Disclaimer: I do not own the Torchwood characters but I do own "The Dark Avenger." She is from my own imagination and I have used her in an story of mine, not posted.
A Beautiful Stranger.
It had been 2 months since Jack had announced that he and Ianto were now officially a couple. Things hadn't really changed a great deal around the hub since then. There were still Weevils to deal with, things coming through the rift and life at the work at the hub was normal, only the people within it had changed.
Toshiko's and Owens relationship had really blossomed. They weren't very full on at work, just stealing the odd secret kiss or they thought it was secret but it was obvious to everyone else. It was clear to see that Toshiko wore the trousers in the relationship. When Owen was being his usual obnoxious self, it took one look from Tosh when he was getting out of hand to stop Owen in his tracks which in it's self was amusing. He was under the thumb and loving it.
There was even talk between them of Toshiko moving her things into Owens place which was bigger than hers by miles so capable of handle her things. She joked that there wouldn't be enough space in the bathroom for all her toiletries because of all his things in the bathroom. There were often little looks and little smiles between them, reminding them that the other was thinking about them and it was quiet cute. They were both happy and that is all that mattered.
Jack had also come to another realisation with Ianto's help of course, that he relied to heavily on Gwen. Always calling her back into work if he needed help before anyone else, almost forgetting that she was in a relationship with Rhys, Rhys who still didn't know exactly what it was that Gwen did at work or anything about Torchwood other than her boss was Captain Jack Harkness.
Jack saw that her relationship with Rhys, a relationship that she had been in long before she started working for Torchwood, was suffering and it was mostly his fault. He felt bad for her but mostly Rhys who had no idea what danger Jack sometimes but Gwen in, knowing that one day it could all go massively wrong and she wouldn't make it.
When something happened and Jack knew that Gwen was out with Rhys on a date or something similar, he called the others in and only called Gwen in when it was absolutely necessary but luckily, it had been quiet for a while. Due to Jack giving her more time with Rhys, Gwen was a lot happier, not arguing so much with Rhys, their relationship getting stronger. Jack was happy for her and Rhys but mostly for her.
Jack and Ianto's relationship had gotten stronger too over the 2 months after the announcement. The tension that was present before Ianto had left the first time was no longer between them. Now that they had admitted how they felt about each other and the fact that they were now openly a couple and Jack introduced them as such, made them stronger.
They even went as far as holding hands with each other in the hub but usually at food breaks and coffee breaks when they were all together. They didn't speak much, they didn't need to. The looks they gave each other were their language, often saying more than words could. The team had to endure Ianto and Jack sometimes disappearing into the office but they were never gone for long. They just sometimes needed time on their own, they were still in the honeymoon period.
They even went on dates. They had been to the gay night club where Ianto had gone that night and realised that he was gay and that he wanted Jack and Jack alone. Ianto even introduced him to Matt, the guy he had pulled and Marcus, the barman. Jack had even managed to go most of the night without flirting which must have killed him but he didn't out of respect for Ianto. This Jack Harkness was better, the whole of his team thought so as he wasn't as moody and brash and it was all down to Ianto. Ianto levelled him and that a good thing.
It was a typical Monday morning after a heavy weekend. It was quiet and slow, just what Jack needed after his and Ianto's busy weekend. That weekend, it had seemed like every Weevil in a mile radius of the hub, had come out and started causing trouble. Ianto and Jack had done most of the so called, "Out of hours," pick ups of the Weevils. Capturing one and releasing it just to hear of another one making a nuisances of it's self so they would have to go and get that one.
They had started to run low on Weevil spray so Jack ordered Owen to make more as soon as he came in for work that morning. Jack was relishing a quiet day as he was still sore from the weekend, Ianto even more sore than he was but Owen had checked him over and there had been nothing broken, just bruised. Jack was looking forward to making it up to Ianto later. Ianto was sat with his feet up on the coffee table in the sofa area, reading the latest copy of "Hello" magazine. Jack thought that it was amusing as Ianto always insisted that he only read that magazine for the articles and not the gossip. They both knew otherwise.
Jack was leaning against the door frame of his office, watching his team working away. Toshiko was working on plotting out the Weevil activity of the weekend, she was trying to predict whether there was some pattern as to where they were all coming from, where they were going to and why? Once Toshiko had the bit between her teeth, she went for it until she had an answer and if she didn't get one, she would be angry at herself and then it was time to call Owen in to work his magic on her. It always worked now.
Jack didn't need to see Owen to know what he was doing, he could hear the chinking of glass and the occasional swear word floating out of the autopsy room. The sound of Owens chair rolling across the floor as Owen couldn't be bothered to get up and walk, why should he, the chair was faster and he enjoyed it. He like most men, he was a big kid at heart. He was making more Weevil spray, something that only Owen could do being briefly interrupted at Jack's insistence that he looked Ianto over and then going right back to it.
Gwen was sat at her desk, finishing some paperwork that she had been putting off and Ianto insisted that she finish, mainly by continually digging it out of the huge pile on her desk and putting it right in the middle so it would be there in the middle of her desk when she sat down in a morning. She was getting a little miffed at Ianto doing it so she figured the only way to stop him from doing it was to actually do the damn paperwork and get it out of the way before she strangled Ianto.
He looked over to Ianto who was engrossed in the fashion pages, checking out what the latest celebrity fashion was, Ianto having a soft spot of Cheryl Cole and what she wore. He often went on about it to Jack but Jack didn't mind. He loved seeing Ianto happy even if he was happy about women's fashion. Jack didn't want to see him upset every again, those 2 months of darkness had been more than enough.
He was about to slip back into his office when the hubs alarms started blearing, the lights flashing throughout the hub and Toshiko jumped into action, dropping the pen out of her mouth and it rolled across the desk and landed on the floor. Owen dashed up the stairs, tripping on the top step and crashing into the wall before recovering and heading straight for Toshiko. Gwen flow up from her chair and was next to Jack in record time.
"Toshiko!" Jack barked looking at her with concern and she returned the concern.
"It's a flare Jack. Inside the hub," Toshiko shouts over the alarms, panic in her voice as Owen put his hand on her shoulder to let her know he was there.
"Armoury!" Jack barked but was interrupted by Toshiko.
"No time. I can't stop it or slow it. The computer is frozen. Flare manifesting in 5," Toshiko tells him and he drops his coffee and pulls his Webley from his holster and looks at Ianto.
Ianto looked frozen to the spot on the sofa where he was sat. He was as white as a ghost and the look of sheer horror on his face as he heard the words, "Flare," and "Inside the hub." Jack positions himself in between the workstations, blocking any line of fire to Ianto, expecting the worst.
"3, 2, 1, NOW!" Toshiko shouts and as she does, an insanely bright flash of orange and yellow appears in the hub near the water tower, blinding the entire team and they all turn away.
Jack was the first to look back and he sees a figure moving through the Vortex and it didn't look human. It somehow looked familiar to Jack as the figured walked towards them and then cleared the Vortex, shutting it down behind it and the rest of the team looks at the figure and Jack lowers his Webley.
The figure was dressed from head to toe in black. It had on a helmet that looked like a riot helmet, all black with a black visor so they couldn't see what was behind it. It was wearing a long, black, leather coat but with no sleeves, black combat style pants and U.N.I.T. issue boots. It was wearing full body armour, the chest plate being emblazoned with a Phoenix. It wore two weapons belt containing so many weapons, it made Torchwoods armoury look tame in comparison. It all ended with fingerless black gloves. The only flesh that was visible was the fingers poking out of the figureless gloves.
"No. It can't be you. I lost you. Your dead," Jack tells the figure who was standing totally still.
"That's a nice welcome Captain Harkness," the figure replies through the visor, speaking the Queens English.
"Who is it Jack?" Gwen asks being the only one who could speak out of the rest of the team.
"The Dark Avenger," Jack simply replies, his mind twisted in so many ways. Feelings of pain, hurt, love, confusion, anger, all battle each other at the site of this black creature.