TITLE: Beauty of a Broken Angel
SUMMARY: AU VERSE! What if Ianto was a prisoner of Torchwood One and met Jack differently in 2000 rather than after Canary Wharf. Why was he kept captive and how could this affect their story?
PART ONE OF SERIES: The Five Elements (AU Verse)
Disclaimer: I don't own Torchwood, because if I did Ianto would be immortal!
*Title of this story are lyrics from Warrior by Beth Crowley (There is an awesome Janto fanvid on YouTube to that song!)*
Chapter 2: Pain and Suffering
3rd January 2000
Jack collected the keys from the hotel receptionist, using his Torchwood ID to divert any questions from the dishevelled state of his companion. He had realised on the drive over that with the Hub being apparently overtaken, he had nowhere to stay and had consequently driven to a random high-end hotel in the on the outskirts of the city centre.
Entering the plush hotel, his charge automatically situated himself in the nearest corner, an action Jack was beginning to realise had either been instilled or the man considered it safe. He had no idea how to help the man, but the thought that this could have easily been him if Alice and Emily had had their way in 1899, encouraged him onwards. Placing his greatcoat off to the side, he called room service, ordering something light to eat before heading back over to figure in the corner. He was seated stock-still, eyes fixed forward.
"You'll be safe here." Jack assured, squatting down to the right of the man. "I'm not going to hurt you. Now how about we have something to eat and get you cleaned up?"
The man didn't response, but looked at directly at him, which Jack took as a positive sign and he smiled reassuringly. A knock at the door reluctantly pulled him away and when he opened it, a woman stood in the doorway, presenting a small plateful of sandwiches. Jack accepted the plate with his thanks moving away from the door to place it down on the table, allowing the staff member to catch a peek at the man in the corner who, to Jack's surprise, was staring directly at her.
Feeling a sudden wave of protectiveness, Jack moved straight back with intent to close the door, but after catching one more glimpse at the torn trousers he stopped, realising neither of them had a change of clothes. Changing his mind, he asked the woman if she could find some clothes for him to wear, handing her a couple of notes for the trouble, before closing the door.
Putting aside a couple sandwiches for himself, he left the rest on the plate placing it down gently on the floor in front of the man for him to take. Jack nudged the plate forward a bit more when the man didn't move an inch. "It's okay. Eat. You must be hungry." Jack waited for a few minutes but the man made no sign of shifting. Hoping he got a better reaction on the next task, he left the plate on the floor, stepping through to the en-suite to run a bath.
Returning a few moments later, he hid his surprise behind a smile seeing that while the man looked as though he hadn't moved, the plate was now empty. Deciding against commenting he offered his hand in a gesture eerily similar to one merely hours before, expect this time, his charge seemed slightly less hesitant accepting the assistance. He pushed the door the bathroom open once more, steering the man forward in the direction of the large tub. At the sight of the water, he started back in mild fright, eyes fixed on the tub and Jack found himself clenching his teeth as he imagined what water-based torments this man had undergone under Yvonne's lead.
"Relax. It's just for a wash. I'm not going to hurt you."
With slow movements to make it clear what he about to do, Jack slid the ruined trousers down to the floor, lifting each leg in turn to remove them completely, the material briefly catching on a manacle and remains of chains wrapped around an ankle, which had been hidden before. Once off, he chucked repulsive material to the opposite side of the room, before reaching into his pocket for his trusted lock-pick.
"Let me get those chains off you" Jack disclosed, making a quick job of the lock. "That's better." He asserted as the manacles followed in the same direction as the trousers, hopefully for incinerating at a later date once he got the Hub back. Standing back up, he held back the lewd comment he would have usually made at the sight of the naked man in front of him, instead frowning at his visible emaciated body.
The man gave another furtive glance between him, the water and back again, Jack giving him a comforting nod. He seemed to stare directly eye-to-eye at him for an extended moment, as if looking for something before climbing carefully into the tub.
The man stiffened as Jack soaped up a cloth and started to rub it gently up and down one shoulder but immediately relaxed as he realised it didn't hurt. He remained quiet though an it was at that moment Jack realised himself that his charge hadn't made a signal sound at all, something that was slightly disturbing.
"Hey? Can you talk?"
"Yes, Sir."
The voice was quiet and scratchy, but Jack released an inaudible sigh of relief that there was no medical reason for the silence. "Do you remember your name?"
"Subject One, Sir."
The answer wasn't too surprising, but it still wasn't what Jack would have liked. "No, before then. Did you have a different name?"
"I belong to Torchwood, sir. Always have, sir." The way it was said, like a learned line from a film, made Jack believe something wasn't quite true about the statement, or at least the second part of it.
"Not anymore." Jack said firmly as he moved the cloth from the shoulders and down to the chest. "They were wrong. You're as human as day and you deserved to be treated like one."
"No sir."
The simple negative almost caught Jack unaware. "No what?"
"I'm not human sir, I'm dangerous. I can do things. I hurt you. Sorry sir."
The man was getting increasing agitated with each word and Jack paused his cleaning to look him eye to eye as one piece of the jigsaw explaining the events from earlier fit into place in is mind. "Hey, Hey. I'm fine. You didn't mean to hurt me I take it?"
"No sir. Sometimes I can't control it."
"Then I forgive you, and enough with the sir yeah. Names Captain Jack Harkness."
The man didn't reply and not wanting to push, he changed the subject. "I'm going to wash your hair now." He told him as he ran his hand through the long strands thick with dirt and grime, wondering when he'd last been washed. His face only had the start of stubble, but that didn't necessarily mean anything.
With insight from his own experiences of drowning, Jack made sure not to completely submerge his face in water as he finished cleaning, and while he didn't count, Jack figured he had to change the water over three times before the water ran cold and the man was relatively clean. However, now that the dirt had been washed off, Jack could see the mess of scars and bruising that covered almost the whole of his body.
Supporting the man as he shakily got out the tub, Jack quickly wrapped a large soft bath towel around him. He wondered whether the woman had managed to scavenge together some clothes as they returned back to the main room and so Jack was amazed to find a large selection of brand new clothes still in their packaging positioned carefully on the bed. He mentally reminded himself to thank the woman who had gone out of her way.
Despite asking for a small size, the clothes still hung loose on his starved frame as Jack carefully helped him into the t-shirt and jogging bottoms. Once dressed, however, the man made a beeline straight back to the corner wordlessly, but Jack took his arm guiding him back to sit on the bed.
"It's late; you should try get some rest. This is your bed ok. You're safe here."
~ * o ~ * o ~ T ~ o * ~ o * ~
Jack sat at the table with his mobile in his hand. He hadn't planned any of the technicalities when he'd smuggled him out of Torchwood One, only thinking about getting him away from that place but if he was going to help this person he'd rescued he needed some more information on who he was and what he'd gone through. However, while Jack knew there was only one place to find those details, the question was how.
He twirled the mobile between his fingers as he considered who he could call who he could trust as long with having the skills he needed. Finally deciding on a source, he thumbed the number, grinning when it went to voicemail as expected. He never picked up the phone but he was always listening.
"Hey, it's me Harkness. I know you're there. That favour you owe me… I need you to access Torchwood One's server, specifically the files on "Subject One" and send them my way asap. Thanks."
He hung up, dropping the mobile unceremoniously on to table in order to grab a laptop he'd found earlier in the SUV. Knowing it wouldn't take long, he opened one of his private email accounts and sure enough, barely ten minutes later, an email pinged in his inbox showing 2 attachments and a brief message.
Harkness,
TW1 needs better security. Files attached along with something else you might find interesting.
M.
P.S. This is why you shouldn't trust Torchwood.
If the situation wasn't ominous enough, the last line was statement enough that even the fact that Jack wasn't going to like what he found was an understatement. Leaving the extra file for now, he clicked open the first attachment containing a large selection of medical assessments.
Dr ROBERT GALDON (DATE : 17/02/1996)
PATIENT INFORMATION:
NAME: Subject One
DATEOFBIRTH: 19/08/1979
DATEOFARREST: 16/02/1996
SPECIES: Human [see DNA Result]
BLOODGROUP: O neg.
GENDER: Male
RACE: White
PHYSICAL EXAM:
HEIGHT: 5ft 11in
WEIGHT: 130 lb
TEMP.: 37.4 oC
B.P.: 95/60
PULSE: 80/min
RESP.: 26/min
GENERAL APPEARANCE: well developed, slightly underweight, clear skin, previous broken leg and R4 rib fracture
NOTES: Vital signs might be high as patient was noticeably distressed and trying to flee.
KEY INFORMATION:
Patient declared extremely dangerous. Patient possesses extraterritorial based powers involving wind and heat. Despite DNA results, higher powers refuse to believe patient is human. Possible results tampering. Scheduled for further testing.
Dr ROBERT GALDON (DATE: 28/03/1996)
DELAYED REVIEW ON SUBJECT ONE – REASON: FUNDING
PHYSICAL EXAM:
HEIGHT: 6ft
WEIGHT: 115 lb
TEMP.: 38.4 oC
B.P.: 90/60
PULSE: 85/min
RESP.: 28/min
GENERAL APPEARANCE: Multiple surface hematomas and contusions. Ribs L4, L5 and R8 fractured. Severe malnutrition, request submitted for supplements.
TESTING: Cell samples selection collected from skin, blood, hair, semen, saliva, lungs, intestines, liver and heart. Sample archived for testing.
NOTES: Anaesthetic restricted by orders from head office. Patient appears to have a high pain tolerance.
PHYSIOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT:
Rather quiet unless told to speak. Often withdrew from conversation.
Patient refused to truthfully answer questions on his powers. Exclaimed no knowledge of origin. Claims not to remember last year of life prior to arrest. Possible amnesia but unproven. Requests of sodium pentothal and other measures on next assessment. Patient rebooked for 10/04/1996.
Jack skim read the rest of the reports, each one progressively worse than the last. It didn't take a genius to know what 'other measures' meant and so it didn't take a genius to understand the extent of the experiments and abuse the man had undergone over the past four years. Looking at his date of birth, it had started when he was only 16, which had to be illegal on nearly all of the planets Jack had visited as a member of the time agency. Despite their disbelief, the DNA results along with his scans from earlier proved he was human, powers or not. Not even an alien should have experienced this. Nothing said 'Welcome to Planet Earth' more sarcastically.
To his horror the last report was dated 18/06/1999, meaning he probably hadn't left whatever cell they'd stuffed him in in nearly 6 months. He closed down the file in disgust, pausing to mentally prepare himself before downloading the second attachment.
To Jack's confusion, it contained only a single unnamed word document that contained at photograph of a poster. It took Jack a second to recognise what he was looking at but when he did his breath caught in his throat.
It was a missing person's report.
A picture depicting a younger, healthier version of the man he'd rescued stared out with strikingly familiar blue eyes, a sight that matched one Jack would never forget from earlier. Underneath was a few lines of hurriedly typed text:
Name: Ianto Jones
Born: 19/08/1979
Last Seen: 21/04/1995
Mother: Glenda Jones, Alive, Unknown location
Father: Ifan Jones, Deceased, 21/04/1995, Asphyxiation
Relatives: Rhiannon Davies née Jones
Born: 15/05/1975
Spouse: Johnny Davies
Married: 10/03/1997
LKA: Cromwell Estate, Newport
Notes: Mature and able student, went missing after his father's suspicious death. Undocumented sighting on CCTV in London 02/02/1996. Captured by TW1 16/02/1996
Jack sent off a brief reply of his thanks absentmindedly before closing his laptop, his thoughts whirling with the extent of the information he'd just read. He made his way over to where the man – Ianto – was sleeping restlessly. He pulled up a chair opposite, wondering how he was going to help his new charge.
Note: Yay got the next chapter up as promised! I'm really loving writing this and this story is only part 1! Hope you enjoy and please review!