Chapter 3: What now?
"She doesn't know what she's doing!" Ianto yells.
"You are fighting the wrong guy." Jack growls back at the Welsh man.
After the entire fiasco, they go to the basement. All save for Tosh, who remains in the Hub.
"Get us back to the Hub" Jack said tensely and pointed his gun at Ianto.
"Jack!" Iris yelled, and pushed the immortal man.
Iris looked at him, reminding him of the promise.
"Jack, what are you doing?" Gwen asked carefully.
"Resisting the urge to shoot." Jack muttered and put his gun back in its place, but still pushed Ianto towards the Hub.
…
The group arrived back at the Hub, and Jack yelled,
"Tosh! Get everything from the weapons room. Fast as you can!"
Tosh gave a slightly annoyed look, and replied, "It's locked down. There's no manual override."
And to that, Jack slowly began to grow impatient and said,
"Just open the store!"
He then gripped Ianto's shoulders tighter as he followed it up with,
"On your knees."
"Jack." Iris quietly said, taking hold of the man's arm. The two looked at each other, silently battling over who was going to back down, and Iris acquiesced. She saw the warning in Jack's eyes. He was really unhappy with her.
"Hands above your head." He said, as Ianto kneeled in front of him.
Jack then pointed his gun at Ianto's head. Iris grew upset at the following events. Sure, she knew what was happening, but seeing the shattered trust Jack's face reflected hurt even more.
"Jack, for God's sake, what are you doing?" Tosh said, looking at Jack with shock. She then looked to Iris, who was only able to shake her head. The Torchwood technician could tell that Iris knew about the situation and that she was unable to do anything. Not against Jack anyway.
"Tosh! I gave you an order! Gwen, help her." Jack yelled. His anger was continuing to rise at the events that were taking place. His mind was racing, trying to come up with several reasons, but all rationale was disappearing when he had seen the Cyberwoman himself. Even if Iris had warned him and made him promise, he wasn't sure if he could keep it.
The two women left the Hub and Jack began his investigation. Gwen had looked at Iris, wanting to stay, but Tosh dragged her away. But not long after, the two came back, curiosity getting the better of them.
"Did you know that thing was down there?" Jack asked.
"I put her there." Ianto said, barely keeping calm.
"You hid a Cyberman within Torchwood, and you didn't tell us?" Jack asked, almost not believing what he just had heard.
"What else are you keeping from us?" Jack asked further.
But that seemed to have nudged Ianto to become bitter again, as he replied looking right at Jack,
"Like you care. Like any of you care except for Iris. I clean up your shit. No questions asked and that's the way you like it. When did you last ask me anything about my life?"
Ianto then continued talking as Jack lowered his gun. He took a glimpse at Iris, who had fallen silent. In reality, Iris's mind was swarming with what would happen, and her heart broke at the same time as she knew what Ianto was going to say.
"Her name's Lisa. She's my girlfriend."
Gwen interrupted by saying, "Why didn't you tell us? We could have helped you."
"Torchwood exists to destroy alien threats. Why would I tell you about her?" Ianto replied calmly again.
Iris and Ianto met eyes. Ianto seemed to be asking if everything would be alright, and Iris looked away, unable to answer that question for him.
"A little loyalty, perhaps?" Owen said, finally joining in on the conversation.
"My loyalty's to her. She worked for Torchwood. She was caught up in battle. I owe it to Lisa, We owe it to her to find a cure." Ianto replied, as tears fell down his face.
Jack's anger went down upon hearing Ianto. He then replied,
"Ianto, you have to believe me. There is no cure. There never will be. Those who are converted stay that way. Your girlfriend will not be the exception."
Ianto then spoke up, almost panicking at Jack's words.
"You can't know that for sure."
With that Ianto looked at Iris again, looking for answers. All Iris could manage out of her mouth was,
"Ianto…I…. I'm sorry."
Jack then spoke again, trying to reason with Ianto's emotional state.
"Look, you need to know what's happening here because this is where these things start. Small decisions that become mass slaughter. These creatures regain a foothold by exploiting human weakness. Then they take a base, rebuild their forces, and before you know it, the cyber race is spreading out across the universe, erasing worlds, assimilating populations, all because of the tiny beginnings here."
Jack backed up, upon feeling Iris's hand on his shoulder. He looked at her, and nodded. Iris then crouched down bringing Ianto's hands down and holding them with both of hers. She looked at the man, and softly said,
"Ianto. I'm sorry, but we need to stop her. Together. Otherwise, things will escalate and innocents will be killed."
Ianto looked even more devastated as he slowly stood up, making eye contact with the team, and said,
"You're not listening to me. Everyone here except for Iris. The conversion was never completed."
Jack stepped up again, only stopping because Iris stood between them, her hands on his chest, stopping him from getting any closer.
"She already tried to kill Gwen. You think she's going to stop there? There is no turning back for her now."
Ianto spat back, "I'm not giving up on her."
The last three words that came out of Ianto shattered Iris's heart all over again.
"I love her."
Iris looked up at Ianto, still leaving one hand on Jack, just in case.
"Can you understand that, Jack? Haven't you ever loved anyone?" Ianto asked.
Iris then slowly gripped Jack's hand, telling him to stay calm. But there was another thing she wanted to say too. That she knew the answer to the question. That Jack, more than anybody else, loved and lost people. In that context anyway. As she was thinking this, she then felt Jack's hand squeeze hers back, almost painfully. She didn't complain, understanding that the question had opened something painful in Jack's memory, as his hand began shaking too. But the 51st century man remained calm, as he said,
"You need to figure out whose side you're on here, because if you don't know, you're not going to make it out of this alive."
With that, Jack turned around and let go of Iris's hand as he walked away from the Welsh man.
Iris felt the blood flow back in her hand as they all stood there while Owen said,
"There's no way this weapons store is going to open."
Tosh added, "It's going to take six hours for the power to come back on-line."
Ianto, then desperate to grab at straws, said, "Let me talk to her. I can still save her, save all of us. She's not a monster."
Iris then spoke up quietly, "I don't think Lisa is a monster Ianto."
But the entire team could see how Iris wasn't looking at Ianto. As if she was feeling guilty about everything that was going on around her.
Then they all heard the metallic sound of Lisa approach and turned around. Iris found herself right behind Ianto, a little too close to the Cyberwoman for her own comfort. Until she felt two hands slowly try to make her step away. She looked back slowly, to find that Jack was the one responsible for grabbing her. They met eye contact, and she let him bring her closer to the team.
Ianto then walked towards Lisa. Gwen tried to stop him, yelling "Ianto!" but Jack and Iris stopped her from going.
"Lisa." Ianto called to the Cyberwoman. The part-cyberman turned her head to face her former lover.
"It's me." He spoke softly, hoping that Lisa would recognize him.
"You can't just let him go…" said Gwen. But Iris grabbed onto her again.
That was when Lisa spoke up, her voice sounding like a cyberman's.
"The army will be rebuilt from here. This building is suitable."
"Who are you?" Jack asked.
She replied with, "Human .2"
"No!" Ianto said, approaching Lisa.
"Lisa!" He said, even stepping closer.
"So how come you look like Human .1?" Jack asked.
"I do not understand." Lisa replied.
"Look at yourself. Go ahead." Jack told the Cyberwoman.
Ianto then proceeded with, "Remember, Lisa. Remember who you are."
Then the Cyberwoman spoke again, "The upgrade is incomplete."
Ianto then told her, "You're still human."
The Cyberwoman seemed to be battling with Lisa's humanity, as it said,
"I am…disgusting."
Iris wasn't sure who said that first, but knew what followed after, whispering,
"Jack"
The man looked back at Iris, who signaled the man and the team to brace themselves. With that, Iris crept closer to Ianto as Jack reached for his gun.
"I have…I am…wrong." Continued the Cyberwoman.
Iris held Ianto back from approaching Lisa. He struggled as he said, "We can help you."
That was when the Cyberwoman spoke again, saying "I must start again. Upgrade properly."
"For God's sake, have you heard yourself? Lisa, please." Ianto said as Iris finally could pull him back even further when he almost lost strength in his legs upon hearing the statement.
"I brought you here to heal you so we could be together."
The Cyberwoman then looked back at Ianto, studying him for a second before replying with,
"Together. Yes. Transplant my brain into your body. The two of us together, fused. We'll be one complete person. Isn't that what love is?"
"No." Iris replied before Ianto. She let Ianto go, and stepped in front of him, hearing the rest of the team scuffle forward anxiously.
Iris then replied to the Cyberwoman further.
"That's not what love is, Lisa. Somewhere in there, inside your memories, there should be emotions to be together, but not as one, fused person, but two separate people, living their lives together. Going through pain together. Supporting each other. Laughing, crying, fighting each other. But the two people who will be together just like that as long as they can."
The Cyberwoman's eyes seemed to falter, just a little bit, before turning cold again, as she spoke, looking back at Ianto.
"Then we are not compatible."
Iris pushed Ianto back, but as she did that, she felt the Cyberwoman turn her around and grab onto her throat and toss her onto the ground.
Blackness engulfed her world as she lost consciousness. But before the world turned black, she heard gunshots, knowing that Jack shot from his gun.
Taking one last glance at Iris's limp body, Jack shouted,
"Code nine maneuvers! Go!" and the team jumped into action, including Ianto, who felt his heart break into million pieces, mourning the loss of Lisa.
"Wait! Gwen, get out of there!" Jack yelled.
But Gwen froze on spot, unable to do anything. Owen took the Cyberwoman's attention from Gwen by shouting,
"Lsia! What are you waiting for?"
With that, he ran as the Cyberwoman chased after the medic. In that moment, Jack took Gwen and they moved.
Lisa then spoke, "Run. We all ran." Referring to the battle in which she was partially converted.
Then Tosh saw Iris's body still limp at the Hub, telling Jack,
"Jack! Iris is still down there!"
Jack remained silent. He couldn't risk anybody up here. Not even for Iris. The team then planned a way to get the power back up while fighting the Cyberwoman. Ianto remained silent, but agreed to do his part. The Welsh man found himself taking quick glances towards Iris's unconscious body. She tried to help him. Take part of the blame. He knew that Jack might scold her severely later for all that happened. And he realized that if Iris hadn't pushed him away, it would have been him, Lisa threw to the ground and rendered unconscious. He felt worried for the young girl. It had not even been 24 hours since she arrived to this universe and she was already knocked out from a Cyberwoman. And all because of him.
Iris, slowly regained consciousness. But it seemed like a slow progress. At first, she ached all over, but she found that she couldn't move. Next, she realized that she could hear the chaos that was ensuing around her. All she could do was just listen and wait for her body to be able to function properly. That was when she heard someone wince in pain and shuffle near her. Then she suddenly felt that person lift her up and drag them away from the cold surface she was on and take her head and put it near their body. She then realized that it was Jack. She heard him mutter her name softly and slap her face a few times urgently. She then felt Jack's mouth on her lips as air flowed into her mouth. If she was awake, she probably would have slapped him off of her right away, but considering that her body was still not listening to her, she could not do anything but let him do what he did.
She then felt a shift in Jack as the contact between their lips stayed a little longer then something she wished for. And then she groaned mentally as she realized that Jack shifted from giving her air to full-on kissing her. Great, now what was she going to do? Then she felt her muscles twitch a little and she gasped for air. Her eyes finally opened, to find Jack's face above hers. At that short moment, she felt glad that the power in the Hub was still off. She was sure that her face would have blushed to bright red from the kissing.
"Shhh!" Jack indicated, and Iris nodded, closing her mouth as she swallowed the saliva in her mouth. Hoping that Jack didn't do anything more than just lip contact.
Ianto then ran back into the Hub when heard a cybernetic scream. Iris looked up, still in Jack's grasp, seeing the entire scenario unfold, feeling helpless. He muscles were still aching from the rough fall she had. Jack helped her up slowly, worried that Iris might have broken a bone. Thankfully, she hadn't fractured or broken anything.
Iris and Jack approached Owen, Ianto and Gwen, seeing Gwen and Owen converse. Probably about the kiss they had inside one of the chambers they hid in.
Ianto was holding Lisa, when Iris and Jack heard Owen say,
"It was kill or be killed."
"Owen's right. There was no choice." Gwen replied back. Iris groaned a little when her legs slightly gave out. Jack stopped her fall, since he was still holding onto her as her support.
"You ok?" Jack asked.
"No. Not really." Iris replied, looking back at Jack.
He gave her a worried look.
"My muscles are crying out in pain, but other than that, I'm physically fine. It's just… I can't help but think that this is my fault. I knew this would happen… but I didn't know it would be so soon. And I can't help but think that I could have prevented this." Iris replied.
Jack looked at her for a moment, and said, "Let's talk about this later. And for the record, this isn't your fault. Yeah, I'm pissed you didn't tell me, but like you said, you didn't know when it would exactly happen, and telling us could have changed things drastically. But let's think that bit through a little later, ok?"
Iris nodded, as she stood back up with the man's help. That's when they heard Ianto gasp and back away, along with Owen and Gwen. They looked up to see that Lisa was conscious again.
"Ianto, move. Get out. Get out, I said! Move! Move!" Gwen yelled.
Jack then lifted Iris up ran across the Hub, and set her down in a relatively hidden place. He then held his gun and walked towards the Cyberwoman.
"Stay here." He whispered to her. He saw her nod, and quiet her breathing to the best of her abilities.
"You should be dead." Owen said, seeing Iris in hiding. He could tell that Iris was still in pain. He hoped that she wasn't suffering from a concussion any time soon.
"I'm the stubborn type." Jack said a little lightheartedly, bringing Owen's attention back to him, shaking his head. They couldn't let the Cyberwoman know that Iris was now an easy target.
"Get behind me." He said as he lit the torch and proceeded to get his weapon ready.
"That's right. Stay back. This'll at least give you a heartburn." Jack said, taunting the Cyberwoman a little bit.
"The power will run out. I can wait." Lisa replied back.
"Jack, help her. Give her a chance to surrender." Ianto said, desperate to give Lisa whatever chance she had left.
"Have you not seen what she's done?" Owen said, implying about all the events, but especially Iris.
"Let her stay in the cells. We can help reverse the process." Ianto yelled.
But nobody saw Iris sneak off, crawling away from all of the chaos and towards the area where she knew the pizza girl would be arriving. Throughout the entire way, she winced in pain, stopping every other moment to breathe a little bit before forcing herself to continue moving. Not only did she want to see the entire thing happen, but she needed to prevent the girl from wandering in by mistake and meet the awful fate.
The team above was trying to hold Ianto back, when Tosh noticed that one person was gone.
"Jack, where's Iris?" Tosh asked.
Gwen and Owen looked around them in shock. They had left her behind all alone. She had nobody to rely on while injured.
"Jack!" Owen said, approaching his boss, but Tosh proceeded to talk. She felt relieved about the system she had set up.
"Listen, when I was at reception, I managed to trip the lockdown timer. The power should be coming back on any second. We could get back in."
That was the moment when all of them saw Ianto run towards the tourist office entrance. They began to chase after him.
Iris, on the other hand, had already arrived at the entrance the lady would come in. She heard the woman say,
"Pizza."
She opened the door, standing a little bit straighter to hid any indication of pain, and smiled.
"Thank you so much!" She said, as she handed the woman the money.
"Thank you for the food and have a good night!" She further continued, and shut the door on the girl, locking it. If the team were headed this way, they would have the key.
With that, she set the pizza down and went to go find a good hiding place for herself.
The team entered the tourist office and found themselves facing an Ianto with a gun pointed at them. After arguing with the Welsh man, they tried calming down, only to find pizza and change left on the main table of the tourist office.
"Who left pizza here? And why is there change?" Gwen asked.
They all looked at each other before seeing the blood splatter on the ground.
"Iris…" Owen said. He had seen a little bit of blood when he had seen Iris hiding.
The team then looked panicked and entered the Hub.
"Iris!" They started yelling. But they couldn't find her where she was supposed to be, before hearing a scream that froze them on the spot.
It was Iris. Moments earlier, Iris managed to hide, but the Cyberwoman must have seen the blood marks on the ground, as Lisa began dragging Iris. Iris fought against the Cyberwoman to the best of her abilities, trying to earn time so that the team could enter in. But she was still weak and feeling faint, which eventually led to her being dragged to the room below. She screamed out loud again, but they had already entered the room.
"No!" She screamed, but Lisa only muttered,
"I can finally be free of this pain and be with Ianto."
Iris froze at that, then she quickly thought of what to say.
"Lisa, please listen to me!" She yelled, hoping that the team could hear her. She then heard several footsteps that seemed to be running.
The Cyberwoman looked at her, willing her to talk.
"This isn't what Ianto would want. This isn't the right way to go about things Lisa!"
"But I could be with him as long as I can. Human. Just like you described." Lisa replied.
Iris shook her head, trying to bring logic back, "But not as me." Iris replied.
Lisa looked at Iris, trying to see if Ianto would really hate her if she continued to do this. To transplant her brain into this girl's body. But she had no time to lose, and Lisa began to restrain Iris into the conversion unit. Iris struggled, screaming again, when a gunshot rang and Lisa gasped.
"Ianto," Lisa whispered.
""Lisa, please…stop this. This isn't you." Ianto whimpered.
The team then rushed in, helping to free Lisa from the conversion unit. But Iris paid attention to what was happening now.
"But I could be human again. For you. You fought so hard for me, I had to hold on for you so I brought this body and was going to transplant the brain." Lisa said back. She almost sounded sad.
Ianto kept his gun aimed towards Lisa.
"This isn't what Lisa would do. Lisa is kind. This isn't what she is like." He said, as tears flowed from his eyes.
"You always said you didn't love me for what I looked like. Last time you said that, it was a Saturday. We were hungover. You made cheese toasties and moaned I hadn't descaled my kettle."
After hearing that, Ianto began to waver his hold on the gun, tears freely flowing now. His face scrunching in devastation. He had panicked when he saw Iris tied to the conversion unit, but upon seeing Lisa, he wasn't sure what to do.
"That night we camped on a beach in Brittany. It got so freezing, we wore our coats and shared one sleeping bag. When we woke up the next morning, a dog was pissing on our tent. Let me do this, Ianto. I need you to let me become human again. I need you to tell me it's all right." Lisa said.
Ianto then fell into tears, unable to keep his aim straight. He took a glance at Iris, who looked at him as if saying, that it was his choice. That she would respect it. Ianto then took every bit of his inner strength and pointed his gun at Lisa's head.
"What are you doing? Ianto, it's me. You wouldn't shoot me. I was going to do this for you." Lisa said.
"I'm sorry." Ianto said to Lisa, but he couldn't bring himself to shoot Lisa.
"We can be upgraded together." Lisa finally said. Iris froze, looking up, hoping that Lisa wouldn't turn the conversion unit on again.
Then a gun shot rang loud, hurting Iris's ears, but clearly killed Lisa. The Torchwood team excluding Ianto and Iris fired at Lisa. With that, the Cyberwoman fell onto the ground. Ianto looked at Iris with guilt, and could only hold his former lover's body in utter despair.
Iris got back to the Hub, having Owen help mend her wounds. With that, she was on the sofa, unable to sleep from the recent events that took place. She had talked to Jack, about the incident, and they had discussed that she would minimize telling anyone about the cases that she knew. They had both come to a conclusion that these events had fixed points in time, and needed to take place.
Ianto came up to her and said,
"I'm so sorry. I did this…and you got hurt…"
Iris grabbed his hand, and then patted him to sit down for a bit.
"Ianto, I got hurt because I chose to. It's not your fault. If anything, this is mine. I did things to make myself this way, so don't feel guilty about that. Yeah, it was wrong to keep Lisa a secret from them, but I don't blame you. I don't understand it, because I never felt that love, but I know for a fact that you cared that much. And let me tell you this, Ianto. If you need me to help you with anything, let me know. Alright? Even if it's talking about any random, idiotic things."
"Thank you." Ianto said, almost shocked at how Iris was just letting him off the hook.
"If you think I'm letting you off the hook, I'm not. But you have to pay me back with food and good coffee and telling me anything that grabbed your interest throughout the day. Everyday. Got that?" Iris said, smirking just a little bit.
Ianto nodded, grateful for the help Iris was offering. He would make it up to her. The one person who cared for him when he felt lost to the world.