This one's the darkest one I think, not so happy Ianto Though we all know the ending to the story (as in Jack and Ianto) so it's not so bad! It's not so nice thinking what he went through though...

Disclaimer: I own nothing, though I will (eventually) own the action figures of Jack and Ianto (when they pull their fingers out and make them, which apparently they are). They currently belong to Russel T. Davies though...

Encounter No. 5: September 2004

Ianto managed to get in two more months of working in the archives before he got his annual employee training, including full weapons and arms training. It was this, and a large scale mission that went wrong, which had him switched to Field, where he received more weapons training.

His friends found this amazing, and he was soon the topic of conversation at lunchtimes, all of them eager to find out what it was like to be a Field Agent. Only Lisa realised how much he disliked the situation. She knew all about Ianto's fear of confrontation, so surely confrontation with the ability to kill terrified him. It wasn't in his nature to fire a gun. It was just bad luck that he was so good at it.

Less than three months after his rigorous training began, he was sent off on missions in a team of four. He got on well with both men and the woman he was working with; Aiden Heath, Mark Trent and Christine Lior. All of them were bubbly, happy people and their personalities quickly gave Ianto the frame of mind he needed to do his job well. In fact, he'd gained so much confidence, that he was even considering asking Lisa out on a date, seeing as the idiot of a boyfriend had shown his true colours and cheated on her with some girl at a bar.

One particular mission, in the middle of July, Ianto and his team saw things that were the things of nightmares. He'd seen a group of aliens rip apart several people, pieces of body flying through the air. Then they'd shot and killed all of them. Wading through the gore to retrieve the tech they'd been sent for. None of them were ever the same again after that.

Ianto soon came to realise that he didn't even recognise himself anymore. Physically, he'd grown through the training and exercise regimes he put himself through. But he also looked older, his eyes a little less bright and his face a lot less naïve. He carried a scepticism like a cloak and he saw the world through analytical, cynical lenses. All of these changes helped him become one of the most deadly Field Agents in Torchwood London.

The team quickly developed a reputation for speed and accuracy that had been unheard of in the Torchwood Institute for over fifty years. It was for this reason that, on Captain Harkness' next annual visit, they were the team assigned to him for daylight hours.

Ianto and Aiden had waited in the bright, sterilised foyer to the building for his arrival, following him into the lift silently. They did as they'd been trained to do; don't fraternise with the target and stay hidden whenever possible. None of them had any trouble with that anymore.

They followed the Captain up to the antechamber and waited by the door, blending into the background. Ianto watched without emotion as the man looked around the room, noting Mark and Christine at the opposite door, then looked at Gemma, Yvonne's current favourite. Gemma was a sweet girl, she didn't deserve to be caught up in this mess between the two heavy weights. At least Captain Harkness gave as good as he got when it came to Director Hartman.

He walked through to the office and Ianto made eye contact with Christine and Mark, a silent greeting which they'd agreed to do, to give the illusion that they were still human beings, civil people who had manners. None of them were sure just how much they had left in them anymore.

The four waited for the order, and after a few minutes, they moved silently into a line, walking through to the office and standing against the back wall in silence, all four of them statues, puppets to be bent to Director Hartman's will.

"Field Agents Heath, Jones, Trent and Lior will be with you on days, changing for a second detail over night." Ianto continued staring ahead, ignoring the pitying look that the Captain was giving him and his team. He couldn't help but feel grateful for the disgust and contempt in the man's tone when he turned back to the Director.

"I'll be back in exactly one hour for the board meeting. Please don't be late, Yvonne. I really hate waiting around." He got up quickly and stalked out of the room, the team following silently, merging back into the shadows as soon as they were free of the office. Ianto was silently glad that for once, his mission didn't involve killing. He was glad that he could go back home and spend the night with Lisa, as they so rarely got to do these days.