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
Chapter 17
"Do you have any idea what to do about those whirlwinds, Jack?" Toshiko asked as she put the empty bowl down on the chest.
Unfortunately Jack had no idea.
"Don't we have anything in our armoury that could affect it?" Owen queried.
All Jack could do was shrug.
"May I ask what you're talking about?" Ianto threw in. "Nobody told me what the mission was about."
"Well," Jack carefully started, "whatever came through is invisible. Despite its appearance as a whirlwind it seems to be intelligent. Actually there were two of them and they moved purposefully toward my position."
"They attacked you," Toshiko interrupted. "You scared us all to death."
"They killed him to be exact," Owen grunted around his food.
"Do you want to be praised for saving me now?" Jack snarled.
"No, just stating a fact," Owen shrugged. "Those things are dangerous."
"What did they do?" Ianto asked and felt Suzie glare at him.
"They suffocated him," Owen explained in Jack's stead. "The force of the wind took his breath away."
"How does that work?"
"It's like when you're walking in a storm," Owen tried to elaborate. "The wind blowing in your face doesn't allow you to breathe in. It's like your throat's closing up against it."
Thoughtfully Ianto nodded.
"But what can we do to stop them?" Toshiko prodded.
"I still have no idea," Jack admitted.
None of the others could come up with a suggestion either. They did not even know if the program Toshiko had written would actually alert them of further activities of the whirlwinds. The conversation died away and Owen polished off the last of his pork Szechwan.
Ianto noticed that Jack was brooding again, but with the rest of the team being present he did not want to ask him about what was bothering him. Actually he was pretty certain that he knew what was on the captain's mind, and that the matter was nothing he would discuss with the others.
Leaning heavily against the sofa's backrest, Jack furtively looked at the Welshman and their gazes met. A small smile quirked the corners of Ianto's mouth. It warmed the captain's heart. He hated being clueless and he hated that the others' curiosity had been piqued after his most recent death. As long as there was a chance that he could avoid them finding out about his immortality he would take it. Ianto showed compassion without being intrusive. Something Jack appreciated.
"Huh?" Toshiko startled. Looking down, she discovered the cause of her affright. "Yvonne!"
The red, black, and white cat had touched her calf as she tried to squeeze past her in order to get to Jack. She strolled around Suzie's legs and nudged her head against Jack's shin.
"Hello, love," he smiled. "Are you hungry, too?" Noticing that she carried something between her fangs, he purred, "Do you have a gift for me?"
"Ewww!" Toshiko had seen it as well now.
Owen quirked an eyebrow and Ianto could guess what it was. Only Suzie became really excited.
"Oh, brilliant!" she cheered. "Do you mind leaving it to me for testing?"
Toshiko grimaced at the idea. "What for? Do you want to dissect it?"
"No, Tosh," Suzie beamed at her. "I want to bring it back."
"Bring it back?" Honest confusion carried in her voice as she had not been present when Suzie told Jack and Owen about what the glove could do.
"Yep!" Suzie agreed excitedly. "I'll go get it!"
Before Jack could even think about a reply, she jumped up from her seat and darted over to her workstation where the metal glove was propped up for examination. It did not take her a minute to return with the artefact.
"Now, where's my mouse?" she prodded.
It lay to Jack's feet where Yvonne had deposited it before she hopped up onto the sofa to get in Jack's lap. There she lay now, purring happily as the captain gave her a good scratch on her neck and petted her tummy.
"I'm not picking it up," Jack stated.
"Neither am I," Toshiko warded off.
Smiling mildly at each of them, Suzie leaned down and took the mouse by the tail, lifting it up and placing it into one of the empty food containers. "You have no problems handling human bodies, but touching a little mouse is too much to ask?" she chuckled.
"Didn't say that," Jack pouted. "Didn't want to disturb Yvonne."
While Toshiko smiled warmly at him, Owen theatrically rolled his eyes.
"Never mind," Suzie said and put on the glove, feeling the slightest tingling start.
Squirming around in Jack's lap, Yvonne hissed.
"Sorry, did I tickle you?" Jack chuckled, holding her close and petting her head. "Go on, Suzie."
"Hold your breaths."
As Suzie moved closer, Yvonne started to growl and back up, working her way, rear end first, right up Jack's front and onto his shoulder.
"Oh, come off it," Suzie grumbled at the cat. "Not like you haven't seen alien tech before."
Now crouched on the back of the sofa behind Jack's head, Yvonne peered out at Suzie with her ears laid back and spat at her.
Jack gave his cat a curious glance and said, "Must be some kind of energy signature she doesn't like."
"Yeah," Owen was quick to agree, "Like a dog hearing a dog whistle or something."
Reaching into the food container, Suzie lightly touched the dead mouse with the glove and concentrated. Yvonne made a low, vicious sound in her throat. The others could hear a faint buzz and suddenly the mouse pedalled, rolled over and began to struggle to get out of the carton.
With a demonic shriek worthy of a made-for-television movie mountain lion, Yvonne fled the couch at top speed, claws tearing into the upholstery. She flew from the backrest and into the nearby passage and vanished into the bowels of the Hub in the blink of an eye.
"Whoa!" Owen called out. "It really works!"
"For about two minutes," Suzie stated.
"And then?" Jack asked. He had pouted for a moment over his cat being frightened away, but then he was as interested in the glove as the rest of them.
"Then it's dead again," Suzie shrugged. "I didn't figure out yet if that depends on the amount of power being transmitted through the glove or if it's a safety mechanism."
"Probably the latter," Jack said.
"It's incredible!" Toshiko marvelled at the mouse in its prison.
"Isn't it?" Suzie cheered. "Imagine what it could do! Imagine it working on humans! Exploring what's coming next! We could ask them about what's on the other side!"
Jack did not quite share her excitement. Having been there he could not see the thrill in the subject. He was not the only one who reacted rather sceptical.
"What about you, Ianto?" Toshiko tried to get his reaction. "Don't you think it's impressive?"
Ianto was not sure how he should answer her enthusiastic query. The cat's reaction did not escape his attention, mirroring his own worries. He knew animals had a sixth sense when it came to danger.
"It is impressive," he carefully agreed. "But, Suzie, did you ask yourself if you should do it in the first place?"
"What do you care?" Suzie hissed.
Jack's head whipped around to her which clearly displayed his surprise, at her question and especially at the venom in her voice. He thought they had settled that matter.
"That's hardly your concern! You're just the archivist after all," Suzie took the same line.
"Suzie…" Jack growled.
"Barely a week after a Cyber-invasion caused by the negligence and presumptuousness of Torchwood One's directorate you shouldn't need anyone else raising that question for you," Ianto spoke firmly.
"This is hardly comparable," Suzie hissed. "The glove only works on one individual at a time after all."
"That's not what I meant," Ianto stood his ground. "I'm talking about general ethics."
"It's not wrong what he's saying," Owen shrugged. "I mean, this time it just was a mouse, but you're talking about people, Suzie."
"That's why we need to explore it more!" Suzie was adamant. "It needs testing! Only then will I be able to tell what it's doing."
"No matter what it's doing," Ianto cut in again, "I don't want to imagine the impact it would have on humans. You talk about bringing them back for about two minutes. What do you want to tell them? That they're dead? And then what?"
"I really don't know why we're arguing!" Suzie frayed. "That's nothing to you!"
"Suzie!" Jack hissed forcefully. "In my office."
He got up and strode to his office without checking if she followed him. It was all he could do not to explode. All Ianto did was to address a serious matter. Actually the captain had expected Owen to bring it up, but the medic seemed to be overwhelmed by the possibilities. Okay, Jack was considering to agree with Suzie, but they still had to take the counter-arguments into consideration.
Jack had already sat down behind his desk when Suzie entered behind him and he gestured her to close the door. She complied by pushing against the door but stood with her arms stubbornly crossed over her chest and glared at him.
"All right, Suzie," Jack sternly said. "What's up? What do you have against Ianto?"
"Nothing," she said. "He's a nice guy."
"But something about him is driving you nuts!" Jack insisted. "What is it?"
"It's not just that he questioned my intentions and ethics," Suzie said. "It's everything he's doing! He came here to help a little with the archiving and now he's responsible for shipping the Tasmanian tigers, he's in charge of coordinating the handling of the surviving Torchwood personnel as well as the organization of the funerals in London."
"I'm sorry, I still don't see the problem," Jack said, and he was sincere on both counts. He really was sorry that Suzie was so upset, and he really did not see the reason why. It was not as if they did not have enough to do without the decommissioning of One and the continuing clean-up of the chaos caused by the Cyberinvasion. "If you can tell me right now that you are ready, willing, and able to take on the job, I'll give it to you. I just didn't have any idea you would want to do that kind of thing."
"I don't," Suzie told him. "I've got enough to do keeping the PM off your back. Besides, that's not the point!"
"Then what's the matter? You don't object when I assign Tosh or Owen a special project…"
"You've given him the additional responsibility without consulting me!"
Jack scowled. He really had thought they had settled that matter.
"You never cared when I expanded Tosh or Owen's field of work. Why Ianto?"
"Because he's not one of us, Jack!" Suzie insisted. "And if you weren't thinking with the wrong head, you would know that!"
And the penny dropped. It was easy enough for Jack to understand why Suzie would be suspicious of anyone coming from One, but Jack had a sense about Ianto, just as he had had about Suzie, Toshiko, and Owen, but even stronger. It was so strong, in fact, that he could not quite bring himself to contemplate losing the Welshman. The looks, the voice, the beautiful Welsh vowels, and the miraculous coffee all had something to do with that, but there was something deeper, something stronger that he had only ever felt once before, when he first set foot on the TARDIS. As amazing as he appeared to be, Jack was certain that Ianto Jones was bigger on the inside, and having Suzie question his instincts really pissed him off.
"He is one of us now," Jack hissed, trying to reign in his temper. "Because I say so, and as long as Ianto Jones is with us, I will use him when and how I see fit!"
Suzie snorted.
"I'm sure you will," she sneered. "Enjoy him!"
She stormed out of the office, slamming the door behind her, and was all the way to the cog door before he understood what she had said.
Jumping up from behind the desk and rushing across his office, Jack yanked open the door and shouted, "HEY! I didn't mean it like that, and you bloody well know it!"
When Suzie left without acknowledging him, Jack slammed the door and went back to his desk to brood.
"Of course, it wouldn't be a bad idea…" he murmured to himself but could not follow the thought through because Toshiko called out for him.
"What's up?" Jack asked as he approached her workstation.
"I think I picked up on the whirlwinds' activity," Toshiko replied. "Have a look…"
Examining the readings displayed on the screen, Jack scowled. "Looks pretty erratic."
"Yeah, that's what I thought, too," Toshiko nodded, "so I was trying to find a pattern. So far I couldn't find one."
"What are you looking at?" Ianto asked.
"Toshiko could find a trace of the wind creatures," Jack told him. "But it's telling us nothing."
Ianto leaned further in to have a better look at the monitor where he saw a Cardiff city map and a few dots of where the whirlwinds could have been.
"We should try to figure out what motivates them," he suggested. "Why did they go to those places? Is there something they need?"
The others eyed him with astonishment.
"What could wind need?" Toshiko wondered aloud.
"But they're not wind," Ianto pointed out. "Wind is just a force of nature caused by the heating and the cooling of the land and the seas. It cares no more for its own survival than a pebble on a beach. These are creatures that manifest themselves as wind in this environment. What would they need to survive? What would they be looking for?"
"Space?" Jack mused. "Somewhere to go to."
"What about our atmosphere?" Ianto asked. "Could it be that it's different from the one the creatures are coming from?"
"Probably," Jack agreed. His interest was drawn back to the screen when a new dot formed near the docks and grew. It was supposed to show the barometric pressure of the small twister, but as they watched it took on a bright red shade, indicating a source of extreme heat.
"Whoa!" Toshiko gasped. "What's that?"
"Owen!" Jack shouted. "We've gotta move out!"
Groaning, the medic got up from his seat. "I was afraid you'd say something like that."
"C'mon, kids. We need to get to know more about those things."
"Suzie's gone," Toshiko stated as she grabbed her equipment.
"I know," Jack huffed and picked up another earpiece. "Ianto? Could you come with us? You can stay in the SUV at the scene. Maybe Tosh can show you on the way how to observe from there."
"In that short time?" she gasped. "I should try and keep track on the winds as well."
"I could drive," Ianto suggested. "Is the system in the car so much different than the one here?"
"Not really."
"I should be all right," he said. "Just get me into the program."
"Okay."
They left through the armoury to the underground garage where their SUV was parked. It was the first time that Ianto actually got to see the black monster of a car that looked quite impressive with its compact build and the solid bumper. In his opinion it also was quite conspicuous with the big letters spelling TORCHWOOD on its sides.
"So much about being a secret organization, huh?" he chuckled as he got into the driver's seat.
"Hey! Don't say anything against our SUV," Jack scolded playfully.
"Well, you know what they say about men and their toys, right?" Ianto teased.
Being about to get into the car on the passenger's side Jack froze in mid-move, gasping, "What?"
Toshiko and Owen laughed.
"You really have the gift of the gab," Jack grunted as he sank into his seat. Leaning closer to the Welshman he murmured, "No wonder you earned a youth sentence for being lippy with the judge."
"Oh, really?" Owen snickered. "I'd love to know what you said to him that made him lag you."
"It was nothing," Ianto shrugged as he drove through the underground garage. "I just told him that I thought how abiding by the letter of the law clouded his judgement and he should use his common sense to recognize the truth."
"I can see why he was thrilled," Owen laughed.
"I can't see why that annoyed him," Jack mused aloud. "Did you call him sir?"
"Of course, sir."
"Great, that means he was pissed because he couldn't bear the truth," Jack huffed. "How very British."
"There's no sense in crying over spilt milk," Ianto told him.
"Oh, I'd love to go to that judge and give him a piece of my mind about it!" Jack frayed. "If it wasn't a youth sentence and the file sealed it could have had a much bigger impact on your life. I think he acted irresponsibly when he did not acknowledge your defence."
"Easy, Jack," Owen cut in. "You weren't there."
"But I could be…" he trailed off, realizing that that was not possible because he could neither go with the Doctor nor with his vortex manipulator that had burned out after taking him to earth in the wrong century.
"Wouldn't that change history?" Ianto said thoughtfully. "Maybe, if you spoke up then, I might never join Torchwood. We'd never meet."
True, Jack thought and eyed him closely. That would be a pity. What I would've missed already… and oh the possibilities!
"Jack? I have no idea what's going on," Toshiko broke in. "There are two sources of extreme heat near the docks. They're moving, so I can just assume that those are the whirlwinds, but… Jack, what are we dealing with?"
Jack could not begrudge her that she sounded anxious. Not if he felt fear crawl across his spine as well. Once more he looked over to Ianto who seemed to be calm and focused, but when Jack eyed him closer he could see the tense muscles in his neck and how he was gripping the steering wheel.
He must be scared as well. Ianto's an archivist after all. Of course he went through basic training, but does that prepare him for something like this? Probably not. Though he has proven that he's a very good shot. Inwardly he smirked as he remembered, With the right motivation. Wow, this Welshman really is a piece of work.
All right, Captain Harkness. Focus! You're not here to think about Welshmen, as handsome and fascinating they may be. You've got to concentrate on the aliens. Wind. How do you catch wind? And why are the whirlwinds emitting so much heat now?
"I can't think of anything similar, Tosh. But we'll figure it out and stop them." And he fervently hoped that he sounded more confident than he felt. Turning his head he cast a glance at Owen. The medic stared out of the tinted window, apparently lost in thought. But maybe he's just thinking about how he could get out of this.
As he furtively looked at Owen again, though, he noticed the set of his jaws and the sparks in his eyes.
What are they doing here? Those whirlwinds killed two people already. They killed me. They're pretty fast and deadly and there's no telling why they attack at all. How am I supposed to protect my team? I should go alone. Yeah, let Tosh analyze the situation from the SUV and let her guide me. If I can't stop those things then at least they'll kill only me.
Of course he knew that this was wishful thinking. His team knew what was at stake and they all joined Torchwood on their own free will. Even Tosh who could still have declined and served her sentence. By experience he knew that neither Toshiko nor Owen let themselves be stopped by an order and he guessed that Ianto would react similarly if he believed the situation warranted his sacrifice.
Pride welled up inside the captain. Still pride did not help with the problem at hand. He had to come up with something quickly because by now they had reached the docks and in the distance they could see the flickering light of a fire shine behind stacked containers. As soon as Ianto stopped the car Jack jumped out and started for the next corner, Owen following close behind.
"Jack!" Toshiko shouted. "Owen! Be careful!"
Reaching the containers, Jack skidded to a halt and stared at a horrific scene.
tbc…