7
They stood with the bunch of other invitees looking at the next boring thing when Ianto noticed a pencil.
Just a simple pencil, chewed one end and the other pointed end pointing at a door.
He looked at the door and considered, then looked at Tish, squeezing her hand and motioning with his eyes.
She frowned as he led them to the door and then he plucked a business card from the frame.
The Torchwood symbol.
Ianto swallowed as he followed the breadcrumbs, pausing as they passed a statue of an Adonis with a red hat, taking the hint and turning to go down the corridor it was facing.
He could smell him and suddenly he was afraid.
They reached some stairs and Tish started up and then paused as she realized Ianto wasn't following.
He stood looking at the shadow of the stairs the bowels.
"Hello Jack" he said softly and Jack Harkness stepped into the soft lighting of the stairwell.
"Hello"
Ianto hadn't expected more, he knew Jack would be suspicious and perhaps didn't know it was him.
He had forgotten him after all.
That's OK.
"We are here to release a Spider Mouse into the air ducts in an attempt to get into the secure levels" he explained, "This is the only way we can connect the lower secure servers to mainframe so we can gain access and stop the Cyber Invasion."
Jack's face told him many things in the matter of seconds it took for Jack to choose a leer of indifference.
He didn't believe it was him, he didn't know about the Cybermen and he had certainly not forgotten his Welshman.
Why was he wanting into the lower levels?
"It's OK Jack" he sighed, "Whether you believe this is Ianto Jones or not, my life is forfeit. It's OK. We just need to get this done because whether you believe it or not, this facility has Cyber Tech in the lower levels and we need to stop them."
Jack nodded as he looked at Tish.
"You're mother know where you are?" he asked.
"Well, I'm not telling her" Martha said as she strode into view with Mickey walking after her holding a machine gun pointed at the ground.
"Glad you could make it" Tish huffed, "I thought you were lost."
"Had to pay for parking, can you believe the bloody cost?" Mickey bleated, "Hi Ianto."
"Hello Mickey" Ianto replied softly to his contact during TYTNW, turning to pass him an ID card. "Swiped this off a security guard, it has full access, as far as I know. Tosh will need to get into the lower levels before she can get us in past the retinal and palm scanners."
"Tosh?" Mickey asked.
"My AI" he replied, handing over a PDA and then stepping back to place a holo disc down.
A 3D hologram of Tosh sprang to life and she slowly turned to face them.
"Ianto."
"Hello Blossom, placing the mouse now" he said as he knelt and released it nest to some ducting.
"Just give me a moment Ianto, Love" she purred, "Compiling."
The spider mouse sprang to life and took off as Tosh's image flickered and she frowned, her glasses appearing again as she checked something.
"I've found the lower levels, Lisa used extra power so I'll follow the spiking" she said and Ianto nodded.
He made sure not to look at Jack, would make it easier to walk away if he didn't have to acknowledge who he was going to have to walk away from.
Tosh smiled, her evil one he loved so much as she raised her head to look at him.
"Found it. I'm in. USB inserted. Compiling"
Ianto let out a breath as Mickey grunted.
"She's found an active console to plug into" Ianto explained to the black man, "She's corrupting the system and taking over."
As he spoke she seemed to shimmer and her face changed to one he didn't like.
Alarm.
"Tosh?" he said softly, "What is it?"
"A secondary firewall" she gasped, "oh Ianto … it's so strong .. it …"
Ianto cried out with horror as the avatar blinked out.
Tosh was gone.