HUNTER KILLER PART FOUR
Gwen trawled her way through the crates of evidence that had been gathered at the crime scene, she couldn't help but feel annoyed that Jack had taken Ianto out in the field to deal with the Weevil alert. He'd been doing that a lot lately. It wasn't that she begrudged Ianto the experience; it was just that Jack always used to take her. That had radically changed since his return from his travels with the Doctor, the whole dynamic of their relationship had altered since she announced her engagement to Rhys.
She sorted through the bagged items and found the bags containing wallets and purses that had been left scattered about the bloodied office, she'd start with those see if Owen could confirm with her the IDs on the bodies. She was grateful that she wasn't having to deal with the autopsies and appreciated that Owen had decided to carry them out away from the main area of the Hub.
Her thoughts drifted back to Jack. 'Don't let it drift', he'd been adamant about that and yet she had found herself in Owen's bed whilst falling for Jack, how could she have been so stupid? It was clear that Jack loved her, but not in the way that she hoped he would, the Captains affections obviously lay elsewhere. It confused her no end. Ianto himself was a puzzle, the betrayals between the younger man and Jack went deep and somehow both of them had learnt to move on. They were so opposite to one another and she half wondered how Ianto put up with Jack's incessant flirting..... maybe he was just taking all he could get from the Captain he was undoubtedly infatuated with.
Focus Gwen... work to do. She chided herself.
She had Rhys, probably the most caring and supportive man she would ever know. Jack was just too..... dangerous to love and she fully expected Ianto to get hurt sooner rather than later. She wondered how that particular break up would impact on the team, Ianto had a serious and vindictive mean streak under those immaculate suits. Jack would be on Decaf for the rest of Ianto's life! She chuckled at the thought. Gwen had a huge soft spot for her fellow countryman. When she considered everything that he had suffered he was in fact a very calm and well balanced individual and his sense of humour was certainly unique. He spent his working life caring for his colleagues and she remembered thinking months before that he was just trying to make up for the whole Lisa thing, but now she realised he did care about them all, passionately. He saw them as family, she's over heard him tell Jack on a number of occasions. Was there anyone on the outside for him? Gwen seriously doubted it, like Owen and Tosh, Torchwood was Ianto's world he just had the added bonus of being the boss'...... Gwen wondered, they almost never showed any affection toward one another in public, but she'd seen the CCTV footage that Tosh had collated. Stolen moments of private conversations, touches, hugs and the occasional kiss; apparently there were more rather intimate ones too. Gwen was pretty sure she didn't want to watch them shagging though. She thought back to the incident with the Space Whale a few weeks before. Jack hadn't flinched when Ianto had been held at gun point and shot at, but Owen later told her that after she had stormed out that evening Jack had sat on the couch holding Ianto in a death grip for almost two hours. It had been a barb on Owen's part of course. He was still angry with her over the whole refusal to Retcon Rhys. Gwen realised that that evening had not been her moment of glory, she'd really pissed everyone off and hurt Jack's feelings that day. The crazy thing was Rhys just increased his support of her and finally understood what her life was about.... no more lies, that had to be a good thing for them. It was.
Gwen looked down at the personal possessions in her hands, she realised just how lucky she was.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Ianto knelt down beside the messy husk of a weevil corpse. The exposed, cauterised chest cavity was still smoking and he glanced about feeling distinctly uneasy as he touched the blue tooth in his ear.
"Jack, you better come and see this."
"You found it?"
"Yep." His gaze went up to the roof tops that lined the alley way at the back of the Electro Cinema and he shivered. Straightening himself up he took a thorough look around him just as Jack came running into the alley from Anglesey Terrace. He practically skidded to a stop on seeing Ianto and he slowed down, his approach cautious.
"Ianto?"
Ianto faced him with a concerned look. "It's clear Jack, whatever it was is gone. Take a look." He gestured to the remains at his feet. Holstering his gun Jack came over and took a look.
"What the hell happened?"
Ianto was still gazing about. "I've no idea. I heard it cry out and when I got here a few seconds later I found this. Whatever did that it could only have happened 5-10 seconds before I arrived. I didn't see what it was but I'm sure I heard something."
"I've never seen an injury like this before." Jack commented.
"Me either, it's completely cauterised."
"Some kind of laser maybe, we'll take it back for Owen to check over."
Ianto hitched a smile. "He'll love that!"
Jack stood up. "You ok?"
Ianto was still watching their surroundings. "I keep thinking about what we saw in Brecon. I know this is not the same, but yesterday I felt like I was being watched. I put it down t being spooked by what we were dealing with.... but... I'm feeling it now."
Jack briefly grasped his hand and squeezed it. He had learnt to trust Ianto's intuition over recent months and he took a good look around. There was nothing, just a row of wheelie bins and a sheet of rusted corrugated metal, leaning against the brick wall of the back of a building next to a fire escape, the smell of heat, piss and rubbish in his nostrils.
"There's no birdsong." Ianto commented.
Jack arched his eyebrows. "Round here, that's hardly surprising."
"There's usually pigeons though at the very least."
Jack had to agree. He sighed the SUV was three streets away. "Why don't you get the SUV, I'll wait here." Jack didn't want to leave Ianto to guard the corpse, he was obviously spooked enough as it was.
Ianto nodded. "Ok, be careful Jack." He headed off at a jog, thankful for his choice of attire as he broke into sweat almost immediately.
Jack watched him depart then went back to scanning his surroundings, pulling out his PDA to check for anything out of the ordinary. There was nothing.
Owen only managed a few choice swear words when Jack and Ianto returned with another stiff for him to examine. It was late into the day so Ianto went home to shower and change and collect a couple sets of spare clothing and on the way back to the HUB he went to M&S and did a lot of food and drinks shopping for the team. By the time he got to the Hub his colleagues were gathered in the boardroom eagerly awaiting his return with the supplies.
They ate quickly and then Jack and Gwen cleared the table whilst Ianto made coffee.
Tosh got the meeting under way.
"The readings you took at the crime scene and where you found the weevil, were all in the norm, so whatever it is I don't think it is Rift related." There were sighs of relief all round until Tosh held up the bagged spear head. "This however, is non terrestrial. I did an analysis on the metal and found no matches, nothing even close. There are some inscriptions on it......" She brought up an image on the plasma screen on the wall. "Again no matches on our database, they look like pictograms, but there's no way to be sure."
Ianto was looking at the picture intently. "They are hieroglyphs I've seen those before, back in London."
Everyone was looking at him and Ianto felt vaguely uncomfortable.
"I checked through the Canary Wharf database." Tosh said a little indignantly.
Ianto nodded. "I'm sure you did, but it is by no means complete I'm still assembling it from what was salvaged at the time, I'm only about half way through."
"Only?" Jack demanded.
Ianto threw him a look of exasperation. "Jack there are literally thousands of items and well over a hundred thousand files and most of those are hardcopies."
"Do you think you could find the reference?"
Ianto nodded. "I know exactly where it is. I'll go and find it." He got up feeling somewhat annoyed as he left the boardroom, with four pairs of eyes on his back.
"Ooops, me thinks Tea Boy is peeved." Owen was grinning.
Tosh was glaring at Jack. "May I ask a question Jack?"
Jack gave her a level look. "You may not get an answer."
"Ianto, he wasn't a junior researcher was he?"
Suddenly they were all looking at Jack. "No, he wasn't."
Owen was curious now. "Well?"
Jack sighed not really wanting to discuss Ianto's past but knowing he had to. "He was recruited straight of Cambridge. Yvonne's cronies discovered he had perfect photographic recall. They used him in the secure archives as a translator because he could pretty much remember anything he was visually exposed to. Coupled with his naturally analytical mind......"
"You mean like Mr Data on Star Trek?"
All eyes then fell on Gwen, who blushed. "I'm only saying."
"The point is Ianto lied to us to protect himself from being experimented on. Yvonne had him shut in the labs on a regular basis, he was also used on a couple of covert operations to study plans and documents."
"Jack it is a useful talent, we should put it to good use." Tosh declared.
"No." Jack glared at her. "I said he remembers everything Tosh and I mean everything. The recall isn't selective, he can't shut it off when he chooses. Trust me I've heard extremely graphic accounts of what happened with the Cybermen, how his Father died, what those monsters did to him at Brynnblaid. He will not be used in such a manner, is that clear?"
The ice in Jack's tone brought everyone to an uncomfortable silence. Owen immediately understood the nature of Ianto's continual nightmares that he had refused treatment for.
"None of it is on his medical records Jack, it would've been helpful to know. When did you find out?"
Jack shot him a wounded look, it was something he really didn't want to talk about. He sighed, he knew the others deserved some answers.
"When I disappeared.... I told you about that year that didn't happen for you guys..... You went off to Nepal leaving Ianto here to man the Hub. He remembers that year, told me how he died and I know he was telling the truth because it was me that killed him. I think his proximity to the Rift is what enabled him to experience the paradox. Either way, that's when I found out. Now if you don't mind I'd really rather not discuss any of it further. Tosh can we move on please?"
She nodded. "Yes, of course. This weapon head, as I said I couldn't identify the metal. It's tough, and cuts through just about anything like it was paper. I tried it on stone and metal... no problem. It absorbs heat and retains it's shape, I bashed it and hammered it, not a single dent. It's really quite amazing......."
Ianto stepped back into the room, immediately recognizing that there had been a change in the atmosphere. In one hand held a metal object in the other a manila folder. He leaned over Tosh's shoulder and placed the file in front of Jack.
Gwen was the first to speak up. "What is that?"
Ianto smiled and stepped round the table to stand in front of the plasma tv giving himself a metre of space from the end of the table. He held out the metal baton like object and depressed two raised notches with his thumb. From each end two points slid silently out and unfolded revealing lethal looking claw shaped, glistening blades. Once fully extended, it rather resembled a pike staff with two bladed ends instead of one. Ianto carefully twirled it with some degree of skill before lying with a gentle clang on to the table.
"Don't touch the blades." He advised as Jack's hand strayed forwards.
"Wow, where'd this come from?"
"Database number, antarc 3556619/a8. It was found in Antarctica, by an expedition team.... the details are sketchy because most of the files were censored before I got to them. My understanding is that a lone survivor of a team of explorers brought this back and Torchwood One intercepted it. You'll find the same symbols Tosh and it's most likely made of the same metal. No one knows where it is from."
Ianto resumed his seat next to Jack. "How heavy is it?" Jack asked expecting it to be quite weighty.
"2point 6 kilos."
"No way." Owen was completely taken aback.
Jack cautiously lifted it and tested the feel before putting it back down, he was more of a gun man himself but he appreciated the beauty of the weapon non the less.
Tosh was clearly fascinated. "So this, or something remarkably similar is the killing weapon used on those people?"
Owen nodded. "I'd be inclined to agree, the bodies in the morgue would confirm that."
"Explain."
Owen pushed a series of reports over to Jack. "The six victims were all human, two females and four men. One of the women was 7 months pregnant. They were slashed with a very fine bladed weapon. All of them had their sternums opened up with a precise tool, same goes for the weevil. Skinning took place post mortem. The injuries were ..... well from what I can tell whatever did this wasn't offered up much resistance, because only one of the victims had defensive like injuries, the left arm being cleanly cut off just below the elbow, and the CCTV footage will confirm that if nothing else."
"What about that?"
Gwen and Tosh both winced.
"That's the weird part." Gwen took the remote from Tosh. "Hold on to your lunches, this isn't nice."...............
