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Fandomweekly Challenge 164 - Torn
Title: Torn
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Ianto
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG.
Length: 1,000 words
Content notes: None
Author notes: Written for Challenge 164 - Rescue at![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomweekly
Summary: Ianto is torn between what he wants to do and what he needs to do.
Ianto stepped gingerly over the bodies clustered on the stairs, checking each one with his torch. Nothing. He kept moving upwards, seeing the fire door blocked by a fallen robot. He tentatively stepped forward, realising it was dead and beginning to push it away from the door.
‘Hu…man…’
Okay, so not quite dead.
‘Self de… struct… ini… tiated…’ the metallic voice intoned.
In his head he swore, yanked at the door as hard as he could and forced his way through, running as fast as he could as the explosion ripped the door off its hinges and the blast wave sent him sprawling.
The alarms had stopped loudly whooping or perhaps the explosion had simply deafened him to their wail, or perhaps he was simply shutting it all out because his mind couldn't cope with it. The world seemed to pass by in slow motion for a few minutes, like he was fighting his way through a reality that was now made of invisible, silent jello.
Still alive, he told himself, picking himself back up and trying to block it out, beginning his search once more, now without the aid of his torch.
At first the bodies had horrified him, but now they were an inconvenience as their numbers swelled, making his job all that much harder. Even the faces of people he'd known or seen about the corridors in his day-to-day work were no longer recognisable. They blurred into a growing sea of death in which only one face mattered.
He didn't even know where to begin looking for her, which is why he was searching every floor. She worked on level twenty two but he was still short of that. He hoped she'd fled downward, but so far he hadn't found her. Then again, with everything that had happened, perhaps she'd instead headed up, hoping that they were gathering there to make a last stand against the invading forces. That he couldn't get hold of her on the phone told him she hadn't gotten out.
If only he hadn't worked through his lunch break, he thought bitterly. He was meant to meet her for lunch but he'd reneged. Then the alarms had started up and the basement vaults in which he'd been working had sealed themselves according to protocol. He'd been stuck in there for hours until something had overridden the controls, releasing him from the safety of his prison. In just those few short hours, Torchwood Tower had become a war zone, filled with deadly alien robots of two sorts, fighting it out between themselves and the humans, killing indiscriminately. Ianto chewed his lip. Yvonne, what have you let through with that ghost machine?
He paused at the corner and slowly made to peek around it when he found a face peering right back at him. He let out a yelp but it was nullified by the shriek from his cohort.
‘Jesus! You scared the hell out of me,’ the young woman said. ‘I heard footsteps. Thought you were one of those metal men.’
‘How could you possibly hear footsteps over all this racket?’
‘I dunno. I just did.’
‘It's not safe.’
She snorted. ‘Tell me something I don't know!’
‘So get out,’ he said, growing frustrated. ‘You know the drill.’
‘Drill?’
‘Torchwood standard evacuation drill?’ he replied with no small amount of disdain for people's lack of following protocol. ‘Not like we don't evacuate the building every other week.’ Someone was always tripping the alarm in their line of work.
‘But I only started last week!’ she wailed. ‘God, I'm going to die here, aren't I? I haven't even told my mum about the new job yet. She still thinks I'm working a checkout in Chiswick.’
‘Look, just take the emergency stairwell down to sixteen, cross to the internal stairwell and head to thirteen, then cross again back to the emergency stairwell and all the way down.’
‘Why not just go straight down?’
‘Because I was just there and there was an explosion. Not sure the stairwell survived it.’
She shook her head vehemently. ‘I can't.’
‘Yes, you can. Just get out.’
‘I could just hide here, couldn't I? You could show me where, right?’
Ianto sighed. Staying here was a terrible idea. He'd only just evaded several patrols already. ‘Come with me if you want to live,’ he told her, feeling ridiculous for saying it. What did he know about survival? For all he knew, he was stepping straight into danger – probably was. Anyone in their right mind should just get out. Wasn't that what he'd just said? He simply couldn't. Not without first finding Lisa. They couldn't all be dead. There had to be pockets of survivors higher up. He just had to find them. With luck, he now knew a pathway back out of here without running into any of the deadly robots.
‘You?’
‘Well, unless there's someone else.’
‘Aren't you scared?’
‘Terrified,’ he replied, shocked at how he could deliver the admission so calmly. ‘But I have to find my girlfriend.’
‘What if she's dead?’
‘Don't say that!’ he scolded. He couldn't bear the thought.
‘Well, everybody else is.’
‘We're not.’ And if they weren't, then there was always a chance.
He watched as the doubt and the fear intermingled on her face. He'd managed to keep her calm for a few minutes but that was beginning to crack. If she started to freak out, she could put them both in even more danger. He couldn't just leave her here though. She wouldn't make it out of here on her own, he realised. It was time he didn't have but what other choice was there?
‘C’mon,’ he said, grabbing her hand. ‘Let's get you out of here.’ In that moment he couldn't have hated himself more for abandoning the one person who needed him. He just had to hope that he wasn't sacrificing one life for another. I'm coming back, he promised, projecting the message over the mental airwaves. Just hold on.
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Ianto
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG.
Length: 1,000 words
Content notes: None
Author notes: Written for Challenge 164 - Rescue at
fandomweeklySummary: Ianto is torn between what he wants to do and what he needs to do.
Ianto stepped gingerly over the bodies clustered on the stairs, checking each one with his torch. Nothing. He kept moving upwards, seeing the fire door blocked by a fallen robot. He tentatively stepped forward, realising it was dead and beginning to push it away from the door.
‘Hu…man…’
Okay, so not quite dead.
‘Self de… struct… ini… tiated…’ the metallic voice intoned.
In his head he swore, yanked at the door as hard as he could and forced his way through, running as fast as he could as the explosion ripped the door off its hinges and the blast wave sent him sprawling.
The alarms had stopped loudly whooping or perhaps the explosion had simply deafened him to their wail, or perhaps he was simply shutting it all out because his mind couldn't cope with it. The world seemed to pass by in slow motion for a few minutes, like he was fighting his way through a reality that was now made of invisible, silent jello.
Still alive, he told himself, picking himself back up and trying to block it out, beginning his search once more, now without the aid of his torch.
At first the bodies had horrified him, but now they were an inconvenience as their numbers swelled, making his job all that much harder. Even the faces of people he'd known or seen about the corridors in his day-to-day work were no longer recognisable. They blurred into a growing sea of death in which only one face mattered.
He didn't even know where to begin looking for her, which is why he was searching every floor. She worked on level twenty two but he was still short of that. He hoped she'd fled downward, but so far he hadn't found her. Then again, with everything that had happened, perhaps she'd instead headed up, hoping that they were gathering there to make a last stand against the invading forces. That he couldn't get hold of her on the phone told him she hadn't gotten out.
If only he hadn't worked through his lunch break, he thought bitterly. He was meant to meet her for lunch but he'd reneged. Then the alarms had started up and the basement vaults in which he'd been working had sealed themselves according to protocol. He'd been stuck in there for hours until something had overridden the controls, releasing him from the safety of his prison. In just those few short hours, Torchwood Tower had become a war zone, filled with deadly alien robots of two sorts, fighting it out between themselves and the humans, killing indiscriminately. Ianto chewed his lip. Yvonne, what have you let through with that ghost machine?
He paused at the corner and slowly made to peek around it when he found a face peering right back at him. He let out a yelp but it was nullified by the shriek from his cohort.
‘Jesus! You scared the hell out of me,’ the young woman said. ‘I heard footsteps. Thought you were one of those metal men.’
‘How could you possibly hear footsteps over all this racket?’
‘I dunno. I just did.’
‘It's not safe.’
She snorted. ‘Tell me something I don't know!’
‘So get out,’ he said, growing frustrated. ‘You know the drill.’
‘Drill?’
‘Torchwood standard evacuation drill?’ he replied with no small amount of disdain for people's lack of following protocol. ‘Not like we don't evacuate the building every other week.’ Someone was always tripping the alarm in their line of work.
‘But I only started last week!’ she wailed. ‘God, I'm going to die here, aren't I? I haven't even told my mum about the new job yet. She still thinks I'm working a checkout in Chiswick.’
‘Look, just take the emergency stairwell down to sixteen, cross to the internal stairwell and head to thirteen, then cross again back to the emergency stairwell and all the way down.’
‘Why not just go straight down?’
‘Because I was just there and there was an explosion. Not sure the stairwell survived it.’
She shook her head vehemently. ‘I can't.’
‘Yes, you can. Just get out.’
‘I could just hide here, couldn't I? You could show me where, right?’
Ianto sighed. Staying here was a terrible idea. He'd only just evaded several patrols already. ‘Come with me if you want to live,’ he told her, feeling ridiculous for saying it. What did he know about survival? For all he knew, he was stepping straight into danger – probably was. Anyone in their right mind should just get out. Wasn't that what he'd just said? He simply couldn't. Not without first finding Lisa. They couldn't all be dead. There had to be pockets of survivors higher up. He just had to find them. With luck, he now knew a pathway back out of here without running into any of the deadly robots.
‘You?’
‘Well, unless there's someone else.’
‘Aren't you scared?’
‘Terrified,’ he replied, shocked at how he could deliver the admission so calmly. ‘But I have to find my girlfriend.’
‘What if she's dead?’
‘Don't say that!’ he scolded. He couldn't bear the thought.
‘Well, everybody else is.’
‘We're not.’ And if they weren't, then there was always a chance.
He watched as the doubt and the fear intermingled on her face. He'd managed to keep her calm for a few minutes but that was beginning to crack. If she started to freak out, she could put them both in even more danger. He couldn't just leave her here though. She wouldn't make it out of here on her own, he realised. It was time he didn't have but what other choice was there?
‘C’mon,’ he said, grabbing her hand. ‘Let's get you out of here.’ In that moment he couldn't have hated himself more for abandoning the one person who needed him. He just had to hope that he wasn't sacrificing one life for another. I'm coming back, he promised, projecting the message over the mental airwaves. Just hold on.