54
Ianto saw the blinking light that showed Mainframe was aware of her uninvited guests as well, her silence as she assessed comforting Ianto who waited as she detected his presence and then a lamp in the hall turned on, a low glow to show the way and he stepped over to the stairs and headed up towards voices.
Two.
Ianto listened to a conversation as the men hunted though Jack's office space and he felt alarm as one of them asked what the coral was for, throwing it across the room and Ianto watched it sail past the hatch with his heart in his mouth.
If they dropped it he would kill them.
Maybe he would anyway.
He considered and then moved back down to slide under the stairs and he whispered under his breath to mainframe to turn on the stereo in the lounge.
Music boomed out and one of the men pelted down the stairs followed closely by his companion who Ianto calmly grabbed the ankles sending him against the front one and both men tumbled to the floor then looked back with shock as the music cut off with the same suddenness.
Ianto stalked out from behind the stairs with his eyes glowing with rage then one of the men said the dumbest thing he could think of, "You're not even armed dipstick!"
"No but I am" Kara said from the doorway with her pulse rifle on her hip and Jack swaggered around her with the fake bravado he usually wore after a resurrection.
"Well now, what has my Tiger caught?" Jack asked as Ianto rose to his full height, his growl low in his throat as he looked down at the two men.
"Stray dogs"
"Well now, they might have fleas, frisk them carefully love" Jack warned as Kara crouched to pat them down and she rose with her hands full of wallets.
"Come here baby, come to Taddy" Ianto demanded and he checked the wallets, his eyes flicking from pictures to faces then handed them to Jack as he reached out to seize the nearest man's foot.
"Right, you are not Lycans so I assume you are handlers. I also assume you have some way of contacting them since there are no phones so I will just start searching under the skin for trackers" Ianto said conversationally as he flicked his wrist to reveal the ever present blade and he cut the cuff of the pant leg and pulled down the sock to examine the ankle, "Hmmm, I might be able to cut right…."
As the blade tickled the skin the man yelped and looked at the other one with pleading eyes, "George! For fucksake, he's gonna skin me alive!"
"Well, only for the beginning, you will die from exsanguination … sorry…blood loss for the less informed before I finish around your fucking ears." Ianto muttered, then paused to look up at his daughter, "Sorry Sweet Pea. Potty Mouth Taddy."
She smiled and shrugged, "That's OK Taddy, maybe I can stat on the other one? Please? I need the practice."
"Now, now love. You are still new at this and need to learn from the master. Your Tad can make them scream until their vocal cords fray." Jack said happily, winking at the one watching his brother squirm.
Ianto shrugged and slid the blade under the first of layers of skin as the man screamed with horror.
"Stop, stop please! We are only doing what we were told!" the other one pleaded, "Please he's my little brother."
"And this is my family, nice to meet you" Ianto said without looking up, the blade sliding higher as the man now screamed in a high pitched wail.
"I will tell you, please. Please. Stop please!" the man was sobbing now as Ianto released the smaller one and he was dragged back to be held possessively by the unmarked brother.
"Jack, I have no need to converse with these….these…tics" Ianto rose and walked out to the patio as he looked out over the water with obvious anger. The Sherriff had come straight here, had set a trail these ones had followed and the entire meeting at the office had been a fucking rouse to empty the house. Jack had been a surprise, more than they had expected for sure as he now screamed with anger into the face of one of his killers.
"Taddy?" Kara came out with Sydney in a blanket, sliding in beside him to watch the rain starting to fall, dappling the water of the bay.
"We can't ignore this, it was an act of domination. We were supposed to return to a dishevelled house, probably dead dog and a warning to leave sleeping dogs" Ianto said sadly, "Only they didn't know that a Tiger beats a dog every time."
"So what now?"
"They just issued a challenge, what do you think we should be love?"
"Send it back in pieces" she replied as she raised her face to cleanse with the rain now falling steadily on them.
Ianto did like the rain.
