Here, second chapter.

Beta-ed: TattoedLibrarian :)


Jack had gotten used to Iantos turning up. So far they had brought only trouble with them and he had no time for that. The ship full of Flesh was behind them and they didn't care for their own skin. When they would integrate someone's copy in their central hive they would just copy another version when active one was destroyed. That made them cunning enemies.

"This one is slow in showing up and throwing himself all over you" Trianca remarked.

Jack smirked.

"Yes why is that?" Jack looked at her suspiciously. "Didn't I tell you every time to lock them up? I don't remember Ianto being so innovative with escape. If it was Tosh I wouldn't be surprised but this is suspicious. Maybe they enhanced him, which is unlikely, they never before…"

He stopped himself because Trianca couldn't stifle her laugh anymore.

"You didn't!" he was shocked. "Why would you do that?"

"Oh relax" she waved dismissingly. "Did you grow so old that you don't understand the joke? We've been fighting for so long that it's a real relief to see you jump scared when that boy tries to hug you in the middle of the bridge."

Others agreed murmuring. Jack looked around with a frown. No he wasn't so old to miss the joke but he didn't find it funny. It was frightening as hell when the false Iantos tried to hug him with love in their eyes, like they knew him, like they weren't just born out of amorphous Flesh, like that love wasn't just an echo of something lost forever.

"So you've locked this one up?" he looked at her in all seriousness and she tried to make a straight face but she was failing at it.

"No" she managed to stifle that laugh to tight smile. "Maybe this one isn't so mad about you."

"Yeah" he growled at her "maybe this one they left aware of what it is and it's now roaming aboard our ship unsupervised doing who knows what."

She straightened herself up gathering her dignity.

"Well there's not much to discover is there" she deadpanned "since you forbade us from dissolving the others, they know all there is to know of our ship."

"I'm afraid they already know enough" Jack rubbed his forehead tiredly. "Go check on it, prevent it from dismantling something."

"What it could do?" she smirked. "It's a copy of a man from before space flight, I doubt he knew much and they do come equipped with only its original's knowledge, they could be interrogated if not."

"You'd be surprised" Jack said quietly. "Go check."

"Why shouldn't you?" she got up with anger. "It's your houseguest."

"You made joke out of it" he hissed at her and she finally moved. "And I do have some rank here don't I?"

Jack wondered why he had inclination to such insubordinate people.

"He's asleep in his cabin" she said moments later and sat back at the helm.

"Asleep?" Jack was startled thinking of a sleeping Ianto, it was disturbing in some way, even if it was a false Ianto. "Why is it sleeping?"

"Maybe it's tired" she shook her head. "How should I know? Others didn't go over so well with us, maybe they changed tactic."

"But what would they achieve by sleeping?" Jack tried to find an answer.

"Don't know" she sighed and jumped to hyper speed to shake off their pursuit. Jack regretted that he couldn't grow his own Tardis, it wouldn't be so hard to steal it from under the Doctor's nose but the Doctor was right. With Jack's life span time travel was always a bad idea, time moved slowly enough without him jumping around trying to run when there's nowhere to run to. "Maybe it's transmitting data that way."

"What was that noise?" Ianto's voice startled them. He stood there all disheveled with his suit crumpled and hair messy trying to clear his eyes. The resemblance was perfect, Jack knew that, but still, Jack was convinced that Ianto's eyes were bigger, that he was thinner, that his hair was darker. "It was like I'm falling to an abyss without feeling the weight."

"We jumped to hyper speed" Trianca told him "it can be like that, it can provoke nausea, but when you're used to it you hardly notice it."

False Ianto nodded and turned to leave without even looking at Jack.

"Where are you going?" Jack asked him uneasily to his back, was he really so upright?

"Back to sleep" he said turning just his profile to them. "You'll wake me when we get there?"

"Where?" Jack asked quietly sensing the answer.

"Home" he frowned "to Cardiff."

There was a short pause.

"There is no Cardiff anymore" Jack said carefully observing his reactions. "This is the future."

"Yeah" Ianto shrugged his shoulders "but you can find me the Doctor to take me back."

"No" Jack said too harshly and false Ianto turned towards him frowning. "There is no Doctor sighting in the midst of the war, there will be no Doctor for some time, and even if he was here he couldn't take you where you don't belong" this was hard but Jack has done it every time looking straight into Ianto's eyes to see the defeat when they would recognize themselves as copies.

"What are you saying?" Jack noted how his eyes became small and he remembered it well, it meant emotion on the real Ianto. Do Flesh feel? The Doctor would always say 'yes they do', but Jack had his doubts.

"That you're not really Ianto Jones from Earth, Cardiff. You're a Flesh version of him, a copy" Jack said slowly and this false Ianto smiled on the side.

"Are you pulling me?" he smirked looking at Jack suddenly amused. "Why would anyone replicate me…" he looked at Jack with an unnoticeable smile, was that… mischievous smile. "What will you do with me?"

"No" Jack lifted his hands defending himself. "I didn't order you. You were made, targeted here to cause commotion by our enemies."

"Oh" his smile disappeared to be replaced by… shame? "What, you'll get rid of me then?"

"Yes" Jack said firmly and Ianto nodded accepting it with his lips curved downwards as if he was faced with some unpleasant Torchwood task.

"How we will proceed then?" Ianto stood upright and buttoned his suit, straightening his tie. "I hope it will be quick, I was always efficient at cleaning up. Who here is in charge of cleaning?" he looked around and there was silence.