Ianto woke up, his head hurt. His first thought was that he must have been out drinking, but then he hadn't had a headache this bad since that night out after Lisa… He shook his head and then very abruptly decided that that was a bad idea. His memory gradually caught up with the pounding pain in his temples; actually, he reasoned, it would have made much more sense for this to be his first thought on waking as recently he had been knocked-out far more frequently than he had passed out drunk.
The Kalarian had broken out of the containment field and had caught Owen in its first blast. Then Gwen had tried to hold it off by shooting at it, she had been taken down next. He had tried to get away, it was his responsibility to make sure that it didn't escape. He had managed to bring down some of the lock-down walls. He, Toshiko and Jack had spent the best part of four days installing them, trying to make sure that anything loose in the tunnels did not end up loose in the Hub and vice-versa. It was just after that that the Kalarian had caught up with him. Now, of course, he had woken up here, wherever here was. Another, more gentle head movement revealed featureless curving brick walls to go with the featureless curving brick ceiling he had been staring at.
Ianto got gingerly to his feet, everything seemed to be working more or less correctly; although his right ankle felt a bit sore. He leaned on the tunnel wall for a moment, resting his cheek against the cool brickwork. The throb in his head reduced a bit allowing him to think a bit easier. He was trying to ascertain which direction was back to the Hub. Obviously he had been dragged or carried here; the major problem with these tunnels was that they all looked pretty much the same.
Most of Torchwood and Crys had moved into the conference room for a bit of extra security while they tried to plan their next move. The resulting 'chat' had been a lot of talk and not much action; except for the moment when Gwen had threatened to have Crys arrested and she had gone for her knife in response. Jack and Owen had ended up forcibly separating the two women: an action not without some danger.
Jack could understand where Gwen was coming from, the ex-policewoman would obviously have a problem with someone like Crys. Still, with Ianto missing and a Kalarian on the loose personnel conflicts were the last of the worries. One of the foremost of their worries was that the containment unit (originally salvaged from rift debris) was currently in a lot of pieces across the Hub floor. Toshiko didn't think she could repair it, Jack knew that he could, but the parts he would need to do the repair wouldn't be invented for another 800 or so years.
It was at that point that Crys had announced, to very dark glares from Gwen, that she knew the best person to fix anything. After another near fight; this one ending with Gwen pinned into one chair by Owen and Jack holding Crys on the opposite side of the room; Crys had told everyone about Hammy. Owen had been dubious about bringing in another 'outsider'. Toshiko had forestalled further arguments by pulling up data on the 19 year old concerned. There wasn't a lot of it; the file was mainly made up of a list of known associates/employers, a list of names that made Gwen visibly wince as she read them. Crys filled in a few more details. Jack made a decision before tempers flared anymore. As a result Crys had phoned Hammy and now she and Owen were up in the square waiting for him. Jack, Gwen and Toshiko were walking round the Hub trying to determine how much damage Crys and the Kalarian between them had done and where all the bits of the containment unit had ended up. Aside from a few shelves and the containment unit itself it didn't seem as if much had been broken.
"Is everyone all right?" Ianto said. Jack whirled round. He was surprised by how silently Ianto moved.
"Everyone's fine," Jack said. There was a bruise across the Welshman's right temple and he was limping slightly but otherwise he seemed to be in good health. Jack pulled him into a brief hug. Ianto made a sort of 'whoof' noise as the air was squashed from his lungs. Jack let go of Ianto and looked at him. "Are you all right, what happened?" Jack asked.
By the time he had finished filling them in on the trek he had taken through the tunnels Crys and Owen had returned leading a babbling teen between them. Hammy was looking around in awe, it seemed that he thought he was in heaven. Hammy looked around the Hub and then glanced back at Crys.
"This place is pretty sweet. You said you had something that needed fixing?" Crys pointed at what was left of the containment unit. Hammy rubbed his hands together, and pulled a screwdriver from his pocket. He picked up a tool lying on a desk with his free hand as he approached the containment unit. "So, how are you today?"
Gwen was about to respond to Hammy's question when she realised that he wasn't talking to her; he was talking to the rather crispy remains of the containment unit. She raised an eyebrow at Tosh and Crys.
"Is he really that good?" She asked, they looked at each other for a moment. Then Tosh spoke up.
"He does seem to know what he's doing." she offered. Crys smiled darkly.
"It's the only thing that's kept him alive this long." Gwen had no illusions about the difficulty of living the life Hammy must have led. He was short for his age and on the skinny side and his face was somewhat misshapen, he smiled broadly as he worked picking up small pieces of debris and turning them carefully in his hands. Gwen watched in silence as he continued to work, she could hear Owen complaining as he checked over the med bay, Toshiko aided the young man occasionally. Jack came over and tapped Gwen on the shoulder.
"It looks like he'll get it fixed, we still need to locate a Kalarian to put in it." Jack looked more bored than anything as he contemplated this. "preferably before it does anymore damage."
Gwen sighed and checked her gun over, it wasn't the most effective weapon against Kalarians but that was what the containment unit was for. Besides, it did have some effect.
"I don't know who has it, but I want my gun back." Crys held out her hand as she spoke, waiting.
Ianto reached into a pocket a pulled out Crys's pistol. He reached into another pocket and produced the magazine. He handed them both over to Crys without comment. Crys put the gun back together and checked it over.
"Right, let's go hunting."