Chapter 11! Sorry to repost 10, but it was just...no. Crappy ending that I stuck there because I wanted to post. I also realized the last three chapter titles all start with "d" oO

Reviews make me happy, and they make me all the more willing to post faster. I think Aqua Mage, Batman'sBeauty18 and DeMarcos are the main reasons I try to update frequently. I know they read it because they tell me! So please review with anything about the story, the writing itself, ideas, what you'd like to see, questions.

Chapter helped in part by DeMarcos

Let the game begin.

It was Jack who had spoken, and that had been an exclamation of...frustration? Pain? From the sound of it, an even mixture of the two. Why did he need a torch?

"Jack, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I just need some light."

"I've got one in my pocket. The left one, Gwen." Owen did a little hip waggle to show her; Gwen stifled a giggle.

She came forward, ready to get the torch, when a rattling came from in front of them.

"Jack?"

"Just—"

The fluorescent lights resident of every hall flickered on; Gwen gaped at Jack and the entangled mess that he was. He smiled sheepishly, almost. Laugher hid under that grin, danced around his eyes. Gwen wondered what he could have to laugh at when he was completely trapped in barbed wire. She didn't wonder about it long, however, because she spotted the tape player dangling, taunting, from a strand of the serrated metal, not far from Jack.

"Ha! Barbed wire!" Jack shook his head, grinning. He sounded incredulous. "And I loved this coat so much."

Gwen gave a short snort of laughter before turning serious.

"This isn't funny, Jack. You're caught up in barbed wire."

"As if I didn't notice. Gwen, there's a tape...in the front...of my coat," Jack said as he twisted in the wire snare, grimacing as the razor-sharp barbs ripped at his coat and skin. As he moved, the wires —which extended as far as Gwen could see in the shoddy lighting— clanged together and made hollow, grating noises.

With a yowl, Jack managed to free one of his arms; his coat sleeve ripped clear from shoulder to elbow, leaving a dark red line to show beneath. He dug around in the left pocket, wincing occasionally as he shifted a little too much and the points pricked him. Once he found the tape, he tossed it to Gwen; she slipped it in the player, hoping it was on the right side.

"You have undoubtedly stumbled upon your next test. Mr. Harkness, I am sure, has sacrificed himself once more and is tangled in this intricate web before you."

Owen was scowling at the cassette player; Gwen kept looking from it to Jack. Jack kept wincing.

"Pain is an illusion. It is something the body fabricates in order to avoid destruction. The path before you is dangerous but navigable. Simply find the right way through and you will be all that much closer to the end. But beware, mistakes are costly in this game. Make one wrong move and it could end your life. You have twenty minutes until the lights switch off. If by that point you are not all the way through..."

The smile behind the words made Gwen hate this man even more.

"...then game over."

Gwen clicked the player off.

"There could be more on there!" Owen protested.

"There's not," Jack seethed. Owen glared, curling his lip at the captain. Jack glared back and Owen scoffed, folding his arms across his chest.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Owen piped up, sarcastically chipper.

Gwen sent him an "oh stop" look. "We need to get Jack out first. And what do we do with Ianto?"

"Wake him up," Jack put in, using his free hand to pull away the wire clinging to his other shoulder. Once his second arm was free, he shook his leg loose, stepping carefully over a lower wire. When he put his foot down, however, he swore and immediately brought it back up.

"Jack?"

"Razors," he supplied through gritted teeth, holding the bleeding foot.

Gwen walked to the left, seeing Jack from a different perspective.

The razors were set in such a way that someone walking straight forward would not notice them until stepping on the blades; they were also placed randomly. It gave the chance of being sliced, or continuing forward for a bit longer until you reached the wire. Jack had, evidently, missed the razors the first time, but was not so fortunate on his return step.

"God, this stings." He hissed through clenched teeth. Blood dripped lazily between his fingers, coloring the drab floor in tiny splashes. Jack thought back to a mediocre piece of abstract art he had seen once. Turned out the artist had been using real blood...

Gwen came forward at an angle so that the light continued to reflect off the razors. She extended her hand to Jack and helped him to hobble over to Ianto. Owen seemed to be contemplating the most...advantageous...way to awake the tea boy. But with Jack behind him, he settled on a gentle shaking of the shoulders. When that failed to work, he patted Ianto's cheeks. It garnered a small groan from him, and not much else.

"We're going to have to help in through it anyways." Owen said it in a way that suggested he wanted to add "might as well carry the lucky bastard."

"Yeah, but it'll be a lot easier if he's conscious," Jack said dryly.

"Then you bring 'im round," Owen snapped.

Jack sighed tiredly, pinched the bridge of his nose. He crouched in front of Ianto, putting a hand on the tea boy's shoulder.

"Ianto." Jack lightly squeezed Ianto's shoulder.

Ianto groaned once more, and his eyes slowly opened.

"How long was I out?"

"Not long." Jack smiled kindly, stood, and offered a hand to Ianto.

"Jack, what happened?" Ianto was frowning at the blood on Jack's hand. Jack grinned and offered the other one. Ianto took it and closed his eyes as the blood rushed to his head upon standing.

Jack nodded in the direction of the hazardous pathway. Ianto looked around Jack's shoulder, a hand pressed to the side of his head. The tea boy blinked a few times before stepping forward.

"Careful, there're razors on the floor," Gwen cautioned.

Ianto stood before the metal intricacy presented to them with his arms crossed; a pensive look furrowed his features slightly. He was studying the trap, scrutinizing every thread of wire and each gleaming blade. He tried to ignore his aching skull and concentrate, because he knew to miscalculate would cost life or limb, the two things he was rather quite attached to. And aside from the headache, there was Toshiko. Her presence behind him was like a grain of sand at the peripheral of his awareness, niggling at the little thoughts that dashed, rampant, through his pounding brain. Ianto couldn't exactly place what made him particularly uneasy, but he knew he'd rather risk the razor maze than stand with his back exposed to her.

He didn't even glance back as he stepped forward. He had to stoop to avoid the wires above his head, carefully lift and place his feet, and keep his sleeves from snagging on the sharp points. It was difficult, however, to look everywhere at once and still keep his balance. At one point, he stepped on a patch of something wet and had to hurriedly put his other foot down. It narrowly missed a razor; he felt the side of the blade against his foot, the sharp edge pressing coyly against his bare toe. Vaguely, Ianto wondered if anyone else had started in behind him. When he came to a place where he could stoop less awkwardly with both feet on the ground, he looked behind him.

Gwen was a little ways back, trying unsuccessfully to disentangle a bit of her hair from a barb. Jack had evidently found an alternate path: he was to Gwen's right and closer to Ianto. When Jack saw Ianto looking at him, he smiled.

"Sir, was there a tape?"

"Uh-huh," Jack cringed as he swung under a wire. It raked along his jaw, leaving a thin finger of red reaching all the way to his ear.

"What did it say?"

"That the lights shut off in twenty minutes, so we'd better be through by then."

"And that was it?"

"Yeah. Why?" Jack looked up, meeting Ianto's eyes. The captain's expression slowly fell; he rammed his hand into his pocket and withdrew the tape player, thumbed down the "play" button.

There were a few taught seconds of silence, and then the voice came back.

"Pain is not the only illusion here, Torchwood."

Jack frowned at the player; Gwen gave a small, nervous giggle of triumph at having freed her hair.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!" Owen shouted from somewhere past Gwen.

"Exactly what it sounds like." Ianto sounded almost cryptic.

Gwen looked at Ianto, a perplexed look on her face.

"The wires and blades aren't the only things here."

Jack nodded thoughtfully and then took another ginger step forward. Ianto watched him intently, an uncomfortable foreboding nestling in the small of his back. Something was off...The coat. That long, heavy coat: Jack wasn't holding it up like he should have been, there was a wire he didn't notice...

Ianto started to say something to stop his boss from taking another step, but it happened before he was able to.

Jack' coat caught on one of the wires. Jack frowned back at it, tugging. The wire only came closer, and the coat stayed stuck. He shifted so he was now facing the way he had come, and pulled the wire closer to him. When he did so, there was a faint click. Clicks where never good.

Jack's heart plummeted.

Everyone froze. Ianto, wide-eyed and very much regretting everything that had happened in his life in the last however many hours, started moving forward again.

"Ianto, don't—" Jack grunted and jerked as something slammed into his side. He managed —amazingly— to keep his balance.

"God damn it!" he swore, looking at the piece of metal sticking out of his side. He grasped it between both hands and yanked, grimacing. For a moment it seemed stuck before Jack finally ripped it loose, crying out. He held it in up to the light, examining the bloody tip.

"Barbed."

He tossed it away and put a hand to his side, breathing shallowly. Jack knew that wouldn't be the last. He chose not to voice it and hope the rest of them would be lucky enough to avoid being hit. If one of them were hit in the chest, or the side...they might not survive.

Jack didn't really need anymore corpses in the Hub.

Ianto had started forward again, ducking more quickly now. The dread had slunk up his back, resting around his shoulders like some dead animal on the collar of an expensive coat. He needed to get out of here, now. He chanced another glance over his shoulder: Jack had managed to gain another few yards, Gwen was making healthy progress, and Owen still grumbled close behind her. Toshiko seemed unfazed by it all and continued on with her laptop tight to her chest. Sighing, Ianto rubbed the bridge of his nose, attempting to ignore the pain in his head and the cold fear synched around his neck.

He heard another click.

Somewhere, in the back of his skull, something screamed at him to move. Ianto didn't question it. He took a quick step forward, narrowly missing another razor patch. This, unfortunately, only spared him to a certain degree.

Ianto felt something pierce his thigh, clear through. He cried out, startled for an instant longer before feeling pain, and fell. Oh, he was well aware of what would happen when he fell, but he knew there was no way to prevent it. Something had just gone straight through his femur. There was nothing he could do to stay upright. He only wished he could have avoided more of the wires, because he knew what would happen once they were pulled taught. Ianto regretted he would cause the others pain.

"Ianto!" Jack and Gwen chorused.

Ianto at least had the sense to pull his arms in, sparing his hands any major lacerations. It still hurt immensely when he landed: razors cut through his suit coat, slit into his back; the barbed wire snared his arms, and the metal shaft protruding from his thigh caught on another wire, jarring his leg. Ianto gasped at the stinging fire that was his back, the excruciating throb from his thigh. All of it dwarfed the beatings in his head. He almost snorted at that. How trivial a concussion seemed in comparison to these newest hurts.

"Ianto?" Jack was kneeling besides him, working an arm under his back.

Ianto smiled feebly and allowed Jack to lift him from the ground.

"Owen, get your skinny ass over here."

"Oh fuck you! This isn't easy!"

"You think I don't know that?!" Jack bellowed, glowering crossly at the medic.

"Bloody Harkness," Owen mumbled under his breath, quietly enough that only Gwen heard him; she sighed and shook her head.

Owen reached them first, much to Gwen's dismay.

"What's so bloody— Oh god..." Owen saw the metal in Ianto's thigh and gaped. "What the hell is that?"

Jack shrugged.

"What do you want me to do about it? If I pull it out, he'll bleed to death."

"You've got to keep moving," Ianto said breathily from Jack's arms. "They'll just keep coming."

As if on cue, there came a cracking sound from behind them: Toshiko was trembling, holding her laptop at arms' length from her body. Straight through the middle was another of the long, barbed darts. Toshiko was just lucky it had missed her head. Gwen opened her mouth to speak, but thought the energy would be put to better use scrambling for the end of this deathtrap. Needing to know how much more stress she would have to endure by not only dodging stationary wires, but wicked, unpredictable projectiles, Gwen looked forward. She swore she could see and end to the wires, and it renewed her efforts.

She sidestepped the three men, dipping low, walking sideways, and looking like a general fool. But Gwen didn't care. No one cared. Getting to the end of this meant getting closer to an exit, closer to escape, closer to reality. Closer to Rhys. She was careful not to catch on any of the wires; she knew well by now what would happen if she did. As she moved forward at a steady pace, the wires began thinning. Smiling, Gwen moved with renewed vigor. Freedom. So close. Just a few more awkward movements and she would be free from all this hazardous metal.

Then came another click.

Gwen's eyes widened, her knees shook, and she began to deny death. The hell if she was going to die here, unknown and unfound for who could guess how long. Adrenaline spiked through her body, and she ducked faster, more frantically.

And then she was out. There was no more wire, no more razors on the floor.

No one was with her.

Gwen whirled around just in time to see something flash through the lights and imbed itself in the wall next to Jack and Ianto. Jack pulled back quickly: the quivering metal was bare inches from his nose. He puffed out a shaky breath and slunk under it, careful to keep Ianto's feet from snagging on nearby wires.

"C'mon, Jack, it's not much further." Gwen smiled, hoping to encourage him. Jack smiled back wearily, returning his attention to the barbs. Owen passed the two, working at a much faster pace on his own.

Jack finally made it out, panting slightly. He walked a ways from the deadly metal patch of oh-so-fond memories and set Ianto down. As soon has he did, he put a hand to his side, winced. Jack didn't entirely trust himself with standing, so he chose to sink next to Ianto; Ianto had his eyes closed and both hands on his leg, evidently trying to abate the pain by applying pressure. Gwen frowned and crouched in front of Jack.

"You alright?"

"You really should stop asking him that, he's not going to tell you the truth," Owen said as he hopped over the last wire. In keeping his balance, he threw a hand out, nicking it on the closest gleaming point. He growled and daubed it on the side of his shirt.

Jack glowered at Owen. The medic ignored it and knelt so that he could take a better look at Ianto's leg.

After a calculating moment, he declared, "Well, it's gone all the way through, and pulling it out won't do any good. Someone will have to help him walk, he shouldn't put any weight on it."

Gwen looked at Jack. He shook his head, looked to Owen.

"Oh why me?" Owen griped, standing.

"Don't argue."

Owen and Jack glared at each other until Owen relented.

"Alright, Ianto, up you go."

"Thanks for offering to help, guys." Sarcastic. Hollowly so.

They looked back at Tosh, surprised. It was the first sane thing they had heard her say. Toshiko only glared at them, taking the shaft from her laptop and holding it in one hand, down at her side. Like a weapon. She walked past them without so much as a second glance. Gwen watched her, guilt lapping at her in the wake of the adrenaline rush.

Gwen wanted to say something. She wanted them all to talk; going on like this would wind up with one of them dead. They needed a plan, they needed to figure out what they were going to do when they were out. If they got out. Gwen was having doubts about their escape. Any more incapacitations like this and they would be unable to complete whatever tasks were set upon them. Gwen sincerely hoped the end was near. She didn't know how many more times she could keep her knees from giving out, how long Jack could keep injuring himself, how long the rest of them could cheat death.

For the first time, Gwen could truly admit to herself that she was terrified.