The hydra reacted instantly, several heads turning in each man's direction. Jaws snapped as Jack retreated into a cloakroom. He watched as one head twisted to keep him in view, something wet dripping from the massive teeth. He kept his eyes focused on the other heads, waiting to see what it would do.
Ianto moved quickly along the wall and was able to duck through the door that separated the ticket counter from the rest of the room. Once inside, he was protected by the wrought iron cage which separated the ticket taker from the room.
"Okay?" Jack asked, making two more heads turn in his direction.
"Yeah," Ianto panted. It had been a near thing when one of the heads had snapped after his leg and almost caught it with its teeth. He braced his arms against the desk and pointed the muzzle of his gun through the bars. "Not sure if I can get to the eggs, Jack."
"No worries," Jack said. He actually preferred that Ianto was safe behind the grating. It lessened the bit of anxiety he felt at Ianto getting hurt. At least he would be able to heal if the thing caught him. His eyes went from the multiple weaving heads to the heavy claws that scraped the wooden floor, leaving large furrows in their wake. Jack moved forward slightly, getting the attention of the beast.
"Hey gorgeous," he said in a coaxing voice. "What's a pretty girl like you doing in a place like this?"
Outside the room, Kathy Swanson rolled her eyes as the group of police personnel listened to Jack flirt with the beast in the room. More had approached after the two men had gone inside the room, curious about what was happening.
"Wow, he really does try to shag anything that moves, doesn't he?" One of the PCs commented and the others chuckled nervously.
"That would be one hell of a shag," one of the others mentioned and Kathy shushed them as she tried to hear what was going on in the room. From the camera over the counter, they could see that Ianto had his gun trained on the creature.
Inside the room, Jack watched as the beast paced restlessly before letting out a squawk. It crouched down and a moment later another mottled egg appeared. It was pretty obvious what she was doing. The two men stayed motionless as the hydra turned and with one it its heads gently nosed the egg so it nestled up against the rest. Ianto counted and saw that there were about half a dozen eggs in the corner.
Jack shifted, preparing to move closer and the hydra spun around, all of the heads focusing on Jack. The heads were in constant motion as they dipped up and down, left and right in the air. Jack continued to talk to it and Ianto took the opportunity to duck back out into the open area and sneak past the tail over to the eggs. Jack felt his heart drop to the vicinity of his stomach as he watched Ianto move. He wouldn't say anything without warning the beast, but he was scared that it was going to sense Ianto and lash out. Jack continued speaking in a low, soothing voice, saying nonsense things. The heads slowed their constant movement as he continued, and he took that as a sign of encouragement. It was obvious the tone and not what was said that was important. Shifting carefully, he started talking to Ianto in the same sing-song voice, telling him to get into position. He just hoped that when the other man used the syringe that the drug worked fast and it didn't disembowel his lover in the process. He was scared that something horrible was going to happen to Ianto, and wanted to leap out and just take his chances so that the beast would focus on him and not Ianto. But he didn't know if it could multi-task and he wasn't going to take the chance of making it move and cause more damage that way.
Ianto eyed the long claws on the feet as he looked for a good place to use the syringe. He could see Jack nervously glancing at him and back at the heads as he continued to talk in a low, soothing voice. Briefly, Ianto wished for that tranquilizer gun that Kathy Swanson had suggested. It sounded so common sense and he cursed himself for not having something like that in stock. Especially after what had happened with Myfanwy, one would think he would have learned, he thought wryly. He resolved to put in a requisition the next chance he got. Which would be later that same day, if he was lucky enough. He carefully reached into his back pocket and pulled out the capped syringe. Taking the top off, he pocketed it, not wanting any noise to alert the beast. He wondered if he could toss it like a dart, but he knew he was going to have to depress the plunger in order to administer the sedative. He looked for a good place to aim, hoping that the scales weren't going to stop the needle from going into the muscle. He decided to aim up under the scales and slide through them. Taking a deep breath, he chose the spot he wanted to try and nodded once to Jack. He was ready.
Jack continued to croon to the hydra, moving so that all the heads kept trained on him. One head moved down and watched him curiously. The others wove back and forth. He had its attention. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ianto slide closer and step over the end of the forked tail. He was right at the flank, looking at the joint between the thigh and body. Jack hoped this worked, because he was pretty sure that once Ianto did this the creature would react, and not in a good way.
He moved his hands, keeping the hydra focused on him as Ianto thrust the needle through the scales and hit the plunger. The hydra reacted immediately, four of its heads turning in the direction of the pain and snapping down at its leg. Ianto jumped back and the creature paused in mid-strike. Ianto was standing in amongst the eggs, his hand resting on the one at the top of the pile.
Two of the hydra's heads moved to examine Ianto while another looked at its leg and the tongue came out as it licked the tiny wound and tried to dislodge the thing from its side. Jack waited, unable to do anything while the other five heads were focused in his direction, the six moving back and forth in a protective stance between the two men. He hoped that the drug would work, and swiftly.
The two men waited the hydra between them, at an impasse. Ianto kept an eye on the weaving heads, knowing that it was still trying to make up its mind about how much of a threat he was. The first sign that the sedative might be taking effect was when one of the heads started to droop, the eyes closing and opening slowly. A second one joined the first, the two heads closest to the side where Ianto had put the needle into the skin affected first. Jack was feeling better after seeing that, and just hoped that there had been enough of the drug in the syringe to take the whole beast down. The heads stopped moving and after a long moment the beast let out a huge gust of breath and sank down to the floor.
Ianto stood where he was, watching carefully. It looked like it was working. He saw that Jack was fingering his own syringe and he held up a hand to stop him. Too much, and it might harm the hydra. They didn't want that. Two more heads began to droop and the beast let out a whimper. One head, still active, dropped down next to the eggs and tried to curl around them protectively. Large green eyes stared at him accusingly. He crouched down and reached out a hand. Its muzzle was soft, and he stroked it lightly.
Seeing that, Jack decided it was okay to move. He left the vestibule and moved around the creature. The other heads continued to drop one by one and he moved over to where Ianto was and knelt down beside him. He reached out to another head and touched it. It felt surprisingly warm when he expected it to be cold blooded.
"No, we can't take it home," Ianto said softly. Jack glanced over at him and chuckled. "She is beautiful, though." Jack heard the admiring tone in Ianto's voice and he had to agree with him. His eyes swept over the hydra, looking at where the heads joined together to the body, noting the strong muscles in the legs that were finally relaxing as the sedative took hold. The hydra was supposed to be a mythical beast, yet here was one in front of them. Golden scales glimmered in the light and he looked appreciatively at the strong compact body which was finally falling into a deep slumber. "She didn't mean to harm him," Ianto continued. Jack glanced over at the older man who had been killed in the initial attack. He had to agree that probably the hydra hadn't meant any harm, but was protecting herself as she laid her eggs.
The door opened and Kathy Swanson cautiously stuck her head through the doorway. She watched in amazement as the two men knelt between the massive heads of the creature and stroked it with their hands. Jack looked up at the sound of the door swinging open.
"I don't think animal control is going to be able to handle this," Kathy noted. Jack chuckled ruefully as he observed their charge. Definitely not. He sat back on his heels and thought for a moment.
"Ianto, I don't know how we're going to transport her, even if we knew where to transport her," he said in a low voice. "None of the vaults are big enough." Ianto nodded. He stood up and walked around the sleeping hydra.
"Suppose we can restrain her so that if she wakes, she can't hurt someone accidentally?" He asked. Jack shrugged. "Just until we get her to the Hub."
"What are you thinking?" Jack asked an odd expression on his face.
"We get her to the Hub and to the lower cavern area where the water access used to be," Ianto said. "It's a natural cave, and has a grilled access so she shouldn't be able to get out. We transport her and the eggs there until we can find a better place for her."
"And how do we get her to the Hub?" Jack asked. Ianto had a good idea, but transportation was going to be a problem. He looked up and saw that Ianto was smiling.
"Let me handle that," he said. He pulled out his mobile and punched in a number while looking at his watch. "Good morning, Gwen. Sorry to wake you this early, but we have a situation." Jack watched as Ianto talked to his team mate. "No, nothing that requires you to run over. We've got it in hand," Ianto assured her. "But we could use Rhys' help." Jack chuckled and noticed that Kathy Swanson had ventured closer and was staring at the multiple heads asleep in front of her with a look of horrified fascination on her face. Jack listened with half of his attention as Ianto explained what they needed. Jack grinned. Trust Ianto to always have a solution on hand. He looked up at the detective and noticed the other police officers had poked their heads in to look as well.
"Please tell me you're taking this with you," Kathy asked in a soft voice, afraid of disturbing the slumbering beast. Jack laughed.
"Yeah. I have a feeling we just inherited a new pet," he said. He pushed off the head and stood up, hands in his pockets. Looking around, he saw the fallen railway worker and he sobered at the sight of the body. "You may want to pull him out of here, just in case she starts to wake up again." Kathy's eyes grew huge at the idea of the beast being active and she motioned for her staff to come in and remove the body. There was no need for an investigation as they knew what had caused the man's death. Jack turned as Ianto hung up with Rhys.
"All sorted," Ianto said. "Rhys is on his way with a flatbed and a large tarp. I'm going to see what we have in the SUV that can be used for restraints, and then find a container for the eggs. The doors here open wide enough that we should be able to pull her out this way," Ianto said with a gesture towards the back side of the room. "And get her out. Rhys has a friend who owes him a favor and will stop by with a crane to life her up. Don't have a clue what she'll eat, but with luck she won't have the same love of chocolate that Myfanwy does or else we'll need to invest in a factory." He said this last with a twinkle in his eye and Jack chuckled.
"How do we get her inside the Hub?" Jack asked. He stood and watched the paramedics move the body, their eyes nervously turning to look at the large multi-headed beast as they worked.
"Through the water passage. I'm going to check with the harbour master and see if he can get us access to one of the barges in the Bay so we can go through directly in through the water route," Ianto said. Jack smiled at him, admiring how efficiently he had been able to sort everything. It was one of the things he appreciated about Ianto; that innate ability to think on his feet and work out the details with a minimum amount of fuss. Jack nodded and Ianto went to go open the doors, pushing them back so that the wall retracted into itself, sliding into a wall pocket. He got on his mobile and rang the harbour master, asking for his assistance. Jack smiled. Everything was coming together.
