1

It had been three months since the anniversary of THAT DAY and Christmas had been a great affair, New Years had been fun as well and they had settled into their routines once more without much hassle.

Ianto was currently sitting at the back of the shooting range reloading a gun as he showed Phoenix the correct way to handle the clips. Jack was a the other end with Frank and Rhys, both men eager to learn how to handle themselves and it was agreed that the outside world had to be re-entered sooner or later and it was not going to be fun.

Denny was currently asleep with the Jones women, their clucking almost impossible to hear yourself think around, Clive glad his wife could not have any more… also watching their daughters like a predator was nearby so if any of the men as much as sniffed, he would cut their fucking noses off.

Sooner or later…someone was bound to fall. Ianto hoped it might be Toshiko, Owen was going to be such a wonderful Daddy. Ianto was musing over all of this when he heard something, pulling off his earmuffs and looking up as Jack stopped firing to turn and signal the men.

Then the crackling sounded again and they all instinctively looked up as the speakers came to life, an old rock n roll song quietly playing. Jack turned to Ianto with a wide grin "she did it!"

Ianto rose as he and left with Phoenix on tow to go congratulate Toshiko on a job well done as the speakers throughout the base started to wake up and come on line, the song now like an eerie underwater siren call as he walked to the coms room where Toshio sat on the floor fiddling with the radio and all the mess of wires.

"Toshiko… you little belter!" Ianto said as he entered and Owen laughed as he told him he had said the same thing.

"Now we have to sort out the playlist and we can have some interesting music playing" Toshiko rose from the floor with glee, opening her arms for a hug. Ianto stepping in to them without a second thought, kissing her cheek.

They were laughing as they started to dance to the music, Ianto showing he had some moves as he flung her about and everyone was having a great time when Ianto suddenly stopped moving and canted his head "what was that?"

"What was what?" Toshiko asked, still laughing as she clung to him.

Ianto turned to look to the west and then they heard a faint rumbling like thunder. Owen rose from the floor where he had been with his woman and turned the same direction as Ianto "Storm?"

"We should not be able to hear it down here" Ianto said with concern crossing his face "You don't think…."

The world tilted and seemed to explode as they were tossed about like they were on a boat in a stormy sea, Ianto yelping as he seized Toshiko and yanked her towards the large desk, yelling at Owen to get under it as well, then he ran.

The kids were screaming as they lay on the floor, the adults trying to get to them but each time they got the their feet they fell. Ianto commando crawled into the room with more speed that you might think one could at that height, heading to his children as the other adults got the idea and did the same.

Soon they were all under the large dinner table, Ianto covering heads as best he could and they waited for it to lessen. Then it all seemed to stop like someone hit the off switch. Ianto then fell to hid back, panting as he rolled his hand at the wrist, that not having enjoyed the jarring as he had run and fallen. Phoenix clung to him crying softly as the other adults tried to get some order to the chaos. Then Ianto rose and took a deep breath, looking over to check the baby that Clive held possessively. "Clive, you got him?"

"I am not moving from under here until you say so" Clive assured him and Ianto headed out to see if there had been any damage.

Jack met him in the corridor "Hey."

"Yeah" Ianto replied patting Jack's chest affectionately as he moved past him to check the lights on the warning board. Jack followed and they stood staring at the huge power grid as lights flashed and settled. Then Ianto moved to the cameras and started to check each level.

"Whatcha looking for?" Jack asked.

"Water pipes might have burst with that earthquake… things might have fallen over.. escaped… I need to…." Ianto's voice petered out as his hand froze over the toggle ball.

"Ianto?"

Ianto slowly rotated the chair to stare over at Toshiko "Tosh? I need the outside cameras… you have them working on all sides right?"

Toshiko nodded as she called out the numbers to change the setting and as the screen flickered then showed the weird half light outside Ianto made a noise of alarm as one showed black clouds rolling in fast.

The weird light as the sunlight fought with the dust in the atmosphere had created a weird almost darkness, it was more like a deep dusk all the time. This black that was coming was coming fast like a huge rogue wave coming to swamp the little boat still bobbling.

"What the fuck is that!" Jack said with annoyance as he leaned over Ianto to stare at the screen.

"That Cariad… is a fucking nuclear mushroom cloud" Ianto replied "for some reason… that power plant that should have been shut down when all this happened and long since dormant has just gone up."

"But how?" Jack asked with confusion as Toshiko settled to watch as well.

"Well… clearly… someone started it again" Ianto replied sagely.

"Saxon set this up too?" Jack asked "I don't see him being this bloody clever. Why? Why start it up and blow it a year later?"

"No. For it to come back on line and start producing... someone or something started it then didn't know how to stop the meltdown…. Or was unable to as you need a human with problem solving skills to do that" Ianto sat back and rubbed his face.

"Oh my god" Toshiko got it first "The AI turned them on for its own use?"

"Yeah. And if this one went up… how many more are out there that might blow" Ianto asked, swinging in the chair to face her.

"That's not my biggest worry" Jack said as he rose from the chair "My biggest worry is what they needed that power for."

They stared at one another as they all knew that it would not bode well… whatever it was.