A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed and added it to their favorites and Story Alerts :) Jantoloverxx: Lois is the one from COE. : )
Disclaimer: I don't own Torchwood. If I did, The Hub wouldn't have been blown up.
Amber ran down the stairs of her huge house as the doorbell rang for the sixth time, she past the maid, who was polishing the banister, on her way to the door. She opened the door and Sanita barged in.
"Hey, Amber." Sanita smiled.
"What are you doing here?" Amber asked, puzzled. "We said we were going at seven." Amber glanced at the clock to make sure she hadn't lost track of time, it displayed 6:30pm.
"Sorry, can we leave it this time? We'll go to the cinema next week." Sanita sat on the stairs.
"Well, what are you doing here, you could've just text." Amber sat beside her.
"I'm going to find Torchwood tonight." Sanita told her. Amber sighed and rolled her eyes.
"Can't you just leave them alone?" Amber tutted. "They're dangerous! Look, I bought a bottle glass of lemonade from the café this morning, and I found a pill disintegrating in it!"
"That's called Retcon." Sanita explained. "I've been doing more research; it's a drug Torchwood use to wipe people's memory."
"See what you got me into! You're my best friend, but if you're going to get me involved in things like this, then our friendship will have to end."
"Torchwood aren't the bad guys! They protect Cardiff from aliens." Sanita shook her head.
"Aliens don't exist! We grew out of that shit a long time ago, Sani." Amber scoffed. "At least I did."
"Then how do you explain that thing you said you saw?" Sanita asked.
"It was…" Amber started but then stopped, unable to think of an explanation.
"Look, Torchwood are just worried about this sort of stuff getting out to the public." Sanita told her. "Don't drink anything that you bought from public places, ok?" Sanita warned. Amber sighed.
"Ok, fine." Amber nodded. "And you're sure they won't hurt us?"
"Positive. They'll try to retcon us, but I don't think Captain Harkness would harm us."
"Think?!" Amber exclaimed.
"We'll be fine." Sanita smiled reassuringly. "Trust me."
"Ok." Amber smiled back. "So why did you come round?"
"Wanted to ask if you had a dress I could borrow." Sanita replied.
"What kinda dress?" Amber asked.
"Anything. And a pair of heels. My mum doesn't let me buy that kinda stuff." Sanita looked slightly embarrassed.
"Sure come up to my room." Amber nodded and made her way up the stairs. Sanita followed.
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"Take a left here!" Ianto instructed from the passenger seat. He jolted in his seat as Jack spun the SUV round the corner. An old woman was crossing the road in front of the SUV; Jack stopped about 3 centimeters away from the woman and practically knocked her over. The woman slowly walked across the road. Jack tutted.
"Taking her time, isn't she?" Jack growled through gritted teeth.
"She's got a walking stick, Jack." Ianto looked at Jack.
"She could still walk quicker." Jack glanced over to his left at Ianto. When the woman had crossed the SUV sped away and the speed pinned Ianto down. He wondered if the woman had taken any longer if Jack would have driven right threw her, like he threatened to do to him the night he was recruited. But he knew Jack well enough to know that he wouldn't do that to an innocent old woman, would he? The SUV stopped and Jack climbed out. Ianto did the same, then so did Lois and Sarah. Ianto looked at where the SUV was parked, in the centre of the road, and rolled his eyes. Lois looked across at Jack.
"Couldn't you have parked it properly?" She asked.
"Jack doesn't park the SUV. He doesn't have time." Ianto answered for him.
"Well said, Ianto Jones." Jack grinned. "That's why I love you." Ianto blushed slightly; Jack rarely said that in front of Lois and Sarah.
"It's just down here." Ianto told them as he looked down at his PDA, he lead the team round another corner and in front of them was a disused indoor car park. "It's in there." Ianto told Jack.
"Great. It has to be in the dark, scary, big, empty, old building." Sarah sighed.
"Well, it wouldn't be Torchwood without a dark scary empty building." Ianto replied. Jack laughed when he said this. "Are we going in, sir?" Ianto asked.
"Sir?" Jack looked over to Ianto. "You haven't called me sir for over a year."
"Sorry, it comes naturally when I get slightly nervous about doing something like this." Ianto explained.
"Ok." Jack nodded. And looked at Ianto with an expression that Ianto knew as: You'll be fine. I'll keep you safe. Jack pulled out his Webley from it's holster and held it by his side. Ianto took his Glock from the back of his suit trousers and loaded it then held that by his side. Lois and Sarah did the same. Then all three looked to Jack for instructions.
"Lois and Sarah go right; me and Ianto'll go left." Jack told them then started to walk away.
"No." Ianto stayed glued to the spot.
"What?" Jack spun around to face him.
"Sarah and Lois are new at this; me and you are skilled at it. I'll go with Lois, you go with Sarah." Ianto instructed. Jack opened his mouth to speak, and then stopped; realizing that Ianto was right. Ianto turned to walk away but Jack grabbed him and turned him to face him. He pulled Ianto into a deep kiss.
"Take care." Jack smiled when the kiss had finished. Ianto nodded and walked away, Lois hurried after him.
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Jack's torch cast a scary orange glow across the car park. The place stunk of stagnant water, piss and alcohol. Sarah assumed this was where all of the gangs hung out to drink and, judging from the occasional splatter of old blood on the floor, murder or fight. She also assumed that a lot of tramps found this to be a hospitable place and chose to live here. The place was silent apart from the noise of her heels and Jack's boots on the floor and the rhythmic dripping of water from the ceiling which caused rather large puddles on the floor, Sarah occasionally stepped in them and her shoes were filled with icy cold dirty rain water mixed with other stuff that Sarah didn't really want to think about.
Jack shone his torch to his left and then his right. He pointed the torch back to his front and it showed him the 3 meters stretched out in front of him. He wondered how many things were moving in the shadows or how many rats and mice were scuttling across the ground. He walked forward and stepped in another deep puddle of god knows what.
He thought about Ianto who was on the other side of the building. He hoped hoped he was ok. Although Ianto was right when he said he should go with Lois and Jack should go with Sarah, he wished he'd came with Ianto so he could make sure he was safe and in one piece. Jack got annoyed at himself for allowing their relationship to go this far. He knew it was a bad idea starting a relationship with somebody he cared about so damn much. He knew affairs in the workplace were a bad idea. He knew when they had started 'dabbling', when it had just been something to do, that he cared about this young Welshman very much, but never did he foresee that it would develop into love. Not ever. He brushed these thoughts away, knowing they were only going to make him want to run to the other side of the building and take Ianto in his arms and never let him go, maybe then he would be safe. Jack knew Ianto was a strong member of the Torchwood team; he coped well under pressure and could more than take care of himself and Lois as well. There was a loud noise a distance in front of them and Jack's heart quickened and he felt that rush of adrenaline that he had grown to love.
The noise had been a gang of teenagers coming in the car park. Jack sighed. One of the teenage boys was busy snogging one of the girls and two others were drinking vodka straight out of the bottle. The unoccupied member of the gang caught sight of him.
"Alright?" He shouted. "Who the hell are you?"
"Hey." Jack replied. "I think you lot better get out of here." He instructed.
"Why?!" He snapped, his words slightly slurred due to a vast amount of alcohol. "You don't own this place!!"
"I think it's for your own safety." Jack told them calmly.
"No! Piss off!" The boys tone was the complete opposite of Jack's. "What the hell are you going to do about it?!"
"JUST GO!!" Jack yelled. The teenager stepped closer to Jack.
"Did you just raise your voice at me, you American prick?!"
"You can call me anything you like, little boy. But I'll never be scared of you." Jack gripped his gun tighter, which was by his side. His palms squeaked against the metal of the gun. The teenager looked down at Jacks left hand and caught sight of his gun. The boy's breath caught in his throat.
"Oh, that's how you wanna play is it?" The boy sneered.
"Get out. Or I'll shoot." Jack threatened. "And don't think I won't go through with it, because I will. I've done it many times before, and it won't bother me to do it again." The boy looked back at his gang.
"Come on, guys." The boy walked away. "We'll find somewhere better." He and his gang left the building leaving a fuming Jack behind.
"You ok?" Sarah asked. The only reply was the sound of Jack's deep breathing. She put a hand on his shoulder. "Come on, we have more important things to focus on." She told him. Jack nodded and shone his torch back in front of him.
"I hate kids." Jack said simply. Sarah laughed softly and Jack continued to walk forward.
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Ianto shone his torch around the building. He and Lois were having no luck at finding this thing, whatever it was. The building was cold and dark and rather scary, but only because he knew there was something alien lurking in the darkness. When he normally went on missions like this he was with someone experienced, like Gwen or Owen. But now he was with Lois Habiba, a new recruit and still finding her feet. She was more than capable under pressure, but he felt he was more in command, and that unnerved him a little. He wished he had gone with Jack, and then he would feel safe and protected. He knew he did the right thing by choosing to go with Lois, but he would've preferred to go with Jack. Something moved in the corner of his eye. He spun to his left and flashed his torch around. Nothing. Although he didn't see a thing, that didn't stop his heart pounding quickly in his chest. He heard footsteps approaching him, it wasn't Lois because she was further in front of him. His heart sped up. His blood rushed through his veins. He was grabbed from behind and had his Glock and torch knocked out of his hand.
"JACK!!!" He screamed before having a gloved hand cover his mouth.
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Jack stepped in another puddle and his boot was covered by water.
"JACK!!!" he heard a distance away. It reverberated off the walls and bounced into his ears. It echoed in his mind slicing through his heart.
"IANTO!!" He yelled back and ran as fast as he could across the car park. Sarah ran after him. She was pretty quick, considering she was wearing three and a half inch stilettos. Jack stopped when he saw a man in a black James Bond-like suit holding a gun to an equally smartly dressed man's head. He had his hand over the man's mouth and Jack could see the fear swimming in his eyes.
"Ianto…" Jack whispered. Ianto's eyes were pleading Jack to help. Jack turned his attention to the dark skinned man holding Ianto. "Let him go."
"I'm sorry, Jack, that's not something I'm prepared to do." The man's tone was smooth but threatening. Although, Jack was unfazed by this man's tone as his main priority was to get Ianto out safe and unscathed.
"Let him go and take me instead." Jack instructed.
"I told you, Jack, I'm not prepared to do that." The man repeated.
"I know your voice." Jack realized. "Look, Mr. Lawson, I think you better leave Ianto and get out of here."
"So, you remember me?" He asked.
"How could I forget?" Jack replied. "After everything that you did, and everything we did to stop you last time, you still come back…"
"Well, Jack, I am known to be relentless." Mr. Lawson smiled. He took his hand from Ianto's mouth, but kept his hold on him and his gun trained to his head.
"Jack…" Ianto gasped.
"I'll be ok." Jack's reply was quick and he never took his eyes away from Lawson's. There were more men around now, one holding Lois still and the other holding Sarah, neither had guns, none that Jack could see anyway.
"You're intruders, Jack." Mr. Lawson told him. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't shoot you all."
"Because that would be a very stupid idea. You know what bullets do to me. The others, fine, they'd die. But I'd come back, I have nothing to lose, Lawson, so you better watch it." Jack replied, his tone getting more threatening as he spoke. Jack heard Ianto's breath steady as Jack gained control of the situation.
Sarah was watching in silence. She didn't know what to do; all she knew was that she had to help. The man holding her was unarmed (At least he didn't look armed), maybe that was an advantage. But there WAS a gun pointed at Ianto. Maybe that was a disadvantage. Sarah thought about this for a moment, and then made a decision. She elbowed the guy holding her in the stomach and he coiled over she escaped his grasp and was stopped in her tracks by the deafening sound of a gunshot.
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Who do you think was shot? There are NO character deaths, ok? I wouldn't do that to you all after COE and Exit Wounds! Also, sorry for the stereotypical teenage gang before : ) I wasn't insulting teenagers coz I'm one and they rock!
Please review…x
