Fandomweekly Challenge 114 - The known unknown

[m_findlow]

Title: The known unknown

Fandom: Torchwood

Characters: Jack, Ianto, Gwen 

Author: m_findlow

Rating: PG

Length: 1,000 words

Content notes: Minor spoilers for "Risk Assessment" by James Goss.

Author notes: Written for Challenge 114 - Unexpected visitors at fandomweekly

Summary: Team Torchwood had hoped they'd never have to face Agnes Havisham ever again.

'Oh, no,' Ianto groaned as he saw the alert pop up on his computer screen.

'What is it?' Gwen asked, watching his face cloud with concern then go a shade paler as she'd been sitting there, perched on the edge of his desk enjoying her morning coffee and catching up before starting any real work for the day. 'Is it something bad come through the rift?'

'Not yet,' he replied, 'but I suspect it's not far off.'

Jack threw his head around the edge of the door. 'Did you just see what I saw?' he asked.

'Yep.'

'What?' Gwen asked again. 'What is it?'

Ianto gave a forcefully calm shrug of his shoulders, trying to downplay his worry. 'Just a signal from storage unit 58B of the Swindon Self-U-Store which can't be good.'

'Hang on,' Gwen said, playing catch up. 'Isn't that the place where Agnes Havisham was in stasis?'

'Locked up for good this time, so we'd hoped,' Jack replied. 'Things aren't that bad!' he yelled loudly, for all the good it might do.

'No raging hellfire of doom alarms this time?' Ianto asked. The last time the hub had gone mental with warning lights and whooping klaxons.

'I disconnected them,' Jack confessed. 'It was a stress I could do without.' Much like Agnes, Ianto thought.

'You'd better go pick her up,' he told Jack. 'I'd rather we didn't have her wandering the streets and trying to hail an Uber looking like an extra from a bad Jane Austen revival.'



Ianto wrung his hands as they waited for Jack to bring Agnes back to the hub.
'Maybe it won't be so bad,' Gwen said, trying positivity on for size. 'She did retcon us, after all.'

Ianto frowned at her. 'I still remember enough to know it won't be good. I just can't remember how we ended up defeating the Vam.'

'We might have done a brilliant job. Maybe that's why she didn't want us to remember it.'

'Or she totally took over, made a complete fool of Jack and saved the day.' And Jack was someone who knew what he was doing - mostly. Ianto dreaded to think what would happen now he was in charge. She only came out of deep freeze when things were really bad, so Jack insisted. He really didn't want to think about just how bad things could be; not when he was now the one standing at the proverbial helm.

The side door opened and Agnes stepped through, Jack trailing dismally in her wake. She gave them both a brief smile, still dressed in her Victorian lace and frills. 'Thank you for the ride, Captain Harkness. And I see Miss Cooper and Mr Jones are still in your employ. Might I trouble you, young man, for a fresh pot of tea?'

Ianto squirmed under her gaze. 'I don't make the tea, anymore. Well, no, strictly speaking I still don't let anyone touch the coffee machine. Some things are just better left to the experts, but…'

'But what Ianto is trying to say,' Jack interjected, with - was that relief at being able to throw somebody else under the bus? - 'is that he's now in charge around here.' Yep, definitely relief. Jack had never been so delighted in his life to be able to say that as he was right now, putting Ianto directly in the crosshairs of one Agnes Havisham.

There was a moment of silent, awkward confusion. 'Oh, are you saying that you've been demoted, Captain Harkness?'

'Yes, ma'am.' Definitely, definitely happy he was no longer the boss. Bordering on smugness, one might say. 'Ianto Jones is the head of Torchwood global operations. Little old me just looks after Cardiff these days.'

'Oh, well that's very interesting. Without meaning to offend, I'm rather pleased that Torchwood has had the foresight to reduce your remit, given your propensity for… incidents.'

'I wasn't very good at the job, you can say it,' Jack told her, though how much of it was just being said to blow smoke up her arse was anyone's guess. Jack didn't really do humble, least of all for Torchwood's Assessor. Their last encounter had been unpleasant at best, antagonistic at worst, and a real dampener on Jack's usually jocular mood.

'I'll go make tea,' Gwen offered, using it as a quick escape.

Agnes beamed. 'Thank you, dear. Well, I should start with a review of your current investigations,' she said, guiding herself towards Jack's office and sliding around behind his desk and arranging her hooped skirts into his battered chair.

Jack frowned at having his desk commandeered - again. 'Actually. I was using that,' he said, trying and failing to be polite about it.

Agnes curled an eyebrow at him. 'Oh? I thought you said you were no longer in charge?'

Jack pointed to her right, through the narrow glass double doors. 'Ianto's office is through there,' he said, indicating to the space that had been a lab the last time she'd graced them with her presence.

Agnes didn't even nod. 'This spot will suffice for our purposes.' The look on Jack's face made Ianto want to laugh out loud, his earlier smugness evaporating like water on a hot skillet. Then she turned back to him. 'I expect you as yet have no idea the reason why I've been summoned?'

Ianto shifted from one foot to the other. So this is what it felt like being in Jack's shoes. 'Actually, everything has been running quite smoothly,' he replied.

'Yes, I expect your diligence would be far superior to Captain Harkness, and yet, here I am.'

'You're not shutting us down,' Jack said, having grown spine enough to stand up for his lover. Ianto appreciated it.

Agnes gave them both her own smug little pursing of lips. 'That is yet to be decided. But we should have a jolly good time of it until I do.'

Ianto cringed and gave Jack a look of sheer helplessness. Being in charge was suddenly very unpalatable indeed.