Well, to make up for my appalling lack of updates, I have finished. Ta-da!

Disclaimer: Don't own Torchwood. Just borrowing.

Chapter 5-Something's Definitely Wrong Here...

Gwen was at home when she first noticed that strange things were happening. Her lights kept flickering and dimming, her phone battery mysteriously drained itself and the streetlights outside didn't work.

Not just on her street, either, but the whole city.

The water, usually glittering with the lights of the night-time city, was dark and unfriendly. Not even a ripple was detectable in its dark depths.

The traffic lights were out, and people were having accidents left-right-and-centre, so Gwen decided to walk to the Hub. A chilly wind whipped her hair around as she ran towards the entrance. Even the lights there were out, which was strange...Ianto would have gone mental and replaced them immediately. She wondered if it was alien.

Entering the small 'information' shop, the first thing she noticed was how cold, silent and gloomy it was.

"Ianto? Ianto, are you here? Anyone?" she called. Her voiced echoed strangely in the small room. Perhaps they've all gone home, she thought. Even though, I'll still check the scanners.

She pressed the red button enabling access to the Hub. Nothing happened. She pressed it again and again.

Still nothing.

Okay, well, that's strange, she thought. I'll just try calling Jack.

Her mobile was out of battery, and her torch wasn't working. No matter how hard she tried, she wasn't going to be able to get into the Hub. The way it was designed meant that she was effectively 'locked out'.

Closing the door behind her, she shrugged confusedly to herself and went to go find Ianto's house, in the hope somebody would tell her the hell what was going on.

Meanwhile, holed up in Jack's small office, the rest of the team was eating and discussing what the hell was going on.

"I have a theory, guys." said Jack through a mouthful of cashew nuts.

Everyone looked at him.

"Ok, well, it seems as though these...things...whatever they are, feed on energy, of all sorts." He motioned to Tosh. "Even life force energy. So, we need to be very careful."
"No shit, Sherlock." said Owen.

"Anyway, continuing after that thoroughly rude and disrespectful interruption...and for your information Sherlock was a very nice guy. Sure, a little egocentric, but, hey."

Ianto raised his eyebrow and Jack winked at him flirtatiously. Owen made retching noises and Tosh laughed.

"Not the point. However, I was thinking, what if we gave them something that never runs out of energy?" Jack said.

Owen and Ianto looked confused. Tosh, however, fired her neurons instantly and shook her head violently. "Jack, you can't possibly. You don't know if you would survive!"

Ianto cottoned on. "No." he said simply, his face full of worry at losing his precious Captain.

Jack waved his hand at them. "Oh, chill out, guys. I have it on pretty good authority that I'm gonna be here for a while. My Doctor said so."

Owen shook his head. "I think it's dangerous and not a good idea, and I don't even like you, Harkness."

"Well, there's no discussion. That's our only plan. I'll distract them while you guys capture them, or kill them, or whatever you've gotta do. But I'm the only chance the planet's got."

Owen grumbled. "Great. The entire future of the planet in the hands of our mindless Captain. Sure that's going to work out."

Half an hour the team had formed a plan. Jack was going to go out and let the creatures, whatever they turned out to be, 'eat' him, Ianto and Owen would capture them or at least hold them still, and Tosh would shoot the things.

"Hmm. Only flaw in this ingenious plan, Jack?" said Ianto. "We have no weapons. Or nets or anything like that."

"Well, we'll just have to improvise, then, won't we?" said Jack. "I can assure you, I know many a way to tie aliens up."

He raised his eyebrow suggestively at Ianto, who smiled and rolled his eyes. Owen looked at the pair, carefully deadpan.

Tosh, who was looking and feeling much better, was wrapped up in her blanket at Owen's insistence and looking around the room. "Well, I was thinking, what about what's in the safe?" she suggested. "There has to be something in there that's dangerous enough to kill creatures from the dawn of the universe."

Everyone stopped and looked at her.

"Um, Tosh?" said Jack cautiously. "Nobody said anything about these creatures being from the 'dawn of the universe'. Who told you that?"

She looked at them, unconcerned. "It did."

"Oh, okay then. Good thinking, Tosh!" said Jack enthusiastically. He pulled a key out of his pocket and strode over to the safe, unlocking it carefully.

Ianto appeared next to him. Owen and Tosh slowly made their way over, Owen supporting Tosh, who was a bit shaky on her feet.

Jack looked at all the boxes as he took them out.

"Life Knife...no. Resurrection Glove...nope, definitely not. Gun, yes," he said, handing the box to Ianto, who put it on Jack's desk. "Sword, yes. Alien thingy, no."

This went on for some time. Jack had pulled out many things, the majority of which had gone on the 'not useful for our saving the world campaign' pile.

He pulled out a box containing a blood-stained semi-Cyberman helmet.

Ianto froze.

Simultaneously, everyone else realised who the helmet belonged to and Jack carefully put it under his desk, out of sight.

Everyone looked at Ianto. His face, oddly distorted by the flickering candlelight, held an expression that they hadn't seen since the night Lisa had been destroyed.

"Oh, Ianto, I'm so sorry!" said Jack, hugging him tightly. "I forgot that I had that...sorry."

Jack could feel a small wet spot on his shoulder where Ianto's tears had begun to soak through the thin fabric of his shirt.

Ianto released himself from Jack's embrace and turned away to face the wall.

There was an extremely uncomfortable silence.

Ianto turned back from the wall. His face had gone back to neutral, but his eyes told a different story.

"It's okay, guys. Really. I'm fine. Come on, the world needs us." He went back to searching through the cupboards, clearly upset, but equally clearly not wanting to talk about it.

Jack kissed him on the cheek. "I'm really sorry, Ianto." he said gently. Ianto smiled softly at him, then continued to pull boxes out, examine the contents and put them on the appropriate pile.

Owen turned his head away and muttered "Awkward!" into Tosh's ear. She sighed and he put his arm around her waist.

"Come on," he said. "Let's figure out these weapons, okay?"

Tosh smiled at him. "Okay."

Author's Ramblings:

Well, I'm not entirely finished. But very close, ok? Trust me.

Thanks for reading. And reviewing :D