Red Dragon Centre; Cardiff, Wales
Wednesday, January 27, 2021
Outings with an infant were an experience. Ianto Jones transferred Michael from the car-seat and then had to remove Michael's snowsuit and settled him back in the sling once inside. He took the car because walking wasn't safe for Michael. He'd been cranky most of the morning. For whatever reason, five minutes with Gwen and he cried for twenty. He'd been fussy when she watched him the other day. Jack wondered if it could be women for whatever reason. Some children were afraid of men. Except Michael didn't like Owen either. Ianto could sympathize.
He parted the sling. Michael was wide awake and staring at him. "We need lunch." With Dmitri at the warehouse, the only person he could have left Michael with was Jack. As amusing as that sounded, if there was a problem, Michael would be with Owen.
"Ianto?" A familiar voice asked as he headed Italian place. They were having pizza again which worked for adults. If he had the kids again, he'd need to take them back to the building for dinner.
He looked up and saw Jestina, a waitress from the pirate theme restaurant. "Hi." He'd hoped to avoid her.
"How many kids do you watch?" She walked over.
"Three, generally."
Jestina laughed. He liked the sound more than he wanted to admit. "Better you than me. Boy or girl?"
"Boy. His name's Michael."
She parted the sling to look. "Cute."
Michael whimpered.
Jestina backed up. "Did I wake him?"
"No. He's been cranky this morning." Although it seemed to be in response to certain people. He didn't like Jestina either.
"Sorry." She took a moment. "You and your friend haven't been in the restaurant lately."
"We haven't had time." One of his new malfunctions after Kylia went home was nervousness around certain women and social situations. He'd actually flirted, adding to the uneasiness.
"To bad."
"We'll be back sooner or later." The food was good and Jack liked the wait staff costumes.
"Cool." She paused. "Is your friend single?"
Ianto had to keep from laughing. "No."
"Lucky woman."
The ridiculousness resolved one problem, Ianto thought as Jestina walked away. He didn't need the opportunity to make bad decisions. If he was thinking clearly, he would have seen it. Lisa was the only beautiful woman that noticed he existed.
Michael started fussing. Ianto checked his watch. It could be another diaper change. Michael had a bottle, and change, before they left the hub. For the short trip, he'd left the diaper bag at the hub.
"A few minutes." Ianto hoped he could get the food and get back to the car before Michael got really unhappy.
Then an owl feather landed on the sling. Ianto took a deep breath and reached for his phone. Jack was a few minutes away if he used the lift between the Millennium Center and Roald Dahl Plass. Unsure of what else to do, he continued toward the restaurant.
"Hey."
Michael's fussing increased. "Jack, I'm at the Red Dragon Centre and a feather just landed on Michael. I have no cover and no reasonable access to my gun."
"Be careful."
Ianto wondered idly if he could summon help. At the hardware store, he'd asked for Lewella's help in Welsh and a vortex killed Shane Booth. He didn't know how it worked.
Then he caught movement out of the corner of his eye, and he turned. A man similarly dressed and carrying a weapon comparable to the alien bounty hunters that attacked Ken approached. Ianto stopped walking. From what little they knew of the situation, the men were tracking John.
"Where is John Hart?" The very human-looking alien's translator was not as impressive as Robert's.
"I don't know."
The bounty hunter tapped a part of the weapon and it buzzed, suggesting it powered on. "You are caring for his son."
Talk about an unforeseen paperwork problems. "John relapsed. He's in secured rehab."
"Where?"
Ianto held out the mobile. "I would have to call the office and ask for John's location." He hoped Jack had heard enough of the conversation to know what he was walking into.
Jack Harkness contacted the general using his wrist-strap as he headed for the lift. He needed back-up. Gwen had driven out to the former MP facility to have lunch with Rhys. Owen needed to stay with Toshiko. That left him without local options.
He stepped off the lift and jogged the best he could over the uneven, frozen ground toward the nearest entrance to the Red Dragon Centre. He slid crossing the highway tunnel. The road saw very little traffic in bad weather and hadn't been tended.
When he stepped into the coffee shop, he brought the mobile to his ear and overheard, "John relapsed. He's in secured rehab."
"Hey," Jack said into his open wrist-strap, "Someone is looking for John. Ken was attacked by bounty hunters at the mall in December. The person's voice sounds like a semi-decent translator. It could be another alien."
"Three of them. I called the Keara upstairs for help. I can only guess they think Michael is John's biological son."
Jack noticed the mobile call dropped as he walked around the line and headed for the other door. He didn't know what that meant. He drew his Webly and pushed through the door into the mall. Jack kept to the doorway and peered around the corner. Ianto stood talking on his mobile between the entrance from the car park and the Italian restaurant. That probably meant he'd called the office and was pretending to ask for John's location.
"What's your status?"
"Two down. The third is in a public area surrounded by witnesses."
"He has a weapon on Ianto."
Then a pillar of white light appeared behind the bounty hunter. He turned to look as Soldier Keara materialized. Jack stepped into the mall and started toward Ianto. He wrapped his arms around Michael and ran toward Jack. She shimmered from an obvious ballistic shield and leveled a weapon at the humanoid alien.
"Drop the weapon."
The alien hesitated a moment before complying.
(warehouse near Williams' Haulage)
Dmitri Petrescu checked the medical readings outside John's cell. The odd brain activity shifted for no apparent reason and offered no explanation. Jack spoke with Teri Pierce and concluded John's condition could be related to the explosion. It was the only solid idea they had. Jack checked the library of alchemy books but didn't find an answer.
He tapped the communication panel. "Any requests for lunch?"
John sat on the edge of the bed facing the window. "Food."
"It could be an hour or more."
John nodded.
An odd mobile ring tone took a moment to process. He removed John's phone. The ID said Ken. That would be an awkward conversation.
"John." Ken sounded scared.
"It's Dmitri. What happened?"
"I went to the grocery store by my sister's house." Ken gave the name and nearest intersection. "I saw another one of those aliens. I recognized the weapon from the mall attack."
John slapped his hand on the glass and it thudded.
Dmitri held up a single finger to ask for a moment. "Where are you?"
"I locked myself in an office in the back of the store."
Dmitri tapped his ear com. "Jack."
"He's at the Red Dragon Centre," Owen said. "Someone threatened Ianto."
"Tell Jack Ken's in trouble. I will get Robert and head over there."
A sizzling sound caught Dmitri's attention. He turned back to the window. An outline of John's hand remained in the glass and the cell was empty. "Shit." Only than did Dmitri remember John's impressive hearing.
(grocery store)
Kenneth Phillips huddled on the floor behind a battered metal desk. He had no idea why Dmitri answered John's phone, and wasn't sure he wanted to know. Memories of the attack at the Disney store and Tew's death blurred filling his head with a combination of splatting and energy blast thudding. He hugged his legs as teared welled in his eyes. When a scream broke the silence, he cried.
Minutes passed before the door cracked and swung inward. The sound of something being dragged across the floor followed.
"John?" Ken asked quietly.
"You're safe." John sounded different. He walked around the desk with slight blue glow behind his eyes.
"What happened?"
John crouched down next to him. "I'm sorry."
Ken had no idea what to say.
"I will end this." John reached out and wiped the tears from Ken's face, his fingers tingling on contact.
"What happened to you?"
John set a finger to Ken's lips. "I love you."