buttononthetop | Fic: Vizzini's Rule (82/105)

Title: Vizzini's Rule, Chapter 82

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: Not really, some offscreen violence and a corpse

Spoilers: Season One thru Combat (1x11)

Disclaimer: Torchwood and all its wonderfulness belong to Russell T. Davies and the Mighty Beeb. Just goofin' around! All ©’s to Noel Clarke for dialogue and situations borrowed from Combat – no infringement, only worship intended.

Summary: In which there is research… oh! And Owen finally comes back to work…

Notes: Another installment in the ‘Combat’ episode. Hope you likes! And let me just say, Democrat, Republican, or Undecided – GET OUT AND VOTE! :D

Previous Chapters

Vizzini's Rule: Chapter Eighty-Two

The team worked for several hours, trying to piece together the little information they had about the mysterious white van and the men inside. Ianto awoke from an unplanned nap at Jack’s desk around midnight. He got up and stretched the kinks out of his back and neck as he walked to the door. Looking around the Hub, he saw Gwen and Tosh in similar positions: Tosh was asleep on her keyboard, her glasses charmingly askew and Gwen was less charmingly sitting straight up on the sofa with a report in her lap, her head tilted back, snoring like a grampus as my gran used to say, Ianto thought with a smile.

Since Owen had never shown up, that just left Jack. Ianto glanced down into Jack’s room, but it was dark and quiet. He stepped out into the Hub and listened carefully. He could hear a faint clinking noise over Gwen’s snores and followed the sound to the med bay where he found his Captain.

Jack was at one of the lab tables, doing something complicated to a vial of liquid. As Ianto watched from the railing, Jack managed to produce a small cloud of vapor which made him sneeze.

“Bless you,” Ianto said quietly.

Jack jumped and then looked up at Ianto. Rubbing his finger vigorously under his nose, Jack glared at him. “It’s not polite to sneak up on people.”

“Who’s sneaking?” Ianto said as he descended the stairs. “What are you doing down here?”

“Trying to strengthen the anti-weevil spray,” Jack said. He groaned appreciatively as Ianto stood behind him and rubbed his shoulders. He sagged against Ianto and leaned his head back on Ianto’s chest.

“And do you have any idea what you’re doing?” Ianto asked, digging his thumbs into the base of Jack’s skull.

“God, that feels good. And no, no clue. But since Owen can’t be bothered to come to work anymore, I figured I’d give it a shot.”

“Want me to try calling him again?”

“Nah,” Jack said. “I’ve been trying off and on all night.”

“No answer?”

“Nope. I’ve been contemplating handcuffing him to his desk when he does finally show up, but the kinky bastard would probably enjoy it,” Jack huffed.

Ianto laughed quietly and leaned down to murmur in Jack’s ear, “I’m not sure I want to think about you and Owen and handcuffs in any combination.”

Jack gave a theatrical shudder. “Me neither. Well,” he said, sitting up again. “Since I’m obviously useless at chemistry, we’ll just have to wait until the good doctor graces us with his presence again. The girls still asleep?”

“Yeah. How long was I out?” Ianto asked.

“Only about an hour.” Jack stood up and took Ianto’s face between his hands, kissing him softly. “Wish I could say go home and get some sleep but we really need to find these bastards.”

Ianto nodded. “I’ll take another look at the CCTV footage.” He jogged up the stairs and turned to look down at Jack. “While I’m up there I’ll drop something heavy, get Tosh and Gwen up and at ‘em again.”

Jack chuckled.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~
It was almost dawn before they had a breakthrough in the case. Tosh had been able to find the van quite easily on the CCTV footage around the car park, but had lost it a few minutes later when the cameras in that area went down. It had taken their combined efforts and most of the night to find it again, sifting through hours of footage taken from all over the city. Once Tosh had pieced together all the bits of sightings they had found, she was able to trace it to the docks.

Jack and Tosh headed out to check on the van’s whereabouts while Ianto and Gwen stayed behind. Gwen was alternately calling Rhys and Owen and neither of them were picking up. She looked so sad and confused that Ianto was moved to run out and fetch some breakfast. Gwen perked up a bit with fresh coffee and flakey pastries on offer. They were munching in companionable silence when Jack rang and set Ianto to work tracing the calls to and from a mobile they’d found with a battered and bloodied corpse in a warehouse at the docks.

By the time Tosh and Jack had returned with the victim, Owen had finally shown up. He helped Jack unload the body and transport it to the med bay. Ianto couldn’t help but overhear a little of their heated conversation as they were setting up for the examination, but tried to focus on his work and not on the bollocksing Jack was giving Owen for ignoring their calls.

The rest of the team was gathered in the med bay when Ianto finally admitted defeat with the mobile and joined them.

“Any joy with the phone records?” Jack asked him as he walked up.

Ianto leaned on the railing and said, “The last incoming number was blocked and the phone’s entire call history has been erased.”

“God, they move fast,” Tosh observed.

Jack looked down at the body again. “You ask me,” he said, “these guys are using weevils to carry out the perfect murder. No fingerprint, no traces of recognizable DNA… a quick, guaranteed death. Nothing to connect anyone to the murder.”

“Right,” Owen said, “Should be a piece of piss to find the killer, then.”

Ianto’s lip curled in a half smile. Exactly what I was thinking. Gwen’s next words wiped the smile from his face completely.

“Well, what about this guy? Someone’s got to break it to his wife that he’s dead.”

Owen, Tosh and Ianto all looked at one another and then Jack, identical expressions on their faces. Jack gave them a quick nod and turned to face Gwen. She looked up and realized what everyone was thinking. Sighing, she flipped the victim’s wallet closed with a scowl and stood up.

Well, what do you expect? Ianto thought as she brushed past him and Tosh in a huff. You can’t lecture us all about how you’re the only one with compassion and then not get this kind of job.

“Owen, go with her,” Jack ordered.

“Uh… pass, thank you very much,” Owen said.

“Which part of that sounded like request?” Jack said sternly. “Get your ass up there right now and go with Gwen.”

Owen and Jack stared at one another for a moment, neither one willing to give in. Owen blinked first.

“Fine!” he spat as he pulled his scrubs over his head and stalked over to the changing room.

Tosh and Ianto rolled their eyes at one another and headed back to their workstations. Jack asked Ianto to look more closely at the hospital records, to see if he could find someone, anyone that they could question. Meanwhile, Jack and Tosh brainstormed about the weevils, the van and the warehouse. By the time Owen had returned, quite a bit later than Gwen, though neither of them would say what had happened, Jack and Tosh had a plan of attack. Jack informed Owen that he was going undercover to investigate the suspect, an estate agent named Mark Lynch, once again making it very clear that he was going to do his job or answer to Jack.

While the rest of the team put the plan into motion, Ianto kept scouring the hospital records and police reports, only taking time out to sort out some lunch for the team shortly after Owen left on his assignment. When he finally found a solid lead, Ianto almost cheered. Feeling useful for the first time in hours, he printed off the information about an apparent mugging victim with the types of wounds they were looking for and a slightly unbelievable police report. He brought the file to Jack immediately, surprising the Captain who was leaning on his doorframe watching Tosh work her magic.

“I’ve tracked down another set of suspicious injuries at the hospital,” he said, showing Jack the report. “They sound pretty bad,” he finished but Jack was already on the move.

“Tosh, stay here and monitor Mark Lynch’s movements. Ianto with me,” Jack called out.

Ianto set the report down, a little thrill shooting through him as he realized this was the first time Jack was taking him on proper fieldwork since the Brecon Beacons incident. He grabbed Jack’s coat from the hook in his office and something on the lining caught his eye. When he realized the dark stain was Jack’s blood from the weevil attack earlier, he shook his head at Jack’s inexplicable disregard for his own safety and made a mental note to take the coat to the cleaners. Again.

He put the coat over his arm and walked out into the Hub where Jack was talking to Gwen in low tones. Gwen didn’t move out of the narrow walkway, so Ianto had to turn sideways to pass by her. As he did, he noticed the ‘kicked puppy’ look on her face and wondered what she and Jack had been discussing. But then Jack turned and gave him a smile and all thoughts of Gwen flew out of his mind.

TBC in Chapter Eighty-Three

Current Mood: hopeful
Current Music: Dancing with the Stars