Chapter 9: After the Bell Rings

A/N: I'd like to thank jimmy-barnes-13, Fear herself and Sushi Chi for reviewing! I left a cliffhanger, and if I remember correctly I haven't done that since Chapter 2. This chapter continues directly from the last. Hopefully characters aren't OOC. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Unfortunately no, I don't.

Tosh tapped on Jack's office door. She knew that Ianto would be down in the archives, as far away from Jack, trying to avoid even more awkward situations, but habits stick, and this is one habit she wouldn't like to lose. "Jack, I think I found something of great importance,"

"If you put it like that, did you find the holy grail?" jokingly said the Captain.

"No," she laughed quietly. "It has something to do with the Liager. As I was scanning, I hit a few buttons, and the alien language was translated into English for the description," she paused letting the information sink in. "It said, 'If one should press the button on the Liager, they shall become the age described. To only return to their original age, they should strive for something of great importance. Only then and there would they be able to return their originally planned age, by pressing the button again"

"So, are you saying that Ianto has to state something of 'great importance' only to return to his age?" Jack was skeptical.

"From what I'm analyzing, yes," stated Tosh. There was some silence.

"What happens if he doesn't state this great importance?" almost mocking Toshiko.

"According to these papers, this says that he'll revert back to the age specified,"

"Well that just makes life a whole lot easier," sighed the captain. A couple minutes passed before he spoke again. "What time is it?"

"Three o'clock," answered Tosh, looking at her watch.

"Blimey," Jack nearly jumped to his feet and headed off to the car. "Oh and Tosh?"

"Yes Jack?"

"Remind me never to make the writer of these 'guidelines' write a speech for me," and with that he was off.

*~*

Ianto was pacing in front of his locker. With the knowledge of what the aliens could do, from the gracious amounts of evidence of decaying caucuses in, currently, the medical bay, he needed to kill that thing. Just first he needed to know who is behind this whole mess.

"Ianto? Hello?" Avalon asked as she waved her hand in front of his face.

"Oh, um, sorry, thinking about things,"

"Is your father here?" Just as Avalon asked the question, Ianto's phone buzzed displaying the message that Jack was outside in the car. Waiting. The two of them grabbed their bags and headed out the front lobby doors only to find Jack leaning against the SUV.

"Is, is that your father?" asked Avalon skeptically.

"Yea, he is a World War II enthusiast. Apparently he is getting off work early to go to a meeting of some sorts," Ianto was just starting.

"Hey kids!" enthusiastically greeted Jack.

"Hi Mr. Jones, how are you?" asked Avalon.

"Amazing," gleefully stated Jack.

"Avalon, meet my father, Mr. Jones," Ianto introduced sophistically.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Jones; so, are we off to your house, or…?" asked the friend.

"Yep, just hop in the car, and we're off to do our English project. How fun," sarcastically remarked the Welshman.

"Let's get a move on then," stated Jack, hopping into the driving seat of the car. After the two kids closed the doors, Jack revved up the engine and sped off onto Cardiff Road. Only taking fifteen minutes to get back to the flat, on a regularly thirty minute drive. Ianto was hoping that Avalon didn't get tendentious from holding the car on for dear life.

"Welcome to the flat," Ianto said as he put the key into the door. He wasn't very proud of it to the start. After Lisa was half-converted and moving from London to Cardiff, this was all he could afford on a barista's salary, and a recently depleted Torchwood One salary. There was very little hope after the Canary Warf attack. Finding this was just below a miracle. There were five rooms altogether, if you didn't omit the bathroom. The guest room, and Ianto's room was settled to the right, both having a wall dividing the other. They were small but big enough to fit a queen sized bed, a bureau and a night table comfortably. The kitchen, over to the left of the living room, was nothing special either. A small white fridge stood near the stove. It was squeaky and only had a few beverages, with a half eaten pizza box stashed in it. The coffee machine stood perfectly near the toaster; clean chrome plated with an extravagant coffee blend placed neatly next to it. As for the living room, a large comfy blue couch sat in the middle of the room, facing the television, with Ianto's laptop glowing on the coffee table.

"This is really homey," said Avalon as she looked around. Ianto quickly noticed Jack's boxers were delightfully laid out on the couch from the last time he slept over. Quickly stepping aside, he scooped up the boxers and threw them in the room. Without noticing Avalon went into the living room, and sat down right in front of the computer. "Do you want to finish up this project now, or procrastinate and watch the telly?"

"Let's get the project done," smiled Ianto.

"Ianto can we talk for just a moment?" asked Jack.

"Yes, sir," Ianto said politely. Jack turned around and headed out of living room into the hallway. Ianto followed.

"So we know that these…these creatures eat flesh," he spoke just soft enough that only Ianto could hear him within range.

"According, to Owen's analysis on the bodies, yes,"

"You think it's an inside job?"

"It's a hundred person staff, with 1500 students; a shot in the dark," Ianto paused, "However, there seems to be a concentrated area in part of the school,"

Jack rubbed the back of his neck, stress was obviously present. The buzzing of Jack's mobile aroused. He reached into his pocket and picked it up.

"Hello?" he answered.

"Hey Jack, Tosh speaking. I got the scan on that piece of leather Ianto found. You might want to see the results," she said over the phone.

"I'll be right over," he said into the receiver. "I'll be back at the Hub, Ianto, working with the team. Call if you need anything,"

"Bye," said Ianto. Jack turned the handled and walked out of the flat. Ianto swiveled his heels and headed over to the couch where Avalon was sitting.

"So, Mr. Jones, you didn't tell me you have a boyfriend,"

"What?" said the Welshman indignantly. Avalon pulled up the e-mail she closed, from his inbox. He re-read the first few lines of that specific e-mail. He quickly closed the browser and blushed. "Uh..err…Let's finish up the English project,"

*~*

The cog door rolled open revealing the Captain, standing with his pride and glory.

"Do you always have to be that egotistical?" asked Owen.

"Why, are you jealous?" said Jack, grinning. Owen just rolled his eyes. Tosh called Jack up to the computer dock.

"So, what is the sample from?"

"Well, it comes from sector V12Y75. Ring a bell?"

"Not at the moment; a lot of memory to sort out. Give me a few minutes," he said. Jack paced up and down the hallway during his thought process; sorting out through years and years of memory. His hand, index and thumb were pressed together, like he was holding a pencil, scratching out each thing on his list. He snapped his fingers, finally remembering that one thing that separated the others from the rest. Jack ran to the main Hub, and gathered everybody up near Toshiko's computer dock.

"Fuegons," stated Jack.

"Excuse me?" asked Owen.

"Let me run a data analysis; possibly they turned up before," Tosh inquired.

"Shape shifting aliens. I hate them. They kill the body, take the DNA, and morph into the person, or alien. Parasitic pieces of shit,"

"I've never seen you take such a hard stance against creatures!" Gwen was stunned. After their most recent encounter with the space whale, and Jack's pure emotion towards it, she thought that he might take a lighter stance.

"They have the chance of hurting Ianto. I'm not going to let that happen," Jack said very sternly.

"How do we off them? Bullet to head, sticking something into their center nuclei?" asked Owen curiously.

"Bullet through stomach area. The pH in the stomach is so low that it can internally combust the alien, killing it in a snap. Tosh, did the analysis turn anything up?"

"Yes, we have a couple of reports in America back in '05 and '07, both in St. Louis, Missouri. No documents are recorded, in the UK," she said, lightly pushing her glasses back up the bridge of her nose.

"There is just one problem…We can't barge into the middle of school with guns and alien devices! They'll think we're fucking mad!" interjected the medic.

"However, we do have a way in," contradicted the Captain.

A/N: I had a science spasm at the end. Sorry XD Hope you enjoyed the chapter. I finally got to write Ianto's apartment. It's been killing me to know what it looks like; however I am a writer and have an imagination! On a side note the 'reports' in '05 and '07 are based off of episodes in "Supernatural", which I sadly do not own *sniff* Look for a spontaneous update!

Reviews most gladly welcome! :D