Chapter 6: Daddy Dearest

"When and where?" Ianto urgently demanded Tosh.

"New York, just New York!" Tosh responded with the same amount of urgency.Loud consistent beeping turned the Japanese girl pale. "Oh no."

"Oh no? Oh no what? "

"The new programming I installed into the Rift monitor… it allows me to pinpoint the highest spike on a geographical map. There were two."

"Two?"

Tosh swallowed hard, "Two. One directly above the Empire State building."

"And the other?"

"Directly above your house."

Ianto paled, all color disappearing from his face, "It knows where we are. It knows!"

"But so do you." Gwen comforted, "He's directly under the Empire State building. If you can get in, you can find Jack and bring him home."

Ianto crept along the side of the building. According to Tosh, there was a side ally and an underground tunnel where he could access the building's basement, which, also according to Tosh, hadn't been used since the seventies. He scribbled all of his notes down in his diary and left it at home, knowing if he got caught with it, he'd get put in prison for a very long time. He reached the side door. Slipping his hand into his pocket, he produced a lock pick. Getting on one knee, he inserted the pick. "Oh good," A slurpey voice greeted, "I was hoping it would be you." Ianto froze, almost too afraid to turn around. His heart dropped to his stomach, a lump in his throat, a sour taste in his mouth. He stood slowly to face the creature.

Ianto nearly gagged at the sight he was seeing. The Hollowcall was six feet tall, had bony arms and legs with razor thin fingers. Its body mimicked that on Jabba the Hutt, it was a wonder that the legs were even supporting the body. The thing was pale, so pale, but it oozed a black liquid that Ianto suspected was tar. Tattered remains of clothing were sucked into the folds of the monster. "Who are you?" Ianto demanded putting up a face of false bravery, "rather, who did you used to be?"

"Me? Who did I used to be?" The voice wheezed and bubbled as if speaking underwater and coated in Caro syrup. It laughed, sounding like an obese man suffering from a severe case of diabetes and a fatal heart condition. "I've watched you… so…" It licked its lips, "delicious." Ianto suppressed a shudder. "I couldn't go after you though. That man of yours would likely shove me through a shredder. So I settled. And it was Glorious!"

"You son of a bitch," Ianto pulled the Torchwood container out of his pocket.

"Ahahahahaha!" Hollowcall doubled over in laughter, "That isn't going to work on me!"

"We'll see about that," Ianto responded with confidence.

"Are you sure?" The Hollowcall was gone and Ianto felt something slimy dripping down his face. Horrified, he realized he was paralyzed.

"Move!" He commanded his body, "MOVE!"

A slimy, slithery tongue wormed its way out of Hollowcalls mouth and began caressing Ianto face. Ianto squeezed his eyes shut attempting to block out what was happening to him. Suddenly there was a searing pain exploding inside his head, and coursing through his veins. He fell to the ground writhing in sheer agony, and not even the darkness of unconsciousness provided relief.

"Is there anything on him to provide any sort of information of who he is?" Paul asked rushing down the hospital hallways with one of the nurses.

"Sorry, Dr. Slippery," she said handing him a file, "He's a John Doe...and comatose."

"Right, thanks Cathy." Paul's hand pressed on the door and opened it. "Hello, John Doe." Paul flipped open the manila file and was greeted by an all too familiar face. His head whipped up confirming the terrifying truth. "Shit."

"How many times have you disassembled and assembled, arranged and rearranged that pile of rainbow paperclips? Besides, shouldn't you be working?" Luna asked sitting on the edge of Rory's desk. She twiddled with a red paperclip before setting it down on the desk.

"I'm on break. Shouldn't you be at work?" Rory picked up the red paperclip Luna placed down and added it to the long chain hanging around his neck.

"Day off, you know that."

"Sorry." Rory clipped another one, "By the way, have you been to that new bakery on 12th?"

"There's a new bakery?" Luna picked up a green paperclip, beginning her own chain.

"Want to go after work?"

"Sure."

Rory's mobile buzzed; pulled it out, "Hi Paul. What are you-?" Rory pulled the phone from his ear and handed to Luna.

Luna's eyebrows crinkled and took the phone from Rory, "Hi Mr. Slippery, what can I do for you?"

Paul's voice flooded the earpiece, "Are you sitting down?"

"Yeah."

"Don't panic too much."

"Why?" Luna stretched out the word, her heart already beginning to ache. Rory sat up straighter, on edge, his ears straining to listen.

"Well, you father-"

Luna panicked, jumping up, her voice becoming shrill and rapid, "Oh my god! What!? My dad!? What happened to my dad!? Is he alright!? Pleas say he's alright!" Rory jumped up too and leapt around his desk, grabbing Luna's arm.

"I'm afraid he's comatose."

Luna dropped Rory's phone, her body beginning to shake and her legs weakening. The expression on her face was a mixture of disbelief and fear. It was the fear of losing Ianto just as she lost Jack. Rory was quick to wrap his arms around Luna, comforting her, the best he could. She leaned into his touch and then her face crumpled like she was five.

"I'm so sorry!" Estelle said to Luna, reassuringly rubbing her shoulder.

Luna looked to Paul, "Isn't there anything you can do?"

Paul shook his head, "We just have to wait for him to wake up."

"Do you even know what caused it?"

"I'm sorry, there are no obvious signs of anything."

"Right…" Luna looked down at her feet. "Sorry," she mumbled and got up to leave. Luna shuffled out and into her father's room. The door shut behind her, Luna spotted her father's diary and his laptop on the bed. "Dad works too hard…..What was he working on that made him fall into a coma?" She picked up the diary opening it to the last entry. She hesitated a second then pushed away all doubts of intruding on Ianto's privacy. "What the bloody…" Luna muttered in confusion. All she was staring at were weird pictures and notes of some kind of creature called a Hollowcall and it all somehow tied back into Jack's disappearance. "What?" Luna went back a few pages. It was all the same. Notes on different types of aliens and something called Torchwood. "A book maybe?" She wondered. Grabbing Ianto's computer, she opened it. Password protected. Luna tapped her fingers lightly on the keyboard. "Password…" Luna scratched the space key then typed, Torchwood. Wrong. Jack. Wrong. A few more moments passed. Janto. Correct. Luna rolled her eyes and then maneuvered her way into her father's personal files. It was exactly the same as his diary. Aliens and monsters. Checking his recently added folder, she found a file entitled Hollowcall. Clicking it, her eyes were filled with images and documents on this creature, her father, and something called a time agent. Luna shook her head, "Fake. This has all got to be fake. There are no such things as aliens…." Luna stepped away from the computer running her hands through her hair and pacing the room. "It looks real though…No! How am I possibly considering this!?"

"Ianto?" Luna jumped at the sound of Gwen's voice coming from the computer. "Listen, I found more on the Hollowcall. Tosh says that there was another Rift spike earlier. It was about three in the morning, your time. Hello? Ianto, are you there?"

"Three in the morning…Dad didn't come home last night and now he's in a coma…"Luna ran around the side of the bed, facing Gwen. "Tell me everything."