17

They sat around the meeting table as Jack keep a watch over Ianto on the large wall monitor.

"His mother died when he was quite young" Gwen said as she clicked a smaller screen in the corner of the monitor and a picture of a young blonde woman appeared.

Her face was round and youthful, with a spark of personality visible in her smile. Ianto's smile. She was leaning forward as she sat on the floor, the little boy in her arms no older than three or four was laughing. Ianto's head was thrown back and his mouth wide open with glee.

"He was five, just started school" Tosh took over as Gwen seemed to stall out at the sight of the young boy, so different to the man they now knew. "Seems it was his third day of school."

Gwen started out of her fugue and turned to face Jack, "The autopsy results were sent through to Owen."

"Yeah." Owen grimaced, "She was found hanging in the basement. The ligature marks are consistent, but it's the other marks that are interesting. Look."

Owen clicked and the picture changed to show two pale arms, gouged by long scratches.

"Oh my god, like mine!" Tosh gasped as she pulled up her sleeves.

"I think this … these …. Things were after her too. I go, the boy going to school left her alone and vulnerable. They either pushed her to it, or put her there" Owen frowned, "The worst part is what was the notes about the scene of the hanging."

"And?" Jack prodded.

"Ianto was the one who found him." Owen said and then swung with the rest of the team as Ianto cried out in his sleep.

Jack was out of his chair and moving, afraid he was under attack again and he berated himself for leaving him alone. Myfanwy, however, hadn't left him and was crouched over the bed with her head cocked to one side as though she was listening to him.

"Hey girl" Jack said softy and she shuffled back but refused to leave.

Ianto whimpered and Jack carefully pulled him onto his arms as he tried to calm him.

That's when he smelt it.

Like burnt rubber, rotting flesh, melted plastic … death.

"Owen!" Jack roared as he frantically looked around, pulling the limp man deeper into his embrace.

"What the hell is the … fuck! Wat's that smell?" Owen stopped at the bottom of the stairs and wrinkled his nose, then he saw Myfanwy, "Fuck! What's got into her?"

Myfanwy was contorting and making a strangled gargling snarly noise. Tosh was the one to act first, grabbing the bucket of confetti and throwing the water bottle, then the confetti over her.

The team reacted, racing to save her as two different entities were now visible in her space. One was attached to her wing as it struggled with her and the other was trapped under her claws as she angrily tore at it.

Owen snatched a scalpel and plunged it into the entity on her wing and it screamed as it disappeared.

"Does that kill them, or do they just run away!" Gwen shouted as she watched Myfanwy tear the otter one into pieces, then shake her feet with a look of distain.

"Don't know, don't care!" Owen shouted back, "As long as they leave Ianto alone."

Ianto had woken and was clinging to Jack as he watched the team save his pet and more than once he cried out and hid his face as another piece of … whatever… fell into the grating.

Finally, she rose and flew to her nest.

Everyone was panting with exertion and fear as Ianto slid from the bed and wrapped his arms around Jack for comfort.

They made their way back to the meeting room where they all got a look of thunder when the Starbucks cups were seen on the table.

"We didn't want to wake you" Tosh simpered as Ianto huffed.

Then he saw the pictures of his mother on the screen and he reared back.

"Ianto, mate. We think that these things were after her too. We think they caused her death, either directly or indirectly." Owen said softly as he watched Jack help Ianto to a chair.

"Me Mam?" Ianto looked up with wide eyes, "You mean … these fucking things were hurting her too?"

"Your mother was quite a looker!" Owen said as he blew up the image of them together on the floor, "You look a lot like her."

"Yeah. Rhia looks like me Da. She's not me Mam's. Da's first wife died, an accident or something. Mam came along and then me. Why Rhia and I are so different." Ianto shrugged.

"Wait. You have a sister called Rhia and she's your half-sister?" Owen asked as he pulled the PDA over, "wait a minute."

Owen was working so quickly that Tosh was impressed, giving his lesser confidence with computers.

"There! Your sister Rhiannon. Ah, different mums. Huh. Different blood types. Look at that. Do you think it's hereditary? What about your mother's family. Grandparents?" Owen said as he looked over at Ianto.

"None. She used to joke that she was made by machines. Er … a duplicator? Yeah. She said her Dad was her only parental and he was her mother as well. She would only say that he left her behind" Ianto shrugged.

"Well, what was her name before it was Jones?" Owen asked, "Jenny what?"

"Storm. Jenny Storm." Ianto answered and Jack rubbed his back encouragingly.

"Jenny Storm, a middle name?" Owen looked up and Ianto snorted.

"No. Er … Theta, I think. My grandfather's name as a child. Funny, she said my grandfather was a doctor. The Doctor John Smith" Ianto said and he pulled back as Jack gaped at him.

"What?"