x x x
Chapter 3: I Thought You'd Never Ask
x x x
Jack looked up at the sign on the door of the building she had tracked him to. Bar Reunion. Yeah, cute.
She pushed the doors open with all the deliberate flair of which said doors were capable. Kind of reminiscent of walking into a saloon in the old west. As the doors swung closed behind her, she liked to imagine a piano suddenly stopping discordantly, as a part of the effect... but you can't have everything.
He turned to face her, as he stood up from the bar, and raised an eyebrow in surprise, before eyeing her up carefully. Obviously not exactly what he had expected... but like the rest of her team, he took it in stride. They had jumped on the words 'alien tech' and been happy with it. He knew from experience what she looked like as a woman.
He didn't look that different from the last time they had seen each other. A bit older, but not that much. New outfit, kind of... eclectic. Face looked the same- no new scars that she could see- although his hair had turned a few shades darker.
The stand-off was traditional, perfect for her previously imagined setting. She held her hands out to the side, the gesture effectively asked, what do you think? How do I look?
She saw his eyes glitter and his lip curl slightly at one corner, in answer. Yes, he liked what he saw.
She tilted her head back slightly. So I'm here, now what do you want?
She saw him unclip the fastenings on his gun-holsters. Playing the game, but threatening her at the same time. I'm in control here, this is my game.
Yeah, we'll see about that.
He started walking towards her, and she matched him step for step. When they met in the middle of the room, another familiar step of the dance took over. A pause. You first.
In her female form, she was the same height as him... usually he was shorter. The loss of this slight advantage made her pause a little longer than he liked, and he made the first move to kiss her. When she saw him move, she reacted, to meet in the middle, and a few seconds of pure passion followed, as she reminded herself what he tasted like, his scent, his hands running over her back and shoulders, grabbing at her hair and pulling sharply.
Usually he would push away first, this time she took that step back. He caught her at arm's length, and punched her across the face, hard. She barely held back the urge to laugh, as she immediately retaliated in kind.
His second punch was lower, aimed for her stomach. She nimbly sidestepped it, and as he passed her, she caught his arm and twisted his wrist around, opening up an opportunity to strike him again with a sharp kick to the back of one knee.
He stumbled down, onto that knee, and laughed as he looked up at her. Her answer was a mocking smile that bared her teeth at him, as she backed away a step, holding her hands out to the side in a gesture that clearly said come and get me.
He lunged at her, catching her around the waist, his head to her right side, and she leaned into this hold, catching him in a weak headlock as she spun on the spot, moving with his attack and using his own momentum against him so that he ended up sprawled on the floor when she let go.
She waited for him to attack again, and he hesitated, recognising her stance as far more defensive than was usual. A slightly confused tilt of his head to one side, and he deliberately aimed another punch at her stomach. Again, she side-stepped it, instead of taking the blow, and struck the small of his back with her elbow as he passed her.
He laughed again, and turned to strike out at her face. This time she didn't dodge, but moved back with the attack, taking the blow without much pain. And returning in kind, striking him across the face again, and following it with a very hard punch of her own to his abdomen. Who ever said violence wasn't a legitimate form of communication?
He recognised the not-so-subtle demand, nodding slightly, before an exchange of blows, during which he never once struck below her chest. That ended with him kicking out at her legs, and pushing her back, knocking her down onto the ground. When he moved in for another attack, she kicked up at him, her boot striking him on the chin and causing him to bite his lip. As soon as she picked herself up, he charged at her, throwing both of them through a glass panel.
He landed on his feet, instantly dropping to his knees, on top of her, hands around her throat. With a bit of a stretch, she pulled one leg out from under him, and caught the back of his leg with her foot, which gave her the leverage to pull him down on that side, and allowed her to roll over on top of him. She sat back just enough to free herself from his grip on her neck, and he bucked his hips, causing her to lose her balance and fall to one side and off of him.
This time, she went for her gun as she stood, only to find that he had done the same. Like counting the steps in a dance or the bullets in a gun, they always seemed to know the perfect moment to pull their weapons at the same time. They now each had the other in their sights. Perfect stalemate.
Smiling and laughing a little, she weaved her head from side to side, eyes wide to show the movement to be a joke, as if she imagined she could dodge a bullet at this range. Would take a miracle.
"You're putting on weight?" he asked... it would have been an idle insult, if not for what she had effectively told him without words, during their duel.
"You're losing your hair?" she retaliated sharply, but her smile belied the tone and he didn't take offence.
"What are you wearing?" What's your name? Your latest alias.
She shrugged slightly, resenting the fact that she had temporarily discarded the WWII coat in favour of something that actually fit, "Jack Harkness."
He raised an eyebrow. Not a girl's name? Then returned with, "John Hart." A second of silence, then with a sigh he announced, "Well, Jackie, I need a drink."
"Do not call me that." she muttered, remembering what she knew about Rose Tyler's mother. They both lowered their guns, almost perfectly synchronised, and she joined him at the bar, eyeing the line of shot glasses there with mild amusement. This man had once managed to drink a Denvarian under the table, and that really was a great achievement for a human.
She took the bottle he offered her, and watched with great scepticism as he half-emptied a bottle of something unlabelled, clear, and judging by the smell of what he had offered her, of an equivalent strength to drain cleaner.
"So..." she said, with twisted amusement and a bit of a sneer, "How was rehab?"
He deigned to stop drinking long enough to glance her way, with a smile, "Rehabs. Plural." He ran a hand over his mouth to wipe away a trickle of blood, and a very brief flash of four fingers held up, that any normal person would mistake for a dismissive wave or a part of the previous action, told her the number of that plural.
She considered this for a moment, then said, "Hmm... drink, drugs, sex... and?"
"Murder." he answered calmly.
Oh yeah, they work that way back home, she reminded herself. This one would probably have way too much fun in jail in this century, anyway. She laughed, "You went to murder rehab?" She idly wondered when some genius would invent megalomania rehab, but mentally kicked herself when she realised the Doctor was already working on it.
"I know, ridiculous." he said, laughing as well, "The odd kill, who does it hurt?"
"You clean now?" she asked, quite certain of the answer.
"Yeah. Kicked everything. Living like a priest." he joked, raising his bottle of alcohol to show how ridiculous that idea was.
She laughed, shaking her head as she set her own bottle down, still untouched.
"Who is he?" he asked, glancing at her with a slight smile, "Must be special if you're so... defensive."
"Beats you for sadism, at any rate." she answered with a shrug, earning an offended look from him. Whether that expression was made jokingly at the insinuation of his own oh-so-obvious sadistic tendencies, or seriously at the suggestion that someone out there was worse than him, she couldn't tell. "And murder-count, too, I'll bet." Now he looked outright shocked.
"Human?" she shook her head, "Look it?" a nod, "What is he, Echali? Stonastran? Iridian?"
"You know I hate Iridians." she said dismissively. Not that she was racist. It was just a... cultural disagreement. He snorted at that... yeah, he would find it funny. "How's the Agency?" she asked, changing the subject.
"Didn't you hear?" he asked. Obviously not, tell me already, "It's... shut down."
"You're kidding." she said, stunned.
"No. There's only seven of us left now."
She blinked, stunned, "Wow." She was tempted to take a swig of that bottle he'd offered her, but between the fact that alcohol in general was probably a bad idea- still had no idea how Time Lord biology interacted with that stuff- and that her last memory of taking a drink he'd offered involved some quite humiliating intoxicants, she resisted that idea.
"It's good to see you." he noted, "It was never the same without you."
She leaned closer now, and he responded by doing the same. It would be so easy to kiss him again and fall back into that familiar and beautiful bloodlust they had shared before, when they had been partners... but she didn't do that. "You need to go." she said softly, "I don't want you on my territory." She didn't want him near her friends... he was volatile. It was one thing to play with her own life by being with him, but she couldn't drag anyone else into that danger.
"What?" he asked, indignantly. Then he leaned back away from her, affecting an air of being highly offended, as he set down the bottle he had nearly emptied, and stood up. A step back from her, and he was glaring at her angrily, "Time was, you couldn't get enough of me on your 'territory'."
He hadn't even finished that word- pure innuendo that it was- when he snatched up his gun from the bar, aiming it in her direction. Never could tell with this one, and she made the smart move of ducking, before she realised he was only firing at the door, shattering the glass there. She watched as he turned and shot out the glass in the back door as well.
"All right, everybody out!" he shouted.
The front door opened, and Gwen and Ianto cautiously entered the bar, their guns ready in case the armed and dangerous man tried anything else. "Everything all right, Jack?" Gwen asked, concerned.
Jack quickly held up her hands in the classic 'don't shoot' gesture, "It's okay!" she shouted, glancing to the other door to see Owen and Tosh there, "Okay, okay." No shooting, please no shooting.
"You've got a team." John said, as she finally acknowledged his alias, for the sake of an easy life. Well, relatively. "How sweet! Oh, pretty little friends!" he said, eyeing up Tosh, "No blonde, though. You need a blonde."
"God! He's worse than Jack." Owen grumbled. Not one of the four had lowered their weapons yet. Probably wise, since John's gun was still in his hand, even if he wasn't pointing it at anyone right now.
"Oh, do you have a team name?" John continued, oblivious to Owen's complaint, "I love team names, go on!"
Jack rolled her eyes, "Torchwood." she said simply.
"Oh." he sounded disappointed, "Not Excalibur? Blizzard? Bikini Cops? No? Torchwood. Oh, dear." And he was being deliberately annoying, now. Just great.
Rather irritably, she waved her hand in the direction of Gwen and Ianto, "Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones-" then to the other two Torchwood team members, "Toshiko Sato, Owen Harper, meet..." she gave him a look; you tell them your name.
Not that she needed to, as he quickly introduced himself anyway, "John Hart."
"We're old friends." she said, fully aware of the inappropriate irony of her words matching something the Doctor had once said about the Master.
John took offence at the insinuation of a platonic relationship, however, "Excuse me, we were more than just friends. We were partners."
"In what way?" Ianto asked. He was the only one who had yet to lower his gun now, and Jack could all but smell the jealousy from him.
"In every way." John said with emphasis, "And then some."
Jack rolled her eyes, "It was two weeks." she said coldly, with a meaningful glare. Shut up right now, don't tell them-
"Except that two weeks was trapped in a time loop, so we were together for five years." John declared with great amusement as Jack's face fell.
She rolled her eyes, He wasn't supposed to tell them that. Damnit.
"It was like having a wife." John added for emphasis.
"You were the wife." she snapped immediately.
John quite blatantly ran his eyes over her body... so blatantly that he deliberately moved his head up and down to emphasise the gesture, "Look in the mirror, love."
"You were still the wife, then." Jack said with determination.
John opened his mouth to retort, but then rolled his eyes and shook his head, instead. This argument could go on forever, and they both knew it, so he gave in, "Oh, but I was a good wife."
"I bet you were." Tosh said in an appreciative tone. This earned her stunned stares from the other three, "What? Don't pretend you haven't noticed, he's cute."
"They're just shy." John said to Tosh, with a grin.
Jack sighed. This conversation was not going anywhere productive on its own, "What are you doing here?" she asked him.
"I was wondering when we'd get to that." he said, all business-like, all of a sudden, as he pulled back the sleeve of his jacket and began pressing buttons on the controls of his own wrist strap.
"That's the same as yours." Tosh told Jack. Like she didn't know already.
"A little smaller." Jack said blithely.
John rolled his eyes, and shot her a bemused glance, "But lasts much longer." he said with false cheer, "Get two Time Agents in the same room together, it's always about the size of the wrist strap."
Jack leaned closer and hissed in John's ear, "I met an alien, could make my wrist strap take us a hundred trillion years away." her tone as seductive as humanly possible.
John spent several seconds with a slightly confused, amused and stunned expression on his face, his mouth opening and closing, trying to think of a retort, but he was saved from this impossible task by Owen, of all people. Clearly trying to tune out the innuendo that they were practically drowning in, Owen chose to speak up on the least likely part of that dialogue to be interpreted as obscene, "Ah, yes, sorry? What's a Time Agent?" he asked.
"What? She's never told you about her past?" John asked, surprised.
"No, he- I mean she- hasn't." Gwen said, shaking her head at the confusion of pronouns.
Jack and John exchanged a look. Without the slightest hint of body-language to show the others what they were implying, John managed to read her stare as it was intended. They don't need to know.
"Anyway." John said, pressing the last button on his wrist-band, and projecting a holo-image of a fairly normal-looking canister of something-or-other. Most unhelpful, it could have been anything. "I'm working with this woman- beautiful, clever, sexy, yadda yadda yadda- and we both get shot. And as she's dying, she begs me. She tells me about these radiation cluster bombs she'd been working on."
"I don't like the sound of that." Owen muttered. Yeah, 'radiation' and 'bomb' not good words, worse when put together.
"Three canisters, contents beyond toxic, swallowed up in a riftstorm." John continued.
"And ended up here." Tosh concluded, with flawless- if obvious on this occasion- logic.
"Bingo." John said, nodding to her, "That's the downside of your city being built on a rift in space and time. Now, left to their own devices, the radiation'll break down the canisters and then infect your people... and planet. They need to be neutralized."
Very altruistic of him, Jack thought, "What do you get out of this?" she asked, quite certain that he would never go to such trouble if there was no monetary gain to be had on his part.
"Dying woman's wish." John said with a very effective illusion of sincerity. But Jack could still tell that it was only an illusion, "Now, there's only one problem." he continued, "I don't know where they are. Hoping local knowledge might help." He looked around at the team, though he did manage not to meet Jack's eyes. She knew this was a sign that he was lying, as if she hadn't figured that out already. Both of them consistently failed to lie convincingly to each other, when their eyes met.
Tosh, always eager with a technological solution to anything you could ask, suggested, "When we get back to the Hub, I can run a citywide scan on radiation surges and cross-reference that with the rift activity during that time span."
"What are you, the brains and the beauty?" John asked, eyeing Tosh appreciatively, before turning his attention back to Jack as he said brightly, "You see, together it's an easy job."
Still not trusting him- but also not willing to risk the danger if he was telling the truth- Jack stepped up right in front of John, and said with determination, "We do this, you get out of here when it's finished. Right away."
He deliberately refused to acknowledge the threat, instead grinning and asking, "Does this mean I get to see your house?"
x x x
"So seriously." he asked, as the two ex-Time Agents walked through Cardiff, taking the scenic route to the Hub. It would give the team time to prepare for the unfriendly guest's visit. "Who is he?"
"I don't know his real name." she said with a shrug.
"Can't be an Agent, we're all human." he pointed out.
"The tradition came from somewhere." she noted blithely.
He'd never figure that one out. Time Lords were a myth, as far as the Agency ever knew... and it's not like Time Lords and the Agency were the only people ever to hide their real names, anyway. Operatives in the twenty-sixth century government special ops. Terra-nova soldiers in the forty-ninth century. Even MI6 was known to give out a pre-made theoretically inherited identity to certain elite agents. And those three were just examples with Earth origins.
"Why's he so special, then?" he asked.
"Endgame extinction." she answered with a frown. It was a common term used by many organisation in their own time, for any species- sentient or otherwise- that had less than a dozen members left in existence. It certainly wasn't her only reason... but probably the only one he would understand.
"Oh, playing hero, are we?"
"I can be altruistic when I want... unlike some people." she said sharply. He feigned a wounded expression, and she smiled, "Besides, it's not that bad. From what I've heard it should be easier than the all-human experience."
"Ha!" he shook his head, "You're a masochist, you know that, right?"
"Why else would I ever have seen anything in you?" she joked. It really was not the only reason, not by a long shot.
It was at this point that they reached the entrance to the Hub. The hidden one, rather than the tourist office one. "Here we are." she announced, standing in front of the step that would lead down to the Hub.
He looked up at the water tower with bemused scepticism, "You live in a sculpture? Could you be any more pretentious?" he asked, laughing.
She tried not to show her irritation, as she pointed down to the particular paving stone which was in reality the hidden elevator into the Hub, "Get on."
"We going for a ride?" he asked, grinning as he stepped onto the indicated stone, and she joined him on the rather limited space. "Your team not allowed in this way?"
"This is the entrance for tourists." she said bluntly.
"I remember the last time you said that." he teased.
She rolled her eyes, and seriously considered slapping him... but thought better of it, for now. Instead, she pressed the button on her wrist strap to activate the lift.
He was startled by the sudden movement, as the paving stone on which they stood began to move, "Woah, where the hell are we-?"
He glanced up at her, and she grinned back at him, "Going down." she said cheerfully.
As they descended further, into the underground lair of Torchwood, he stared around in poorly concealed awe, "It's roomy, I'll give you that." he admitted, trying to sound dismissive. "Your taste in interior design hasn't got any better, though." he added, finding the first thing he could to pick fault in, "What is this, sewer chic?"
She frowned at that description, but continued to refrain from hitting him... barely. When the elevator finally reached the ground level of the Hub interior, she stepped off, turning to stop him from following her. "Weapons." she ordered calmly. Ianto was waiting to one side, with a tray to put the weapons on, and Gwen to the other with that all-purpose scanner in her hand.
John only hesitated for a second, looking very much like he wanted to make some retort, but instead he removed both guns from their holsters, handing them over to Jack, who dropped them onto the tray. Next, he removed the very ornate sword from his belt, and handed that over as well. Ianto took the sword without a word, and John shrugged innocently, as if to claim that was all of them. Yeah, like hell. And the rest of the team seemed to feel the same way, as none of them had shown signs of backing off, either.
"And the rest." Jack said impatiently, holding her hand out for more.
"Oh, you know me." John said innocently, "I'm a two-weapon man."
Jack scoffed at this, her expression pure mockery of that last statement. Yeah, and I'm abstinent. Hand them over.
"One pistol strapped to each leg." Gwen said calmly, reading off the scanner, "Laser knife beneath left elbow." reluctantly, John started to hand over his remaining weaponry, as Gwen continued to speak, "Seventeen small explosive charges in the lining of his coat." He even produced a few less technological weapons that she hadn't mentioned, as well.
"Slipped my mind." John said in every form of false innocence.
Jack snorted, eyeing the last of the weapons he had handed over- a small holdout pistol- very gingerly, and wrinkling her nose at it as she recalled the most likely way for a Time Agent to hide their last emergency weapon, before dropping it onto the tray with the others, and muttering, "Heard that one before."
x x x
Jack was sitting alone in her office, now, watching the others through the window. Tosh was at the computer, Gwen and Owen were talking about something, and Ianto was lurking in a corner watching as well. He had a habit of that, standing back and watching... the quiet one in the office... it was how he'd got Lisa in without being caught, and he was brilliant at it. And he continued to lurk, unnoticed and unremarkable, as John sauntered into the room.
Gwen and Owen immediately shut up, so they must have been talking about him, which wasn't surprising in the least. Tosh glanced in John's direction, blushing slightly before going back to work. John looked up and waved to Jack. With a scowl, she turned away from the window and disappeared into her own room.
Tapping her commlink into her ear, she spoke, "Hey, you... I saw you skulking out there... he didn't seem to, though." This really was an impressive feat, as John could be very observant when he wanted to be.
"Me? Skulk? I prefer the word 'lurk'." Ianto answered innocently. She heard coffee mugs clinking in the background sound, "How'd you know I was wired?"
"Saw the earpiece. You wear it so often, I wonder sometimes about your ex." she said dismissively, kneeling down and rooting through a box of weapons and other technological stuff, hoarded for personal use. The silence over the commlink was so tense she could swear he was psychically projecting his offence at that statement, somehow. "What's he up to?"
"Chatting up Tosh." Ianto answered in an undertone. Soon she could hear voices over the commlink. Gwen thanking Ianto for the coffee, and then resuming her chat with Owen... then Tosh remarking on John's unusual taste in clothes.
"Keep an eye on him." she warned, taking out one of the older trinkets from her collection. An energy shield bracelet... it could stop any known variety of lasers and bullets. Useless against sonics or hand-to-hand combat, though. Jack had acquired it in a game of chance with an Osirian outlaw, during a mission for the Agency. Hadn't needed this toy since he became immortal, but now... better to play it safe. Especially with her ex-partner here, now.
She also took out a couple of other devices, glancing at both of them and idly contemplating their potential usefulness. Oh, both would probably become invaluable, but it seemed a bit too soon for her to consider carrying them around with her. She set them neatly on top of the rest of the box's contents.
After a couple of seconds, during which he must have been waiting until he moved out of hearing range of the others before speaking, Ianto answered her instruction, "Yes sir."
"You're gonna have to stop calling me that." she pointed out, closing the lid of her personal treasure-chest, and hearing the satisfying click as it locked. "I'm going to be staying like this for a while." She stood up quickly, and with one foot she shoved the box just out of sight, under her bed.
"Any particular reason for that, ma'am?" he asked, a teasing tone in his voice now.
"Oh, please don't call me that, either. How about Captain?" she suggested, as she put the bracelet on her right wrist. It connected with fine, barely visible filaments, to a ring that slipped over her middle finger, as well. The ring was the control for the shield. "Or gorgeous?" she added, admiring the glittering piece of jewellery that the powerful shield appeared to be, turning her hand to either side, and making sure that it didn't catch on her watch. "Or maybe, sexiest woman on the planet?"
"Whatever you say, Captain." Ianto answered with a weak laugh.
x x x
"Seven hours ago we logged a minor surge in rift energy, across three locations." Tosh informed them, indicating a screen with a visual representation of this fact.
"Six of us, three locations." John offered, brightly, "That's simple. Two people per canister."
"Excuse me, I give the orders." Jack snapped at him.
"Well then, give some, Jackie!" he retorted.
Owen snickered at this, as Jack rolled her eyes back. She told him not to call her that! And when she did open her eyes again, she fixed a glare on Owen that told him that it was not funny, and he would suffer dire consequences if he ever used that name for her.
"John's right." Gwen said, before Jack had the chance to retaliate for the name-calling, "Sorry, um... d'you prefer John, or... what?"
John grinned up at her, "With eyes like yours, call me Vera, I won't complain."
Gwen's eyes glittered at that suggestion, and she smiled as she continued to give out the orders, "Tosh and Owen, take the north. Ianto and Jack go west. Me and Vera'll take the docks."
"Gwen..." Jack said, her tone warning rather than challenging.
But Gwen still interpreted it as a challenge, "Got a problem with this, Jack?"
A few tense seconds passed, during which everyone in the room seemed to be anticipating a cat-fight. She glanced at each person in the room, Tosh was defensive in a way that says she's staying well out of it. Owen looked like he was mentally making bets on how long it would take the cat-fight to degenerate into the previously mentioned naked wrestling. Ianto seemed almost bored, exasperated, as if this was all a big waste of time when they could be doing something better. And John... well the maniac was grinning at her as if whichever choice she made would be the wrong one.
After careful calculation, Jack backed down, "Not at all." she said guardedly.
Gwen nodded, and in spite of it not being visible on her face, Jack could see a smile in her eyes. And with that settled the meeting seemed to be over. Tension dissipated, John took the opportunity to reminded them, "Now, given the canisters are radioactive, don't open them, eh?"
Ianto rolled his eyes, in the universal gesture of 'well duh,' and shot Jack a look that asked, how do you expect me to keep an eye on him, now, hmm?
"Let's go, guys." Gwen announced brightly.
Jack blinked slowly, in answer to Ianto's silent question, deliberately enough to make it look like a nod. Go with Gwen's plan. John was too good at reading body-language... but Jack had not been facing him, when she did that, so he shouldn't have spotted it. Now, she turned to Gwen, "Gwen, I need a word." she said warningly.
The rest of the team took Gwen's orders, and left the conference room, but John, "Oh, can I watch this bit? She's gonna give you all the dos and don'ts. I love it." Gwen smiled at him, again.
Jack glared at him, and pointed to the door, "She'll be with you in a second." So get the hell out.
She watched as he stood up, taking his own sweet time about it, and sauntered out of the room like he thought he owned the place. Once he was outside the door, though she was sure he had gone not one step further, she turned sharply to Gwen, "What are you doing?"
Gwen didn't show any sign of backing down, as she answered, "If I can get him talking, flirt a bit, he may drop his guard. I can find out what he's really up to."
"Good idea."
"Thank you." Gwen said, smiling, but Jack continued.
"In theory." she glanced at the door, knowing full well that he was trying to listen in, "I know this man, he's dangerous. Leave him to me."
"I led the team while you were way, Jack." Gwen pointed out, "I can handle this. He knows you too well. He'll never tell you the truth." Which was true, and a very valid point.
Jack sighed, defeated in this argument, and conceding to Gwen's plan, "Three rules. One, don't believe anything he says. Two, always keep him in front of you. And three, under absolutely no circumstances let him kiss you."
Gwen scoffed indignantly at that last one, "As if I would!"
"Has she got to the no-kissing rule yet?" John's voice called, from outside the room, "Only invented that because she wants me all to herself."
Gwen gave Jack a very tired look, that clearly said this was going to be a long night, then turned and left the room, ordering John to stay in front of her as they left.
x x x
According to their scans, the canister they were looking for was in this building. An office building. Ianto tried to ignore the slightly claustrophobic air to the place. He'd worked in such buildings before, and quite completely loathed them. Offices like this were, quite honestly, his idea of hell.
Jack on the other hand... "Oh, yeah! Loving that office-y feel!" she said, wandering off to the left. Ianto tried to ignore her enthusiasm as he began his search of the nearest desks, "I always get excited in these places. To me, they're exotic. Office romances... photocopying your butt-" he glanced at her, sceptically, only to see her adjust a bra-strap slightly as she added, smiling flirtatiously at him, "-well, maybe not your butt... although while we're here, why don't we-"
No, he could not listen to this. He really couldn't. "The rift was active at these coordinates approximately two hundred feet above ground." he interrupted as pointedly as he could while remaining polite about it. He knew he sounded tense, but it didn't matter as long as she stopped talking about all the things she could imagine doing in an office. "That means this floor... or the roof."
She hesitated, and looked at him with what might have been genuine concern, before asking, "How are you, Ianto?"
"All the better for having you back, Captain." he answered, before turning and moving to check another desk, as far away from her as possible. He needed to keep his distance from her, when she was expressing such disturbing... interests.
"Alright, calling me that was a bad idea, you can stop it now." she said, a bit sharply. He glanced at her very briefly, noticing a frown on her face, as if she had been reminded of something unpleasant, "While I was away, I was thinking." she said, changing the subject, and just as suddenly losing the dark air that her own title had somehow conjured, "Maybe we could, you know, when this is all done... dinner? A movie?"
Ianto was surprised at just how uncertain she sounded. This was Captain Jack Harkness, completely unafraid to walk up to a person she barely knew and suggest they have sex... but dinner and a movie? That made her nervous? He turned to face her directly, and asked, "Are you asking me out on a date?"
"Interested?" she asked, her self-confidence returning now.
He hesitated. The idea wasn't a bad one... Jack was very attractive, regardless of gender, and Ianto couldn't help but be drawn to her personality as well, "Well..." he said, nodding slightly, "As long as it's not in an office." he turned and walked away, to search yet another desk, adding darkly, "Some fetishes should be kept to yourself."
As he searched, she walked slowly towards him, pointing out almost sulkily, "Looks like we're gonna have to go through every drawer, bin and plant pot."
He nodded. It was quite probably true, "Right. Okay. I'll do this floor, don't want you getting overexcited." he saw her grin as he said that, and tried to ignore it, suppressing a shudder of disgust at the thought of any positive emotion existing in an office setting, "And you take the roof. You're good on roofs."
She nodded, and turned to leave. Just as she reached the door, though, his curiosity and worries got the better of him, and he called out, "Jack?" she stopped, turning to see what he wanted now, "Why are we helping him?"
"In the unlikely event that he's telling the truth, the whole city is in danger." she said bluntly, "And if he's lying, and we have to beat the hell out of him, I get first dibs." she added with a near feral grin.
Ianto smiled at that. Yes, the mental picture of John Hart getting beaten up, especially by a girl (even if that girl was Jack), was appealing.
She turned to leave again, but hesitated, asking, "By the way ... was that a yes?"
Ianto blinked, realising he'd not actually said the word 'yes' to her offer of a date, "Yes! Yes." and the smile that flashed across her face before she left the room made his heart skip a beat.
Ianto leaned against the photo-copier, breathless, before he remembered what Jack had said about it and jumped away in horror.
x x x
Up on the roof, after a rather brief search, Jack found the canister. Picking it up carefully, she could almost immediately tell it was in no way radioactive. Having experience with deadly radiation, even when it was supposedly contained and safe, she knew enough to be certain. Well she hadn't exactly expected him to tell the truth, but she was still rather annoyed at being played, by him of all people.
"Rear of the year, fifty-ninety-four." she stood, and turned to see him standing not far away, watching her with that calculated malice that showed he was feeling victorious and over-confident. So something bad must have happened to Gwen. "Even better as a woman." he said, eyeing her appreciatively as he moved closer.
Before she could answer this, her phone rang.
Automatically, she took it out to see who was calling, but he got there first, snatching it from her hand as he said, "Cute-boy, ringing to warn you about me."
As if she needed warning that he'd try something. At least she knew Ianto was alive... she just hoped the rest of the team were, as well.
"Canister." he ordered, holding out his hand, as if he actually expected her to hand it over.
"If you've harmed them in any way..." she warned.
"You know, they're pretty, but stupid." he said, as if this was a pleasant conversation about past lovers, instead of the life-or-death situation they both knew damned well it was, "You used to have better taste."
"Doesn't look like that from here." she growled, glaring at him.
Sounding exasperated, now, he repeated his order, "Just give it here."
But she had no intention of cooperating with him, now, and instead she asked sceptically, "Radiation cluster bombs? Really?"
"Let's not get hung up on details." he said dismissively.
"Little embarrassing that you needed help to find them." she pointed out.
"A little humiliating you fell for the scam." he countered, "Your dolly birds did all my legwork."
"Is that what you wanted?" she asked. She didn't believe for a moment that he would seek her out just to find helpful minions. There had to be another reason.
"What I want is for you to come to your senses." he snapped, "Join me, Jack." and the fact he used her chosen name, instead of calling her Jackie again did show he was being serious... well, relatively, "Back in the old routine, we'd be emperors. How can you stay tied to one planet when there's thousands of worlds, sparkling with wonder?" his tone was seductive, but not nearly enough to sway her, "We should be up there, among the stars, claiming them for our own. Just like before."
"I've had better offers." she said coldly, "You say we could have our own stars? I could stand at the side of one who would rule the universe, if I chose it." She wasn't even sure if this was true, but in her current condition it was quite likely.
He looked hurt. Genuinely sincerely wounded, "But you and me, Jack..." he said, sounding sad now, "The glitter of the galaxy. The mischief we could make."
She laughed coldly, "You know, you're really not the master of temptation."
"But I wanted you back with me." he said, his voice weak, as if he felt lost, "All the stars out there we haven't seen. All the things we haven't done together. What the hell is there to keep you here?"
She shook her head, "Oh, move on already." she said, getting angry at his persistent whining, "Here I am, in a new life and you're still churning out the same old tunes. And sorry, but they don't play as well, now you're looking a little older. And what are they? Wrinkles around your eyes?" she mocked.
"Laugh lines." he snapped.
"Hell of a good joke." she said sarcastically.
"It's you I'm laughing at." he growled, holding out his hand again, "Canister."
She held up the object in question, glancing at it, then back to him. It would serve him right if she broke whatever he wanted from it. With that thought, and the slightest flick of her wrist- least effort necessary- she threw it over her shoulder and plummeting to the ground far below. "Whoops."
He started laughing, and so did she... but then she saw the warning sign. Anger, pure bloody rage, flashed in his eyes, killing her laughter instantly. That fraction of a second between laughter and anger was enough to turn the act from blind rage to premeditation... but not enough for her to avoid it when he stepped forward and shoved her sharply backwards, over the edge of the roof.
She heard him mimic her, "Whoops!" as she began to fall.
The air rush past her, faster and faster... that damned canister just had to pick the tallest office building in Cardiff. This was going to be quick, once she hit. Contrary to popular opinion, falling from a great height is a brilliantly fast and relatively painless way to go... assuming you don't have second thoughts on the way down.
She closed her eyes, waiting for the brief flash of pain that would soon come. Cracking your skull on the pavement, best angle for it... she leaned backwards a little, to account for that, arms spread out to her sides. In that last instant of thought, she was disappointed and mildly annoyed to find that she landed on her back, not her head... hurt a lot more, and took half a second longer to kill her.
x x x
