Fic: The Sea After a Storm (74/?)
Mar. 1st, 2015 03:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
buttononthetopTitle: The Sea After a Storm, Chapter 74
Rating: R
Warnings: Violence, major character death
Spoilers: Season Two thru Reset (2x06)
Pairings: Jack/Ianto
Disclaimer: Torchwood, Doctor Who and all their wonderfulness belong to the Mighty Beeb and He Who Must Not Be Named. All ©'s to J.C. Wilsher for situations and dialogue borrowed from Reset. No infringement, only worship intended!
Summary: In which the team rescue's Martha from the Pharm at terrible consequences...
Notes: All love tothraceadams and reddevilpoes who may be my only readers left!! You can find all the previous chapters of The Sea After a Storm here. This is a sequel to Vizzini’s Rule and To The Pain. Thanks again and forever to my amazing beta and wonderful friend thraceadams for all the help and support and beta work; any mistakes are mine!
The Sea After a Storm: Chapter Seventy-Four
Previously on The Sea After a Storm: With their one lead to save Martha from the Pharm killed by a mayfly, the team are at a dead end until Tosh comes up with a brilliant, if slightly horrifying, plan...
It only took a few minutes to get Billy Davis' body tidied up – duct tape really is a miracle, Ianto thought – and back in the boot of the SUV. Everyone armed themselves and Tosh gathered up the equipment she needed for remote vehicle operation to carry out her plan and then they were back on the road to Elin Morgan's flat.
Ianto had discovered a set of car keys in Billy's pocket and they were banking on them fitting one of the vehicles parked nearby. Tosh's idea to use Billy's body to 'drive' them into the Pharm would work better if they could use Billy's car as well as his corpse. It didn't take long for them to pick out Billy's black older model Land Rover from the line of unprepossessing cars lining Elin's street.
Jack drove Billy's car and Ianto followed with the rest of the team in the SUV until they were a short distance from the Pharm's main gate. They left the SUV parked behind a tall hedge and all piled in the back of the Land Rover after getting Billy situated in the driver's seat, his hands duct taped to the steering wheel. Tosh used the remote system to drive them up to the guard shack without incident. They let out a collective sigh of relief when the guard simply waved Billy in without a word.
"Tosh, Gwen, Ianto, check out Zone A. We're going after Martha," Jack ordered motioning to Owen. "Let's go!"
Ianto pointed the way, recalling the map of the Pharm perfectly in his mind as they skulked across the compound. At the security gate, Tosh used their connection to the computer systems to pull the code and, just like that, they were in. When they entered the largest warehouse, Ianto thought they'd made a mistake as it appeared to be mostly storage. But as they rounded a corner, they caught sight of a Pharm employee, removing a sample jar from a large stasis tube.
"Put your hands above your head!" Gwen called in her best cop voice.
The woman obeyed, looking surprised. Gwen kept her gun trained on the woman, while Tosh inched nearer to the containment tube.
"Ianto," Tosh breathed, sounding horrified.
He stepped closer. "Bloody hell," he said.
The tube contained a naked weevil, hooked up to dozens of tubes and sensors. It moaned, barely able to move, clearly in pain.
"What's happening here?" Gwen demanded, seeing the weevil for herself.
"This is what the Pharm is all about," the woman in the lab coat explained in a calm, matter-of-fact tone. "We farm captive aliens for the exotic chemical products they metabolise."
Ianto swallowed his disgust. "What the hell do you get from a weevil?"
"Some pesticides and a quite powerful chemical defoliant. But the weevils aren't what's going to clinch the Nobel for us." The woman stepped over to the next tube, the pride in her voice as she described her work making Ianto sick to his stomach. "The Mayfly," the woman said fondly. "Our feedstock for Reset. Given time, we'll tweak the product for human use and then it'll be bigger than penicillin."
Ianto tapped his comm and tore his eyes away from the pathetic form of a giant mayfly, its many legs and wings bound, trapped behind the glass. "Jack, I can give you a report on Zone A."
"Yes?"
"They're holding dozens of creatures captive down here. They seem to be using them as test subjects, trapping them in containers and bleeding them dry for their unique attributes. It's as horrifying as it sounds," he added, looking at the lines of containment tubes stretching from one end of the warehouse to the other.
"Understood, Ianto. Tell Tosh to go for total shutdown. This place is a torture chamber."
"Yes, sir."
He took a second to get himself under control before he returned to the others, the memory of the dying cries of the space whale they'd been unable to save earlier in the year suddenly filling his mind. He cleared his throat and walked back to Gwen and Tosh, passing along Jack's message.
Tosh nodded briskly. "Is anyone else in here?" she asked their captive.
The woman shook her head. "After hours, skeleton staff."
"Good. Let's go."
Gwen kept the woman at gun point, pushing her forward whenever she slowed her pace as they walked back to the Land Rover. Ianto kept close to Tosh, guarding her as she walked without looking where she was going while she typed on her laptop. They met up with Jack, Owen and, thankfully, an unharmed Martha at the vehicle.
"Do it," Jack told Tosh who pushed one last button on her computer.
At once the sound of alarms filled the air around them, a calm voice over the din stating: "Facility shutdown in progress. All personnel must evacuate immediately."
Satisfied, Jack gave a sharp nod and said, "Okay, let's go!"
Owen was helping a shaky Martha into the Land Rover, when suddenly Copley rounded the front of the car, a gun in his hand.
"Did you really think I was going to let you just walk away?" Copley asked, aiming his gun at Martha.
Owen stepped in front of her as Copley kept talking.
"You've ruined everything I've worked for."
"Now, let's not be stupid," Owen said calmly, his hands up. "Okay? We're both rational men... scientists. I know you don't want to shoot that."
When the gun went off, everyone jumped but Copley.
"You're next!" he yelled at Martha as Owen fell to the ground, blood blooming across his chest.
Jack didn't hesitate; he drew his Webley and shot Copley right between the eyes. As soon he went down, Martha dropped to her knees beside Owen followed quickly by Tosh and Jack while Ianto ran to Copley, kicking his gun away and making sure he was truly dead.
"Owen! Can you hear me, Owen?" Martha cried, scrabbling for the med kit.
"You've got to help him!" Tosh cried. She clutched Owen's hand as Martha prepared a syringe of adrenaline.
Jack was at Owen's other side, holding his hand and talking to him as Martha worked. "Owen, stay with me. Owen! Owen, look at me, look at me. Owen, look right at me. Stay with me, Owen, stay with me!"
Ianto and Gwen exchanged an anguished look, both of them standing back to give the others room. It didn't look good. Owen's shirtfront was almost completely red, his heart steadily pumping blood out of the hole made by Copley's bullet.
"Stay with me, buddy." Jack was begging now. "Come on, come on."
"Owen, speak to me!"
Martha had administered the adrenaline to no effect. A thin trickle of blood ran from Owen's mouth as he let out a wet, rattling breath. He blinked once and then stilled. Martha pressed her fingers under his jaw, searching in vain for a pulse.
"He's dead," she said softly.
Ianto swallowed hard against the rush of emotions that hit him.
"Owen?" Jack whispered.
Tosh lifted Owen's lifeless hand to her cheek and began to cry silently.
"Owen!" Jack said again.
Ianto holstered his gun and stepped forward to put his hand on Jack's shoulder. "Jack," he said quietly.
"No." The word sounded as if it'd been torn from Jack's body.
Ianto looked over at Gwen in mute appeal, but before she could respond, her captive turned quickly and shoved her hard, knocking her to the ground.
"Hey!" Ianto was already in pursuit, running after the woman who was heading for the compound's exit.
"Let her go!"
Jack's words stopped Ianto in his tracks. He turned around to find Jack helping Gwen to her feet.
"Let her go," Jack repeated.
"But –" Gwen and Ianto spoke as one.
"What were you going to do with her?" Jack asked. "Lock her in the vaults with the weevils?"
"Be rather poetic," Ianto grumbled.
Jack ignored him. "Copley was right about one thing. This is an official facility which means people in power knew what they were doing. They'll never let this come to light so there's no way to hold any of these people accountable for the atrocities that happened here. We shut them down, that was the best we could do. We –" Jack broke off, clearing his throat.
"We need to get out of here," Gwen said quietly. "We need to get Owen... home."
Jack nodded. Ianto glanced at the Land Rover which still had Billy Davis' body taped to the steering wheel and grimaced.
With a jerky motion over his shoulder, Ianto pointed back towards the entrance to the facility. "I'll just run and get the SUV," he offered. "Won't take a moment." He got another rough nod from Jack and sprinted toward the guard shack at the gate. He passed a few straggling Pharm staff as he ran. It appeared most had taken the evacuation in stride – Ianto even heard a few snatches of conversation about how unsurprised everyone was that something terrible had finally happened on the premises.
"Unnatural, that's what it was," one man with a heavy Northern accent was saying to his companion when Ianto passed them.
Unnatural... Ianto thought as he slowed up near the SUV. That's one word for it... unnatural, cruel, wrong, inhumane, the synonyms just flooded his mind. He pulled open the door and slid inside the SUV. When he put the key in the ignition, however, he froze. He was about to start the car and drive a few hundred metres to where Owen was lying dead in the street. Tears pricked behind his eyes. Owen is dead. It didn't seem possible. Loud, crass, opinionated Owen was gone... forever. Ianto felt his breath come up short and then the tears more than threatened. He leant his forehead on the steering wheel for a long moment and let himself grieve for the man who, despite all their differences, had been his friend.
TBC...
.
Rating: R
Warnings: Violence, major character death
Spoilers: Season Two thru Reset (2x06)
Pairings: Jack/Ianto
Disclaimer: Torchwood, Doctor Who and all their wonderfulness belong to the Mighty Beeb and He Who Must Not Be Named. All ©'s to J.C. Wilsher for situations and dialogue borrowed from Reset. No infringement, only worship intended!
Summary: In which the team rescue's Martha from the Pharm at terrible consequences...
Notes: All love to
thraceadams and reddevilpoes who may be my only readers left!! You can find all the previous chapters of The Sea After a Storm here. This is a sequel to Vizzini’s Rule and To The Pain. Thanks again and forever to my amazing beta and wonderful friend thraceadams for all the help and support and beta work; any mistakes are mine!The Sea After a Storm: Chapter Seventy-Four
Previously on The Sea After a Storm: With their one lead to save Martha from the Pharm killed by a mayfly, the team are at a dead end until Tosh comes up with a brilliant, if slightly horrifying, plan...
It only took a few minutes to get Billy Davis' body tidied up – duct tape really is a miracle, Ianto thought – and back in the boot of the SUV. Everyone armed themselves and Tosh gathered up the equipment she needed for remote vehicle operation to carry out her plan and then they were back on the road to Elin Morgan's flat.
Ianto had discovered a set of car keys in Billy's pocket and they were banking on them fitting one of the vehicles parked nearby. Tosh's idea to use Billy's body to 'drive' them into the Pharm would work better if they could use Billy's car as well as his corpse. It didn't take long for them to pick out Billy's black older model Land Rover from the line of unprepossessing cars lining Elin's street.
Jack drove Billy's car and Ianto followed with the rest of the team in the SUV until they were a short distance from the Pharm's main gate. They left the SUV parked behind a tall hedge and all piled in the back of the Land Rover after getting Billy situated in the driver's seat, his hands duct taped to the steering wheel. Tosh used the remote system to drive them up to the guard shack without incident. They let out a collective sigh of relief when the guard simply waved Billy in without a word.
"Tosh, Gwen, Ianto, check out Zone A. We're going after Martha," Jack ordered motioning to Owen. "Let's go!"
Ianto pointed the way, recalling the map of the Pharm perfectly in his mind as they skulked across the compound. At the security gate, Tosh used their connection to the computer systems to pull the code and, just like that, they were in. When they entered the largest warehouse, Ianto thought they'd made a mistake as it appeared to be mostly storage. But as they rounded a corner, they caught sight of a Pharm employee, removing a sample jar from a large stasis tube.
"Put your hands above your head!" Gwen called in her best cop voice.
The woman obeyed, looking surprised. Gwen kept her gun trained on the woman, while Tosh inched nearer to the containment tube.
"Ianto," Tosh breathed, sounding horrified.
He stepped closer. "Bloody hell," he said.
The tube contained a naked weevil, hooked up to dozens of tubes and sensors. It moaned, barely able to move, clearly in pain.
"What's happening here?" Gwen demanded, seeing the weevil for herself.
"This is what the Pharm is all about," the woman in the lab coat explained in a calm, matter-of-fact tone. "We farm captive aliens for the exotic chemical products they metabolise."
Ianto swallowed his disgust. "What the hell do you get from a weevil?"
"Some pesticides and a quite powerful chemical defoliant. But the weevils aren't what's going to clinch the Nobel for us." The woman stepped over to the next tube, the pride in her voice as she described her work making Ianto sick to his stomach. "The Mayfly," the woman said fondly. "Our feedstock for Reset. Given time, we'll tweak the product for human use and then it'll be bigger than penicillin."
Ianto tapped his comm and tore his eyes away from the pathetic form of a giant mayfly, its many legs and wings bound, trapped behind the glass. "Jack, I can give you a report on Zone A."
"Yes?"
"They're holding dozens of creatures captive down here. They seem to be using them as test subjects, trapping them in containers and bleeding them dry for their unique attributes. It's as horrifying as it sounds," he added, looking at the lines of containment tubes stretching from one end of the warehouse to the other.
"Understood, Ianto. Tell Tosh to go for total shutdown. This place is a torture chamber."
"Yes, sir."
He took a second to get himself under control before he returned to the others, the memory of the dying cries of the space whale they'd been unable to save earlier in the year suddenly filling his mind. He cleared his throat and walked back to Gwen and Tosh, passing along Jack's message.
Tosh nodded briskly. "Is anyone else in here?" she asked their captive.
The woman shook her head. "After hours, skeleton staff."
"Good. Let's go."
Gwen kept the woman at gun point, pushing her forward whenever she slowed her pace as they walked back to the Land Rover. Ianto kept close to Tosh, guarding her as she walked without looking where she was going while she typed on her laptop. They met up with Jack, Owen and, thankfully, an unharmed Martha at the vehicle.
"Do it," Jack told Tosh who pushed one last button on her computer.
At once the sound of alarms filled the air around them, a calm voice over the din stating: "Facility shutdown in progress. All personnel must evacuate immediately."
Satisfied, Jack gave a sharp nod and said, "Okay, let's go!"
Owen was helping a shaky Martha into the Land Rover, when suddenly Copley rounded the front of the car, a gun in his hand.
"Did you really think I was going to let you just walk away?" Copley asked, aiming his gun at Martha.
Owen stepped in front of her as Copley kept talking.
"You've ruined everything I've worked for."
"Now, let's not be stupid," Owen said calmly, his hands up. "Okay? We're both rational men... scientists. I know you don't want to shoot that."
When the gun went off, everyone jumped but Copley.
"You're next!" he yelled at Martha as Owen fell to the ground, blood blooming across his chest.
Jack didn't hesitate; he drew his Webley and shot Copley right between the eyes. As soon he went down, Martha dropped to her knees beside Owen followed quickly by Tosh and Jack while Ianto ran to Copley, kicking his gun away and making sure he was truly dead.
"Owen! Can you hear me, Owen?" Martha cried, scrabbling for the med kit.
"You've got to help him!" Tosh cried. She clutched Owen's hand as Martha prepared a syringe of adrenaline.
Jack was at Owen's other side, holding his hand and talking to him as Martha worked. "Owen, stay with me. Owen! Owen, look at me, look at me. Owen, look right at me. Stay with me, Owen, stay with me!"
Ianto and Gwen exchanged an anguished look, both of them standing back to give the others room. It didn't look good. Owen's shirtfront was almost completely red, his heart steadily pumping blood out of the hole made by Copley's bullet.
"Stay with me, buddy." Jack was begging now. "Come on, come on."
"Owen, speak to me!"
Martha had administered the adrenaline to no effect. A thin trickle of blood ran from Owen's mouth as he let out a wet, rattling breath. He blinked once and then stilled. Martha pressed her fingers under his jaw, searching in vain for a pulse.
"He's dead," she said softly.
Ianto swallowed hard against the rush of emotions that hit him.
"Owen?" Jack whispered.
Tosh lifted Owen's lifeless hand to her cheek and began to cry silently.
"Owen!" Jack said again.
Ianto holstered his gun and stepped forward to put his hand on Jack's shoulder. "Jack," he said quietly.
"No." The word sounded as if it'd been torn from Jack's body.
Ianto looked over at Gwen in mute appeal, but before she could respond, her captive turned quickly and shoved her hard, knocking her to the ground.
"Hey!" Ianto was already in pursuit, running after the woman who was heading for the compound's exit.
"Let her go!"
Jack's words stopped Ianto in his tracks. He turned around to find Jack helping Gwen to her feet.
"Let her go," Jack repeated.
"But –" Gwen and Ianto spoke as one.
"What were you going to do with her?" Jack asked. "Lock her in the vaults with the weevils?"
"Be rather poetic," Ianto grumbled.
Jack ignored him. "Copley was right about one thing. This is an official facility which means people in power knew what they were doing. They'll never let this come to light so there's no way to hold any of these people accountable for the atrocities that happened here. We shut them down, that was the best we could do. We –" Jack broke off, clearing his throat.
"We need to get out of here," Gwen said quietly. "We need to get Owen... home."
Jack nodded. Ianto glanced at the Land Rover which still had Billy Davis' body taped to the steering wheel and grimaced.
With a jerky motion over his shoulder, Ianto pointed back towards the entrance to the facility. "I'll just run and get the SUV," he offered. "Won't take a moment." He got another rough nod from Jack and sprinted toward the guard shack at the gate. He passed a few straggling Pharm staff as he ran. It appeared most had taken the evacuation in stride – Ianto even heard a few snatches of conversation about how unsurprised everyone was that something terrible had finally happened on the premises.
"Unnatural, that's what it was," one man with a heavy Northern accent was saying to his companion when Ianto passed them.
Unnatural... Ianto thought as he slowed up near the SUV. That's one word for it... unnatural, cruel, wrong, inhumane, the synonyms just flooded his mind. He pulled open the door and slid inside the SUV. When he put the key in the ignition, however, he froze. He was about to start the car and drive a few hundred metres to where Owen was lying dead in the street. Tears pricked behind his eyes. Owen is dead. It didn't seem possible. Loud, crass, opinionated Owen was gone... forever. Ianto felt his breath come up short and then the tears more than threatened. He leant his forehead on the steering wheel for a long moment and let himself grieve for the man who, despite all their differences, had been his friend.
TBC...
.
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Date: 2015-03-02 12:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-03-06 01:03 am (UTC)Perfect icon!
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Date: 2015-03-02 02:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-03-06 01:02 am (UTC)Thanks for the comment!!