26

Ianto moved through the tunnels with Frank holding his hand, excited to be doing some security work.

The fact that Mama had dressed him in his black clothes and the stun gun she had attached to his harness had been spray painted black was so cool that he kept tapping it with a claw to make sure it was still secure.

Something people hadn't realised but Ianto had, was the fact that weevils progress at a different rate to humans. Even though he was the size of the two and a half to three year olds, his mind was more developed. Their quiet times together had let Ianto know that this little guy was roughly ten or eleven years old in his head and far more capable of understanding thing.

"Come on darling, much further?" Ianto asked softly and Frank raised his hand, then waved it down to show they were close then he stopped and pointed.

Ianto moved forward, Mickey flanking him as Boomer pulled the little Weevil back by him with a protective arm, "good boy."

Ianto crouched at the rockslide and poked at the socked foot with distain, the scent of death in the air making his hair stand on edge and his eyes flashed with an animalistic rage as he saw how close this second team had come.

"How did they get this far" Ianto sighed, "Shit. We need every tunnel entrance covered with motion detectors, heat sensors, cameras. Fucking landmines!"

"We don't have them" Mickey snorted, "Fuck we haven't much of anything since the water wiped out the bloody underground resources."

"Yeah" Ianto sighed as he reached for the little weevil and kissed his face, "What we need is a bloody recon to end all recons."

"Jack's gonna have a cow" Mickey replied and the coms crackled.

"Cariad, this is supposed to be localised only!" Ianto scolded, "Are you tapping in?"

"I wanted to make sure you are OK" came back a sulky reply.

"Well, I am. I am cold, wet and muddy though. Might need a good soak in the bath. The bloody hot pools will take a few more weeks to recover from the muck we have to bucket out."

"The big bath?" the whine was so pathetic Mickey had to slap his hand over his mouth to hold back a giggle.

"What was that!" Jack asked with sudden fear.

"Just a rock from the pile Cariad" Ianto soothed as he glared at the black man.

"The real problem isn't that anyway" Ianto said as he turned to look at Boomer who blinked and then slumped.

"Ebony!"

"I did promise her" Ianto shrugged, "I know the baby is still so new but do you think we can stop her once word gets out?"

"So, is there a rule about both going from a family?"Boomer asked and Mickey laughed.

"Mate, have you met my wife?" Mickey spluttered with glee, "We both go because we don't trust to other to keep their head down."

"Right" Boomer said happily, turning back to their leader, "What next then."

"We search for tech… clothing…anything on our Go List" Ianto said as they started to walk back up the tunnels, "I was thinking we head for the Shopping Centre. It will take us about four hours to get there…we spend the night, the next day gathering vehicles to fill, sort what we need. Head home."

"I was thinking we spend two nights" Mickey said softly, "Spend the entire day scavenging. The next morning too if need be. The way I see it, the more we do now, the less we have to do again. One big push, one mad hunt and then we have months before another."

"Yeah, but two nights away" Ianto said softly, "I hate so long away from him."

"Aw, ya soppy git" Boomer snorted, "Of course you will miss him. Two nights away from the baby will half kill that woman of mine but I agree with the mouse. If we can fill a couple of trucks, it will ease the pain for quite some time. Shit, I wouldn't mind three if we can."

"We would need Rhys" Ianto surmised, "You three on driving duty, me back with Art in Rolling Thunder."

"Sounds good, but it means we would be tightly packed to go, how many can we fit in the Thunder?" Mickey asked.

"Eight to ten" Ianto replied, "A small group."

"Agreed" Jack said through the coms and Ianto rolled his eyes at a grinning Mickey.

"Sir?"

"Let's get the meeting sorted, the list sorted and if you have to go, go now" Jack said with force, "I want you back, I want you all safe."

"Agreed"