Author Note: Sorry for the late updates for the past two chapters. I have a summer program and I have been pretty exhausted. I will try to be better with the weekly or twice a week thing, but I'm not sure exactly how frequently I can post since the research I'm participating in really can be fickle with the time. But I wanted to thank you all for your wonderful support and love. I was really struggling with the development for Iris for the rest of this season as there are only a few more episodes left. I hesitated to put Diane together with Owen the last episode because there should be some changes in the universe as Iris keeps putting Owen and Tosh together… right? Lololol but seriously, I really hesitated to worsen Iris's health in the last episode because it seemed too serious of a physical disability for Iris in the case of her ability to run when she meets the Doctor. But there might be some things that help her along the way… who knows?
TheGraveKeeper: OMG thanks so much for your interest in the Doctor! And the thing with Gallifreyan, that's a detail that I haven't thought about yet/much. I have incorporated Iris into this major plot line, and that might be tied in? Maybe? I'm not sure, but who knows? (touches nose). Literally, thank you so much for your weekly reviews! I literally screamed in joy and excitement that people are loving my story so much!
I+love+this: I+love+this, thank you so much for your love! I literally live off of my readers' reviews and love. I was a little worried that Iris was going down the road of a helpless girl that always seems like a martyr, and I didn't really want that, but I will try the best I can do! I will try to see what else I can do with the love triangle ;)
Bwburke94: I wasn't sure if anyone was going to review about that, so I really want to thank you to the bottom of my heart. This review literally made my day when I read it. I wanted to kind of make a homage to the BigFinish audio from the 8th Doctor's adventures, so I really am excited that someone recognized it and verbalized that via review. Thank you so, so much, I truly appreciate it.
YolandaLiao: I strive off of reading reviews. It's like I'm a review vampire. Good luck with your midterms! And thank you for loving and reading my fanfic! It means so much to me that I have wonderful readers like you all. (Provides bear hug)
WRose: I freakin' want to hug you! Thanks so much for the input. I have to keep that in mind as I continue to write. Hahaha, we'll have to wait and see what happens to Iris to get to that timeline!
I also want to remind all my readers that all credits go to their respective owners, BBC, Big Finish Audio, and etc. The only thing I claim ownership to is my OCs and my own story line!
Chapter 10: Combat
Jack looked at Iris, worry filling his eyes. Then, he saw a flash of movement as a pair of arms wrapped themselves around his neck. That was when he felt Iris's lips on his. At first, he was uncertain as to what he should do since it was all so sudden. He was so shocked from the sudden change in Iris's demeanor that he didn't quite know what to do. But after Iris continued to kiss him, he gave into his own urges, kissing her back as passionately as he could without hurting her. After a while, Jack felt Iris separate the kiss to catch her breath. When she looked up at him, he held his hands where they were, not sure what to expect.
Iris smiled at Jack, a honest smile that the 51st century man had not seen in such a long time. That prompted him to chuckle nervously. Hesitantly, he asked her,
"Is this a sign for something more than friendship?"
Iris laughed a little and nodded as she returned to lying down in her bed.
"I don't think I can fool myself or hold back my feelings any more Jack." Iris said out loud, feeling the wariness settle in again.
"Why were you holding back?" Jack asked.
Iris looked at him, her eyes going distant, as if reminiscing a memory that was a little too painful to bear. And then something in Jack clicked. How she had looked at him and then would look at Ianto, as if figuring out their relationship since she had arrived at Torchwood.
"It's Ianto isn't it? I fell in love with him in the TV show." Jack said.
Iris grimaced and nodded, looking away from Jack. But Jack didn't want any of that and grabbed her chin gently and nudged her to look at him again.
"What about you and Ianto?" He whispered again.
Iris's eyes widened as she blushed. Jack wasn't sure what he felt. But it didn't sit well with him entirely.
"I'm not sure." She hesitantly replied before continuing with,
"I feel comfortable around him. He helps me through all this Jack. He is like the constant that I want to rely on."
Jack looked at her, and then nodded, understanding what she meant. Throughout the years he had been on Earth, one of his marriages were because of that same reason. He didn't push the topic anymore, which Iris was grateful of. But she continued to hold Jack's hand for the remainder of that night, even as she finally slept in peace.
Like that, the rest of the team noticed the change in relationship that Iris and Jack had. Iris was no longer ignoring Jack, and would, on her happy days, be friendly to the captain. The only thing that they didn't know had happened was the confession of mutual love that they had shared. However, Ianto seemed to also give Iris more of his attention once he noticed this renewed closeness between the two people.
Recently, Iris had been requesting Ianto to visit his sister more and outside of work, Ianto was unable to look after Iris as he had been. This had left Jack and Iris to share some quiet nights together at the Hub. Just simple things were done such as watching movies and talking about the Doctor.
What Iris did not want to indulge to Jack was her fear of the upcoming events and even her recent problems. The health deterioration was the least of her problems. It was the fear of the end of the finale and then meeting the Doctor. She had promised at one point after being allowed to work inside the Hub again that she would tell everything to the Doctor. But she had lied to Jack. Iris didn't feel confident about that one aspect.
She just couldn't imagine how she could talk about Zagreus to the Doctor without bringing painful memories for the Doctor. That regeneration was probably when the Doctor felt the most guilt excluding his War Doctor version. Iris had tried to bring up various scenarios, but what could she possibly say?
It would probably hurt the Doctor to even say that she came from a parallel universe since Rose was stuck in one. And she just couldn't go up to him and outright ask him, 'why am I hearing Rassilon's call me Zagreus?' when it had literally ripped the Time Lord's mental state apart when the Doctor was transformed to one part of Zagreus?
Days passed as if nothing was wrong. Ianto came back from his trips and had resorted to taking Iris out for fresh air and a good meal. Jack, at first, had hinted his displeasure at that invitation, but Iris rebelled and said,
"There is no way that just because you're jealous of Ianto, that I am staying here. I am going to have a nice meal with Ianto other than fish and chips and you can't change my mind."
With that, Jack couldn't retaliate and let her go. But of all nights, that was the night when there were signs of weevil trouble.
Jack had drove to the area of the weevil sighting and trapped the creature at a dead end. Panting from running a lot, Jack said,
"Hate to break it to you, you're not my first. Anti-Weevil spray. Handclamps. Come on, let's make this easy for both of us."
He was about to spray the Anti-Weevil spray when the creature bolted towards him and scratched him severely. The Weevil then ran off while Jack just looked annoyed and said to himself,
"This always happens when I give them the night off."
He then drove towards the restaurant Ianto and Iris were, before changing his mind. If anything, he didn't want Iris near Weevils at the moment. She was still not faring well physically as she still did not have a good appetite and suffered from the after-effects of the migraines. Owen and Tosh had finally managed to decide to go grab a date by watching a movie and then drinks, so Jack didn't want to interrupt their date. So he quickly turned around to get Gwen.
Ianto and Iris were at a Japanese restaurant. Ianto had decided to spend some money so that Iris could eat whatever she wanted, and the girl had asked for Japanese cuisine. It was something that hadn't surprised Iris. She seemed to love all types of Asian food that had some type of flavor. What did catch his eyes though was how little she seemed to be eating compared to when she had first arrived. At the beginning, Ianto and the rest of the Torchwood team were surprised at how much Iris could fit into her stomach when she had such a small body. Now, she barely ate anything.
He didn't remark on it, but he was concerned.
"So, how are things with Jack then?" Ianto finally managed to ask Iris.
The girl looked up at the Welsh man, almost choking on her drink.
"Better. I guess…"
Ianto almost frowned when he saw Iris blush.
The memory of kissing Jack had come back to haunt her. It wasn't their first kiss, but this was the first time that they had kissed each other. The last time was Jack breathing air into her and then kissing her while she was somewhat paralyzed. Not romantic at all.
"Iris, I wanted to ask you some things." Ianto started, when both of them got a text message.
Ianto glowered at the phone that had rudely interrupted him. It was from Jack calling the team in. Ianto looked up at Iris, almost making him smile when Iris puffed up her cheeks in annoyance to indicate that she was sulking that she had to go back to the Hub so soon.
When they arrived and gathered around, Jack immediately began saying,
"One. Since when did other people know about Weevils? Two. Have they don this before and if so how come didn't we know about it? Three. What do they want with them anyway?"
Iris shook her head. She didn't like this episode much. It wasn't really boring, but it was something that she knew she couldn't do much with since it was practically all field work.
Ianto said, "Might not be connected, but we've noticed a surge of unusual injuries being reported at the A&E unit."
Jack looked up at Ianto and nodded as he read some of the reports, "Chunks taken out of legs and arms. Deep wounds to backs and stomachs. So we have a wave of Weevil attacks to add to our problems. Oh, and by the way, that spray we've used on them previously, looks like they're becoming immune to it."
Tosh looked at Iris and Owen in surprise, asking, "They're mutating?"
Iris looked at her friend and inserted, "Or evolving."
Jack then looked at Iris, and asked, "So any sign of the one we lost earlier?"
Iris looked back at her computer screen and said, "I've run a trace on the van's number plate. It's fake. Two and a half thousand vans of that type registered in the Cardiff area. Widen that to a 40 mile radius and the number doubles."
Jack looked at Tosh then and said, "So, run a trace on the vehicle."
Tosh looked up and suggested, "Route via traffic cameras?"
Iris nodded and Tosh immediately replied with,
"Processing that now."
Iris then saw Gwen head up to the conference room quietly and saw the woman make a phone call. It must be Rhys that she was calling, Iris thought. Iris looked around again to find all the team in the Hub. Owen was here too. Iris wondered just how much she had actually changed and what the consequences would be for changing so much.
Iris then headed down with Ianto and Owen to observe the Weevils as something strange happened. The Weevils sounded like they were crying.
Ianto then fetched Jack. As both men came down to the holding cells, Iris heard Ianto say,
"It started ten minutes ago."
Both men then looked at the Weevil and Ianto continued with,
"What do you think it's doing?"
Jack quietly responded with, "I think it's weeping."
Owen looked perplexed as he further questioned, "Why? Could it actually be because they do have a certain level of telepathic ability to share emotions?"
Iris looked to Jack, curiosity and sadness hitting her at the same time as she heard Ianto ask,
"You mean it might be feeling the pain of another Weevil?"
Iris responded, "I kind of hope we're wrong with our hypothesis though."
Ianto looked confused as he asked "Why?"
Jack picked up and said, "Because that would mean somebody's not only kidnapping the Weevils, they're causing them pain."
With that, Jack went closer to the cell and asked the creatures with wary curiosity,
"What can you feel? What do you know?"
When the four people reached the Hub again, Tosh immediately looked up at them with a confident smirk and said,
"I've tracked the van's route. It went straight from the car park out to the docks. This was two hours ago."
The team approached Tosh's desk to see the route and the CCTV footage. They all saw the men get out of the van and when the vehicle's side door had opened, static interrupted the footage. Iris groaned in annoyance.
"Every single time…" Iris said in frustration out loud.
Tosh rolled her eyes at that reaction. Jack then asked,
"What happened?"
Iris rolled her eyes this time and said,
"The CCTV cameras went down."
The hint of annoyance in her voice wasn't surprising anymore, but it still disturbed the rest of the team how easily she became aggravated.
Gwen asked, "Do you think it was deliberate?"
Tosh just looked at Gwen with boredom and said, "I think these guys really don't like to be watched."
The annoyance that began to seep into Tosh's voice was obvious and Iris held back a laugh.
Jack looked at all the women with annoyance, knowing that they were not in their happiest mood and said,
"See, I know it's a character flaw, but that makes me all the more determined to find out what it is they're hiding."
Iris laughed out loud, thinking of another man who was exactly like that. The weird looks the team gave her caused her laugh to die down as she shrugged her shoulders and said,
"What? I was just thinking about another man who has that exact character flaw but ten times worse."
The comment made Jack smirk and then the team began to work. Jack and Tosh decided to go the warehouse, while Iris, Ianto and Owen stayed behind at the Hub. Gwen was to look at police files to get any leads. When Jack called them about a murder, they began preparing the Autopsy room right away so that they could reduce time and help end the case as quickly as possible.
When Jack and Ianto helped move the body over to the Autopsy table, Gwen began reading the file she had on the man.
"Dan Hodges. Date of birth, 21 of January 1979. Salesman for web publishing software. Looks like he was married with a kid."
Owen held up the left hand of the victim, pointing towards the wedding ring on it with a smirk and said,
"Yeah? No shit, Sherlock."
He then clapped his hands and then proceeded to tell the rest of the team information about the wounds the man had
"Right, definitely death by Weevil, but he took a right kicking before the throat was punctured. Weevils go for the kill, straight for the jugular. Look at his face. Black eye, bruises to the cheekbones. Same across the back and ribs."
Tosh looked at the body with some trepidation and asked,
"Could he have been tortured?"
Owen glanced at the Tosh, eyes softening a little bit and responded with,
"Maybe, but I reckon these wounds were inflicted by humans. But why smack somebody about and then set the Weevil on them? Why not get the Weevil do all the work for you?"
Iris was about to speak up when Jack asked Ianto,
"any joy with the phone records?"
Ianto looked up at the captain, noticing a strange look on Iris's face before replying,
"The last incoming number was blocked, and the phone's entire call history has been erased."
Iris tried to speak up again but Tosh spoke first this time with
"God, they move fast."
Jack looked at Iris as he said,
"You ask me, these guys are using Weevils to carry out the perfect murder. No fingerprints, no traces of recognizable DNA, a quick, guaranteed death. Nothing to connect anyone to the murder."
Iris tried to speak again when Owen spoke this time.
"Right, should be a piece of piss to find the killer then."
Gwen looked sadly at the corpse, before asking,
"What about this guy? Someone's got to break it to his wife that he's dead."
The team looked at each other and looked back at Gwen, indicating that the thought had not crossed their minds until she had mentioned it.
Owen decided to drive Gwen to the house of the victim, while Gwen would talk to the lady. Meanwhile, Iris was back at Jack's office, trying to grab his attention. When he finally managed to listen to her, she revealed what was happening from what she knew from the episode and then how to go about this case. Jack's facial expression turned dark and Iris noticed how Jack' s normally, joyful blue eyes turned icy. She felt suffocated when she saw the rage behind Jack's eyes, making her realize just how much Jack has seen the entire time he has lived.
When Owen and Gwen finally came back, Jack seemed to be in a better mood as he said,
"Well, in your guys' absence, Toshiko and Iris had a great idea."
Iris rolled her eyes and said,
"It wasn't mine. It was Toshiko's. Jack's just trying to kiss my ass to get on my good side."
Jack smirked a little, surprised from the completely not-Iris like comment and replied with,
"Always sweetheart."
Iris scoffed while everybody else almost vomited on spot. Ianto looked between Iris and Jack, not sure what to say. He wasn't sure if he liked the interaction the two just had or hated it. Something about Jack lured Ianto, it wasn't a lie, but something about Iris also tugged his heart. He had been struggling since he had no relationship since the Lisa incident and he didn't quite feel ready, but his emotions seemed to say otherwise.
Owen then coughed and said, "Well… let's then… uh… listen to that brilliant idea."
Tosh immediately perked up, smiling towards Owen and said,
"The van went from kidnapping the Weevil straight to the warehouse. They must've known it was empty."
Gwen spoke up, understanding where this was leading to.
"So either they own it or they had previous contact with the estate agents."
Jack, Ianto, Tosh and Iris shared a look and they all nodded. Jack then looked at Owen seriously and said,
"Owen Harper, you're going into property. Iris is in the middle of fixing you a cover story."
Owen's mouth opened wide in shock and he didn't look happy at that sudden arrangement.
"Hang on. Why me? I get why Tosh, you, Gwen and Iris can't do it. But why not the Welsh over there?"
Ianto just looked up with annoyance while Jack said,
"Well… Iris said Ianto helps out with her work whenever she needs it, and honestly put, he could help out here more than out there compared to you. So…"
Owen shook his head and said,
"Yeah, all right. I guess I'll work out on trying to be someone else right now."
Iris looked at Owen, thinking about how much she had changed. Owen was closer with Tosh. They weren't going out, but it seemed like they were more than friends. Ianto was more involved with what the team was doing and Gwen… well… Gwen was pretty much herself without the Owen drama. Thank goodness for that, Iris thought. But the major thing that really bothered her was the dynamic between Iris, Ianto and Jack.
She clearly knew that she loved Jack, but something about Ianto kept bothering her, as if she felt guilty about how she had confessed to the 51st century man instead of him. But when she hung out with Ianto, she also couldn't get Jack out of her head. What was wrong with her?
Iris squeezed her cheeks with both of her hands to get out of the thought and decided to focus on helping Owen along with Tosh to reduce the workload on the poor woman. Iris was doing most of the hacking while Tosh was instructing Owen what to do as she was doing the finishing touches of helping set up Owen's identity.
Later, Owen returned to the Hub and Tosh smirked, causing Iris to look up at her with curiosity.
Tosh looked at her and then said,
"First, he'll go for the weblink at the top of the page. Then, he'll want to know what other people say about the business…. Now he'll see what Owen has to say about himself."
Iris couldn't help but burst out loud in laughter. Iris had helped with Owen's past, but not the business part. She knew it was going to be jellied eels, but to see Owen awkwardly act for an advertisement was so funny that she fell out of her chair and rolled on the ground laughing. Tosh joined in the laughter when suddenly, the phone rang, indicating that the man named Mark called for confirmation.
Iris quickly held her breath to stop laughing and left the Hub to make sure she didn't ruin anything from laughing so much. As she walked away, she heard Tosh pick up the phone, saying,
"Harper's sales. Jenny Long speaking."
Later when Iris came back up from her room, she found that Jack and Ianto had gone the hospital to investigate the patient. When Tosh had first picked up the phone, Iris felt happier than most days, but suddenly, she had the tremors come back and she was annoyed to the core. Why couldn't she just have one normal day without the pain? She sighed and sat on the sofa in the Hub, taking the medication that Owen gave her so that she wouldn't feel the pain even if her working no longer an option for the day. When Jack and Ianto came back, they all headed towards the holding cell area.
Iris heard Tosh ask,
"What did he mean, everyone?"
Ianto replied with,
"That was all he'd say."
Jack said,
"Couldn't get any more out of him. That leaves us one option. Okay, Janet, time for a trip out."
Iris looked at the Weevil and asked,
"Why do you call that Weevil Janet?"
Jack smiled at the people near him and said,
"Barbara just never seemed right."
Ianto shook his head and chuckled. When he looked at Iris, he saw her laugh and that seemed to make his day infinitely better.
Iris was about to follow Jack, Ianto and Tosh into the rover when Jack turned around and grabbed her shoulders before she could get in. She looked at him with annoyance, knowing what he was about to say.
"Jack, let me go with you guys…" Iris said
But Jack just shook his head and replied with,
"You stay here. You just told me that you had another tremor. You can't go out with us in that condition."
Iris huffed in frustration, knowing better than to argue, and nodded. She let the three people plus Weevil leave the Torchwood base as she headed back to the Hub, deciding to think on some important future cases.
After a while though, she became bored out of her mind and decided to just watch some TV when she heard Gwen call out.
"Hello? Anyone?"
"Yeah?" Iris responded, standing up tiredly. She stretched a little and headed towards the woman, seeing that she had brought pizzas.
Gwen looked upset, and Iris realized what had happened. Iris nodded towards the sofa and the two began eating pizzas, Iris not prying for answers, knowing that the woman would decide to open up if she wanted to. But then Gwen burst into tears and Iris grew flustered, not sure about what to do in this scenario. Without much idea, she just hugged the crying woman. Then both women heard a phone go off. Iris looked at Gwen to see if it was hers, since Iris always put her phone on vibrate mode. But the woman shook her head and Iris got up to see that it was the murder victim's phone and immediately read the message. Gwen looked at it and then nodded to Iris, who contacted Jack via her own earpiece.
"Jack, can you hear me? I'm here at the Hub with Gwen-"
"What the hell is she doing there? I thought I told her to go home and spend time with her boyfriend."
Jack responded, sounding pissed off.
Iris rolled her eyes and continued speaking,
"There was a text message sent to Dan's phone. Charlie Foxtrot One Zero Six Bravo Yankee. It's a postcode for a building. It will definitely have a Lynch Frost sign outside."
Tosh then spoke up, saying that she got the location. Jack then told that they were on their way and will pick up Gwen. Iris said that she will go with them, saying that they would need all hands on deck on this one. Jack relented and then they all arrived at the property. When they arrived, Iris immediately grabbed a gun and ran forwards to the arena where Owen was. She saw Owen about to go in and she yelled,
"OWEN!"
The Torchwood medic turned around in shock before Mark pushed him in and locked the door. Owen shouted to Mark to open the door and Iris immediately shot Mark in the leg without a thought and then shot the lock and opened the door only to have both of them in the way of an aggravated Weevil.
Owen cursed and then shoved Iris back so that the Weevil got to him first.
"Owen!" Iris yelled in shock and then heard a shot and saw the Weevil fall down.
She looked up to see that Jack had shot the Weevil. Iris was frozen as she saw Tosh and Gwen rush over to Owen and helped him out. Iris then looked over to Mark and then saw him looking at her with fear. She then saw the blood seep out of Mark's leg then back to the man's eyes that reflected just how scared he was. Iris flinched internally as she tried to think back on when she shot him.
Then she felt a pair of arms help her up, noticing that it was Ianto, she accepted his help and left the building, not wanting to see anybody else.
The night passed and Iris was in the hospital with Jack. Iris sat down by the bed while Jack smirked and tossed a bag of grapes down onto Owen's table.
Owen grimaced and said,
"You guys shouldn't have. No, really you shouldn't. I hate grapes."
Iris cut in and said,
"Doctors think you can go home now."
Owen then looked at her and smiled and said,
"Yeah? But I still feel horrible. I think I'll stay a bit more until I can move without feeling like my limbs will fall off."
Iris looked down and said,
"I'm sorry Owen."
Jack and Owen looked at Iris and Owen immediately asked,
"Why are you apologizing?"
Iris looked at the medic said,
"This might not have happened if I just told you guys where you can catch them in the first place."
Owen shook his head and said,
"No. This case, it wasn't that bad I guess. But there's also to factor in that it's my fault that I was led there."
Iris looked up with tears in her eyes as she asked, "Why?"
Jack looked at the medic and saw the underlying guilt.
"I felt useless because I couldn't help you out. You're like my sister Iris. Seeing you deteriorate in health is not what I want to see ever. Promise me that you won't go rushing to your death? At least do that for me and the team?"
Owen responded.
Iris looked at him, and she said,
"I promise."
When they left the hospital, Jack dropped Iris off at her new home. It was finally ready, and she said she wanted some time alone.
It was because she lied.
She lied to Owen because she knew what she was going to do. What she had planned for the upcoming event of the rise of Abaddon.