6

Ianto was almost to the Hub when a voice whined in his ear "Have you been listening to this shit? Don't panic they said, don't panic my arse!"

Ianto smiled, "Good morning Owen, looking for a donut are we?"

"Weeeeeeell, if you are headed past that shop at all…." Ianto knew the 'Please' was on the tip of his tongue so he saved him with a quick reply.

"Almost there now Owen, will see you in a few." Ianto said with a casual tone, the soft chuff before disconnecting not lost on him. Owen and his gut.

Ianto walked from the bakery with some parcels for everyone and was walking across the Plass when the weirdest thing happened. A droning noise that had him looking up with interest, then stalling out as he stared up at the small Cesena aircraft slowly corkscrewing into the bay in a lazy dive.

"Fuck"

Ianto started to move at speed, heading for the tourist entrance and the first bird landed by his feet and flapping about with uncontrollable noises as if it were under attack from some invisible force.

"Shit balls"

Ianto reached the door and struggled with the key, the next birds landing like fat raindrops, feathery sickly blood filled raindrops and they made no noise bar the sound of dull thuds as they died on impact.

Ianto was in and he slammed the door, looking out as the bay seemed to shudder. He waited but did not feel an earthquake, turning to place the bag down and take a few calming breaths.

The bright light was like a flash going off but it stayed…Ianto closing his eyes against the glare as he cried out and fumbled for the lever then he was stumbling down into the secret entrance as the entire base started to shut down, the klaxons sounding as Ianto slid down the wall to pant and hold a hand to his heart like he might calm himself with such a motion.

"Too close" he whispered, then stood and took a deep breath before he walked down to find the chaos he was scared to know meant the shutdown was not completing, Owen shouting as he raced about slapping at things and Toshiko slammed her keyboard down as Jack raced up the stairs to check the aviary doors were sealing.

Gwen slowly revolved in her chair with a look of confusion and Ianto had a moment of clarity, like in the middle of a gunfight you know you have a banana instead of a gun "Gwen? You do realise we are in a state of emergency right?"

"Well, obviously" she said slowly, "Everyone is acting like it's the end of the world."

Ianto shook his head as he moved past her and leaned in to see what the problem was, the doors to the upper parking level were not engaging according to the light panel "Something in the way?"

"No, cameras are clear" Tosh huffed, "Damn it, I can't find a fault but they keep half closing then stalling out."

"Hydraulic failure?" Ianto considered, "Well, the manual override would take care of that if we…." Ianto slapped his hand against his head, "Shit. It's up there in the tourist centre. Damn it. The heat up there is like an oven, do we have an estimate on how hot this is gonna get?"

"We are monitoring but at the moment it is like an extreme heat wave" Tish replied without looking up from her screen, "warnings are out to stay indoors and if we can just keep the power grid up we can….no."

As if it heard her, the grid flickered and filled the wall screen showing fluctuations at the main station.

"Shit, the nuclear power plant" Ianto suddenly blurted, "If this get hot enough to blow the power grid and the plant's back-up goes as well we will have a meltdown. That maintenance check isn't due until next month."

"Fuck off" Owen snarled as he sat at his own work station, then he slapped the side of his screen, "I told you to replace this."

"I did" Ianto rolled his eyes, "Did you try turning it on? See? Little button on the side? Says 'on' see?"

"Oh" Owen said with surprise, then snorted as he started his own checking and he called out the numbers as Tosh worked, Ianto moving through to perform an internal shut down of the disused sections an levels in the lower areas he considered unnecessary. If they were moving to filtered air the less space to have to pump air through the better, besides the air trapped in the lower levels can be pumped out into the main hub later in an effort to prolong the air if they were going to have a problem with said filter system.

"By the book" Ianto said to himself, his heart still erratic as he worked and a hand slid up between his shoulder blades calming him immediately as that heady sent accompanying it was clearly a certain Captain.

"You OK Tiger?" he whispered.

"Yeah Cariad, struggling to shut things out"

Jack knew Ianto wasn't just talking about systems and he nodded, a soft pat before sliding away and Ianto felt relief in the momentary comfort and the fact Owen hadn't noticed.

They had to close that door, the heat was still rising and the first vehicle by the outer doors had paint peeling off.

Holy shit.

Not good.

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I know some of you are a bit bored with all the blah blah explaining but there are some who will have a go at me if I don't set it out first. Alt Verse does not let me off the hook there I am afraid and I am trying to show that I am researching a bit.

I am about through it now, just setting the scene with some 'real life' info. Ta Google.