CHAPTER 6 – Frogs

While Jack and Ianto were waiting they were approached by an elderly couple. The man started speaking in Welsh. Ianto answered him and they continued in a conversation for several minutes, entirely in Welsh. He seemed to answer their questions satisfactorily and they moved on. As soon as they were out of sight Jack grabbed Ianto by the wrist and pulled him into the nearby alley, slamming him into the wall with a smouldering kiss.

After catching his breath, Ianto asked, "What was that for?"

Jack grabbed Ianto's hand and moved it to feel the bulge in his trousers. "Listening to you speaking Welsh is so hot."

"You don't even know what I was saying."

"It doesn't matter. You could be reciting your shopping list and it would turn me on."

Ianto pulled his hand away and straightened his coat and tie. "I will keep that in mind for a more appropriate time."

Jack just grinned.

Ianto walked out of the alley just as Gwen returned with their sandwiches.

While they waited for Theo they ate their sandwiches and threw around ideas about what to do but weren't coming up with anything useful.

Theo returned and set the drone in motion. He sent it out and "shot" the bubble with the chemical. The computer screen immediately started showing the red flashing dot. "Looks like that's going to work."

"Okay. I think we can buy time by following it around. It doesn't seem to want to do anything when it knows that it can be seen, so as long as we are following it, it won't take anyone else. We just have to figure out how to get in or at least get those people out. Theo, any idea if this bubble form is its natural form; or is it a cloaking devise or invisibility shield or something?"

"I'm not really sure Jack, but based on some of the audio sound waves I've recorded I would say it is a shield of some type."

Gwen spoke up, "So what are you thinking? If we can get the shield to drop we might be able to get in?"

"Yeah, maybe. Any ideas on disrupting the shield? Electro-magnetic pulse or something?"

Before anyone could answer, the bubble was on the move.

"Gwen, Theo, you guys go back to the hub. Look through everything you can to figure out what we have. Check for the species, ways to disrupt shields, anything you think might help us. Ianto and I will take the tracking device and follow it."

Jack and Ianto took off after the bubble. It went several miles, turning left and right and backtracking. It finally stopped as if it realised they were following it. It just hung in the air, essentially doing nothing. Jack parked the SUV.

"Looks like it's decided it can't run from us for now. I guess we sit and wait to see if Gwen and Theo can come up with something."

"Surveillance is always such a boring job."

Jack took Ianto's hand in his own and with the other he traced patterns in Ianto's palm with his finger. "It doesn't have to be."

Ianto heard every bit of innuendo Jack intended. "Jack I don't think this is the time."

Jack gave a little pout. "Oh, all right. I guess we can talk. If you could go anywhere in the Universe, where would you go; what would you want to see?"

"Well, since I don't really know what's out there," he gestured to the night sky, "I would pick some place here on Earth. There are so many amazing things to see here on our own little planet. I guess the ones to be expected; Paris, Tuscany, Moscow, Nepal, Tokyo, Sydney, New York. Then there are things like Machu Picchu, the Great Barrier Reef, the Egyptian Pyramids, the Grand Canyon, the Great Wall of China. I don't know. There is so much out there, but I think that more important than where, is with whom. I don't think any of it would matter without being able to share it with someone. Keats said 'Scenery is fine – but human nature is finer.' I would much rather spend all of my time in good company than going somewhere if I had to choose between the two."

"How did you get to be so wise?" Jack leaned over and gave Ianto a soft kiss. "I agree that the company is the most important part. Maybe someday things won't be so crazy around here and we can go to some of those places."

Ianto leaned in and kissed Jack back. Inside he was melting. Even just the idea of travelling the world with Jack was more than he dare hope for. Before his thoughts could go any further Theo broke through on the comms.

"Jack I think I have an idea. Instead of trying to disable the mechanical, technical aspect of the thing, why not try to disable the being part?"

"Go on Theo."

"Well, maybe we can do something to make it let go of the people. I was thinking about using a paralytic agent like succinylcholine. Maybe it wouldn't be able to hold them if it couldn't move."

"What is succinylcholine?"

"It is one of the drugs surgeons use when they need to intubate a patient and they can't have them moving."

"I guess it's worth a shot. How much do you think we would need?"

"I've done some calculations based on its size and we will need a substantial amount. Do you have any connections at the hospital?"

Ianto spoke up. "I think I could figure a way to get it."

"Okay. Theo, you and Gwen get back out here then you and Ianto can go get the drugs."

Dropping Gwen off, Theo and Ianto headed to the hospital. Ianto went about getting the drug while Theo did some distracting of the pretty nurse. Fifteen minutes later Ianto appeared with some urgency in his step.

"Okay Theo, we need to get going."

"Yeah, hold on. I just want to get Lucy's number here."

"Theo, now is really not the time." Ianto's tight lips and glance over his shoulder told Theo why; security was coming down the hall in quite a hurry.

"I'll come back love!" Theo shouted as they ran out the doors to the SUV.

"What was that? I thought you had legitimate resources!"

"I get things done, that's all that matters. We should have an industrial size syringe in the boot. Climb over the back to see what you can find."

By the time they got back to Jack and Gwen, Theo had the syringe loaded and ready to go.

"How are we going to give that thing a shot?" Gwen questioned.

"I think the best way would be to try and drop down on it from above. I'll go up to the roof of that building and jump down onto it with the syringe. What can go wrong?"

Ianto looked at Jack and rolled his eyes. "I remember a similar incident that left you falling from the sky."

Jack gave Ianto a knowing smile, "Yeah, but I think that situation turned out pretty well, don't you?"

Ianto was glad it was night because he was sure his cheeks were flushed.

"Have you guys ever thought about using a tranquillizer gun? They use them to take down elephants, so we could probably just shoot this thing with four or five shots for the same effect. We would just have to load the succinylcholine into the cartridges."

Jack looked at Theo. "You couldn't have come up with that idea sooner? I guess we'll just have to do it my way this time but we'll keep the gun in mind for the next time."

"Next time?" Gwen shouted.

"I just meant next time we need to medicate something large."

Once on the roof he opened his comm. "Okay, anything else I need to know before I do this?"

"No, you should be good."

With that, Jack jumped. He was a little surprised when he actually landed on the bubble. From below, it looked like he was floating in the air. He took the syringe and jabbed it in and squeezed. It took several minutes, but the results came. First, the actual being appeared. Apparently it was some type of cloaking devise it had been using. It just looked like an oblong capsule, but instead of appearing to be made of some type of metal, it looked like some type of flesh. It resembled the smooth, shiny skin of a frog but was a purple colour like an African violet.

After appearing in its natural state, the drug seemed to take full effect. Just as Theo had theorized, the being lost the ability to control its motor functions. On the underneath side a large opening appeared. Seconds later a big chartreuse glop of goo came dropping out onto the ground. Gwen noticed that the goo was starting to move on the ground. Upon closer inspection she realized that the goo was covering people. The team ran over to the people that were beginning to wake from their stasis.

"Good God. It's like the thing gave birth!"

"Thanks Gwen. That's a visual I could have done without." Ianto tried to get it out of his head as he called for emergency services to take care of the abduction victims.

Jack slid off the being and landed none too softly on the ground. He headed over to the team.

"Okay guys, it's clean up time!" They knew all too well what that meant; the hard work. They hadn't been working long when the being apparently regained its motor control. It released a high pitched, shrill sound and shot into the night sky with a flash.

"Hopefully it's gone back to where ever it came from. That was good work everyone. Don't worry about coming in tomorrow. If something comes up I'll give you a call." With that, Jack headed back to the hub.

Exhausted, the others finished up and headed to their respective homes. Even though Jack had told them they could stay home the next day, Ianto knew he would be going in to the hub. He reasoned that Jack would surely need his help with something, but really more than anything, he just wanted an excuse to be around the immortal.