12.

Ianto jerked awake when pain ripped through his belly. He gasped and opened his eyes, just to find John bent over him, applying pressure. The pain intensified for a second and Ianto grasped John's wrist with one hand, instinctively trying to pull him away, but then the pain lessened and he groaned in relief. "I fell asleep," he realized, looking around him and realizing that they were still in the archives, files and boxes scattered around them.

John smiled. "You even snored." Ianto was acutely aware of how close John was to him, straddling his legs with his hands on Ianto's skin. He smelled of tobacco and gunoil and it was strange how good that combination could be. John looked down at his hands. "I should stay for a while," he said. "Just to help you out with this."

Ianto wanted to make a sarcastic reply, but nothing came to mind. He didn't answer. Instead, he loosened his hold on John's wrist.

"Do you want it to be a boy or a girl?" John asked.

Ianto laughed, not having expected the question. He gave it a thought, though. "A boy," he answered finally. "Wouldn't mind a girl of course."

"Girls are wonderful," John replied. "I always wanted a girl."

Ianto shook his head with a smile.

John frowned. "What?"

"This is strange," Ianto answered. "Talking about babies with you … I'm actually starting to like you."

"Oh, Ianto, you liked me all along." John grinned. "You were just resisting temptation."

"Temptation," Ianto snorted. "Sure."

The pressure from John's knuckles lessened and they skirted over Ianto's belly slowly, around to his back, making him shiver. "Temptation," John whispered. He leaned closer, his hands splaying on Ianto's back, one slipping down to trace the seam of his trousers. Ianto stared into John's eyes. "You're resisting it right now," John said.

Ianto wanted to answer, but John cut him off with a gentle kiss. Ianto startled but he didn't push John away. He let him linger and even opened his mouth when John questioningly pushed his tongue against his lips. The kiss was lazy but passionate. Ianto's hands grabbed the lapels of John's jacket, pulling him closer. He didn't take the time to think about what he was actually doing, because it felt good, it felt like heaven and it felt totally different from Jack – which was more than good.

John's hands left Ianto's back to frame his face and he gentled the kiss, pecking Ianto's lips to end it. "You are gorgeous," he whispered. "You have no idea, Ianto."

Ianto closed his eyes. "This is weird."

"Good weird? Or bad weird?"

"Surprisingly good," Ianto answered and opened his eyes again. "I just … never expected ..."

The beeping of John's wriststrap interrupted him. John sighed deeply. "Wonderful timing." He flapped it open and checked it. "Hm," he made. He closed the flap and looked at Ianto again. "Looks like I'll have to leave. Soon even, gotta talk to Jack before I do, but … I got a message from a friend and I'll have to go … you could come with me."

Ianto snorted. "What for?"

"To see where this leads."

Ianto shook his head in disbelief. "Just like that?"

John rolled his eyes. "I know. I've always been kinda impulsive."

"You're completely mad. Why would I leave my home world behind to go on some con tour with you?"

"You would leave here because there's no one waiting for you and I'm not on a con tour. Not in company with a pregnant man."

Ianto frowned and softened his voice, trying to make his next question not as hard as it was, "Is this about your dead lover? I can't be him."

"Nobody's asking you to," John answered. "It's just … Ianto, I like you, you like me. You kissed me back a minute ago if I recall correctly. Have you never just … tried something because it feels like it could work out?"

"I can't leave Earth behind. I have a family here and I've got friends here."

John closed his eyes in disappointment.

Ianto swallowed. "Your offer is really tempting and generous – considering you made it on a whim. And I'm tempted … but I can't. I'm sorry."

xxx

Owen leaned forwards in the passenger seat to look at the abandoned house at the end of a run-down street in Penarth. "I can't believe this worked."

Jack groaned and rubbed his neck. Everything was still aching from his death. "I told you it would work. Go in, plant a tracker, follow the Golem wherever it goes."

"Or is transported to," Gwen added and nodded at the white van that was parked in front of the house. Jack looked around. This was certainly a neighbourhood where nobody cared what the others did. The houses weren't that old, but needed a paint job. Yes, this was the perfect neighbourhood to blend in. Jack imagined that the Golem could leave the van at night without being seen.

Tosh's voice came down the line into their comm links. "The house has been abandoned for four years now."

Gwen shook her head in disbelief. "Doesn't anybody here care that someone's living in it illegally?"

"He could have told them that he bought the house. Why wouldn't they believe him?" Tosh asked.

Martha readied her EMP gun. "We won't find the whole army of Golems in there. The basement can't be that big … the whole house wouldn't be enough to hold them if there really are over a thousand of them."

"My calculations might have been slightly off," Tosh admitted.

Owen sounded hopeful, "So, it's not thousands of them? Just … four?"

"About one hundred," Tosh answered.

Martha shook her head. "I still don't think they're in there."

Jack replied, "No, but if that's the base of operations, we might find a hint as to where they are." He opened the door and got out of the car. Rain sprayed into his face, chased by gentle gusts of wind. It was a wet night in Cardiff and Jack turned up the collar of his coat while he strode towards the house, his own EMP gun at the ready. Tosh had manufactured four of them and they were still the only thing – as far as they knew – that could kill a Golem immediately. Even though Jack didn't expect an army of Golems, he thought that at least a few would be in the house. And if not … well, he would rather be safe than sorry. The others followed him towards the house, their trainers and boots loud on the wet tarmac of the quiet street.

The front door didn't hold them up for long. Carefully, Owen picked the lock and they entered quietly. It was almost dark inside – only the streetlamps providing meager light – but they didn't dare use their torches. The house was sparsely furnished, providing only what was necessary. There were no books, no music, no DVDs, no personal items. Jack wondered if they were wrong and there was nobody here after all. They split up, searching the ground floor and then meeting up again in the hallway. Jack sent Owen and Martha upstairs while he and Gwen went down into the basement. Pressed against the wall, he headed down the stairs first and stopped when he saw light from underneath the door at the bottom. He activated his headset. "Owen, Martha, basement."

Gwen came around him and put one hand on the door handle. Jack again made sure that his EMP gun was ready before nodding at her. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then she yanked open the door and Jack entered. What he saw made his steps falter for just a second.

The room was a mess of computers and blinking lights. The screens were standing on old desks, hanging from the ceiling, screwed to the bare concrete walls. One wall was patchworked with what looked like cover pages for Torchwood and UNIT personnel files. Several of them were marked with red ink – the victims, possibly. The Golem stood in one corner, not moving, and a man was standing in front of it, passing a scanner over its body. Jack didn't hesitate. He shot the Golem with his EMP gun and it jerked, before falling to the floor. The man whirled around to them, letting go of the scanner and pointing a gun at them. Jack exchanged his EMP gun for his Webley. "Torchwood!" he said. "Drop it." Gwen was next to him in an instant and Jack felt vulnerable and a bit scared. He didn't mind so much to taking a bullet, but Gwen wouldn't get up again if she died. So his voice was coloured by a slight hysteria when he repeated, "Drop the gun!" He heard somebody stomp down the stairs, but he didn't turn around.

The man was in his late 40s, tall and wiry. His grey hair was thinning on the top and his face looked haunted and pale – even in comparison to his white lab coat. He seemed to realize that he was outnumbered and made a decision. He pointed the gun at his own head. "You will never find the other Golems without me," he said. "One step closer and I will kill myself. I programmed the whole army to go out and kill whoever they encounter when I die."

That would mean that the transmitter relaying messages to the Golems must be somewhere on the man's body to monitor his heartbeat. And if they found it, they would be able to find the army.

Jack narrowed his eyes. "You would kill innocent people?"

Owen stepped up next to him. Secure in the knowledge that the man was held at gunpoint by his teammates, Jack glanced around for Martha, but she was nowhere to be seen.

The man's wild, dark eyes glowered with fury. "Who cares?" He laughed. "It'll be over soon anyway. Not long until my army's ready and then I'll clean this world." His face crumbled. "Because no one realizes … no one realizes what's out there! Darkness."

Owen took a step forward. "Right. Someone obviously forgot to take his meds. Who the hell are you?"

The man grinned. "Gerald Shaw."

Gwen looked at Jack. "The head scientist responsible for Horizon."

Owen asked, "The one who died in the explosion?"

Gerald yelled, "I didn't die!"

Jack raised one hand, trying to calm him down with the gesture. "We can see that." He knew that a distraction was what they needed and he had a few questions. "What happened?"

"There was an explosion," Gerald said. "Those stupid idiots playing around with the vortex manipulator. The Rift opened and I was sucked in."

"Where did you land?" Jack asked, seeing a shadow crouch by the basement window. Martha, no doubt about it.

His headset activated and Tosh's voice came through, breathless. "Jack, I'm on my way. In case he shoots himself, you need someone there to decrypt the transmitter and find the army before they do any harm."

He sent a silent "thank you" down the line.

"I don't know where I landed," Gerald said. "They never let me out. There was just a small window and I saw … Zeppelins. They …" He sobbed. "They experimented on me. To conquer the human race."

The window cracked open. Jack saw Martha peeking inside. "Who?" he asked.

"But I escaped," Gerald said as if Jack hadn't even spoken. "When they opened the window to Torchwood One, I escaped."

A lump of dread formed in Jack's stomach. "You were a prisoner of the Cybermen? But they came from a parallel world." The Doctor had told Jack all about the battle as he'd seen it. Jack would have never thought that a vortex manipulator could transport one into a parallel universe, but apparently, handled precisely the wrong way, it could do just about anything. "You came back during the battle of Canary Wharf?"

"A glorious battle," Gerald said with a smile. Then his face darkened. "Torchwood never even thought about rescuing me! They were shocked to even see me! I told them how I came back and they tried to kill me!"

Martha squeezed her body through the window and managed to land on the floor soundlessly. She carefully approached Gerald from behind.

"I used the confusion," Gerald said. "I escaped to where we stashed the Golems back then, I needed to see them, to … I got them out, got the vortex manipulator and the transmitter and the files and I constructed more of them." His eyes were glittering with pride. "I have 105 now and I won't give up yet."

"And you decided to use them to take revenge," Jack said. "Because nobody came for you? Are you aware that they thought you were dead? And even if they had known that you had been sucked through the Rift to a parallel world … they wouldn't have been able to follow you."

"I don't care!" Gerald screamed. "The human race isn't worth anything. They are an epidemic that needs to be deleted!" He grinned manically. "Look at the Golems. Beautiful, graceful beings. Not hindered by any feelings or emotions. Nothing makes them weak or fragile like human scum. Everybody should know them and fear them … I'm only getting rid of those who never had any respect for their beauty. To them, they were just an experiment."

"My God," Jack whispered.

"I'm just starting," Gerald said. "My army will delete everyone who doesn't respect them."

Jack saw his finger tighten on the trigger. "Martha!"

She jumped and grabbed his arm. A shot rang out and Martha and Gerald fell to the ground. He screamed but there was no blood. Martha took his gun and Jack pushed Gerald to the ground with one knee pressed into his stomach. Owen and Gwen took over holding Gerald down while Jack ripped open his shirt and found the transmitter. It was embedded under Gerald's skin, forming a small, round bump near his heart.

Gwen whispered, "Oh God."

Gerald continued screaming and writhing, but they managed to keep a hold of him. All of a sudden, Tosh was there, kneeling next to Jack and scanning the transmitter. "It's relaying a message. A steady stream of information." She was breathless and her cheeks slightly flushed, but she was focussed on her work.

Jack nodded. "Yes, his vital signs. If they stop, the army will activate and kill."

Martha said, "That means we can't remove the device."

Owen cursed. "We can't kill him."

Tosh shook her head hurriedly. "But I can hack the signal. I did for my detection program." She opened her laptop and typed away on it.

"Jack," Gwen said and he looked at her. She nodded down at Gerald's wrist.

The shirt had ridden up and now he could see a wristband on his arm. "The vortex manipulator," he said and took the device off Gerald. He stared at the dark leather band sadly. It was Sophia's. Her initials were carved into the underside. "It's inactive and it better stay that way." Carefully, he put it into his coat pocket.

Tosh said, "Jack, I'm in."

Gerald chose that moment to strike. He pushed Gwen back, enough to send her off-balance and grabbed Owen's gun. Before any of them could do anything, he'd shot himself.

"Tosh," Jack said.

"I'm transmitting a loop. It repeats his heartbeat. We're safe."

Jack got up and turned away, closing his eyes. "Poor guy."

Owen cleared his throat. "He was totally bonkers."

"Insane," Jack nodded. He stared at the papers stuck to the wall. The research team responsible for Horizon. There they were, UNIT personnel and Torchwood personnel as well as the new identities the retconned people had been left with. That information hadn't been added into the personnel files since the late 70s for safety purposes – older files had been updated and the information deleted. He took a closer look at where the files came from and saw that they'd been stored in a Torchwood warehouse. Quite possibly with the Golems – where Shaw had found them. Apparently, while the Torchwood One personnel files had been altered, these files packed away with the Golems had been overlooked. Jack sighed. "He was talking like a Cyberman. Delete ..."

Gwen's voice was hoarse as if she was trying to keep from crying. "All that time in their hands … he took on their personality."

"A human Cyberman," Jack said.