Torchwood: Fanfic: Wrongful arrest - Chapter Five

[m_findlow]

Title: Wrongful arrest
Fandom: Torchwood
Prompt: Arrest at hc_bingo
Wordcount: 24,947 words
Rating: M
Warnings: N/A
Summary: UNIT are on the warpath, and they've got Jack in their sights.

Ianto sometimes wished that he could go back to bed and start the day over again in the hopes that it would improve. Bad days were becoming the norm.

He mentally cursed again as he kept running hard, glad that he had recently started running in the mornings before work again. Not that he didn't get plenty of exercise working for Torchwood, but training on a regular basis made for a nice change. In fact anything at all of a regular nature made for a nice change.  

His legs and lungs were beginning to burn from the effort, but he knew that he could push past it and that he would be able to keep going for a while yet. It only annoyed him that his quarry was the very person who refused to come running with him in the first place.

Jack had scoffed at the idea, and made his own suggestion that they could both get plenty of exercise in other ways that didn't require leaving the hub, or the bed for that matter.

Right now though, Jack was on the run. Not his Jack, but some other version of Jack.

Ianto growled in frustration as he kept on Jack's trail, feet pounding the concrete and breathing hard. He'd been in pursuit for a good ten minutes at least, and Jack still had a good thirty yards lead on him.

Irritated, Ianto had yet to fathom how Jack had stayed so fit. Even disregarding that he was over 170 years old, in reality he physically still had ten years on Ianto. It was hardly fair. Youth should have overriden him by now, but Ianto was beginning to realise that he wasn't going to be able to outrun him without employing more cunning.

Where was backup when you needed it? he thought. Gwen was never getting another holiday again. Ever. If anyone was having three weeks off in sunny Spain next time, it would be him and Jack. They'd leave the weevils and blowfish for Gwen and Rhys to sort out. The world could end, but at least they'd enjoy their last moments of it, and of each other, together, sharing tapas and mojitos on the beach. And a warm climate where Jack might be inclined to go about topless would just be an added bonus. Right now though, thoughts of sunny anywhere were far from his mind.

Ianto took a calculated risk, letting Jack skip around the next street corner and losing sight of him as he banked right.

Ianto cut down another streeta, and then veered left, and left again. Jack didn't seem to have a particular destination in mind, but rather was just trying to put distance between himself and his pursuer. Ianto gambled on knowing the streets better than Jack.

As he staggered out the end of the street, he caught the flash of coattails as it swept by him, now only twenty yards separating them, as he forced Jack down another street.

As long as Jack kept running, there was still a chance. If he suddenly stopped and tried to fight his way out, things would end badly. For Ianto that was. In a hand to hand combat scenario, Jack had a size advantage over the Welshman, regardless of the amount of training, and it wasn't beneath him to try and surprise Ianto with some less than legal moves in order to make his getaway.

Ianto attempted another shortcut, dropping back slightly as Jack was headed in the general direction of Bute Park. He swung wide and came at the park from a different angle, immediately plunged into darkness under the thick canopy of foliage.

He lost sight of Jack for a few moments but then heard the footsteps and ragged breathing not far off. Despite the dark, Ianto could make out his broad outline moving between the shadows. Ianto had calmed his own breathing, careful not to give his position away. Their mad pursuit had become a game of cat and mouse.  

He watched as Jack twirled around, trying to see if he'd lost his tail. Ianto kept a firm eye on him, knowing he only had minutes to pull this off and was still too far away. He needed to get closer without being seen or heard.

A crunch of leaves underfoot caused Jack to swing his gaze in Ianto's direction, gun following his line of sight. Ianto pressed himself up against a tree and held his breath. After a few moments nothing had happened, and Ianto risked a look around the tree. Jack had moved slightly further away, still wary that his pursuer might be close by. If he didn't do something now, Jack would sneak further away and he'd lose him altogether. He might not get another shot at it.

He crouched down and gathered a handful of acorns littering the ground beneath his feet. Taking another quick look at Jack's position, he thrust the nuts off in a generally opposite direction to where he was stood. They had the desired effect, causing a rustling noise that Jack turned away from instinctively, forcing him back in Ianto's direction as he tried to put more distance between himself and his pursuer.  

Ianto pulled his gun from his jacket and watched Jack through its sights, waiting for him to get closer.

Almost, almost, he thought, trying to clear his head for what he was about to do. He was going to feel awful about this in the morning. It really was turning out to be a bad day.

When Jack was barely five yards from his position he took careful aim. He felt the split second between five yards distant and right on top of him stretch out for eternity.

Sorry Jack, he thought as he swung out from behind the tree and pulled the trigger, shooting Jack through the heart.

 

 

It was only a stun gun, but the high setting packed a lot of punch, and would leave its victim unconscious for several hours. This version of Jack could well be immortal too, but he wasn't taking any chances.   

An hour and a half later, he managed to tie and sedate Jack, retrieve the SUV from its spot, now a dozen blocks away, and drag Jack's heavy body into it without attracting the attentions of any local curtain twitchers. All things considered, not an easy task.

Part of him wanted to drive them both straight to UNIT HQ, but he knew that this had now become a game of chess, and in order to win he'd have to to play the long game. UNIT weren't about to believe he'd just conveniently trundled up to their door with a clone and to expect a prisoner exchange. Plus, he wanted to know for himself just exactly what this Jack was up to.

 

 

When he arrived back at the hub he decided not to waste any time, immediately putting the unconscious Jack down in their interrogation room, heavily cuffed in the chair, both wrists and ankles. If his own Jack was anything to go by, even that wouldn't necessarily hold him. The stun gun stayed close at hand in his pocket.

 

 

Jack had consulted his watch again, and convinced himself that it had stopped working. At least, that's how it felt. Time seemed to stretch on endlessly. He knew he should be grateful for the peace, but sitting around doing nothing just wasn't in his nature.

He thought about the time he'd come down here and recruited Tosh. It was a small miracle she still had any of her mental faculties after months locked up here. Jack was already crawling up the walls after a single day, or was it two days now? Perhaps his watch really had stopped working.

At some point a metal tray had been shoved under the door via a narrow slot. It didn't feature anything Jack could recognise as food. It was slightly grey and had an indescribable texture. The green pile was not much better, smelled of old sneakers and so could possibly have been brussel sprouts in a former life. The cup of lukewarm amber liquid could have been tea or coffee, but tasted of neither. He decided to eat as little as possible and tried not to think about hot toast with lashings of butter and a cup of Ianto's spectacular coffee. Starving to death was a better alternative.

Despite the few mouthfuls he took, he began feeling lightheaded. The feeling was distinct and recognisable. The food had been drugged.

Two soldiers entered the cell, followed by a man in a white coat and another in white scrubs. They pushed him to the ground with surprising ease as his muscles refused to cooperate.

'You didn't eat all your dinner. Tsk, tsk,' said the man in the coat. 'No matter. It's enough for what we need, and as you can't die, there's really no risk.'

Jack was struggling but it was all in his head, commanding arms and legs that wouldn't comply with his wishes. Where was Martha Jones? He lay there helplessly as he felt them undoing his belt and unbuttoning his shirt to access the flesh underneath.

'Just a few samples to begin with,' the doctor explained, producing a long thick needle. 'Bone marrow first,' jabbing the needle into his hip.  

Jack grunted but couldn't wrap his mouth around the sounds to produce words.

'Yes, stings a little bit, doesn't it?' he commented, as he passed the needle to the orderly and produced a second.

'Liver next,' he continued. The next needle, larger again, was plunged into his torso. The two guards stood by the door both winced slightly, sickened by the doctor's actions, and couldn't ignore the scream that issued from Jack. He didn't need words this time.

'Just one more for now. You've been such a good patient,' as he produced the final needle. 'Probably should warn you, this one might hurt.'

Jack had been reduced to small whimpering noises just before the third needle was plunged directly into his heart. He didn't get a chance to yell out before the shock of it hit him and the world turned black.

Chapter six...

Comments

[bk_forever]

UNIT BASTARDS! Oh Jack, this is so unfair, HM is going to be furious when Ianto tells her, and Ianto is going to be beside himself when he finds out. UNIT are as bad as Torchwood One in their inhumanity. Jack needs to be rescued fast.

Wonder what Alternate Jack's story is.