Everything changes
by Soledad
Author's note: For disclaimer, rating, etc. see the Introduction
After an idea of lj user=aeshna_cyanea.
Chapter 10 – Dead Woman's Wish
Ianto kept his word, as Ianto always did towards those he considered his, and thus Jack spent the rest of the night in relative peace. He even managed to sleep a little, as long as Ianto held him in his arms, and even though the nightmares didn't fail to come – this time about certain adventures as a Time Agent, unsurprisingly, that had gone terribly wrong – he got up somewhat refreshed in the next morning.
The same couldn't be said about Ianto, but when Jack tried to apologize, he simply waved the apologies off.
"I'd have done the same for anyone of the team," he said, and Jack knew that was true. It was in Ianto's nature to take care of others.
Unfortunately, it was also in his nature not to take proper care of himself.
"You should have stayed home and slept," Jack murmured. "You're dead on your feet." Ianto shrugged and suppressed a yawn.
"You're not the only one with nightmares," he replied. "I'll make coffee now. The others are about to come in any minute. Staff breakfast and debriefing in the boardroom, in thirty minutes. Go and charm them out of their knickers."
"They do show unfortunate resilience against the Harkness charm," Jack complained, but he went nonetheless.
Ianto looked after him in fond exasperation before turning to the coffee machine.
Staff breakfast was an affair surprisingly similar to what it had used to be in his time. Ianto served coffee, Rhys distributed sandwiches and scones – apparently, donuts no longer counted as civilized food – and Tosh had half an eye on some scientific project displayed on her PDA while pretending to eat. This time it looked like an analysis on John Hart's wrist strap that a moderately paranoid Mickey had taken from the Time Agent before putting him into that high security cell.
The others chatted away, including Sally and Trevor, who both adamantly refused to go home before the containers would be opened. Not that anyone would blame them; they were all eager to learn what the things were really hiding. The only one leaving was Rhys, who had to fetch Owen from Providence Park and keep him around for his leave,
"I've already fed the prisoners," Mickey told them in general, after Rhys had left. "We can start as soon as we've eaten."
"I've given this thing a closer look," Tosh turned her viewscreen with the display so that all could see it, "and compared the data with those we have from Jack's wrist strap. I think I might be able to repair at least the scanning and tracking function. The teleport… well, that's an entirely different cup of tea."
"It doesn't matter," Jack said. "I'm not planning to go anywhere any time soon. Scan and tracking would be nice, though."
"I'll see what I can do," Tosh promised. "As soon as we've dealt with these canisters… whatever they are."
"Speaking of which," Ianto drained his mug and looked at Andy, "would you be so kind and bring up Captain Hart?"
"Ain't we waiting for Kathy?" Jack asked, while Andy left with Mickey in tow.
"Detective Swanson called in in the morning and asked to be excused," Emma told him. "She's got a new case; it seems urgent. She said she'll contact Director Jones about the outcome."
"Emma, I've asked you repeatedly not to call me that," Ianto said in mild exasperation. "I've got a name, you know."
"Quite right, sir," Emma replied. "However, this is an official debriefing, and it would be improper to use your given name when addressing you in your capacity as the leader of Torchwood Three."
"Everyone else does," Ianto pointed out for what was likely the hundredth time. "Save from Lloyd, that is."
"SOCO routine," Lloyd commented with a shrug. "We always addressed each other by our surnames. What's your excuse?" she looked at Emma with a grin.
"Breeding and education," Emma countered primly.
Trevor laughed. "Give up, Jonesy. Not even you can out-stubborn a proper little lady from the 1950s."
"Apparently not," Ianto agreed sourly.
He hated being called Director Jones. He accepted the job out of necessity, not because he'd have been interested in titles and positions. But he also realized that he'd never be able to make Emma understand that.
He sighed and asked Tosh and Lloyd to bring the containment boxes with the canisters and the pyramid, respectively, before Mickey and Andy would return with the prisoner. The last thing he wanted was John Hart to learn where they kept the dangerous artefacts. Based on the skills Jack had displayed on occasion, there was no easy way to keep a Time Agent out of restricted areas once he or she had learned about their existence.
Sally and Lloyd sat all three canisters on the table, in front of Ianto, while Tosh took the containment box with the pyramid. They didn't dare to take it out, not as long as they couldn't be sure that it would not detonate the canisters in some weird, futuristic way, blowing them all up in the process.
"I've got a really bad feeling about this," Lloyd muttered, eyeing the mysterious items warily. She was a scientist at heart, even if not one of Tosh's format, and she saw it as a personal affront that they needed to rely on someone like Hart to solve a scientific problem.
"You and me, too," Ianto agreed; then, seeing John Hart swagger in, flanked by his two guards, he added dryly. "Perhaps the good captain had cooled his heels long enough in our… erm… guest room and will kindly tell us what's in the containers."
"Yeah, man, it's come-clean time," Mickey said with considerably less style.
The ex-Time Agent gave him an arched eyebrow. "Shut up, kid, when the grown-ups are negotiating," he looked at Jack. "So, assuming I do help you, what's in for me?"
Jack shrugged and gestured towards Ianto. "He's the boss. Ask him."
"What?" Hart laughed incredulously. "You're taking orders from Eye Candy here?"
"I'm taking whatever he's willing to give me," Jack replied with a suggestive leer.
Mickey rolled his eyes. "Oh, great, Captain Innuendo is back in town! You know, Jack, you were a lot less annoying back when you could still die."
Jack glared daggers at him. He had never exactly broadcast the fact of his immortality, and he'd have preferred if Varyan hadn't learned about it, since it was as much a weakness as it could be an advantage. Bit it was already too late for that, thanks to Mickey and his blabbermouth. Sometimes he wondered if the Doctor hadn't been right, after all, to call him an idiot.
"I've already explained you, oh, about a dozen times, Mickey Mouse, that I can very well die, and it hurts like a bitch every single time I do," he replied through gritted teeth. "It just never lasts. And coming back's almost as bad as dying itself, so don't you think it's something I'd actually enjoy."
"Whoa, whoa, don't bite my head off, man!" Mickey protested. "All I was saying…"
"Wasn't relevant for the case at hand," Ianto intervened calmly. "We're here to deal with whatever might be in these canisters, and I want them to be dealt with now."
Jack shot him a quick, grateful glance, and Ianto smiled slightly, without actually smiling. It was all in those stormy blue eyes of his; Jack was wondering how he did it. Unfortunately, Varyan wasn't quite willing to drop the topic just yet.
"You can't die?" he repeated, after he'd managed to close his mouth again. "Never, ever?"
Jack refrained from correcting him. It had never worked in the past, so why waste time with such doomed efforts now?
"Never," he replied simply.
"Now that's impressive," Varyan commented slowly. "Seriously, you can earn a fortune in the Vegas galaxies with an act like that."
"Thanks, but I think I'd rather not," Jack replied dryly. "Been there, done that, hurt like a dog every time."
"No but, really..." Varyan began, but Jack interrupted him.
"No, but really, you can't kill me. No matter how many times you try. I can't die. Ever"
There was a long, stunned silence while Varyan's over-active mind worked out the ramifications. He wasn't an idiot, after all. After a while, he shook his head.
"But what does it cost you?" he asked. "Every time you have to drag yourself back here, how does it feel? All that pain and trauma. Plus, you're reborn into this godforsaken mess. I pity you."
Jack didn't doubt that he actually meant it. For him, Earth was just one of those backwater planets Varyan would never set foot on, unless it was inevitable. But he had learned to see this place differently. He'd made himself a life here – and hoped he'd be able to do so again.
"These people, this planet, all the beauty you could never see…" he said with a shrug. "That's what I come back for."
"Well, goody on you," Varyan said sarcastically. He thought some more about the whole thing, still clearly not understanding. "So, tell me," he then said. "How does it work?"
"I haven't got a clue," Jack admitted. "No-one does, apparently. I've hunted down the last of the Time Lords to get some answers, but not even he could tell me how it works. By all means and purposes, it shouldn't. I'm an impossible thing."
"Yeah, well, I've already realized that part," Varyan returned.
"And you are a prick," Lloyd countered. "So, if the two of you would kindly stop your manly re-bonding ritual long enough to deal with the problem at hand, we could all return to our actual work a lot earlier."
Jack grinned. He found he liked Lloyd and her no-nonsense attitude, even if he found it a little insulting that she'd be so immune against his charms. No-one was supposed to be immune to the Harkness charm!
Ianto, however, seemed to agree with Lloyd because he looked at Varyan – at John – unimpressed.
"I believe our forensics expert is right," he said. "I'd like you to open the canisters, Captain," he emphasized the rank, making it crystal clear that he didn't believe for a nanosecond that the other man would truly deserve it. "Mickey, keep him in your sight. If he tries anything stupid – shoot him. You know," he added conversationally, for Hart's sake, "we have very convenient ways to deal with corpses here. Incineration being only one of them."
Hart glared at him with open hostility but Ianto didn't even blink. Someone who had faced Daleks and Cybermen – and that at the same time – and hunted Weevils on a regular basis, wasn't going to get scared by a mere human. Even if said mere human was a rouge Time Agent.
Hart seemed to understand that, because he pulled a face and visibly gave in – for the moment anyway. Jack had no illusions about the effect being permanent.
"You're no fun at all, Eye Candy," he growled. Ianto raised an eyebrow.
"I believe Jack would disagree," he said with a dryness that would have put the High Gobi Desert to shame.
Several people nearly choked on their coffee, and Jack felt himself blush, which didn't happen to him frequently. But that was Ianto for you. Once he came out of his reserve, he usually took no prisoners.
He was already back to his reserved self, though, and looked at John Hart impassively.
"The canisters, Captain, if you please," he said calmly. "Open them. Now."
Hart looked as if he ware trying to stall them some more, but Mickey adjusted the aim of his weapon, leaving no doubt that he wouldn't have any claims shooting the rouge Time Agent in the head. Hart murmured something angrily, in a dialect not even Jack understood, but opened the fist canister and took out something that looked like a tile. A completely smooth, dark grey tile, without any carvings or inscriptions or any sort of circuits visible on its surface.
"That," said Lloyd, who'd had ample experience with crime scenes after bombings during her time with SOCO, "doesn't look like a bomb. Or like a part of any kind of bomb I've ever seen."
"Yeah, 'cos you've seen so many," Hart scoffed. Lloyd glared at him in unveiled disdain.
"You'd be surprised what I've seen while helping out the bomb squad," she said. "Now, open the other canisters… slowly. A single wrong move, and you're history; 'cause I somehow doubt that you'd share Captain Harkness' regenerative abilities."
Hart snorted. "You don't even have a gun!"
"No," Lloyd agreed amiably. "But I have a high-energy laser torch on me, courtesy of a time-displaced citizen from the twenty-fifth century. If I narrow the beam to a diameter of oh-point-five millimetres like this," she threw a switch, and the small, handhold tool gave a low hum, like a swarm of very angry bees, "it will burn through your skull in half a second. So, be good and do what you're told."
Hart frowned at her. Lloyd stared back at him with unsmiling amusement. Jack's opinion of her went up several notches. Bloody hell, the woman was one cold bitch; one he wanted on his side in a tense situation! Because getting on her wrong side wouldn't have been pleasant.
Apparently, Hart had come to the same conclusion, because he shut up and opened the other two canisters, removing from them two other tiles, similar to the first one. Then he arranged all three tiles in the shape of a triangle on the table, without letting them touch each other.
"Still doesn't look like a bomb to me," Lloyd commented, keeping the humming laser torch pointed at Hart's left eye. "My instincts tell me it isn't a bomb. So what is it? And no more obfuscating. Listening to lies makes my trigger finger itch uncontrollably."
Hart stole a look at her cold face, then at Jack's darkening one… and sighed.
"It's a locator device," he admitted.
"You mean a radar of some sort?" Mickey asked with a frown. Hart rolled his eyes.
"God, boy you're really daft, aren't you? Pretty and eminently shaggable, but daft beyond hope," ignoring Mickey's furious expression, he turned back to Lloyd whom he apparently considered a more worthy opponent. "All right, listen, Ice Queen. That woman I told you about, had gotten herself an Arcadian diamond, the rarest gem in the Damascene Cluster. This little gizmo serves to locate that particular diamond and nothing else."
"How did the pieces end up here?" Ianto asked.
"Well, just when I'd got my hands on her, she only generates her own personal Rift storm," Hart growled. "God, I hate technological geniuses… present company excluded," he added with a winning grin in Tosh's direction.
Which totally failed to impress Tosh, of course.
"You said this was a dying woman's request," she said accusingly. Hart shrugged.
"Yeah, she was dying," he answered with a total lack of respect for the now dead woman. "I shot her. But she'd already sent these things away via the Rift storm. When I found out it ended up here, I couldn't believe my good luck. Especially when my wrist strap reacted to the presence of yours," he added, looking at Jack meaningfully. "So, I'm thinking fifty-fifty? Even split, good deal. Or if anyone fancies an orgy?"
Everyone ignored his innuendo, including Jack. Ianto rolled his eyes but didn't react, either.
"How does the device work?" he asked instead.
"Can I demonstrate without being shot?" Hart asked back.
"That depends on the outcome," Ianto replied in all seriousness, making Jack wonder whether he truly had it in him to have John Hart shot.
Then he saw Ianto's icy blue glare fixed on Hart and knew at once that the young Welshman had not been bluffing. He would have Hart executed if the rogue Time Agent refused to co-operate. This was a new, hard and edgy and dangerous Ianto Jack had not known before, and while he found the new persona endlessly fascinating, he also mourned a little for the old Ianto; him of the bland suits, the quiet snark and the endearing habit to use his napkin as a bib. Somehow he didn't think this new Ianto would still do that.
Just like Tosh, Ianto had come into his own. It was a natural growth for him, one that suited him well; but it was also a loss for Jack… and not the only one. Life kept changing around him, while he was caught in the endless loop of his immortality, resetting after each new death.
It was a depressing realization, but not exactly a new one.
Hart, too, had understood that Ianto meant what he'd said, because he got to work without further delay. He pressed the three tiles together. There was a soft click, and then the pieces kind of… melted into a flat triangle, with a quadratic hole in the middle.
Nothing else happened.
"It ain't working!" Mickey exclaimed angrily, stating the obvious.
Tosh gave the device a closer look. "Of course not; it's incomplete. I think it lacks a power source. I wonder what kind of energy cell it would use…"
"It must be a powerful one," Trevor, too, was eyeing a triangle with that specific expression of every scientist given a new puzzle to work with. "And fairly small, as I assume it must fit into this hole here…" he trailed off, thinking frantically – then he snapped with his fingers in triumph.
"The pyramid!" he and Tosh cried out in unison.
"You mean that beeping thing we found on the Blowfish is the power source?" Lloyd asked. Tosh nodded.
"I guess so. It ought to fit in the centre of this triangle. And there has to be a reason why it emits a weak signal all the time. I think we should give it a try."
"And what if this wannabe pirate is lying and the whole thing goes boom, as soon as we put it together?" Andy asked.
"There is that risk," Tosh admitted, "but I see no other way how we could learn the truth."
"I could put the Hub under lockdown," Ianto offered. "That would not save us, of course, but it might contain the explosion."
He gave Jack a questioning look. Jack shook his head.
"If there really is a bomb, I doubt that even our defences would be strong enough to contain an explosion of such magnitude."
"So, do we put it together or not?" Tosh asked.
Ianto looked at Jack askance again, and after a moment of hesitation, Jack nodded.
"Yep. Va… John might be reckless and more than a little crazy, but he isn't suicidal. He'd not risk blowing up himself with the rest of us."
Ianto thought about the whole thing fore a moment… and then he gave in.
"Very well. Tosh, take out the pyramid."
Tosh opened the containment box and took out the beeping, blinking little thing. John Hart reached for it, but Jack batted his hand away – and not too gently.
"Ah-ah-ah… keep your hand to yourself. You didn't really think I'd give you the chance to run of with this… thing, whatever it really is."
Hart gave him a jaundiced look. "You can't blame a guy for trying."
"I don't," Jack replied, and really, he didn't. He'd have done the same thing, back when he'd still been a Time Agent. "Try again, and I'll break your arm, though. Just a friendly warning. Now, Tosh, are you ready to put our little puzzle together, or want me to do it, just in case it blows up into our face."
"I'll do it," Tosh said calmly. "I think you're right; Blondie here wouldn't blow himself up. Now let's see if I'll have any luck with it."
She put the triangle pieces, now snapped together in one piece, over the pyramid. It fit perfectly. For a moment, nothing happened. Then the pyramid's blinking turned into a steady glow, and it projected a holographic image upon the desk. The image of a beautiful, dark-skinned woman in a long, shimmering gown.
"This should give us the location of the diamond," Hart said. "There she is."
"The woman you murdered," Tosh said accusingly. Hart shrugged.
"Details, irrelevant little details. We're working on the bigger picture now. Let's see what she has to say."
For a really strange moment, Jack had the feeling as if the holographic woman could actually see them. She did follow the movements in the room with her eyes – but again, several millennia in the future, holographic technology would be a great deal more sophisticated than in the current time.
"Hello Varyan," the hologram said. "You've travelled several galaxies for this, I assume. Well done."
Hart bowed to the hologram with a sweeping gesture. "Thank you, gorgeous. Now, start talking."
The hologram smiled thinly. "Except...There's no diamond."
"What?" Hart's shocked disbelief would have been comical, but Jack had the unpleasant feeling that the real bombshell was still about to drop.
"Only this," the hologram continued.
As if on clue, the metal pyramid opened to reveal a bright metal piece inside. The three-piece base spread, separated and twisted. The bright metal piece inside floated out and changed into a circular disc with clamps, several times the size of the original piece. It was an ominous sight.
"No, no, no!" Hart cried out in dismay. "No, no, no, no, no... there's got to be a diamond. It's all about the diamond!" He stared at the floating disc, eyes wide with shock. "What the hell is tha..."
Suddenly the disc zoomed on him and attached itself to his chest, the metal clamps embedding a firm hold on him. A red light appeared on the disc's surface and it started to tick. Hart cried out in pain and staggered backward. The holographic woman turned and smiled in his direction. It was creepy.
"It's an explosive device, which will latch on to the DNA of whoever killed me," she explained pleasantly. "It'll detonate in ten minutes."
There was shocked silence in the boardroom. Hart tried to tear the disc off but couldn't remove it. It was clamped securely to his chest.
"It can't be removed without exploding, so don't bother trying," the hologram continued, as if she could see them. It was definitely creepy. "Good-bye... lover."
"No wait!" Hart cried out frantically.
But the hologram was already turning away. "See you in hell!" the now-dead woman announced – and was gone. The pyramid shut down, its energy depleted. Only the explosive clamped to Hart's chest kept ticking ominously.
"She can't be serious!" Lloyd said, pale with shock. "Ten minutes! The best bomb squad in Cardiff won't be able to disarm a bomb in ten bloody minutes! Not even if they were familiar with the design."
"Actually," Ianto reached into his pocket and pulled out the stopwatch that was also ticking, "nine minutes fifty, forty-nine, forty-eight..." he held up the stopwatch and gave them a blond smile. "Always at the ready! Owen would be so proud of me."
Under other circumstances Jack would have found the scene hysterically funny. If they weren't all in deathly peril… well all the others, except him.
Lloyd turned to him. "Captain, you are the one with knowledge about future technology. In your opinion, how big is this explosion likely to be?"
Jack took a closer look at the disk… and his face darkened. "Intelligent metal, most likely thirty-sixth or thirty-seventh century tech, that size – big."
"So we should really get him out of the city," Ianto checked the remaining time. "Nine minutes thirty-eight."
"You've got to help me!" Hart shouted. "Please!"
Jack glared at him unsympathetically. "Why should we? You were the one to bring us into this mess. I reckon Rehab didn't really work, eh?"
"Well," Ianto said with eerie calm, his eyes on the stopwatch, "at least he did tell the truth, albeit involuntarily. There really was a bomb, wasn't it?"
"A bomb?" a new, extremely sarcastic voice said from the doorframe. "What the fuck are you talking about, Teaboy?"
"One from a millennium and a half in the future that will go off in nine minutes and take half Cardiff with it," Ianto replied matter-of-factly. "What are you doing here, Owen? You were supposed to spend your day off with Rhys."
"Well, yeah, old blabbermouth dropped the bit about Jack being back, and I gave him the slip to see if it's true," Owen shrugged and walked in without being invited. "He's probably still looking for me. Who's the bloke in the nancy red coat anyway?"
Before anyone could have answered, John Hart made the best of the moment when everybody's attention was turned to Owen. He punched Jack in the face, then grabbed Tosh, twisted her arms behind her back and pulled her backwards out the boardroom door. Both Andy and Mickey aimed their guns at him, but he dragged Tosh around as human shield.
"Get back!" he hissed. "Back, or I'll break her neck!"
"Let her go, you bastard!" Trevor yelled. Jack could barely hold him back from attacking Hart, despite the fact that he was unarmed.
"Get back!" Hart repeated. He reached behind him, snatching up something from one of the empty workstations used to display as-yet uncatalogued alien technology. There was a beeping noise, then he dropped Tosh. But they all could see that the two now were handcuffed together – with the very same handcuffs the team had taken off Hart the day before.
Jack took a look at the handcuffs and sighed.
"You know, people, you really shouldn't have such things lying around where every homicidal maniac can get his hands on them," he said.
"Why?" Mickey asked. "Those are just handcuffs. We can saw them off, can't we?"
"Not these, you can't," Jack replied. "They're made of hypersteel, impermeable, deadlock sealed. Standard fifty-first century Time Agent equipment. No way to undo them, unless you have the key."
"What key?" Mickey asked. Hart grinned at him like the madman he was.
"This key," he produced, then promptly swallowed it. "Now you had better find a solution pronto or she'll be blown up with me," he looked at Tosh almost apologetically. "Nothing personal, sweetheart."
"I'm sure there isn't," Tosh replied dryly. "How much longer, Ianto?"
"Eight minutes fifty-three seconds," Ianto was unshakable like the rocks of Gibraltar. "I'm waiting for suggestions, people."
~TBC~