11

Ianto must have drifted off for a short time, but when he awoke sometime in the night, he knew what he needed to do.

It was time to leave Jackson and Toshiko behind. he knew he couldn't wholly trust Jack, and he still didn't want to mix Toshiko up in the kind of trouble Ianto was truly facing.

Ianto eased from his sleeping bag as the other two slept on. As he made his way toward the passage that Toshiko said most likely led to the cavern with the portal, he noticed movement on the floor of the cave.

The dim light was enough for him to recognize the cat Janet.

With a low whisper, he asked, "Where did you go?"

He yawned lazily and said, "If you must know..."

But Ianto cut him off with a hurried shush. "Keep your voice down. I'm not trying to start a party."

His voice was a whisper as he said, "Oh, I see. It's an escape."

Ianto paused before asking, "Are you going to rat me out?"

"First of all, don't...ever...use the word rat around me. I've had too many bad experiences. Second, snitches get stitches, and I'm no snitch, Mage."

"Bad experiences with rats? Who hasn't? Oh, never mind. Just, thank you for not waking Jack. I need to go through the portal alone."

Janet approached where he stood and rubbed against his feet as he walked through and around his legs. "Rats are freakin' perverts, and I will...never...be able to unsee what I've seen. That's all I'm going to say about that."

"Okay. I don't need to know any more about that at all. What I do need to know is if you've been in the cavern with the portal, and, if so, what you saw there?"

"I'm just saying that rats will fuck anything and everything. If you really want me to paint a picture, I can."

"No!" Ianto's whisper rose, and the others shifted restlessly in their sleep. Once he was sure they were sleeping deeply once more, he said, "I don't want to know about the rats. I just need to know about the Portal Police."

"I really don't know about their sexual habits."

Ianto rolled his eyes and breathed in slowly through his nostrils. "I don't care about their personal lives. I just want to know how many are around the portal."

Janet yawned again. "This conversation is boring me. I think it's time for a nap."

"Can you help me first, please?"

"I suppose I can offer a little information...if you tell me a secret of yours."

"What? I don't have time for this. Just tell me how many."

If a cat could shrug, Janet did. "You heard my price."

Ianto could feel his face warming with his irritation. He whisper shouted, "Fine! I've never enjoyed being an assassin. My father forced me to go to the Assassin's Academy, and for a long time, I hated him because of it. I've never before felt the satisfaction I get from removing cursed objects. That's what I want to do for the rest of my life."

"Now, was that so hard? I feel like I know you better now."

Ianto counted to ten and strove to hold onto his temper. Through his teeth, he hissed, "How many?"

"Only two. The other police are roaming the woods or sleeping."

"Thank you, Janet. That actually helps."

"Oh goody! My dreams are finally fulfilled. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get some rest. I just hope I don't have nightmares about perverted rats." he shook his head as he walked toward the back of the cave, passing Jackson along the way. But true to his word, he didn't snitch, and he disappeared around a boulder, Ianto assumed to settle down behind it and sleep. Strange, acidic little fucker.

Forewarned what to expect now, Ianto turned to make his way to the cavern and to the portal. He still wasn't entirely sure how he would get past the guards, but he knew it was time to try.

He just had to think through his abilities and how to apply his skills to a difficult situation. The whole situation was nothing but trouble, and it reminded Ianto of a drill the students of the Assassin Academy performed yearly. The only difference was that at the academy, the students were split into two teams, and the object of the drill was to sneak past the guards of the other team in order to capture that team's flag. Ianto's team won almost every year because he could do a particular trick that distracted the guards and allowed his teammates to sneak into the room where the other team's flag was free and clear to take.

The one time they lost, the instructors had decided to assign the teams, and his friend Andy and he were separated. He knew how he'd won all the previous years and shared it with his teammates. He hadn't expected him to put him above winning. He knew that wasn't the way of the assassin, but he had been a little hurt, though he'd never admitted that to anyone. This wasn't exactly the same situation, but he was fairly sure he could still pull it off.

Ianto just needed to find a quiet spot to sit with no chance of being disturbed or caught. Once he was there, he could project himself onto the astral plane, which many Mages could do. However, something he could do that many others couldn't was then to manifest a spectral version of himself right outside the cave. The hum and glow of the portal carried down the tight corridor where he was narrowly squeezing through. Yet, as he scanned for a place to park himself for the plan to work, a low shelf that seemed made for a body to lie out flat appeared as the passage widened slightly.

Once he was settled, Ianto closed his eyes and felt his mind begin to drift. He concentrated on the image of his soul lifting from his body. Repeatedly, he pictured the manifestation of that image outside of the cave.

Slowly, he felt himself sliding into something like sleep, but before he dropped into unconsciousness, his spirit felt as if it rose above his body and turned. He could see his body, seemingly asleep, below him. Yet, he didn't stick around to admire his accomplishment. This was not a slide, this was a complete division of entity from vessel. A neat trick and a rare one to master.

And very fucking dangerous.

Instead, he closed his eyes and pictured himself at the mouth of the cave. When he opened his eyes, he was facing a woman and a man wearing uniforms, standing at attention in front of the portal. "Hey! Stop right there!"

They moved quickly toward him, and he took off out the cave. Once the guards gave chase into the woods, radioing for assistance, he re-entered his body.

He awoke with a gasp but crawled off the rock shelf, picked up his backpack, and took off for the portal. He had a limited amount of time before they figured out they were searching for a specter.

He slid through a narrow neck of the passage and had to crawl through the last ten feet until a large room came into view. He stood up and rounded a large, circular boulder that seemed to be balanced on a tiny point underneath, but he stopped once the portal came into sight.

He couldn't believe he was this close to going back to Torchwood. So many memories of all he'd left behind came flooding back to his mind. He felt his eyes beginning to water, but he held himself steady and refused to fall apart.

He wasn't going back to the same world.

The one he was returning to was one without his father.

And it was up to him to rectify that or die trying.

Shadows were moving outside of the mouth of the cave, and Ianto knew he was out of time to ruminate. He had to act now. His feet took over and he pushed himself toward the Caribbean blue of the swirling portal.

The Portal Police guards stepped into the cave just as he stood in front of the portal. "What are you doing? Get away from there! You're not authorized!"

He chewed his bottom lip, thought of Torchwood, took a deep breath, and dove through the glowing spin of the portal.