BTBD Challenge 64 - Making a stand

[m_findlow]

Title: Making a stand
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Ianto, Torchwood team  
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 1,411 words
Content notes: Spoilers for Cyberwoman
Author notes: Written for Challenge 64 - Bullet at beattheblackdog
Summary: Ianto is preparing to make a final stand.

There was just enough time to duck behind the counter and grab the gun. He hadn't even put it there. That had been Jack's doing. He'd never quite figured out why Jack thought he might ever need a gun up here in the tourist office, making a quip about rowdy sightseers from Germany. Now though he was glad of it, feeling his hand wrap around the cold handle. He was the last line of defence now, and all that stood between eternal hope of a better future and complete annihilation. He didn't want to have to use it, but if the others got between him and what he had to do, he might have to rethink his strategy. And if Jack tried to take him down, well, he had a bullet specially reserved for him.

He barely had time enough to grab it and check it was fully loaded before the door came crashing in. He swung the gun around, forcing them all to take a step back, pleased at this sudden shift in power. Now he was the one calling the shots.

'Ianto, don't be stupid,' Gwen pleaded.

'I've got nothing left to lose.'

It wasn't true. He had everything still left to lose and Jack called him on it. For him, everything was still in play. Lisa was still downstairs. There was still every chance he could talk to her and get her to see sense, or to at least subdue her until he could figure out a way to bring her back. He just needed time. If the others would only see that he could fix this. Why wouldn't they help him?

'I'm going back in to save her.' He gripped the gun a little tighter, wishing his hand wasn't shaking quite so noticeably. 'Anybody tries to stop me, I'll shoot them.'

He was backing up slowly as the team looked at him and begged him to see sense. No, not this time. They'd had their chance to help and they'd shown that they would give him up in a heartbeat. He'd never felt like part of the team and now they'd just proven it. They were Torchwood. Torchwood existed to wipe out the threat of aliens. They hadn't been there at Canary Wharf; they hadn't seen the destruction and the carnage; they'd been people once, corrupted and converted into monsters, but not his Lisa. She was still part human, and that part was worth giving up everything to save.

His moment of having the upper hand was fleeting. Jack lunged forward with lightning speed, twisting his body and thrusting him hard up against the wall, the gun clattering from his hand. No!

He could feel Jack's hot breath on his neck.

'You make a threat like that, you'd better be prepared to follow it through.' Jack pressed up against him harder, gun poking into him. 'See? You disobey me now, I really will shoot you.'

He struggled against Jack, but it was like being caught in a vice. 'Get off me!'

He thought ruefully about how he should have shot Jack when he'd had the chance. He was ten times more dangerous than the rest of them. It was Jack's own training that had taught him to take out the strongest opponent first. Would that he had taken some of that advice.

What would happen now? Would they cuff him and lock him away? Maybe send him to a UNIT prison to rot away the rest of his life? Would they kill him instead? He was a traitor, after all. With Jack, there were no certainties. He was cold and ruthless; capable of the most unspeakable torture. He struggled some more, unwilling to give Jack the satisfaction of having conceded defeat just yet. For him, this might just be another day at the office, but for Ianto, everything he held dear was on the line. The stakes, and the price of failure had never been higher.

'You want to go back in there?' Jack began, 'You go in to finish the job. If she's still alive, you execute her.'

No. Jack's instructions took him completely by surprise. How could Jack ask him to do that? Didn't he understand anything? He was going back in there to save her, not to kill her.

'You brought this down on us. You hid her. You hid yourself from us. Now it's time for you to stand as part of the team. The girl you loved has gone. Your loyalty is to us now.'

Loyalty? Who was Jack to talk about loyalty? They should have been choosing to stand by him, the way he'd always served them loyally, and instead Jack was asking him to turn his back on the only person who had ever given a damn about him. Who was he to the rest of them? Just someone to make coffee and clean up after them. He wasn't a person with feelings; with hopes and dreams, needing love and support. He was just the errand boy, and here they were, demanding him to stand beside them like the lapdog they thought he was. No, he wouldn't do it.

Lisa was all that mattered. Captain Jack meant nothing to him. All those moments they'd spent together, the false romance he'd been building with Jack to keep him distracted, all of it meant nothing. If Jack truly had felt anything for him, he wouldn't have turned his back on him when he needed him most. He didn't need any more proof than that.

The barrel of Jack's own gun pressed harder into him, demanding an answer from him.

'You can't order me to do that.' He wanted Jack to know that he was no leader, and that his words meant nothing to Ianto. There was no order Jack could issue that Ianto would follow. He'd shown his true colours.

'You execute her or I'll execute you both!' Jack hissed, his voice full of fury.  

Ianto wanted to laugh but for the seriousness of the situation. Jack was losing control and he knew it. Gone was their infallible hero, able to charm his way out of anything. Now he was just a man, desperate, forced to make death threats to get what he wanted. Go ahead, Jack. Put a bullet in me if you want to stop me. If I fail, there won't be any point in living.

'I won't do it. You can't make me.' He saw the way his words only incensed Jack even more, the grip on his webley growing tighter and tighter, trembling with anger. If he was going to die here, he was going to make damn sure Jack knew exactly what he thought of him.

'You like to think you're a hero, but you're the biggest monster of all.'

The words cut deep and Ianto knew they would. He'd gotten to know Jack in a way that none of the others had, privy to those private moments when Jack gave up tiny nuggets of information about himself. Ianto locked them all away, ammunition that he could use if it ever came down to it. Jack's pride was a fragile thing, and Ianto knew every chink in that armor.

He could see the veins in the side of Jack's neck bulging as he struggled to keep control of his temper. Tender skin that he'd once teased with lips and teeth and tongue, listening to Jack's moans of pleasure as he gave into Ianto's touches. No longer lovers now but mortal enemies. How quickly the tables had turned.

'I'm giving you ten minutes, then we're coming in.' He shoved back from Ianto, releasing him from the wall. 'Pick it up.'

Ianto's eyes never left Jack's as he bent down to grab the gun. Jack was giving him one last chance to prove himself. One last chance to save Lisa was how he chose to see it instead. He had absolutely no intention of following Jack's orders. He was armed once more, with a free pass to reenter the hub.

His resolve set, he gripped the gun hard, turning away from the team and racing down the hall. They could come after him if they liked, but this time he'd be ready for them. So long as Lisa was still alive, he had to stay alive for her so that he could save her. There were bullets enough for all of them if they tried to stop him again.