Well hello! Long time no see! anyhow, today was my final exam so I'M BACK! thankyou to all of you loverly reviewers who kept patiently waiting this long and i'm sorry I was so long in updating it. a bit of a shock twist to this chapter, but I hope it's sufficient enough, and I will try and update again in a couple of days!


The SUV sped down the long road, swerving speedily past car after car.

"Left here," Tosh instructed, looking up from her computer.

Jack turned left down a country lane.

"Are we sure we're going the right way?" Gwen asked, peering down at the map in front of her.

"Yes, why?"

"Because we seem to be heading directly for the coastline," Gwen continued. "And I doubt very much that it's mermaids we're looking for here."

"Gwen, would you please just trust us for one minute?" Owen demanded. "This is the way Tosh traced the call, so this is where we are going."

Tosh smiled gratefully at Owen before returning to her computer.

Jack pulled to a halt by Cardiff Bay and jumped out, swirling his coat after him.

"Alright Tosh, where next?" he demanded peering round as the others followed him out of the SUV.

"It says to carry on in the way we were going," Tosh continued. "But that can't be right…"

"We need a boat," Jack concluded quickly looking round.

Gwen stepped forward and grabbed Jack by the shoulders.

"Jack, have you completely lost your mind?" she demanded furiously. "We don't even know if he's out there or if they just chucked the mobile in the ocean. As well as that, we are in the middle of Cardiff, surrounded by what could only be described as the living dead right now Jack! We don't have time to start chasing people into the middle of the ocean!"

"I fucking hate zombies," Owen muttered, leaning on the bonnet of the SUV.

"Gwen, this is not some wild goose chase we are talking about here," Jack replied calmly to her, shaking his head. "This is Ianto we are talking about. Yan-toe! Who is, at this moment, captured by a couple of crazy psychopaths who are currently doing I don't know what to him!"

Gwen was about to interrupt him, but Jack put his hand up to silence her.

"Now, I don't want to hear any 'but Jack's or 'no Jack's, or 'what if Jack's, I want to get the man I love back from the women who took him, and in the process figure out what's happening to Cardiff so we can figure it out. You can sit here and think about the mess we're in if you want, but that is what I will be doing, and that is what I advise the rest of you to do as well."

Owen stood up straight and raised his hand in the air slowly. "I'm in!" he volunteered, hanging his head in mock defeat. "You won me over Harkness."

Tosh glanced at Owen quickly before raising her hand as well. "Me too," she agreed, smiling. "Let's bring Ianto home."

"Bloody Torchwood," Gwen muttered, raising her hand as well.

"Right then," ordered Jack. "Let's go get ourselves a boat! A really big boat!"

"With a pirate flag!"

"Too much Owen…"


Ianto picked at the tiles in front of him and leaned his head against the wall, listening to the sounds of the moans of the infected from outside his cell. Rhys, by the sounds of it, was fast asleep, snoring loudly and the others had been silent for a while. Ianto was in one of those situations where he had no idea what he was going to do- and he hated those situations more than he hated instant coffee.

A sound from his cell door made him snap his head up, and the cell door creaked open to reveal Saeth, smiling down at him.

"Come with me Ianto," she beckoned to him.

Ianto warily climbed to his aching feet and followed her out of the cell. In front of them was a winding corridor leading down in several directions which looked very white and clean, almost like a hospital.

"This is our research Ianto," she informed him as they made their way down the corridor. "We are trying to develop an army of indestructible humans who can withstand pain so that we can end all conflict in the world. With the threat of these 'monsters', people will no longer dare to cross us and the world will be at peace." She turned to him. "Isn't that what you always said you wanted Ianto? Peace?"

Ianto looked at her in disgust. "Not like this…" he spat. "I mean, natural peace, where worlds can function as one and people can get along. Not fucking genetically modified peace!"

"But you could run all this Ianto…" Saeth answered him, gesturing around. "We could use someone of your intelligence to run things around here. Think of all that power, all that gratitude you would receive from others…"

Ianto leaned towards Saeth and put his lips to her ear.

"I would never join in with your sick little games Saeth…" he whispered. "Never in a million years…"

Saeth smiled smugly. "I thought you'd say that Ianto," she sneered tracing one long nail down his left cheek. "Which is why I am saying this. Join us completely, in mind and action, convince your friends you have done this of your own choice, or they will die!"

Ianto shook his head. "You can't beat them Saeth," he said defiantly. "And you can't beat me."

Saeth folded her arms across her chest, a look of annoyance in her eyes. "Look at this objectively Ianto," she began curtly. "We have a hundred thousand 'undead soldiers' already here, we can get a million more. At one single command they would rip your friends to shreds. Join us, and we'll leave them alone. If not," Saeth smiled again then and steered Ianto swiftly back to his cell door. "Well, I hope you have a speech prepared for their funerals, because you're going to need one explaining your little 'moral' motives for killing all of them... and the whole of Cardiff, that is."

She pushed Ianto hard back into his cell so he fell against the wall. "Think about it…" she instructed leaning against the door. "I'm sure you'll make the right choice…"


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