Author's Notes: Sorry for the slow update. Thanks as always to Prothrombintime for reading my ramblings and for offering invaluable encouragement and advice.
Chapter Forty-Eight
July 3rd, 2007 (continued)
Ianto wasn't sure how he'd made it back to the archives, alive and still in one piece. Torchwood Tower was being overrun by an army of Cybermen, in what appeared to be a planned invasion. The "ghosts", he realised belatedly, had merely been the Cybermen attempting to cross over the breach in the London rift, with Yvonne Hartman all but rolling out the red carpet and issuing them with an engraved invitation.
After scrambling away from the Cyberman that had appeared outside the loading bay, and barely dodging out of the path of its arm-mounted energy weapon, he'd sprinted blindly down an adjacent corridor. Frenzied shouting had reached his ears and he'd headed towards the sound, turning a corner and almost running head first into a confused and terrified group of Torchwood personnel, including several soldiers. After joining the group and evading several more Cybermen, it quickly became apparent that while the invaders were relentless and seemingly invulnerable to conventional projectile weapons, they were relatively slow and cumbersome compared to humans. With speed and agility on their side, and he suspected, more than their fair share of luck, the group had managed to make their way to the armoury located not far from the warehouse Ianto had left only a short while earlier.
The soldier he'd seen earlier, Sebastian, had taken charge of the group, and he'd armed the other soldiers with particle guns – the most powerful of the hand-held weapons in Torchwood's impressive arsenal. Asserting his somewhat dubious authority as Torchwood Three's second-in-command, Ianto had commandeered a weapon for himself, assuring the uniformed man that he was fully field-trained.
With the hefty weight of a particle gun in hand, and a rucksack containing a supply of replacement power packs for the weapon slung over his shoulder, he'd parted from the group, determined to find first Rose, then Lisa, and finally the Doctor. Sebastian had wished him luck, then herded the group in the opposite direction, with a plan to evacuate the non-military personnel to the building's underground garages until outside help arrived.
With his heart pounding as adrenaline coursed through his body, Ianto had struggled to make his way through the mounting chaos that had descended upon Torchwood's stronghold. He'd come across several more groups of Torchwood's military contingent along the way. Although they were doing their best to fight off the invading metallic monsters, they were vastly outnumbered and rapidly losing ground.
He'd soon discovered that while the particle guns were effective against the Cybermen, it took multiple rounds at the highest setting to completely neutralise them, rapidly depleting the weapon's limited power supply in the process, and putting the weapon at risk of overheating. With several dead Cybermen in his wake, he was already onto his third power pack by the time he'd reached the room containing the sphere.
Growling in frustration when he'd discovered the room was sealed under quarantine, and fearing for Rose's safety if she was trapped inside, he'd pounded uselessly against the door panel before reluctantly retreating to the nearest stairwell. Uncertain of what to do next, he'd headed downwards and towards what he hoped was the comparative safety of the archives.
Cautiously entering the main area, he ducked behind the nearest desk, took aim, and dispatched the pair of Cybermen standing several feet away. Tossing aside another spent power pack and jamming a replacement into the weapon, he carefully moved forward as he scanned his eyes over the area for any more of the unwelcome intruders, forcing his gaze not to linger on the handful of bodies littering the floor. They were people he'd known, or at least met and exchanged pleasantries with, but he couldn't allow himself to succumb to crippling despair for the lives already lost. His responsibility was to the living.
When he was satisfied he was alone, he returned to his workstation, retrieved a memory stick from his jacket pocket courtesy of Toshiko, and used the software contained on it to access Torchwood One's secure CCTV network.
Distractedly wiping sweat from his brow, Ianto worked quickly, locating a camera in the sphere room and accessing the live footage. His stomach clenched when he discovered that Rose was indeed inside the room, along with Rajesh and a young dark-skinned man with close-cropped hair he didn't recognise. Ianto watched with growing horror as the sphere opened and four metal creatures emerged from within. Except they weren't more Cybermen as he'd expected, but something he recognised as even worse... Daleks.
With a shocked gasp and a chill running down his spine, he turned up the volume on the audio feed and continued to watch as a large object the Daleks described as the 'Genesis Ark' was removed from the sphere. Imposing and ominous, the tapered cylindrical device was similarly shaped to the Daleks themselves.
Rose was attempting to bargain with the Daleks, but when they demanded to know who was the least important member of their group, Rajesh stepped forward. Ianto watched helplessly as two of the Daleks mercilessly killed Rajesh, crushing his skull with their suction-cup arms as they extracted the contents of his brain. With the man's final tortured screams echoing in his ears, Ianto muted the sound, slumped down onto the floor with his back to the wall and pulled his knees up to his chest.
Closing his eyes in a futile attempt to block out the nightmare he was trapped in, he found himself desperately wishing that Jack was there. Jack would know what to do, he told himself. Jack would fight until every one of those metal monstrosities was sent back to whatever hell they'd come from.
Blindly retrieving his phone with trembling hands, he forced his eyes open and dialled, suspecting it would be the last phone call he'd ever make.
Jack answered almost immediately."Ianto, I'm on my way. Traffic's hell though. I'm not sure how long it's going to take me to get there. Are you okay?"
"Jack..." Ianto muttered, his voice little more than a choked whisper. "Oh, God..."
"Ianto! What is it... what's wrong?" Jack demanded, the pitch of his voice raising with alarm.
Ianto forced himself to take a deep breath. "It's an invasion, Jack. The ghosts... they're Cybermen. There's dozens of them, maybe hundreds... thousands... I... uh... I don't know. That's not all... the sphere... it opened. There were Daleks inside. Four of them. They've got Rose."
He heard Jack's sharp inhalation of breath. "Daleks. Oh, no. No, no no no... Ianto you have to get out of there. They're unstoppable killing machines. I've seen what they're capable of... they'll slaughter everyone in that building without hesitation. And that will only be the start."
"I can't," Ianto replied, pressing his eyes closed again. "People are dying, Jack. I have to try to help. The Daleks have something they're calling a Genesis Ark."
To his mind, that name could only mean one thing – that the Daleks had somehow survived the battle that Jack had been in the midst of far off in the distant future. "I think... I think there must be more of them inside... maybe it's like the TARDIS... bigger on the inside," he continued, shuddering with the thought of both Daleks and Cybermen competing for domination of the planet. "Jack, I'm not sure if even the Doctor can fix this. What if this is a battle we can't win?"
"He'll find a way," Jack said firmly, but Ianto didn't miss the trace of uncertainty in his voice. "He has to. But for God's sake, Ianto, you need to get the hell out of there. Where are you at the moment?"
"Archives. I tried to get to Rose but I couldn't." Ianto paused as he considered what to do next. "I'm going to try to find Lisa and Jackie Tyler. They might be with the Doctor."
"Just stay there. Barricade yourself in if you have to. As soon as I get there, I'll come and find you."
"I can't, Jack," Ianto protested again. "I need to try to help."
He blinked back his tears as he realised it was probably the last time he'd ever speak to the other man. It didn't seem possible he'd make it out of this alive. There seemed to so much he needed to say, but there wasn't time. He regretted that it would end like this, with them estranged and at odds with each other.
Taking another deep breath, he struggled to keep his voice steady. "Jack... I love you. Whatever happens, remember that... remember how happy you made me." His voice broke, but he swallowed hard and forced himself to continue. "I'm sorry for the things I said before I left. I didn't mean any of them. I need you to know that." He breathed out a tremulous sigh. "Don't forget me, yeah?"
"Don't!" Jack said fiercely, his voice laced with pain. "Don't you dare say goodbye. Not like this. I'm not ready to lose you, Ianto Jones. You fight like hell to stay alive, all right?"
"I'll try my best," Ianto murmured sadly. "Look, I need to go. I... I just wanted to hear your voice one more time." He drew a ragged breath and tried to keep his voice even as he said his final words to the man he loved more than he ever thought possible. "Goodbye, Jack."
"Ianto... Ianto!"
Unable to bear any more, Ianto disconnected the call, swallowing down an anguished sob. Allowing himself a moment to regain his composure, he took several deep breaths, rubbed roughly to clear his eyes, then rose unsteadily to his feet.
Forcing himself to focus on the task at hand, he looked back at the screen and frowned when he discovered the camera feed was no longer working. He tried the adjacent rooms and corridors, but none of them were working either. Clearly something was interfering with the cameras, or they'd been destroyed. Not knowing what else to do, he accessed the CCTV feed for the forty-five floor and tried to find Lisa. If he could do nothing else, he could at least try to save her.
###
He waited impatiently as the lift ascended, whisking him upwards to the forty-third floor. He'd found Lisa on the CCTV, along with Yvonne Hartman, Jackie Tyler, and several other Torchwood personnel. The Cybermen had been dragging them away, while keeping the Doctor captive in the rift chamber. Cold terror had gripped his heart as he'd heard the emotionless, robotic voice of one of the Cybermen declare that emergency upgrading would commence. He didn't need much imagination to realise that "upgrading" meant converting humans into Cybermen. Worse still, he suspected the occupants of Torchwood Tower were only the beginning. It was a hell of a choice, he thought ruefully, extermination by Dalek or conversion into a Cyberman. He wondered if the Cybermen remembered anything of their former lives, or if their memories were removed along with their ability to feel emotions. He shuddered at the thought. At least with what the Daleks did, while no less brutal, it was quick, clean, and final.
Forcing the unwelcome thoughts firmly to the back of his mind, he shrugged off his suit jacket, rolled up his shirt sleeves, and loosened his collar and tie. Checking his gun and slotting in the last of his spare power packs, he set his jaw determinedly. He couldn't cower in the archives like Jack had asked him to, not when people were dying all around him and the world was on the brink of alien invasion. He'd go down fighting, and he knew that Jack would ultimately understand, since he'd do the same. It's what Jack had done on Satellite Five, far in the future when he'd faced off against the Daleks, and Ianto would do no less.
The thought of the other man caused a renewed heaviness in his chest, and although he was resigned to his fate, he just wished he'd had a chance to see Jack one more time. At least he knew that no matter what happened, Jack would survive, and that gave him a small but much needed measure of peace.
The lift doors slid open and he immediately pressed himself up against the side wall, peeking his head out just far enough to check the corridor was clear. It was the closest floor he'd found on the CCTV that had appeared to be free of the unwelcome intruders. Drawing a deep breath in relief, he exited the lift and sprinted to the stairwell at the end of the opposite wall. Pushing the heavy door open with his shoulder, he listened for the tell-tale sound of heavy metal footsteps, then scrambled up the stairs to the next floor. Reaching the exit to the forty-fourth floor, he carefully eased the door open just far enough to peer through the narrow gap.
He was just in time to see a group of four Cybermen marching Yvonne Hartman, Jackie Tyler, Lisa, and several others through a curtained off area at the other end of the corridor. The distant sound of agonised screams combined with the whine of machinery reached his ears, and he was forced to swallow down the bile that rose up in his throat. Sick to his stomach with the thought of people being converted into those metal abominations, he looked dubiously down at the weapon gripped tightly in his hands. At best he could neutralise four, maybe five Cybermen before the power was depleted. If he reduced the energy level, he could perhaps disable several more just long enough for them to escape, but it was a gamble at best.
However, there was no time to think about tactics or strategy, and he needed to act if he had any chance of saving them. With his heart pounding furiously in his ears, he steeled himself, took a deep shuddering breath to strengthen his resolve, then pushed his way through the door.
He'd just reached the entrance of the area screened off with sheets of thick semi-translucent plastic when he heard a loud female voice that he recognised as belonging to Jackie Tyler. "This is your fault!" she shouted. "You and your Torchwood. You've killed us all!"
Stepping around the corner, he came up silently behind the group just in time to see Yvonne Hartman being dragged off by a Cyberman. She was taken into a area screened off with blood-splattered plastic, and it was only a moment later when her anguished screams filled the air. Frozen in horror, Ianto knew that no one deserved such an unthinkable fate, not even the woman whose foolishness and arrogance had brought this nightmare down upon them all.
His stomach churned violently, his senses overwhelmed by the terrible sounds and the awful smell of blood and seared flesh. For a long, horrible moment he was rooted to the spot, unable to think, unable to move. Then, realising that Jackie and Lisa were next in line, he somehow managed to regain his equilibrium and re-establish control over his body. He aimed his gun squarely at the back of the nearest Cyberman and pulled the trigger, taking grim satisfaction when it toppled to the floor with a heavy thud and a tortured, mechanical scream.
Lisa and Jackie turned around, both looking stunned. "Ianto!" Lisa said. "Oh, thank God..."
"Go!" Ianto shouted, already aiming at the next closest Cyberman, and knowing he'd well and truly lost the element of surprise. The Cyberman he was targeting along with two more were turning to face him, their right arms where their weapons were mounted lifting upwards in readiness to retaliate. "Hostile element detected," one of the cybernetic creatures stated in its monotonous, robotic voice. "Delete! Delete!"
Ianto fired again, disabling another of the metal monsters. "Head for the stairwell at the end of the corridor," he shouted at the two woman who had not yet moved. "Hurry! Go!"
Jackie grabbed hold of Lisa's arm and they took off down the corridor, the several other Torchwood personnel queued up for conversion taking advantage of the distraction and quickly following in their wake. A couple of them gave him looks of gratitude as they passed while the others seemed too shell-shocked to register what had just happened, just blindly fleeing from the horror surrounding them.
Fuelled by anger and adrenaline, and acting more on instinct than conscious thought, Ianto dodged to the side and ducked down low, firing at another Cyberman and hitting it directly in the chest. It collapsed to the floor with a mechanical groan. The fourth Cyberman was aiming at him, and two more appeared from beyond the bloodied plastic sheeting. Firing off one more shot, he turned and ran, weaving his way down the corridor and desperately hoping his luck would hold out for a few more precious moments as the dull thump of metallic footsteps reverberated in his ears.
Lisa was holding the stairwell door open, her eyes wide with panic, but remaining composed as she ushered the fleeing people through. Jackie Tyler in the lead and reached the stairs first, then helped Lisa to get everyone through. Ianto skidded to a halt and turned, firing at the two approaching Cybermen. The one in the lead took the hit and stumbled backwards, falling against the other and sending them both crashing heavily to the floor.
"Lisa! Go!" he shouted, turning back towards her and reaching for her arm.
Suddenly, she was in front of him, pushing him backwards and into the stairwell. Stumbling as he grasped the railing, he belated saw what she already had. The lift doors were open and two more Cybermen had emerged, arms raised, their weapons aimed directly towards them. Before Ianto could react, one of them fired, the bolt of energy hitting Lisa squarely in the chest and causing her body to immediately crumple to the floor, just inside the doorway.
"No!" Ianto screamed, stepping forward and turning his gun towards the monsters. He fired repeatedly until the power supply was exhausted. Tossing the now useless weapon aside, he scooped up Lisa's body into his arms and pulled the door closed. He hurried down the stairs, cradling Lisa's inert form against his chest. "Lisa," he muttered frantically. "Lisa, can you hear me?"
Jackie was waiting at the landing below. "Oh, my God! Is she dead?"
Ianto looked up at her, his eyes filled with tears he hadn't even realised had began to fall. Then he looked back down into Lisa's dull, lifeless eyes... eyes that had only moments ago been so vibrant and full of life.
He nodded dumbly. "Yes, she's dead," he muttered, choking back a ragged sob of despair, and tightening his grip on the body of the woman he'd once loved.