Challenge 412 - Hero for a day

[m_findlow]

Title: Hero for a day
Author: m_findlow
Characters: Jack, Ianto, Gwen
Rating: PG
Challenge: 412 - Super Heroes
Notes: Cardiff has a new super hero in town. One drabble that became thirteen... oops.

'Grab your gear people,' Jack called out, already headed for the garage.

'What have we got?' Gwen asked.

'Guy causing a disturbance down near the mall. Claims to be some kind of super hero.'

'Wait, isn't that a job for the police?'

'Did I mention he's glowing purple, levitating, and wearing his underwear over his clothes?' Jack paused. 'The Welsh are weird,' he added, as if realising for the first time.

'Why do you automatically assume he's Welsh?' Ianto said, affronted by the suggestion.

'He's using the national flag for a cape.'

'Oh. Must be from the north, then.'

When they arrived at the mall, a crowd was already gathering. From what they could see, a window cleaner on one of the nearby buildings was clinging to his rig, which uncoupled on one side, leaving him dangling eighty yards over the street below.

Jack immediately took charge.

'Gwen, organise the fire department to get a net under that rig. Ianto with me, we're going in.'

'Stand aside,' came the voice, as the caped purple oddity landed in front of them.

'Fear not citizen! I am Violet Man. I shall save this man!'

'Oh boy,' Jack sighed.

'Imaginative,' Ianto added.

Jack tried being diplomatic, explaining that they were Torchwood and that Violet Man's services were not required.

'Oh really? And can you do this?' he said, lifting himself easily off the ground floating in mid air, looking smug, but hard to take seriously with his valleys accent.

'No, but,'

'Your intentions are commendable but your skills lacking.'

That set Jack right off.

'You're under the influence of something alien! You're a danger to everyone until we can figure out what happened!'

'Can you two please stop your pissing contest until after we save the man from certain death?' Ianto complained.

Unable to reach an agreement, they went their separate ways. Violet Man was levitating slowly up the side of the building whilst Jack and Ianto took the lift.

'Stairs would have been quicker,' Jack grumbled.

'No they wouldn't. It's six storeys. Stop being so dramatic.'

Ianto was annoyed. It was bad enough having to deal with one inflated ego most days, let alone two.

'After we're done, then you can stun him and take him back to the hub, okay? Gwen, how's that safety net going?'

'Still another fifteen minutes away. Violet Man is almost there.'

'Then we'd better hurry.'

Reaching the level the man was hanging from, they made quick work of locating the right spot. Ianto handed Jack a pocket sized laser tool, and Jack began cutting a large hole in the glass.

'Gwen, get everybody back, we're about to push the window out.'

Down below the glass shattered in a wide arc, leaving a gaping hole.

'Hey! You almost hit me!' Violet Man complained, hovering up to meet them.

'Who the bloody hell are you?' said the cleaner, clinging desperately to the loose metal railing.

'Fear not citizen, I am-'

'Oh, shut the hell up,' Jack yelled.

Ianto grabbed the edge of the window firmly, his other hand locked in Jack's, whilst Jack reached out for the cleaner.

'Grab my hand.'

'I can't! '

'Yes, you can.'

Reluctantly he reached out, gripping Jack's hand hard.

Violet Man grabbed the man around the torso.

'Fear not, I've got you,' he said, pulling away.

The cleaner panicked, gripping Jack harder, as Violet Man was tugging him further out of Jack's grip.

'Let him go!' Jack yelled.

'You let go!'

Violet Man suddenly shot upwards, wresting Jack's grip from Ianto's, catching him by surprise, sending him tumbling to the ground below.

Ianto could hear the screams and wails of shock from the crowd as Jack's body shattered on impact. It was nothing compared to his own shock.

'Oh shit! Oh God!' cried the cleaner, staring down, clutching to Violet Man. 'Please don't let me go!'

'Poor soul,' he replied. 'I warned him not to get involved in heroes work.'

'You stupid bastard!' Ianto yelled, furious. 'This is your fault.'

'Calm yourself,' he said, as the glow around him faded.

Just then, his levitation failed altogether and the two of them dropped, slamming into the rigging, clutching at it just in time.

'Oh my God, what's happening?' cried Violet Man, as the pair of them swung wildy from the unstable platform.

'Looks like your super powers wore off,' Ianto replied, remarkably unsurprised by the irony and timing.

He reached out as far as he could, managing to get a hold of the cleaner, hauling him inside to safety. Violet Man was hanging much further down, almost completely out of reach.

'Please don't let me die! I hate heights!'

'Well, there's something we have in common, then. I should let you drop like a sack of spuds but Jack would never forgive me.'

It took a considerable amount of careful maneuvering, but eventually Ianto was able to reach down and get a grip on Violet Man's hand.

'Hurry up!'

'I would but your cape keeps flapping in my face!' he replied, almost slipping out of the window, before the cleaner grabbed him around the legs.

'I knew I shouldn't have drunk that soda!'

'What soda?' Ianto asked, slowly pulling him upwards.

'Funny writing on the can. Looked Swedish. Thought it was one of those energy drinks.'

'Probably, ugh! Alien, ugh!' he puffed, finally heaving them both back inside.

'Alien?' he said, shocked.

'Alien.'

Back on the ground, Gwen had watched in horror as Jack crashed to the ground, killed instantly. She made sure that his body was covered and dragged away somewhere quiet where he could come back without a crowd of onlookers.

Looking up and seeing a tangle of bodies hanging out of the building, she wondered where the hell the fire department was and what was taking them so long. If Ianto fell too, he wouldn't come back like Jack.

She breathed a sight of relief when she finally saw all three disappear back inside the building.

The crisis was over.

When they exited the building, there was a gaggle of media people waiting to swamp them, clicking cameras and begging for soundbites. No one could make out precisely what had happened up there, but one thing was certain. Violet Man had saved the day.

Bolstered by the attention, Violet Man quickly regained his composure, insisting that there  was nothing brave or selfless in what he'd done, and that anyone with his special abilities would have done the same.

One journalist shoved a microphone in Ianto's face.

'How does it feel being saved by a super hero?'

'No comment,' he replied.

When the press had finally had their fill and the crowds had melted away, Violet Man was left standing there with Gwen and Ianto, on strict instruction not to go anywhere until they could check him over and make sure that whatever it was he'd ingested, that it wouldn't have any long term effects.

Jack made his reappearance, the back of his coat soaked in his own blood. He looked thunderous.

Violet Man pointed. 'Hey aren't you supposed to be-'

He didn't get to finish his question before Jack's fist had knocked him out cold.

'My sentiments exactly,' Ianto agreed.

Back at the hub, they checked over the man, before dropping him off home with several days worth of retcon coursing through his system. Violet Man's hero days were over.

Slumping on the sofa, there wasn't a single television channel that wasn't covering the story of the super hero who had saved two men from falling to their deaths, and a third who unfortunately couldn't be saved.

'We did all the hard work, and he got all the praise,' Ianto complained. 'Stupid git.'

Jack wrapped an arm around his shoulder. 'Who cares? There's only one super hero in my books.'

Comments

[jo02]

Lol, your one drabble has sprouted madly - kind of like the flowers in your other story - must be Spring :)

ps - I loved Violet Man with his heroic, manly way of speaking.

[m-findlow.livejournal.com]

He tried and failed. Everyone knows who the real hero of the day is...

[bk_forever]

Poor Ianto, he did all the rescuing too, something he wouldn't have had to if the 'super-hero' hadn't insisted on 'helping'. He's probably sore from all the stretching and pulling, I hope Jack gives him a nice back-rub.