Chapter 7
Ianto wasn't expecting anyone to return to the Hub, so hearing the cog door opening was a shock. Placing his coffee mug down, he stood up to greet the visitor.
"Jack, do you want me to track down these people?" he called out. He couldn't see who was arriving, but Jack was the only member of Torchwood who had any reason to return to work.
"Hey there, Yan," a female voice replied. "Jack said you'd probably be here. Don't you two ever go home?"
"Sometimes I stay the night," Ianto replied, blushing. "It depends how much paperwork needs doing. What are you doing back anyway, Caitlyn?" He walked across the Hub and saw the doctor had been crying. There was another woman beside her, who looked entranced. "Who's this?"
Caitlyn let go of the woman's waist, and she immediately lost her balance. Ianto ran over and helped prop her up.
"This is Tamwen," Caitlyn explained. "She's my flatmate. She's been affected by that whole 'they are coming' business."
Ianto nodded. He looked the young woman up and down. She reminded him of Lisa, before the Cybermen came and destroyed her. A tear came to his eye, and he blinked it away.
"What did Jack say to do with her?"
"Vaults," Caitlyn replied. "I don't want to lock her up, but he's the boss and I have to do what he says. We don't know if Tam's dangerous."
Ianto frowned. "She doesn't look dangerous to me. In fact, she looks..." He paused, searching for the appropriate word. "Vulnerable. Yes, I'd say that was the right word. Are you two particularly close?"
"Med school," Caitlyn explained. "Now Jack wants me to run tests on her. I can't use my mate as a guinea pig, Ianto. It's not right."
Ianto shook his head. "Let's put her in the Vaults, anyway. It's for the best, Caitlyn."
"I know," Caitlyn whispered, her voice shaking. She helped Tamwen walk through the Hub, knowing sadly that the entranced woman wouldn't need retconning as she wouldn't remember a thing anyway.
Ianto unlocked one of the cells and watched, arms folded, as Caitlyn sat Tamwen down and made her comfortable. Tears rolled down Caitlyn's face as she exited the cell and shut the door, looking over her shoulder at her entranced flatmate.
"I didn't join Torchwood to lock up my friends," she sobbed, grabbing a stunned Ianto by the collar and sobbing into his shirt.
"Sometimes things happen that we don't like," Ianto told her sadly. Memories of Lisa, Toshiko and Owen – the people he'd loved and lost - flooded his mind, and it was all he could do not to join Caitlyn in crying. "We just have to deal with it. Torchwood goes on while the world's falling down."
"But it's stupid!" Caitlyn thumped her fist against Ianto's chest.
He winced. "Calm down, Caitlyn. How about I go and make us some coffee and then we'll sit down and work out how to save Tamwen. Does that sound alright to you?"
Caitlyn nodded, and wiped her tears with her sleeve.
"Right then," Ianto said, leaving the Vaults and hoping Caitlyn was following. "Coffee." He walked up the stairs into the Hub's main room and was surprised to hear voices. He called out. "Who's there?"
A murmured curse was followed by a more distinguishable greeting. "It's Dante. What are you doing here? I thought you were out."
"I came back to do some filing," Ianto said, only half-lying. It was what he would have almost inevitably ended up doing, had he not been disturbed. "Anyway, I could ask you the same question."
Dante came into Ianto's line of sight, and it was obvious the young man was not alone. The teenage girl in his arms told Ianto that something was seriously wrong.
"Who's this, son?" a man Ianto didn't recognise asked.
"Ianto Jones," Dante introduced. "He's the administrative person. Kind of like what I was doing at the hospital, but more secretive stuff. Ianto, this is my dad, Tunde."
Ianto stepped towards the Devyns. "Pleased to meet you," he smiled, offering his hand. Too late he realised Tunde was incapable of shaking it. He was, like Dante, holding a woman in his arms.
"Mum and Daisha got affected," Dante offered by way of explanation. "I didn't know what else to do, so I brought them here. I was hoping we'd be able to find a cure."
"But you didn't bank on there being anyone here," Caitlyn finished the sentence as she walked up behind Ianto. "Still, there's four of us here now. We'll find a way of saving them."
"Ahem." Ianto interrupted. "Dante, take them down to the Vaults. You'll find there's a woman already down there. I'll just get us all some coffee, and we'll work out a plan. Of course, we can't do anything until Jack gets back."
Three sets of angry eyes glared at him, and Ianto gulped. He wasn't going to win this one.
"Alright," he conceded. "Coffee first, anyway."
Making his way for the second time towards the kitchen, he activated his earpiece. "Jack?"
"Teaboy?" Jack's familiar drawl was somewhat reassuring to the Welshman, and Ianto allowed himself a smile. "Is Caitlyn with you yet?"
"Yeah," Ianto replied. "Her flatmate's in a cell. Dante's brought his sister and mother in, too. They've been affected by the thing sweeping Cardiff."
"Get them into a cell, too," Jack commanded. "Then stay away. The woman Gwen and I are with now is screaming manically. I think it's the next symptom."
"I'll tell the others," Ianto told his boss. "Jack, I-"
"Ianto?" Jack asked, confused by the abrupt silence. "Talk to me, Yan."
Ianto recited three words Jack didn't want to hear. "They are coming."
"Stop pissing about, Yan," Jack sighed. "You of all people should know better than to joke in a time like this."
It took Ianto repeating the phrase three more times for Jack to realise his employee wasn't messing around.
