Chapter Text
Chapter 1
To the vast majority of residents and visitors of London, the famous Canary Wharf was nothing more than an imposing set of offices in the heart of the financial district of the city. To a select few and various high persons of interest within the government, Canary Wharf was actually home to the Torchwood Institute’s head office.
When the plans had come through to develop the London office, Captain Jack Harkness had fought against them as hard as he could. He knew that advertising the Institute’s presence in the Capital was a bad idea, but he had been overruled. At the time he had been nothing more than a lowly Torchwood employee and he had been helpless to stop the construction going ahead as scheduled.
Since taking over Torchwood Cardiff, Jack had come to accept that there was nothing he could do to make Yvonne Hartman, director of the London branch, see reason; and had resigned himself to the fact that he was never going to have the power she did while London was still in operation.
He just hoped they kept whatever trouble they were asking for to themselves and as far from Cardiff as possible; Jack didn’t want London’s problems turning up on his doorstep.
Upon arrival at Torchwood One, Yvonne had given him a firm briefing almost before he had even walked through the large revolving doors. Looking down her nose at him, and using a tone most headmistresses would kill for, she had instructed him to stay well within the designated areas and to not go wandering off on his own. And of course, under no circumstances was he actually allowed to touch any of the alien artefacts they had ‘scavenged’ over the years.
Everything had been going fine, until Jack had stopped paying attention to where he was going and wandered away from the main archives. When he had finally looked up, he found himself in the lowest levels, buried deep in the bowels of Torchwood Tower.
Panic had flared inside him for a moment when he’d realised he was lost – he had never dealt well with the feeling of terror not knowing where he was brought - and he had made himself stop and take several deep breaths to calm himself down. He would find a way out; even if he didn’t, Yvonne would send someone to find him before he died of starvation. Again.
Never one to stop moving, Jack had continued walking, hoping that he’d be able to correct himself and figure out where exactly he was. Turning a corner, he found himself in a very long corridor. He smiled a little in triumph when he spotted a dim light emitting from a small room on the opposite end of the corridor; perhaps whoever was in the room could help him get back.
When he reached the door, he paused to read the plaque screwed to the wood. It said ‘Head of Research’, and Jack smiled; the head of research would know their way around the archives better than anyone else.
The Captain reached out and turned the handle, only to find that the door was locked. “Great,” he growled, resisting the urge to stamp his foot like a small child.
He leant over and tried to see through the small window. He let out a sigh of annoyance when he saw that the computer inside the room was turned off and the light he had seen actually a security light, rather than an indication of anyone’s presence in the room.
The communicator Yvonne had given him beeped irritatingly in his hand and, even though he was tempted to ignore it, Jack knew there was no way he could do so and not have half of Torchwood’s armed staff looking for him within seconds. The thought that he should ignore it crossed his mind before he dismissed it; he was already in Yvonne’s bad books as it was.
“Yeah?” he sighed, bringing the device up to his mouth so she could hear him clearly.
“Captain Harkness, we have the files you requested,” Yvonne’s furious voice crackled through the radio waves.
Jack grinned at the anger that was obvious in her voice; there was nothing he loved more than winding the woman up. “I’m on my way,” he purred before turning the device off and scowling deeply. He had slipped away from the guard in the hopes that he would be able to find the information for himself; he didn’t trust Yvonne to give him everything he asked for, or even the correct information in the first place.
In his absence, she would have already checked through the paperwork to ensure that nothing in there would be of any real use to him or his team – Jack had no doubt about that. Yvonne was firm in her belief that Torchwood London was the best institute in the country and Jack knew she would stop at nothing to make sure they kept that position.
He just hoped he could find his way out of the archives on his own; which, he considered, was unlikely.
~
The sky over Cardiff bay was dark and dreary as Jack stepped out of the Tourist Office almost a week after his return from London. He sighed and tugged his coat further around his body. Growing up in a place that was by the sea and always warm had made Jack susceptible to cold and it had taken him years to acclimatise himself.
He stopped in his tracks when he saw a young man standing in front of him, wearing a pair of torn jeans and a loose shirt which was unfastened at the collar. Jack couldn’t help his eyes straying to the other man’s collar and licking his lips at the teasing glimpses of skin underneath that were being offered to him.
Jack waited for a moment to see if the other man would say anything to him, but he reminded silent. The Captain offered him a tight smile and brushed past him, heading on his way down the jetty towards the Plass.
“Will?” the man asked softly from behind him.
Jack spun around so fast he nearly fell over and he stared at the other man, his mouth hanging open in surprise. “W… What did you just call me?” he spluttered.
The man looked at him, frowning deeply as he studied Jack’s face. Jack shifted in his spot; there was something about the other man that made the Time Agent feel uncomfortable, but he couldn’t put his finger on what it was.
In the blink of an eye the man’s confusion vanished and a smile flashed over his face. “Sorry,” the younger man apologised, shaking his head. “Thought you were someone else. My mistake.”
~
If Jack had to make a choice about which shift he preferred to work, he knew he would have chosen the day shift. He didn’t sleep much – hadn’t since he’d left the agency – but he liked to spend his evenings on a rooftop somewhere watching the stars and thinking.
As it was, he didn’t usually get that luxury working for Torchwood; the Rift didn’t work in shifts. He had been on his way out for the night when a Rift spike had come through to Tosh’s PDA. Being the Captain, Jack had volunteered to investigate and was beginning to regret his rash decision.
“Toshiko, see if you can decode those hieroglyphics,” he instructed into his blue-tooth headset. The rest of the team were still back at the Hub, finishing up for the evening, but Jack still had a few last minute tasks for them.
The headset crackled and Tosh’s voice assured him, “Already on it.” Jack grinned widely; he very rarely had to ask her to do things; she always used her initiative and did things on her own. It was one of the many things he loved about her.
“Owen, take a cross section of that paramedics brain. Check against the list of any chemical agents.”
“Will do,” Owen replied with his usual bored, ‘do I have to?’ tone and Jack made a mental note to tell Owen to at least try to sound interested in his work.
“Suzie, we’re going to need to drag the reservoir, see if we can find the other half of that…”
Suddenly someone stepped out into the road and Jack cut himself off mid-sentence, slamming his foot down on the brake. The tires squealed as the large SUV slid to a stop about four feet away from the suicidal pedestrian. Through his headset, Jack could hear Tosh and Suzie demanding to know if he was okay. He snapped that he was fine and wrenched the headset off before jumping out of the vehicle, immediately recognising who had stopped him.
“Okay,” Jack scowled, slamming the door and moving around the car, “what the hell is going on here? First this morning and now you’re stalking me in the dead of night?”
The man studied him for moment before replying softly, “I know who you are.”
Jack rolled his eyes in annoyance and exhaled loudly. “Congratulations, most people in Cardiff do,” he growled. “Now if you’d move…”
The man shook his head. “No, I mean I know who you are. Will, it’s me, Ianto,” he explained, his voice taking on a slightly desperate tone.
Jack, who was making his way back to the car, spun on his heel and glared at him. “I don’t know anyone called ‘Ianto’ and I think you’re getting confused. My name isn’t Will. Now move!” he shouted.
When Ianto didn’t shift, Jack stalked back to him; he made sure they were nose to nose as he spoke to ensure his meaning wasn’t mistaken in any way. “Look, I don’t know what your problem is, but you need to get over it right now. I want you out of this city by sunrise,” he stated.
Ianto tried to speak but Jack cut him off with a wave of his hand, “No, I don’t know you and I don’t want to. There is no place for you here; find someone else to annoy. Keep stalking me and I’ll wipe your memory. Are we clear?”
“But the thing is…”
Jack cut him off again, not giving him chance to get a full sentence out. “Look, any conversation between us, no matter what the subject, is over; finished; done. Forever!” Jack jabbed a finger in the direction of the SUV. “I’m getting back behind the wheel of that car; if you’re still standing in the road, I’m gonna drive through you!”
Jack was three steps away from the car door when he heard Ianto call after him, “So, you’re not going to help me catch this pterodactyl, then?” His voice sounded resigned and weary
~
As they stood in the warehouse, both trying to regain their breath after managing to subdue the dinosaur, Ianto looked over at Jack who was putting the finishing touches on the knots that bound the creature.
“You don’t remember me, do you?” he asked softly.
Jack sighed with frustration and finished what he was doing, before looking up. “How many times do I have to tell you? We haven’t met before. Ever.”
Ianto took a step closer, trying to place a hand on Jack’s arm, but Jack flinched away from the touch. “Will, please…” he begged.
“Stop that!” Jack cried desperately. “Why do you keep calling me that?”
“Because it’s your name,” Ianto pointed, confusion clearly written on his handsome features.
“Yes, but you shouldn’t know. No one here knows my real name; I haven’t used that name for years, so how do could you possibly know it?”
“We’ve met before,” Ianto replied softly; so soft that Jack could barely hear him over the blood rushing in his ears.
Their eyes met and Jack could feel something inside of him, tugging him closer to Ianto but he pushed it aside roughly. He would deal with one problem at once; his attraction to the other man would have to wait.
Ianto brought his hand up, placing his palm on Jack’s cheek. The blue-eyed man leant into the caress, before he realised what he was doing and jerked away from Ianto, almost falling over in an attempt to distance himself.
“Will, what did they do to you?” Ianto breathed, his own eyes shining with hurt and confusion when Jack pulled away.
He couldn’t explain why, but for some reason Jack found himself stepping closer to Ianto, his legs seemingly moving of his own accord. With each step the hurt look faded less and less, and Jack found himself feeling better.
“Look,” he eventually said, “I’m not saying I trust you, or that I’ll believe what you say, but…”
“At least give me chance to explain?” Ianto pleaded, reaching out and taking Jack’s hands in his.
“I’m a Time Agent,” he began simply, pulling back the sleeve of his suit jacket and revealing a Vortex Manipulator almost identical to Jack’s; but a little smaller, Jack noted smugly. “We met at the Agency. You actually trained me, personally.”
Jack jumped back the instant he spotted the wrist strap; no matter how much time had passed since he had left the Agency, he didn’t trust them. He still felt so much anger and resentment towards them that he couldn’t help but react violently to the presence of another Time Agent.
“That’s… that’s impossible. I remember everyone I trained to be a Time Agent. You definitely weren’t one of them!”
Ianto bit his lip, his forehead crumpling in disbelief. “You didn’t train me to be a Time Agent, Will,” he whispered.
“Jack. My name is Jack,” he stated, sighing with impatience.
Their eyes met and Ianto spoke as evenly as he could. “I’m an assassin.”
TBC