Chapter Three

Ianto was screaming and crying, sobs wracking his body as he tried to fight his way out of the room. What he'd just witnessed, what Jack must have thought, what he must have felt. Ianto's anger was steadily rising with each passing moment as he tried to find a way to regain control of his body. He had to get out of here, had to get Jack help.

Jack—oh god—Ianto felt hot tears course down his cheeks, the future he'd seen, would it never happen? Jack was all about fun and games, but rape was different, rape wasn't fun; it was terrifying and from the images Ianto had just seen, it had happened more than once to Jack.

"LET ME OUT! YOU'VE ALREADY DESTROYED HIM!" Screamed Ianto as he continued to bang against the door, but no one ever came, because no one could read Ianto's mind and realize he'd been taken over by a very evil creature.

Jack wasn't sure how long he was against the wall. It wasn't until sometime late into the night when he opened his sorrowful, tear stained, swollen eyes and looked around. It took less than a minute to recall every detail and feel his cheeks and eyes burn with the plague of embarrassment and fear. Looking around, he was still in Ianto's flat. That currently scared him more than anything. He wanted to take a shower, but he was suddenly afraid whoever this was—because it sure as hell wasn't his Ianto—didn't catch him awake.

Jack levered himself against the wall, slowly standing to his feet. He felt a sharp pain through his back and stomach. Biting his lip, he forced himself into a full standing position, pulling his pants up and over his aching backside, aware that there were most likely stains he wouldn't be able to get rid of. This late at night, nobody would notice. His car was still parked out front from the morning when they had taken Ianto's car to the Hub.

With every step, Jack felt a new wave of pain, and a new wave of tears beginning to brim. Shaking his head, he grabbed his RAF from the hanger, and with his keys in hand, he slipped out the door, trying desperately to pretend whatever had just happened—hadn't. Fighting for control, Jack began driving towards the hub, wanting nothing more than to get as far away from his attacker as he could.

Attacker…

Attacker…

Day after day, it had become exhausting to die and try to come back to life again. Jack cursed the Doctor, he cursed the Master at one point he'd gone so far as to curse Rose. Though he was completely aware this wasn't her fault, he wished he could go back through time and stop her from doing it, from taking in the power of the Tardis.

It was an off day—Jack had termed them off days, because it meant for whatever reason the Master decided not to come down and play with his favorite death-defying toy. Never before this had he felt like a freak—but more than ever he did now. Was this how he was to spend the rest of his life? Sure he'd like to honestly believe that the Doctor was going to come to the rescue and save him from this terrible fate. But another part of Jack—the side that was too tired to go on, so exhausted it couldn't see straight, alone because he'd witnessed the agonizing deaths of his teammates—was ready to give up.

Before today, Jack had never truly wanted to die. Sure he had moments where he'd kill himself, fully aware that he would just keep coming back. But now, more than ever, stuck on this god forsaken ship, he wished he could die just like everyone else. Because dying was certainly better than spending every waking breath amusing the sadistic bastard who enjoyed testing out all the ways to kill someone.

Jack arrived at the hub twenty minutes later. He had spent most of the drive trying not to think about what had happened. But every bump sent shooting pains through the lower half of his body, and every light from another car sent a stabbing ache through his temples. His heart kept a steady tempo while he was forced to remember and relive every horrible moments from the Valiant and tonight. Jack parked the car and stepped out onto the invisible lift.

Not since the year that never was, had Jack felt so alone as he entered Torchwood's secret lair. Jack was a man of the utmost control—he'd fought in practically every war, seen death and destruction, and been shot, stabbed, beaten, poisoned, tortured and died from radiation poisoning. But until now, Jack had never fully understood the term anguish or trauma. Because, while the Master had tortured Jack, made him suffer—it wasn't until today that Jack really felt betrayed.

He made his way down to his sparse room and shower, he quickly stripped, throwing his clothes into the farthest corners of his darkened room and moved towards the bathroom. He turned the hot water on, then for the first time that night he really caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. The beginnings of a hand print and bruising was beginning to form around his groin, and it didn't take a genius to know Jack's backside was bruised, sore and torn. Blood and semen covered the inside of his thighs, a horrible reminder of what he'd just suffered.

For the second time that night, Jack felt tears welling in his eyes, hands against his face, Jack backed himself into a corner, and slid down the wall, allowing the pity, depression, fear and agony of the night's events to overtake him. His mind desperately fought to keep out the one question that had plagued him during the ride over here—had he deserved it?

Jack lunged for the toilet, where he promptly lost all the food he hadn't eaten that day. Dry heaving, he felt the sting of tears in his eyes, the burn of acid in his throat. Pain lanced through his lower abdomen. Standing to his shaky legs, he stepped under the burning water, feeling it heat up his skin immediately. He watched in sick fascination as his skin began to turn red. He'd started out with a gentle rubbing, to get rid of what felt like dirtiness, but soon the gentle rubbing turned to fierce and angry scrubbing as he desperately tried to get rid of the dirty feeling he had.

o0o

No matter how many showers he'd take, Jack was positive he'd never truly feel clean again. Morning dawned all too quickly, and Jack lay in his cold bed, contemplating if he should retcon himself. He'd only managed to pull on a pair of boxers (loose fitting) as well as a t-shirt to ward off the chill of his room. The sound of the cog door above brought him from his self-loathing mindset back to the present.

Getting up gingerly, he began to get dressed. He had to go on, but first he had to find out what had happened. Something was obviously wrong with Ianto, and he would figure out what it was if it killed him. Jack made his way up the hatch and towards his desk, he took his seat mindfully and quickly buried himself in his work, deciding to remain to himself until Tosh arrived. He quickly sent her an email, asking to see her as soon as she got it. Then he proceed to say a silent thankful prayer to the god he never truly believed in for the absence of one tea-boy turned rapist.

It was shortly after nine when Tosh stepped into his office with a warm smile for him. "Morning Jack," she paused as if looking him over. "Are you all right?"

"I had a bad night. Tosh, what I'm about to say doesn't leave the room." He waited until he got a confirming nod from her and then he continued. "Something happened yesterday while we were out in the field. I can't explain and I know that Owen already ran a bunch of tests. But Ianto is not the man I'm in love with."

"What happened?" She knew something was off now; just by the way he was trying to express himself.

When Jack met her eyes, he tried to hide the pain, but he knew she saw it. "What happened is between Ianto and I. However, I need you to watch him today, for any and all behavior that is even the tiniest bit out of character for him. Also, I want to get a hold of any and all feeds from yesterday."

"And if we find something?" She questioned.

"We'll deal with it then. And Tosh—keep it quiet please."

She nodded and slowly made her way towards the door, before stopping. She turned over her shoulder and smiled sadly. "I'm always here Jack—I know I'm not exactly Miss Social, but anytime you need a friend, or a hand to hold—"

He glanced up at her, letting his guard down for just a moment and nodded. "Thanks Tosh." His voice was deeper than he'd intended.

Tosh gave him a brief sad smile before leaving to work. Jack groaned, rubbing his face as he tried to scrub away the pain he felt. He didn't like feeling this way, not to mention he was pretty sure Ianto had drugged him last night, and was just now wearing off. After he found out what was wrong with Yan, Jack was going to ask why this was happening.

o0o

It was afternoon when Ianto approached Jack for the first time. Jack felt it again, something crawling up his spine, pins and needles. Jack's heart pounded against his ribs, ready to burst out at any moment. "Sir?" Ianto greeted, as if nothing was wrong. "Thought you might like a cup of coffee."

"I'm fine, thanks anyway." Jack replied quickly.

"Not feeling well sir?" There was a hint of sarcasm in the Welshman's voice.

"Talk to me Yan? Wh—" He was terrified to suddenly approach that question.

Evil glint in his eyes, Ianto leaned in close to Jack. "Why? Because you're a monster Captain Jack Harkness, and I brought you down. So many want to destroy you—but I—a simple human brought you down."

Jack felt chills down his back again. "What have you done to Ianto?"

The slim angry smirk came over Ianto's face. "He's shut far away, in this dying body. He screamed last night and cried tortured tears as I destroyed you."

Snapping a hand out, resisting the urge to pull away as Jack saw the flash of images; Jack grabbed the creature by his neck, trying not to hurt Ianto's physical body. "If you hurt him…"

"You'll what, Captain? Curl up in a ball and cry like the coward you truly are."

At first, when Tosh found the CCTV from Ianto's flat she'd been tempted to turn it off, but then she watched, almost drawn in by what she was seeing as Ianto dove at Jack, pressing their lips together harshly. She felt her stomach churn, that wasn't the kiss of two lovers--that was a vicious kiss meant to hurt. Ianto's hand gripped Jack's forehead and as Jack pulled away he let out a scream—though she'd silenced it so she didn't hear it.

She felt tears cloud her vision as Jack was slammed against the wall, pants torn a moment later. She hit the delete button, feeling an ache in her chest at what she'd just witnessed. "OWEN! GWEN! TOSH!" Jack's cry drew her away from the screen.

The team rushed into his office to see Jack pinning Ianto' to the wall, one hand against his chest, another with his gun pointed at Ianto's forehead. "Jack!?" Gwen was the first to speak stunned by what she was seeing.

"It's not him! Where is he! Let him go!" growled Jack, his hand shaking as he tried to stave off the rush of visions that were bombarding him as he gripped the man's throat.

"Why!? It's more fun to destroy you! Will you tell them Captain, the truth about what really happened last night? Tell them how I destroyed you—how I brought such a strong and powerful man to his knees!"

Jack didn't reply, rather he squeezed a little tighter, trying to shut the man up. "Why are you here?" He gritted through his teeth.

The creature let out an estranged cackle. "I'm only the first—the entire universe wants to kill you—the man who can't die."

Jack's eyes went wide. "You're a bounty hunter?"

"The best—the Master was only the beginning! It's a mission, highest prize goes to the person who can kill the FREAK!" Suddenly Ianto's voice cracked, his hatred facial expression dropped and became sad, almost overwhelmed. "Please Jack! Help me!" sobbed Ianto.

Jack felt all his walls break down. "Gwen, Owen, take him to the medical bay and handcuff him to something. Run every test you can think of and every test you haven't. Find a way to get my boy back." Jack released him just enough so they could grab Ianto and take him out of the office. Jack, however, didn't move, his shoulders sagged slightly as he felt a tremor of strength leave his body. He felt a gentle and kind hand on his back.

"I saw it," whispered Tosh.

He didn't reply, afraid if he even thought about it more he'd break down again. "It's nothing, Tosh." he forced through a tremulous voice.

"Jack he—"

Jack suddenly turned around, opting for anger rather than despair and embarrassment. "I know!" He paused, letting his anger flood out of his system as quickly as it had come. "I know." he murmured. "I was there. Please just…let's focus on getting him better, okay."