6.
"I hate the sewers," Owen whispered a complaint, trying to stay on the narrow walkway of brickwork so that he wouldn't touch the murky water in the channel. "They're wet and smelly and mossy and there are unspeakable things floating in the water."
Jack hissed, "Do you think I enjoy it down here?" The four of them were trying to keep up with the Golem. Its heavy footsteps could be heard somewhere in the vicinity, echoing down the tunnel. Only Jack had switched on his torch, dimming the light with his fingers, and holding his gun in the other hand. He carefully rounded another corner. "I don't." They heard a scraping noise and Jack put a finger to his lips before carefully hurrying towards it. Owen and the girls followed him silently. They rounded another corner and froze. Jack hastily covered the torch. Now, the only light was coming from a flickering light bulb over a door some way down the long corridor. The creature was there, heaving the door out off its hinges and throwing it to the side. Only, it wasn't really a creature. That would imply that it was biological in its origin. Which it wasn't, Owen knew by now. Jack hadn't told them much, but he'd explained to them what they were dealing with. Its skin shimmered and it moved precisely – mechanically. It was an artificial intelligence … and it wasn't moving anymore. Before Owen could wonder why it had stopped, the robot whirled around and even though it didn't have a face, Owen just knew that it was zeroing in on them.
"Fuck."
The robot raised an arm and something blindingly white shot in their direction. Gwen and Tosh retreated back around the corner, while Jack pushed Owen aside, barely missing being hit himself. They landed in the bracky water of the sewers and when his mouth filled with water, Owen was glad his sense of taste was gone. They came up and ducked behind the corner, soaking wet. Steps were coming towards them, measured, slow, almost lazy, echoing off the walls.
Jack was talking into his headset, "Ianto, we need the Sontaran Fragmentation Grenade down here. Now! Trace our signals."
"You told us we weren't supposed to ever use that grenade," Owen said.
"Yes, I did," Jack replied tensely, "and that alone should tell you that we're in big trouble." He took Owen's arm and pulled him down the corridor to the next corner, shooing the girls with them. There, they waited. The Golem followed them relentlessly.
Gwen looked at Jack. "It's slow."
"It's not supposed to be fast. It's designed to kill, Gwen."
Owen asked, "So, you've really seen something like this before?"
"In my time and various other centuries. They used to be all over the place. 23rd century, 49th century, 51st century, you name it, they were there," Jack answered. "They came through the Rift, killed and scavenged technology before leaving again." He looked at all of them gravely. "We may just have found where they were coming from."
Tosh's eyes widened. "Earth, 21st century."
"Oh, yeah," Jack answered with a cynical grin. "This isn't just about murder. This … may be the biggest case we ever had."
xxx
"Ianto, where the hell are you? Ianto!"
Jack's voice. Ianto startled and felt pain. He moaned quietly. His head hurt and when he opened his eyes, everything was blurry. Nausea threatened and he closed his eyes rapidly.
A man said, "Sh, it's alright."
"Ianto, we need you here, now!"
He reached for his comm link with a trembling hand and muttered, "Jack."
Before he could reach it however, the comm link was taken from him and the man said, "Stay calm." Ianto opened his eyes slightly to see Peralta leaning over him with a reassuring smile. "Hello. I was getting worried."
Ianto looked around carefully, relieved to notice that the nausea wasn't that bad anymore. He was lying on the couch just behind the workstations in the main Hub. The coffee table had been pushed aside enough to fit the chair on which Peralta was perching into the gap.
Ianto licked his dry lips and swallowed. "What happened?"
"You had some kind of dizzy spell, fell down the stairs, hit your head."
Ianto frowned. He couldn't remember. Then he remembered something more important. "My comm link. Jack's calling for me."
"You need to rest, Mr. Jones," Peralta said. "It's important that you stay here for at least another hour. Are dizzy spells like that unusual for you?"
Ianto swallowed. "Yes."
"Well, I scanned you and you seem to be alright as far as I can tell. I'm going to talk to Dr. Harper about it, though."
Ianto's lids grew heavy.
"Don't fight it," Peralta said. "Sleep."
And Ianto did just that.
xxx
Jack cursed. "He's not answering his comm." Worry gnawed at him. He knew that something was wrong. Ianto would never neglect work because of their fight. They were both far too aware of the responsibility they had. It had been a rule early on in their relationship that their personal lives wouldn't intrude on their job. No, something was wrong and the thought that Ianto was alone in the Hub with that crazy scientist ...
Gwen and Tosh were peeking around the corner at the robot coming steadily their way. Gwen turned to Jack. "What do we do now?"
"We catch it," Jack answered. "It's artificial intelligence, so somewhere within must be a piece of technology we can trace back to its owner."
Owen asked, "So what's its weak spot? I mean, Ianto won't come, apparently. What do we do?"
"I don't know much about it. Its armour is indestructible, we have no possibility of overriding its orders because we don't know how it works, it won't give up coming after us and will eventually come back to the surface and probably start a killing spree."
"I love it when you're thinking positive thoughts," Owen grumbled.
Tosh said, "It's got a weak spot. Its gun is attached to its body. It's part of it. And the barrel is open."
Everybody stared at her. Gwen asked, "Are you suggesting we get close enough to that beast to shoot into its barrel?"
Jack released a breath and holstered his Webley revolver, then he grabbed Owen's shoulder, turning him around. He opened the backpack and got out the tazer he knew Owen kept there for emergencies. "No, I will. You stay here." Before anyone could utter a protest, Jack was off, running towards the robot. As soon as the Golem saw him, it stopped and raised its arm. Jack ducked away fast enough to avoid being hit in the chest, but the shot grazed his shoulder and he stumbled against the wall, still clutching the tazer. The smell of burned wool and flesh made him gag. He saw the Golem taking aim again.
Then he heard Owen shout "Cover fire!" and as one, his team shot at the robot, drawing its attention away from him. He took a deep breath and pushed away from the wall. He ran towards the Golem, stumbled out of the way when the being took another shot at him and lost his footing on the narrow walkway. He tripped into the water. The Golem stopped and took aim again. Deciding on a new plan, Jack didn't duck away this time. Only one second later, he was dead.
xxx
When he came back to life, he was half-submerged in water and the Golem had walked past him. He saw his chance, got up and came up from behind the robot, making it stutter in its movements as if it was surprised to see him. Before it could do anything about it, though, Jack slammed the tazer into the robot's barrel and pushed the button. There was a spark, a small explosion and Jack was thrown backwards into the water. He only had time to register the fact that he was dying – again – before his world went black.
xxx
Jack gasped back to life in the passenger seat of the SUV, causing Owen to swerve the car with a startled curse. "Can't you be more subtle about it? You scare me half to death every single time."
Jack refrained from making a joke about those words. Instead, he looked at Gwen and Tosh who were sitting in the back. Nobody seemed to be hurt and that was the most important thing. "Did it work?"
"Yes," Owen answered. "And dying twice, Jack? Seriously?"
"It had to be done. Where's the Golem?"
Gwen answered, "Wrapped in a plastic sheet on the roof of the SUV. It didn't fit in here."
Owen remarked, "By the way, we had to drag it all the way back to the SUV … and you too."
Jack just gave him a grin and leaned back in his seat, enjoying the view of the rising sun when they crossed the A4232 bridge over the bay. "Appreciate it."
xxx
Jack and Owen used the invisible lift to take the robot down into the main Hub while Gwen and Tosh took the SUV into the garage. It was still quite early and the Roald Dahl Plass was pretty much deserted so they managed to haul the robot from the roof to the lift without arousing suspicion.
As soon as the lift started descending, Jack's nerves and worry reached new heights. When they cleared the ceiling, Jack yelled, "Ianto!" When he saw Ianto lying on the couch, motionless and with Peralta leaning over him, he jumped off the invisible lift as soon as it was possible without breaking anything. Owen in turn lost his grip on the robot and it fell down the lift, landing with a dull sound on the metal grating. Peralta was now looking at Jack and taking a few startled steps back when he yelled, "Get away from him!"
"I was just checking him-"
"Don't you dare touch him." Jack took two steps towards Peralta, forcing him even further back.
Owen sat on the edge of the couch to check on Ianto. "What happened?"
"He fell down the stairs. Hit his head," Peralta answered.
Jack shook his head. "The hell he did!"
"It's the truth. He seemed dizzy and nauseous. I don't know what happened but he fell." Peralta stared at Jack with wide eyes. "He fell." There was no trace of a lie on his face.
Jack turned away and towards Owen. "What have you got?"
"A gash on the back of his head." Owen looked at the Bekaran scanner. "I'll do a blood test, just in case. But there's nothing else wrong with him."
Jack rounded on Peralta. "You will leave today."
Peralta looked indignant. "For what reason? I've done nothing wrong."
"I don't trust you. Make a list of files you are interested in and I'll have Ianto send them to you."
"I've got nothing to do with that fall. Why would I cause something like that?"
Jack knew that he didn't have any reason to suspect that Peralta had done something to Ianto, but he didn't feel it was safe to have him around. "Today," he said and walked away to take care of the robot.
"You will regret this," Peralta said. "Very soon."
"Whatever," Jack snapped.