TITLE: To Separate The Lies From Truth
PART THREE OF SERIES: The Five Elements (AU Verse)
CHAPTER SUMMARY: Suzie's showdown!
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Torchwood or Doctor Who which is unlucky because Jack and Ianto deserve so much more!
WORDS: 2700
NOTES: Next chapter is here as promised! I was bombarded with reviews last night, it was amazing! Some from people that hadn't reviewed before which was nice to see as well. Thank you so much for the support!
Chapter 6: Confrontations (2006)
24th October 2006
Jack hadn't moved from beside the centre table the whole time he'd been waiting for Ianto to wake. Owen had returned from speaking to Tosh after a few minutes, but he left Jack to it, instead choosing to get distracted by his computer, not wanting to go far in case he was needed.
Eventually, the still face Jack had been staring at for the last hour, scrunched up with pain, the only warning before Ianto surged awake, his arms flailing as he panicked. Jack jumped up from his stool, trying to catch the thrashing arms before Ianto could injure himself further or dislodge his IV. Seeing the commotion, Owen stepped into help, but rather comically his efforts earnt him only a hard smack to the jaw, sending the medic crumpling downwards.
"Ianto. It's me." Jack urged, wrapping himself around Ianto's shaking frame. "You're safe."
"Oh, come on!" Owen groaned, getting up from the ground and shaking himself off. "That's the second time!"
Jack barely registered what Owen said, he kept a hold on Ianto whispering in his ear as the latter slowly calmed, his breathing evening out apart from the slight hitch that disclosed his pain.
"…And a fat lot of good you were, Captain." Owen continued to grouch, looking increasingly narked as he massaged his jaw. "I let you stay to prevent this. Next time maybe I won't bother."
"Maybe by next time you would have learnt your lesson not to stand too close." Jack retorted, finally looking up at him. While in his heart he hoped there would never be the next time Owen was referring to, he couldn't help but let a small smirk pass his lips, despite of the situation.
"Actually – and I believe I mentioned it before – it would help me do my job if I bloody well knew why teaboy here shows all the hallmarks of PTSD." Owen snapped in comeback. "And that's not even mentioning the scars almost covering his entire body!"
Jack was surprised at the term, but while he'd never officially defined Ianto as having PTSD, it did make sense, even if the symptoms were now few and far between. He glanced at Ianto to check if he heard Owen's question, but though conscious Ianto still seemed partly out of it. Jack rubbed his hand up and down his back, giving the former something to ground himself with. When he turned back, Owen was staring expectantly, and Jack sighed.
"He was…" Jack paused, wondering how to describe Ianto's past without revealing too much. "…held for quite some time. It's how I found him, and why he joined Torchwood." Owen opened his mouth, probably to ask for more information but Jack stopped him. "If you want any more details, you ask him yourself, but bear in mind this was nearly seven years ago now, and I'd prefer if you didn't go dredging up past monsters."
Jack stared at Owen resolutely until the other exhaled and backed down. A muffled voice beside them, broke the silence.
"Jack?" Jack spun away from Owen to look back the form on the table that he was still holding firmly.
"It's me, Ianto." Jack assured, looking into Ianto's eyes that were more focused than before. "You with us now?"
"Think so. What happe-?" The question cut off halfway through and Jack didn't need to answer, as Ianto's eyes widened, clearly remembering what had happened only an hour or so before. What he didn't expect, however, was for Ianto to start to struggle out of Jack's hold, almost as if in a panic once again.
"Ianto. You have to stay still." Jack objected worriedly, trying to push back against the other to prevent him from getting up. "You're injured. You're going to make it worse."
"No! I've g-ot to…" The rest of Ianto's sentence was indecipherable, both being mumbled and muted by the oxygen mask, but Jack managed to make out the words "the archives" somewhere in the middle, as he finally managed to wrestle the younger man back into lying down. Apparently, Owen heard as well, as he spoke before Jack could himself.
"You're not going anywhere with that leg." Owen instructed, stepping forward to run the scanner over him once again, but consciously not getting too close. "And only in a wheelchair for at least a week. Your bloody archives can wait."
"Owen's right. Let us sort it out." Jack added, stroking Ianto's cheek that wasn't blocked by the mask before bending slightly to kiss his warm forehead. "We can always figure out what happened down there once you're better."
"No…" Ianto protested again, croaking through the mask. He lifted one hand to shakily remove it from his face. "Suzie…" Jack waited, confused as Ianto coughed before continuing. "The gl-ove. She to-ok it back."
Realisation that the fire may not have been as accidental as first thought, drowned Jack in anger. "Tosh!" He yelled, tearing his gaze away from Ianto to look directly at her as she appeared at the top of med bay. "Find Suzie, now!".
~ * o ~ * o ~ T ~ o * ~ o * ~
"Her phone signal's originating from Cardiff's coroner's office." Tosh informed him over the comms, as Jack sped out of the Torchwood garage. "Oh wait, hang on…. Jack, police have just been alerted to a silent alarm and possible break in at the same location."
"Tell them Torchwood's dealing with it." Jack ordered, pressing down harder on the accelerator, the SUV speeding up in return.
"Will do."
Jack reached the coroner's office in record time. He hadn't had the chance before he'd left to discuss with Ianto more of what Suzie had said or done, prior to stealing the glove, but knowing what it could do and seeing where Suzie had come, what she wanted wasn't a hard connection to make.
Jack followed the map directions through the building and down to the morgue, but just before the final turn, loud voices drew him to a halt.
"I'm arresting you for breaking and..."
The voice was eerily familiar, and peeping around the corner Jack recognised the form of PC Gwen Cooper. Clearly the retcon hadn't done enough to quell her curiosity towards the term 'Torchwood' if she'd ignored Tosh's orders for the police to stand down.
"I thought you might" Suzie interrupted. "Anyway, you can't really. But you're gonna put up a fight. So, I've got." She pulled her bag round from her shoulder and started rummaging. "Er, hold on. Sorry." Eventually, her hand pulled out her gun. "There. That's better."
Jack tensed at the weapon. Cooper was noticeably unarmed, but he forced back the urge to race in. From his current vantage point, it wouldn't be beneficial, and instead he edged closer. He wasn't approaching from an angle where they might see him, but even though, sometimes he wished more than anything for at least some form of active camouflage.
"Put it down." Gwen's hands raised in surrender, shocked.
"You had to come here. You couldn't just leave me be? Nobody ever leaves me be.".
"Please put the gun down." Gwen was beginning to plead now. Jack tightened his grip on his own gun as he continued edging nearer, though he hoped to no end he wouldn't have to use it.
"You're the only one who knows I'm here. Torchwood's going to find out it's missing by morning, but I'll be gone. Far away, where Torchwood can't find me. Where He can't find me."
Jack wondered briefly who the other 'he' was that she was referring to, but Suzie continued talking and he shoved the thought aside to ponder later. "What am I going to do? I loved this job. I really loved it. And now I've got to run. Oh, Christ. How can you do any other job after this one?"
"Please, put down the gun." Gwen repeated, but once again Suzie acted as though she hadn't heard.
"Cos it gets inside you. You do this job for long enough, and you end up thinking, how come we get all the Weevils and bollocks and shit? Is that what alien life is? Filth? But maybe there's better stuff out there, brilliant stuff, beautiful stuff. Just they don't come here and when they do, they're mostly dead. This planet's so dirty, that's all we get. The shit!"
Suzie's aim started to waver slightly during her speech and dejectedly, part of Jack recognised some of her words as truth, but he also knew there was good out there, had experienced it himself. Suzie hadn't, however. She hadn't seen the wonder and beauty he had, and maybe the bad had begun to outweigh the good for her. The detachment that had been growing for years between Suzie and the team, was finally beginning to make sense.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Gwen's voice interrupted his thoughts, drawing him back to the standoff. "Why did you break in here?"
"For the glove." Gwen started to edge forward, but was quickly stopped as the gun steadied towards her once again. "No! Just stay where you are. I need the bodies. I need to practise."
"You can't take them." Gwen exclaimed, shaking her head. "They have families, ones already mourning."
"It's the only way. The more I use the glove, the more I control it."
"I don't understand. What glove?"
"You've got to get inside this stuff. Surrender yourself to it." Suzie continued without even acknowledging Gwen's question. Jack could tell she was becoming more and more unpredictable. "I did, and that's why I can't let you go.
Suzie cocked the gun, and Jack prepared himself to move, as Gwen stepped back in fear.
"Please don't."
"I've got to." Suzie whispered, her finger tightening around the trigger. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I've got to. I've got to. I've got to."
Jack couldn't wait any longer. He sprinted from his hiding place just as Suzie fired, barrelling into Gwen and knocking them to the floor. The bullet skimmed his side as he fell, but he ignored the faint sting of the flesh wound – his coat had once again cushioned the shot, though he would hate having to ask Ianto to mend it once again, especially at the moment – rising back to his feet almost as quickly as he'd fallen.
"Suzie. It's over. Put down the gun." Jack held his hand out calmly for the weapon, while Suzie stared, still startled by Jack's sudden arrival. "Give me the gun Suzie. We'll go back to the Hub. Try and help figure this out."
"I don't need help!" Suzie screamed, her aim wavering in the air erratically. She glanced back and forth between him and Gwen and Jack recognised the look on her face the second it appeared. He'd seen it many times before, on the battlefield, on Alex's face that dreaded new year's morning, and even probably on his own face during some of his darkest days over the last century and a quarter. One thing for certain was that he never wanted to see it again.
As Suzie turned the gun to aim under her chin, Jack lunged forward, wrenching the gun away as it fired. Gwen screamed from the floor, as the bullet ricocheted off the ceiling of the morgue.
Suzie slumped to the ground, and for one moment Jack thought he hadn't been fast enough before he noticed the shallow breaths she was making, and he sighed in relief. The bullet had merely grazed her forehead, rendering her unconscious. Contented Suzie was alright for now, he turned towards Gwen. The PC was sitting staring at Suzie's form, terrified and shaking, arms wrapped around her legs.
"I remember. I remember."
~ * o ~ * o ~ T ~ o * ~ o * ~
"You shouldn't be up here."
Jack didn't turn as he spoke, his eyes still fixed on the Cardiff skyline. While anyone else would have been surprised Jack had noticed his presence, Ianto surmised that even deep in musing, the former would have sensed him approaching a while back. "Owen said no walking, and he definitely didn't mention stairs."
"Owen says a lot of things." Ianto spoke, but perched on the closest ledge – there weren't many on top of the smooth roof of the millennium centre - taking the weight off his injured leg. He slowly he leant the hockey stick he'd found buried in one of many storage cupboards, against the wall where he could reach it easily. "Plus, it's not my fault you have to choose the most inaccessible places to come and brood. The lift only goes so far."
The wind whipped his greatcoat around his legs as Jack turned slowly to face him, and once again Ianto thought that Jack looked more at home on roofs than anywhere else. "Seeing everything from up here reminds me of how big the world is and sometimes we need a reminder why we do this. You knew that glove was a bad idea. I never should have let her mess with it in the first place. Torchwood is meant to help, not make things worse."
"As soon as you realised what it did you stopped her." Ianto replied. "I've made sure to file it away in the secure archives this time though."
"Good." Jack approved. "I'm not making that mistake again."
"The glove…" Ianto started simply after a short pause. "I'd been wondering how it worked, ever since I got that feeling from it. I think it has some form of sentient energy – or close to."
Jack nodded in agreement. "It was drawing energy from Suzie each time she used it. It changed her, influenced her actions."
"What happened with Suzie?" Ianto asked nervously. "The way she spoke in the archives, she was like an entirely different person, but you have to admit, she was pulling away even before the glove was even discovered."
Jack nodded once more. "I've admitted her into Flat Holm, separate from the others residents, though as far as the rest of the team will know, she's in a normal psychiatric ward." Jack answered, momentarily looking back to stare out over Cardiff. "The only thing we can do is hope the influence will wane in time. Retcon would remove the memories but not the conditioning from the glove. Maybe the break from Torchwood will help as well."
Ianto didn't have an answer, the rooftop falling into silence. However, there had been another reason he'd struggled painfully up the stairs to track Jack down, other than checking the latter was okay. Well, as okay as anyone could be.
"So, Gwen's in then?" Ianto mentioned carefully, judging Jack's reaction.
"You heard?"
"The application form on our desks was a bit of a hint." Ianto deadpanned. "Tosh and Owen aren't exceedingly happy about it. They're wondering why you're so adamant to replace Suzie so quickly."
"I'm not replacing her! We just need the manpower…." Jack paused. "Once…if…she recovers from her injuries and the glove's control, Suzie is always welcome back."
"She might not want to, after this."
"Wouldn't blame her." Jack agreed, then backtracked suddenly. "Wait, what do you think…about Gwen I mean?"
"She's received a couple commendations during her time in force, and she broke through the retcon, so I say she's determined." Ianto replied, studiously avoiding any reference to Suzie. "I don't know her however, so I can't judge."
"Okay, let's say she's on a probation period then. Give it a few weeks and I'll ask again." Jack took one last look over Cardiff before turning and walking over to Ianto. "Besides, you need to sleep. Come on." Jack urged, bending to hook one of his arms under Ianto's knees and lifting him effortlessly. "Up."
"Jack, you don't need to…" Ianto protested.
"Nope, no excuses. Owen pulled out the wheelchair for a reason." Jack interrupted, shifting his grip on Ianto to free one of his hands so he could grab the stick as well. "And where the hell did you get a hockey stick from?"
Notes: Hope you all enjoyed this and that it lived up to expectations.
Yes Suzie survives! There have been many reviews regarding Gwen and Suzie's involvement throughout the fic, so I've tried to meet a middle ground between what I previously had planned and what everyone was asking. So, while Gwen has joined Torchwood, Suzie's in rehab – saved from suicide!
Though don't worry I do like to focus mainly on Jack and Ianto, so I'm going to keep Gwen's presence down to a minimum. She's in the next chapter and might been seen in some of my later chapter when the team is there as group but not too much. Gwen got on my nerves too in show – always demanding Jack tells her what to do.
Next up – The next few chapters or so will span some content from Day One, skips Ghost Machine, and begins the premise of my AU of Cyberwoman (No Cyberwoman though, Lisa is fully human here (spoiler)) that develops into the big finale of the first half.
See in a couple days!