1
Ianto was panting lightly, the run clearing out the cobwebs as he rounded the walking track and slowed, coming to the peak of the hill. He stood and looked out over the valley below, the lake behind him as he marvelled in the beauty of the area he now called home.
After he had spent some time looking at the area below, the same area where MIB and military equipment with red caped arseholes once sat jamming the town's communications, he dropped something from his pocket and stomped it into the dirt, then turned and headed off down the trail to leave the spot like he had not even been there.
Behind him a slight ping sounded in the dirt where the little flat disc had been stomped in, the watch on Ianto's wrist pinging moments later to tell him the connection was complete. With a grin he nodded as he reached up and touched the earwig in his ear to connect to Toshiko "All good?"
"All prefect. I just need the others set so we can close the grid"
"On it, will get that finished up today if you can keep Eddie entertained a little longer" Ianto replied with a light laugh as she told him that one of the toasters was… toast… as Eddie had pulled it apart to examine and she was worried that he was about to plug it in with pieces still missing.
Ianto did not reply, the memory of the ET movie where parts were used to create something different in the back of his mind as he told himself he was being silly.
Eddie was curious.
That's all.
.
.
As Ianto neared the town, he slowed his pace until he was walking briskly, letting himself cool down like a wild horse and he breathed deeply, slowly, revelling in the clean air. Above him the faint roar of a chopper grew until huge bird flew overhead and as the shadow of the machine swamped him he loked up to smile, then let it slide as he did not see the black metal of a JC machine, but the deep blood red of UNIT.
Fuckers.
He took another deep breath and let his stride lengthen, then he was running like a fucking horse alright, a racehorse with the dirt flying from his feet. He knew this was not good, whatever this was, and he wanted to make it clear that he already had everything in place to evict these mother fuckers too.
.
.
Ianto entered the Mayoral Office and slid around the wall, hot sweaty and annoyed. Edie was there. Aw, for fucksake. Of course he was. Toshiko had been unable to stop him from running at the sound of the incoming chopper and he had run for Jack was usually there this time of day to have a cuppa with Greene.
Although Jack was not there as the little one had expected, but still coming back from a meeting, Greene had not only anticipated the problem but Eddie was sitting in the Mayor's seat with a gavel from somewhere in his hands eyeballing the intruders like he might play whack-a-mole with the first one to annoy him.
Greene stood behind the chair of the one he had sworn to protect, his annoyance clear as well "Look Gentlemen, like I said. You would have to take it up with MIB wouldn't you. I don't know what they are doing, and I don't care. We have an accord and you are in breach, since I was led to understand the MIB is a higher rank than you. So… piss off them, why?"
Eddie slammed the gavel down in three strikes in quick succession like court was now adjourned, then he saw Ianto "Tadda!"
Ianto was not sure who was most shocked. The Red Cap pricks who jumped physically as the huge voice roared from the little one, Greene who had not heard the little one speak before or Ianto… who had also never heard this deep level before, only a whispered yes or no so far.
"Son, are you playing with Mayor Greene today? What are you playing? Hmmmm? Judge? Oh my… no whacking peoples fingers" Ianto crooned as he stepped around the Red Caps to join his little ward, his hand going to a tiny shoulder as he turned to face the fuckers.
"Ah." One of the men held up a tablet and was swiping his hand furiously across it "Ah… Mister… Jones?"
Ianto canted his head as this told him they had photos of most of them, a dossier of sorts and he wanted it. He let his eyes slide to the one no one had noticed sitting behind a huge desk to one side that the Mayor's PA usually sat in. Toshiko's eyes were also hungrily staring at the tablet and Ianto knew she would only need one for a little while to glean what she needed so he smiled "Yes. Hello there, we don't get many visitors with the No Fly Zone."
"Then why the huge landing pad? Looks new"
"Because WE can fly in our own backyard General Hayes" Ianto replied without blinking, enjoying the momentary look of shock on the man's face at being so easily identified.
"Do I know you?" he asked.
"Oh no sir. I assure you… you do not know me at all." Ianto showed more teeth now, the little one in the chair shifting under his hand and Ianto knew without looking down that the grin was more sharky but just as scary from the child.
From under the desk a deep growl started and Baxter finally stalked around from behind it to glare the men as well, his eyes like black piss holes in the snow, fathomless pools of hatred. Every single Red Cap stepped back with obvious alarm.
"Don't worry. He doesn't bite" Into said with a dismissive wave of his hand "Unless he wants to."
"Well, we will not get in your way. Just a sweep of the place and we will be on our way" the man turned to signal his men to leave and Ianto felt a spike of annoyance that he swallowed down.
"You have no jurisdiction here" Greene barked stepping from around the desk to face the man letting Ianto and the chair to slide back to the back of the room even as Toshiko slid forward to snatch the tablet the startled minion had placed on another table while trying to get a look at Baxter.
She turned it over, plugged it in to a cord and tapped on the screen, her grin feral as she started to download it's contents. She then placed some magazines over it and sat back like she had not just pinched it in broad daylight.
By the time the man noticed it missing, she was done and she made a show of knocking thing off the desk so it would be visible and he snatched it up with an apology, thinking he had placed it there himself.
She could have been a bloody excellent thief. She made an even better Protective Agent.
And she had never had so much fun.
Ianto wondered if he wanted a red bird or not… was it worth a bum fight?