Jack quickly took control of the situation.
"Alright. Tosh, you stay here. See if you can find a cause for all this, talk to the other agencies, see if they know what's going on. Gwen, I want you to warn the police, the hospitals, everyone. Tell them to expect chaos. Owen, Ianto, you're with me. There's one major source of energy left in Cardiff, and we're going to check it out."
Everyone nodded, and broke apart, Tosh and Gwen heading for work stations, the others for the door. Jack threw Owen a hand-held computer, which the medic caught easily in one hand.
"What do you want me to do with this?" Owen sounded aggrieved, prodding vaguely at buttons.
"No sat-nav. Tosh has put a map on there, to help us find our energy source. You get to be navigator." Grinning, Jack continued walking, apparently deaf to the numerous and varied slurs Owen was producing in his general direction.
The car trip was a little more tense than usual. Despite Jack's genial attitude, no one could forget the fact that any technology that was earth based was non-functional, including every defensive capability on the planet. Add that to the fact that, when Owen shouted a direction for Jack to head in, Jack would drive that way without taking any notice of petty concerns like pedestrians, other cars, or public landmarks, and Ianto was feeling distinctly uneasy by the time they arrived in a field in the middle of nowhere.
"It's a paddock."
"Thanks for that, Owen. Any more pearls of wisdom, or can we start looking for this damn thing?"
Owen glared at Jack. "What I meant, was I thought we were heading for a power station, or a nuclear facility, or something. Not this."
He extended one arm, gesturing at the peaceful country side. A black and white cow stared at them suspiciously from the other side of a hedge, buttercups littered the grass, and birds sang peacefully. An idyllic day, that was wasted on the three men, who stared suspiciously back at the cow, avoided or stepped on the buttercups, and glared at any birds that made a peep.
Ianto cleared his throat, drawing the attention of the others. "What exactly are we looking for again?"
"The power source. Alien energy, when our world has none. Bit odd, thought we should maybe have a look-see. Alternatively, you could look for the perfect flower to pin in your button hole." Owen's voice was so aggressively cheerful it could be marketed as a weapon.
"Thank you, Owen. Most illuminating. I did, however, have one point I'd like to clarify." Ianto's spoke sweetly, enjoying the scowl which covered the other man's face. "What exactly, does the power source look like?"
The team stared at each other in annoyance. Jack was the first to give in, admitting, "I have no idea. Grid search, easy-peasy, over in no time."
A moment longer of mutual glaring, and they split up to search, Owen tapping his monitor every few steps, as though hoping for something more specific to appear.
Ianto found searching through the long grass oddly cathartic. Casually nudging aside long blades with one impeccably polished shoe, he could almost forget that the human race was in danger. Spotting a small white ball the size of a really good marble - the kind that were useless for playing with, but the object of much envy amongst a certain type of eight year old boy. He reached down and picked it up, turning it over in his hands, looking for any distinguishing marks.
"I found something!" He raised his voice, and the others drew near.
Owen ran his little machine over the marble and shrugged. "Could be it."
"What do you mean, 'could be it'?' Jack asked irritably. "You have the scanner, shouldn't you know for sure?"
"It's tricky stuff," Owen pointed out, "and I haven't had much practice with it. Look, I'm pretty certain it's the right thing. We can take it back, get Tosh to take a look."
Jack nodded, still annoyed, and they walked back to the car, cow ignoring them by now. Looking up, Ianto was surprised to see how far down in the sky the sun was. Somehow, time had slipped away while they searched the field.
When they arrived back, Tosh was waiting, an eager look on her face. "I saw the energy source moving this way, and I assumed you had it." As she spoke, she was glancing around, as though expecting a huge object to be hiding behind them.
She was, Ianto thought ruefully, going to be disappointed when she saw the marble. Or not, he wordlessly amended, seeing the delight on her face at the sight of the thing.
"Oh, it's beautifully constructed." Her clever fingers danced over the surface, searching for any hidden mechanisms or buttons.
"Fantastic. To be honest, we weren't even sure whether it was what we were looking for." Owen admitted, chucking the scanner onto Tosh's desk. It spoke volumes about her preoccupation that she didn't even protest the rough treatment of one of her toys.
"Wait a minute," she started, staring at Owen over the rims of her glasses, "Why didn't you just use the scanner? I taught you and Gwen how to calibrate that a few weeks ago."
Owen's face was blank as he stared at her.
"Remember? During the meeting I called?"
Judging from Owen's reddening ears, he did remember Tosh's meeting. However, Ianto was willing to bet quite significant amounts of money that Owen and Gwen had been slightly distracted during said meeting. He quickly hid a smirk that was rushing to the surface, wandering in Gwen's direction instead. Jack fell in step with him, both electing to leave Owen to Tosh's wrath.
"What's been going on?" Jack asked quietly, running his fingertips down her arm.
Gwen turned to them. "Not much, there's been some grumbling, but none of the mass panic we feared. We've spread the story that a tree fell on a key power line, and that's why Cardiff is cut out. They won't find out that it's world wide until televisions come back on, which won't be until it's all over."
"Great." Ianto nodded fervently.
"And the hospitals?"
A look of sadness passed across Gwen's face. "Life support is out, none of their generators work." She bit her lip, clearly trying to gather her courage. "We could help them, Jack," She blurted suddenly. "We have alien generators, they work."
"Yeah, and without them, Torchwood is blind and helpless. You have to weigh the numbers, Gwen."
Gwen nodded reluctantly, turning back to her screen and blinking back tears.
Ianto turned away, feeling like he was intruding, and headed for the coffee machine. It was shiny, new, and looked untouched, sitting next to an old-fashioned pot of burnt coffee scented sludge. Ianto couldn't see anything wrong with the newer model at a cursory glance, so he shrugged and poured out five cups. Milk and two sugars for Gwen and Owen, black with one for Jack, and black with three for Tosh. Pure black for himself of course, as Ianto had never dreamed of tainting his coffee with additives.
He carried them downstairs carefully, taking each step slowly and smoothly, trying not to let a single drop of Torchwood's life-blood spill. He was nearly at the bottom when a shockwave rocked the hub, throwing Ianto against one railing and the rest of the team into disarray.
As the quake ceased, Ianto looked down at his tray, and noted with some satisfaction, that he had still spilt less than Gwen or Owen did on their average trips down with mugs. Gazing around the hub, he realised with some trepidation that it hadn't all been so smooth, as the entire base was in disarray, and the team scattered like nine-pins.
"Alright." Jack rose up with great dignity, dust falling off his coat and scowl firmly affixed to his face. "Who the hell is bombing my base?"