Four Shopping Days to Christmas
Jan. 6th, 2009 04:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
laliginFandom: Torchwood
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1520
Summary: Cardiff has an infestation of nanobots hell-bent on ruining Christmas for the children. Fortunately, Torchwood are ready!
Prompt: For![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
shannon730, in the tw_ficexchange. (Also posted there. Adding it here to keep it in my own archives, as per usual.)
Four Shopping Days to Christmas
“Jack, for God’s sake keep your gun out of sight,” Gwen snapped over the comms.
Jack pulled a face and tugged his coat closer around himself, momentarily getting stuck in the holiday crowds at the entrance to the shopping centre. He sighed, and tried to ease through.
“Ianto, are you in place?”
“It’s hell in here,” Ianto told him despairingly, sounding pained even through the earpieces, and Jack tried not to laugh. “Have these people never heard of Amazon?”
“Buy me something nice on your way,” Jack suggested as he reached the doors and lunged into the shopping centre, shoving his way through a cluster of heavy shopping bags inconveniently held at kneecap level.
“I did notice Ann Summers is having a sale,” Ianto said thoughtfully, at which point Gwen cut in.
“Do you think you two could focus any time soon? The target’s moving. It’s still in the shop, but it’s definitely mobile.”
“Getting there,” Jack told her. “Can you get into the shop’s CCTV?”
There was a long pause. Jack managed to get to the shop doorway and stand his ground just inside, out of the bustling Christmas crowds. The shop staff gave him a few fleeting glances, eyebrows raised, but he grinned sheepishly back at them and they left him alone, busy dealing with their customers.
“I’m here,” he told Ianto and Gwen quietly. “Not seeing anything unusual. Any luck with the CCTV, Gwen?”
“Nothing, sorry,” Gwen sighed. “I can get into the main cameras for St David’s itself, but the system freezes whenever I try to get into the individual shops. This isn’t exactly my speciality.”
“Have you tried running the scanner from within the CCTV hacker?” Ianto asked, sounding a little out of breath.
“How do I do that?” Gwen said, and Jack shook his head to himself.
“Leave it. As long as it’s still in here, we’ll find it. I’ve got the entrance covered. Ianto, what’s taking so long?”
“Something’s happened at the Early Learning Centre,” Ianto said distractedly. “I’m getting there.”
Jack leaned out of the doorway and craned to see further into the shopping centre. A large crowd was gathered around the bright green shop front of the Early Learning Centre, and as he watched Ianto managed to squeeze through. Jack waved him over.
“Sorry,” Ianto said when he arrived, breathless.
“I’ll watch the door,” Jack told him. “You go hunt.”
Ianto hesitated for a second, looking at the scene before him, then straightened his tie and bravely stepped into the depths of Cardiff’s Build a Bear Workshop.
“To your left,” Gwen told him, and he turned his back on the empty teddy-bear skins lined up for selection, and looked over at the array of clothes on display. Half a dozen children, each with at least one parent in tow, were busily choosing outfits for their new toys. Nothing else seemed out of place.
“Can you be a bit more specific?”
“It’s heading towards the front desk,” Gwen said, then, “Jack, careful, it’s moving right towards you!”
A little blonde girl clutching a stuffed penguin came running up to a stand in front of Jack and set about choosing shoes for her new friend.
Heart sinking, Jack opened his wrist strap and quietly scanned the penguin.
“Found it,” he told Ianto quietly. “Can you come console the kid?”
“What kid?” Ianto asked, just as Jack stepped forward and plucked the penguin from the child’s grasp.
With the resulting scream and hysterical tears taking everyone’s attention, Jack walked out of the shop without a backward glance.
Ianto came and found him leaning against the wall out on the street a few minutes later.
“You realise I had to pay for that,” he said flatly, while Jack ripped the penguin’s seams open and pulled out its stuffing. “Why didn’t you just ask them to deconstruct it in the shop? Now the girl’s father’s trying to sue them, and they’re doing their best to sue us instead, and they refused to accept my Torchwood credentials as any kind of excuse. What did you expect me to tell them?”
“I knew you’d think of something,” Jack said, finally digging out a little silk heart from the penguin. He thrust the dismembered cuddly toy at Ianto, then pressed the little heart against his wrist strap and nodded when one of the background lights flashed green. “This is it.”
Ianto looked down at the penguin’s glassy eyes, stuffing trailing from its back, and sighed.
Jack dug a plastic bag from his pocket, and sealed the heart inside, then tucked it back into his pocket and grinned at Ianto.
“Job done. Last of the nanobots contained, no more evil toys. So, are you busy tonight?”
“Well,” Ianto said slowly, tucking the penguin’s stuffing back inside, “I was going to –”
“Oh shit,” Gwen interrupted. “There’s more!”
Jack and Ianto exchanged glances, and Jack snapped, “Where? And why didn’t they show up sooner?”
“Outside the Early Learning Centre,” Gwen told them, “I think – oh, God, I can’t believe I’m saying this – I think the Early Learning Centre has a shield of some kind.”
“The crowd,” Ianto sighed.
Jack raised both eyebrows, and turned to fight his way back into St David’s. Ianto handed the penguin to the nearest child (with swift instructions to sew it up and take good care of it) and followed.
The crowd outside the shop had spread back, people at the front pushing the other keen onlookers further away from the shop entrance. Ianto followed as Jack plunged through, shoving people aside and leaving Ianto to do the apologising for both of them.
In front of the shop, in the growing semi-circle the crowd had created, an array of wooden toys were marching forward, somehow managing to convey a general air of menace. Jack grabbed the nearest wooden soldier, ignoring its flailing fists as he turned it over to find the controlling chip, scanning it with his wrist strap.
“The screws,” he told Ianto, who promptly dug a little packet of screwdrivers from one pocket and handed one over.
“Do you have any idea how long this is going to take with just the two of us?” he said, while Jack dismantled the toy in his hands and let the wooden pieces fall to the floor.
“Way too long,” Jack agreed. “Gwen, next time you break your leg, make sure you do it in your own time.”
“Excuse me,” Gwen shot back. “You’re the one who insisted I come in and man the Hub anyway.”
“You offered,” Jack pointed out, and Gwen made an exasperated noise.
“We need more people,” Ianto said quietly.
Jack grinned around at their audience of shoppers and Early Learning Centre staff.
“Okay, people. If you could just herd these guys back into the shop, that’d be great. If you bought anything here, please check it hasn’t come to life. There’ll be a general recall issued on all affected items, but in the meantime removing and melting down all the screws should take care of any homicidal toys you may encounter. Thanks.”
“That wasn’t exactly what I meant,” Ianto murmured, but helped a few staff and volunteers corral the toys back inside the shop. He set about dismantling them behind a barricade of boxes for paddling pools and trampolines, doing his best not to let the more awkward toys escape.
After a few minutes Jack came to help.
“Crowd’s dispersed,” he said, dumping an armful of wriggling wooden toys in one corner. “Staff are going through all the stock to see if anything else has been affected, but from the looks of it this is the last lot.”
Ianto nodded to the pile of screws beside him, and said, “Do you want to get rid of this lot? I’m managing fine –”
A wooden train ran over his hand as he put down the loose limbs of a mannequin, and he pulled back with a yelp. Jack grabbed the train with one hand.
“You okay?”
“I have a splinter,” Ianto grumbled, shoving his finger into his mouth.
Jack took the screwdriver from him and dismantled the last few toys, then took Ianto’s hand from his mouth and inspected the injury.
“Very serious,” he said gravely. “You know, I think we all need a holiday. Gwen, are you good to get home?”
“Rhys can pick me up,” Gwen confirmed.
“Then go,” Jack told her. “We’ll take care of this. And unless the world decides to end again in the next week, you’re officially off duty.”
“Call me if you need me,” Gwen told him, and signed out.
“I love Christmas,” Jack said, almost straight-faced, and gingerly extracted the splinter from Ianto’s finger. “It’s always so peaceful.”
Ianto laughed, and Jack grinned at him, then took Ianto’s finger into his mouth.
“I hope Gwen enjoys her holiday,” Ianto said calmly. “I usually find if they go on too long you end up desperate to go back to work.”
“When was the last time you had a holiday?” Jack mumbled.
Ianto smiled.
“Funny you should ask, sir. I believe you still owe me a date...”
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1520
Summary: Cardiff has an infestation of nanobots hell-bent on ruining Christmas for the children. Fortunately, Torchwood are ready!
Prompt: For
shannon730, in the tw_ficexchange. (Also posted there. Adding it here to keep it in my own archives, as per usual.)Four Shopping Days to Christmas
“Jack, for God’s sake keep your gun out of sight,” Gwen snapped over the comms.
Jack pulled a face and tugged his coat closer around himself, momentarily getting stuck in the holiday crowds at the entrance to the shopping centre. He sighed, and tried to ease through.
“Ianto, are you in place?”
“It’s hell in here,” Ianto told him despairingly, sounding pained even through the earpieces, and Jack tried not to laugh. “Have these people never heard of Amazon?”
“Buy me something nice on your way,” Jack suggested as he reached the doors and lunged into the shopping centre, shoving his way through a cluster of heavy shopping bags inconveniently held at kneecap level.
“I did notice Ann Summers is having a sale,” Ianto said thoughtfully, at which point Gwen cut in.
“Do you think you two could focus any time soon? The target’s moving. It’s still in the shop, but it’s definitely mobile.”
“Getting there,” Jack told her. “Can you get into the shop’s CCTV?”
There was a long pause. Jack managed to get to the shop doorway and stand his ground just inside, out of the bustling Christmas crowds. The shop staff gave him a few fleeting glances, eyebrows raised, but he grinned sheepishly back at them and they left him alone, busy dealing with their customers.
“I’m here,” he told Ianto and Gwen quietly. “Not seeing anything unusual. Any luck with the CCTV, Gwen?”
“Nothing, sorry,” Gwen sighed. “I can get into the main cameras for St David’s itself, but the system freezes whenever I try to get into the individual shops. This isn’t exactly my speciality.”
“Have you tried running the scanner from within the CCTV hacker?” Ianto asked, sounding a little out of breath.
“How do I do that?” Gwen said, and Jack shook his head to himself.
“Leave it. As long as it’s still in here, we’ll find it. I’ve got the entrance covered. Ianto, what’s taking so long?”
“Something’s happened at the Early Learning Centre,” Ianto said distractedly. “I’m getting there.”
Jack leaned out of the doorway and craned to see further into the shopping centre. A large crowd was gathered around the bright green shop front of the Early Learning Centre, and as he watched Ianto managed to squeeze through. Jack waved him over.
“Sorry,” Ianto said when he arrived, breathless.
“I’ll watch the door,” Jack told him. “You go hunt.”
Ianto hesitated for a second, looking at the scene before him, then straightened his tie and bravely stepped into the depths of Cardiff’s Build a Bear Workshop.
“To your left,” Gwen told him, and he turned his back on the empty teddy-bear skins lined up for selection, and looked over at the array of clothes on display. Half a dozen children, each with at least one parent in tow, were busily choosing outfits for their new toys. Nothing else seemed out of place.
“Can you be a bit more specific?”
“It’s heading towards the front desk,” Gwen said, then, “Jack, careful, it’s moving right towards you!”
A little blonde girl clutching a stuffed penguin came running up to a stand in front of Jack and set about choosing shoes for her new friend.
Heart sinking, Jack opened his wrist strap and quietly scanned the penguin.
“Found it,” he told Ianto quietly. “Can you come console the kid?”
“What kid?” Ianto asked, just as Jack stepped forward and plucked the penguin from the child’s grasp.
With the resulting scream and hysterical tears taking everyone’s attention, Jack walked out of the shop without a backward glance.
Ianto came and found him leaning against the wall out on the street a few minutes later.
“You realise I had to pay for that,” he said flatly, while Jack ripped the penguin’s seams open and pulled out its stuffing. “Why didn’t you just ask them to deconstruct it in the shop? Now the girl’s father’s trying to sue them, and they’re doing their best to sue us instead, and they refused to accept my Torchwood credentials as any kind of excuse. What did you expect me to tell them?”
“I knew you’d think of something,” Jack said, finally digging out a little silk heart from the penguin. He thrust the dismembered cuddly toy at Ianto, then pressed the little heart against his wrist strap and nodded when one of the background lights flashed green. “This is it.”
Ianto looked down at the penguin’s glassy eyes, stuffing trailing from its back, and sighed.
Jack dug a plastic bag from his pocket, and sealed the heart inside, then tucked it back into his pocket and grinned at Ianto.
“Job done. Last of the nanobots contained, no more evil toys. So, are you busy tonight?”
“Well,” Ianto said slowly, tucking the penguin’s stuffing back inside, “I was going to –”
“Oh shit,” Gwen interrupted. “There’s more!”
Jack and Ianto exchanged glances, and Jack snapped, “Where? And why didn’t they show up sooner?”
“Outside the Early Learning Centre,” Gwen told them, “I think – oh, God, I can’t believe I’m saying this – I think the Early Learning Centre has a shield of some kind.”
“The crowd,” Ianto sighed.
Jack raised both eyebrows, and turned to fight his way back into St David’s. Ianto handed the penguin to the nearest child (with swift instructions to sew it up and take good care of it) and followed.
The crowd outside the shop had spread back, people at the front pushing the other keen onlookers further away from the shop entrance. Ianto followed as Jack plunged through, shoving people aside and leaving Ianto to do the apologising for both of them.
In front of the shop, in the growing semi-circle the crowd had created, an array of wooden toys were marching forward, somehow managing to convey a general air of menace. Jack grabbed the nearest wooden soldier, ignoring its flailing fists as he turned it over to find the controlling chip, scanning it with his wrist strap.
“The screws,” he told Ianto, who promptly dug a little packet of screwdrivers from one pocket and handed one over.
“Do you have any idea how long this is going to take with just the two of us?” he said, while Jack dismantled the toy in his hands and let the wooden pieces fall to the floor.
“Way too long,” Jack agreed. “Gwen, next time you break your leg, make sure you do it in your own time.”
“Excuse me,” Gwen shot back. “You’re the one who insisted I come in and man the Hub anyway.”
“You offered,” Jack pointed out, and Gwen made an exasperated noise.
“We need more people,” Ianto said quietly.
Jack grinned around at their audience of shoppers and Early Learning Centre staff.
“Okay, people. If you could just herd these guys back into the shop, that’d be great. If you bought anything here, please check it hasn’t come to life. There’ll be a general recall issued on all affected items, but in the meantime removing and melting down all the screws should take care of any homicidal toys you may encounter. Thanks.”
“That wasn’t exactly what I meant,” Ianto murmured, but helped a few staff and volunteers corral the toys back inside the shop. He set about dismantling them behind a barricade of boxes for paddling pools and trampolines, doing his best not to let the more awkward toys escape.
After a few minutes Jack came to help.
“Crowd’s dispersed,” he said, dumping an armful of wriggling wooden toys in one corner. “Staff are going through all the stock to see if anything else has been affected, but from the looks of it this is the last lot.”
Ianto nodded to the pile of screws beside him, and said, “Do you want to get rid of this lot? I’m managing fine –”
A wooden train ran over his hand as he put down the loose limbs of a mannequin, and he pulled back with a yelp. Jack grabbed the train with one hand.
“You okay?”
“I have a splinter,” Ianto grumbled, shoving his finger into his mouth.
Jack took the screwdriver from him and dismantled the last few toys, then took Ianto’s hand from his mouth and inspected the injury.
“Very serious,” he said gravely. “You know, I think we all need a holiday. Gwen, are you good to get home?”
“Rhys can pick me up,” Gwen confirmed.
“Then go,” Jack told her. “We’ll take care of this. And unless the world decides to end again in the next week, you’re officially off duty.”
“Call me if you need me,” Gwen told him, and signed out.
“I love Christmas,” Jack said, almost straight-faced, and gingerly extracted the splinter from Ianto’s finger. “It’s always so peaceful.”
Ianto laughed, and Jack grinned at him, then took Ianto’s finger into his mouth.
“I hope Gwen enjoys her holiday,” Ianto said calmly. “I usually find if they go on too long you end up desperate to go back to work.”
“When was the last time you had a holiday?” Jack mumbled.
Ianto smiled.
“Funny you should ask, sir. I believe you still owe me a date...”
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-06 10:52 pm (UTC)also, toys coming to life has always been a fear of mine!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-07 01:36 pm (UTC)