18
Ianto didn't' know where he was, it was all semidarkness, the smell of salt and rot, the sound of waves lapping against the hull. A boat? A boat. He was in the hull of a boat.
Someone was holding his hands, no. No. They were tied together, their hands clasped together and the rope was tight around his wrists. He was afraid, so was she.
"Do you think they know we are gone?"
"They must do, it's been bloody hours" he hissed back, their hands tightening for a moment as she shared comfort. "Don't worry Lissy. You know our tracking devices are active, they will be coming for us as we sit here."
"I'm scared" she whimpered softly "Ianto … your eyes are glowing."
.
.
.
.
Ianto woke, rolling to look at Jack as he slept beside him. It had been along time since he had thought of Lisa. His partner and part-time lover. Her death weighed heavily on him for a long time.
"What's wrong?"
Ianto smiled as Jack spoke without opening his eyes.
"Lisa. My partner at T1. She and I were involved in a case that involved the Fish. Ironically enough if was two of his sons that took us and held us in an old fishing boat. I've not thought of it in years, it was before things went bad. It was maybe our second? I think our second mission and we were supposed to just tail someone as background noise. More of an assignment like a book report on them but somehow we got made."
"And that's how you knew Fish?"
"I think … I think Yvonne set it up, the snatch and grab so he could get a look at me. Lisa was just … part of the ruse. It was all some game to see if I was hiding something from them. Test of my loyalty or something" Ianto sighed "thing was … there were children there … in the ethos. I didn't understand it then, but I do now. They were spirits so afraid, even in spirit form to show themselves."
"Children?"
"Those who failed" Ianto was upset now "Derp was not the first nor will he be the last. Not as long as they continue to create their army of misfits and vagabonds. No. We have to stop them Jack, they do not just remove those children who fail their tests … they remove them permanently from the populous. As in … a shallow grave."
"Fuck. Fuckity fuck. That's why the missing persons files are over sixty percent kids? They are snatching those gifted and … fuck." Jack was thinking of his daughter, so little and so dammed innocent. The thought of losing her, looking and seeking for her for the rest of your life, not knowing she was either an assassin or dead … it was not something you can roll over and go back to sleep after letting it into your mind.
"Cocoa?"
Jack nodded and they both got up, robes and slippers as they scuffed out to the main room to find Derp sitting at the controls of the PS4, killing zombies with his tongue between his teeth. He didn't look up or acknowledge them as he enjoyed being a kid for a while and apart from a soft pat to his head, no one interrupted him.
"Insomniac?" Jack asked Ianto as he sat at the breakfast bar.
"Sometimes our thoughts can thrum like… like standing next to a speaker at a rock concert, your bones vibrating at the force moves and flexes with incomings and outgoings. Something is happening out there tonight, I don't know what and don't much want to but I feel there is an adjustment being made. Lives are being culled and their powers are leaving the group chat as it were" Ianto shrugged.
"Shit. Alice" Jack rose and crept to her room, peeking in to find Gray in there cuddled up with her, both of them asleep as they comforted and shielded one another from whatever this was.
"We will have word tomorrow morning, maybe at first light Andy will call us with whatever this is. A Spooky-Doo as he calls it." Ianto said as he slid a mug of hot cocoa over to Jack, then took another to Derp who made noises of glee at the little marshmallows that sat on a plate next to the cup, Ianto remembering that he liked to add them himself.
"So. Someone is flexing? Cleaning house … why?"
"To make room for a new batch? Or to silence a rumour or stop information being leaked? All I know is that this is clearly a sign of panic, someone shredding stuff they don't want us to see." Ianto shrugged.
"But… you are a seer. Killing them will only make it easier for ….oh. They don't know. Right. You never showed them that, they don't know that letting the pigeons out of their cages will only let them come home to roost." Jack finally saw why Ianto was so calm.
"If they are pissed enough with the way they died, they will seek an audience with anyone who can listen. Yeah, my day will be bloody busy for certain now" Ianto sighed.
Jack nodded as he could only agree.
