4
"Is there something I can do for you Captain?"
Jack was surprised to find himself caught in a moment of wool-gathering… huh… sheep… wool-gathering. He had started to think of things in strange scenarios since Ianto and Andy had talked, turning to find a monster of a wolf in the doorway.
Fuck.
Ianto seemed to fill the space, the seemingly thin and unassuming man was suddenly huge, imposing and blocked the light from the corridor. Jack knew he was in the man's quarters, but this is his vessel and as such… everything is his. Jack told himself not to be alarmed, he was the boss.
You know… if you have to tell yourself you are the boss, maybe you aren't.
Jack froze.
Ianto stepped into the room like there had not just been a telepathic conversation and reached out to take the book from Jack's hands. He turned to place the rare thing back on the shelf where Jack had pulled it from, letting it rejoin the three others on there.
"I have not seen a book in about forty years" Jack said softly.
"Hmmmm" Ianto hummed, turning to face him "Were my grandfather's. Left to me. I don't want them on the main vessel as my little niece is a cow for taking things and the mere thought of her scribbling on a page make my insides all… quivery."
"Quivery." Jack repeated "say that again."
"No."
Jack laughed "You don't like me, do you."
"The Boeshane Butcher… what is there not to like? The Immortal Man" Ianto replied sagely, and Jack's grin slid, that name one he had not heard in almost eighty years. Oh yes. This Boeshanian was over three hundred years old, one of the rare throwbacks born with longevity. Once it is determined that one has the ancient gift, they go into service, no arguments. For one to even be free of that at such a 'young' age means he fought his way out, waving the medals and credit to earn retirement.
"That is an old one." Jack said softly, trying to stay calm.
"Hmmmm. I know" Ianto turned away from him, presenting his back as he shifted things around on the shelf "You made quite the…. Splash."
"How do you know about me?"
Ianto snorted, then spun to face him "An Archivist at the International Space Corps… why would I NOT know about you sir?"
"Archivist?"
"Amongst other things. I wore many hats… held many hands and danced to many tunes. You are not the only one to earn freedom by licking the dirt off the boots of others, safe in the knowledge that it is your own shit they will step in next."
Jack canted his head "You were militarial too."
"I was. Now? I am whatever…. Like you. I am a dangerous thing."
Jack raised his head, looking at Ianto with his chin out and raised eyebrows.
Ianto clarified "We are Free Men."
Yes.
Rare.
Deadly.
Hidden.
Jack really liked him… even if clearly Ianto did not like him.
.
.
"Flying low" Toshiko called out as she swung the Torchwood under the huge armada and Owen distractedly reached out to place a hand on a slowly sliding piece of medical tat he was fiddling with, his wife's voice full of glee over the speakers in the galley.
Ianto was standing by the replicator, about to remove a plate of food when the entire vessel suddenly…. Fell. Hard.
"Fuck" Owen said as he clung to the table, his arse leaving his chair and he looked over to find Ianto crouched close to the floor like a fucking cat. Somewhere in the ship something crashed. "Fuck."
"Yes. Repeat that a few more times… might help" Ianto rose to his full height, then strode from the room as Suzie picked herself up from the floor and laughed hysterically, even as she tried to brush off the cereal all over her clothing now.
"Fuck?" Owen said helpfully for her.
Ianto ran along the high gantry and could see what was toppling, cursing as another box of ordinance started to slide from the high stack in the loading bay.
Jack and John were running towards the same stack, their horror clear on their faces as Andy stood below the stack looking up at it.
Ianto had mere moments to consider the ramifications of that box going over the side. That box clearly not the pulse rifles that had already fallen, but full of their bullets that did NOT like jostling of any kind.
Ianto ran for the railing, gripped it as he vaulted over it, swung his body out and the two captains looked up in time to see him catapult himself by slamming his boots into the railing and pushing off, a backflip over the stack to land on the far stack, reaching out to calmly pull the entire thing back with a strength that was quite impressive.
"Don't just stand there gaping, I can't hold it for long" he demanded, and the two men shook into action as Andy continued to look up with awe. Ianto sighed, then roared "ANDY, GET OUT OF THE FUCKING WAY!"
"Oh, right. Sorry" Andy laughed "Wow, you really are flexible."
"Not the first time I've heard that one."
Andy roared with mirth "What can I do?"
"Move over by the blast doors where I can see you, it means if it falls you are able to jump though before they shut." Ianto said with a wide grin down at him, the straps being thrown by Jack and John a long way from secure.
"Shit! If it falls it will make quite a bloody mess" Andy said as he ran for the doors, the other man down there…. Rhys? Rhys yanked him through and shook his head at him.
"Ya fucking idiot. If it falls, the blast doors slam shut because it will all go boom" Rhys snarled as he made sure he was on the right side of the doors "Don't you get it? We will lose the entire bay and everything inside it."
Andy got it.
Everything gone…. and everyone.
Owen said it all for them as he arrived to stand with them and look through the door portal.
"Fuck."