Chapter One: Throwing Your Arms Around Can Have Serious Consequences
All was quiet until Gwen burst into the Hub holding what looked like a metal football, she was waving it around and screaming, "I've found it!"
The team were gathered in Jack's office contemplating what to do about their most recent Rift alert. An excited girly squeal penetrated each ear drum and they looked up to see the Welshwomen heading towards them, a huge grin on her face.
In recent months Gwen had become clumsy around the work place. She kept dropping things, knocking papers off her desk, and even spilt Ianto's coffee over her keyboard. This only had happened because she increased her work load just to impress Jack, but she had found herself exhausted just after a week of attempting it.
Eyes were wide as she entered the office. "Here," The team parted like the red sea to let her through to place the large orb onto the desk.
Jack looked at it with a half hearted smile. "Where did you find it?" Gwen went into a long and over enthusiastic story of how she followed the rift spike co-ordinates to a small wasteland and how she spent hours looking for something strange - something alien. "Well done Gwen," Jack praised her, again half heartedly and this only caused her childish grin to become wider. Jack quickly changed the topic back to his conversation he had been having with others before the interruption. He bought Gwen up to speed. "We're changing our game plan for Weevil sightings, Gwen." She nodded, he carried on. "They seem be working out our methods and the spray is gradually becoming less affective even though we develop it every couple of weeks," He ended with a sigh.
Everyone had been ready to go out and capture the offending Weevil (the Rift alert) who had decided to emerge from its home and head on a rampage across the city, killing many people. But when they received the report the creature had been killed by armed Police, the team had to rethink their tack-tics.
"Why not create a new spray?" Owen offered.
"Yeah, I had thought about that, test it on Janet and see what happens. But what if it doesn't work? The Weevils in the sewers are different to her, they've adapted to their environment, evolved. If the spray doesn't work more people are going to die." A heavy atmosphere formed as Jack's words sunk in.
"We don't want to kill them. So why not stun them instead?" Gwen looked around at the others; she missed Ianto's eye roll and Owen's small smirk.
"We've been trying that but the skin seems to be thicker, it's not as affective." The doctor explained.
"So what's making them change so rapidly? It only seems a couple of months ago that we were chasing around 'normal' Weevils," Gwen couldn't understand what was happening and it seemed obvious the others didn't either.
"I don't know," Jack shrugged at Gwen's question. Did she really think he had all the answers? The women was going to be disappointed when she realises he doesn't.
Jack glanced at everyone, holding their gazes, looking deep into the eyes, as if he was using telepathy to gather any hidden thoughts, ideas. When his eyes landed on Ianto they softened and a fond smile was threatening to emerge but he couldn't show it in front of his team. He knew the Welshman wouldn't appreciate it and he didn't want to ruin the perfect night he had planned for the two of them.
The small change in the Captains face did not go unnoticed. Tosh inwardly smiled, she was happy for her best friend. Owen just shook his head and gazed down at the file which had been spread out upon the wooden desk. However Gwen was less subtle, her eyes narrowed and her brow furrowed into an unattractive frown. She produced a breathy laugh causing Jack to snap out of his eye-lock with Ianto.
"Is there a problem, Gwen?" He asked intrigued by the women's strange behaviour.
"Oh, nothing," She lied; of course she had a problem – with them, with Jack. What was he playing at? "I was just thinking about…stuff," She took a change to glance around the room noting the faces all had the same inquisitive expression.
"'Stuff' that happens to be more interesting than this?" He pointed at the document which Owen had turned back to.
"Yeah, well it's not like you are not doing the same," Her words were bitter.
"What's that meant to mean?" Jack stood so his legs were slightly apart and his arms were crossed protectively across his chest. Ianto called it his 'Captain pose'.
"You know perfectly well what that is meant to mean," She placed a hand on the edge of the desk and leant on it. "I saw that little look you gave him," She jerked her free thumb in Ianto's direction.
"So? I give little looks to everyone, Gwen. Don't be jealous because you didn't get one," He mocked, laughing as he did so. The glare he received from the Welshwomen chilled him. "What is your problem Gwen?"
By now the others had found the floor or the file very interesting, anything but the Gwen and Jack.
"You," She replied and the Captain's eyes widened. "You need to open your eyes Jack Harkness!" Gwen raised her voice and flapped her arms around.
The Captain sighed heavily. "We've been through this Gwen. My eyes are fine, perfect even. So drop it." Jack lowered his head to signal the conversation wasn't over.
Gwen boiled over with anger, reached over and grabbed the file away from Jack. "I'm still talking to-" As she pulled her arm back, her elbow caught the orb sending it rotating through the air towards the office floor. Like a tennis ball it squashed on impacted then reformed to its natural shape, and to the teams surprise it remained stationary - unlike an ordinary ball which would have bounced and rolled away.
Silence fell as every member of the team looked on in horror at the object. They had no idea what it was capable of doing, for all they knew it could be some sort of explosive device.
The sound of someone scrapping long nails down a black board filled the room sending shivers down spines and creating wincing looks.
"What the hell is that?" Owen complained as he tried to block out the noise from his ears with his hands.
As the noise died down it was replaced with the sound of steam escaping from a join in a pipe. Then, as if some invisible person hit the top of the orb, it fell into segments like a Terry's Chocolate Orange and revealed a sparkling purple pyramid.
Gwen edged forward but stopped at Jack's words. "Don't touch it," She was suddenly aware of his hand on her shoulder. "It could be dangerous,"
Suddenly the pyramid started to glow and pulsate. Gwen leant forward and music from an Irish pipe played a familiar tune.
"Is that River Dance?" She asked looking back at Jack whilst still bent over. He shrugged. Gwen turned back, lost her balance and fell forward. Placing her hands out in front of her to stop her fall, her little finger toughed a segment of the orb and knocked it over.
Jack grabbed her quickly. "What the hell is wrong with you?" He growled in her face.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to," She spoke through silent tears.
"Guys," Tosh spoke. "Guys, it's stopped making a noise," They all turned to look at the pyramid. It was true it had stopped making a sound; it had also stopped glowing which, in Jack's experience, wasn't a good thing.
The ground started to shake and the objects on Jack's desk started to dance across the wooden surface and drop off the edge where they were expertly caught by Ianto. Jack looked at him, impressed by his quick reflexes and made a mental note to experiment with them in their private moments. Gwen saw the look at fumed, her blood boiled and her face visibly reddened.
Shocks - which resembled the aftermath of a volcano eruption - burst from the pyramid. After the third wave the purple jewel started to pull things towards it. The air rushed past the ears of the team as they found themselves being dragged towards it.
"Grab something," Jack shouted above the noise of fast moving air. They did so, but the force of the suction was so great the team found it hard to keep their feet on the ground.
Toshiko's feet rose from the floor and he fingers started to slip from the object she was holding on to. Ianto grabbed her hand before her fingers slipped completely. She smiled in thanks but Ianto's hands we sweaty and hard to grasp onto. And then she found herself being sucked into the artifact.
"Tosh!" Ianto shouted as he saw the same thing happen to Gwen, then Owen.
Then suddenly it was only him and Jack in the office. They looked at each other and Ianto saw the fear in his lover's eyes. That emotion was rarely scene by the other members of Torchwood and he wished then that he wasn't the one witnessing it.
Jack held out his hand and Ianto took it. "Going in together," was all Jack said as they were both pulled into the purple pyramid.
-007-
They fell through a vortex of vibrant colours. Objects from every corner of the universe seemed to be falling along with them. A Blowfish fell past them, it was screaming. Then it suddenly stopped and shot out the right side of the vortex. As Jack and Ianto went past it they saw a reseeding hole which the Blowfish had obviously fallen through. It frightened Ianto, where were they going? And what the hell was that orb thing? His thoughts were interrupted by a tug on his hand and he found himself wrapped up in Jack's arms.
"Hold on," Ianto did has he was told and quickly put his arms around the other mans torso. "I think our exits coming up!"
He was right. They stopped abruptly, it was almost the same feeling when you perform an emergency stop in a car, and then they were thrown out the left side of the vortex.
They entered a place which resembled a tunnel, illuminated by small glow worm like creatures. In the distance there was a small speck of white light and the Welshman suspected that was where they were headed. Ianto closed his eyes and buried his head into Jack's neck and he felt the older mans arms tighten around him. He took one quick glance at the direction they were tumbling in and then everything went white.
-007-
They landed with a thump on soft warm ground. The tunnel had spat them out so Jack was led on the ground with Ianto on top of him, their arms still around each others bodies. Ianto opened his eyes slowly and found Jack's who was looking at him with a small smirk on his face. In a way it reminded the Captain of when they were trying to capture Myfanwy.
"Can you two never leave each other alone?" A London accent brought the two men out of their 'moment' and Ianto quickly leapt off Jack but found his body falling backwards as his feet sunk into the ground. "Yeah, we landed on sand," Owen pointed out and watched as Ianto looked baffled at his surroundings. "Where are we?" Owen complained.
"My PDA isn't picking up anything," Tosh informed them.
"Brilliant." Owen sarcastically said as he let himself slump onto the sandy ground.
Jack, now up on his feet, was studying his wrist strap whilst the others had been talking. "I'm not getting anything either," He sighed. "Well, we wouldn't be here if someone wasn't acting weird," He threw his sentence at Gwen.
"Oh, so now this is my fault?" She argued back.
"Yes, if you just listened to what I said then-"
A rumble under their feet stopped their conversation. The grains of sand seemed to vibrate around their feet then small waves of sand, like the sea, lapped at their shoes.
Absorbed into looking at their feet the team didn't notice the giant Angler fish swimming through the sand until it dived under the surface producing a bigger wave.
Jack looked up, swore under his breath, and then began to run. He looked back and he was relieved to find his team following, the horrified looks on their faces told him they had seen the creature.
"Head for the rocks," He ordered. They were a good four hundred meters away at least and the fish was gaining on them fast.
Three hundred meters to go and his team were keeping up a good pace except the fish was still on their tails.
Two hundred meters to go and Toshiko was starting to fall behind. Her little legs couldn't keep up with the long strides of the others and Jack slowed for her to catch up. "Keep going," He shouted towards Owen, Gwen and Ianto.
One hundred meters to go and Jack was holding Toshiko's hand, willing her to hurry but they were at least ten meters away from the others. "I don't mean to rush you Tosh but the fish is gaining," She could have hit him if she wasn't using all her strength to run. "I'll carry you if you want." Jack asked using his cheeky grin.
Twenty meters away from safety felt like a lifetime to the team, but the thought of being eaten by a giant alien fish was not their ideal way to go, so they staggered on.
By now the creature was practically on top of Jack and Tosh. In the distance the Captain could see the other members of his team perched on the solid land mass, he was glad they were safe. Then he took a small opportunity to glance behind him and his heart rate quickened at the sight.
The fish was not like Earth's sea creatures. This close Jack could see the gills were covered over by a translucent piece of skin, to stop the sand getting in he concluded. But the creature not only had fins but in front of the limbs there were crab-like arms with its pincers snapping at Jack's heels.
Ten meters away and Owen and Ianto had clambered down to where the rocks met the sand so they could reach their friends hands to pull them to safety.
"Hurry up guys!" Owen shouted and pointed to the fish. It had raised its pincers, ready to strike.
"We're doing our - Arrgghh!" Jack screamed in agony has the sharp points of the pincers grasped him around his waste and pierced his torso.
"Jack!" Ianto screamed as he watched the creatures grip harden around his lover. From the corner of his eye he could see Owen grasp Tosh's hand and pull her onto the rocks whilst removing his gun from the back of his trousers.
The Londoner fired bullets at the eyes of the monster and it squirmed in pain as the solid metal objects imbedded themselves into its eyelids. It tried to dodge Owen's next round of fire and in doing so Jack's body was being flung around like a rag doll.
Ianto and Gwen pulled their own weapons out and empty the magazines into the creature's skin. Each time a bullet hit it flinched and retreated from them.
"Shoot the pincer!" Owen yelled. They moved their aim so it was focused on the joint which attached the pincer to the arm and slowly the bullets ate away at its flesh. It fell, along with Jack, onto the warm sand.
Ianto was immediately at his side, removing the claw from the Captain's body, and was preparing to drag the man to safety as the wounded fish delved back into the sand from which it came.
"Come on, get off the sand," Gwen said as she helped Ianto pull Jack onto the rocks. They all breathed a sigh of relief once they knew everyone was safe.
Ianto looked down at Jack, his long coat was hiding the wounds the fish inflicted upon him. The Welshman did not dare to move it. But Owen did.
"Ouch!" He hissed and Ianto found his eyes trailing across Jack's body to the huge hole in his chest where blood was continuing to ooze from the wound. He felt sick and he was thankful that Owen replaced the coat.
"What do we do now?" Gwen asked looking at the others.
"We wait for Jack to wake up, and then we'll decide." Ianto said.
-007-
Gwen always knew Jack's heart had been captured by Ianto and it was proven to her as she watched the Welshman cradle the Captain in his arms as he waited for him to come back to life. She envied Ianto. If she was with Jack she probably wouldn't be able to handle his immortality as well as he did.
But she would always know sticks and stones caused Jack pain and the odd death, but she wondered if being called 'Immortal' hurt him? It probably did and she began to wonder even more if Ianto had the ability to comfort him from the words, to tell him it was alright. Somehow she didn't think he could, not as well she would be able to, anyway.
She had tried reasoning with the Captain saying 'how Ianto was holding him back and putting the rest of them in danger'. But he simply shrugged her off and turn the conversation around and claimed she held him back by stopping him from doing what he needed to, because she became too emotionally involved. But hadn't Jack said that was a good thing? So then she would leave his office in a huff and she knew he was wearing his smug smile.
So now she sat on a rock on some strange planet, thinking. Looking around she noticed people's attitudes towards each other that she never spotted when they were in the confined spaces of the Hub. Owen and Tosh were sat close together discussing things about the Rift and what they had found about the place they were in. She ignored Jack and Ianto. Then she realised she was sat on her own, twiddling her thumbs, waiting.
It was time she acted. Take charge like she did when Jack had disappeared, be the second in command she was meant to be. Time to use some force, she thought, sticks and stones are just not enough.