Tuh'd cdub ev E vymm

Yht tuh't muug pylg

Pypo tuh'd cdub, pino sa

Yht vyta du pmylg

Ianto wondered slowly out of the back room. His hair was slightly messed up, and his hands automatically reached up and tried to flatten it down. The Hub was dark and silent, and somehow strangely peaceful. Ianto sighed and headed towards the coffee machine; hating to be away from Jack for more than a few minutes. He had swapped his usual smart suit and tie for a more casual white T-shirt and dark jeans.

Reaching up for two mugs, he froze for a moment as he heard a faint noise behind him, like the sighing of wind between trees. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw the Hub, dark and empty still. Nothing more. Turning back, he grabbed their two favourite mugs and set them down under the complicated machine.

His fingers danced over the controls and buttons, and soon there was a faint whirring sound, followed by the strong scent of coffee. Something stirred behind him once more, and he turned around again, eyes searching the dark corners of the hub. A clatter came from the back room, and Ianto sighed, irritated with himself. It was just Jack moving around, nothing sinister or anything stupid like that.

A noise came from directly behind him, and this time Ianto whirled around, clutching the coffee spoon he'd picked up in his hand like a weapon. Something black flashed across his eyes, making him blink. He'd definitely not imagined it that time. There was someone or something else in the Hub with them.

"Owen?" He called out softly, "Tosh? Gwen?" Silence. He sighed, "Jack is that you? I'll be in in a minute. The coffee machine hasn't worked out how to teleport hot coffee into the mugs in a nano-second just yet. I'm afraid you're just going to have to wait for that, or hope that some alien comes along who just happens to have a super fast coffee machine." He turned back to the complex machine, which was now pouring the dark brown liquid into the two mugs.

The spoon clattered to the floor from Ianto's hand. He fell back a few steps.

"W-What the…How did you get in here? Who are you?!"

A girl stood next to the machine, one hand resting lightly on the dark marble table top that it stood on. She was tall and slim, with long black braided hair that fell past her shoulders, and rich dark skin. She seemed to make the room around her look ugly and small in comparison to her. None of that mattered. Ianto only had a few seconds to take in her appearance, before he saw her eyes.

Black. So dark as to make black seem bright and cheerful. He couldn't draw himself away. It was as if she had taken him over completely. His limbs felt paralysed, and no matter how much his mind was screaming at him to move, to run, to do something. His throat seemed to close up, making it difficult to breathe and impossible to call for Jack. He felt as though all rational thought was being swamped by those endless dark holes, leaving only the fear yelling at him to run.

Suddenly, everything was burnt out by the searing pain that exploded in his mind. Every inch of his mind and body was screaming with agony, yet he still could not move. Some tremendous force pushed him down to his knees, and he could give no resistance. Tears spilled from his wide and fearful eyes, which now matched the girl's, who was standing above him, face expressionless.

She faded from his vision, as darkness overwhelmed him. Ianto could hear himself screaming as if from some far away place that was both important and nothing at the same time. Images flared up in front of his blind eyes.

Blood…his family…parents…brother…sister…the screams…the blood…pain…

'Such thoughts. Such imagination.'

Lisa…Cyber…metal…blood…screams…agony…fear…pain…

'More than the imagination'

Torchwood...blood…gunshot...Lisa…anger…blood…Toshiko…Blood…Owen…Blood…Gwen…Blood…Jack…death…blood…pain…pain…pain

Ianto's eyes flew open, and he fell sideways to the floor screaming. Pain wracked his body, and for a moment the world was full of confusion. Slowly things came back into focus, the pain dulling into the background. He found himself lying curled up on the floor, tears streaming down his face.

"Ianto!"

Jacks voice broke the hideous silence that hung like thick mist inside the Hub. He slowly pushed himself up slightly as he heard Jack's running feet. Ianto looked down at himself for a moment, half expecting his white T-shirt to be stained with blood. He was shaking violently. No blood.

Then Jack was there, beside him and holding him tightly.

"What the hell happened in here? One minute I can hear you making the coffee, the next dead silence, and the next…" Jack failed to suppress the slight shudder that came with his memory of Ianto's Horrific screams.

"There…there was a girl in here" Ianto began slowly, his voice still shaking slightly. "She…It was as if she appeared from nowhere. I heard a noise before, but I thought it was just you."

"What did she look like?" Jack's American voice stayed calm, though inside he was troubled. What had made Ianto this afraid?

"I don't remember. It was just…her eyes, they were so…" Ianto trailed off, voice still choked with fear.

Jack held him closer, unnerved by what he had just heard. How had something that wasn't Torchwood staff managed to get into the Hub without any alarms or alerts going off? And what's more, where had it gone now?

The two of them stayed still for a while, both making the other feel just that bit safer; that bit calmer. Finally they got slowly to their feet, and lent against the worktop where the girl had been only a few minutes before. Ianto shuddered, and Jack pulled him into a half hug once more.

Suddenly the loud whir of the front door sounded, followed by the screech of the alarm. The two of them looked at each other, both suddenly wondering what it could be…

"Jack? Ianto? You there?"

Owens voice echoed through the Hub, and he sounded tense and nervous. Jack hurried forwards out into the main area.

"Owen, what are you doing here? I thought you'd all gone home for the day?"

Then he looked down next to Owen, at Tosh's pale face, the cut on her forehead, the same terrified expression that had been on Ianto's face only moments before.

Oh great he thought to himself as the four of them stood looking at one another in silence, This is worse than any of us could have predicted…