Ianto glances over the Doctor as Jack turns away. He tries to keep his examination surreptitious, but judging by the look of tired exasperation, tinged with amusement, that he receives, he's not very successful. The Doctor looks oddly under-dressed with his jacket off and his tie undone. His color has returned somewhat already (alien, Ianto reminds himself) and in the gloomy light of the warehouse the stains on his shirt aren't instantly recognizable as blood. With his bedraggled hair, rumpled clothes, and slightly sickly pallor, he looks more like an accountant who overdid it at the office Christmas party than a powerful alien who saves planets on a daily basis.
The irritated grimace that he gives his ruined shirt only reinforces the image.
"There's another one for the bin, then," he says with a sigh, more to himself than to Ianto. "Oh, and the tie, too!" His voice and his expression are dismayed, and he resembles nothing more than a little boy who's torn his favorite T-shirt. "I liked this tie –" He breaks off suddenly, his face going very, very still.
"Doctor?" asks Ianto uncertainly. The Doctor turns to look at him, his eyes very, very dark, and Ianto has never seen anything more alien (because the Weevils might be alien, but at least they're mortal, and Jack might be immortal, but at least he's human). He shivers.
"Something's wrong," the Doctor says, all flippancy gone from his voice. Ianto already knows that the Doctor is nine hundred years old (at least), but this is the first time he really believes it. Then suddenly those ancient, alien eyes aren't focused on Ianto anymore, aren't focused on anything at all, and something really is wrong, because even when the Doctor was bleeding on the floor he didn't look afraid –
"Jack!" Ianto shouts desperately as the Doctor's eyes widen and his face goes white a sheet. Jack is at his side at an instant, Gwen's call forgotten as he grasps the Doctor's thin shoulders.
"Doctor? Doctor, can you hear me?"
Gwen's voice is echoing faintly from the earpiece. Ianto calls her on his, keeping his eyes on his boss as he continues addressing his friend (mentor idol lover?), his voice growing tenser and tenser as the Doctor fails to respond.
"Ianto! What's going on? I was just talking to Jack and then –"
"Something's wrong with the Doctor."
"Ianto!" says Jack sharply. The Doctor's eyes have closed, and he's beginning to tremble minutely. Some sort of shock, perhaps? (But that doesn't make any sense; this man has faced down Cybermen and werewolves and God knows what else. Why would something as simple as getting shot shake him? It didn't; a moment ago he was complaining about his ruined tie.) "Tell Gwen and the others to meet us back at the Hub, and make sure to bring all the information on those weapons!"
"Did you hear that, Gwen?"
"Meet you at the Hub; bring all the info on the ray-guns; got it. But –"
"Ianto, I need your help getting him into the SUV!"
"Sorry, I have to go. I'll explain later." Once he has some idea of what the hell is going on.
He snaps the phone shut and comes to stand beside Jack, who has adopted the grim-faced, tight-jawed look which means that he is barely controlling his own anger and fear.
"We need to get him back to the Hub," says Jack, sounding very much like he only just came to that decision himself. "I'm not sure how bad this is going to get, but we want to be somewhere secure."
Ianto pushes all the questions he has (What is 'this,' exactly? When you say 'bad,' does that mean for us? For the Doctor? For the planet? Do we want him at the Hub for his safety, or for everyone else's?) to the back of his mind as Jack scoops the Doctor into his arms as if he weighs nothing at all. Which, judging by sight alone, may be close to the truth (he's skin and bones; the man who saves the planet on a regular basis looks like he hasn't eaten in a week). Held against Jack's broad chest, he looks thinner (more fragile) than ever.
Jack cuts a brisk pace back to the SUV, and Ianto trots to keep up. The Doctor's trembling is increasing. By the time they reach the vehicle, his tremors have reached the point where they look physically damaging, and his face is creased in pain. Jack places him gently in the backseat and climbs in after him, leaving Ianto to drive. He doesn't mind. It gives him an excuse not to look at Jack (or the Doctor) while he asks his questions.
"What's going on, Jack?"
"Those weapons weren't just lasers. There was some extra signal that only affects telepaths."
"And the Doctor's telepathic?" Ianto tries not to sound as disturbed as he feels. Has the Doctor been inside his mind? Has he heard all the things he thought about him? (Did he still risk his life to save him?)
"Only a bit – with the TARDIS, mostly, but it looks like it was enough."
"So what's it doing to him?"
"It's making him relive old memories." Jack's tone is grim and bleak, with an undercurrent of fear. Ianto is very, very glad that he does not have to see his expression.
"Ah. And how bad is that, exactly?"
"On a scale of one to ten? Twenty."
Ianto never finds out if Jack would have told him more, because at that moment they are interrupted by an unfamiliar noise. The only thing Ianto can think to compare it to is a splintering harp, all broken chords and dissonance, but that doesn't even come close to describing the utterly alien sound. For all its strangeness, however, something about it seems to speak to Ianto on a fundamental level, bypassing knowledge and going straight to understanding.
The Doctor is begging.