Torchwood: Divergence
Book One: Dychwelyd
Chapter 15
They'd managed to make it to the car park tower in time to keep the Maws from leaving the premises; however, that had pretty much been the extent of their luck. Four of the seven creatures currently lay dead, but the other three had become increasingly vicious. And the more enraged they got, the less the bullets affected them. Jack had called for Johnson, but the former SAS Commander hadn't arrived at the Hub yet, and Turlough couldn't leave them blind to possible civilian interruption to fill in for her. Gwen was now nursing a nasty set of claw marks above her right elbow as well as a spreading bruise near her left eye from getting bounced off of a support pillar. Her heavy gun was in pieces and the 9mm wasn't anywhere near powerful enough to make a difference.
Ianto had gotten the raven-haired woman tucked into a corner, and was staying between her and the Maws, he and Jack trying to concentrate their fire on one alien at a time for maximum damage while still keeping them all at bay. A fifth creature finally went down for good, the other two going completely berserk. With Johnson not yet available to dispatch with heavier weapons, things were about to get even uglier.
"Jack!"
Gwen's frantic call could barely be heard over the rattle of two MP5's and the howls of the remaining Maws, as one of the massive bipeds charged Harkness and managed to sink its teeth into his right shoulder. Cotton shredded, flesh ripped, bones snapped, and the immortal man cried out in agony as the H&K was torn from his grip. Suddenly all gunfire ceased, a hot wind whipping past Cooper where she knelt in the corner of the parking level, her heart pounding as she watched in helpless panic when the Maw started to bear her friend to the ground. Then there was a blur of silver-grey behind and to the left of the Captain, a flash of mirror-like light… and the alien stumbled away from its victim. The beast's heavy jawed head slid from its sloped shoulders in a spray of bluish blood, as the decapitated body toppled backward to hit the concrete and lie twitching.
Ianto Jones moved to stand between his wounded lover and the man's very deceased assailant, an ornate sword in his right hand, the blade dripping with blue-black alien blood. The twenty-six-year-old's Shadow grafted wings were out and extended to shield the now prone brunette behind him, his blue eyes dark and hard as he faced the last living Maw. The creature roared and charged with incredible speed for its bulk, but the Scieron Changeling it was aiming for matched the velocity, meeting the monster in the open well away from the other two Torchwood members. The Maw's huge claws tore into the young Welshman's left side, but he never made a sound or hesitated for an instant. The sword flashed, and the alien shuddered to a halt in three large, blue ichor spewing pieces.
Gwen hadn't seen Ianto discard his H&K and move away from where he'd been guarding her, hadn't witnessed the manifestation of his silvery wings or the wicked blade he was wielding. She scrambled to her feet, even as her friend's feathered appendages and his weapon melted back into his body, the two of them starting toward their downed leader. Ianto stumbled to Jack's side and went to his knees, blood soaking the entire left side of the ruined shirt he wore and starting to spread down that trouser leg as well. Cooper could clearly see the broken pieces of at least three of the Archivist's lower rib bones among tattered ribbons of muscle and shreds of skin beneath the flow of blood from his gashed torso, watched an area of the wound retract then flutter out with each laboured breath he took.
"Jack?" Ianto was struggling to get his partner into a sitting position, more concerned about Harkness' injuries than his own exposed ribcage and punctured lung. "Jack."
"Tell Johnson she's fired…" the Captain grated, awkwardly shifting to sit against Cooper's side when she managed to get a hand in the centre of his back and help shove him upright. "We need to mitigate… Gwen, you're in the best shape right now… Can you make it to the SUV for the medical supplies?"
"Sure," she nodded, preparing to struggle to her feet once more. "Ianto, come sit with Jack. Prop each other up and I'll grab the box. You've got a hole in your lung, sweetheart… try to keep the wound covered and take deep, even breaths, yeah?"
Ianto simply moved to brace his right shoulder behind his lover's left and shakily activated his headset.
"Turlough…" he panted, not waiting for an acknowledgement. "Send Martha… with trauma gear… Threat's gone… but we're a bit… of a mess…"
[Already on her way, ETA eight minutes,] the redhead's voice replied over the comms. [PC Davidson has UNIT's clean-up crew enroute as well. Sorry I couldn't get you any back up. That was an ugly fight.]
"Where the hell is Johnson?" Jack demanded as he tried to see the damage to his own shoulder. "This group of uninvited guests was way tougher than their kind have been in the past… we needed her."
[Still not in yet and not answering her mobile or landline,] Turlough stated over the headset, sounding reasonably annoyed. [We really need to train Lois on a workstation. If she can at least play navigator and look-out for whoever's on the field, I'd be able to leave the Hub when you need help.]
"Agreed…" Harkness frowned; looking up as Gwen came limping back with the big medical case from the SUV.
"Just use the Auto… and engage… the audio…" Ianto suggested breathlessly, trying to apply pressure to Jack's shoulder and keep it on his own side at the same time. "Type in… 'WeevilKing13'… application 'TS666TW'… pass-code… 'spacepig'… one word… all lower case… It should activate the Auto programme… and give an option... for A.I.D... Audio Information... Dissemination... Tosh set them up when... Jack was gone... in case we all... had to be on the field... at once... Upgraded them when Gwen... was away on her honeymoon..."
[Excellent,] Turlough chuckled. [And there's a sleep mode so I won't have to use the full ID series to bring it on-line in a hurry later. Have to get it running on all the stations just in case. Martha should be with you soon; I'll go down to make sure the Lab's ready for when you get back.]
"Let me know when Johnson turns up," Jack grimaced, resisting the urge to protest when Gwen cut open his shirt and tried to assess his mangled shoulder. "If there's another Rift spike before we get home, alert UNIT."
[Will do,] the Hub-bound redhead confirmed.
"Good God, man," Cooper hissed, quickly placing packing and layering heavy gauze over and around her boss' shoulder, then binding the limb against his side down to the elbow by rolling the dressings around his chest as well. "Your arm's only hanging on by a few pieces of tendon, Jack, and you're bleeding like a stuck pig. I know it's already trying to heal, but I remember when you nearly lost your leg. This'll take at least half the day to knit back together properly, longer still for you to use it again."
"After you've been blown to bits and had to re-grow everything," the Captain half smiled, then winced. "This is a walk in the park. My main worry right now is why that lot was so riled up. We've had to put down Maws before and they've never given us this much trouble."
"Stuck in the Rift maybe..." Ianto suggested with a cough, blood beginning to trickle from the corner of his mouth. "Lots of pent up... aggression... plus they... always get frenzied... when one of their pack... are killed..."
"Makes sense," Harkness nodded, trying to hide his concern for the younger man when the Changeling tucked his left arm against his damaged side and started to shiver. "Why don't you lean against me for a minute and let Gwen do a quick patch on your side, yeah?"
Cooper moved around to within reach of the eternal twenty-six-year-old, eased his arm away from the damage and almost wished she hadn't.
"You are so lucky I have a strong stomach by now," the green-eyed brunette complained through gritted teeth, her brows drawn down in a frown. "And I thought the Xilobytes were bad. Um...do I need to get the bones lined up or tuck the bits of muscle back inside?"
"Just... bandage..." Jones gasped, the hole between his broken ribs making a horrible, wet sucking sound as he tried to speak and staining the words with more blood.
Gwen pressed a slab of packing over the entire wound then began layering gauze around the injured Archivist's midsection shirt and all, as quickly as her injured arm would allow.
"Are you sure the Shadows in your cells are healing this?" she queried worriedly.
"If they weren't, he'd already be dead," Jack reassured solemnly, putting his left arm around the young Welshman's shoulders and holding him close.
"No offense, Ianto," the former constable beside them began quietly, awkwardly wrapping some bandaging around her own right arm to cover the claw marks above her elbow. "But why didn't you use your Changeling skills straight off? That sword was ten times better than bullets."
"I... don't have the... 'at will' thing... down properly yet..." the young Welshman coughed. "When Jack got hit... the Scieron Guardian part of me... just sort of... took over... Sorry..."
"Don't be," Harkness insisted comfortingly. "You only just got back the memories of what you can do last night. And we all lived to tell the tale today, so don't worry about it. I'm sure you'll have plenty of opportunities to practice the skills the Scieron taught you."
"I wasn't complaining, I swear," Gwen reassured. "You were bloody brilliant. I was just curious, yeah?"
Ianto nodded, but his companions could tell he was feeling guilty anyhow.
"I hear a vehicle," Jack warned. "Let's hope it's Martha or the clean-up crew, and not some fool who got past the police and wants to park... 'cause really, I'll be tempted to shoot them on the spot so we don't have to hunt them down for Retconning later."
"Amen," Cooper breathed with a crooked smile, settling to the blood splashed concrete beside her teammates and wishing her head would stop pounding.
A good-sized lorry appeared a few seconds later, the men who swarmed from it all sporting red berets. It was closely followed by a now familiar black van, and soon the carnage of the morning was being hosed from the concrete with special chemicals, while Martha did her best to better field-dress the team's injuries. Within ten minutes, the UNIT vehicle was pulling away with the alien pack's sealed remains onboard, and the members of Torchwood were heading back for the Hub in the SUV with the van close behind thanks to one of the clean-up crew and Martha's rank.
"Really just like old times," Jack grinned as he gingerly relaxed back against the rear seat he was occupying beside his still shivering partner.
Gwen turned around from the front passenger seat, both she and Ianto staring at the supposed American before turning to look at each other. They both shook their heads in weary resignation, Jones raising an eloquent brow, which made Harkness laugh... and they couldn't help but smile in return.
"Bloody Torchwood," the two sighed in unison, much to their leader's further amusement.
The Cardiff Rift was back in the game. And if this first sortie was any indication of how future incursions would go, both Torchwood and UNIT were going to have an extremely long, rough, dangerous road to tread until the Scieron spawned bottleneck cleared.
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AN: So, we've now seen Ianto's first engagement as a Scieron Guardian, and his first serious injury. Let's see how things play out once they get back to the Hub.
Thank you to those reading the story. And thank you to those who have followed, favourited, and reviewed. NM
