12
Jack is hopelessly pulling on the pipe again, straining until he turns red. He collapses back on the bench. realizing he's screwed. Then he hears Ianto through the door.
"IANTO! In here!"
Ianto hears his voice behind him. he spins and runs back, locating the right door, then pushes it open, creating a small wave.
he splashes over Jack and puts his arms around him. "Jack, Jack, Jack... I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."
They are so happy to see each other it's embarrassing.
"That guy Hartman put it in my pocket."
"I know, I know."
"See if you can find a key for these. Try those drawers. It's a little brass one."
Ianto kisses his face and hugs him again, then starts to go through the desk.
"So... how did you find out I didn't do it?"
"I didn't." Ianto says as he looks at him "I just realized I already knew."
They share a look, then he goes back to ransacking the room, searching drawers and cupboards. Jack sees movement out the porthole and looks out.
A Lifeboat hits the surface of the water, seen from below.
Ianto stops trashing the room, and stands there, breathing hard. "There's no key in here."
They look around at the water, now almost two feet deep. Jack has pulled his feet up onto the bench.
"You have to go for help."
Nodding, Ianto heads for the door "I'll be right back."
"I'll wait here."
Ianto runs out, looking back at him once from the doorway, then splashes away. Jack looks down at the swirling water.
Ianto splashes down the hall to a stairwell going up to the next deck. He climbs the stairs slipping in the ridiculously slippery shoes so he toes them off and dumps his jacket that is sodden and weighing him down. He bounds up the stairs in his, to find himself in…part of the labyrinth of steerage hallways forward.
He is alone here. A long groan of stressing metal echoes along the hall as the ship continues to settle. He runs down the hall, unimpeded now.
"Hello? Somebody?!"
He turns a corner and runs along another corridor in a daze. The hall slopes down into water which, shimmers, reflecting the light. The margin of the water creeps toward him. A young man appears, running through the water, sending up geysers of spray. He pelts past Ianto without slowing, his eyes crazed...
"Help me! We need help!"
He doesn't look back. It is like a bad dream. The hull gongs with terrifying sounds.
The lights flicker and go out, leaving utter darkness. A beat. Then they come back on. Ianto finds himself hyperventilating. That one moment of blackness was the most terrifying of his life.
A steward runs around the nearest corner, his arms full of lifebelts. He is upset to see someone still in his section. He grabs him forcefully by the arm, pulling him with him like a wayward child. "Come on, then, let's get you topside, sir, that's right."
"Wait. Wait! I need your help! There's…"
"No need for panic, Sir. Come along!"
"No, let me go! You're going the wrong way!" Ianto struggles but he's not listening. And he won't let him go. Ianto shouts in his ear, and when he turns, Ianto punches him squarely in the nose. Shocked, he lets him go and staggers back.
"To Hell with you!"
"See you there, buster!"
The steward runs off, holding his bloody nose. Ianto turns around, sees a glass case with a fire-axe in it. He breaks the glass with a battered suitcase which is lying discarded nearby, and seizes the axe, running back the way he came.
The water has flooded the bottom five steps. he goes down and has to crouch to look along the corridor to the room where Jack is trapped.
Ianto plunges into the water, which is up to his waist... and powers forward, holding the axe above his head in two hands. He grimaces at the pain from the literally freezing water.
Jack has climbed up on the bench, and is hugging the water pipe. Ianto wades in, holding the axe above his head. "Will this work?"
"We'll find out."
They are both terrified, but trying to keep panic at bay. He positions the chain connecting the two cuffs, stretching it taut across the steel pipe. The chain is of course very short, and his exposed wrists are on either side of it.
"Try a couple practice swings."
Ianto hefts the axe and thunks it into a wooden cabinet.
"Now try to hit the same mark again."
Ianto swings hard and the blade thunks in four inches from the mark.
"Okay, that's enough practice." He winces, bracing himself as Ianto raises the axe. he has to hit a target about an inch wide with all the force he can muster, with his hands on either side.
Sounding calm Jack croons "You can do it, Ianto. Hit it as hard as you can, I trust you."
Jack closes his eyes. So does Ianto. The axe comes down. K-WHANG! Ianto gingerly opens his eyes looks... Jack is grinning with two separate cuffs.
Ianto drops the axe, all the strength going out of him.
"Nice work, there, Paul Bunyan." He climbs down into the water next to Ianto. He can't breathe for a second. "Shit! Excuse my French. Ow ow ow, that is cold! Come on, let's go."
They wade out into the hall. Ianto starts toward the stairs going up, but Jack stops him. There is only about a foot of the stairwell opening visible. "Too deep. We gotta find another way out."
The widest passageway in the ship, it is used by crew and steerage alike, and runs almost the length of the ship. Right now steerage passengers move along it like refugees, heading aft.
CRASH! A wooden doorframe splinters and the door bursts open under the force of Jack's shoulder. Jack and Ianto stumble through, into the corridor.
A steward, who was nearby herding people along, marches over. "Here you! You'll have to pay for that, you know. That's White Star Line Property"
Turning together Jack and Ianto yell in unison "Shutup!"
Jack leads Ianto past the dumbfounded steward. They join the steerage stragglers going aft. In places the corridor is almost completely blocked by large families carrying all their luggage.
Jack rubs Ianto's arms and tries to warm him up as they walk along.
.
.
..
Lee stands waiting, sees Hartman hurrying toward him through the aisle connecting the port and starboard sides of the boat deck.
"He's not on the starboard side either."
"We're running out of time. And this strutting martinet..." Lee snarls indicating Lightoller "...isn't letting any men in at all."
"The one on the other side is letting men in."
"Then that's our play. But we're still going to need some insurance." Lee nods, he starts off forward "Come on."
Lee charges off, heading forward, followed by Hartman.
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.
At the bow... the place where Jack and Ianto first kissed... the bow railing goes under water.
Smith strides to the bridge rail and looks down at the well deck. Water is shipped over the sides and the well deck is awash. Two men run across the deck, their feet sending up spray. Behind Smith, Boxhall fires another rocket. WHOOSH!
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.
Owen, standing with Helga Dahl and her family, hears Jack's voice.
"Owen! Owen!"
Owen turns and sees Jack and Ianto pushing through the crowd. He and
Jack hug like brothers.
"The boats are all going." Owen says nervously.
"We gotta get up there or we're gonna be gargling saltwater. Where's Tommy?" Jack pants as Owen points over the heads of the solidly packed crowd to the stairwell.
Tommy has his hands on the bars of the steel gate which blocks the head of the stairwell. The crew open the gate a foot or so and a few women are squeezing through.
"Women only. No men or Gentry. No men!"
But some terrified men, not understanding English, try to push Gentry through the gap, forcing the gate open. The crewmen and stewards push them back, shoving and punching them.
"Get back! Get back you lot!"
"Lock it!"
They struggle to get the gate closed again, while Steward #2 brandishes a small revolver. Another holds a fire axe. They lock the gate, and a cry goes up among the crowd, who surge forward, pounding against the steel and shouting in several languages.
"For the love of God, man, there are children down here! Let us up, so we can have a chance!" Tommy cries but the crewmen are scared now. They have let the situation get out of hand, and now they have a mob. Tommy gives up and pushes his way back through the crowd, going down the stairs. He rejoins Jack, Ianto and Owen. "It's hopeless that way."
"Well, whatever we're goin' to do, we better do it fast." Jack agrees.
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CLUNK!
Lee opens his safe and reaches inside. As Hartman watches, he pulls out two stacks of bills, still banded by bank wrappers. Then he takes out the pocket watch, putting it in the pocket of his overcoat, and locks the safe.
Holding up stacks of bills Lee snorts "I make my own luck."
putting the .45 in his waistband Hartman agrees "So do I.'
Lee grins, putting the money in his pocket as they go out.
