Trading Places

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Chapter 9- Connor and Becker

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One fine day

Ianto consulted the tracking device in his hand one more time and turned suddenly around a corner. Jack, Becker and Connor hurried to catch up, Connor almost running into him when he stopped. They were in the industrial downtown of Cardiff, where businesses and warehouses were predominant, interspaced with the odd nightclub or small public park. The street they were on was lined both sides with corrugated iron and concrete buildings, some of the lower windows had been broken and boarded over, the only noise being the gentle cooing from the pigeons nesting on the window ledges.

"You've found it?" Jack asked.

Ianto nodded, checking the device once more and then pointing to a run-down warehouse across the street.

"In there, about twenty metres in."

Jack led the way across the street, heading for the wooden boards that served as a door. Despite the chain that had been threaded through them, and the huge padlock, it was clear that someone had been gaining access that way. As he approached, he pulled a gun from the holster on his hip and clicked off the safety.

"Ready?"

Becker, Connor and Ianto nodded, each drawing the weapons they had been issued before leaving the Hub. Becker edged Connor behind him as they slipped through the gap in the boards. He knew that, of all of them, Connor was the weaker when it came to self-defence and he wanted to make sure that nothing happened to him.

Inside, the warehouse was dull and dusty, the floor-space filled with various remnants that the previous occupant had left behind when they moved out. Boxes and half-dismantled machinery cast eerie shadows in the moonlight that came through the grimy windows. There was evidence that there was someone else using this place now that it had been abandoned; recent food containers littered the floor, a couple of old blankets were draped over a railing. From somewhere deeper in the building there was the sound of voices, putting the four of them on alert.

Ianto indicated to the staircase that led up to the second floor, presumably where the offices were. It was also where the voices were coming from.

"Ianto, take Becker and head up here," Jack said in a low voice. "Connor, with me."

Connor followed, reluctant to leave the relative safety that sticking close to Becker usually afforded him, and he had Jack headed to the rear of the building. There was another staircase and the pair of them went up cautiously.

There was a group of five people in the largest office, from late teens to mid-twenties, and they all looked up as Jack spoke.

"You," he said, pointing his gun at a scruffy blonde haired man, "have something that belongs to me."

The young man's eyes went wide as he obviously recognised his victim from the previous night. The look flitted across his face a split second before all five of them bolted for the opposite staircase.

Only to be stopped by Ianto and Becker.

"Are you police?" one of the younger ones asked, seeing that they had no escape route. He and the others backed into the office once more, keeping their attention on the guns trained on them.

Jack shook his head. "We're not the police; we just need back the items that he took from me last night."

Becker eased the door closed behind him, effectively penning the group in the office and stopping any thoughts of them making a break for it.

"Just sit down and keep quiet," Jack told them. "You, kid, come with us."

The blonde scowled at him but stood anyway in deference to the gun that Jack still held. He allowed himself to be led to the smaller room next door, Connor tagging along and leaving the other two to guard the rest of the kids.

"OK, tell me where they are," Jack demanded.

"I don't have your stuff."

Jack sighed. "Try again. We tracked the signal from my wristband to find you here so I know you have it. Look, stop screwing around; that box you took is dangerous and I need it back."

The young man frowned. "It was just some stupid box. This guy I know said he could sell it for a few quid. I kept the watch 'cos it was cool." He saw the fury on Jack's face and added, "I can take you to him. 'You going to call the police?"

"He bloody well should," Connor snapped. "You stabbed him and left him for dead in the street. It'd serve you right."

"'Didn't do that. If I had, he wouldn't be walking around now would he?"

"What's your name?"

"Why should I tell you?" The young man looked Connor over, unimpressed, despite the gun and Connor heard him mutter an insult under his breath.

"Look, you little pain in the arse-"

Jack scowled at him. "Connor might not shoot you, but I have no qualms about it."

"It's Alex, OK?" the young man relented with a sigh.

"Very well, Alex. First, give me the 'watch' you took from me." Jack strapped the wristband on, ignoring the young man's protests that it didn't work anyway. It was just a good thing that the kid never figured out what it really was and how to work it. "OK, let's go."

Making no promises of what was going to happen to him, they followed as the young man reluctantly led them back out into the streets. Jack had cuffed his hands behind his back, keeping hold of him It took only a veiled threat to make his friends stay behind and rethink any possible rescue plans they were in the process of coming up with. They merely fled as soon as they could, not looking back.

"Can't you just call this guy?" Becker asked a short time later. He was sure that the kid was leading them on a wild goose chase, waiting for an opportunity to get away.

Alex cast him a sarcastic look. "You know, we don't exactly have a lot of cash lying around for stuff like mobile phones," he said. "We kinda prefer to eat." His eyes flicked over Connor, then Becker, to the brushing touch on Connor's hand. He frowned, looking vaguely disgusted. "'You two poofs or what?"

Connor saw Becker's finger flex on the gun and murmured, "Not worth it, love." Not that the obnoxious little shit didn't deserve getting his arse kicked, but he really didn't want to spend the next fifteen years only seeing his boyfriend on prison visits. He turned to Alex and smiled pleasantly.

"Yeah, you got a problem with that?"

The young man narrowed his eyes at them and spent the rest of the short walk very determinedly ignoring them. Suits me just fine, Connor thought, glad he didn't have to try and be nice to him any longer.

They ended up at the train station, where Alex directed them to the far end of one of the platforms. There were a group of men gathered at the end, heads together, talking.

"Dev is the guy with the blue hoodie," he told them. "I gave your stuff to him."

As they approached, one of the men happened to glance up, seeing the attention directed to their friend. One nudged the man and he glanced up. For a spilt second, he stared at Alex, shot him a look that promised retribution, and took of into the crowd at a fast run.

"Damn, he's fast," Jack muttered, as the four of them, dragging Alex along, gave chase. "Look, there. He's getting on the train."

The five of them got onto the waiting train moments before the doors closed and it set off. They were two carriages away from where the man, Dev, had boarded and it took them a while to make their way through the commuters. People were still getting sorted for their journey, stowing bags and jackets in the overheads. When eventually they reached the final car, Jack looked through the small window. He could see Dev sitting near to the back, trying to keep his head down and remain unnoticed.

"Connor, Ianto, start getting people out of the carriage," Jack told them. "I don't think he saw you two back at the station; with any luck he might not recognise you."

Connor wasn't convinced but he still followed Ianto into the carriage and began approaching people. To begin with, they were asking nicely but that approach quickly got abandoned after the third person refused, arguing. After that, Ianto began flashing his Torchwood ID at them, telling them that it was an emergency. From the speed they moved, Connor could only assume that word of the craziness surrounding the day to day activities of Torchwood had reached the people of Cardiff. There were still three people sitting near to Dev but they couldn't move them without alerting him and risking him running again.

Since they'd had to give up on the low-key approach, Jack and Becker came into the carriage.

"Where's Alex?" Ianto asked, glancing around curiously.

Becker looked a little too pleased about it when he said, "Jack handcuffed him to a seat back there."

"He's fine," Jack added. "I left him with the ticket inspector." He saw the Inspector take a radio from his pocket and contact someone. "Ianto, can you go take care of that? Tell him we've got it covered. Oh, and if you could get them to stop this train it would useful; we'll be reaching the next station soon and we're going to get a whole load more passengers to deal with."

By now, their suspect had realised that there were only four passengers in the carriage now, apart from the very people who had been chasing him, and was looking suspicious. Jack saw him move and turned to him as Ianto left, taking Connor with him.

"What do you people want?" Dev asked them, standing and squaring up to Jack, glowering menacingly.

Jack sighed. "Drop the attitude," he said. He aimed the wristband at the man and pressed a button on the top. All at once, a low whirring sounded, growing in intensity as it passed over the man's backpack. "You can hand over the box in your backpack, too. The one that Alex gave you to sell. It belongs to me."

Dev hesitated for a moment before reaching into his bag. He withdrew a small box from it, about four inches in diameter and made from finely carved, dark purple crystal. Seeing the possibility of evasion, he raised the box high in his hand.

"You want it," he said, "then go get it."

Jack dived to catch the box as Dev threw it hard across the carriage.

He missed.

The box hit the edge of one of the seats and the lid flew open. Jack scrambled up and made a dash for the door, trying to urge Becker, Dev and the remaining passengers through.

"Um, Jack? What the hell is that?"

Jack swore as he shot the panel next to the door with the gun he carried, sending sparks and smoke into the air as the electrics destructed. He couldn't risk this thing getting loose if it ever figured out how to open the door.

Connor heard the gunshot and raced back to the window in time to see the black shadow appear behind Jack and Becker. It looked human, as though behind cast by one of the people in the carriage, but he knew it wasn't. No light passed through it at all; it was like looking into a void.

"That's not good," Ianto murmured behind him.

That was a major understatement, Connor thought, his attention still fixed on the creature that was slowly circling their suspect. Dev was cowering at the far end of the carriage, on the floor with his knees drawn up to his chest. The creature outstretched one perfectly formed hand and touched the panicking man. He screamed in horror, breaking the contact, but it was too late. Beside him, the three female passengers screamed as well, trying to outrun the shadow but it followed their erratic paths in its gliding movements. One by one it reached out, laying a hand on their skin- an arm, a cheek- and watched as they fell.

From what Jack had said, this creature had been seen as the incarnation of death the last time it had appeared and he could see why. It resembled the movie-version of death; all it needed was a silver scythe and a skull for a face. He'd also said that the creature had spread the plague last time, infecting the victims it touched.

"I've called the hospital," Ianto said, obviously thinking along the same lines. "Told them to get the medication in, just in case."

Nodding, trying not to have a panic attack, Connor could do nothing but watch as the creature then turned on Becker and Jack, stalking towards them. When it reached Jack, it paused, then ignored him and reached out to Becker.

"No! Ianto, we've got to do something," Connor said, desperately trying to get the door open.

There was no way in, however, leaving him helpless but to watch as Becker stumbled, landing heavily in a seat. Behind him, Dev was already white as a ghost, a fine sheen of sweat covering his skin. His hands shook as he reeled to the side, leaning over as he was violently ill. The women were in no better state, one of them unconscious whilst one of the others lay across the seats. The one who Connor could see clearly, laid on the ground, her face turned toward him, was barely breathing. Her face was white, a sharp contrast to the thin trickle of red blood under her nose. Her eyes were bloodshot when she looked up at him pleadingly.

"We've got to get them out of there," Connor said.

"We can't, it will let that thing loose."

"I don't care," Connor yelled over his shoulder as he turned and ran along the carriages, elbowing his way through the nosy passengers who were trying to see what the fuss was about.

Jack edged toward the crystal box, stooping to pick it up whilst the creature was ignoring him. He felt bad for using the others as a distraction but he knew he wouldn't have long before the thing came back to him. His abnormally extended life had confused it once but its curiosity would bring it back to him once it ran out of other people to play with.

He had one chance at this, one attempt to get this thing back into its prison.

At the window, Ianto watched the creature turn on Jack, its size almost doubling as it attacked. Jack was calm, however. He stood his ground, holding the box open as his mouth moved. Ianto couldn't hear what he was saying but it was obvious that the words were hurting the creature. It let out a shriek that he could hear even through the door, the shadow losing form now as it began to swirl like a mist. Jack's mouth was still moving but he was struggling to hold the box open as the creature fought back. He had the same symptoms as the others now, a thin trail of blood from his nose, skin pale and damp. Ianto could see his hands shaking.

Suddenly, the shadow shrank back to its original size, growing smaller as it was sucked into the box that Jack held.

Jack snapped the lid closed as soon as the last trace of it was inside. His knees gave way and he fell to the floor, the box tightly clutched in his hands.

"Ianto, move!"

Ianto stepped aside a second before a red fire-axe smashed into the window he had been looking through. Connor aimed again and took out the lock in the centre of the doors, hacking away until he could get pry the doors open. Behind him were four paramedics and a couple of police officers.

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Connor paced the hospital waiting room impatiently. They had arrived just after the ambulances but the woman on the reception desk wouldn't give them any information. She just kept telling them that the doctor would come to see them as soon as they had assessed the patients. In the end, Jack had steered Connor away before he leaned over the desk and throttled the poor woman.

It was almost an hour before anyone came to see them. The doctor came into the waiting room and did a quick introduction. When he got to Connor, he smiled.

"So, you're the young man that everyone is talking about," he said, smiling. "You may just have saved those people's lives; any longer and-"

"Look, no offence, mate, but I really don't give a shit about those other people. I just want to know how Captain Becker is."

The doctor looked surprised at Connor's outburst, looking to say something else, but Ianto stepped in whilst Jack tried to calm Connor down.

"Captain Becker is Connor's partner," he said. "I'm sure you can understand how distressed he is, considering the circumstances."

The doctor nodded. "I'm sorry."

Connor looked across at him, still huddled against Jack. "It's bad, isn't it? Just tell me, please."

"Well, his condition is concerning us somewhat," the doctor told him, "but having the medication on hand so quickly has helped. He is responding to it, but the next twelve hours are going to be critical. After that point, we will be able to tell if the medication is working."

He left again, urging Connor to go home and get some rest. At present, Becker was unconscious and would be for a good few hours yet; there was nothing he could do here.

"I'm staying here," Connor told Jack and Ianto. Ianto nodded, sitting down and encouraging Connor to do the same. Now, they waited.

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To Be Continued…