Out in the Open
Halloween is the one time Cardiff's resident alien population can go out in their true faces. They aren't the only ones taking off their masks tonight.
This story takes place between Greeks Bearing Gifts and They Keep Killing Suzie.
CHAPTER ONE
Jack grumbled in irritation when he heard the Rift alert sound through the Hub. It was Halloween; he had sent his team home early, hoping they could enjoy a holiday, for a change, and now he was going to have to call someone in. He could take care of Weevils without help, but a Rift event required backup. Part of his irritation was that he knew who he had to call. It was Tosh's usual night off, so she was last on the list. Gwen was planning to go out with Rhys, and given everything she had been through, including her (badly concealed) affair with Owen, he wanted to give them a chance to reconnect. Owen himself was almost certainly on the prowl, and not sober enough to help except in a true emergency. That left Ianto Jones.
Not that Ianto wasn't just as capable of supporting the Jack as the others, as evidenced by his bravery in Brynblaidd, but Jack's feelings toward the man were… complicated at best. There was attraction, of course; Ianto was tall and beautiful, with a lithe grace and mouth that, when curved into one of his all-too-rare smiles, made Jack fantasize about all the things he'd like to do with it. And there was respect, because Ianto had not only survived Canary Wharf, he'd dragged what was left of his girlfriend out as well. If she had been unconscious, rather than partially converted, he truly would have saved her. Ianto was devious and clever. He'd weaseled his way into Torchwood 3 using himself and a pterodactyl as bait, integrated himself invisibly, and made himself indispensable, all while maintaining the distant façade that had allowed him to sneak a Cyberman into the Hub and care for her without anyone noticing. Even now, they would have trouble keeping the place running without him. Which brought him to his next feeling: deep wariness, based not solely on his attraction and respect, but on the man's willingness to use them as tools, and on his own willingness to be fooled by a pretty face. And, if he was honest with himself, the knowledge that those very same things made Ianto Jones potentially a huge distraction.
Worst of all, Jack was hurt. There had been an undeniable connection between them in the warehouse the night he'd finally given in and hired Ianto, and since then, their playful flirtation and the way he anticipated all of Jack's needs had left him wondering if maybe there could be something more between them than a meaningless tumble. Then he'd found out what Ianto was hiding, and all his fantasies burned to ash.
All this was jumbled in his head, but when it came down to it, none of it mattered. Ianto was capable, if inexperienced, and it wasn't fair to the others that he'd rather call one of them in because of his own misgivings. He sat at his desk, and, after resting his face in his hands for a moment, he took a deep breath. And made the call.
-OitO-
Jack was trying to calibrate Toshiko's mapping program when he heard the alarm announcing Ianto's arrival. He finished what he was working on (unsuccessfully), and went to find Ianto. Unsurprisingly, he found the man making coffee. As he approached, Ianto turned and offered him a steaming cup. Jack tried to tell himself that it was only in his imagination that Ianto's fingers lingered on his as he took his coffee.
"Thank you for this," he said, raising his mug, "Before you came we either suffered our own brewing efforts, which ranged from 'weak' to 'burnt', or we went out. Even Tosh couldn't figure out how to use this coffee maker."
Ianto glanced at him before turning to tamp grounds for his own beverage. "She's not a 'coffee maker', sir. This is a vintage 1954 Gaggia espresso machine. A handmade piece of precision engineering, and the reason you make obscene sounds with every sip. And if you call her a 'coffee maker' in my hearing ever again, I will never make you another latte."
Chastened, Jack took a sip and suppressed his usual moan. He watched for a moment while Ianto steamed and added the milk to his own espresso, marking a tiny decorative flourish on the foam. As with everything else, Ianto paid studious attention to the details, including wearing a suit when called in to work on Halloween. "You could have worn casual clothes, you know. We're a bit outside of working hours."
"Last time I dressed down for work I was nearly killed. I thought it best not to take the risk."
Jack chuckled, glad that Ianto was able to apply his usual deadpan humour to the traumatic events of only a few weeks past. "Let's get you up to speed on what's happening, then. The Rift alert has gone off five times in the past hour, but Tosh's mapping program isn't showing anything. If it were only one alert, I'd consider it a glitch, but this many? We can't afford to ignore it, even if it is nothing."
"So what do we do? Drive around looking for strange things? On Halloween?" Ianto sipped at his mug and licked the foam off his upper lip. Jack closed his eyes and reminded himself that this was business.
"I was thinking we'd monitor police calls, airwaves, and social media for the usual signs of weirdness. You're the best of us at separating signal from noise on things like that, but I should be able to sort out some obvious negative results."
"Let's get to it then, sir."
Jack wished.
-OitO-
Two hours later, Ianto pushed himself back from the terminal he was using and threw his hands in the air. "We've found nearly two dozen possibilities, and none seem any more or less likely. We've got to narrow this down, or it'll take all bloody night."
"I'm open to suggestions."
"Tosh's program… she's a genius, but does it track every alien device? Or only those meeting certain critetia?"
Jack thought for a moment. "It doesn't look for the artifacts, exactly, it looks fo-" Jack stopped as he suddenly realized what they needed. "You're brilliant! I could kiss you!" He was gratified to see Ianto blush slightly, and continued, "The solution isn't more tech, it's less. Tosh's program maps the energy surrounding the device… it's like a GPS. What we need is a compass. Do you know where that Rift Activity Locator you had the night I hired you is?"
"I ought to, one of my first jobs here was archiving it."
"Then let us retrieve it, and the game is afoot, Jones, Ianto Jones!"
"Sherlock Bond, sir?"
Jack smiled wickedly. "A devastating combination of cool intellect, super spy skills, and a smoking' hot body. The perfect man."
-OitO-
While Ianto retrieved the Rift Activity Locator, Jack got out a comm earpiece and registered it on the Torchwood network. Ianto hadn't been issued one since he wasn't considered a field agent, but now that things were changing, he'd need to be equipped. Jack would have Tosh assign him a dedicated signal and calibrate the unit later; this one was only on the public channel. He passed the unit to Ianto on their way to the SUV. Ianto took it and put it in his ear with a nod, silently acknowledging Jack's unspoken promotion from 'administrative support'. Once they were on their way, they locked onto the first signal they found and followed it to Bute Park. Jack parked (illegally, as Ianto pointed out), and they followed the locator through the park. Jack smiled as they ran past the spot where they had first met. Ianto Jones had intrigued him from the start; in that first instant he had known Ianto was brave and a little reckless. He understood why, now, but he was still impressed by the man's nerve. He wondered if Ianto was remembering that night as well.
Thinking about how Ianto had looked in those denims, Jack had an inspiration. He passed the locator device to Ianto and asked him to lead so Jack could look around. What he didn't say was that it was Ianto's arse he would be watching.
"So why does this work when the thing at the Hub doesn't? How is this a compass and that a GPS?" Ianto asked as he moved ahead.
"Tosh's program is designed to map from a distance. When Rift energy interacts with the physical world it creates… ripples, I suppose. Like a stone tossed in a pond. By tracking those ripples back, we can see where the 'stone' must have fallen. A moving object leaves a wake, like a boat on the water. The program doesn't look for the thing, it looks for patterns. But what we're after somehow didn't create ripples, so we need something that looks for anything with Rift traces and points to it."
The tracking device led them to a closely wooded area, and they began looking around, hoping to find something out of place. Jack was starting to wonder if there was anything to be found after all when Ianto called him over to where he was crouched by a small cluster of bushes. He pointed to the base, which twinkled with tiny flashes of light, colour, and dark. "That can't be natural, can it?" he asked.
Jack knelt down to take a look. "Not at all; that's almost certainly what brought us here, and likely what triggered the alert. I call it 'Rift Glitter'."
"Rift Glitter, sir?"
"Well, what would you call it?"
"Dark Sparks?"
"You think that's better than Rift Glitter?"
Ianto shrugged. "It's quite pretty though. My niece would be wild over it. An alien race could take over the world with an army of pre-pubescent girls if they brought enough of this stuff."
Jack hadn't known Ianto had a niece; his personnel file from Torchwood One hadn't mentioned any siblings, or any family at all, actually. He'd noticed such discrepancies before, and Jack wondered if Ianto had merely edited his file, or if it was a complete fabrication. He resolved to ask Ianto about it some other time. Playfully, he swiped up some of the twinkles with his index finger and, before Ianto could pull away, rubbed it on his nose. Ianto went momentarily cross-eyed trying to see it, then wiped it off with the sleeve of his jacket. The jacket sparkled. He wiped the spot with his other hand, then wiped his hand on his trouser leg. Each time, the glitter transferred, leaving behind bright sparks of light and darkness. Ianto looked distraught.
"It'll wear off, I promise," Jack assured him. "The glitter itself is harmless, it's just the byproduct. The real danger is the device that produced this. It sort of… scrapes against time and space. These are the scrapings. The device damages the deep structures of the Rift, creating a weak point. That's why it set off the alert but not the map program—there's no movement, no ripples. I'm glad we came looking, this is dangerous tech; with the barrier weakened, the small tears we usually see things come through could become a huge gash, and the more tiny abrasions there are, the more catastrophic the Rift event will be when the structure finally gives. Whoever is using it, we have to find them. "
Ianto stood and glared at Jack when dusting his hands off on his trousers transferred glitter. "Do we just follow the tracker all night? Or will it keep tracking this stuff instead of the device? I don't remember the Rift program logging anything large or organic that could have carried it, so it could be anywhere."
Jack considered his options. He didn't really want to let Ianto in on one of his secrets, but prevaricating would hamper the search. "I suspect one of our out-of-area 'guests' has it."
"Guests? Aliens?"
"Yeah. Aliens. Sometimes the Rift delivers peaceful beings, or they crash here or come as refugees, and I do my best to get them settled in. ID if they can pass, a place to stay and some connections if they can't… usually some money, too."
"That doesn't sound very 'Torchwood' to me. Not after Mary and –"
"Violence is always the last resort, but this isn't a Torchwood thing, it's just me. The others don't know."
"I can keep a secret, sir."
"Yes, well…" The less said on that topic, the better. "Normally it would be easy to find out who is doing this. I have a list of all the aliens I've helped, and contact information, but it's Halloween." Ianto looked as if he didn't understand, so Jack continued, "A number of our guests don't look human enough to go out, no matter what they do. But on Halloween… well, no one looks twice, unless to compliment them on their costume. It's a big party night for sentient non-humans. They'll be all over Cardiff; some having their own gathering, and some out on the town with everyone else. Sadly, there's no way for me to track them, but I'll recognize most of them on sight. It looks like you're going on a party crawl with me."
-OitO-
Back at the Hub, Ianto made them each another cup of coffee as they discussed their strategy. "It's Halloween; everyone is in costume, and we're going to the sort of places where aliens will blend in. Don't you think we'll be a bit conspicuous, sir?" Ianto said, motioning at his suit and tie.
Jack grinned. "I have a plan." Oh, how he had a plan. He still had uniforms from his time in the RAF during WWII, and the thought of Ianto wearing one… well, it would make the whole night worth it.
He led Ianto down into the section of the archives where they had kept the personal belongings of agents before they had run out of room and had to store off-site. When he reached the door, he began to tell Ianto the security code, but was bemused to see Ianto already keying it in. Another surprise. Inside the room, they passed crates labeled by year. Jack opened one and removed a battered Saratoga trunk from a low shelf. He opened it with the key that had been left in the lock and extracted two muslin-wrapped bundles. Peeking in the folds, Jack saw his old RAF flight suit, complete with bomber jacket, cap, and goggles. Exactly what he was looking for. The second package contained his old Service Dress uniform. He considered for a moment which he wanted to wear, but as soon as he pictured Ianto in the blue dress uniform, his decision was made.
Jack passed the Service Dress uniform to Ianto. "Here's your costume. The flight suit will swim on you, this is a little more fitted." He turned to sort through the trunk's side compartment, looking for the appropriate insignia and accessories, hiding the ones he didn't want Ianto to see.
Ianto looked through the stack Jack had handed him. It was the complete uniform, including the trousers and belted jacket; braces, shirt, and tie; socks, undershirt, and briefs, which Ianto looked at with distaste. "I'm not wearing your underwear, sir," said Ianto, pursing his lips.
"What makes you think it's mine?" asked Jack, hoping his nervous twitch had been taken as surprise.
"I've been working in the archives, and there are pictures of you, or someone who looks like you, at least that far back. The uniform looks to be your size, and I saw you palm the nameplate. I can't imagine why you'd hide the former owner of these things, unless it was you.
As usual, Ianto didn't miss much, but Jack had hidden two nameplates. He produced one and handed it over.
"Harper," said Ianto.
"Captain James Harper, 71st. My father. He was under cover, something to do with Ultra. Parts of it are still classified."
Ianto wrinkled his nose. "Then I'm not wearing your father's underwear. That's even worse, somehow."
"Fair enough," Jack said, passing the cap and rank insignia to go with the uniform, "You'll have to wear your own shoes, but they haven't changed much over the years."
Ianto raised an eyebrow. "Of course, sir. I'll just go put this on."
As the Welshman left the archives, Jack reflected that, as much as he'd have liked to watch Ianto change, it was probably for the best that he not tempt himself.
AN: Back at the beginning of October, Gmariam floated the idea of a Halloween story. I dashed this concept off as an excuse to get Ianto into that uniform, and she said 'You should totally write that!". She also betad it, for which I am eternally grateful. Sadly, it really did take me all month (and much agonizing) to do this. I remain in awe of authors who can just sit down and let the story come out. Anyway, this story is complete and in three chapters. I'll post the next tomorrow morning, and the final tomorrow evening when I get my first trick-or-treater.