AN: My up dates will be shorter from now due to university work, so i hope it doesn't spoil it for you...Thank you as always for taking up your time to read.

Hope To Make It Through Another Day

Ianto opened his eyes only to have to close them again almost straight away. It wasn't so much the pain as the brightness and the need to be sick.

He'd been drugged then.

His mouth felt like it was full of cotton wool and his ears were ringing. It took him a while to comprehend the fact that he was lying on what looked like a stainless steel floor. He shivered from cold and cautiously tried to push himself upright. His stomach lurched and before he could even think he vomited all over the floor. He remained on his hands and knees for some time heaving violently, his body chilled with sweat. Once the retching subsided he settled in to a sitting position, looking down at himself through unfocussed eyes. He was still garbed in the hospital gown and nothing else. A glance at his surroundings didn't tell him much. A white room with a panel that could have been a door and one light fighting over his head covered with a metal grill. The wall he was leaning against felt metallic and on inspection it to was perforated like a grill. Ianto had a very bad feeling about the situation he was in. The room smelt of ozone and charred meat and that thought set him off retching again.

He became aware of a shadow falling across him and looked up into the rat like eyes of Jason Murry. Ianto's breath hitched in surprise and he pushed himself tightly against the wall behind. Murry crouched down in front of him, looking around with a disgusted looked smirk on his angular face.

"Well, Ianto. It's been a while." His voice was smooth, dangerous and Ianto was unable to meet the man's penetrating gaze.

"Nothing to say? And I went to a lot of trouble to bring you here, the very least you could do is say hello."

Ianto swallowed but said nothing, knowing his voice would betray his fear.

"I see. I thought you and I had an understanding? But of course, you were lying to me all that time. Gone back to shagging that Yank have you? A good blow is he?"Murry snorted. "You're a filthy little toe rag Jones. Torchwood's whore, a joke."

Murry gracefully got to his feet and walked about the room careful to avoid stepping in the vomit on the floor.

"Do you know what this?" He gestured as he looked down at his prisoner.

Ianto followed him with his eyes and continued to keep quiet. One word out of place and he knew the kind of rage that this man was capable of and Ianto also knew he was in no fit state to defend himself.

"This is a microwave decontamination chamber…Well it was once, while this place was still operating as an experimental research facility. Did you know that?" Murry shook his head and gave Ianto a sympathetic smile. "No, I don't suppose you did."

Ianto took a moment to digest that snippet of information. His gut tightened; somehow he knew where this was going.

"Thing is, pretty boy. You betrayed me and lived to tell the tale. Not that it matters. I got my money. MI5 and the CIA blew up the wrong facility in Afghanistan and all that tech was purchased for a very nice price." Murry resumed his leisurely pacing. "You see the thing about people with money and power is that they always want more money and more power, they don't take defeat lightly and your former bosses at Torchwood One were less than impressed by Yvonne Hartman's monumental cock up with the Cybermen. Of course they don't call themselves Torchwood anymore…Some of your surviving colleagues are even working for them…I don't give a fuck of course. So long as I get my money and of course so long as I get you, because eventually I am going to kill you for what you did to me." He stopped again and Ianto finally met his gaze somewhat defiantly.

"Damn shame really. You were a good fuck."

Ianto then looked away feeling ashamed at the memory. Still he wouldn't have to live with it for long.

"So Ianto. This chamber. It will be the last room you ever see in your miserable little life because when I leave I will lock that door behind me and leave you with your sick and piss. You will either die of thirst or starvation or maybe I might just throw the switch and watch you cook from the inside out. I'm told on the lower settings it can take a few hours and if I do it intermittently I can make it last a few days as you slowly heat up and simmer from your gut outwards. I haven't decided yet. I like the idea though. I mean either way I'll have to obliterate the evidence and eventually you'll combust into ash and bone. I'm told it's quite a beautiful thing to behold. The flames are white because they get so hot and you're pretty hot Ianto. Well you were once anyway."

Murry stood and watched awaiting an outburst of some kind, a beg or a plea. None was forth coming. Ianto pulled his knees up to his chest and leaned against the wall. He was terrified and Murry knew it but he refused to satisfy the man further by making a show of it.

"I'll spread your ashes on some one's rose garden when we're done. Just to let you know, when we switch this thing on you'll feel a faint breeze and the light will dim a bit. I'll give you a brief demo on my out."

Ianto watched as Murry strode away and disappeared through the doorway with no handle. He heard the clank of the locking mechanism and waited.