Torchwood: Divergence
Book One: Dychwelyd
Chapter 38
It had taken weeks, but the heavy influx of debris and unwelcome visitors from the Rift finally seemed to be petering out. The work load had been heavy for all of Torchwood, though Jack and Ianto had continued to bear the brunt of the alerts in an effort to safeguard their teammates. Even Lois had seen more fieldwork than any of them had been expecting, and she wasn't afraid to declare that she much preferred playing monitor and navigator at the Hub. The past couple of days had been fairly quiet compared to what they'd been dealing with, and though the break was appreciated, it had also shown Gwen that there was tension between their leader and his young partner again.
Harkness had received fatal injuries on two of the missions since the pair's B and B overnight, and Ianto had blamed himself for allowing it to happen both times. The demise of the responsible aliens had been swift and gruesome at his hands. Those occurrences and a number of other purely Scieron armed encounters the American had witnessed had once more stirred his worries about the Children of Void. His quiet, calm and controlled lover became a frightening living weapon when his Changeling nature came to the fore. And it bothered the older man that such lethal talents cold be used to do a great deal of harm if an outside force held sway over the twenty-six-year-old. What if the Other-Dimensional Shadows that had resurrected the Welshman had plans for him that he wasn't aware of? Jack had worked hard to hide his misgivings from an always scarily perceptive Ianto, but the increasing frequency of the younger man's solo "meditation" trips to the firing range proved he hadn't always been successful. Still, he'd started double checking Ianto's reports with the other team members, carefully watching for clues that the Changeling was hiding details or acting in a manner to suggest alien influence.
For her part, Gwen was trying to fish for information from both of her friends in the hope of discovering the cause of the unrest between them, so she could try to help fix the problem. So far she hadn't gotten much from either, but she wasn't about to give up. The more so, when she overheard the tail end of an apparent argument the pair were having about a mission from the previous morning, as they came up from the Vaults around 2:00 pm.
"...myself any clearer," Jack was stating sharply, his voice low but edged. "I don't want you putting yourself in harm's way like that."
"Damn it, Jack," Ianto hissed, sounding more irritated than the former constable could ever remember. "Better that I have to heal from having my arm bisected from fingers to mid-forearm, than have to bury Gwen because her skull took the blow instead. You do the same sodding thing for the rest of the team, including me. I don't like you taking hours or days to heal, or having to gasp your way back from the Dark when you shield someone either, but I'm not going to tell you to stop. Wouldn't do any bloody good if I did."
Cooper looked over at the two, concerned by the obvious discord between them and slightly shocked by the younger man's uncharacteristic swearing.
"I'm a Guardian, Jack," the younger man continued firmly, though his voice was strained and he looked on the verge of tears. "Protecting people is part of why I was brought back. I'm sorry if I'm not careful enough to suit you, but I do my best. I can't just stop being a Changeling. But there is a fifth way you can be rid of me if it's such a problem, Jack. You can ask the Scieron to burn the Shadows away and send me back to the Dark if you don't want me to do this anymore. So would you rather put up with me taking damage for the team from time to time, or prefer that I was still dead and gone?"
The last had obviously hurt Ianto to say, his voice breaking with the intensity of his distress. And apparently it had hit home with the Captain as well, if the older man's horrified expression meant anything. But before Harkness could answer the harsh question, the Rift alarm echoed through the otherwise quiet Hub.
Gwen snapped her attention to the monitors in front of her, rapidly pinpointing the massive surge.
"Oh, God..." she breathed, quickly pulling out her mobile. "Huge spike, lots of interference, at least two life forms, system's not sure what. It's at Harwood's, the new offices and transport barn."
Disagreement forgotten for the moment, Jack and Ianto both grabbed headsets and their preferred handguns, heading for the tunnel to the SUV since it was faster than the path up near the TIC. Cooper was right behind them, neither she nor the younger of the two men taking the time to grab a coat even though the day was rather chilly.
"Rhys?" she called into the small phone clutched in her left hand, keying it to speaker. "Where are you?"
[Work,] her husband responded cheerfully. [Just finishing up some papers. Got done with the deliveries early today, and the inbound lorries won't be back till morning. Park looks like a ghost town. Everyone else is gone already... me and Eb were getting ready to head out as well.]
"Don't," Gwen insisted urgently as they piled into the SUV and headed out of the underground carpark at speed. "Stay in the office, lock the door and try to keep the baby quiet. The Rift has dropped some sort of alien in the transport barn. We're on our way, just sit tight, yeah?"
[Bloody hell,] Williams cursed quietly on the other end of the line. [Okay, door's locked... Eb's asleep. I've only got the desk lamp on, and we'll be quiet as mice. Hurry, yeah?]
"We are, Rhys," Jack reassured from the driver's seat. "Ten minutes, fifteen tops if we hit traffic."
"Love you," Gwen whispered into the mobile as she took it off speaker before disconnecting the call.
The rest of the high-speed race to the haulage company building was basically silent. Jack parked the SUV close to William's car up near the structure and the team disembarked, guns chambered and ready. Harkness and Cooper took the doors on either side of the vehicle barn near the loading dock. Jones hurried to the side entrance opposite the "lobby" doors, so they could hopefully trap whatever was there between them.
"Check the office," Gwen urged the twenty-six-year-old over the earcomm. "If it's secure, whatever came through must still be in the truck park."
[On my way,] her friend acknowledged quietly.
The former constable looked across the warehouse to where Jack was skirting the wall, checking around the few grounded cargo blocks and lorries sitting within the big, hanger-like building. So far there wasn't a hint of movement anywhere in the place to indicate where the unexpected visitors might be lurking in the mostly empty structure.
[Something's coming out of the office hallway,] Ianto's voice suddenly whispered through the Bluetooth units his friends wore, and both headed that way from opposite sides of the haulage firm's warehouse. [It's a Herperan, with one of those nasty little dinosaurs they keep. I'm not...]
The communications channel cut off abruptly.
"Ianto?" Jack hissed worriedly; afraid the creatures may have spotted the young Welshman.
[I'm going for it,] Jones breathed unexpectedly.
"Wait for us, we're on our way," Harkness demanded, signally Gwen to pick up her pace where she moved along the opposite wall.
[It has Ebrill,] Ianto stated flatly, then the line went silent again.
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AN: Oh dear… I've left you with a cliff-hanger again… so sorry.
The next chapter is extra-long, so hopefully that makes up for it a bit… maybe…
Thank you to those reading the story. And thank you to those who have followed, favourited, and reviewed. NM
