Treachery part 19/?

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TITLE:  Acey Deucey (Part 19 of the Treachery Series)
RATING:  PG-13
WARNING:   None
CHARACTERS:  John (Ianto), Tosh, Owen, Jack, Gwen, Liz (OC) 
DISCLAIMER:  Not mine; Aunty B's and RTD's
WORDS: ~ 2090
SUMMARY: There's a whole lot of explaining going on in the Hub.

Treachery (Part 1) here:  http://aviv-b.livejournal.com/49816.html 
All chapters are linked.

 

“Liz put the gun down,” Owen said as he moved to block Ianto from her view.

 

“I don’t know what game you two are playing here but that is clearly not a blowfish. You’ve got ten seconds to explain what’s going on, or I start shooting.”

 

“Look,” Tosh said, “he’s unconscious and of no danger to you. He’s someone that we know.”

 

“Know, how?”

 

“Why don’t we wait until Jack returns and we’ll explain everything. Just put the gun down before someone gets hurt.”

 

“Fine. I’ll call Jack, but I’m keeping my gun on you until he returns and hears what you have to say.”

 

“I need to adjust his drip, OK?”

 

Liz nodded her consent, never moving from her gun off of Owen.  She pulled her cell out and called Jack. “Something strange is going on at the Hub Jack, I you need to come back immediately.”  She listened for a bit. ‘No, I have it under control, but you really need to come. Ok, then.”

 

Owen sighed with relief. As long as Liz didn’t get spooked, they’d be fine. Jack would give them a chance to explain. Wouldn’t he?

 

He looked over at Tosh who was watching Liz carefully.  Tosh shifted her position as she pretended to check one of Ianto’s monitors. ‘The gun,’ she mouthed to Owen. Owen gave his head a tiny shake. ‘Not hers.’

 

Owen’s eyes widened and he nodded. The gun Liz had grabbed had to be Ianto’s, loaded with ammunition powerful enough that even Jack might not be immune to it.

 

As the minutes ticked by Liz kept glancing nervously over to the cog door.  Tosh noticed how her whole body turned leaving her back exposed to the medical bay.

 

“That’s odd,” Tosh thought. “She must be very certain that we don’t have any weapons.” Tosh smiled as she felt the familiar weight of the gun sitting in her shoulder holster.

 

Finally, they heard the sound of the invisible lift being activated.  To Tosh and Owen’s horror, Liz turned and aimed the gun directly at Jack.

 

“So nice of you to join us, Jack. It seems your employees have been up to a little mischief, which puts me in an awkward position.  They bollixed up the main plan which leaves me to finish it properly.”

 

Jack looked genuinely puzzled as he stepped off the lift and began to walk toward her. “Come on Lizzie, what are you talking about? You know that gun can’t hurt me. But if you must, feel free to take a shot.”

 

“No!” Owen cried as he made a dash up the stairs from the medical bay. Liz turned to shoot him and at that moment Tosh pulled out her gun and shot Liz twice, once in the head, and once in the chest.

 

Liz appeared to sway on her feet and then collapsed onto her knees as the top of her head caught on fire. She looked at the gun in her hand and then at Tosh finally understanding what had happened. “You bitch,” she said looking at Tosh. Owen and Jack began to run toward her as she appeared to shrink into the floor.

 

By the time they reached her all that was left was a puddle of liquid and a small metal object with a single filament running out of it.

 

“What the hell just happened?” Jack said looking at Owen in horror.  “What have you done?” he said looking over at Tosh.

 

Tosh methodically checked her gun removing three more rounds of ammunition before putting the gun down on the counter next to her.  “That was meant for you Jack.”

 

Jack moved closer to the medical bay to see who was lying on the gurney. He didn’t look familiar at all to Jack. And then in a moment of serendipity, the man awoke and spoke. “Carlos, where is Carlos?”

 

“That sound like, he sounds just like…” Jack started to say as he felt he legs buckling under him. Owen grabbed him and helped him over to a chair.

 

“Just take it easy Jack; we’ll explain everything once you’re ok.”

 

Jack tried to get out of the chair and push back Owen, but Owen held him fast in the chair.  “You’ve made enough rash decisions Jack for a dozen lifetimes, just stay there while I check on my patient.”  Owen looked over at the bay and heard Tosh whispering while the patient whimpered in pain.  “Tosh get up here now and make sure our captain behaves himself.”

 

Tosh pocketed the ammunition picked up the now empty gun and ran up the stairs of the medical bay and over to where Jack was sitting.  She sat far enough from Jack that he couldn’t touch her and while she didn’t have the gun aimed at him, her intentions were clear.

 

“Will someone please tell me what the hell is going on here?” Jack said.

 

***

 

Several hours later found Jack, Owen and Tosh sitting around the table in the conference room. Gwen had joined them as well. Tosh had explained how UNIT had assembled a team of assassins as well as tried to create a group of clones and how fortunate they were that both programs seemed to be largely unsuccessful.

 

Jack and Gwen were horrified to learn about the ruthless termination of clones as well as the complete destruction of free will in both the clones and the assassins.

 

Though she had missed Liz being killed, Gwen she looked pale and shaken.

 

“She was a clone, right here working in the Hub. She could have gone off on any of us at any time. And you let her in here,” she said pointing at Jack.

 

“I was told she was Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart’s niece.” Owen rolled his eyes. “Well, she might be.”  Jack looked at the incredulous faces across the table from him. “Or maybe not,” he conceded.

 

“You know, Jack raises a good point,” Tosh pointed out. “The original could very well be his niece; we have no idea who she is.”

 

“I bet I can confirm that down pretty quickly using normal police channels,” Gwen replied. “But if that’s true, we don’t know whether she is still alive or not, do we?

 

Tosh shook her head ‘no.’

 

Gwen turned to look at Jack. “How could you have sent Ianto to UNIT?  I can hardly believe it.”

 

“You didn’t even really know him Gwen,” Jack retorted.

 

“I don’t have to have to have been his best friend.  Look what they did to him.  From what Owen has said, he’ll never be his real self again.”

 

“For the last time, I didn’t know they would make him into a killer. You can’t hold me responsible for that.”

 

Tosh was furious. “Oh yes we can, and we do. What did you think would happen to him?”

 

Jack opened his mouth to reply and then seeing the look on Tosh’s face, wisely shut it again.

 

“Just put him in a cell and let him rot, that’s what you thought they’d do.  I was in one of those cells. Only for a month or so, but you know what it did to me.  I truly can’t understand what you were thinking.”

 

Owen snorted. “I don’t think he was thinking. You were so angry and self-righteous, weren’t you Jack?  And not just about the fact that the Cyberman was dangerous. Oh no, this was personal. You were mad because Ianto tricked you, led you on, and made you feel like you were special.”

 

“Yes,” Jack whispered. “I am sorry you know.”

 

“Save it, Jack. We have bigger things to worry about,” Tosh replied. “That Brigadier from UNIT will be coming with his special troops in three days. We need to have a plan to deal with him, keep Ianto safe and rescue the remaining clones and their real selves.”

 

“And let’s not forget, there’s still one assassin out there and at least one clone that isn’t being used as a comfort companion,” Owen added.

 

Jack stared at the metal rod sitting on the table in from of him. “So this is what was implanted in Ianto’s brain as well.”

 

“Not exactly,” Tosh replied. Just speculating, but it appears that the handful of clones that were used as informants had this device implanted. It’s much simpler than what Ianto has in his brain. I reckon it was mostly to transmit data to and from UNIT, though they must have enhanced Liz’s somehow so that she was able to act on her own.”

 

“Ianto’s controller was much more complex.” Tosh displayed images of the two mechanisms on the conference room screen. “We didn’t have time to get it out, so we cut the main input to disconnect him from the radio signals being sent to him by UNIT.”

 

Jack looked at horror at the images. He pointed to the controller that was implanted into Ianto’s brain. “Do you know what this is?”

 

“What do you mean?”  Owen asked.

 

“That’s a modified component from a Cyberman. I don’t know how they got a hold of an original, but it looks nearly identical.  The good news is it sounds like it isn’t a true controller but one used only for positive and negative reinforcement purposes.  I hate to think what might happen if they had progressed much farther on this project.”

 

Tosh had a final image. “So here’s the image of the special ammunition and the chemical compound it contained.  The best I can work out is that it was some sort of super-bullet from the near future, designed to kill even the hardiest of living enemies by turning them into their basic atomic substances.”

 

Jack’s eyes narrowed. And then he burst out laughing. “Sorry, I just realized what that formula is for; I can hardly believe it.”  He looked up to see his employees looking at him without any amusement. 

 

“Ok, but you are looking at a 40^th century cockroach extermination formula.”

 

'‘Oh for fuck’s sake…” Owen said rolling his eyes.

 

“No really, that’s what it is. When humans begin to travel in space, a lot of earthbound pests go with them. Rats, mice, fleas, cockroaches, lice, as well as numerous viruses and bacteria.  Of all of them, cockroaches prove the most difficult to control. They have survived when entire planets were left barren by nuclear blasts, sonic blasts, solar flares and photon radiation.  This was just the latest formulation claiming to eradicate them.”

“Well it seemed to work pretty well on Liz,” Owen pointed out causing Jack to frown. “What would it have done to you?”

 

Jack shrugged. “Would have turned me into a pile of muck, much like Liz. I’ve only had one death that took me to a similar level of disintegration, I was told it took ten days to come back from that, and it was really, really, painful as I remember.”

 

“Why would UNIT believe that it would kill you then?”

 

“Probably because of the advertising slogan. ‘Turns Your Pests Into a Subatomic Mess.’ The manufacturers got into some major trouble with the IPCC as I recall.”

 

“The what?” Gwen asked.

 

“The Inter-Planetary Communications Commission.  They are the watchdogs for all new products being introduced across the planets. The number of scams for medicinal cures and the like increase exponentially as man moves out through the solar system.”

 

Jack looked thoughtful for a moment. “I’m pretty sure though that cures for male pattern baldness and erectile dysfunction still are the two problems most frequently subject to erroneous claims.”

 

For the first time since they met in the conference room, the whole team laughed.

 

***

 

They worked through the next day planning their strategy against UNIT.  Defending the Hub was the easy part; they had numerous strategies devised for keeping intruders out even if the Hub wasn’t manned. Keeping Ianto safe from UNIT and rescuing the rest of the unwilling participants would prove far more difficult.

 

Tosh searched the UNIT database trying to locate the remaining assassin, the clones and most importantly Carlos.  Ianto was conscious but was unable to provide much information beyond his knowledge that the original humans used for the cloning project were kept in some type of dormitory on the UNIT base just outside of London. The clones would be kept separately, but probably near the special labs set up for this project.

 

As for the last assassin and the possible spy clone, Tosh could find no information on where they were hidden. 

 

They had one more day before UNIT would come knocking on their door and Torchwood wasn’t ready. 


Part 20 here:  http://aviv-b.livejournal.com/101772.html