A/N. Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. I now have over 100 reviews. :) I will warn you that this chapter is not a happy chapter. Ianto is fairly mean in some of what he says. Just remember that hes acting out of character for a reason and that it won't last forever. I promise at least 2 big fluffy chapters after all this. Also i discovered three new Torchwood novels have just come out. I'm currently reading The Undertaker's Gift, it's very good. :) Anyway, on with the chapter.
Chapter 22.
Molly stood staring at Ianto and the gun that he was holding. The gun that was aimed right at her. She had to admit to herself that she was scared, even more scared than the night she'd found Alex in her flat. Molly had known what Alex was capable of, but this was Ianto and he wouldn't do this. That was the scariest thing, she had no idea what he would do. She knew that he had obviously been infected with the virus that Sam Green had been exposed too, Molly had seen the scratch on his hand, and it hadn't looked that bad. Sam must have passed it on though. She tried to keep her voice calm and neutral when she spoke. 'Look, if you want to get out of here, we can do that, no problem. Just please put the gun down.'
'No, you are my insurance. The others won't try anything if you come with me.'
'How about we just tell them we are going on a food run? That way we can go out and you can do whatever you want when we get outside. If they see you pointing a gun at me, they are going to freak out.' Molly said, trying to rationalise with him, hoping she could get through.
Ianto thought about this for a moment, he was struggling with how he was feeling. The most overwhelming instinct though was to get out of the Hub. 'Fine, I will try it your way, but if I even suspect one of you is trying to stop me, I will not be responsible for my actions.'
Molly watched as Ianto stowed the gun in his pocket, but he kept his hand close to it. She knew there was no way she could alert the others until they were out of the Hub. She just hoped they could get out without any questions being asked. Molly started to walk out of the archives, Ianto close by. They walked along the corridor and up the stairs. They were just getting close to the cog door, when Jack called towards them from his office staircase. 'Hey, where are you two off to?'
'Food run, figured everyone would be hungry by now.' said Molly, her voice as calm as she could get it.
Jack came down the rest of the stairs and looked at them, there was something not right. 'I need to know the information you found out first.'
'We will only be five minutes.' said Molly her eyes pleading with him to just shut up and let them go.
'Ok, there's something going on here and I want to know what it is.' said Jack. As he spoke Molly could see Jamie emerging from out of the medical bay to see what was going on and Gwen standing up too.
Before any of the others knew what was happening Ianto had pulled his gun back out of his pocket. 'I knew this wouldn't work, you tricked me. You are all in on it.' He pointed the gun back at Molly.
Jack, Gwen and Jamie were completely taken aback by what was happening in front of them. It took a few seconds before Jack could speak. 'Ianto, what the hell are you doing?'
'I'm getting out of here, you can't keep me here like this.'
'No one is keeping you anywhere.' said Jack, realising that Ianto had obviously been infected by the virus. He needed to keep the situation calm. 'You don't need the gun.'
'Well, I'm not putting it down. If I keep it directed at Molly no one will try anything.'
'Ianto, please. No one is going to do anything.' Jack said, his voice pleading. He could not get his head around what he was seeing. Molly was Iantos best friend and he was pointing a gun at her, and he seemed to think Jack was trying to keep him prisoner. 'Come on, we can talk about this, this isn't you.'
'I don't want to talk, I want to leave.'
'Fine, then I'll come with you. Let Molly stay here.'
Ianto laughed. 'I don't think so. Threatening you would be kind of pointless.'
Jamie moved a little closer, but not so much that he might agitate Ianto further. He knew there was nothing he could do from where he was and it was frustrating him. 'Ianto, we can help you. This isn't you talking, it's the virus making you feel paranoid.'
'You talk about paranoia, all of you in here are guilty of being paranoid about something. Take Molly, do you realise how paranoid she is that your going to turn out to be just like Alex.' There was a stunned silence in the Hub as he said this. This was so unlike Ianto it was scary. He knew so much about everyone and now he was turning it against them.
Jamie looked at Molly, disbelieving what he was hearing, but she wouldn't look at him.
'Ianto,' said Jack. 'You have to let me help you.'
Ianto turned to him, ignoring what he said. 'I'm leaving now and this is what's going to happen. Molly and I are going to walk out of here. No one is to follow. Give me the keys to the SUV and a PDA.'
Jack passed him the keys, he thought about trying to stop Ianto leaving, but with Molly stood between them it was too big a risk. Jack knew that others that had been infected were volatile and that by keeping the situation as calm as possible, no one would get hurt. Jack felt helpless. Gwen got a PDA and held it out to him. Ianto pocketed the keys to the SUV and then took the PDA and gave it to Molly.
'Configure this so it shows the life signs in here.'
Molly did so, and on the screen appeared five life signs. 'Once we leave if this shows less than three life signs then Molly won't make it back. Once I get to the car though, and if all three life signs are still showing on the screen, Molly is free to come back.'
Jack took an involuntary step forward, but this just made Ianto raise his gun higher.
'It's ok Jack,' said Molly. 'Let us go.' She looked at him straight in the eye. Jack looked back at her, and sensed that she knew what she was doing. As much as it pained him, he was going to have to let them go.
Molly opened the cog door and walked through it, Ianto close behind her. When the door shut Jamie rushed forward, but Jack stopped him.
'How could you just let them go like that?' said Jamie angrily.
'What should I have done? Tried to tackle Ianto to make him stay and took the risk that he started shooting.' Jack took a deep breath and ran his hands through his hair. 'Gwen, can you bring up the footage of the archives since we got back, I need to see what happened down there.'
'So we do nothing.' said Jamie pointing to the door.
'Not for the moment. I think Molly can take care of herself, and if she does what Ianto says, she'll be back soon.'
Jamie opened his mouth to say something else, but shut it again because there was nothing he could say. He just stared at the door.
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It didn't take Ianto and Molly long to reach the SUV parked in the car park. Molly made sure that Ianto could see the PDA and that no one had moved from the Hub. Now he was outside, he actually seemed a lot calmer, the gun had gone back in his pocket. When they reached the car, Molly said, 'Do you know where you're going?'.
Ianto looked at her a slightly confused look on his face. He thought hard, he wasn't entirely sure where he was going, just that he needed to go. He had so many conflicting thoughts going on in his head right now, he wasn't honestly sure he knew what he was doing.
'Like I'm going to say anything, you'd follow me.'
'No I wouldn't, no car.' said Molly.
'That won't stop you for long, so I need you to disconnect the tracker in the SUV.'
Molly sighed, she's really hoped he wouldn't think of this, then an idea struck her. 'Ok, hold this and give me the keys.' Ianto looked at her slightly suspiciously, but went along with the swap. As she went to take the keys Molly moved her hand slightly so they dropped to the floor. 'Oh God, sorry.' she cried, hoping this wouldn't agitate him. Ianto bent down to pick the keys up and as he looked away Molly quickly pulled her phone out of her pocket and tucked it into the sleeve of her jumper.
'Maybe I should keep hold of these.' he said. He then opened up the SUV and gestured that Molly should do what she was supposed to. Molly climbed in and disconnected the tracking system, but when she was sure he couldn't see exactly what she was doing, she slipped her phone under the passenger seat. She then got out. 'There, no one can follow this car now.'
Ianto then got into the car, Molly wanted to say something, but there was nothing she could say, nothing was going to stop him leaving. The door slammed shut and the SUV sped out of the car park.
Molly stood for a minute looking off into the distance at the path the SUV had just taken. She then took a deep breath and wiped away the tears that were starting to fall. She had to get back into the Hub before the others went crazy with worry about what was going on. Molly ran out of the car park and back the short distance to the Hub as fast as she could.
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Jack was pacing up and down in the Hub, all this waiting was not doing him any good. Jack had watched the footage of the archives, hardly believing what he was seeing when Ianto pulled his gun on Molly. Something was going to pay big time for bringing this virus here. He had then tried to bring up the SUV's tracking system, but it had come up disconnected. Jack realised that he should have expected that, Ianto was clever, of course he would disconnect anything that could track him. Just as Jack was considering his next move, the alarm on the door sounded and he turned just in time to see it opening and Molly running back in. He was a little disappointed to see that she was alone, because a small part of him had hoped she'd talk Ianto round.
As soon as Jamie saw her, he rushed over and pulled her into a fierce hug. 'Are you ok?'
'I'm fine,' Molly managed to say, then pulled away. She hurried over to her computer and started typing away furiously.
Jack went over to her. 'He's gone, hasn't he.'
Molly looked up at him sympathetically, Jacks eyes looked so sad. 'Yeah, I tried, but nothing was going to stop him leaving. We can track him though.'
'How?' said Jack. 'The tracking system in the SUV has been disconnected.'
'I know, I was the one that disconnected it, but while I was doing so I lost my phone.' Molly said smiling.
It took Jack a minute to realise what this meant, 'So we track your phone. Molly you're a genius.'
'It happens occasionally.'
'What happens when we've tracked him down though?' asked Gwen.
'Well, I was thinking about something Jack said earlier.' said Molly. 'You said that people were disappearing after they were infected, Ianto could lead us to wherever it is they've gone.'
'Which could also lead us to the source' said Gwen, also remembering what Jack had said earlier. 'Makes sense, only trouble is then we need to stop them.'
'Jamie,' said Jack, 'Go down to the cells and see if Sam has woken up yet, if so see if he's talking. Gwen go with him. Molly keep trying to track Ianto as best you can, I have to go and make a phone call.' Jack went up into his office and sat down behind his desk. He made no move for a while, he sat with his head in his hands. This situation would have been bad regardless of which team member had been infected, but with Ianto it felt much worse. Jack couldn't separate his personal feelings from this, he hoped they could find a solution to this quickly and that he would be reunited with Ianto soon.
