Torchwood: Divergence
Book Two: Adferiad

Chapter 56

"Jack!"

Ianto's voice was raw and broken, more blood staining the stone beneath him even as he fought against torn tendons to clench his right hand into a fist. Quicksilver glimmered around his fingers, then a three-metre-long heavy lance appeared from his hand to drive into the crystal behind him with a nerve-jangling chime. The light from the alien stone pulsed erratically, the chains binding the young Guardian going completely lax and dropping the severely injured Welshman to the blood covered cavern floor. He involuntarily let go of the lance as he fell, the weapon dissolving to bubble acid-like inside the crystal it had pierced.

Ianto gave a ragged scream as he hit the ground hard, unable to mitigate his fall because his limbs had nearly been torn from his body, and now doubly tormented as the device clamped over his face began to spark and burn. Nearby, the Cult members all staggered away into their strange city and Harkness shook his head dazedly as the tone ceased, the high-pitched noise dying with the light form the crystalline entity when the boiling silver of the Scieron weapon reached its glassy heart. The Captain turned his torch back on, shakily wiping blood from his upper lip as he stumbled to where his lover writhed in agony beside the burnt-out alien crystal. Turlough and Gwen came to kneel on the blood slick stone with him, lending the light of their torches as he tried desperately to detach the device from their downed Archivist's face. Turlough quickly used the item he'd pulled from his pocket earlier, and the crackling arch of alien metal finally came free with a belch of flame, leaving furrows in its victim's scalp, exposing horrifically charred flesh from nose tip to hair line… and revealing that the artefact had needle-like probes inside that had been buried deep in the young Welshman's face and eyes.

"Oh, God…" Cooper whispered, then choked in horror when it became obvious that their injured teammate was still conscious.

"Jack…" Ianto breathed tremulously, his entire body shaking convulsively as he continued to bleed from all his wounds and shock set in.

"I'm here," Harkness reassured, carefully touching his partner's face below the area of damage. "We'll get you out of here. Just hang on."

The twenty-six-year-old whimpered but gave a tiny nod of understanding.

"Give me your shirts," Turlough told the Captain, handing Gwen his light so he could pull off his coat and remove his own button-down and undershirt as well. "Then get his trousers down."

The redhead used the non-business end of the device from his coat to start a rip in his shirttail, then tore the garment in two and used the tool to tear apart the collar, before doing the same to his undershirt. One section of cotton jersey he used to tightly pack the damage to Ianto's left shoulder, the second did the same on the right, then the pieces of button-down went over them for added padding and to apply pressure. His patient yelped when he pulled the first side tight and tied it snuggly, only moaned when the second got the same treatment. Working with swift precision, Turlough did something with the tool he was using that made the Welshman choke back a scream and convulse sharply, but nearly halted the dangerous flow of blood from the openings torn in the crease of each leg. Then Jack's shirts were used to further staunch the wounds before the Changeling's trousers were pulled back up, and Turlough motioned for Cooper to give the once more coat clad Captain the hand torches as he shivered into his own parka.

"I need yours too," he said simply. "Don't worry, we're all adults and all very taken. And I'll have to use your scarf as well, so don't expect it back unsullied."

The one-time PC got out of her leather jacket and quickly peeled off the long-sleeved tee she had beneath it, then the knit tank top it had been over, handed both as well as her long fleece scarf to the young alien doing emergency wound care.

"Hold his head up," Turlough directed the woman after she zipped her coat back up over her bra. "Why did the Cult members back off like that? Why aren't they coming after us? Ianto just destroyed their 'god'."

"Don't care," Jack growled, watching as the self-exiled Trion prince used the folded jersey tee-shirt to carefully cover the horrific burns and gouges on and near their Archivist's face, then secure it with the scarf. "I just want to get Ianto out of this place and back to the Hub."

"You start up," Gwen suggested as her tank top was pressed over the deep slash in the injured Guardian's chest. "I'll do a quick look about for the Cult. It does seem way too quiet down here."

She hefted the burnt-out alien device, reclaimed her torch and stood, leaving the other two Torchwood agents to shift the crudely bandaged and trembling Ianto so Jack could gather him into his arms and stand. And they'd only made it a few paces up the tunnel, when the former constable returned.

"The crystal's dissolved completely away and the Cult members are all dead," she whispered tightly. "Got nasty green goo running from their ears and nose, and there's everything from grannies to toddlers in the group."

"Considering how long they've probably been under that entity's influence through that device, and that they were apparently living down here with it's energy emissions, I'm not surprised," Turlough commented coldly. "I'm curious why it didn't have them attack us the minute we entered the cavern."

"C'n… C'nfused…" Ianto whispered unexpectedly. "Knew… you'd come… Used… the… sc… scout t' give… c'n… c'nflictin' commands…"

"You fought the device and sent counter commands through it," Harkness surmised, holding his shivering partner close and picking up his pace. "You could've destroyed it at any time, but you didn't know how the Cult would react and wanted to be sure we'd found you first while the minions were still confused. Obviously it was trying to make you one of them, and thought hurting you would wear you down. What did it do that made your heart stop?"

"Cult leader…" the Changeling in his arms hissed painfully, his speech shifting randomly from clear to slurred. "Too… torture happy… hit… hit too hard… with cr… cricket bat… br… broke m'neck… then… then kn… knives… hit m'heart… first try… Dev… Device took… c'ntrol… got mad… made 'im touch… crystal… poof… Then… then they put… put scout… over m'face… couldn't get 'way… Needles inside…"

"Hush," Jack soothed. "We get the picture. Just breathe and try to let yourself start to heal. We'll alert UNIT to this mess and let them do whatever they think's necessary. Torchwood's priority now is to get you back to base and on the mend."

"Slow…" the young Welshman breathed shakily. "Sh… Shadows… busy un… undoin' brain… damage… fr… from device… too c'nstant.. t'heal… when… when I… died…"

"So, everything else will take longer to heal now," Turlough put in as they finally emerged into the cellar of the old house. "Gwen, you drive the van, I'll drive the SUV so the Captain can hold onto Ianto in the back seat. And no, I don't have any problem with extremely high speed and making illegal lane changes."

"All the cultists we tied up are dead too," Cooper pointed out as they ascended the stairs into the house. "UNIT will love that."

"They'll get over it," the Captain frowned, too worried about the man in his arms to really care.

"I've got the SUV keys," Turlough pointed out as they approached the front door. "They were in your pocket with Ianto's mobile and PDA. Don't take him out in the cold, I'll bring the SUV up to the front door. I assume his coat is in it, so bundle him into it as soon as you can. Ianto, you need to be as still and quiet as possible. If the Scieron cells are battling brain damage, every time you force yourself to string two words together and speak, you're making it worse. And the more you move, the more your other injuries will bleed. So, try your best to relax, yeah?"

Then the redhead was out the door and running, his obvious concern and sense of urgency making the other two uninjured team members worry even more.

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AN: The damage is horrific… the medical treatment to help mitigate will be worse… And the Scieron plan to heal their Changeling is going to be the hardest part of all.

Thank you to those reading the story. And thank you to those who have followed, favourited, and reviewed. NM