History Repeating

Chapter One

Well, hello again. It feels like forever since I last posted a story but now I have some spare time and I am determined to finish this one! Now I have broken my previous theme and written a Torchwood story, its set in between series two and three (I was going to write a Children of Earth themed story, but honestly the death of Ianto is still quite raw *sniff* so I settled for this instead.) So kick back, relax, and if you like it review!

It had started out as a quiet night for the staff of Torchwood, well as quiet as it can get when your job involves hunting down and neutralising hostile alien threats. Jack had been sitting in his office getting through his third cup of coffee of the night and Ianto was sitting at his desk, his head in his hands, trying to convince himself that he wasn't completely exhausted. Gwen was at home with Rhys for the night, it had been a fairly uneventful week and so Gwen took this as her opportunity to wangle some well-deserved time off, Ianto couldn't deny that he envied her; he felt his eyes slide shut as lethargy and boredom finally took over. His eyes couldn't have been shut for more than about five minutes before the computer in front of him started making an irritating pinging sound, it was the sound that he had been waiting for all night and he was awake and alert in seconds. Toshiko Sato had worked for Torchwood for about eight years and during the time that she was employed there she had come up with various gadgets in order to make the art of "alien-hunting" just that bit easier. Before her death she developed a system that tracked the activity of The Rift, a fault in space and time that ran through Cardiff, it would alert the team to any irregularities in The Rifts behaviour and, more importantly, whether anything had come through it. It was this system that was now alerting Ianto to Rift activity above a nightclub in the centre of the city.
Jack must have received the same alert on his own terminal because before Ianto could even call him the Captain was bounding down the stairs from his office two at a time.

"What have we got?" he asked.

Ianto adjusted the computer screen so that Jack could see the data that was now streaming across it.

"Nightclub in St Mary Street, there was a massive spike in Rift activity originating from that point." Ianto explained all trace of tiredness now gone, "Think we should check it out?"

"Yeah, why not?" Jack said, "It's been ages since I had a night out."

The Cove was halfway down St Mary Street and was a notorious student hang out, the roof of the building had been converted into a smoking area and was dotted with potted plants and the odd water feature, as if this would detract from the smell of stale vomit or the nauseating sensation of the music vibrating through the floor. As with any other Saturday night the club was packed and the roof terrace was filled with smokers, huddled together, trying to stave off the cold. The door to the stairwell opened and a man in a sharp suit made his way across the roof.
Ianto touched his communicator and connected to Jack who was searching downstairs, "Nothing up here," he stated and made his way back downstairs.

In the club below everything was running like clockwork, there had been no fights, very few people turned away and even the drunks were behaving themselves. Captain Jack strode through the crowd, his coat swinging behind him and a small device in his hand that was flashing at random intervals.

"I used to be a regular here," he told Ianto over his communicator, "Long time ago. They had a reputation for employing the best looking bar men this side of the Severn Bridge."

Suddenly the device in Jack's hand started beeping insistently; it'd got a lock on whatever had fallen through The Rift and was in the process of triangulating the alien's exact position.

"Ianto," he said to his earpiece, "Got it!"

Ianto ducked as a glass flew through the space that his face had been occupying not a second earlier; the beaker sailed through the air and shattered against the wall behind him. The woman in front of him was hurling anything she could at the Torchwood operative before giving up and landing an expert punch to his ribs, leaving him doubled over and winded. She took this as her chance to make a break for it and ran towards the exit, unfortunately for her the exit was blocked by a tall American in a greatcoat. She turned back round and found that Ianto had regained his composure and was advancing on her, she was trapped. Jack and Ianto had their guns trained on the girl and by now were attracting a fair amount of attention.

"Come on," Jack said, "Make it easy for all of us."

But before Jack could make a quip about getting back home to bed she had changed her tactic. She moved over to the bar and grabbed one of the terrified clubbers by the hair. She dragged held the woman in front of her and told jack in a voice that wasn't quite her own, "Get out of my way or I'll tear her head off!"

Jack faltered. Unfortunately this was not exactly an uncommon sight and he'd been witness to many hostage situations over the years, and may have been involved with a few as well. He thought he'd seen every reaction from hostages, crying, begging for mercy and the rare occasions when they lost control of their bowels. So he was shocked when he heard something come from the hostage's mouth that he had never encountered before.

"Are you taking the piss?"

The woman's hair was covering her face and the angle that the girl was holding her head meant that her words were directed to the floor but Jack heard it. Before he could react the woman lifted her head, released herself from the grip of her captor, grabbed her wrist and twisted behind her back at a painful angle.

"What do I have to do to get a quiet drink in this bloody city?" she asked no one in particular.

Jack finally got a proper look at the woman who had apprehended an alien without even breaking a sweat and in that moment he felt recognition smack him in the face.

"Adria?"

"Jack?" she replied.