Torchwood: Fanfic: Down, boy

[m_findlow]

Title: Down, boy
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Jack, Owen, Ianto
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 1,437 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for m_findlow's prompt "Any, any, on the floor" at fic_promptly
Summary: Jack and Owen are in a bit of strife with their newest avian refugee.

Jack kicked Owen in the side, receiving an annoyed grunt for his efforts. 'Don't go to sleep,' he said.

'I wasn't,' Owen grumbled. 'I was just bored. How much longer do we have to lie here?'

Jack chanced rolling over onto his back to get a better look at what was going on around them. He did it slowly, so as not to attract too much attention to himself. The large red bird, their visitor from through the rift, was perched up on top of the CCTV camera mounted on the wall. It gazed down at him intently. How the camera was supporting its great weight was beyond him. 'Nope, still there,' Jack reported.

Owen rolled his eyes, even though Jack couldn't see it. 'Well, of course it's still there. It hasn't got far it can go, has it?'

That much Jack supposed was true. It could only fly as far at the end of the room and back again, or take up roost in the holding cell where they'd been intent on keeping it. That was something at least. Whilst they were all stuck down here it couldn't harm anyone.

'It has to sleep eventually,' Jack promised. 'Once it does we can make our escape.'

'Brilliant,' Owen muttered.

Why did these things always happen? Jack wondered. He'd been perfectly happy taking Owen out with him on the rift alert. It wasn't a large one, after all. The girls were following up a case down in Barry, and Ianto was off running errands. Even for two of them, it should have been a cinch.

The bird had been easy enough to spot, fallen and seemingly injured as it lay in a dumpster, on top of a pile of bags full of rubbish. It was unconscious, so Owen and Jack took great care to lift it out and settle it in a cage. They'd take it back to the hub where Owen would be able to take a better look and treat any injuries.

It was by no means a small bird. Owen had it on the examination table down in one of the larger medical suites, designed for such creatures, with a holding cell in the room to make it easy to move aliens into captivity. The wingspan must have been six feet at least, like a giant eagle, with talons and a sharp beak to match. When it regained consciousness, Jack discovered first hand just how sharp.

Whether it was a defensive reaction or a predatory one, the bird was quickly back on its feet, attacking Jack with its claws and beak, tearing great chunks of flesh from his arm. Owen tried to help, but only received a few scrapes of his own. The bird lunged at Jack's face, disorienting him and sending him tumbling against the table. He tripped over, falling to the ground and the bird finally let go. It then turned its attention to Owen, who quickly dived under the table. Satisfied that it had defended its territory, the bird clutched the side of the table and poked its head underneath. Owen crawled across to Jack and away from it. The bird watched him but made no further attacking movements.

Jack was on his stomach, arms out in front of him, mangled and bloodied. There were matching scratches on his face.

'You okay ?'Owen asked.

'I will be,' he replied, feeling the stinging in his arms already beginning to dissipate as the gashes slowly healed over. 'You?'

'Fine,' Owen said.

'Got a temper on it,' Jack joked, referring to their inmate.

'Must be Welsh,' Owen replied, which earned a laugh from Jack.

Jack went to push himself up off the floor, but no sooner than he did, the bird took flight and swooped him, going in for another attack. It snapped the back of Owen's hand as he tried to swing his arms to scare it off. He curled over on the floor in pain. Jack threw his own arm up to stop it from clawing his face off but the bird was heavy, forcing him onto his back to fend it off. The bird eventually gave up its attack and let go.

'Ow,' Jack groaned. He tried to sit up again, but the bird swooped, knocking him back to the ground before settling itself on the other side of the room. 'Yeah, okay, I'm staying down now,' he said, slumping back on the floor, resting his forehead against the concrete.

'What just happened?' Owen asked.

'I think it feels threatened,' Jack replied. 'Don't make any sudden moves.'

'No argument from me.'

That had been two hours ago, now. Jack tried to very slowly sit up and make his way across to the door. The bird immediately went on the attack again, but relented once he was back down on the floor again.

'We're not getting out of here, are we?' Owen asked. He knew the release button on the door at the other end of the room was reasonably high, being at a comfortable height if you happened to be standing. One of them might make it out, but the other would be cannon fodder. They didn't have their comms units, so they'd just have to wait for help to arrive, or as Jack suggested, until the bird decided to take a nap. So long as they lay there, prone on the floor, and didn't sit up or move about too much, it seemed content to leave them alone.

'Okay, I've had about enough of this,' Jack said. Why weren't the others back yet? Or were they just upstairs thinking he and Owen were still out? 'I'm going to get that damn bird in the holding cell if it kills me.'

'Which it might,' Owen replied.

Jack eyed off the bird, two opponents watching each other. 'Okay, I'm gonna try and slide all the way over to the cell. You stay put. With any luck, it'll keep its eye on me. Once I'm inside, I'm gonna get up and give it something to tear apart. Your job is to seal the door and hit us with whatever sedatives you've got.'

'It might end up killing it,' Owen said. They really didn't know enough about it to be sure.

'I'm willing to take the risk. Just be ready, okay?' As much as his body would heal itself, he didn't need the aggravation. 'Hey there, you great feathered monster,' Jack cooed, slowly dragging himself across the lab. He saw the bird's head follow his movements, curious as to what he'd do next.

'That's it. It's me you're interested in. I'm the better looking one.' It seemed to take ages, but he finally found himself near the open door of the holding cell, trying to shuffle inside. 'Come and get me, Red,' he said, sitting up and tucking his head under his arms to spare himself the worst of its wrath.

As expected, the bird lunged from its perch on the camera and straight into the cell with Jack, clawing at him. Owen was on his feet a second later, running across and pressing the button to seal the cell, before turning to activate its defences, issuing a gaseous cloud of powerful sedative.

The bird slowed and fell away to the ground in a heap and Jack slumped against the corner of the cell, both unconscious. Owen didn't waste any time, waiting for the agent to clear, before extracting Jack from the cell. There were cuts and scratches all over, but he was otherwise fine.

'Good job,' Jack replied groggily once he came around. There was a rap at the door, and the pair of them looked up to see Ianto standing there, a questioning look on his face. They stood up and wandered over, releasing the door and letting him inside the lab.

'Have you been having fun?'

Owen sneered. 'Not the first word that comes to mind. Mark this one for the dangerous list,' he said.

Ianto peered into the cell seeing the small pile of crumpled red feathers. 'Doesn't look dangerous to me.'

'You weren't here,' Jack replied.

Ianto frowned in disdain, seeing the state of Jack's clothes. 'It looks like you've been crawling around in the dirt,' he said. 'And just look at these scratches,' he said, fingering the sleeve of Jack's shirt. 'That's going straight in the bin.'

'I'm fine, by the way. Thanks for asking,' Jack replied.

Ianto gave an annoyed eye roll. 'I'll think about being sympathetic once you get cleaned up and those clothes out of my sight. Then you can tell me all about this killer bird of yours.'