Chapter 8: The Keep Killing Suzie
A/N: Hi guys! Sorry for the late update! I had exams and needed to pack for moving stuff for the summer that I didn't have enough time to update this new chapter. I am also posting a reminder that I don't own Torchwood or any references to the Doctor Who universe! They all belong to BBC and their respective publishers. I only own my OCs! Thanks for all your love and please leave reviews!
Jack was working in his office late at night, when he received a text message from Iris. The rest of the team had went to get drinks while he had some phone calls with UNIT to do regarding the last case. It had been a long time since Iris went out, and he wished to join, until UNIT contacted him.
Once the phone call ended, Jack groaned in annoyance when his cell phone vibrated. He looked to see that he got a text message from Iris.
"Help needed. Team drunk."
Jack grinned at that. Iris always seemed to look after the entire team, even outside of missions, despite being the youngest. He got up, grabbing his coat, and headed for the SUV. The team had left it, walking all the way to the restaurant. They had initially gone to grab dinner, but it ended up being a karaoke night with drinks, and since Iris didn't enjoy drinking alcohol, she just ended up texting him.
When he arrived, he texted Iris, letting her know that he was there.
Iris looked at her phone, trying to calm Gwen and Owen down from the frenzied dance they seemed to be doing. She wasn't sure what they were doing in their drunk states, but Gwen and Owen just retaliated, making more fools of themselves as they said,
"Iris, We're fine! We're just happy and want to dance."
Iris shook her head and gave up, trying to make sure that Ianto and Tosh were ok. She still kept an eye on the other two, when she heard,
"Need a little help?"
"Jack… Thank god!" Iris muttered as she turned around to see the man behind her.
Relief flooded her eyes and she pointed to Gwen and Owen, who were drunkenly trying to sing and dance and tell jokes at the same time.
"Please do something about them." Iris pleaded.
Jack smirked and nodded while Iris first took hold of Tosh, making the woman have her arm around Iris's shoulders, and headed towards the SUV. She then quickly made her way back and brought Ianto back in a similar manner. The two were passed out from the drinks. Once she got them to sit upright, Jack was dragging a rather giggly Owen and Gwen to the SUV. Iris huffed, trying to breathe the air a bit before going into the passenger seat. Jack drove everyone back to their respective homes, having Iris drop Gwen and Tosh off, while he was in charge of Owen and Ianto. Once they were back at the Hub, Jack saw Iris stretch and yawn.
"Go to your room and rest a bit. It's been a long day."
"Ok. Let me take my meds first though." Iris said, sauntering off to her desk and grabbing a pill from the bottle it was in. She grabbed the special painkillers and took them, making sure to worry Jack less.
She then looked up, to find Jack looking at her weirdly.
"What, is there something on my face?" Iris muttered, wondering why Jack was looking at her so intently.
Jack shook his head and muttered,
"No, there's nothing. Sorry, I spaced out for a moment."
Iris nodded and headed to her room. Jack sighed in relief as he saw Iris step out of view. He was looking at her, but he also was not lying when he replied that he had spaced out; thinking about her. Jack wanted to grasp his emotions, make sure that they were in control, but it wasn't easy. And something just didn't sit well with him. It was true that Iris had been confused and asked Jack earlier about why Jack didn't let Iris work with Ianto.
Jack was unable to respond truthfully and had lied. Unlike other times when he was boldly able to claim that he loved someone, something about Iris stopped him from doing it. The fact that she fell through the Rift to this universe was probably the reason, but he wasn't sure. He was scared that he might lose Iris to some unknown cause and was terrified to confess his feelings. Sighing in frustration at himself, he headed to his room to finish up some work before heading to bed.
~…~
The next day, the team got a call from the police about a murder, and drove to the address given to them. Ianto was at the Hub, making sure everything was in order there, just in case an emergency were to arise while the rest got into the rover to head to the site. Iris was looking out the rover window, and when she spotted a familiar face, she realized that this case was about Suzie's return from death. She looked to the side at Gwen, debating if she should take the woman's place in all the events. But Suzie had, planned something, and Iris was not sure if her interference would change things drastically. She quickly stepped out of the car when the rover screeched to a halt. The rest of the team came out, wearing sunglasses and dark clothing, all except Iris. She rather hated the look that the team set up for themselves, and rebelled, wearing a blue and white striped blouse with black jeans. She also decided to have her hair up in a messy bun with black converse. It was what she was used to wearing, and preferred this look rather than the whole black and red, sunglass concept that Gwen, Owen and Tosh had.
The detective came up to the team and said,
"At last. You must be Torchwood. My team bitch about you all the time."
Jack looked warily at the woman and asked,
"And you are?"
"Detective Swanson."
"I'm Captain Jack Harkness." Jack replied.
The detective gave a look of annoyance and said, "So I've heard. Are you always this dressy for a murder investigation?"
Iris scoffed a little, which caused Detective Swanson to look at her, clearly irritated that the girl had reacted to her question.
"What, you'd rather me naked?" Jack asked Detective Swanson.
Swanson just turned around, walking closer to the crime scene, all the while muttering,
"God help me, the stories are true."
Gwen then decided to end the fight between the two people by asking,
"So who's the victim?"
Iris and the rest of the team followed the detective as the woman replied with,
"That's victims, plural. Yesterday, a man was murdered at 96 Oakham Street. Alex Arwyn, 28, single, estate agent."
With that, she handed the file to Iris instead of Jack, which surprised Iris. She had been standing a bit closer to the woman, but she didn't expect the Detective to hand her the file.
"Here we go. That's from the scene of crime. Today, in here, we get two more. Mark and Sarah Brisco, both 33, married. He's a surveyor, she works in education."
Iris looked up warily, and handed the file to Jack, not needing to look at it any more.
"What about the smears of blood? Is that writing?" Jack asked.
Iris replied quietly with, "That's why we're here."
At the same time with Detective Swanson, who said,
"Work in progress. Come inside and see the finished thing."
When they reached the bedroom, Iris immediately flinched inwardly, feeling her stomach churn in an unpleasant way at the crime scene in front of them.
Gwen gasped and squeaked out "Oh my God."
Swanson came in with them and said, "Looks like somebody wants your attention."
Jack looked at the bloody writing above the bed that said TORCHWOOD and said,
"They've got it."
Iris was taking some pictures of the crime scene for the team before helping Owen out with the forensic stuff. Meanwhile, Detective Swanson was talking to Jack as they both looked at Iris gathering some blood samples as well as trying to get other pictures such as footprints and what not.
"We found a few of the killer's hairs from the first murder. Lab results should be in soon."
Jack replied curtly with, "Good, we'll need that. Now, if you could just clear the room Some of this equipment is strictly need to know."
Swanson sighed and said, "It was only a matter of time."
Jack and the rest of the team, except for Iris, looked at Detective Swanson curiously as the woman continued with,
"Torchwood walks all over this city like you own it. Now these people are paying the price. Ordinary people, ripped apart, with your name written in their own blood. From where I'm standing, you did this, Captain Jack Harkness. You did it."
Iris grimaced a little at the truth of the beginning of Detective Swanson's statements. But she continued to gather the last piece of evidence that she needed, and stood up once the police were gone.
"Still, at least we've got a head start. If it's someone we've pissed off, that narrow it down to, oh… four or five million?"
Owen muttered, and Iris shook her head. Seeing this, Jack responded with,
"And that's just the humans. Iris, know anything? Hints?"
Iris looked up at Jack and the rest of the team, seeing their curious look and said,
"This is an episode. I know this better than some, and I'm sorry to say this, but… spoilers."
Gwen just scoffed and muttered under her breath with irritation,
"One day, that spoiler of yours will get one of us dead."
Owen immediately stood up, glaring at Gwen as he responded to that comment with,
"Oi! If there is anything that happens to any of us, Iris isn't the one to blame. She has been trying her best to help you know! She could have left us to our own devices by not joining Torchwood, so just shut-"
"OWEN." Iris dangerously said his name.
The man turned around and saw Iris looking at him, silently telling him to just leave it. He didn't understand why Iris let Gwen say rude things to her, but he quieted down and finished what he was there for. In reality, Owen didn't understand why Jack had brought Gwen. She wasn't that useful at the crime scenes at all. Owen, Tosh and Iris did all the work while Gwen just hung at the back with Jack. But he left it be, as they headed back to the Rover, when they all heard Tosh say,
"There's no record of Mister and Mrs. Briscoe on our database, not yesterday's victim, and no link between him and the Briscoes. No connection between any of them. Jack? They've got the results on the killer's hair."
The team quickened their pace as they wished to look at the file. Swanson noticed them arriving and immediately read the results out loud.
"Initial findings say Caucasian male, early 40s, smoker, drinks tequila. Doesn't match any DNA profiles. Only thing of interest is a compound we've never seen before. Recognize it?"
Owen frowned at what he was reading when he quickly grabbed the file and slightly looked panicked as he looked up at Jack and Iris.
"Uh oh, we're in trouble."
Gwen looked confused as she asked, "What is it?"
Iris responded with, "Compound B67."
Jack looked down at her and Owen, muttering, "You're kidding."
Owen shook his head and said quietly,
"Retcon. He's got Retcon in his blood."
Once the team was back at the Hub, they immediately met at the conference room. Once they were all ready, she handed Owen the files she had prepared for the team as he started with,
"B67, aka Retcon, aka the magic ingredient of the amnesia pill."
Gwen looked up at the team as she muttered, "And this belongs to us. Whoever this killer is, it's somebody we gave the amnesia pill to."
Jack looked at Iris, but she only mouthed "spoilers" again. She really couldn't indulge details at this point. She still wasn't sure how this worked. Iris was frustrated in her own right. She always divulged the details after most of the event had passed and it was safe to do so, but it was still early on. And she was sure that if other episodes weren't fixed points in time, this episode was.
Owen then asked the important question, "Is he remembering that he's a serial killer? OR is he becoming a serial killer because of the Retcon?"
Gwen's eyes widened as she whispered,
"Wait a minute, I've taken Retcon."
Iris spoke up, deciding that it was safe to release one small detail.
"From what I understand about Retcon, a regular, one-time small dosage is fine. So, Gwen, you're safe. But if someone was given repeated usage of the regular dosage of Retcon, there is a high chance of a negative side effect. It's like any other drug, use too much of it, there will be consequences."
Jack looked at her for a bit, processing that information in his head, before turning to Tosh and Ianto, asking them to narrow the list down to fit Swanson's profile. With that, they all began to stand up to start working on
Gwen then seemed to have a look on her face when she asked,
"Jack, if there is a link, why don't we just ask the victims ourselves?"
Iris froze at that and looked at the woman while Jack replied with,
"Not the right time for a séance, thank you very much."
Gwen retaliated with, "The first time I met Torchwood, you had that glove."
Jack and Iris made eye contact, and Jack said,
"No."
Having heard what Gwen said, Owen responded vehemently with,
"Not after what it did to Suzie."
Gwen, frustrated, said,
"It brings people back to life. Just for two minutes we could question the murder victims."
Owen shook his head and said,
"That's exactly what she said. She was one of us, we trusted her and now she's dead because of that thing."
Jack followed Owen up with, "The glove stays in the safe where it belongs."
As the rest of them were leaving the room, Gwen yelled after them,
"These murders are happening because of Torchwood. So Torchwood has got to do something."
Jack asked for the Iris to meet him in his office first. When they both entered the room, Jack turned around, facing Iris and asked,
"I have to use it don't I?"
Iris nodded, not wanting to verbally say yes. Jack sighed in frustration and also asked,
"Why?"
Iris looked at him, and then spoke with a conviction that Jack rarely heard her speak with.
"I don't know. Perhaps you wish to use it too, just as much as Gwen does. It really wasn't explained in the episode. You guys just decided to use it for some reason. If anything, I could give you some details, but I think we should just go with what your guys' instincts tells you."
"Which means that I follow my instincts to use the Gauntlet…"
"Yeah." Iris replied.
Jack looked at her for a bit, and then asked,
"Don't you ever want to change things up? You know, the small details here and there in this universe since you've joined?"
Iris looked back at him, hesitating a little, before replying,
"What makes you think I haven't?"
Jack's eyes widened a little at that and then, Iris continued with,
"Since the cannibals incident, Owen and Gwen are more distant towards each other than they are in the show, Owen actually is nice and listens to me,"
To which Jack chuckled, agreeing on that as Iris continued,
"And… Estelle is alive…"
Jack's smirk faded as he looked at Iris in surprise. His mind flashed back to how Iris had seemingly drowned and looked dead. If she hadn't been there for Estelle, would his former love died? That was what Iris seemed to be implying.
"You saved her…why?"
Iris looked at Jack with knowing eyes as she said,
"Because like Detective Swanson said, ordinary people sometimes die because of Torchwood."
Silence followed as Jack looked at her, realizing that the girl was holding immense amount of guilt, burden, and sorrow with the amount of knowledge she had about their futures. After a few minutes, he asked Iris to bring the team over.
Once the team came to the room, Jack set the box containing the Gauntlet down on his table.
"It fell through the Rift about 40 years ago. Lay at the bottom of the Bay till we dredged it up. I always figured this wasn't just lost. Whoever made it wanted rid of it."
Jack said.
And as the team was thinking about a name to call the Gauntlet, Iris thought about just how much it looked like the one a certain Time Lord wore in the future. The one Time Lord she was more terrified of than the Master.
Once they debated about the name, they decided to go with Tosh's choice, calling it the Resurrection Gauntlet.
Jack put on the gauntlet as he said,
"Don't forget, the maximum resurrection time is two minutes. That's only because Suzie had practice. The most we're likely to get is thirty seconds, okay? Tosh, you ready?"
As Tosh responded, Iris felt a sudden urgency within her. She had to choose if she wanted to take Gwen's place right at this moment. She didn't have time. Iris looked at Gwen for a bit, and finally decided, when Jack started the process, muttering,
"Come on, Alex. Come back."
Gwen, curious, asked, "How does it work?"
Jack responded with, "You just sort of feel, like reaching into the dark, finding the dead. I can't, I don't… Argh! Damn! Ow…"
He quickly took his hand out of the gauntlet as if he had an electric shock.
Owen looked at the corpse and said, "Nothing."
Jack looked at Owen, and said, "sorry. Never was very good with thins thing. Owen."
"Actually, I think I should do it." Iris blurted out before Owen could say anything.
She thought that if she let Owen respond, it would give Gwen time to pick up her courage to say that she would do it. Iris didn't want that and had cut into the conversation. She wasn't entirely sure if it would work with her, considering that it didn't respond with the others except for Gwen, but she desperately hoped it worked.
With that, Iris picked up the gauntlet and put it on her right hand, feeling the cool metal touch her skin. It sent shivers up her back, it felt wrong.
Jack noticed her shiver a little and responded with, "It warms up. The glove relies on some sort of empathy. May compassion and… well, just be yourself."
Iris looked at Jack, feeling nervous about what she was about to do to herself, and then gathered up the courage. She touched Alex's head, causing her to immediately gasp at the same time Alex opened his eyes in full panic.
"Somebody help me! Oh, my God. Help me, help me, help me!"
Jack immediately stepped closer to Alex, saying
"Alex, I need you to listen to me."
But the panic from the even before his death seemed to override Alex's judgements as he kept screaming,
"Somebody help me. Help me!"
Jack quickly looked at Iris, who was starting to sweat from the strain of keeping contact as long as she could. He had to hurry to figure out what happened.
"That's what we're doing. Alex, you were attacked. Do you know who it was? Who attacked you?"
The man looked at Jack, finally realizing what seemed to be going on, as he asked,
"Who are you?" Alex gasped as Jack asked
"How long?" to Ianto.
Ianto responded quickly with "15 seconds."
Alex was still panicking before he flatlined.
Owen muttered, "He's gone."
Jack put a hand on Iris's shoulder while the rest of the team gave a worried glance to Iris, who shuddered a bit before stepping away from the corpse. She breathed heavily a little bit, trying to catch her breath.
Ianto looked back at his stopwatch in amazement as he said, "Twenty four seconds."
Jack hesitantly asked Iris,
"What do you think Iris? Do you want to stop?"
Iris looked at Jack, realizing how close he was to her, before nodding a bit. She didn't want to risk handing the job to Gwen. The woman was looking at the Resurrection Gauntlet in wonder, further convincing Iris that she herself had to do it. This had to be her. The glove worked with her, so she needed it to be her instead of Gwen. She didn't really like the woman at times, but she was still part of the team.
Iris began the process once the team was ready, on the second victim, Mark Briscoe. Iris gasped again, feeling the warm sensation all over again. When Mark woke up, Jack immediately began talking,
"Hey there. Just look at me. Look me in the eye. That's it."
Mark asked, "Where am I?"
"You've been hurt. We don't have long. We need to know who attacked you."
Mark, as if in realization, started panicking, as he asked, "Is my wife alright?"
Jack quickly responded to console the man, "We're looking after her. Now, Mark, who was it?"
Mark quickly remembered and replied with, "It was that man. He belonged to Pilgrim. He went to Pilgrim."
Jack asked, "What's Pilgrim?"
Then Mark panicked as he recalled that the culprit had a knife, before calming down a bit before continuing to respond to Jack's questions.
Ianto quickly said, "35 seconds" while risking a quick glance at Iris, who was clenching her eyes to keep the contact alive.
"Max. Never knew his surname."
Owen then spoke up, "He's going."
Jack pushed a little further, saying,
"You've got to give us something more so we can catch him."
Mark responded with, "There was, there was someone who knew him better. That woman. She was always talking to him."
Jack asked,
"What was her name?"
Mark responded bitterly, realizing he was dying, as he asked, "Where's my wife?"
Jack urged, "Her name!"
Mark relented and whispered out "Suzie" before drawing his last breath.
Ianto looked up at Iris, who quickly separated herself from Mark's corpse as she sat down at the chair Owen got for her. He said, "One minute five seconds."
The team looked at each other, hoping that it really wasn't their Suzie, but not finding the courage to deny it.
Jack then stood up, and said, "We've been talking to the wrong corpse."
They then quickly all met at the conference room, as Tosh spoke,
"Pilgrim. A religious support group, more like a debating society. Meaning of life, does God exist, all that stuff. The point is, it was tiny more like a hobby, run by Mark Briscoe's wife, Sarah. She had all that stashed in the wardrobe. Handwritten and photocopied. That's why we couldn't find any records. She wasn't even online."
Jack looked at Tosh, and asked, "No mention of Suzie or Max?"
Tosh shook her head as she replied, "Not a word. She didn't even keep a register."
Owen tried to reject that it was the Suzie from Torchwood as he said,
"It wouldn't be our Suzie, though. She wouldn't go to that support group bollocks."
Gwen looked at the man and said, "How do you know? I mean, were you friends? Any of you except Iris? Who was her best friend in this place?"
Iris then spoke up, deciding to end this conversation before it fueled Gwen to say something stupid.
"She did have something to do with Pilgrim. That's all I can say about what I know."
The team looked at her incredulously, before Jack said,
"Time we got to know our deceased colleague a little better."
Iris decided to stay behind and rest a little while Ianto and Owen looked after her. Iris had gotten a little pale from the entire ordeal, and her headache started to react. Gwen, Tosh and Jack decided to go to the storage unit to get some items.
While waiting for the trio to come back, Owen muttered,
"You don't need to continue this."
Iris shook her head and said, "I have to. I… I have to make sure that it's me…"
"Why you?" Ianto asked.
Iris looked up, and said, "I don't know…"
She genuinely didn't know, but something about the people around her made her want to protect them. The longer she was here, the more she had decided to protect them.
But she quickly followed up her statement with, "I think… it… eases my guilt for whatever I cannot stop. Even if it's a miniscule amount of guilt."
Ianto and Owen looked at each other, worried that Iris was pushing herself too far, when the other members came back. They saw Jack and Gwen immediately head to the cryochamber holding Suzie, bringing her to the autopsy table. They all saw the silent question Jack wanted to ask, but Iris was already ready to use the Resurrection Gauntlet, looking determined and nervous altogether.
Owen then looked at Ianto, asking,
"Have you got your stopwatch?"
"Always." Ianto said in response.
Tosh looked warily at Suzie's corpse and said, "I'll record from my station. I'm sorry, but I don't want to look her in the eye. Sorry."
Owen looked like he wanted to go with Tosh, not really wanting to see the woman come back, but he stayed. Iris then nodded to Jack, and began the process.
Owen looked up at her, and said,
"I'm getting a reading. No, it's gone."
Iris responded with, "Just memories. Nothing living. She's too far gone."
Tosh looked down and asked, "What do we do now?"
Jack looked frustrated and said, "Nothing we can do. That's it. We're out of options."
Owen hesitantly said, "There's always the knife. When she killed all those people, she always used the knife, it's made out of the same metal as the glove."
Tosh looked at the medic and supported him with,
"We've seen it before. Metallic resonance, like the glove works better if the knife's part of the process, like closing a circuit."
Gwen then said, "Then let's use it."
Jack looked up, clearly irritated with how things were turning out and said,
"Small detail. The knife was used to kill people. She's already dead."
Gwen looked up at him and said, "All right, so we kill her again."
The knife was taken out and Jack brought it, looking at Iris, who nodded her head and said,
"You're gonna have to do it properly."
Jack looked at Owen, and then muttered, "What the hell" as he plunged the knife into Suzie's heart. Iris and Suzie gasped at the same time, a little stronger of a reaction coming from Iris as her body arched at the sensation from bringing back Suzie in that manner. Iris wanted to back down, but she continued holding the gauntlet onto Suzie's head.
Jack quickly went closer to Suzie and said, "Suzie? Listen."
Suzie gasped as she said "I've got to go. I can't stay. They know. They know."
Jack stopped her by saying, "Just look at where you are. Think back. Try to remember. Suzie. Suzie! Look at me."
Suzie finally seemed to process what had happened as she saw a new face and then Jack, finally saying,
"Jack, Oh my God. There's a knife in my chest. Did you kill me?"
Jack looked at her weirdly and said,
"You killed yourself, remember?"
Suzie then seemed to recall the incident and gasped, "But… Oh my God. I shot myself."
Jack then asked, "We've got to ask you about Pilgrim."
Suzie stared at Jack in confusion as she asked, "No. Wait a minute. Didn't I kill you?"
Jack quickly waved that off with, "Never mind that. We need names and details."
Suzie looked up, but it seemed her vision wasn't great as she tried to adjust her focus, asking Jack, "Who's using the glove?"
"Hello…I'm Iris…" Iris introduced herself.
"Didn't take you long to replace me then?" Suzie bit out.
Ianto then said, "30 seconds."
He took another glance at Iris, who was going a little pale from keeping the connection alive.
Jack also noticed this and hurried along,
"When you were in Pilgrim, you gave the amnesia pill to a man, Max. Do you remember?"
Suzie looked at him with confusion and asked,
"What? You brought me all the way back just for Max?"
Jack pushed her, asking again, "We need to find him. Who is he? What's his surname?"
Suzie just replied with, "He was just some loser."
Owen then saw the readings on the machinery and said, "We're losing her."
Iris felt the connection weakening and finally felt the fear of what was going to happen seep in. They weren't going to lose Suzie for a while, but with Iris… what with her headache coming back and the life essence shifting to Suzie… she wasn't sure how well her body would be able to take it. She tried to hold on a bit longer until an electric shock hit her.
She felt the shock go through her body and her legs give out from the pain. Jack quickly stopped her fall and slowly eased her down as Owen rushed over.
"It's all right. I've got her, I've got her. Right, here we go. Hold on. Okay, pulse. Yes, she's all right."
Owen hugged Iris a bit, and asked Jack to help her up. Jack quickly picked up the glove and said,
"It's the glove. I told you, they get hooked."
Owen just looked at the Captain and said, "All right, don't make a fuss. It's over now. We don't need it anymore."
Jack was about to help Owen move Iris to the sofa when he noticed Ianto staring at his stopwatch still.
"What? What's wrong?" Jack asked Ianto.
The Welsh man looked up and said, "I'm still counting."
Owen, not noticing the machine still measuring Suzie's heartbeat, said, "There's not much point. Suzie's dead."
Ianto refuted with, "No. According to the equipment, she's just unconscious."
Owen looked up at the machine in surprise while Jack had a sinking feeling in his stomach as he asked,
"What the hell's going on?"
Gwen then said, "Oh, my God. He's right. She's alive. Suzie's still alive. Look at her, she's still breathing."
With that, the woman quickly pulled the knife from Suzie's chest as gently as she could.
Owen stood up, handing Iris to Jack and felt for a pulse. With trepidation, he said,
"Still breathing. There's no stopping her. She won't die…"
Later that afternoon, Suzie had woken up in the interrogation room. Iris was on the sofa in the Hub and had stabilized and she was drinking tea Ianto had brewed for her. Iris tried to not look at the screen for the interrogation.
Suzie looked at Jack and Gwen, as she asked,
"How long's it been?"
Jack responded with "Three months."
Suzie then groaned and asked him,
"When can I die? I just want to go. Can't you leave me alone?"
Iris flinched a little at that. There was no way that woman actually wanted to be dead. She saw Ianto sit by her on the sofa, not sure what to think of this entire incident.
"You alright?" Ianto asked Iris.
Iris tried smiling a little, but couldn't manage to hold it. After a few seconds of silence, she just shook her head a bit.
"I'm not sure…" Iris honestly said.
She wasn't sure if she could manage this. Why had she taken Gwen's place? She cared for Gwen, but why did the gauntlet work on her?
She realized that she was tuning out the conversation the team had with Suzie, and listened in again.
"What for? What did he do? He was just an ordinary bloke." Suzie said.
Jack responded with, "We think Retcon triggered a psychosis. He's started killing."
Suzie frowned and cautiously asked, "How many victims?"
Gwen stepped in again and said, "Three. Same as you."
Owen then added in through the radio with, "We need to know. How much Retcon did you give him?"
Then they all saw Suzie look towards the camera and say,
"Owen, hello. You scared to face me?"
There was a momentary silence until Owen replied with, "You frighten the shit out of me, yeah."
Suzie then inquired about Toshiko, to which Owen defensively replied with,
"Yeah, she's here. All the gang. Happy days. But the amnesia pills, how many did you give him?"
Suzie, slightly annoyed at the continued questioning, replied nonchalantly with, "One a week, every week, for two years."
Owen looked at Tosh with realization as he said, "Christ. No wonder."
Jack, on the other hand, looked at her and asked,
"What the hell did you do that for?"
With that, the interrogation continued. Iris and Ianto were talking quietly amongst themselves, trying to be calm about the entire ordeal. Ianto was worried about Iris, she didn't look so good.
"Do you need the pills again?" He asked her.
Iris looked up at Ianto, seeing his genuine concern, her stomach seemed to churn in some type of anticipation and she nodded. She saw him get up and go towards her desk, not letting her move just quite yet. He easily found the bottle with the pills. He handed Iris the bottle. He noticed how she took two now instead of one. Owen had increased the dosage into a safe amount, as it turned out that Iris's headaches were worsening as time went by.
She smiled at him and said, "Thanks Ianto. That helps."
"Take a rest." Ianto said, and helped her lie down on the sofa, covering her with a blanket that he had fetched earlier.
With that, Iris closed her eyes, not letting her fear show through to Ianto or anyone else as sleep was not something that would be coming to her that night. Because she knew that this headache, was not just what she originally had. It was a combination of the regular headaches and Suzie's wound slowly becoming hers instead.
After Jack finished interrogating Suzie, he, Gwen and Owen went to the Wolf Bar to get Max. When they came back, Iris sat up, eyeing Suzie and Gwen closely as they headed to the interrogation room.
Iris headed to her desk and turned the camera on to listen in on them.
Suzie spoke to Gwen,
"Can't you ask Jack? Just one favor. I want to see my father."
Gwen, ever so compassionate, said, "Tell us where he is We could bring him in."
Suzie shook her head adamantly and said, "I'm not letting him anywhere near Torchwood. If he's still alive."
Gwen had a concerning look on her face as she cautiously asked,
"What's wrong with him?"
Iris felt her nervousness growing when she realized what Suzie was going to ask Gwen.
"Cancer. All that waiting, and then I go and die first."
Suzie then looked at Gwen, and further asked,
"So tell me. Since I've been gone, you enjoying it?"
Gwen remained silent for a bit until she replied with, "Yes. Sort of. Well, you know, this place is sort of…. It's mad isn't it."
Suzie chuckled weakly as she replied with, "Insane."
Gwen smirked and followed it up with, "Bloody nuts."
Iris tuned out them enjoying their time together as if they were best buddies. She hated that Gwen was so gullible in that aspect.
When Gwen came up, almost immediately storming into Jack's office, Iris snuck down to the interrogation room.
"Hello Suzie. This is our first time really talking to each other." Iris said as she sat down on the other chair carefully.
Suzie eyed her warily, and said,
"I never thought Jack would hire another person to Torchwood Three."
"Yeah, I kinda didn't really have another option."
"What do you mean?" Suzie asked.
Iris thought for a moment, before saying,
"That's for me to know, and for you to find out… if you're still alive at the end of this plan of yours."
Suzie looked at her with fake confusion, saying,
"What do you mean?"
"The gauntlet. Max and Retcon. This is planned." Iris said, leaning back on her chair.
"I'm not sure what you mean." Suzie said, fidgeting a little as she realized that someone might know what she had done.
"Me. I resurrected you. I know that you're taking my life while I'm slowly dying. Don't act with me. Don't think you can fool me that easily Suzie." Iris said, a dangerous glint coming from her eyes.
Suzie looked at her and said, "So why did you do it?"
Iris smirked and said, "Did you really think that I would let somebody get hurt when I know what could happen? I admit, I'm not that altruistic, but this was the only think I could think of before you harm anybody else."
Suzie glared at her and said, "You must be stupid to sacrifice your life so willingly."
"I'm not. Don't worry about that." Iris replied.
They glared at each other until they heard the door to the interrogation room open. Gwen was surprised that Iris was there as she cautiously brought the tray down.
"If you're thinking about taking her to see her father, I won't stop you. I have to supervise you though." Iris said to Gwen.
Gwen looked at Iris with disbelief for a short second and looked at Suzie. Iris was planning something, and she didn't feel too good about it. Suddenly, she tackled Iris, which surprised both Suzie and Iris. Iris struggled, but only allowed Gwen to bound her arms behind her back, not harshly, but enough so that Iris couldn't attack them, and then gagged her. She proceeded to drag her to her car. Then, once she locked Iris inside, she wheeled Suzie out, getting ready to make sure that nobody remained in the Hub to figure out what had happened.
Back at the Hub, the rest of the team were frantically looking for Iris when Jack ran into the interrogation room to find a note on one of the chairs from Iris. It was instructions about what to do once the Hub locked down. Jack then realized that Gwen must have taken Suzie and Iris. He began to panic and quickly grabbed the instructions Iris left and ran back to the Hub.
"Guys! Go to the parking lot! Stop Gwen from leaving!" He yelled.
The team looked up when suddenly, the lights turned off.
Owen looked around and asked, "What happened?"
Jack looked at the team as he said, "We've gone into lockdown."
"What?!" Owen asked.
Jack handed the instructions Iris had left to Tosh. They needed to get out as soon as possible.
Iris had her phone with her, in hopes that Jack would track her cell phone. When Gwen got in the car, she said,
"I'm taking you to see your dad and that's it okay? Sorry. I must be mad. Jack's not stupid. He's gonna catch us."
Suzie took a quick glance at Iris, who was sweating slightly and smirked, as she said,
"Oh, you never know. We might get lucky."
With that, Gwen drove off to head for the hospital Suzie's father was in. After about 30 minutes, Iris really started to feel the pain in the back of her head along with a severe headache. The medication had not helped at all. She grimaced slightly, which caught Gwen's attention. Gwen frowned and asked,
"You ok there, Iris?"
Iris merely glared at Gwen.
Gwen then talked to Suzie about driving at night. The music Gwen turned on loudly allowed Iris to fidget a bit. That was when she turned around and saw the door lock of the car. She scooted back and then tried to reach for the lock. It strained her arm to do so, but she managed to unlock it without having Suzie and Gwen notice. Then she struggled to get the gag off of her. Once she managed, she breathed heavily for a bit. Iris went back to grab the handle of the door, which was now unlocked, and said out loud,
"Gwen, stop the car NOW."
Gwen looked back at Iris through the mirror with shock and said determinedly,
"No. This time, you have to listen to me. Suzie deserves to see her father. And that's final."
"Gwen, if you don't stop this car, I will jump out of it. So stop driving and pull over!" Iris threatened.
"Iris, please…" Suzie said in a sickening tone.
Iris glared at her, silencing the woman before she could continue talking.
Gwen felt annoyed at Iris. Couldn't she really understand that Suzie needed her father? She tried to persuade Iris to calm down.
"Iris…"
"Gwen, Suzie is lying to you. This has to stop. So stop this car!" Iris yelled.
Gwen, who had never heard Iris yell like that before, felt something close to anger and retaliated by speeding the car up just a tiny bit. She thought that Iris wouldn't jump out no matter what. But she was wrong.
In that moment, Iris closed her eyes and breathed in deeply as she opened the door and kicked herself out of the car backwards.
"IRIS!" Gwen yelled as she quickly pulled over.
The moment Iris's body came in contact with the road, she felt like her entire body had shattered. All she could do was roll and tumble as the inertia from the car was still interfering with her system. When she felt herself stop, she staggered out a little breath in pain as she lay on her side. Everything ached and it felt like something broke. She saw Gwen's form run towards her, the lights from the car blinding her.
She then felt the blood flow from her head. She must have hurt her head when she jumped out. She inwardly cursed as her arms strained from remaining bound to her back. Iris also realized that she couldn't hear anything that Gwen seemed to be saying.
But whatever adrenaline was pumping through Iris, it allowed her to stand up with help from Gwen. The woman had undone her bounds, which freed Iris's arms. She then managed to painfully trudge over to Suzie and got her out of the car.
"Get. Out." She said through her teeth.
She managed to push Suzie to the ground, realizing that Suzie was still weak. But after Suzie was dragged out of the car, Iris felt her legs give out, and soon enough, she lost consciousness.
A pair of arms grabbed her and stopped Iris's body from falling hard onto the road. Gwen panicked upon seeing Iris bleeding from her head. She then heard Suzie curse Iris for a moment before laughing like a maniac. That's when she realized that Suzie truly had been lying to her as Suzie explained to her what had happened. Gwen saw red when she heard Suzie say that Iris will be living in her once she fully got all of Iris's life energy.
That was when the rover screeched to a halt and Jack and Owen ran out. They were able to catch up thanks to the instructions Iris had left. Jack ran up to Suzie's body and shot her. When Suzie chuckled as she realized that she couldn't die, he said,
"How much more of this do you want?"
Suzie looked at him with some evil glee as she said,
"It's all your fault, Jack. You recruited me."
Owen was looking after Iris, who was severely injured as Gwen talked to the police, who had arrived.
Jack then instructed Tosh and Ianto to destroy the gauntlet, which then caused Suzie to yell again.
When the connection broke, Suzie fell back to the ground, finally dead, but Iris didn't seem to respond.
"Jack! She's still not responding!"
Jack quickly turned around in shock. He ran up to Iris and grabbed her scratched and bruised hand, whispering to her,
"Please… Iris… come back…"
~…~
Iris had gone into the ER through the ambulance. Owen stopped Jack from following her into the room.
"Jack… we need to wait here."
Jack calmed down a little bit and Owen saw just how distraught his boss was. They waited for Iris's operation to finish. When the doctor came out, he let them know that Iris was alright.
Iris felt the blackness of death. It was as she had expected. Or at least she thought so. She saw the emptiness and felt it. Until something seemed to tug at her heart. She turned around but saw nothing until she heard a voice, causing her blood to freeze. The voice only uttered one word repeatedly, but it terrified her to the core. The voice muttering,
"Zagreus…"
Iris opened her eyes, clearly scared, only to find herself sore. She looked around slowly to find someone sitting in a chair by her bed.
It was Jack. He was sleeping, having clearly tired himself out from the recent events. Iris looked at him, noticing how peaceful he seemed in his sleep. She fidgeted to stretch a bit. She tried to do it quietly, but she noticed Jack wake up.
"Iris?" He whispered.
"Jack…" Iris responded, her voice cracking a little.
"Water?" Jack asked, automatically reaching for the glass of water.
Iris nodded. She drank a bit, before grimacing and needing to lie back down a bit more comfortably.
"How are you feeling?" Jack asked.
"Sore all over... But I will be fine." Iris said.
"Stop…" Jack said in a painful voice.
"Jack?" Iris asked, confused.
She looked at him to find him looking at her intensely. She felt her heart beat faster at that. He reached his hand out, touching her cheek, before grabbing her hand, bringing it up to his lips. He just held it there tightly, as if he was afraid that she might disappear. Iris didn't move, her breathing quickening at the gesture. She waited for him.
Iris heard Jack's voice shake slightly as he managed to say,
"I thought I really lost you this time. I- I don't think I want to go through that again…"
Iris's eyes widened as she saw something in Jack's eyes. It was so intense, so filled with relief and guilt that she wasn't sure what to say in response.
"It's not your fault." Iris managed to say.
Jack looked at her, and said, "It is. Only if… only if I hadn't agreed to that gauntlet…"
"Jack." Iris said, making him stop.
He looked at her, seeing her determined face again. Despite the scratches on her face, she seemed so sure of what she was going to say. His heart tugged, not sure what he wanted to do or say.
"Jack, I chose to do this. You need to make sure you understand that. I will choose to do certain things in the future. But, that's not your fault. None of it is."
Jack looked at her and said,
"You keep throwing yourself into danger. You're not like me. I don't want you to continue doing this. Please…"
Iris waited for him to continue, but she wasn't sure she believed what she heard.
"I don't want to lose you Iris… I… I love you." Jack said to her, looking at her, waiting for her to respond.
Iris's eyes widened in surprise. Her hand automatically gripped Jack's a bit from the shock. But she kept eye contact with Jack, looking for something. She also tried to think logically through this, but she couldn't. Her heart raced, she felt a tingling sensation of joy upon Jack's confession. She couldn't help but look at the man who had just claimed to love her.
She then whispered out, "Jack… I…"
Iris wasn't sure what she felt, but the conflict she felt with what should happen and what she wanted started to clash. He was supposed to be with Ianto. But Iris realized that she wanted to be with Jack. Something about Jack right now wanted her to hug him, reassure him that she was going to be with him as long as she could. And then, before she could stop herself, she said,
"I love you too."