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Trial By Torchwood
Fandom: Torchwood (shock horror!)
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: Jack/Ianto
Word Count: 5544
Summary: There's danger in the archives and a problem to solve, but no easy solution...
Prompt: Jantolution Challenge #9, all prompts
A/N: Fandom cliche warning! And this may tie in to another one of my fics (and thus probably most of my gradually solidifying personal fanon universe), but I haven't quite decided yet...
Trial By Torchwood
Ianto put the two devices on top of the filing cabinet and moved on to the next one, opening the first drawer and starting to go through the artefacts enclosed.
“Found them yet?”
He looked up as Jack sauntered down the corridor towards him. Smiling, he gestured to the two devices he’d collected, saying, “The first one was in the wrong place. I still haven’t finished sorting things out from when I was away. Sorry, I didn’t mean to take so long.”
“Not a problem,” Jack told him, with a shrug. “No hurry.”
Taking in his grin, Ianto turned back to the filing cabinet, saying, “Not now, Jack. I’ve got too much work to do. I’ll bring these upstairs in a minute and you can molest me then.”
“Promises, promises,” Jack purred, strolling closer. “But I kinda like now, as times go….”
Ianto was about to try and put him off again when, over his headset, Jack said, “Ianto, what’s taking so long? I’m pining up here without you.”
Ianto paused, looking at the Jack in front of him, who kept approaching.
“Owen wants you back upstairs,” he said quietly, backing off a few steps. “Didn’t you hear?”
Jack shook his head, smiling in a decidedly disquieting manner, and said, “My headset must be faulty. Maybe you can take a look at it for me.”
“Tosh can fix it for you,” Ianto said, backing away further, while, over his headset, Jack said, “Ianto? Ianto, talk to me. Do we have a problem?”
The Jack in front of him stopped for a moment, saying, “Why are you running away, Ianto?”
Ianto forced a smile, and told him, “I’m not running away, I just have other work to do. You should go back upstairs and –”
“It wasn’t Owen on the comms, was it?” said Jack, staring unblinking at him. Slowly, he grinned, and then his grin widened, his teeth sharpened, and his skin darkened and sprouted scales.
“Code zero,” Ianto snapped, slapping one hand up to his headset. “Jack, code zero – shapeshifter in the archives. I need backup!”
The creature, halfway between Jack and a reptilian wolf, snarled and lunged at him, but he kicked out and caught it in the throat, knocking it aside and buying himself time to bolt down the corridor.
The shapeshifter rolled to its feet and gave chase with a howl.
~*~
“I’ve got two distinct lifesigns, a few corridors ahead of you,” Tosh told Jack, Owen and Gwen as they neared the lower levels, guns at the ready, “but I can’t tell which is Ianto and they’re about to drop out of range.”
The trio reached a fork in the passages, and Jack gestured in one direction, saying quickly, “Owen, Gwen, go that way. There’s only two ways out of there and we have to cover both. Don’t get separated.”
They did as they were told, and Jack carried on alone even as Tosh informed him, “I’ve lost sight of them. I’ve no idea what’s going on down there. Be careful.”
Jack rounded another corner, and Tosh said suddenly, “They’ve doubled back. Both lifesigns are back on the screens. The second one’s still following the first, but it’s slower than it was before – Jack, look out, they’re heading right for you.”
He stopped abruptly, getting his back to the wall and aiming his gun at the end of the corridor, just as Ianto dashed into sight.
“Ianto,” Jack called, lowering his gun and extending an arm, and Ianto ran over to him, panting for breath even as Jack caught him and gave him a quick hug, asking, “You alright?”
“In one piece,” gasped Ianto, looking back over his shoulder. “Made a bit of a mess trying to keep away from the thing, but it didn’t catch me.”
“Good,” Jack said, keeping his arm around Ianto’s waist and an eye on the end of the corridor. “What form did it take when it attacked you?”
“Kind of like a wolf,” Ianto told him, leaning against him while he caught his breath. “But it was you to start with. If you hadn’t called me on the comms –”
“Jack.”
They both looked up at the voice, as another Ianto stepped into the corridor, clutching his left arm and staring at them.
“Get away from him,” he said softly.
Wordlessly, Jack pulled away from the Ianto he was holding (who looked utterly horrified) and stepped back far enough to keep them both in his sights.
“It caught me,” the second Ianto said. “I fought it, and my headset came off. It heard you were coming after me so it stole my headset and ran for it. I don’t think it can replicate working technology, so that was the only way you could tell us apart.”
“That’s not true,” the first Ianto told him. “Jack, I kept away from it. I know these corridors too well for it to catch me that quickly.”
“It moved faster than I expected,” the second began, but Jack said sharply, “Quiet, both of you. We can sort this out easily enough. Come here.”
He gestured to the first Ianto, who moved closer nervously. When he was within reach Jack grabbed hold of his shoulder and muttered, “What did I say just before when I called you on the comms?”
“You said you were pining for me,” Ianto murmured back, and Jack pushed him away again, then called the same question to the second Ianto.
He got precisely the same answer.
“Okay,” he said, “what was the third device I sent you to fetch from the archives?”
“It was a personal shield from the thirty-first century,” the first Ianto muttered, his back to the other. “You said they manufactured them here in Cardiff.”
Jack shot the second Ianto a questioning look, and he sighed, saying, “It was a personal shield from the thirty-first century. You said they manufactured them here in Cardiff.”
“Fine,” Jack said in annoyance, and pulled the first Ianto close again, to whisper, “When’s our civil partnership booked for?”
Ianto stared at him for a moment, then said softly, “If that’s a proposal, this is a hell of a time to ask me.”
Jack let go of him, and he backed away again as Jack turned to the second Ianto and repeated his question.
The second Ianto, blood dripping from the fingers of his left hand as he clutched at his arm, swaying on his feet, stared at him for a few moments and then said, “I think I should be offended that you only ask me that kind of question to try and trick the false one of us into revealing himself. You could at least have waited until we were on our own.”
Jack hesitated, then, watching the second Ianto adjust his grip on his arm, hand slippery with blood, asked cautiously, “Are you gonna be okay?”
“As soon as I prove to you that I’m the real Ianto, I’ll be fine,” the second responded, and the other shot Jack a pleading look, saying, “He’s faking an injury to try and get your sympathy. Don’t listen to him.”
“Doesn’t look that fake to me,” Jack commented, and the unwounded Ianto said, “No, that’s not what I mean. I mean when he… became me, he’ll have created the wound himself to back up his excuse for not having a headset.”
“Stop it,” Jack snapped. “Both of you just shut up and let me think.”
The two Iantos both backed off, the wounded one leaning heavily against the wall behind him, and each giving the other distrustful looks. Jack summoned Owen and Gwen via the comms, then had each of them take one Ianto’s arm when they arrived, marching them up to the cells while he followed behind, keeping an eye on both in case the shifter tried any more tricks.
They locked the two Iantos in adjacent cells, taking the headset from the unwounded one, and then Jack and Gwen stood by to watch while Owen dealt with the second Ianto’s wounds and Jack explained the situation to Tosh. As soon as Owen had finished bandaging Ianto’s arm – and leg, it seemed, though that wound wasn’t quite as bad – he joined the others (“Thank you,” Ianto said quietly as he left the cell, but Owen just gave a noncommittal shrug and slipped out quickly) and they retreated upstairs.
Tosh put the CCTV of the two cells on the main screen, and for a few moments they watched the two Iantos sit back, in exactly the same position but for the wounded one’s arm in his sling.
“Okay,” Jack said, turning away from the pictures. “You all know the deal. One of them’s a shapeshifter. He can turn into dangerous animals or take on the appearance of one specific person, he can’t replicate working technology, and he knows Ianto well enough to give the right answers to a few simple questions. Other than that we don’t know anything about him. Am I right?”
Gwen and Owen nodded, and Tosh said, “I’ve gone through this morning’s CCTV, and I’ve found out how it got in. It walked in. As me. I didn’t see Ianto this morning, but this one bumped into him on the way in. Look – it had already pressed the button to come downstairs, so he let it past. Halfway down the stairs it hits a camera blind spot and… wait for it, it takes a few moments, must be while it’s changing… there, see? Ianto walks out. From there I followed it straight to the archives. You know what the CCTV coverage is like down there. It must have changed to you, Jack, and waited for Ianto to come down on his own.”
“Great,” Jack muttered. “Alright. Owen, you run every test you can think of on these two, separately. Tosh, you help him. Keep a gun on whichever Ianto you’re dealing with at all times, and don’t be afraid to shoot if he tries to escape. If they both behave don’t do anything to harm them permanently. Remember, one of them’s our Ianto.”
Tosh and Owen nodded, and Jack continued, “Gwen, you’re with me. We need to check out the lower levels and see if there’s any evidence to rule out either of their stories. And you can all help me come up with some more questions to try and catch our shapeshifter out.”
“You should put them in cells on different levels,” Gwen suggested. “Then there’s no chance of either of them overhearing the other’s answers. Neither of them will know what’s happened with the other.”
Jack glanced at Owen and Tosh, and said, “Do it,” and then started towards the archive entrance, gesturing for Gwen to go with him.
“How come you can’t tell?” Owen asked suddenly, and Jack stopped and looked back.
“Come on,” Owen continued. “You’re the one shagging him. Why can’t you tell? Or were you going to screw them both and spot the difference?”
Tosh and Gwen subtly drew away from Jack, as if expecting him to pull his gun out and shoot Owen on the spot. Instead, he said quietly, “I can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“Mainly because I doubt it’ll work,” Jack said, and turned away again, reminding them, “We’ve got work to do. Let’s go, Gwen.”
~*~
“And then what happened?”
The unwounded Ianto sighed, and told Jack, “Then I headbutted him. Tosh managed to get away, but they held me back. He went after her, and the woman knocked me out.”
“Okay,” Jack said, looking back down at his list of questions. “How about when Gwen was investigating the dance hall?”
“We found a photograph of you and Tosh that included Bilis,” Ianto said wearily. “Gwen described the man she’d met, and I guessed it was the same man, so I ordered her out of there.”
“And Owen?” Jack asked, and Ianto looked away, saying, “He disagreed. He went back on his own and found the missing piece of the Rift Manipulator in Bilis’s office. It didn’t occur to him that the mere fact Bilis had it implied that the whole situation was a trap.”
Jack nodded and checked his list again, at which point Ianto said, “Isn’t that enough? By now I must have proved I know everything I should. If the other one falters on any of those questions that should decide it, and if he doesn’t then he’s not going to no matter how many more you ask us.”
Jack smiled slightly, and Ianto said, “What?”
“That’s exactly what he said,” Jack told him. “At precisely this point, too.”
Ianto paused for a moment to take that in, then folded his arms and said, “Well, I hope you’re not going to use the rest of this conversation to decide which of us is which, because by telling me that you’ve just changed my attitude to the whole situation, so nothing I say is going to be the same as what he did.”
When Jack stared at him, he hesitated, then sighed and said, “Unless of course you used the ‘That’s what he said’ line on the other one as well, just to check my reaction, and we both said exactly the same thing. How close am I?”
Jack avoided his eyes and closed the notepad, standing up.
“Very close, then,” Ianto said quietly. “Fine. Jack, I understand you can’t trust me right now, but there’s something you have to do for me.”
When Jack paused and looked back at him, he took a breath and said, “Increase the security on the cells. I know how to break out of here, and it looks like what I know, he knows. You can’t risk having a shapeshifter on the loose in here, particularly not if he’s absorbing knowledge whenever he changes forms.”
Jack raised his eyebrows, and Ianto said sharply, “Don’t look at me like that, I’m guessing here. I can’t think of any other way he’d know enough to get past all those questions. Just increase the security, Jack, please.”
“Why?” Jack said. “The Ianto I know would stay put and trust us to sort this out. So if one of you gets loose, we find our shapeshifter.”
He pushed a few buttons on his wrist computer, saying, “I think we’re done here.”
As the cell door opened, Ianto got to his feet, saying, “Jack, no. If he gets out he’s not going to stay as me and wait for you to shoot him. He’ll kill one of you and take their place, and you’ll never be able to tell which of us you can’t trust.”
“Not gonna happen,” Jack said blithely, slipping out of the cell and making sure the door locked behind him. He turned and headed for the stairs, and Ianto moved to the glass, calling after him, “Jack? Jack, you have to listen to me! Jack!”
Jack closed and locked the main door behind him, and went back upstairs to speak to the others.
~*~
“They’re identical,” Owen repeated, leaning back in his chair and gesturing at the test results. “Apart from the wounds, there is no difference between them, right down to genetic level.”
“And they responded in exactly the same way to every question,” Jack sighed. “Even when they both thought they were the second and I’d changed everything by telling them that. I might as well have had the same conversation twice. This is impossible.”
He glanced over at Tosh, and said, “Tell me you’ve got something?”
Tosh shook her head, and told him, “There’s nothing. I’ve been running the sensors in both cells side by side and they’re exactly the same, apart from the differences caused by one being a lower level. There’s no extra energy readings or anything like that. I’ve got as detailed readings as I can.”
Owen started to speak, and Jack turned to glare at him, saying, “I already told you, I won’t do that.”
The doctor spread his hands in a brief gesture of helplessness and sank back in his chair.
“Couldn’t you just kiss them?” Gwen asked. “You might be able to tell from that.”
Jack sighed, and said, “Has it occurred to you he might not want me to?”
“Take some mistletoe down there,” Owen suggested, smirking. “He’ll have to, then.”
Jack rolled his eyes, and said to Gwen, “When you married Rhys you made him a promise, right?”
Gwen nodded, carefully looking at nothing but the table, and Jack folded his arms defensively, saying, “Well, I made a promise to Ianto. And I intend to keep it.”
“Oh, please,” Owen groaned, though Tosh shot Jack a quick smile.
“Look,” Owen continued, “kissing them both isn’t going to break your promise, is it? But it might tell you which one’s real.”
“He has a point,” Gwen agreed. “And Ianto will forgive you.”
Jack sighed in exasperation, and said, “Owen, did you compare your results with Ianto’s standard set?”
“Of course I did,” Owen snapped. “And I said, they’re identical. I’m out of options. Unless you want to keep asking them the same questions, I don’t see what else we can do.”
“Then think harder,” Jack told them all firmly, glaring at the tabletop in front of him. For a few seconds there was silence, and then Tosh looked up at the screen and said, “Jack, problem!”
They all looked up as, simultaneously, the doors to both Iantos’ cells slid open. The wounded one bolted for the main door and managed to get it open quicker than the second, who paused to glance up at the CCTV, looking almost apologetic. He was working on his door controls when the wounded one hurried down the stairs, opened the door, and, after a split-second recoil from them both as they came face to face, launched himself at the unwounded Ianto.
Jack pulled his gun from his holster and took off for the cells. The others dashed to grab their guns and follow him, and he yelled back at them, “Get them back to their cells. Shoot them if you have to, but don’t kill.”
It took him a few minutes to get to the level they’d last seen both Iantos at, and by that time the area was empty. Without a second thought he went down the next ladder, slapping one hand up to his headset and shouting, “Tosh, get on the scanners and find out where they’ve gone. They’re on the move.”
At each level on the way down, he opened the door to the cells, but each set was empty, exactly as they had been since they’d sent the Weevils back to their home planet.
“Tosh,” he said sharply as Owen and Gwen caught up with him. “I need some answers, now.”
~*~
“What do you think you’re doing?” the unwounded Ianto gasped painfully as he was dragged along the corridors, hands tied behind his back with the other Ianto’s tie.
“You should know,” the wounded one told him, glancing back over his shoulder and hauling his double along faster. “You seem to know everything I do.”
The unwounded Ianto, still hunched over and limping slightly from his struggle with the other Ianto back in the cells, said roughly, “You’re doing exactly what I’d have done if I’d got to you first. I hoped you wouldn’t think of it. You know it won’t work for you.”
The wounded Ianto snapped, “Stop it. You and I both know which of us is which, and there’s no CCTV here. You don’t have to keep pretending.”
With a hoarse laugh, the other said, “That’s rich, coming from you. What do you think you’ll achieve by doing this? It only works one way.”
“You’re either going to shift, or you’re going to die,” said the wounded Ianto, reaching the door he wanted. “And either way it’ll prove you’re the fake.”
He shoved the other Ianto to the ground, keeping him in place with one foot on his leg while he used his only good hand to get the door unlocked and haul it open. With difficulty, he grabbed the other Ianto’s bound hands and dragged him up, shoving him into the room and pulling the heavy door shut behind them.
The unwounded Ianto picked himself up as the wounded one span the wheel on the door to seal it tight.
“Even if you kill me,” the unwounded Ianto said, “you’ll reveal yourself. They’ll figure it out when I don’t change to another form.”
“Whether you shift back or not, you’ll still be dead,” said the other.
“So will you,” pointed out the unwounded Ianto, and the wounded one said, “Better both of us dead than you still on the loose. I can’t risk you hurting the others.”
He pressed the button by the door, and at the base of the door opposite, a slot opened up. Water began to pour in, and the unwounded Ianto backed into a corner, frantically struggling with the tie around his hands.
“Why don’t you just change and get free that way?” the wounded one asked him tiredly, as the water covered their shoes.
“If you’re trying to play mind games with me, you’re wasting your time,” the other one snapped. “Why don’t you change and heal yourself?”
“Because I can’t,” said the wounded Ianto sharply. “You know that better than anyone.”
The water was up to their knees by now, and when the unwounded Ianto shot a nervous glance at the door, the wounded one backed up against the wheel, saying, “There’s no way out. I’m not going to let you past and you know as well as I do the other door hasn’t opened in years.”
“Fine,” the unwounded Ianto said quietly. “You’re right. I’d rather die than let you kill any of the others.”
The wounded one kept a wary eye on him, and said nothing.
The water kept rising. As it reached the wounded Ianto’s sling, he was caught off guard when the other managed to get his hands free and surged forwards, sending them both plunging into the cold water.
Desperately, the wounded Ianto fought to keep the other’s hands away from his throat, kicking out with his one good leg as the other tried to pin him down long enough for him to drown. The other Ianto’s fingers dug into his wounded arm, and he couldn’t help a gasp of pain, breathing in water instead of air and lashing out helplessly as he choked. Somehow he managed to catch the other Ianto in the throat, and was released as the other recoiled. They both surfaced, gasping and coughing in water that was now up to their necks.
There was a bang on the door, and they both hesitated, hearing Jack yell, “Ianto! Open the door! We can work out which is which – you don’t have to do this!”
The wounded Ianto started to shout back, “There’s nothing you can do, just leave,” but the other gasped in a quick breath and dived forwards again, dragging him under the water before he could breathe in.
He managed to drive his knee into the other Ianto’s stomach, then kicked him away and struggled up to the surface of the rising water, gasping in a breath and trying desperately to keep his head in the air, struggling to tread water with his injured leg. The other one took a few moments to catch his breath, then dived under the water and grabbed his legs, hauling him down again.
Fighting against the pain, the wounded Ianto got one leg free and tried to kick the other in the face. The unwounded one ducked away, and they both hit the surface to find that they were on their last few inches of air. Distantly, they could hear shouting and hammering on the door, but neither of them cared. They gulped in the last breaths of air and sank back into the water, each wary of making the first move to attack the other.
The wounded Ianto held on for a few moments, then dodged away just as the other lunged at him again. The other managed to get hold of his shirt and pull him back, and he was struggling to get free when a shockwave blasted through the water, knocking them both towards the outer door and driving the breath from their bodies before the water flooded out of the other door as it fell open.
When the rush of water had died away and they could think again, the wounded Ianto coughed until he could breathe and found himself in the arms of an equally soaked Jack.
With difficulty, he twisted to see that the other Ianto was being picked up by Owen.
“What the hell were you playing at?” Jack asked him, and he closed his eyes, sagging back against Jack’s chest.
“You shouldn’t have stopped me,” he said hoarsely. “He got out as well. Kill us both before he kills one of the others.”
“No,” Jack said softly. “I can’t lose you like this.”
Ianto murmured, “Thank you,” and Jack glanced over at Owen, who’d sedated the other Ianto and was making his way over to deal with the wounded one as well, and said, “What for?”
“Believing I’m me,” Ianto sighed, and let Owen knock him out.
~*~
The unwounded Ianto woke back in his cell, and sat up slowly, coughing twice and trying to overcome the dizziness and nausea that came at him in waves. It passed after a few minutes, and he hung his head and waited, gathering the strength to stand.
He heard the main door go, and struggled to his feet as Jack approached and opened the cell door, stepping in and letting it close behind him.
And then Jack drew his gun.
“What are you doing?” Ianto gasped, taking a step back and reaching out to steady himself with a hand against the wall.
Jack glared at him for a moment, then said, “The other one died. The tranquilliser was too much for him, after fighting you in the water. And you know what? He’s still human.”
Ianto stared back at him.
“That’s not possible,” he started, and Jack repeated, “He stayed human. You know what that tells me? That tells me Ianto’s dead. And he was right, I can’t afford to have a shapeshifter running around here.”
He cocked the gun, and Ianto stepped back again, gasping, “No. Jack, no. He can’t be dead. If he’s still human then he’s not dead. You have to believe me, it’s a trick.”
“Owen’s doing the autopsy right now. Tosh is helping him and Gwen’s trying to work out what the hell we tell his family,” Jack said, through gritted teeth, then swept forward to grab the front of Ianto’s shirt and slam him back against the wall, gun pressing into his ribs as he spat, “You killed him.”
“Jack, please,” Ianto begged. “He’ll kill you all. Don’t do this. Keep me locked up here as long as you like, but you have to kill him while he’s vulnerable.”
“Yeah,” Jack said softly, narrowing his eyes. “I do.”
Ianto snapped one arm up and across, knocking Jack’s hand aside as the gun went off and a hole appeared in the wall above the bed. By the time the dust settled he was by the door, gun aimed in trembling hands at Jack, who was on one knee and clutching at his arm, wincing.
“Take off your headset and your wristband,” Ianto said quickly. “Now.”
“Or what,” Jack asked sarcastically, raising an eyebrow. “You’ll shoot me?”
“Do it,” Ianto snapped, and Jack sighed, but obeyed, throwing them both onto the bed, near Ianto. He edged over, keeping the gun trained on Jack, and grabbed the headset, putting it on and then picking up the Vortex Manipulator, using it to open the cell door. He backed out and closed the door again, then turned to leave, just as the main door opened and Owen and Gwen moved in, guns at the ready.
“The other one’s not dead,” Ianto said desperately, dropping the gun and the Vortex Manipulator and taking a step back, raising his hands. “You’ve left him alone with Tosh? You have to get back up there and kill him before he kills her!”
Owen glanced over at Jack in the cell, asking, “Alright?” as Gwen picked up his belongings and opened the door for him.
“I’m fine,” Jack told him. “He didn’t even shoot me.”
Owen gestured for Ianto to get back in his cell, and as he passed Jack reached out and plucked the headset from his ear, saying, “Doesn’t suit you.”
“Were you telling the truth?” Ianto asked him quietly, but Jack just grinned, locked the door, and led the others out.
~*~
The wounded Ianto woke back in his cell, and sat up slowly, coughing twice and trying to overcome the dizziness and nausea that came at him in waves. It passed after a few minutes, and he hung his head and waited, gathering the strength to stand. He stretched when he stood, and paced briefly, limping and rubbing at his arm, then sitting again when his leg complained.
After a few minutes more, he heard the main door go, and struggled to his feet as Jack approached and opened the cell door, stepping in and letting it close behind him.
And then Jack drew his gun.
“What are you doing?” Ianto gasped, taking a step back and reaching out to steady himself with a hand against the wall.
Jack glared at him for a moment, then said, “The other one died. The tranquilliser was too much for him, after fighting you in the water. And you know what? He’s still human.”
Ianto stared back at him.
“That’s not possible,” he started, and Jack repeated, “He stayed human. You know what that tells me? That tells me Ianto’s dead. And he was right, I can’t afford to have a shapeshifter running around here.”
He cocked the gun, and Ianto stepped back again, gasping, “No. Jack, no. He can’t be dead. If he’s still human then he’s not dead. You have to believe me, it’s a trick.”
“Owen’s doing the autopsy right now. Tosh is helping him and Gwen’s trying to work out what the hell we tell his family,” Jack said, through gritted teeth, then swept forward to grab the front of Ianto’s shirt and slam him back against the wall, gun pressing into his ribs as he spat, “You killed him.”
“Jack, please,” Ianto begged. “He’ll kill you all. Don’t do this. Keep me locked up here as long as you like, but you have to kill him while he’s vulnerable.”
“Yeah,” Jack said softly, narrowing his eyes. “I do.”
Ianto snapped his right arm up and across, knocking Jack’s hand aside as the gun went off and a hole appeared in the wall above the bed. Before the dust had time to settle he was by the door with the gun in his hand, firing twice at Jack, who went down instantly, blood spreading across his shirt, eyes glassy.
Ianto paused for a moment, then hurriedly moved forwards and took Jack’s headset and Vortex Manipulator, putting them on and opening the door as he started changing.
He’d barely stepped out before the change was complete and all of Jack’s knowledge flooded into his mind – first and foremost the fact that Ianto was still alive, followed closely by the memory of Owen saying, “The shapeshifter’ll believe you. Whichever one changes to attack you is the fake.”
“Shit,” he said simply.
The main door opened.
“It worked,” he said quickly, turning to face Owen and Gwen as they entered. “He changed, but I killed him first. Good plan.”
“Thanks,” Owen said, and shot him in the head.
~*~
Ianto looked up again as the main door opened, and was vaguely startled when Jack dashed in and slammed open the cell door, then leapt at him, hauling him into a bone-crushing hug and then kissing him passionately.
“I take it that means you figured it out,” Ianto said breathlessly when they parted, and Jack nodded, saying, “Sorry it took so long.”
“I’ll forgive you,” Ianto told him. “What happened?”
“It was Owen’s idea,” Jack said. “He’ll kill me – again – if I don’t let him tell you how inspired a plan it was. The important thing is the shapeshifter’s dead. And you were right. It turned back to its real form when it died. All slimy and skinny.”
Ianto smiled a little, and Jack led him towards the stairs, one arm tight around his waist, saying, “Come on, we’ll let Owen boast for a while. Though I’m a little concerned how easy he finds it to shoot me, these days.”
Ianto started to make a comment on that, then stopped himself, smiling, and said, “Can I ask you something?”
“Go ahead,” Jack said easily, and he said, “When is our civil partnership booked for?”
Jack stopped, grinning at him, then said softly, “We’ll just have to see what the future holds,” and kissed him.
After a few moments Ianto broke away, and muttered, “You do realise I’m not going to accept that as an answer?”
Jack just laughed, and kissed him again.
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: Jack/Ianto
Word Count: 5544
Summary: There's danger in the archives and a problem to solve, but no easy solution...
Prompt: Jantolution Challenge #9, all prompts
A/N: Fandom cliche warning! And this may tie in to another one of my fics (and thus probably most of my gradually solidifying personal fanon universe), but I haven't quite decided yet...
Trial By Torchwood
Ianto put the two devices on top of the filing cabinet and moved on to the next one, opening the first drawer and starting to go through the artefacts enclosed.
“Found them yet?”
He looked up as Jack sauntered down the corridor towards him. Smiling, he gestured to the two devices he’d collected, saying, “The first one was in the wrong place. I still haven’t finished sorting things out from when I was away. Sorry, I didn’t mean to take so long.”
“Not a problem,” Jack told him, with a shrug. “No hurry.”
Taking in his grin, Ianto turned back to the filing cabinet, saying, “Not now, Jack. I’ve got too much work to do. I’ll bring these upstairs in a minute and you can molest me then.”
“Promises, promises,” Jack purred, strolling closer. “But I kinda like now, as times go….”
Ianto was about to try and put him off again when, over his headset, Jack said, “Ianto, what’s taking so long? I’m pining up here without you.”
Ianto paused, looking at the Jack in front of him, who kept approaching.
“Owen wants you back upstairs,” he said quietly, backing off a few steps. “Didn’t you hear?”
Jack shook his head, smiling in a decidedly disquieting manner, and said, “My headset must be faulty. Maybe you can take a look at it for me.”
“Tosh can fix it for you,” Ianto said, backing away further, while, over his headset, Jack said, “Ianto? Ianto, talk to me. Do we have a problem?”
The Jack in front of him stopped for a moment, saying, “Why are you running away, Ianto?”
Ianto forced a smile, and told him, “I’m not running away, I just have other work to do. You should go back upstairs and –”
“It wasn’t Owen on the comms, was it?” said Jack, staring unblinking at him. Slowly, he grinned, and then his grin widened, his teeth sharpened, and his skin darkened and sprouted scales.
“Code zero,” Ianto snapped, slapping one hand up to his headset. “Jack, code zero – shapeshifter in the archives. I need backup!”
The creature, halfway between Jack and a reptilian wolf, snarled and lunged at him, but he kicked out and caught it in the throat, knocking it aside and buying himself time to bolt down the corridor.
The shapeshifter rolled to its feet and gave chase with a howl.
“I’ve got two distinct lifesigns, a few corridors ahead of you,” Tosh told Jack, Owen and Gwen as they neared the lower levels, guns at the ready, “but I can’t tell which is Ianto and they’re about to drop out of range.”
The trio reached a fork in the passages, and Jack gestured in one direction, saying quickly, “Owen, Gwen, go that way. There’s only two ways out of there and we have to cover both. Don’t get separated.”
They did as they were told, and Jack carried on alone even as Tosh informed him, “I’ve lost sight of them. I’ve no idea what’s going on down there. Be careful.”
Jack rounded another corner, and Tosh said suddenly, “They’ve doubled back. Both lifesigns are back on the screens. The second one’s still following the first, but it’s slower than it was before – Jack, look out, they’re heading right for you.”
He stopped abruptly, getting his back to the wall and aiming his gun at the end of the corridor, just as Ianto dashed into sight.
“Ianto,” Jack called, lowering his gun and extending an arm, and Ianto ran over to him, panting for breath even as Jack caught him and gave him a quick hug, asking, “You alright?”
“In one piece,” gasped Ianto, looking back over his shoulder. “Made a bit of a mess trying to keep away from the thing, but it didn’t catch me.”
“Good,” Jack said, keeping his arm around Ianto’s waist and an eye on the end of the corridor. “What form did it take when it attacked you?”
“Kind of like a wolf,” Ianto told him, leaning against him while he caught his breath. “But it was you to start with. If you hadn’t called me on the comms –”
“Jack.”
They both looked up at the voice, as another Ianto stepped into the corridor, clutching his left arm and staring at them.
“Get away from him,” he said softly.
Wordlessly, Jack pulled away from the Ianto he was holding (who looked utterly horrified) and stepped back far enough to keep them both in his sights.
“It caught me,” the second Ianto said. “I fought it, and my headset came off. It heard you were coming after me so it stole my headset and ran for it. I don’t think it can replicate working technology, so that was the only way you could tell us apart.”
“That’s not true,” the first Ianto told him. “Jack, I kept away from it. I know these corridors too well for it to catch me that quickly.”
“It moved faster than I expected,” the second began, but Jack said sharply, “Quiet, both of you. We can sort this out easily enough. Come here.”
He gestured to the first Ianto, who moved closer nervously. When he was within reach Jack grabbed hold of his shoulder and muttered, “What did I say just before when I called you on the comms?”
“You said you were pining for me,” Ianto murmured back, and Jack pushed him away again, then called the same question to the second Ianto.
He got precisely the same answer.
“Okay,” he said, “what was the third device I sent you to fetch from the archives?”
“It was a personal shield from the thirty-first century,” the first Ianto muttered, his back to the other. “You said they manufactured them here in Cardiff.”
Jack shot the second Ianto a questioning look, and he sighed, saying, “It was a personal shield from the thirty-first century. You said they manufactured them here in Cardiff.”
“Fine,” Jack said in annoyance, and pulled the first Ianto close again, to whisper, “When’s our civil partnership booked for?”
Ianto stared at him for a moment, then said softly, “If that’s a proposal, this is a hell of a time to ask me.”
Jack let go of him, and he backed away again as Jack turned to the second Ianto and repeated his question.
The second Ianto, blood dripping from the fingers of his left hand as he clutched at his arm, swaying on his feet, stared at him for a few moments and then said, “I think I should be offended that you only ask me that kind of question to try and trick the false one of us into revealing himself. You could at least have waited until we were on our own.”
Jack hesitated, then, watching the second Ianto adjust his grip on his arm, hand slippery with blood, asked cautiously, “Are you gonna be okay?”
“As soon as I prove to you that I’m the real Ianto, I’ll be fine,” the second responded, and the other shot Jack a pleading look, saying, “He’s faking an injury to try and get your sympathy. Don’t listen to him.”
“Doesn’t look that fake to me,” Jack commented, and the unwounded Ianto said, “No, that’s not what I mean. I mean when he… became me, he’ll have created the wound himself to back up his excuse for not having a headset.”
“Stop it,” Jack snapped. “Both of you just shut up and let me think.”
The two Iantos both backed off, the wounded one leaning heavily against the wall behind him, and each giving the other distrustful looks. Jack summoned Owen and Gwen via the comms, then had each of them take one Ianto’s arm when they arrived, marching them up to the cells while he followed behind, keeping an eye on both in case the shifter tried any more tricks.
They locked the two Iantos in adjacent cells, taking the headset from the unwounded one, and then Jack and Gwen stood by to watch while Owen dealt with the second Ianto’s wounds and Jack explained the situation to Tosh. As soon as Owen had finished bandaging Ianto’s arm – and leg, it seemed, though that wound wasn’t quite as bad – he joined the others (“Thank you,” Ianto said quietly as he left the cell, but Owen just gave a noncommittal shrug and slipped out quickly) and they retreated upstairs.
Tosh put the CCTV of the two cells on the main screen, and for a few moments they watched the two Iantos sit back, in exactly the same position but for the wounded one’s arm in his sling.
“Okay,” Jack said, turning away from the pictures. “You all know the deal. One of them’s a shapeshifter. He can turn into dangerous animals or take on the appearance of one specific person, he can’t replicate working technology, and he knows Ianto well enough to give the right answers to a few simple questions. Other than that we don’t know anything about him. Am I right?”
Gwen and Owen nodded, and Tosh said, “I’ve gone through this morning’s CCTV, and I’ve found out how it got in. It walked in. As me. I didn’t see Ianto this morning, but this one bumped into him on the way in. Look – it had already pressed the button to come downstairs, so he let it past. Halfway down the stairs it hits a camera blind spot and… wait for it, it takes a few moments, must be while it’s changing… there, see? Ianto walks out. From there I followed it straight to the archives. You know what the CCTV coverage is like down there. It must have changed to you, Jack, and waited for Ianto to come down on his own.”
“Great,” Jack muttered. “Alright. Owen, you run every test you can think of on these two, separately. Tosh, you help him. Keep a gun on whichever Ianto you’re dealing with at all times, and don’t be afraid to shoot if he tries to escape. If they both behave don’t do anything to harm them permanently. Remember, one of them’s our Ianto.”
Tosh and Owen nodded, and Jack continued, “Gwen, you’re with me. We need to check out the lower levels and see if there’s any evidence to rule out either of their stories. And you can all help me come up with some more questions to try and catch our shapeshifter out.”
“You should put them in cells on different levels,” Gwen suggested. “Then there’s no chance of either of them overhearing the other’s answers. Neither of them will know what’s happened with the other.”
Jack glanced at Owen and Tosh, and said, “Do it,” and then started towards the archive entrance, gesturing for Gwen to go with him.
“How come you can’t tell?” Owen asked suddenly, and Jack stopped and looked back.
“Come on,” Owen continued. “You’re the one shagging him. Why can’t you tell? Or were you going to screw them both and spot the difference?”
Tosh and Gwen subtly drew away from Jack, as if expecting him to pull his gun out and shoot Owen on the spot. Instead, he said quietly, “I can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“Mainly because I doubt it’ll work,” Jack said, and turned away again, reminding them, “We’ve got work to do. Let’s go, Gwen.”
“And then what happened?”
The unwounded Ianto sighed, and told Jack, “Then I headbutted him. Tosh managed to get away, but they held me back. He went after her, and the woman knocked me out.”
“Okay,” Jack said, looking back down at his list of questions. “How about when Gwen was investigating the dance hall?”
“We found a photograph of you and Tosh that included Bilis,” Ianto said wearily. “Gwen described the man she’d met, and I guessed it was the same man, so I ordered her out of there.”
“And Owen?” Jack asked, and Ianto looked away, saying, “He disagreed. He went back on his own and found the missing piece of the Rift Manipulator in Bilis’s office. It didn’t occur to him that the mere fact Bilis had it implied that the whole situation was a trap.”
Jack nodded and checked his list again, at which point Ianto said, “Isn’t that enough? By now I must have proved I know everything I should. If the other one falters on any of those questions that should decide it, and if he doesn’t then he’s not going to no matter how many more you ask us.”
Jack smiled slightly, and Ianto said, “What?”
“That’s exactly what he said,” Jack told him. “At precisely this point, too.”
Ianto paused for a moment to take that in, then folded his arms and said, “Well, I hope you’re not going to use the rest of this conversation to decide which of us is which, because by telling me that you’ve just changed my attitude to the whole situation, so nothing I say is going to be the same as what he did.”
When Jack stared at him, he hesitated, then sighed and said, “Unless of course you used the ‘That’s what he said’ line on the other one as well, just to check my reaction, and we both said exactly the same thing. How close am I?”
Jack avoided his eyes and closed the notepad, standing up.
“Very close, then,” Ianto said quietly. “Fine. Jack, I understand you can’t trust me right now, but there’s something you have to do for me.”
When Jack paused and looked back at him, he took a breath and said, “Increase the security on the cells. I know how to break out of here, and it looks like what I know, he knows. You can’t risk having a shapeshifter on the loose in here, particularly not if he’s absorbing knowledge whenever he changes forms.”
Jack raised his eyebrows, and Ianto said sharply, “Don’t look at me like that, I’m guessing here. I can’t think of any other way he’d know enough to get past all those questions. Just increase the security, Jack, please.”
“Why?” Jack said. “The Ianto I know would stay put and trust us to sort this out. So if one of you gets loose, we find our shapeshifter.”
He pushed a few buttons on his wrist computer, saying, “I think we’re done here.”
As the cell door opened, Ianto got to his feet, saying, “Jack, no. If he gets out he’s not going to stay as me and wait for you to shoot him. He’ll kill one of you and take their place, and you’ll never be able to tell which of us you can’t trust.”
“Not gonna happen,” Jack said blithely, slipping out of the cell and making sure the door locked behind him. He turned and headed for the stairs, and Ianto moved to the glass, calling after him, “Jack? Jack, you have to listen to me! Jack!”
Jack closed and locked the main door behind him, and went back upstairs to speak to the others.
“They’re identical,” Owen repeated, leaning back in his chair and gesturing at the test results. “Apart from the wounds, there is no difference between them, right down to genetic level.”
“And they responded in exactly the same way to every question,” Jack sighed. “Even when they both thought they were the second and I’d changed everything by telling them that. I might as well have had the same conversation twice. This is impossible.”
He glanced over at Tosh, and said, “Tell me you’ve got something?”
Tosh shook her head, and told him, “There’s nothing. I’ve been running the sensors in both cells side by side and they’re exactly the same, apart from the differences caused by one being a lower level. There’s no extra energy readings or anything like that. I’ve got as detailed readings as I can.”
Owen started to speak, and Jack turned to glare at him, saying, “I already told you, I won’t do that.”
The doctor spread his hands in a brief gesture of helplessness and sank back in his chair.
“Couldn’t you just kiss them?” Gwen asked. “You might be able to tell from that.”
Jack sighed, and said, “Has it occurred to you he might not want me to?”
“Take some mistletoe down there,” Owen suggested, smirking. “He’ll have to, then.”
Jack rolled his eyes, and said to Gwen, “When you married Rhys you made him a promise, right?”
Gwen nodded, carefully looking at nothing but the table, and Jack folded his arms defensively, saying, “Well, I made a promise to Ianto. And I intend to keep it.”
“Oh, please,” Owen groaned, though Tosh shot Jack a quick smile.
“Look,” Owen continued, “kissing them both isn’t going to break your promise, is it? But it might tell you which one’s real.”
“He has a point,” Gwen agreed. “And Ianto will forgive you.”
Jack sighed in exasperation, and said, “Owen, did you compare your results with Ianto’s standard set?”
“Of course I did,” Owen snapped. “And I said, they’re identical. I’m out of options. Unless you want to keep asking them the same questions, I don’t see what else we can do.”
“Then think harder,” Jack told them all firmly, glaring at the tabletop in front of him. For a few seconds there was silence, and then Tosh looked up at the screen and said, “Jack, problem!”
They all looked up as, simultaneously, the doors to both Iantos’ cells slid open. The wounded one bolted for the main door and managed to get it open quicker than the second, who paused to glance up at the CCTV, looking almost apologetic. He was working on his door controls when the wounded one hurried down the stairs, opened the door, and, after a split-second recoil from them both as they came face to face, launched himself at the unwounded Ianto.
Jack pulled his gun from his holster and took off for the cells. The others dashed to grab their guns and follow him, and he yelled back at them, “Get them back to their cells. Shoot them if you have to, but don’t kill.”
It took him a few minutes to get to the level they’d last seen both Iantos at, and by that time the area was empty. Without a second thought he went down the next ladder, slapping one hand up to his headset and shouting, “Tosh, get on the scanners and find out where they’ve gone. They’re on the move.”
At each level on the way down, he opened the door to the cells, but each set was empty, exactly as they had been since they’d sent the Weevils back to their home planet.
“Tosh,” he said sharply as Owen and Gwen caught up with him. “I need some answers, now.”
“What do you think you’re doing?” the unwounded Ianto gasped painfully as he was dragged along the corridors, hands tied behind his back with the other Ianto’s tie.
“You should know,” the wounded one told him, glancing back over his shoulder and hauling his double along faster. “You seem to know everything I do.”
The unwounded Ianto, still hunched over and limping slightly from his struggle with the other Ianto back in the cells, said roughly, “You’re doing exactly what I’d have done if I’d got to you first. I hoped you wouldn’t think of it. You know it won’t work for you.”
The wounded Ianto snapped, “Stop it. You and I both know which of us is which, and there’s no CCTV here. You don’t have to keep pretending.”
With a hoarse laugh, the other said, “That’s rich, coming from you. What do you think you’ll achieve by doing this? It only works one way.”
“You’re either going to shift, or you’re going to die,” said the wounded Ianto, reaching the door he wanted. “And either way it’ll prove you’re the fake.”
He shoved the other Ianto to the ground, keeping him in place with one foot on his leg while he used his only good hand to get the door unlocked and haul it open. With difficulty, he grabbed the other Ianto’s bound hands and dragged him up, shoving him into the room and pulling the heavy door shut behind them.
The unwounded Ianto picked himself up as the wounded one span the wheel on the door to seal it tight.
“Even if you kill me,” the unwounded Ianto said, “you’ll reveal yourself. They’ll figure it out when I don’t change to another form.”
“Whether you shift back or not, you’ll still be dead,” said the other.
“So will you,” pointed out the unwounded Ianto, and the wounded one said, “Better both of us dead than you still on the loose. I can’t risk you hurting the others.”
He pressed the button by the door, and at the base of the door opposite, a slot opened up. Water began to pour in, and the unwounded Ianto backed into a corner, frantically struggling with the tie around his hands.
“Why don’t you just change and get free that way?” the wounded one asked him tiredly, as the water covered their shoes.
“If you’re trying to play mind games with me, you’re wasting your time,” the other one snapped. “Why don’t you change and heal yourself?”
“Because I can’t,” said the wounded Ianto sharply. “You know that better than anyone.”
The water was up to their knees by now, and when the unwounded Ianto shot a nervous glance at the door, the wounded one backed up against the wheel, saying, “There’s no way out. I’m not going to let you past and you know as well as I do the other door hasn’t opened in years.”
“Fine,” the unwounded Ianto said quietly. “You’re right. I’d rather die than let you kill any of the others.”
The wounded one kept a wary eye on him, and said nothing.
The water kept rising. As it reached the wounded Ianto’s sling, he was caught off guard when the other managed to get his hands free and surged forwards, sending them both plunging into the cold water.
Desperately, the wounded Ianto fought to keep the other’s hands away from his throat, kicking out with his one good leg as the other tried to pin him down long enough for him to drown. The other Ianto’s fingers dug into his wounded arm, and he couldn’t help a gasp of pain, breathing in water instead of air and lashing out helplessly as he choked. Somehow he managed to catch the other Ianto in the throat, and was released as the other recoiled. They both surfaced, gasping and coughing in water that was now up to their necks.
There was a bang on the door, and they both hesitated, hearing Jack yell, “Ianto! Open the door! We can work out which is which – you don’t have to do this!”
The wounded Ianto started to shout back, “There’s nothing you can do, just leave,” but the other gasped in a quick breath and dived forwards again, dragging him under the water before he could breathe in.
He managed to drive his knee into the other Ianto’s stomach, then kicked him away and struggled up to the surface of the rising water, gasping in a breath and trying desperately to keep his head in the air, struggling to tread water with his injured leg. The other one took a few moments to catch his breath, then dived under the water and grabbed his legs, hauling him down again.
Fighting against the pain, the wounded Ianto got one leg free and tried to kick the other in the face. The unwounded one ducked away, and they both hit the surface to find that they were on their last few inches of air. Distantly, they could hear shouting and hammering on the door, but neither of them cared. They gulped in the last breaths of air and sank back into the water, each wary of making the first move to attack the other.
The wounded Ianto held on for a few moments, then dodged away just as the other lunged at him again. The other managed to get hold of his shirt and pull him back, and he was struggling to get free when a shockwave blasted through the water, knocking them both towards the outer door and driving the breath from their bodies before the water flooded out of the other door as it fell open.
When the rush of water had died away and they could think again, the wounded Ianto coughed until he could breathe and found himself in the arms of an equally soaked Jack.
With difficulty, he twisted to see that the other Ianto was being picked up by Owen.
“What the hell were you playing at?” Jack asked him, and he closed his eyes, sagging back against Jack’s chest.
“You shouldn’t have stopped me,” he said hoarsely. “He got out as well. Kill us both before he kills one of the others.”
“No,” Jack said softly. “I can’t lose you like this.”
Ianto murmured, “Thank you,” and Jack glanced over at Owen, who’d sedated the other Ianto and was making his way over to deal with the wounded one as well, and said, “What for?”
“Believing I’m me,” Ianto sighed, and let Owen knock him out.
The unwounded Ianto woke back in his cell, and sat up slowly, coughing twice and trying to overcome the dizziness and nausea that came at him in waves. It passed after a few minutes, and he hung his head and waited, gathering the strength to stand.
He heard the main door go, and struggled to his feet as Jack approached and opened the cell door, stepping in and letting it close behind him.
And then Jack drew his gun.
“What are you doing?” Ianto gasped, taking a step back and reaching out to steady himself with a hand against the wall.
Jack glared at him for a moment, then said, “The other one died. The tranquilliser was too much for him, after fighting you in the water. And you know what? He’s still human.”
Ianto stared back at him.
“That’s not possible,” he started, and Jack repeated, “He stayed human. You know what that tells me? That tells me Ianto’s dead. And he was right, I can’t afford to have a shapeshifter running around here.”
He cocked the gun, and Ianto stepped back again, gasping, “No. Jack, no. He can’t be dead. If he’s still human then he’s not dead. You have to believe me, it’s a trick.”
“Owen’s doing the autopsy right now. Tosh is helping him and Gwen’s trying to work out what the hell we tell his family,” Jack said, through gritted teeth, then swept forward to grab the front of Ianto’s shirt and slam him back against the wall, gun pressing into his ribs as he spat, “You killed him.”
“Jack, please,” Ianto begged. “He’ll kill you all. Don’t do this. Keep me locked up here as long as you like, but you have to kill him while he’s vulnerable.”
“Yeah,” Jack said softly, narrowing his eyes. “I do.”
Ianto snapped one arm up and across, knocking Jack’s hand aside as the gun went off and a hole appeared in the wall above the bed. By the time the dust settled he was by the door, gun aimed in trembling hands at Jack, who was on one knee and clutching at his arm, wincing.
“Take off your headset and your wristband,” Ianto said quickly. “Now.”
“Or what,” Jack asked sarcastically, raising an eyebrow. “You’ll shoot me?”
“Do it,” Ianto snapped, and Jack sighed, but obeyed, throwing them both onto the bed, near Ianto. He edged over, keeping the gun trained on Jack, and grabbed the headset, putting it on and then picking up the Vortex Manipulator, using it to open the cell door. He backed out and closed the door again, then turned to leave, just as the main door opened and Owen and Gwen moved in, guns at the ready.
“The other one’s not dead,” Ianto said desperately, dropping the gun and the Vortex Manipulator and taking a step back, raising his hands. “You’ve left him alone with Tosh? You have to get back up there and kill him before he kills her!”
Owen glanced over at Jack in the cell, asking, “Alright?” as Gwen picked up his belongings and opened the door for him.
“I’m fine,” Jack told him. “He didn’t even shoot me.”
Owen gestured for Ianto to get back in his cell, and as he passed Jack reached out and plucked the headset from his ear, saying, “Doesn’t suit you.”
“Were you telling the truth?” Ianto asked him quietly, but Jack just grinned, locked the door, and led the others out.
The wounded Ianto woke back in his cell, and sat up slowly, coughing twice and trying to overcome the dizziness and nausea that came at him in waves. It passed after a few minutes, and he hung his head and waited, gathering the strength to stand. He stretched when he stood, and paced briefly, limping and rubbing at his arm, then sitting again when his leg complained.
After a few minutes more, he heard the main door go, and struggled to his feet as Jack approached and opened the cell door, stepping in and letting it close behind him.
And then Jack drew his gun.
“What are you doing?” Ianto gasped, taking a step back and reaching out to steady himself with a hand against the wall.
Jack glared at him for a moment, then said, “The other one died. The tranquilliser was too much for him, after fighting you in the water. And you know what? He’s still human.”
Ianto stared back at him.
“That’s not possible,” he started, and Jack repeated, “He stayed human. You know what that tells me? That tells me Ianto’s dead. And he was right, I can’t afford to have a shapeshifter running around here.”
He cocked the gun, and Ianto stepped back again, gasping, “No. Jack, no. He can’t be dead. If he’s still human then he’s not dead. You have to believe me, it’s a trick.”
“Owen’s doing the autopsy right now. Tosh is helping him and Gwen’s trying to work out what the hell we tell his family,” Jack said, through gritted teeth, then swept forward to grab the front of Ianto’s shirt and slam him back against the wall, gun pressing into his ribs as he spat, “You killed him.”
“Jack, please,” Ianto begged. “He’ll kill you all. Don’t do this. Keep me locked up here as long as you like, but you have to kill him while he’s vulnerable.”
“Yeah,” Jack said softly, narrowing his eyes. “I do.”
Ianto snapped his right arm up and across, knocking Jack’s hand aside as the gun went off and a hole appeared in the wall above the bed. Before the dust had time to settle he was by the door with the gun in his hand, firing twice at Jack, who went down instantly, blood spreading across his shirt, eyes glassy.
Ianto paused for a moment, then hurriedly moved forwards and took Jack’s headset and Vortex Manipulator, putting them on and opening the door as he started changing.
He’d barely stepped out before the change was complete and all of Jack’s knowledge flooded into his mind – first and foremost the fact that Ianto was still alive, followed closely by the memory of Owen saying, “The shapeshifter’ll believe you. Whichever one changes to attack you is the fake.”
“Shit,” he said simply.
The main door opened.
“It worked,” he said quickly, turning to face Owen and Gwen as they entered. “He changed, but I killed him first. Good plan.”
“Thanks,” Owen said, and shot him in the head.
Ianto looked up again as the main door opened, and was vaguely startled when Jack dashed in and slammed open the cell door, then leapt at him, hauling him into a bone-crushing hug and then kissing him passionately.
“I take it that means you figured it out,” Ianto said breathlessly when they parted, and Jack nodded, saying, “Sorry it took so long.”
“I’ll forgive you,” Ianto told him. “What happened?”
“It was Owen’s idea,” Jack said. “He’ll kill me – again – if I don’t let him tell you how inspired a plan it was. The important thing is the shapeshifter’s dead. And you were right. It turned back to its real form when it died. All slimy and skinny.”
Ianto smiled a little, and Jack led him towards the stairs, one arm tight around his waist, saying, “Come on, we’ll let Owen boast for a while. Though I’m a little concerned how easy he finds it to shoot me, these days.”
Ianto started to make a comment on that, then stopped himself, smiling, and said, “Can I ask you something?”
“Go ahead,” Jack said easily, and he said, “When is our civil partnership booked for?”
Jack stopped, grinning at him, then said softly, “We’ll just have to see what the future holds,” and kissed him.
After a few moments Ianto broke away, and muttered, “You do realise I’m not going to accept that as an answer?”
Jack just laughed, and kissed him again.