Doomsday: Post Apocalypse
a Torchwood story
by RoadrunnerGER
Dislaimer: Oh, really! They're the BBC's.
Summary: Ianto comes to Cardiff for a week to help with the archives, but is it as simple as that? Jack/OC, Jack?Ianto
Suspense/hurt/comfort – T – Ianto Jones & Jack Harkness
A/N: Thanks to StarKayak for trading ideas. You were a big help. This chapter is for you. Special thanks to my beta mandassina. Enjoy!
Chapter 13 – A close call
A few hours later Captain Jack Harkness was on edge. No, scratch that. He was about to go nuts.
His coat was gone!
When they returned from their mission and he did not see it on its hook on the coat rack he assumed that he remembered wrong and took it down to his room below his office. Reassured by this assumption he spared no further thought about it and tried to focus on his work. He even began to write his list for Ianto until he could not find it in him anymore. Then he climbed down the ladder to get his coat and finally have a better look at it to see how badly it had really suffered…
…and it had disappeared.
The greatcoat did not lie on his bunk.
It did not hang in the wardrobe.
It was not in the bathroom.
It was not thrown over the backrest of his chair.
It was definitely not in this room.
Climbing back up Jack searched his office. No trace of the coat.
Jack stood in the middle of his office and trembled with anxiety. He could not remember what he might have done with it. The last time he saw it, it hung on the coat rack. At least that was what he believed to remember. Now it was miraculously gone and Jack felt like a piece of himself was missing. The greatcoat was not just a thing that kept him warm or protected him against wind or rain after all. It represented memories and was an embodiment of a turning point in his life. The mere idea that it might be lost caused Jack physical pain.
"Jack?"
"What?" the captain barked and spun around to find Owen in the entrance.
"I finished Murphy's autopsy," the medic stated and came closer.
Stunned Jack took a deep breath and released it audibly. Did so much time pass or was the doctor unusually fast today?
"What did you find?" Jack forced himself to ask in a reasonable tone.
"The young man suffocated," Owen explained. "I can't tell why or how, though."
"Was he strangled?" Jack queried.
"Didn't I just tell you that I don't know?" Owen growled. "There are petechial hemorrhages in his eyes that are a clear sign of asphyxiation, but I could not find any haematomas that indicate strangulation."
"His airways could've been blocked," Jack suggested.
Owen shook his head. "I found no indication. As there was no water in his lungs he did not drown either."
"Well, how should he have drowned where we found him?" Jack mused aloud. "He wasn't anywhere close to water."
"I couldn't find any marks around mouth and nose either that would suggest that someone held them closed."
"What about his larynx?" Jack queried. "If it spasmed he wouldn't get any water into his lungs, right?"
"That's true, and right now that's the only explanation I can think of," Owen confirmed. "There are no irritations in his throat or oral cavity. Nothing that indicates external forces."
"But people usually don't asphyxiate by themselves, Owen."
"I know. Tell that to the corpse down in the med bay!" the medic frayed. "Do you know any aliens that could've done that? Maybe a telepath?"
"Telekinetic strangulation?" Jack chuckled. "Sounds interesting."
"Too bad we can't ask Murphy," Owen declared, "he could tell us how he died."
A chill ran down Jack's spine at the medic's words. Not for the first time he was glad that his team members did not know about his unique state. He could imagine all the questions or that Owen would love to experiment on him. Not that there were any tests that Torchwood did not conduct on him yet, voluntarily or involuntarily. Still Jack had no answers.
"Well, we could have asked him…"
Turning toward the voice they found Suzie standing in the doorway.
"What do you mean?" Owen snapped. "He's dead."
"I know," Suzie shrugged. "But maybe we could've changed that."
While Owen snorted an incredible laugh Jack's interest was piqued.
"How?" the captain prodded.
"The glove, Jack," Suzie explained and her features lit up with eagerness. "I think that's what the glove is for!"
"To do what?" Owen incredulously snarled, "wake up the dead?"
"Bring them back to life."
"That's not possible, Suzie," Jack told her and felt another shudder course through his body at the lie. He knew only too well that there were things in the universe that could not be explained or at least not be grasped by human understanding.
"And I think it is possible," she insisted. "Of course it doesn't work if the body's disembowelled like a Christmas turkey."
"Stop kidding," Owen grunted.
But Jack became curious and said, "Tell me more about it."
"You don't believe that crap, do you?" Owen challenged.
"I need to hear more before I decide what to believe or not," Jack shot back. "Suzie?"
"Well, Jack, if you would actually read the papers passing your desk you'd know that I reported about my first studies on the glove that was washed up in the docks last month."
"Then tell me about it now," Jack commanded.
"It's doing resurrection!" Suzie excitedly went on. "It looks like there's a limit built in, but it seems like anything dead that you touch with the glove will be reanimated."
"You really are kidding, right?" Owen huffed.
"No. One minute and twenty-two, Jack!" Suzie heatedly declared. "That's the longest I managed so far, but I don't think I've reached its limit yet! You can believe me, it brings back the dead!"
"You already tested that?" Jack queried.
"Sure I did! I was tasked to examine the glove and find out what it does after all!" Suzie insisted. "So that's what I did! I brought back a fly… and a goldfish!"
"How long have they been dead?" Jack demanded to know.
"They've been dead between ten seconds and ten minutes."
"Ten seconds to ten minutes?" Owen cut in again. "Did you kill them so you could conduct your tests?"
"I did what I had to do," Suzie told him flatly. "But it could be important! Imagine what we could do! It's an amazing thing!"
Her enthusiasm was infectious and Jack loved her dedication. She was easily excited by new and mysterious things and dove into a task with everything she had.
"Jack?" Toshiko asked, peering in around Suzie who still leaned in the doorway.
"Yes, Tosh?"
"Something's going on, Jack," the computer expert told him. "There was a 999 call about an unidentified assailant."
"What's that got to do with us?" the captain wanted to know.
"The woman who made the call said something about it being a foggy shape before it dissolved and became invisible. She screamed and began to choke. Then the call ended in white noise."
"Oooo, creepy," Suzie chuckled.
"Our first victim was suffocated," Jack stated flatly before Owen could. "Let's have a look at this new case. Suzie, bring the glove. Let's see what it can do."
"All right," Toshiko confirmed and hurried to gather her scanners and PDA.
A moment later they were on their way back out to the SUV. Jack climbed in behind the steering wheel and chased the car out of the underground garage and through the streets of Cardiff. He was fully concentrated on the coming mission. For now the vanished coat was forgotten.
xXx
Which probably was the reason why Ianto remained unchallenged. With the team being gone nobody noticed him emerge from the bowels of the Hub around six o' clock. If Jack would have asked about his coat someone might have pointed out that Ianto had been the only one at the Hub who could have taken it, and that would have inevitably led to Jack confronting the Welshman about the missing coat.
As it was, though, the Hub was vacant when Ianto came up from the archives. Realizing he was all alone he deduced that the team was called away again. Part of him was angry that nobody had cared to tell him that they left for a mission while another part told him that they probably did not have the time to go down to the archives and let him know.
I should really get one of those earpieces. Guess they even forgot I'm here.
Ianto toyed with the idea of going home as his workday was officially over by now, but something held him there. As he did not feel like returning to the archives he went to restart the coffee machine in order to have a fresh brew when the team returned. Then he strode down to the storage room where he had spread out the greatcoat on a rack to dry. In said room Ianto had found a fan heater that he put to good use. When he checked on the coat now it felt warm and dry. So Ianto switched off the heater and took the coat with him to the archives where he set about repairing the damages.
xXx
At the same time Jack had other problems.
Understandably but not necessarily desirably the police were being difficult. A woman was dead and the constables wanted only one thing: preserve the scene for the CID and the crime scene unit to collect physical evidence. Torchwood did not mind them preserving the scene, but the more people contaminated it the more unlikely it became to find out what had caused the woman's death.
To make matters even more interesting fate had sent old acquaintances.
"I don't know why we're arguing," Owen muttered under his breath and Suzie shrugged.
Jack chose just that second to cut a long story short and simply ignore the constables as well as the blue and white striped plastic cordon and pushed past the officers to approach the victim with long strides.
"You can't go there!" the female constable yelled.
"Easy, Gwen," her partner shushed her. "He claims they're superior to us. Let's call headquarters and see what they say."
Still fuming the constable caved and let the others pass.
"He's regained some hair," Toshiko snickered lowly as she stopped beside Jack and took her first readings.
"Oh, he's the one who used the Bracosian depilation device?" Owen said, unnecessarily gaping at the police officer.
"Constable Davidson just couldn't listen to my warnings," Jack grunted with barely concealed amusement before he forced himself to be earnest, "Now, Owen, what do you think?"
Squatting beside the female body Owen cast a first look at the seemingly untouched flesh. Slipping on gloves he reached out for the woman's blouse to push the collar back. No strangulation marks. Leaning closer he sniffed at the body and opened her mouth to look at the oral cavity.
"Petechial haemorrhaging in her eyes," he reported. "Seems to be the same cause of death."
"Now that's suspicious," Suzie stated. "Maybe something did come through after all."
"I was just thinking the same thing," Jack agreed. "We need to find it."
"Find what?"
Groaning inwardly at the pushy voice, Jack straightened up, bracing himself. Suddenly he missed his coat dearly. Turning around he fixated Constable Cooper with a stern gaze.
"The cause of death," he lied firmly. "This case is our jurisdiction. I confiscate the body and the corresponding evidence. Please make sure nobody else enters the crime scene, Constable."
"Who the hell are you?" she demanded. "You can't just barge in here and order us around."
"Oh, I can and I will, Constable Cooper," Jack shot back. "Now go and keep your colleagues out."
"What?" she gasped.
"Your crime scene investigators," Jack elaborated with a nod at the people he saw arrive in a police van. "Keep them out."
"But…"
"Now," Jack insisted and the constable finally went to do as she was told. As she walked away he watched her for a moment. When she and Andy had temped for Torchwood she had shown an eagerness that was comparable to Suzie's, full of joy at the unknown and mysterious. Now she was annoyed with the stranger who ordered her around and suspicious of the group that occupied the crime scene. It was a pity, but Jack could not think of any other way to maintain Torchwood's secrecy.
Ianto and their discussion about Retcon came to his mind. Of course it would be easier if the people agreed to losing their memories, but what person who was in the right state of mind would do that? The survivors of Canary Wharf came to mind, and Jack was again reminded of how impressed he had been with Ianto. For some reason he thought it would break his heart if the young man should change his mind and join those who would choose to forget the horrors of that day, but Jack would not blame him if he did. Starting a new life on a romantic lie of a tragic accident that stole his fiancée would, in many ways, be easier than living the truth of Torchwood.
A shiver chased across his skin and Jack wanted to draw the coat tighter around him, which made him conscious again of the fact that his coat was undiscoverable.
"Jack?"
"Yes, Tosh?" he replied absently and he only looked at her PDA when she nudged his arm.
"What do you think?" she queried.
"That you found something," Jack told her vaguely. "Could be a creature. We need to check it out."
"All right."
Toshiko led the way, repeatedly looking at her PDA for confirmation. They approached an old warehouse with a fading white thirteen painted above the doors.
"Superstitious, anyone?" Jack murmured.
"Are you?" Toshiko asked with astonishment.
"Not really," he shrugged. "Working for Torchwood I've seen too many things that were beyond belief."
"Exactly."
One hand resting on their respective weapons the two Torchwood agents stood on both sides of the door in the gate and looked at each other. Silently Jack counted to three and carefully opened the door. As they slowly stalked inside their eyes needed to adjust to the twilight. Apparently the warehouse was currently unused. Even though no goods blocked their view the agents did not see any intruders.
"Where are they?" Jack whispered, reaching for Toshiko's PDA.
Showing it to him she indicated the far left corner. Still neither Jack nor Toshiko could make out where the aliens were. Or if there were any aliens. All Toshiko could tell with the help of her scanners was that something emitted radiation over there. Something that should not be here. Something that presumably had killed two people already. Something that obviously was dangerous.
Carefully the Torchwood agents ventured into the open space, keeping an eye on the far corner where the beings were supposed to be.
"They're splitting up," Toshiko whispered, holding up her handheld computer. "See?"
"Yeah," Jack confirmed after a quick glance at the screen. He was still trying to determine where, or what, the aliens were.
"Any idea yet?" Toshiko asked as if she was reading his thoughts. In fact it was experience that made her ask. Jack simply knew a lot of alien creatures and technology, and if anyone could tell what they were confronted with it was their captain.
"No," Jack had to admit. "What exactly are you measuring?"
"Rift radiation," she told him, meaning the temporal and spatial background radiation anything coming through the Rift picked up during transition. "It was too low to be measured at the Hub."
"Okay."
Considering that the beings still were invisible suggested a possible reason why the radiation was not that high: they simply did not have enough mass.
Looking closer for rather small life forms Jack slowly moved forward. He felt a prickling at the back of his neck. His instincts told him that this had to be handled carefully.
"Stand back," he murmured and Toshiko paused.
Checking on her PDA she said, "They've stopped."
"Where?"
"About thirty yards away, one's closer to the long wall the other to the short."
Narrowing his eyes Jack kept searching. Maybe the creatures were camouflaged. If they were they were pretty good chameleons as they were still invisible. There! Was he mistaken or did he notice movement?
"Tosh? Did they move?"
"A bit to the side," she confirmed.
"Okay…"
Jack's bad hunch intensified. Racking his mind he tried to recall whether he knew any creature that could hide itself like this, but to no avail. Undecidedly he stood in the middle of the empty warehouse. All he knew was that the beings were dangerous and needed to be contained. So far he had no idea how to do that.
Staring at the same spot for what seemed like forever now, Jack attempted to catch a glimpse like before. It had not been anything but a shimmer of air, not unlike a mirage.
What are they?
Slowly he made a tentative step forward and all of a sudden his hair stood on end. Jack could not say that he saw something, but still his senses screamed alarm.
"Jack?" Toshiko said, sounding alarmed as well. "They're coming closer, directly to your position."
"Get out," he hissed.
"What?"
"I said, get out."
The captain's breathing accelerated as he tried to brace himself. Asphyxiation was unpleasant to say the least, but he was willing to risk it if they could find out more about what they were dealing with.
Guess my secret won't be a secret anymore then, he inwardly sighed and moved just a little bit further toward the alien.
"Jack!" Toshiko screamed. On her screen she could see how both dots shot toward the captain. She heard a rush of wind but did not feel anything of a breeze.
Jack on the other hand was well aware of the assault. A shimmer of the air was the first indication. Then he saw dust whirl up from the floor of the warehouse, small pieces of debris and paper being caught as well. It looked like a whirlwind and rushed toward him with incredible speed. He heard Toshiko's scream a split second before the howling of the air drowned her voice out.
Trapped in a localized twister Jack could not even struggle. Instinctively he had raised his arms to protect himself, but they were pressed against his body now that the air whirled around him with a force that robbed him of his breath.
That's why there were no strangulation marks! They died in a whirlwind!
The realization fuelled panic. Despite having returned from every death he had died for over a hundred years now, Jack could not keep the fear at bay because he still was not sure that he could survive literally anything. Anxiety came every time he was about to die and being squeezed by a small tornado allowed Jack enough time to fully experience the unpleasant emotion.
His gasps for air remained without success and Jack felt his senses dwindle. There was another sensation that he could not place, like the whirlwind was taking something else from him, but maybe it was his life that he felt being drained from him just before he lost consciousness.
xXx
"Jack!" Toshiko screamed. Helplessly she had to watch how their captain was caught in the whirlwind. Reaching up to her earpiece she called for Suzie and Owen's backup. Instinctively she slowly moved backwards, away from the rush of air that held Jack captive.
"What happened?" Owen yelled as he stormed into the warehouse.
Pointing at Jack fighting his already lost fight against the force of the wind, Toshiko whimpered, "They got him."
"What got him?"
"Two… something," Toshiko muttered.
Suzie appeared behind Owen. She looked shocked by the scene.
"We've got to help him!"
"How?" Toshiko queried. "How do you fight wind?"
Being left without a clue they stood and stared until Owen could not stand it anymore and moved forward.
"No!" Toshiko shouted and grabbed his arm. "Jack told me to get away! Don't get caught by them as well!"
The medic was about to argue when the horrible pressure on Jack decreased and he slumped to the ground. Dust and bits and pieces were stirred up as the wind phenomenon turned in the direction of the Torchwood agents. Toshiko squealed as it quickly moved toward them and wrapped her arms around Owen. She could feel Suzie close behind them.
A gush of wind swept over them, showering them with the small bits of debris that it carried, and disappeared, the door swinging in its hinges as it was pushed further open.
"What the hell was that?" Suzie queried.
"Jack!" Toshiko shouted and ran, Owen right on her heels.
"The wind sucked the air right out of him," the medic stated, falling to his knees beside the captain and placing both heels of his hands on Jack's chest. "Breathe for him, Tosh!" he commanded as he began to pump. "One, two, three, four, five… breathe! Again!"
Feverishly they worked on reviving their leader who lay limp on the concrete floor.
"Oh, my God," Suzie whispered, finally catching on to what had happened. "Can you help him?"
"We'll see," Owen grunted. "Three, four, five…"
As he trailed off Toshiko blew air into Jack's lungs. She desperately hoped that it helped. People who drowned could be saved like this, she knew that. Would it help Jack as well? Once more she breathed for him.
Arching up beneath them, Jack gasped for air. A series of coughs followed. Every single one sounded painful and Toshiko reached out at him comfortingly. It took a moment until the captain could breathe properly again and fell back to the ground. His breaths still sounded a little rattling.
"Was someone kissing me?" he croaked, eyes still closed.
"Nooo," Owen grunted and sat back. Rolling his eyes he emphatically groaned, "Bugger! He's already back to his old self."
Toshiko cried hot tears with relief and Suzie released a breath she did not know she had been holding.
"You sure?" Jack queried and finally opened his eyes.
"You're incorrigible," Owen spat. "It was resuscitation, nothing more, nothing less."
"You?" the captain smirked wickedly.
"No. Tosh."
"Thank you," he smiled up at her. Seeing her tear streaked face he added, "Easy. I'm fine."
"We thought we lost you!" Toshiko sobbed.
"But you didn't," he said and tried to sit up. It made him feel a bit nauseous. "Could you gather any data when they attacked me?"
"What…?" Confusion spread on Toshiko's face. "You expected me to…" she trailed off, losing track of what to say. Instead she looked at her PDA to see if it continued to scan and which data it could offer. She scowled. "I need to examine this closer," she said. "Besides, it's creepy to be here. Can we go back?"
"Yes," Jack nodded and regretted the motion at once. "The aliens certainly are gone. Let's bag the body and return to the Hub."
Owen helped him to get up and offered him his shoulder as support as Jack staggered along. Still feeling queasy, he left it to his team to pack up the woman's body and carry it to the SUV. Suzie argued with detective inspectors of the criminal investigative division. Jack was glad that his team took good care of everything. Once more he wished he had his coat. He wanted to wrap himself up into the warm wool, using it as comfort as well as a shield against unwanted questions.
Now that he had a moment to gather his thoughts, he realized that only one person had been present when the coat disappeared and he intended to have an earnest word with him, which was a polite description of what he imagined to do when he got back to the Hub.
Realizing that it was dark by now Jack looked at his watch. Ianto probably went home already. Well, that would not keep him from punishment. The worst thing Jack could imagine was that the Welshman thought the coat was beyond repair and threw it away. The mere idea made him shudder and his insides clench painfully.
"We're ready to go, Jack," Suzie insistently declared. Probably not for the first time.
Nodding, he followed the others to the SUV and readily allowed Owen to drive.
tbc…