BTBD Challenge 10 - On the wrong track

[m_findlow]

Title: On the wrong track
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Jack, Ianto, Owen
Author: m_findlow
Rating: M
Length: 2,821 words
Content notes: Written for Challenge 10 -Track at beattheblackdog
Summary: Following a track leads to arguments

'Well, this is another complete balls up you've gotten us into,' complained Owen, stomping through the darkness and muttering curses each time a wayward branch caught hold of his clothing.

'We're on the right track, I promise,' Jack replied.

'Were on the right track would be the more correct,' added Ianto, equally annoyed by the tugging underbrush.

'We're not lost!'

'Oh, so you know where we are then, do you?' Ianto asked enthusiastically.

'Absolutely.'

'Go on then most fearless leader, where are we? Just remember that "lost" does not qualify as a location.'

'And if you say, "the middle of Wales", you'll be on decaf for a week.'

Jack paused and considered his options. 'Okay, in that case, yes we're lost.'

'And his caffeine status is preserved,' quipped Ianto.

'What I can't understand is how the GPS isn't working?' Jack said, shaking the device as if that might force it to change its mind.

'Well, you have to have a satellite within range for starters,'

'And who'd send a satellite gliding withing fifty miles of this shit hole?'

'As a native, I'll try not to take offense to your description of the Brecon Beacons, which happen to be a national treasure.'

'You have a low bar,' Owen argued. 'Abergavenny would rate as top tourist destination using your standards.'

'And Essex is such a lovely town. Full of intellectuals.'

'Piss off.'

'Do I have to separate you two?' Jack huffed.

'Trust me, if I could be a million miles away right now, I would be,' Owen griped.

'Urgh, why won't this thing work?' Jack shook the GPS violently again.

'We wouldn't be lost if Tosh was here,' Owen moped.

'Which she would be if some idiot hadn't bet a weekend away to the first team who identified which planet that oversized carp came from.'

'I though we had it in the bag. Between Mr "I've been everywhere and shagged everything" and the Brains Trust, we should have nailed it.'

'I'm only interested in fish that's battered and served with chips,' Jack confirmed.

'Thus our current predicament.'

'Hey wait, I think I've got something.' Jack shuffled around in the dark for a bit longer, whilst Owen and Ianto stayed close together keeping their flashlights alert for anything untoward that might be lurking in the blackness. Even the stars had given up trying to light their way.

'Yep, we're on the right track. And I mean that literally.'

'You found the trail?'

'Better. I found the track.'

'There's a difference?'

'Tracks. As in actual tracks. Like train tracks.'

'Train tracks? In the middle of nowhere?'

'In the middle of Wales,' Jack replied, grinning.

Owen and Ianto approached for closer inspection, shining their own lights near Jack's feet where he'd nearly tripped himself over.

'Not train tracks, mining tracks. Like the ones they use to take the carts up from the mines.'

'They mine coal this far north?'

'Not that I'm aware of. There's no reported seams this high up, and if there were, well, the area has national park protection status. They wouldn't be allowed to mine here.'

Jack knelt down. 'They look well maintained. No weeds.'

'So what now?'

'I guess we follow the tracks and see where they lead us.'

'How does this help us get un-lost?'

'It doesn't, but aren't you dying to find out what's at the other end? Besides, at least we'll be able to find our way back here.'

'Back to being lost you mean?'

'Dying's probably the wrong word, but you're right,' Ianto admitted, 'maybe whatever is out here has found shelter there.'

'Goody. Searching for an unknown creature in a cave in the dark in the middle of the night.'

The three of them trudged through the dark, following the defined silvery tracks embedded in the ground beneath their feet that glowed in their torchlight. The ground ascended slightly before rising sharply upwards into a tall peak and which point they discovered the tracks leading into a deep cut in the side of the hill. It was the entrance to some sort of mining tenement.

'I hate mines,' Ianto moaned.

'I thought you were Welsh.'

'I though you were smart.'

'Would you two cut it out with the snarky comments? What's with you tonight?' Jack was starting to lose his patience. Even for them, their behaviour was uncharacteristically hostile. Jack tried a different tact.

'What is it that you don't like about mines, Ianto?'

'I don't like being underground in the dark.'

Owen laughed with mirth. 'Have you forgotten where you work?' he jibed.

'Owen,' Jack said menacingly, warning him off further comments.

'I saw a film when I was a kid where they got stuck in a mine and it caved in and flooded. It freaked me out.'

Jack put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. 'Well, that's not going to happen tonight. You're with us. Nothing could possibly go wrong.'

'Famous last words,' he replied half heartedly.

'Okay, I'll go in first, you can follow, and Owen can bring up the rear.'

'Owen's good at being an arse.'

'And you're good at coming up on Jack from behind.'

'Mynd i ffwcio chi eich hun.'

'Hey!' Jack shouted.

'Did he just swear at me in Welsh? What did he say?'

'You don't wanna know.'

'I though you didn't speak Welsh?'

'I don't, but I've heard that one often enough to know exactly what it means.' Jack was perplexed. What on earth had gotten into them both?

'Can we please just check out the mine without killing each other?'

'You're the boss,' Owen sulked. Ianto's expression was partly contrite, but partly looked as if their argument was far from over. Jack was beginning to secretly hope they didn't find anything so they could all go home and he could put some distance between the pair of them.

The tunnel was cold and dank, running along for about forty yards before coming to a dead end, at which sat a rusted old lift. Jack prised apart the squeaky gates and let the other two men enter before him, giving Owen a firm look as he passed that broached no nonsense. Even in the limited torchlight, he understood Jack's meaning clearly. Don't even think about it.

Jack pressed the single button on the panel and the lift shuddered and jerked downwards suddenly. He placed a hand on the small of Ianto's back, hoping it was calming. There was no way of knowing how long the lift had been out of operation, but judging from the tracks that lead here, he was betting on it not being that long. A few minutes of shaky rattling and the lift finally came to rest, jolting to a halt in much the same way it had started.

As soon as Jack opened the grating, the sound of it reverberated all around them. Once the sound echoed away and faded other sounds could be heard. It was tiny at first, just a tinny tapping of metal, but as they proceeded through the shaft, it became clear that someone else was down here, pelting at the rockface.

Ianto shone his torch at the rock and ran his fingers over it, inspecting the residue.

'It's not coal. At least not any coal I've ever seen.'

'You're an expert now, are you?'

'It's green you fucking twat. You don't have to be an expert to know that coal is black or brown.'

'Well how about I smack your face into it so then it will be black?'

Ianto made to lunge at Owen, but was caught halfway by Jack who held him back tightly and out of reach of Owen who looked ready to take him on.

'Hey, hey, hey! What is wrong with you?' Ianto continued to struggle in Jack's grip, determined to get at Owen.

'Stop! Ianto, stop!' Jack managed to get in front of him and put himself between Ianto's view of Owen. Something was not right.

'He's mental!' Owen cried. Jack found it difficult to argue.

'Ianto, stand there and do not move. Do you understand me?' Ianto begrudgingly complied, but continued his seething looks at Owen in the darkness, all fear of being stuck underground seemingly forgotten.

'Owen, stand over here,' Jack said, pointing to a spot ten yards away.

'Now neither of you move. I'm going down there to see where the noise is coming from. If either of you make a move towards each other, I'll shoot you both. Am I clear?'

'Crystal.'

Jack huffed out a breath and left them. As he proceeded down the tunnel he inspected the rock walls. It was true that they glinted green in the light. He touched it and came back with a blackened hand, before bringing it to his face to smell it. It was odd smelling, a bit like food gone off, and not the earthy scent he expected. As he wandered further, praying that both his teammates were abiding by the rules, and wishing slightly that he'd taken their guns with him, the sound of the tapping grew louder. He followed it down one passage and then around another, hoping not to get lost himself in the tangle of tunnels. What he found at the end of the tapping sound was a tiny little creature, about the size of a Labrador, but looking far more like a cross between a possum and a badger.

'Hi there!' he greeted, recognising it as a Quetsarian.

'Oh hello!' it replied jauntily, as if seeing him here was the most natural thing in the world. 'My name's Manny. Are you well?'

'Fine,' Jack replied, a little bit thrown by the question. 'Jack Harkness,' he introduced himself.

'Lovely to meet you, Jack. Have you come to mine the ekurite as well?'

'Ekurite?' Jack had never heard of it.

'The rock,' he said pointing to the bucket beside him.

'Ah, no,' he answered slowly. 'What does it do?'

'Not very much, but in its powdered form, it's very calming. Good for traders.'

'Why's that? I thought Quetsarians were a happy bunch?'

Happy was an understatement. From his experience they were about the happiest species in the known universe. There was nothing you could do that wouldn't please them.

'Therein lies the problem. Apparently our happiness means that we trade our goods at too low a price. We're just happy that someone can make good use of them, but we hardly have any currency to show for it. This makes us a bit more level headed and aggressive in the market place, so we get a good price for our wares.'

'Hmm,' the wheels in Jack's head began turning. 'You say it makes you more aggressive?'

'Very much so. Even a tiny amount will do the job. It has to be very carefully transported so that you don't breathe it in by accident.'

'You still seem quite jolly. Doesn't it affect you?'

'To a much lesser extent.' Manny explained how his nose was old and blocked, no longer as receptive to its effects.

'And could this ekurite work on other species?'

Manny looked thoughtful. It was a bizarre expression on his long nosed face, tipped to one side as he considered it. 'I suppose so. I'm not really that familiar with others. I just mine the rock.'

'Well, Jack thought, that could explain why Owen and Ianto were acting so strange. If its primary function was to make one more aggressive, in an ordinary person, its effects could be extreme. Why wasn't it effecting him though?

'I've got friends down here in the mine, but I think your rock is having a much more profound effect on them. We really need to go and get them out of here.'

'Of course. Happy to help.'

Jack expected the worst when he returned to where he'd left his team. He wasn't disappointed. The yelling could be heard from several tunnels away, and the language was less than delicate. Even his well travelled ears heard words that made his toes curl up in his boots. And that was just the English words he could understand.

'Oh dear,' was the best Manny could manage. He was too polite and easygoing to know what to do in these circumstances.

Jack found the pair of them grappling with each other on the ground, getting covered in even more of the greenish coal dust. He dove in to try and break them apart, receiving a wayward elbow to his jaw for his troubles, which caused his teeth to rattle around in his head. He staggered to his feet and drew his gun.

'The next person who moves gets a bullet! Do you understand me?' he yelled. Their torches had long since been scattered across the floor, but there was enough light from Manny's lantern to show them both that Jack had his gun very firmly pointed in their direction and that he had a look of determination that said he might well go through with his threat.

'The dust from the rock in this mine has the side effect of making you incredibly aggressive,' he explained.  'You're both covered in the stuff, and have probably breathed in even more of it. You don't really want to kill each other, it's just the dust.'

'And you're a fucking expert are you?' Owen spat.

'No, but he is,' Jack said, pointing at Manny. They both shared the same stunned look at the furry creature holding the lamp aloft, as if seeing him for the first time. It seemed to make Jack's explanation immediately more compelling. 'You're the medical expert, Owen. Do you think it's plausible?'

Owen pulled himself up, sobered by the fact that he had to consider it.

'How come you're not affected?'

'No idea. I'm just special,' he replied, helping Ianto up off the ground. 'Whatever the reason, we need to get you both out of here.'

The explanation for their behaviour seemed to take the wind out of their sails, and they quietly followed the captain back to the lift and up and out of the mine. Once they were out in the fresh air again, they already began to feel a little better, not having realised just how much pent up anger they'd been holding on to.

The dawn was beginning to break over the beacons, and after tracing their way back along the mining cart tracks, they were able to more easily find their way back to the SUV. Halfway back, Jack's GPS began to ping with their location.

'It's working again,' he exclaimed. 'Maybe it's the rock underneath that's affecting the signal. How far does this mine go, Manny?' he asked the Quetsarian, who was happy to come along on the walk with them, wanting to make sure Jack's companions would be okay.

'Miles probably. I've only been here a few weeks, but I'd say there's enough ekurite here to last several thousand years.'

'We should put up a condemned sign so that other people don't try to enter the mine. It might be okay for you, but you've seen what it can do to the local people on the planet.'

Both Owen and Ianto appeared contrite, partly for their behaviour, and partly because they disliked it when  Jack referred to them as the local people. He couldn't help it,  that was what they were.

'Agreed. I wouldn't want any harm to come to your friends. They seem like they might be very nice people.

'They are, most of the time,' Jack joked. 'I think we can arrange for the area to be re-zoned as dangerous. What do you think, Ianto?'

'Sinkholes,' he suggested.

'Good idea. That'll keep the locals out.'

Back at the SUV, Jack made them change clothes, and wipe as much of the coal dust off their skin with disinfectant wipes as possible, bagging the whole lot for destruction. Owen unpacked two small oxygen canisters and made them both inhale the contents via a mask to clear some of the residue from their lungs. They both felt instantly better for it and made awkward apologies to one another.

'I'd shake your hands and thank you,' Manny said, 'but,' he raised his hands and showed them the thick greeny black layer that covered them.

'Appreciate the offer all the same,' Jack replied. 'Just be careful with how you transport that rock.'

'I will. Thanks again.'

On the way home, the SUV had been remarkably quiet. Jack hated it so broke the silence.

'So, what did we learn today?'

'That Owen shouldn't make bets we can't win.'

'That Teaboy isn't as smart as he thinks he is.'

'And that Owen can be an even bigger twat when he tries hard enough.'

'And that I can kick your stupid butt.'

Jack sighed wishing he'd could backtrack and have just kept his mouth shut. This wasn't residual coal dust. This was just two teammates who couldn't resist pushing each other's buttons.