Ianto wondered how it had come to this. He was handcuffed to a chair, and not in a way he liked. Suzie had unceremoniously dumped him in here twenty minutes ago. He could only assume he was being left to stew.
And stew he did. Guilt streamed up as more and more details of the last hour came back to him.
He quickly brought his mind back to the present situation to hold off the pain. Concrete room, check. Bars on the windows, grated door, check. Long wooden table, low bright lamp shining in his face, got that. All very cliché.
The team looked down at him. "He was Torchwood you know." Owen commented unhelpfully. "He'll never say anything."
"I know!" snapped Jack. "He was Torchwood. Doesn't matter."
Tosh sidled up to him. "Jack. You didn't read that file. You don't know what he's been through."
"A cyberman, Tosh. That's all I need to know." Jack was too livid to feel uneasy about what he was doing anymore. Might as well get to it. His trump card first. If the man really was trained, then he'd start questioning. He closed his eyes.
Below, Ianto started violently in his seat. He had felt…He didn't know what it was. Almost like a…stab…to his mind. Whatever it was, it was wrong. He fiercely blocked it, shifting uncomfortably, continuing his examination of the room.
Jack hit the wall after ten seconds. An iron hard wall. He sighed, and reluctantly let up. I didn't really expect anything less. He stalked down the stairs.
Ianto spotted the two-way mirror after five more minutes of scrutiny. It was set diagonally in the ceiling behind him. Clever. Why wouldn't they just leave him alone? Granted, he had known this was what would happen if Torchwood ever found him, but he was sure that Lisa must already be dead. Couldn't they give him a break?
The captain entered then, hostility just steaming off him. Apparently not.
Jack went straight to the point. "How did you get that equipment?" he asked softly. Ianto continued to stare at the wall. He wasn't spilling his personal life to these ruthless people. And if they locked him up in a little cell for the rest of his existence, so be it. He had killed Tanizaki. He belonged there. He fought to quash the rising emotions again.
Seeing an answer to his question was not forthcoming, the captain leaned over to place his hands on the table, his face a foot from Ianto's. Ianto kept silent. Invasion of his personal space? Working for Torchwood London had effectively demolished his sense of privacy. They liked to keep a close eye on their employees.
"Don't wanna talk, huh?" Jack said menacingly. "Well there's no help coming for you. Just us, and this room, for as long as it takes." He softened the last words, intimidation dripping from every syllable. "Now, tell me what happened!"
Ianto snorted. He couldn't help it. It was a betrayal to her memory, to be happy, but how could he resist? Jack raised an eyebrow, taken aback.
What the hell. Ianto thought. As long as I'm being uncooperative, might as well be definitive about it. Ambiguity had never worked for him. He put on his best sarcastic face. "Terrifying" he said dryly. "Shivers down my spine."
Jack jerked up from the table and spun around to pace, infuriated. He needed answers and he was going to get them. "Who. Is. Lisa" he growled, spinning to face the man again. Ianto forced his face into a cheery grin. "I'm sure that your technician hacked my file and told you" he said, shooting a glance to the fake mirror on the ceiling. "Lisa's dead." He kept his voice as matter-of-fact as he could, denying the pain threatening to rip him open at the statement of this simple fact.
"You spoke of her in the present tense" Jack said flatly.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
Jack closed his eyes to stop himself from punching the man.
Ianto continued casually. "She died over a year ago. I saw a couple people and got over it. Wasn't too hard." Ianto was lying wildly now. He fought to keep his mind on anything other than what he was talking about. Hmmm. He remembered something about Harkness. Let's see if the rumors are true. He leaned forward conspiratorially. "She was never very much fun, if you know what I mean" he whispered. He watched with pleasure and relief as the captain floundered.
Jack had actually opened his mouth to make a suggestive remark in return before his brain caught up with his body. He closed his mouth with a snap and grinded his teeth. They could both hear faint laughter coming from the ceiling.
Owen was busting up in hysterics. Tosh was trying madly to hold back her own laughter, but she wasn't succeeding. Gone was the fear for Ianto, he clearly knew what he was doing. She was well and truly amazed with this guy now. He had instantly guessed the source of their information, her hacking skills, and was now making innuendos at Jack.
Owen was shouting between gasps for air, "Suzie! You have to see this!" Suzie was sulking at her desk, feeling stupid for not guessing the man was Torchwood London and also betrayed by her team members for not telling her sooner. She stayed put while Tosh and Owen cracked up watching Jack struggle for a response. Torchwood One or not, they liked this man already.
Jack shot a glare at the mirror. Fine. Now, no mercy. He started shooting question after vicious question at Ianto. Not only did Ianto keep his composure, he sidestepped all the questions, gave out not an ounce of information, and was dropping innuendos left and right. After about ten minutes, the laughter was still going strong and Jack's composure was totally demolished. He had to use all of his concentration to reign in the flirting instinct. This man was playing dirty, and he had had enough.
"Fine! Suzie, get the man to his cell!" he all but screamed. He knew that this was admitting defeat, but couldn't quite bring himself to care. He didn't know why the man was getting to him so much. He could have sworn he had more control over that side of himself than he had exhibited. And he did.
The real reason why Jack had given up so easily was quite simple. He admired Ianto too. He had from the moment the man entered his head. And you can't interrogate someone you like. Or someone you find incredibly handsome for that matter. Not that Jack was aware of anything besides the last reason.
Ianto smiled wanly as Suzie opened the concrete door. Ha. Lisa had once told him that he had a completely insufferable side. Nice to let it out once in a while. He vaguely wondered why the pain of her death had been so easy to bury during the last half hour. Shock. Must be. He could feel it coming on now.
Suzie unlocked his hands from the chair and relocked them in front of his body quickly. She led him roughly out of the room. He didn't want to lose it in the hallway, so he held off the pain by working. Figuratively speaking. He did a quick analysis of her body language. She was mad at him for some reason. Not hard to see. Guess she wasn't one of the people laughing. I heard a man and a woman. The doctor must have been the man, there are only four members. Owen…Harper? God they run a tight ship. That means the one member I haven't seen yet is the technician. Toshiko Sato. And Suzie…she must be the main field agent.
He gave an internal sigh of relief as Suzie flicked out a badge and passed it over a magnetic lock. Finally, they were here. Stone cells. Dark and dank. Well, what better place to collapse in misery? She threw him in the cell without preamble. He did a quick check around. Groaned. A CCTV, and outside the cell where he couldn't disable it. Shit. He should've expected it. Silently hoping that Toshiko was a nice person, he turned to face the camera. "Miss Sato?" he said quietly in Japanese. "Please don't tell the captain." Then he put his back to the camera and cried.
Jack allowed himself to fume for several minutes after Ianto left. He could almost feel his blood pressure rising. Owen and Tosh were still laughing. Really? Still? It wasn't that funny. He slowly forced himself to calm down. He reviewed what they knew. Ianto Jones, Torchwood One employee, had hidden a cyberman and…resuscitated it. Restored it to full working capacity. A cyberman that wasn't really a cyberman. Someone partially converted.
He dug around for anything else they knew. No. That was it. Nothing else. Well, he would let the man sit in his cell for a couple days and then see if he was in a more cooperative mood. He stormed up to his office. He couldn't dwell on this anymore. He had things to do.
Owen and Tosh's laughter slowly, very slowly, died down. Owen gasped for breath. "I can't…believe…he…" He trailed off, stomach cramping. Tosh threw herself back into her desk chair, still grinning widely.
"I know" she responded. "It's like the universe is out of sync." She wanted to know more about this guy, but she had a feeling the file was the best she was going to get. Owen wandered off. To tease Jack, probably. She booted up the cell CCTV. All traces of levity vanished from her face as she gazed at the screen.
I know. It's really, really, really late. Short also. I've had a loss of inspiration. I may continue with it, but maybe not. Review? I know I don't deserve it. I'm groveling. Seriously. Please?