Torchwood: Fanfic: Trading places - Chapter Three

[m_findlow]

Title: Trading places
Fandom: Torchwood
Prompt: Blackmail at hc_bingo
Wordcount: 13,803 words
Rating: M
Warnings: N/A
Summary: Ianto will have to team up with an unlikely ally to save Jack

Two hours later they were still on the road, but had come to a mutual agreement not to speak to one another unless it was absolutely necessary. Naturally, it would be John who would give in first.

'I'm hungry. Can't we stop for food?'

'Jack's being held for ransom, and you want a tea break?'

'Can't very well save him on an empty stomach.'

'And you can't order up a pizza on that,' he said, nodding towards Hart's wrist strap.

'It's a manipulator, not a fabricator. Sweet goddesses, I thought you were supposed to be smart.'

Clearly John wasn't in the mood for jokes. Ironic, really.

'Try the glove box. There should be some energy bars.'

'Mmm, and that's not all,' John said, rifling through the compartment and brandishing the discovered bottle of lube. 'You do come prepared, pardon the pun.'

Ianto cleared his throat loudly, trying not to be embarrassed. He'd temporarily forgotten that was in there.

'Want some?' John muffled though a large mouthful, tube still in his other hand.

'I think I'll pass.'

'Maybe later, then.'

Ianto was sure there was a double entendre in there, but he chose to ignore it.

 

 

Darkness had fallen by the time they reached the farthest outskirts of London, just a few miles outside of the Ministry facility. Specifications showed the facility had a single entry point, heavily gated and patrolled, with a long driveway the wound itself towards the facility building themselves, nestled in amongst several acres of rolling countryside, but housed on all sides by heavy barbed and electrified fencing.

'How hard is it going to be to get in, then?'

John held his arm up and leaned his head to one side.

'Vortex manipulator. Right.' He'd become so accustomed to Jack's own not working.

Ianto turned the SUV off the main road and rocked over the open fields, approaching the facility from the western edge, which was the furthest point from the patrolled gate that he could easily navigate. He came to a stop near a wooded patch where the SUV could be easily hidden from any prying eyes.

He stepped out, readjusting his gun. He knew it was fine but it gave him something to do that wasn't looking at John. He also hoped he wouldn't be needing it, unless of course it was to shoot John.

'Okay,' he said consulting his PDA, 'the schematics show a number of archival storage areas here and here,' he explained, pointing to them on the screen.

'Could be any of them.'

'That helps. Why don't you work on getting us in first?'

'Fine.' John stood there and stared at him. 'Well?'

'Well what?'

John gestured with his hands for Ianto to embrace him. Despite the dark, he made out the raised eyebrow and the disapproving glare.

'Just give me your hand, then.'

Ianto reluctantly held out his hand. John grabbed it and placed it on top of his vortex manipulator, his other hand resting on top.

'Ready?'

'Just do it.'

The pair of them were enveloped in a bright orange glow, and then they were gone.

 

 

When they reappeared, Ianto stumbled slightly and felt a bit sick. He was reminded of the gravitron ride at a local carnival, which spun wildly and sucked you to the side of it, like a giant salad spinner. Trying to walk in a straight line afterwards was challenging, and that's how he felt now. It didn't help that he felt like someone had tried to pull his stomach out with a tow rope.

'Good, isn't it?' John smirked, watching his discomfort.

Ianto ignored him and looked around, then consulted his PDA again, trying to figure out where they'd landed.

'You're navigation needs work,' Ianto confirmed. 'The closest archives are still several hundred yards away.'

'I get you in, and you want to be picky?'

'I suppose I should be grateful you didn't land us in the guard house,' he sniped back.

Despite the late hour, the facility halls were well lit. They were also well tracked by security cameras. Ianto quickly tapped some instructions into his PDA to hack the camera system and set them on a looped recording, masking their own movements.

'I could've done that,' John complained.

'Delicacy was required.' he replied, by way of explanation

'You don't give me nearly enough credit.'

Ianto stopped listening to him. A sound approaching them had caught his attention. Someone was headed their way.

'Shut up.'

'Who died and made you in charge?'

'No, seriously, shut up,' Ianto hissed.

John too heard the footsteps and fell silent.

The footsteps grew louder, approaching their position. Ianto’s mind raced as he tried to calculate their alternatives, but he was out of time. There were no doorways for rooms they could duck into without moving further down the hall, and straight into the path of their approaching visitor. Just before the head came around the corner, spotting them, John roughly grabbed him and shoved him against the wall, mashing their lips together.

To say Ianto was shocked was nothing short of an understatement. On top of that, he could feel John's hands in places they shouldn't be.

The guard it seemed was too embarrassed to break them up, or tell them to move along, and made to disappear just as quickly as he'd arrived. He must have assumed they worked here and we're looking for a private moment.

Great security, Ianto thought. Pride of the Empire.

Ianto watched him with one eye as he turned away, trying to focus on their situation and not what John was doing with his tongue. There was acting, and then there was what John was doing. And they were completely separate things.  

As soon as the guard was well out of sight, he pushed John away and took a couple of steps to distance himself from the time agent, wiping his mouth on the jacket sleeve.

'What? We were just getting started. I'm beginning to see what Jack likes about you. And don't tell me you didn't enjoy that,' John teased.

Ianto was glad that John couldn't see the colour rising in his cheeks as he turned and faced away. There wasn't enough alcohol in the world that could convince him he'd enjoyed that. Or ever would.

 

 

They carefully picked their way across the facility, following the directions on Ianto's PDA.

'None of these corridors look familiar.'

'But you were very drunk?'

'Oh, that's right.'

Ianto sighed in frustration. 'Why don't you just go back to doing whatever it was you were doing before you came here, and leave saving Jack to me?'

'Touchy, touchy!'

'It's not my fault that you're about as helpful as a sack of wet mice.' Ianto sighed. 'Do you at least remember her name?'

'Millie? Molly, something?'

Ianto ran a personnel search. 'There's a Molly Weisengard, works in a lab on the second floor in sector C. Her lab isn't too far from one of the archive vaults. Good a place as any to start.'

John leaned over him to check out her security pass photo.

'Blonde. Definitely someone I would have picked.'

'Even after seeing her picture you still don't remember her?'

'So many blondes, so little time. Especially when the brunettes get involved. Oh, and the redheads,' he moaned saucily.

'Have you ever had a meaningful relationship in you life?'

'Well excuse me,' snarked John. 'You think I don't do commitment? I was with Jack for five years.'

'Two weeks is how he tells it.'

'Well, he would. I know things about Jack you could only ever dream of.'

Ianto wasn't about to get dragged into this argument.

'What I don't know doesn't matter.' And he really meant that. The person he was now was all that mattered. That was the person he'd fallen in love with. Whoever he'd been before that had no impact on them now.

'Are you kidding me? You should hear yourself. It's pathetic. You've accepted this pretty little picture that Jack's painted for you, about how he did some naughty things in the past, but now he's making up for them, and that he's a changed man.'

'He's different now. You just haven't seen it.'

'He's not cured. Torchwood is just rehab for him. Keeping him on the straight and narrow for a while, but let me tell you, soon as he's out, he won't last three weeks. One taste of freedom and he'll revert back to how he was before.'

'He won't leave Torchwood,' Ianto said determinedly.

'He won't leave you, is what you mean. Or at least hope.'

'Whatever works,' Ianto replied, walking off in the direction of the lab, pretending the matter was done with, and looking at his PDA on the pretense of checking for further life signs they might run into. John had a habit of forcing him into conversations he didn't want to have.

'You haven't fixed him,' John called after him, trotting along to catch up, 'you're just delaying the next relapse. Jack's just not built that way. What do you think happens to him when you die?'

The question stung. It wasn't something he liked thinking about. Especially not after Tosh and Owen. If Jack had been that bad dealing with their deaths, what would he do when he and Gwen were pushing up daisies? That though had always frightened him. He didn't want Jack to be sad. He wanted him to find happiness again. Instead he'd resigned himself to the idea that Jack would instead become despondent and self destructive. Maybe John was right. Could his death tip Jack back over the edge?

'Exactly,' John said, as if hearing his thoughts.

Ianto stopped dead and turned to face him.

'Can we get on with this now?' he said, overtly changing the subject.

'Whatever you say, Eye Candy.'

'And don't call me that.'

He wasn't ready to ask John to look after Jack when he was gone. Not yet.

Chapter four...

Comments

[bk_forever]

You're about as helpful as a sack of wet mice. Darn it, now I want to write something where Ianto discovers just exactly how unhelpful a sack of wet mice is! *headdesk*

Asking John to look after Jack would be a phenomenally bad idea, because John would drag Jack back down to what he'd once been, all the progress he'd made would be lost. The Doctor would be better because at least Jack would try to live up to his mentor's ideals.

Finding what they're looking for is proving complicated. Hope they find it soon so they can go and rescue Jack!