A/N: The story begins right after "Silent Screams". I think it's not necessary to read the first part since the basics are explained in "To The Rescue", but I would recommend to read it first anyway.
Owen Harper stood at one of his monitors, staring at the results. With a frown, he tapped buttons on his scanner. Adjustments made, he moved back to the autopsy table. He let the scanner hover over the lifeless body of Jack Harkness.
Ianto Jones stood next to the table, with a blank expression on his face, holding Jack's hands tightly. He tried to hide how deeply tonight's events had frightened him, but his eyes betrayed his efforts. After Jack fell into this strange trance, Ianto had called the hub, and Owen came by the flat for help, but it was clear pretty quickly there wasn't much he could do. When they couldn't coax Jack into consciousness, Owen decided to bring him back to the hub.
For the last hour, the medic had run all the tests, and bio scans he could think of. Toshiko Sato and Gwen Cooper stood on the upper floor, leaning over the railing, observing everything with worry etched on their faces.
The umpteenth time Owen had to circle around Ianto, he finally had enough. „Ianto, give me some room here. I need to work!"
For a moment, Ianto seemed like he hadn't heard Owen, but then he reluctantly let go of the hand and took a few steps back until he leaned against the wall.
„Good boy," Owen grumbled and continued his scan work.
„How much more time do you need, Owen?" Gwen asked worriedly from above.
„Give me another hour, and I can tell you more," he responded, only half listening, while he transferred the fresh scanner results to the computer for further analysis.
Gwen groaned inwardly. They were all on edge since Ianto had called them in the middle of the night. All of them needed to know what was going on. Jack out of the picture was always the worst-case scenario in her books, but they had done it before; they could do it again. Just a while ago, Jack had vanished for months to travel with his Doctor. As his second in command, she had kept the team together after initial hierarchy issues. Seeing Jack unconscious, she automatically stepped back up and took the lead.
„Fine. You've got one hour. We need to find out if there have been any indicators this could happen. Tosh? Check the logs of the last couple of days. Which cases had Jack been working on? Anything that could give us information about what happened. Ianto?"
„I'll stay here," Ianto said, never taking his eyes off Jack.
„No, you're not. Standing around will drive you crazy and will accomplish nothing. Go check the archives to find out if something like this has happened before."
Ianto looked up at her, and the pain in his eyes almost broke her heart, but she didn't back down.
„I mean it, Ianto. We will find out what's going on, and we will bring him back. Board room meeting in one hour and I expect results!" Gwen's voice was firm, hiding her true feelings.
It seemed to work since they nodded and went to work. She retreated back into Jack's office and allowed herself to slump onto his desk, rubbing her eyes, exhausted. Gwen loved working for Torchwood and loved working for Jack. Seeing him lying unresponsive in the autopsy room disturbed her.
An hour later, everyone sat at the long table with a fresh cup of coffee. Gwen walked up to the top of the table where Jack usually sat. She hated the deja-vu so soon after Jack's return from the Doctor. She knew she could do this. The last time, they had proven what a close-knit team they could be if they just tried. But Jack was the heart and soul of Torchwood. They needed to fix this as quickly as possible.
„Okay everybody – status report," Gwen opened the meeting. „I know this is hard to deal with for all of us, but we need to keep a cool head. If we all run around in panic, it won't help Jack one bit. I want to hear your results and then we decide our further steps. Tosh?"
Toshiko tapped on her laptop to pull up the latest case reports while she began to talk about her research results. „We were very busy the last week, as you all know. We've been spread pretty thin more than once. There have been several occasions when Jack had decided to head out on his own. He had to deal with six Weevil encounters over the last four days, a Hoix at the sewage plant on Wednesday. Next there were the tourists from Kyliflo, that he was able to reroute, after convincing them earth is not suitable for vacation. Later we had that swarm of flesh-eating fireflies that came through the rift. That had been rather unpleasant, but I don't think they could've caused this."
„I checked him thoroughly afterwards. No residual effects, after he revived," Owen chimed in. „He was just very excited about the little lights they carried around on their arse."
„Jack can be so easily pleased," Tosh smiled. „Anyway," she cleared her voice and continued, „I found one incident in the logs that is inconclusive. Remember the cylinder you and Jack found near the castle?"
Tosh looked at Ianto.
„That was almost two weeks ago," Ianto murmured with a frown.
„There was an unexplainable deflagration when he opened it," Tosh read from the report.
„I remember that," Ianto thought back to that night. „Lots of junk came through the rift. I was picking up scrap metal that was laying around, while Jack inspected the cylinder. The explosion was more like a little puff that left his face covered with black ash. The object was empty otherwise, and we couldn't find out what it was."
„Again. As always, medical check-ups. On both of you. The black ash showed nothing unusual. Just another convenient excuse for you two to vanish into the showers," Owen lamented.
Ianto stared at the medic but didn't respond.
Tosh watched their exchange disapprovingly but continued, „That's all I could find. Of course, I don't know what Jack was doing in his spare time. Could be anything in that case."
She looked at Ianto again.
„I'm not his watchdog," Ianto grumbled, „but he didn't mention anything."
Gwen took the reign again, „Alright, thanks, Tosh. Ianto? Anything?"
„Not really. There are plenty of possibilities. We need more information, so I can narrow it down," Ianto muttered. He clearly felt like his task had been a waste of time.
„Maybe you are right," Gwen admitted. „Hopefully things will become clearer after Owen tells us his results," she looked at him expectantly.
„Nice of you to ask," Owen sniped, obviously, a bit peeved that she'd put him last. He sorted through his printouts and handed everyone a piece of paper with the results of his examination.
Gwen took hers and read through it. „Well, Owen... maybe you explain it to us in your own words," the paper was a list of endless numbers and medical jargon.
„I would be happy to, Gwen," Owen stood up, grabbed the remote control and switched the screensaver, with the blue and white swirls on the huge monitor, to his test results.
„My first rounds of tests included a blood test which came out negative. I could not find any disease or agents that could cause this kind of trance. There is also no sign of tumours or foreign substances in his body that would indicate what has happened.
After a thorough physical examination, I can say he's in perfect health, exactly what you would expect from an immortal man. Blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature, respiratory system, all check out."
He flipped to the next page with the remote control.
„During the last hour, however, I concentrated my tests on the brain. And that's where it gets interesting," Owen continued. The others looked at him expectantly.
„Ianto," Owen addressed the young man sitting on the far end of the table, „you said Jack did have a nightmare last night, right?"
„Yes, he did," Ianto confirmed. „he having nightmares is... pretty normal, but last night was really bad. He was screaming and crying and trashing around, so I woke him up. Usually, the nightmares don't continue when we go back to sleep, so that's what I was trying to do."
„I did an MRI brain scan to get more detailed information about his current brain activity. I noticed an unusually elevated level of electrical activity in his brain for a person in a coma or any healthy person to be precise. It is primarily located in a small region in the back of his brain. It's called the posterior cortical hot zone."
„Which means?" Gwen asked curiously.
„That is where our dreams are located," Owen explained.
„You can see what people dream?" Ianto was sceptical.
„Don't be daft. The MRI can detect low and high-frequency brain waves which suggest the person is dreaming." Owen scolded Ianto. „The point is that Jack's brain seems to be in overdrive. The readings are off the charts. I'm not an expert in this field, but this is far beyond a simple dream state. Since he had a bad nightmare before waking up, I would suggest that's what he experiences now.
„Having another nightmare? But that doesn't explain why he's not waking up," Gwen interjected.
„No it's not," Tosh chimed in, her eyes glued to the information on the screen. „I've read a few papers about nightmares and brain wave research. I agree with Owen. His readings are way off the charts. That doesn't look like a normal nightmare. If it didn't sound so crazy, I would say he has more than one nightmare. At the same time."
Owen looked at her sceptically, then back at the screen. „Huh. That would explain the intensity of the theta waves."
„How can you have more than one nightmare at the same time," Gwen was confused.
„Normally you can't," Owen informed her, annoyance creeping into his voice. „Let me continue?"
„Sure."
„My standard medical equipment didn't give me any more information, so I decided to try out some of my new tech stuff, that Tosh keeps inventing."
„You're welcome." Tosh smiled.
„And this is where things got REALLY interesting," Owen continued, ignoring her.
„Owen, spill it!" Ianto started to get angry. He usually never raised his voice, but Owen was really testing it today.
Owen half-heartedly tried to suppress a grin. He loved riling the young man up.
„Calm down, tea boy, that's exactly what I was about to do. We've got this new and pretty impressive scanner," the medic explained, "It can detect all kinds of force fields. And – I got a winner!"
Tosh looked confused, „A force field? Around what?"
„Around the posterior cortical hot zone of Jack's brain. The one I'd told you about earlier," Owen grinned triumphantly.
„That's impossible," Tosh stood up, took the remote control and started to scroll through the readings. „The CT or MRI should pick up things like this." After reading the data from her new scanner, she sat back down and shook her head. „It's a mix of a cloaking device and a force field. Undetectable by our earth equipment. Without my newly modified scanner from the Prax system, Owen would have never found it."
„Thanks to the mighty people of Prax, I was even able to deactivate the cloaking device," Owen continued looking overly proud of himself. So now we know what we are dealing with," he said and zapped forward to the next picture.
„What is it?" Gwen asked with curiosity in her voice. All she could see was a black mass enveloping parts of Jack's brain. Tentacles spiked with little barbs sticking out of its body, anchoring themselves deep within his brain tissue.
„How did it get inside Jack's skull?" Tosh wondered while he stared at the picture wide-eyed.
„I'd been wondering about that, but I guess Tosh's case research gives us a clue," Owen explained. Maybe the cylinder from your salvage operation a couple of weeks back wasn't just full of ash. Perhaps it was also the home of this creature. It was probably no bigger than the size of an amoeba. With the deflagration, Jack could have inhaled it through the nose. From there, it's just a short travel to the brain. Once inside, it started to grow. I don't know if this creature has self-awareness or is just going on instinct, but it somehow feeds from Jack's nightmares."
„Is that a scientific conclusion?" Gwen wanted to know.
„Nope. Just an educated guess," Owen answered and raised his hands in defeat.
Ianto had silently listened to Owen's explanation and the resulting discussion. His mind raced. It took him a while to sort his memories and place them into context.
„I've seen this before," he suddenly said.
„What?" The other three said at once and turned towards him.
„A... couple of years ago, at Torchwood One," Ianto wracked his mind for the info he had about the incident. In the little village of Gidleigh, half the population fell into some kind of coma after getting in contact with a UFO. Torchwood One dispatched a team to investigate. Turned out they got infected by a parasite from the Uhuru galaxy. We believed the parasite merged with its victims' brains to feed from the energy produced by negative emotions. Seems the ship crew had lived with these parasites in some kind of symbiosis. None survived the crash, so the information about all of that is limited."
„What was the cure?" Owen wanted to know.
„There was none," Ianto shrugged. The parasite died when the host died. That's how we contained a possible outbreak.
There was silence around the table.
„Okay," Gwen wasn't sure how to respond. „That's one way to do it." Torchwood One had been so different to anything she knew here in Cardiff.
„I guess that's not an option we can use?" Tosh asked no one in particular.
„Well, we can give it a try," Owen suggested with a slightly sadistic grin. „Let's kill the parasite."
To Gwen's surprise, Ianto nodded reluctantly and stood up.
Ianto couldn't believe he actually agreed with this. The Uhuru parasite was a really ugly business. He hadn't been present in Gidleigh back then, but Tommy Pierce had briefed him about it later when they were archiving the remnants of the UFO from the crash site.
Killing Jack and getting rid of the parasite sounded like a convenient solution. Too easy. Ianto cringed.
He'd done it before at Serenity Plaza. When he'd thought Jack had been replaced with a shapeshifter. Killing him had been the quick and easy way to eliminate the possibility of an impostor. But he'd felt terrible afterwards. Handling Jack's immortality in such a cold-hearted way was wrong, and he recoiled at the sheer thought of it.
Ianto knew Jack would laugh about his hesitation, but that didn't change how he felt.
They were all gathered around Jack in the autopsy room a few minutes later. Owen stretched his fingers and asked, „So, how are we doing this? Death by injection, death by bullet, death by strangulation..."
„Owen!" Gwen admonished him. „There is no reason why you should enjoy this!"
Tosh just shook her head and looked down at the ground.
„Let's take the gun," Owen quipped and pulled out a gun from one of the drawers.
„Don't you dare, Owen," Ianto interfered when he was about to aim at the lifeless body in front of him. He stepped closer to Owen, right into his personal space.
„Ianto," Gwen tried to keep him from intervening. Tosh just looked at him pleadingly. This wasn't the right time for a fight.
„Wanna chicken out?" Owen challenged him with a cruel smile on his face. They stood close, facing each other. Nose almost touching nose.
„No," Ianto replied curtly. „Give me the gun."
Owen raised his eyebrows but handed over the weapon.
Ianto took it with a stoic face and disengaged the safety. His nerves were shaky, but he couldn't let Owen do it.
No one should enjoy taking Jack's life.
Ianto raised the gun and aimed. He wished he could close his eyes but didn't dare to miss. Then he pulled the trigger.
The shot boomed overly loud through the room, and the soundwaves ricocheted from the white tiles on the walls. It was a clean headshot, and the EKG machine flatlined immediately. Ianto let out a sigh of relief. At least it was quick.
Owen was already busy scanning the health status of the parasite. He let out a curse while adjusting the settings.
„Update, Owen," Gwen pressed him for information.
„Give me a minute. The readings are fluctuating," Owen concentrating on his work.
„Owen!"
Suddenly the EKG started beeping again, and Jack had revived.
„Oh for fucks sake!"
The medic slammed the scanner on the medical instrument cabinet and braced his hands against the exam table, Jack's feet only inches away.
„It's not working! When Jack was dead, it went into a dormant state and when he revived it did the same! It's too connected to Jack's brain waves. We won't succeed until the parasite detaches."
„What about the singularity scalpel we found a few weeks ago?" Tosh suggested after no one had said anything for a while.
„I still don't know how to use it," Owen shot down the idea. „And I think as long as the parasite is attached to Jack's brain, the force field will prevent me from getting a proper lock. Maybe... maybe if I have a little more time, I can get a handle on the device and I can give it a try. I need a couple more days for research and tests."
„If there are no other options at the moment, we could do that," Gwen agreed reluctantly.
„Wait," Ianto protested incredulously. „We can't let him stay like this! We need to get him out of this state now!"
„Ianto, love, I know you are upset," Gwen stepped closer to the enraged young man and squeezed his arm in reassurance, „but we are really out of options at the moment. As Owen said, Jack is not in immediate danger. Let him do his research. Tosh and I have to go out to take care of some rift alerts that have come in over the last couple of hours. Let's regroup and try again when other solutions have come up."
He stared disbelievingly at her for a while but nodded eventually. Let them go on with their daily lives. He would find a solution. The archives had an answer for everything.