbed a file off the desk. When she got back to the top of the autopsy bay steps Jack was busy handcuffing the weevil to Owen’s chair.
Gwen and Tosh waited uncertainly on the stairs. When Jack had finished with the weevil he turned his attention back to Ianto, who OWEN was still busy working on. Jack bent down and kissed Ianto’s forehead again. “Just one more minute sweetheart, not much longer I promise.” Then jack cuffed Ianto’s left hand to the autopsy table.
“Tosh, give me the device. Gwen the file,” Jack held his hand out for them to pass the items to him. When his fingers closed around the alien tech he turned to his assembled team and abruptly ordered them all to get out.
Nobody moved.
“I said get out!” he yelled, “All of you. Now! Wait for me in the conference room.”
With one last look at his patient Owen left the room, ushering the girls up the steps ahead of him.
Jack took a deep breath, hoping his plan would work.
He placed the alien device on the floor between Ianto and the weevil in his body, kissed Ianto once more and then ran up the steps. He leaned over the railings holding out the file. Jack closed his eyes briefly and whispered to whichever deity was listening “Please,” then he opened his eyes, checked his aim and dropped the file.
There was a flash of blinding white light.
Jack stumbled back then regained his footing and ran for the steps down into the autopsy bay. “Ianto?” he asked.
“I’m here, Jack” said Ianto from his rightful place inside his own body.
Jack strode across the room in three rapid strides and clasped Ianto’s head, kissing him desperately as both men gave into the relief flooding through them.
They were interrupted by a moan from the weevil on the table.
Jack broke the kiss before either or the men were really ready, and held his hand up to his ear to toggle his Bluetooth. “Owen I need you in here, now!”
Ten seconds later Owen almost fell down the steps, fearing the worst. He stopped when he saw Jack releasing the handcuffs from Ianto’s wrists. “It worked?”
“Yup, thank you.” Ianto replied.
“Can you see if you can help the weevil Owen?” Jack asked.
“Of course,” said Owen going into his professional doctor mode and checking the monitors, “It’s stronger in its own body. Looks like it should survive.”