Ianto/Jacque fic.
Part 4.
The next thing you know, the lot of you are spreading out through the sewers - a system that's oddly much more complex than you'd originally think. Again, you're left paired with Ianto. Gwen is going to take the front while you two flank the sides and catch it unaware, hopefully giving Tosh enough time to plant the signal jam before you come barging in that she can support from behind. You only hesitantly agree because it's logically the best tactical maneuver, the losing part of you wanting to keep the team safe. Since that's impossible given the situation, however...
You're pulled from your thoughts again by an arm in front of you, silently telling you to stop. Suddenly he's pulled close, and were this another location...
"The tunnels split up ahead," he whispers in your ear, his body less than an inch from yours, "I'll take the right hand side since it's easier to get lost that way and I know the tunnels better."
"I'll bet you do," you say with a smirk, trying to hide the fact you're not speaking above a whisper for a different reason entirely.
"Odd job perks," he replies with a smirk of his own. He gently leans a hair closer - how are you still not touching? - so that he can point down the tunnel you're to take and say, "Now, we don't have much time. That tunnel leads almost directly to the entrance you want. Just keep going straight until you don't have a choice. When it forks two ways, just take the right hand side. It'll loop you around to where you want to be. And remember, watch for Gwen's signal."
You just nod, catching his arm as he starts to move to the other path so that you can give him a quick kiss before saying softly, "For luck," and racing off before he can see you blush.
Five minutes later, you start hearing rumbling from up ahead. It only gets louder when you take the fork as instructed, moving quickly but cautiously through the twists and turns. Then it suddenly turns and opens into the main cavern, causing you to jump backwards rather ungracefully to avoid being seen.
Once you've gathered yourself enough to peek carefully into the chamber, you can see the slight matte sliver that you know is your boyfriend's suit just visible at the edge of the portal across the room from you. The thing that you both are trying to avoid the gaze of is terrifying: It's like a king of weevils made of its dead fellows. The only part of it that doesn't seem like multiple, smaller bits grafted together is the head: A giant skull like face with sinew and muscle and flesh strung and stretched over it. And over everything is this putrid stench of rotting flesh. It seems, in all, like something wholly unnatural. Whatever this... This /thing/ is... It was created, not born.
Even though none of you are telepathic, everyone feels a tension in the air, a pure, raw anger emanating from the beast in this room. The only ones seemingly unaffected are the weevils coming in from side tunnels to bring it food. You can practically see the eddies and swirls of calm that the beast channels around them.
And then it all vanishes.
You hear Gwen shout, "NOW!" the moment the feeling of anger lifts, both you and Ianto immediately jumping out to start firing at the thing.
But the bullets just make it angry.
It heads for Gwen first, causing Ianto to hurtle toward it, clinging to one of its legs in attempt to bring it down. But the monster is huge, and instead just looks at him like a gnat, swatting him the same way and sending him sprawling.
You hear yourself scream as you run closer, now aiming for the head, a wave of anger taking over you as you ignore the fear this thing's causing. "WHERE THE FUCK IS OWEN?" you call over the gunfire, pus seeming to fall in gushes from the hideous creature instead of blood.
"I'm here!" you hear him call, speak of the devil, from the direction that Ianto was thrown. "Don't worry, your man-candy is fine," he says, rushing to your side.
"Get behind it!" Gwen shouts, sending him sprinting away from you about halfway over, "How much sedative do you have packed in that bag of yours?"
"Probably not enough!" he shouts, already taking it out.
"Anything to slow it down," you say, hands shaking as you try to reload. "I'm going to distract it as soon as you're ready: You'll probably only get one shot!"
"GO!" Owen says, syringe already in his hand, "And make it count!"
You drop the gun, rush forward, and cling to its midsection, trying not to open your mouth or breathe in the foul slime and fog of odor coating what passes for skin. You can feel the bruises and a rib crack as it batters at you, trying to get you off, before it has bigger problems to worry about. Somehow, Owen is clinging to its neck, only just jabbing the needle into what you all assume is a vein and pushing the plunger before getting a similar reaction to Ianto. This time, though, Tosh is right in his path, the two of them tangling as he crashes into her and they fall.
Unlike Ianto, though, he isn't knocked out, so they both hear the blood-curdling shriek the thing lets out as the drugs start to effect it. It stumbles a bit, seeming to try and fight through a fog or through spider webs, its aim no longer as strong.
But the bullets still only enrage it further. Now it's maimed, and, dear god, is it furious.
First it goes after Gwen, sweeping her easily from the ground and throwing her just feet from your boyfriend, knocking her out cold, as well. But then Owen sees it start to turn and he pushes Tosh down the nearest corridor, shouting something about a drainage pipe. She tries to protest, but you shout, "JUST DO IT!" and she scampers off. One swipe of the creature's arm and Owen is tossed aside like a rag doll, thankfully landing with his head out of the water as he, too, is K.O.'d.
Apparently your shout was what it needed to remember that you're still clinging to its midsection, because you hear the tear of fabric as claws graze your back. It seems to find you the biggest threat since you get the feeling you're about to be torn to shreds when the water starts to bubble and swirl, a loud /thunk/ shaking the ground underneath you as something gives way. And you hear a whoosh as air whistles past, the approaching roar letting you know what's going to happen next. The ground beneath you gives way and you let go as the two of you are slammed into by walls of water and sewage from all sides. Even if you had taken a breath, the air is knocked out of you by the force of it as the raging current quickly discards any sense of which way up might be and everything goes black...
The next thing you know, you wake up with a gasp, coughing up water in Ianto's arms.