14

Ianto reached for his wrist and tapped it, then raised it to his mouth "Sally… wake up. Incoming."

Jack knew they would not get there in time, whatever was happening had been preset and all they could do was… huh… Ianto was not there. Jack had tuned to say something but Ianto had simply… blinked away somewhere else.

"Strange" he said softly with confusion, then ran for the Hover, the dogs already jumping in as Toshiko called out that she had the kids, just go. Owen clambering into the passenger seat a surprise to all of them, apparently to him as well as he looked up at the monster dogs regarding him like a squeaky toy.

Regulator unity.

Jack flew as fast he as could, still unable to work out how Ianto had simply blinked away like that. Damn… that man had so many secrets.

.

.

The men stood in the front yard with matching looks of glee, one of them raising his wrist and the wristlets were glinting as he clicked them together and then took the hero pose.

Nothing.

"He said these were good. They would activate any bloody suit" came the snarl as the man clicked the wristlets again and this time something under the house shuffled.

"Fuck, is it stuck?" the heavy set one motioned for the skinny one to get under there and check, the man groaning as he fell to his hands and knees to crawl under the porch. The fat one leaned over "Well? Do you see anything? It's under there somewhere."

The man's high-pitched squeal took them all by surprise and they jumped, then one said "fuck this" and ran for the forint door, kicking it in and entering the house with a whoop of glee, the man under the house now eerily quiet. Two of the men looked at one another and followed their mate into the house, leaving those outside to try and recover the suit.

"Golti… have you found it?" the heavyset one roared.

A faint whimper, then the screaming started. Oh god, the horrible screaming, and the man was trying to crawl out, his finger ripping at the sod as he screamed for help but the others were too scared, stepping back as the man started to cough blood, then he was able be get his upper torso out and they all saw the huge gaping wounds.

"Fuck… what the hell did that" one of them hissed crouching to try and peer under. This is why he was the one who did not run when the Skunk crashed out through the latticework with a roar of rage, and why the stupid crouching man lost most of his face in one vicious bite.

One of the men had cautiously started to step up onto the porch after the one who had entered the dwelling, another following but hesitating on the steps as the man went to take a step inside the dwelling and froze as he heard a weird clicking noise. Like… someone clicking their fingers or something. The darkened dwelling was ominous, and the doorway felt like it was about to swallow him alive.

He turned to look back and hiss that he was not sure about this when he looked down at his brother's face on the steps and saw the colour draining from it, swinging back in time to see the doorway full of female Baterfill… a really fuckery angry one.

Then her mouth opened wide to slam down on his head and he was pulled inside, the one on the steps screaming his name as he ran in after him and their third brother on the grass watching from the sidelines ran up the steps even as the ringleader yelled at them all to stop.

It was useless now.

The noise inside became scuffles, then a weird grunting followed by a repeated nononononono then silence.

The third brother now on the steps turned to face his cousin with horror and he was about to say something when Sally woke up, flying out from under the house, through the steps and taking the man's legs off at the knees as the chest plate flew up into the air and then, like a boomerang, came back at the idiot still standing there in hero pose.

"Oh fuck" he said softly moments before his beheading.

Then… the world turned.

Crickets.

.

.

The Hover swung into the yard and Ianto was already on the front yard with the suit on pounding someone into the dirt, Jack clambering out then running, yelling for Nanny with open fear as Owen got out slower, letting the dogs flow past them up the remains of the front steps.

"Shit… Sally was pissed." Owen said conversationally as a little kitten wobbled into the sunshine to meow plaintively and Jack forgot protocol to run over and scoop it up "Awww… Ghost. That's scary stuff going on baby, look… you got blood all over you lovely furzies… poor baby. Come on daddy will wash it all off. Where are the others. Babies. BABIES DADDY'S HOME."

Jack disappeared into the house as Owen stood in the front yard next to Ianto looking at the decapitated head with interest.

"Owen… inside" Ianto demanded and Owen rose instantly to obey a higher rank, rushing in to find Jack eyeballing a little ginger kitten who was hoiking like it had a hairball.

"I said… spit it out!" Jack repeated.

"Shit, it is OK? Is it choking?" Owen went to rush forward and Ianto held out a hand, motioning him to stay back even as Jack stood behind it with the little white one in his hands getting a loving wipe over with the good dishcloth while he crooned to it about yucky things.

Finally, the little one coughed up the obstruction and the man tumbled out into the floor dazed, clearly broken given the weird configuration of limbs … oh…. and wet.

"Ew… see? You forgot to chew before swallowing" Jack said disinterested now, then turning back to the fur baby he was dealing with.

The little ginger kitten meowed plaintively, and Jack sighed without turning around "In a sec. Your brother is ghastly. Milk for the little sore thoraties in a second Marigold."

Owen turned slowly to look at Ianto and mouth "Is he nuts?"

"I know. The Ginger is clearly a boy." Ianto agreed.

Then the man on the floor started to scream.

A huge shadow descended from the ceiling like someone dropped a sail.

"Ah, Nanny… there you are love" Ianto said conversationally as the bat slammed the broken man in the floorboards and hissed in his face silencing the screams instantly.

"Right" Jack said as he placed a bowl of milk down and the other kittens raced to get their fill as well, crouching to look at what Nanny had in her clutches "You better have a good story mate because I've seen one of these beauties eat a man before… like a snake. Slow… and the sound of the bones grinding… ew."

He talked.