Ficlet_zone Challenge 19 - Ready for anything

[m_findlow]

Title: Ready for anything
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Ianto, Jack
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 874 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for Challenge 19 - Metallica Song Titles (Moth Into Flame) at ficlet_zone
Summary: Ianto is determined to prove he can be one of the team.

Ianto forced himself to pause and concentrate as he stared at the wall lined with every conceivable kind of weapon. What might they need for a rift alert of this kind, he wondered.

He wasn't even entirely sure what kind of a rift alert this was. They weren't very good at setting themselves apart. As good as Tosh was, she couldn't do much more than warn them about various energy signatures and heat patterns where the alert occurred. There was some kind of fuzzy logic in the programming that was building up a database constructed from their mission reports, but it was all above his pay grade to understand technology like that. It also didn't have a lot of data to work with yet, because Tosh was still waiting for him to start cataloging the old paper files into their database so she could match them up with the historical rift data.

Honestly, there was only so much he could do in a day, what with the mess they made around the hub, Jack's constant need of historical files from their archives, making or fetching food and coffee, cleaning the SUV and, in his limited spare time, investigating this swathe of people going missing around the area where he lived.

That last job he didn't mind so much, since it was mostly just sitting around drinking beer, or something stronger on a bad day, and talking. Not that he was much of a talker, but Mandy... she had a way of dragging it out of him. And he let her. There was just something not quite right about her and he was sure she knew more about the people going missing than she let on. If anyone had their finger on the pulse about the pope who came and went within ten blocks of his flat, it was the local publican.

In fact, she was the whole reason he was standing here now, deliberating over the semi-automatic or the stun gun. Jack of course would have his webley, and never went anywhere without it. A six bullet maximum just never felt right for someone who threw themselves headlong into dangerous situations as often as Jack did. Maybe that's what made him so good at this job - the fact that he could get by with only six bullets.

He decided on the semi-automatic - a proper gun, but with a twenty round clip. He figured he had a good eye from his training at Torchwood One and Jack's subsequent insistence on firearms practice, but all the same, he'd feel better knowing he wasn't counting every bullet that left his gun if it came down to it. Who knew what the pressure of the situation might do to his normally rational mind. Going out on a job like this really wasn't his thing. Then again, after the other night with the weevil he felt a little bit empowered. For the first time in ages he'd actually felt in control of his emotions, and himself. It may not have looked like it from where Jack was standing, or any other rational person, watching him beat a weevil into the ground with a giant tree branch, but he knew what he was doing. A little piece of him enjoyed exorcising that anger and helplessness. He'd stay more in control this time, though. If he didn't Jack might never let him out in a case again.

He was doing this, he decided. This was his chance to get in front of Jack and make an impact. A rift alert and no one else around to tackle it other than him. He wasn't likely to get another chance like this. In a heartbeat Jack would ask anyone but him to tag along. He didn't think he could muscle his way onto a case with someone else, but just Jack on his own? He swallowed hard, pulling the semi-automatic off its wall clip and pulling out a draw from the centre console, selecting the correct magazine to insert into the chamber inside the handle.

He could do this. As soon as Jack arrived, he'd just tell him there was a rift alert and that he was ready. That's me, he thought. Ianto Jones, ready for anything. Anything except the rejection if Jack said no. He wouldn't say no, would he? Would he go investigate without backup? It was only across the way at the Millennium Centre. Just a short walk across the Plass, really. Ianto was by far the closest resource. Ianto knew he couldn't give Jack the option. He wasn't going to ask to come along, he was going to tell Jack he was coming. He had his gun now, what more did he need? Just the guts to stand up to Jack and take control of his own destiny.

He lowered the gun as he heard the cogwheel door rumbling open, announcing Jack's entrance. 'Piece of cake,' he muttered to himself, and he stepped out of the weapons store, about to deliver the news. Jack kept telling them they had to be ready, so this was it. He'd already disarmed a weevil. Whatever was lurking just across the Plass stood no chance. He was as ready as he'd ever be.