pensiveTitle: What Will Be.
Author: zorell
Chapter:11/?
Rating: PG
Characters: Jack, Ianto, Tosh, Owen, Martha, Gwen.
Pairings: Jack/Ianto.
Summary: The team try to figure out what is going on.
Disclaimer: Torchwood belongs to BBC and RTD
A/N: This chapter just wouldn’t get started, and then when it did I fear it has turned into an incoherent ramble ! So major apologises if this makes no sense at all !
Also, usual apologies for mistakes, bad grammar, dodgy plot etc, but hope you enjoy anyway!
Story starts here:
http://jackxianto.livejournal.com/5294840.html#cutid1
previous chapter:
http://jackxianto.livejournal.com/5418316.html
Chapter 11.
Ianto sat impassively listening to proceedings. After Jack had said a few words he handed over to Martha. She went through, mainly for Ianto’s benefit, the events that had happened up to his revival in the autopsy bay. Martha had mentioned an energy reading being the reason that she and Tosh had gone down to his draw in the vaults to investigate. Ianto wondered for a moment why Martha hadn’t elaborated about the reading. Then he reasoned that was more Tosh’s line of expertise, and from the file in front of his best friend it appeared she would, at some point, take up the briefing.
“ For now Martha, thanks. We’ll come back to you and Owen for more on the medical side a bit later. First though, I asked Tosh to find out as much as she could about the energy reading, and any other relevant facts that she might turn up in the process. So, over to you Tosh.”
“ Ok, well, when the energy registered in the vault I didn’t recognise it, so I ran it through the computer. Only one match came up, at Torchwood One. They classified it with a number, 72193k, and it was a perfect match for the energy reading that we had recorded originating in Ianto’s draw...”
As Ianto listened to his friend and colleague his mind was trying to process what he was hearing. Something was there at the back of his mind. If only he could get past the more intrusive memories of Canary Wharf. There was something, just before all hell had broken loose...
Tosh hesitated for a moment, uncertain how Ianto would react to what she was about to remind him of.
“ Two days before the Battle of Canary Wharf...” The tech continued, Ianto’s mask remained fixed. “...there was an incident in the archive/research department...”
Ianto pushed back the resurfacing memories of the Battle, and finally ‘grabbed’ the elusive memory he had been searching.
“ The orb.” Ianto’s quiet voice interrupting Tosh mid flow.
“ Ianto ?” Jack gave his lover a questioning look.
“ The orb.” Ianto’s voice was stronger. “ The incident, was when James dropped the alien orb.”
Tosh quickly checked the file she had open in front of her.
“ James Malloy ?” she asked, looking to Ianto for confirmation.
“ Yes. James was one of the researchers. He was supposed to be returning the orb to its containment box, but typical James he couldn’t just simply put it away. He was trying to be flash, said it looked like an alien cricket ball, all be it slightly larger. Anyway, he started spinning it up into the air, and of course the inevitable happened and he dropped it. When the orb hit the floor a halo of silver, changing to blue light surrounded it for a moment, then radiated outwards before disappearing. It all happened quickly.”
“ The energy reading lasted 30 seconds.” Tosh clarified, before Ianto continued to say what he remembered of the incident.
“ There were indentations on the orb, and they also glowed when it hit the floor, though they gave out a golden light that stopped when the other light did. The area went into lockdown. Routine decontamination was carried out. Medicals were done, and we were given the all clear as nothing out of the ordinary showed up. Follow up checks were due, but obviously circumstances intervened.”
“ Something else you’ve kept hidden.” Gwen didn’t keep the disdain from her voice.
“ Gwen !” Jack’s voice was full of barely restrained anger, and if looks could kill, Owen would have been busy writing out a death certificate !
“ What ? It’s true. Lisa. Now this. What else ? How many more times are you going to let him get away with things ?” Gwen wasn’t going to miss an opening like this to chip away at Ianto and the others trust in him.
“ How about as many times as you’ve got away with things, ‘cos in that case Ianto is good to go for a fair old while yet !” Owen retorted.
“ What’s that supposed to mean ?” Gwen turned on Owen.
“ Figure it out !” Owen couldn’t be doing with this. Yes, Lisa had been a terrible mistake, but Ianto had proved himself over and over again since, and had worked to earn their trust back. Of course Owen knew why Gwen was doing it, he just wished she’d get into her headed that discrediting Ianto wasn’t going to work. On top of which Jack just wasn’t interested in her.
Martha watched the exchange and observed the others around the table. She had no idea who Lisa was, but from the reactions, she got the impression that whatever had happened wasn’t good. Tosh was tense, Jack’s anger was growing by the second and Ianto seemed to be withdrawing into himself. ‘Shit’, Martha thought, she had to stop this, before they ‘lost’ Ianto.
“ I’m sure Ianto didn’t deliberately hide this incident from you. The traumatic events of the ‘Battle’ a mere two days later, would have over ridden, and pushed the memories of the orb incident to the deepest recess of Ianto’s mind. Only emerging due to the current situation.” Martha hoped she had done enough to ease the tension a little at least.
Gwen snorted her disbelief, but for once stopped herself from saying more.
“ After we’ve finished here Gwen, report to my office.” Jack’s tone was one not to argue with. His anger was clear to see, as was his concern at the way Ianto had begun to withdraw into himself at the mention of Lisa, and the reminder of his betrayal. Jack wanted to pull Ianto into his arms and reassure his lover, but they had a rule about intimacy in front of the team,- earlier in the autopsy bay had been a rare exception to that rule due to extreme circumstances. The best he could do at the moment, was to squeeze his lovers thigh under the table in comfort and support, along with a look of love and concern directed at his Welshman. Fixing his gaze on his Captains eyes, Ianto found the lifeline he needed to escape being pulled under by memories.
“ Ianto, you said there were indentations on the orb. I found a report that mentioned markings that couldn’t be deciphered, were those the indentations or were they two separate things ? You see there is no mention specifically of indentations in the information I’ve managed to retrieve, although quite a lot of Ones system was corrupted and it could be part of the lost data. Do you remember any of the details ?” It was Tosh getting them back on track.
“ It was a mixture of surface writing and indentations. James thought it was merely decorative, I got the impression it was more likely a form of writing.” Ianto answered his friend.
“ Really ?” Tosh was intrigued.
“ I don’t have anything to corroborate the theory, just a feeling I got. The indentations reminded me slightly of hieroglyphics.”
“ I don’t suppose you remember any of the ‘markings’ ?”
“ Possibly.” Ianto wasn’t 100% sure though. Yes his memory was virtually eidetic, but this had been buried deep and he hadn’t actually had much contact with the orb. Giving it not much more than a glance, as James had started to examine it.
“ Good, that’s something you two can work on tomorrow. Anything else Tosh?” Jack asked.
“ From the information I have retrieved, the orb was made of a metallic like substance. Nothing like it had been found before, but traces similar to iron, tungsten and alloy 1090, were all found in the analysis that was run on it. With those kind of elements in its makeup, you’d expect it to be quite heavy, but it appears to have been surprisingly light. The analysis also showed slightly different readings for the centre of the orb, but I haven’t found any more information with regard to that. Not sure if that’s because it’s part of the lost data, or because that part of the testing hadn’t been done yet. From the information I’ve managed to access there is nothing to imply the orb was dangerous. There is also no record of anything else similar appearing on Earth. As for the energy that it released, it had no effect on any of the equipment in the area, so it appears not to have an electrical element.” Tosh stopped for a moment and took a mouthful of coffee, it was virtually cold but she was not wasting even a sip of Ianto’s amazing brew. After a quick check of her notes Tosh continued.
“ Considering the matching energy readings and the fact the one here centred on Ianto, Owen asked if I could check on the other people caught up in the incident at One. The other three were James Malloy, who has already been mentioned, Cally Carmichael, and Mitchell Lewis. Unfortunately none of them survived the Battle. James Malloy was listed as missing presumed dead, Cally Carmichael’s body was found amongst the wreckage and Mitchell Lewis was found dead on a conversion table.” Tosh risked a glance at her best friend as she spoke, she had dreaded having to say this part of the information she had found out, not knowing what effect it would have on the young man. As it was his ‘mask’ was firmly in place, but she could sense his tension.
“ Cally Carmichael’s body was released to her family for burial, while Mitchell Lewis’s was incinerated by UNIT, along with all other partial and complete conversions, and any cyber-technology found.” Tosh finished.
“ So none of the others caught within that energy release revived ?” It wasn’t so much a question from Owen, but more a confirmation of what he had just heard.
“ No. Lewis’s body was retrieved from the conversion unit and destroyed within 10 hours of the end of the Battle. Carmichael’s body was placed in the make shift morgue, and then returned to her family. The funeral was held two weeks later. Nothing unusual occurred.” Tosh confirmed.
Silence descended for a few moments as everyone absorbed what Tosh had told them. Jack wondered whether it would be a good time to take a break. He was concerned about his lover, and desperately wanted to get him alone to make sure he was coping alright. Clashing with that thought, was the feeling that getting everything dealt with in one go would be better. Once the meeting was totally over Jack would have more time to reassure, and support Ianto through the inevitable nightmares the mention of Canary Wharf would bring to the fore.
“ Thanks Tosh. Owen, Martha over to you.” Jack said, deciding to go with the ‘get it all over in one go’ plan.
“ Right. We have run every test and scan we could come up with on Ianto, and found nothing out of the ordinary, except for the fact he’s alive when he shouldn’t be obviously. The blood tests are all normal, - though you are still a bit anaemic...” Owen looked pointedly at Ianto. It was an ongoing battle between the two men with regard to the Welshman’s diet, and its effects on his health. “..and they match the control samples we have. Same with the tissue scans, nothing abnormal showing on those either. There is no sign of anything alien in his system at all. That includes no trace of the energy that originated from Ianto’s vault draw.”
“ Nanogenes ?” Jack asked, trying to think of anything that could have restored Ianto.
“ No sign of anything like that. To be honest we’ve drawn a blank at the moment. My money is still on the orb energy being the answer, it’s just trying to figure out how.” Owen was sounding a little frustrated.
“ Surely if it was to do with the orb, CC would have come back ?”
“ CC ?” Jack looked questioningly at Ianto.
“ Cally. We called her CC, what with her initials and her love of motorbikes.” A faint smile graced the Welshman’s lips, as he remembered his colleague and friend.
“ You would think so, but what if it’s a combination of things ?” Owen answered Ianto’s query, while glancing at Jack. Although they had all but rejected the idea, that it was Jack and Ianto’s relationship that had been the reason for Ianto’s return, perhaps a rethink was in order.
“ You think it’s because of me.” Jack stated as he looked at the medic.
“ I think we have to look into the possibility. I mean, if we work with the idea that it has to do with the energy, why did Ianto come back and not Carmichael ? They were both exposed to the energy released by the orb, so what makes Ianto different ? I don’t think we can ignore the fact he is in an intimate relationship with a man who has his own ability to come back from the dead.”
“ There is also the rift.” Tosh joined the discussion. “ Ianto grew up around it, and now works on top of it. Surely that could be just as likely as Jack and Ianto being together ?”
“ Yeah..” Owen sounded thoughtful. “ Yeah, could be . It certainly gives us a couple more options to explore.”
Jack looked around the table. Everyone was looking tired. He knew all of them, well nearly all of them, had been affected by what had happened with Ianto. He also knew how hard those same team members had been working to get answers.
“ Thank you for all the hard work you’ve put in so far.” Jack smiled at his team, “ I know we seem to have gained more questions than answers, but it does mean we have other avenues to explore. It’s getting late, so let’s finish for the day, get a good night’s sleep and be ready to start fresh in the morning. Oh, and Gwen, my office before you leave.”
next chapter: http://jackxianto.livejournal.com/5452395.html#cutid1