42
"What is she talking about?" Kara frowned.
John had seen as well and canted his head, "Tell me eye candy, when did you get that red stone?"
Ianto looked at it and shrugged, "It was the handle on the lid of a container. The container was old and dnedted, not needed but I always liked the way the light hit the crystal so I kept it. When I saw the sword had a hole in the grip for a pommel I tried this and it fit like a glove. I like red. My colour that."
John blinked, then asked calmly, "And where, pray tell my lovely, did you get the container?"
Ianto frowned as he tried to think then he said with certainty, "The Warehouse. It was just there on the shelf one day. I knocked it off and… I liked it. The little bauble seemed to glow."
"Glow" John repeated with glee, "A bloodstone."
"A what?"
"You know, the old adage that you can't get blood from a stone" John explained "Comes from the fabled Bloodstone. Said to contain the very last drop of dragon blood to ever exist. It is said that the one who wields the power of the stone can cut….shit….can cut through time itself."
John looked at Jack who was staring at him then looked at Ianto. "Jack?"
"The Bloodstone. A rare gem of unknown origins and said to belong to the Dragon god himself. A warrior who is not only exempt from Time Agency rules… is said to have written most of them." Jack whispered with widening eyes, "An immortal said to have walked the worlds with his…captain….forever…..shit.."
Ianto looked at the sword and shrugged, "Whatever."
The woman made a small noise in her throat as Ianto focused on her, "What do we do with her then?"
"It's up to you lover" Jack shrugged and Ianto sighed. "Apparently you're the boss."
"Why is it always up to me. Gets tiring ya know. Look … let's let her go. She isn't half as dangerous as I thought she would be I mean look at her. Sydney could take her" Ianto flapped his hand in her direction, "Besides, Kai needs his feed."
Ianto slid the sword into its scabbard then wandered off with the baby, the woman looking at John, "You know what this is."
"The reckoning" John agreed.
"Don't be silly" Jack snorted, "The Reckoning is when the Boss purged the Time Agency of those who hadn't …played….by….the….rules. Shit?"
"Yeah. The Boss. Jack, it's Ianto. We are crossing timelines and need to be bloody careful here, that little bauble as he calls it is the Bloodstone, he is the Boss. He has it on a dagger now … in our real time … remember? The 51st Century portraits of him, always his face turned away said to be looking at his lover with that soft curl of hair around his ear lobe… the dagger on his hip where he rests his hand on it when pissed. Come on, you've heard the stories. That crystal is the Blood Crystal. Holy shit … I tried to kill the man who will one day give me my VM. That does your head in that."
"Unless you've already fucked that up" Jack couldn't help himself and he enjoyed a moment of John's horror before he remembered that it would also mean he wasn't here.
"Wanker"
"Maybe so" Jack rose to follow his love, "But I get to fuck the Boss."
John laughed as he motioned to the woman, "Come on love. Let's be having ya. You know something? I bet he knew all along that crystal was important, keeping it in plain sight like that the shithead. Wow. Come on."
She walked to the edge of the bubble and turned to stare back at the place Ianto had stood, then she looked at John, "This is real. That was real. Al this time we've focused on the children as the anomaly. It's him. Immortal, not his bloodline … himself."
"Was always him" John agreed.
Kara stood back watching as the woman rubbed her hands on her clothing and then finally locked eyes with Kara, the world seeming to slow and stop as the real danger was in that second of connection. Kara knew she looked like Jack, her clothing and stance similar and she played on it, winking to break the eye contact and was rewarded with a blush as the woman looked away, a soft clearing of her throat as she watched Kara covertly channel her Taddy instead, walking up close to whisper in her ear, "You tell them… tell them this little slice is toxic to your kind. OK?"
The woman went to speak but those lips on hers were so soft, even as a low pitched snarl from somewhere to the left of them registered, the most amazing thing that did register was the slight tingle to her lips as she finally drew breath, the goddess pulling back to leer in that Harkness way.
She stumbled from the area to her vehicle and her driver woke from his map with a grunt, looking for the others with confusion.
"Just me…let's get to the jump point, hurry" she demanded, turning to look back at the area shimmered and the bubble dropped. The beautiful goddess raised a hand to wriggle her fingers goodbye.
Minerva knew one thing for sure, this place would belong to her before the week was out. Oh yes, that blood would be an excellent thing and the future of her soldiers would be enhanced once she extracted whatever it was that made them….zing. If she owned the Boss, she owned the Agency. Oh yes, she would rule with an iron fist.
She raised a hand to brush her lips, the tingle still there and she felt a wetness between her legs that was surprising. It had been some time since she had been moved like that. Maybe she would keep that one for a pet.
Hmmmm?