Previous part of The Uninvited.

***

After a whirlwind of activity following the unlocking of the Hub, the imprisonment of Captain Hart and the reinstatement of the security systems, Ianto found himself in the autopsy bay again, gaze distant as Owen fixed him up. Again.

The doctor turned Ianto's left hand over, examining the band around his wrist. Whatever its purpose, whatever it had done, its activation had caused the metal to burn into the flesh of his arm. The skin surrounding it was raw and weeping and, even though Owen had given him a strong analgesic, it continued to ache persistently.

It also throbbed completely out of synch with his right arm, which was not helping Ianto's headache at all.

"I really don't know where to start," Owen admitted, glancing towards where Jack was leaning against the wall, arms folded over his chest. The Captain's forehead was deeply creased, his expression dark and foreboding. "There isn't a seam where the ends used to be and if we start cutting randomly it might..." He grimaced. "Okay, I don't know what it might do. We should have tried harder to figure out what this thing was when we first found it."

"Hindsight's a fine thing," Ianto muttered, his eyes still unfocused.

"Right," Owen agreed. He looked to Jack again with faint concern in his eyes as he applied cream to Ianto's wrist and wrapped a bandage around the scorched skin. "Perhaps we should talk to your mate about this band. The last thing I want to do is cut into in and set off something that does even more damage to his arm."

Jack's lip curled up into a sneer. "I'd really rather not give John any more leverage," he said angrily.

"I don't think we've got any other option, Jack."

"Well, talk to me when you're sure we don't have any other option and then I'll consider it."

Owen pursed his lips together, frustrated by the Captain's reticence. "Fine. I'll see if Tosh has figured out anything new about it."

Jack nodded, waiting until Owen had disappeared before stepping forward to look down at the seated Welshman. "You okay?" he asked.

Ianto shrugged. "I think I need a holiday, Sir," he told the older man, his tone deadpan.

"No holidays in Torchwood," Jack retorted immediately, hoping to drag a smile from Ianto and almost sighing with relief when he succeeded. "Do you want to talk about what happened?" he asked.

"Which part?"

"Let's skip to John turning up," Jack said, frown reforming. "What's his role in this?"

Ianto rubbed at his eyes. "Lurrelia brought him here," he said, then glanced up in apology. "Sorry, the being that was controlling me is apparently called Lurrelia."

"Tosh told us the same thing. Go on."

"He came through down in the cells, shortly after I, uh, sent Tosh and Owen outside. He seemed genuinely surprised to find himself here, so I assume he wasn't in on the entire plan, but he knew exactly what to do once he got started." The young man bit his lip in thought. "Did Tosh tell you about Lurrelia being separated from her body?"

Jack nodded. "Whilst she was rerouting the security system she explained everything that Lurrelia let her see whilst in her mind. She's from a race of beings called the Perscalla-Fam. I encountered them once a long time ago, but it seems in the interim they've developed rather drastically."

"Which is why you didn't recognise this?" Ianto guessed, nodded at his bound wrist.

"The markings aren't even similar to those the Fam used," Jack told him. "I think another race created it, but this Lurrelia happened to know what it could do. I only wish we'd known ourselves so we could have destroyed it before all this happened."

"Knowing wouldn't have made a difference," said Ianto. "First we would've tried to use it, then we'd have kept it in the archives when we failed, and Lurrelia would still have been able to manipulate me in order to get hold of it."

"But where does John come into it all?" Jack's features remained grim at the mention of Hart's involvement and Ianto did not envy the younger Captain when it came time to question him.

"If I had to guess, I would say he was brought here to act as Lurrelia's hands until she returned to her body."

"Surely you were acting as her hands," Jack pointed out.

"Then maybe he had information she needed instead," Ianto suggested with a shrug.

Jack blew out a long breath. "There's really only one person who can tell us." He did not seem to enjoy having to admit to that fact. "Unless that unwanted guest of ours is still inside your head?"

Ianto frowned a little at the suspiciously hopeful tone of his voice. "I'm pretty sure she's gone. I am talking again, after all."

"A fact I'm very glad of." Jack smiled gently at him. "I missed our little chats." He inched forward and Ianto's eyes widened a fraction.

The younger man pushed himself to his feet, bringing himself level with Jack. After all that had happened, after feeling so helpless whilst Lurrelia had controlled his body, to have Jack joking with him again felt so normal that he couldn't help but smile. "Chats?" he repeated. "Do you mean those times when you'd ask for something and I'd reply 'Yes, Sir'?"

Jack chuckled briefly before turning serious once more. "It was difficult, wasn't it? Being unable to speak?"

"It was only for the day," Ianto said. "But yes, it was taxing at times." He wiggled the fingers of his left hand. "Of course it did give me the chance to discover that I can be fully ambidextrous if I practise enough."

Ianto noticed the glint in Jack's eyes and he had to bite back the triumphant smile at having put it there. Revealing his pleasure at the victory would end their game early and he didn't want that.

"Really?" Jack asked. "How much practise do you think you'd need?" He sidled even closer, until Ianto could feel the heat of his body. He closed his eyes, dragging in a deep breath and getting a lungful of the older man's unique scent.

"A lot," Ianto said with a casual shrug. He glanced towards the stairs that led up out of the sunken room. "In fact I think I'll go start now."

A low lustful noise rumbled from Jack's throat and without warning he lunged forward, capturing Ianto in a deliciously heated kiss. The younger man moaned lightly in pleasure as Jack slipped his hands around to press flat upon Ianto's back, mindful of the arm strapped up between them.

They parted their lips at the same time, synchronized by instinct, tongues sliding together without hesitation and they battled briefly for control, Ianto struggling to stay aware of who was doing what. Jack's hands slid up into Ianto's short hair and around to grasp the back of his head, pulling them closer until their bodies were flush against each other.

And then Ianto was doubled over, heaving in great wheezing breaths through gritted teeth.

"Ianto!" Jack cried, reaching out to rest one hand on his back whilst the other attempted to lift the young man's chin.

The contact made Ianto groan in anguish and he lurched away, holding out his hand to stop Jack from touching him again.

"Dammit," Jack muttered, realising what had happened. "It's me again, isn't it?"

Ianto couldn't respond; he was clinging onto the railing, forehead resting against the cold metal and his entire body quivering with tension.

"I'm sorry, Ianto. I thought you were okay now."

"So did I," he panted, finally unbending and turning around. His eyes were closed, eyelashes dark against cheeks drained of colour.

"Do you want me to get Owen?" Jack offered, but Ianto shook his head.

"Just give me a minute."

The Captain complied and fell silent, though Ianto could sense being watched closely as he got himself under control. When he opened his eyes again, they instantly met Jack's and he shuddered unintentionally.

"Are you all right?"

Ianto laughed bitterly. "I think I can safely say no." Jack glanced away and Ianto frowned to see guilt in the other man's expression. "It's not your fault," he said firmly. Jack gave him a knowing look and Ianto shrugged, unwilling to take it back, whether it was true or not. "We should talk to John. He might know something about the side-effects of Lurrelia's control," Ianto went on, clearing his throat and adjusting the sling still holding his right arm motionless.

Jack didn't notice, or else didn't wish to make mention of it. "You should get some rest," he said. "In fact we all should, it's about a day past bedtime."

"Do you really think anyone's going to agree to that?" Ianto asked.

"Not at all. It seems I've done too good a job turning you all into workaholics." Jack backed away, gesturing grandly that Ianto should lead the way, his cheerful demeanour back in place and yet doing nothing to hide the fact that he was purposefully leaving a large gap between them.

The Welshman walked ahead of his lover, his thoughts twisting around and upon themselves. He felt nauseous with both the lingering effects of Jack's touch and the worry that it might be permanent.

And on top of that, he couldn't help but wonder at which point he had started thinking of the younger Time Agent as 'John'.

---

Michael Torvey stood in a slowly spreading puddle of milk. The carton lay crumpled at his feet where it had dropped a few seconds earlier, forgotten in his astonishment at seeing the impossible sight of figures appearing out of thin air right in front of him.

"What the fuck?" Michael said, glancing back over his shoulder in bewilderment. The pathway was empty, he was all alone, and the things standing five paces away looked like something out of a horror movie.

Unsure if he could believe his eyes, Michael stared openly at them. The woman closest to him seemed normal enough, save her entirely blank expression. She was short, elfin, with pale hair and skin and dark eyes that were empty and flat.

Arranged behind her were a cluster of creatures which reminded him of bears, big and well-muscled with short, dark fur. Disturbingly, they stood upright on their hind-legs, looking very much like misshapen men. At least Michael assumed they were male: they were large, easily twice his height and weight, and there really wasn't much feminine about them.

Michael blinked a couple of times, hoping he could explain it all away as a trick of the morning light and his persistent hangover, but the only thing he achieved was the realisation that the animals did not even appear solid, their bodies partly transparent, and that merely served to confuse him all the more.

"What the hell are they?" he eventually demanded of the woman. As he spoke, a voice in his head screamed at him to run, but he was rooted to the spot, fascinated in spite of his fear.

The strange woman looked around the alleyway; first at the dingy grey wall of a storage depot and then at the broken fence overgrown with thorn bushes from the field beyond. Michael was suddenly struck by just how far away he was from anyone else.

He had dashed out of the house upon finding the fridge devoid of milk and the woman waiting in his bed – what was her name? Pam? Sam? – insisting that her coffee be white. His hope for another round before calling her a taxi had meant he'd been willing to run to the nearest shop just to please her. Now he was seriously regretting his optimism.

Taking another step back, Michael cringed as the short woman turned her vacant eyes upon him. He froze under the weight of that dark gaze, suddenly unable to move any further, though he tried valiantly to finally turn and run.

The woman smiled, but it was cold and unconvincing on her pale face.

***

Captain Hart was sprawled across the hard bed in the cell, hands folded behind his head and eyes shut. He grinned as Jack and Ianto came to a halt in front of the door. "Hey, Jack, did you miss me?" he asked cheerfully.

"Quite the opposite," Jack told him. "I'd forgotten all about you."

"Oh," Hart exclaimed, clutching one hand dramatically to his chest. "That hurt!" He cracked open one eye to peer out at them. "You missed me, didn't you, Eye-Candy?"

Ianto resolutely kept his expression blank. "I barely remembered your name," he said, taking his cue from Jack as to how to treat their unwanted guest.

"Now I know that isn't true," Hart declared, leaping to his feet and moving to the door. "I saw it in here." He pointed to Ianto and then at his own head and the young man pressed his lips together tightly at the memory.

Jack glanced between them. "Ianto?"

Ianto rolled his eyes. "Apparently that thing in my head gave him an insight into my thoughts for a while."

"There's no apparently about it," Hart cut in. "I was in there all right, poking around, uncovering your dirty little secrets." He glanced at Jack. "And boy, are they dirty! I never knew he had it in him!"

"Oh, come on," Ianto protested. "You could only hear my surface thoughts."

Hart's grin widened even further. "Ha! So it's no longer 'apparently', eh?"

"Okay, that's enough," Jack said sharply, interrupting their bickering. He turned a dark glare upon his old partner. "Tell me everything you know about this Lurrelia."

Hart made a thoughtful noise as he returned to the bed and lay down again. "I won't tell you anything until you let me out of here."

"You know I won't do that."

"Then you don't get to hear about your boy-toy's temporary visitor."

"She's done something to Ianto," Jack growled. "I want to know how to fix it. Now."

Hart yawned dramatically and said nothing.

The two men outside the cell exchanged a glance and Ianto shrugged, giving Jack complete control over the decision.

"Okay, let's see how you feel after a few days without food, water or company. But I promise you John, I will make you talk."

Hart sat up swiftly, smiling at his former lover. "Really? Please try. In fact, do your worst, Jack. After all, you know just how I like it."

With a monumental struggle, Jack resisted the urge to continue the banter. He moved silently to exit the block of cells, Ianto one step behind him, but once they were beyond the door he stopped and fixed a hard look upon the younger man. "What was that about?"

Ianto blinked at him. "What?"

"Don't give me that," Jack said. "You didn't tell me he could read your thoughts."

"It must have slipped my mind." Ianto considered the expression on Jack's face and went on. "He can't anymore, if that's what you're worried about."

"You mean you think he can't."

Ianto grimaced. He hadn't considered that. He had been so glad that Lurrelia had gone, and he had control over his body again, that Hart's brief foray into his thoughts hadn't seemed all that significant. "I don't think he saw anything important. Lurrelia was the one who made me open the safe and access the Manipulator's systems, so if we have to worry about anybody, it should be her."

"I am worried about her," Jack admitted. "If she's left your head, where exactly has she gone?"

Ianto frowned. "Back to her own body, I hope. That's what John said would happen." He lifted his wrist. "This band linked to another on her body and allowed her consciousness to return to where it came from."

"So she just hopped back through the Rift to her own body, wherever it might be, and that's that?"

Ianto shrugged. It did sound simple, and nothing they encountered was ever that straightforward, but he could not offer any other answer.

The Captain remained silent, brow creased with thought. Eventually he sighed loudly. "Well, I suppose we can only work with what we've got right now. That means we let Tosh continue her tests on that thing," he nodded towards Ianto's left arm, "and we work on John until he gives us something useful. Or else annoys me enough so I can shoot him."

"Ah," Ianto began, but then thought better of saying anything else.

Jack, however, didn't miss the protest. "That's right, you wanted that pleasure, didn't you? Why was that again?"

Ianto looked away, unable to meet his gaze whilst he considered his answer. "Because of this," he said, examining his bandaged wrist. It was partly the truth, at least; he certainly wouldn't be sorry to see Hart pay for putting the band on him, especially when he had seemed to know just how much the process would hurt. And yet that wasn't the entire reason he had demanded in his fit of rage to kill Hart. It also had a lot to do with the way John had made him feel earlier, all hot and bothered, entirely against his will.

Jack seemed to recognise the half-truth for what it was, but he prudently let it be. "We'll leave him for a while to stew then we'll try again, each of us alone, and see if we can't convince him to stop showboating for us."

"Alone," Ianto echoed, knowing full well the kind of lewd comments he would be subject to if he went back in there on his own.

"Yeah. Something tells me he might actually reveal useful information if encouraged in the right way."

"If that's what you want to do, Sir," Ianto said, unconvinced.

"You know you really should stop calling me that," Jack told him. "Unless we're role-playing again, that is."

Ianto looked away, flushing slightly at the memory. When Jack said nothing further, he glanced up and found the Captain smiling fondly at him. Ianto studied the blue eyes locked with his own. He was accustomed to Jack's flirting, to his inappropriate behaviour during work hours, and he usually did a good job of making sure nothing happened whilst the others were still in the Hub. Yet now that they couldn't do anything anyway, he felt the sudden need for contact.

He reached out before Jack could stop him and placed his palm against the older man's chest. He felt one faint throb of the other's heart before having to pull his hand away, making a face as he did so. "Just checking," he said quietly, flexing his fingers to relieve the ache.

They walked back up to the centre of the Hub, but once they reached sight of the water tower, Ianto stopped. Jack went on a few steps further before realising and glancing back over his shoulder. "What is it?"

"Are you hurt?" Ianto asked, looking up towards the distant ceiling. The drop from the hole in the tower's side was considerable and though the fall hadn't killed Jack - that much was evident from his swift attack on Hart - Ianto could not believe that even the Captain could have walked away unharmed.

Jack gave his trademark grin. "I'm fine. I've fallen a lot further than that before, and not always with a rope either."

Ianto didn't doubt that, but something still troubled him. He frowned, suddenly realising what it was. "How did you do that?" He nodded up towards the jagged hole in the stainless-steel.

"Frenst detonator," Jack told him smugly. "The best thing we ever did was install that sealed compartment in the SUV. I would not like to have been trapped in there when the Manipulator was at full power."

Ianto smiled faintly in agreement, silently thanking whatever had inspired them to build a hidden recess into the vehicle. It meant they were able to take more dangerous items out into the field without worrying about anybody stumbling across them accidentally and it was now evident just how good an idea that had been. Jack certainly wouldn't have had access to anything quite as useful as the explosives that had helped him get back into the Hub if they hadn't done it.

"Come on," Jack said, leading the way over to Toshiko's workstation. "Anything to report?" he asked her, shoving his hands into his pockets and nodding at Gwen and Owen as they join them.

"I've compared the readings from our previous tests on the band to those Owen took for me during his examination," Tosh explained, tapping at her keyboard to bring up the results on her screens. "The signature is the same as before, although the energy level has increased slightly, due to the device being activated, but there's nothing to suggest that it's still functioning. I would say that it's dormant now, although the fact that it is still emitting energy means we should definitely keep an eye on it. In case it does anything unusual."

"I'd say it's been doing some unusual things already," Owen commented dryly from behind her but Tosh pointedly ignored him.

"As for removing it," she went on, "I'm not eager to try that just yet. I want to run a few more simulations and scans, just to make sure we can safely cut it off."

"How long will that take?" Jack asked her.

"At least another five hours or so."

Ianto nodded. That didn't sound very long to him, but as he looked at the expressions upon the others' faces, it was clear that they didn't agree. He gave Tosh a reassuring smile and she visibly relaxed back into her chair.

"Um," Gwen said, drawing their attention to her. She waved a thin manila file at them. "I pulled the record on the band's discovery," she explained, opening the folder to reveal the print-outs she had made. "It says here that it was found with another object that came through the Rift. What happened to that?"

"It's in the archives," Ianto told her, reaching over to point at the code which told them where to find the item. "Classified non-toxic, non-earthly origin and non-descriptive."

Gwen looked up at him, puzzled. "Which means?"

"It means we don't know what it is, but we know it's safe."

"It looked like junk," Owen commented absently.

"It looked like part of a container," Tosh said. "Like the corner of a metal crate which had broken."

"And thus junk," Owen finished, finally earning a glare from her.

"I'd like to take a look at it," Gwen said, eyes fixed on the papers in her hand. "There might be something that can tell us more about that band. Now that we know what it actually does," she added, looking up and smiled apologetically, but no one took offence at the implication that they might have missed something.

Ianto nodded. "Of course. I'll take you down there now."

"No, you won't," Jack declared. "You're going to sleep. You all are." He glanced at his watch. "It's almost ten, so I want you to go home and rest. Come back in the afternoon and we'll have a proper meeting once Toshiko's simulations have finished and Gwen's had a nose around the archives."

Gwen began to make a half-hearted protest, but Jack cut her off with a firm look. "The situation is contained at the moment. In fact it's non-existent." He grinned at their blank looks. "Ianto's hitchhiker has gone and he's got his voice back, Tosh has secured the Hub and changed all the security protocols and John's locked up and no threat to anybody. So there's nothing to worry about right now and I think you'd all benefit from a few hours sleep before the next crisis begins."

Gwen pursed her lips unhappily. "I wish you wouldn't put it like that."

"Why not? There's always a next crisis, I'm just being realistic."

"Yeah, but one day I'd like to hear you say everything's hunky-dory."

"Hah! You'd get bored if everything was 'hunky-dory'."

Gwen gave him a big grin. "Of course, but I wanted to hear you say hunky-dory!"

"Can we all please stop saying hunky-dory?" Owen exclaimed, throwing up his hands in exasperation. He moved over to his desk to grab the jacket slung over the back of his chair. "Anyway, I'm not going to argue with getting a bit of kip. Anyone else coming?"

The two women exchanged a glance and shrugged, giving into fatigue over the desire to keep working. Tosh hesitated as she climbed down from her chair. "Ianto, did you want to come over to my place? You probably shouldn't be on your own right now and I can monitor the readings from the band in case anything changes."

Ianto smiled gratefully at her concern. "Thank you, Tosh-" he began, only to be interrupted by Jack.

"-But he'll be staying here today," the older man finished decisively.

One of Ianto's eyebrows crept up as he gave Jack a questioning look.

"Tosh is right," Jack told him. "You shouldn't be alone and I don't think you should be far from the Hub whilst you've got that thing on your wrist." He paused briefly. "Not to mention the prisoner who needs looking after," he added with a mischievous grin as Ianto rolled his eyes at him.

---

A little while later and everyone had finally departed, leaving the Hub quiet and peaceful. Ianto noticed that someone had cleared the base of the water tower, removing the remains of the panels that had been decimated by the alien bomb. He smiled to himself, touched that the others hadn't simply left the mess for him to deal with; although he would have to go over the area again himself, just to make sure they hadn't missed any of the sharp shards.

He moved over to the small kitchen, intent on fixing himself a large mug of strong coffee, only to find Jack suddenly blocking his path. "And just where do you think you're going?" the Captain asked, clearly already aware of the answer.

"I was going to make you a coffee, Jack," Ianto responded smoothly. "It is the morning, after all."

Jack glared at him. "Oh no, don't even think about trying that one. You're getting into bed, right now, and no arguments."

Ianto's eyes widened slightly, thoughts unintentionally skipping to a far less innocent meaning beneath the command. "Jack, I don't think-" he started to protest.

Jack laughed, a strained sound that made Ianto want to cringe. "I meant to sleep, Ianto, and I don't intend to be there either."

"Ah," Ianto said. "Sorry."

"Don't apologise. This isn't your fault."

Ianto smiled, relieved and nodded. Jack lifted one hand to pat Ianto's shoulder but froze and dropped it again ruefully before making contact. "You're exhausted. You need to rest and clear your mind."

"What if we can't fix this?" Ianto asked, eyes following Jack's hand wistfully.

"We will." Jack grinned at him. "But if we can't, then we'll just have to be even more inventive than ever."

***

Ianto awoke to the sensation of being gently shaken. "Ianto?" said Gwen's voice. "Come on, Sweetheart, it's time to wake up."

He opened groggy eyes and looked around, still half asleep. Memory filtered back into his waking mind as he realised that he was sprawled across a lumpy cot in one of rooms deep beneath the centre of the Hub. Pushing himself up, the blanket fell to his lap and Gwen's gaze went straight to the mass of bruises that had blossomed into vivid colours over his chest. She made a sympathetic noise. "You really haven't had much luck these past few days, have you?"

Ianto laughed weakly, rubbing the sleep from his eyes with his undamaged hand. "I certainly won't be buying a lotto ticket this week," he told her. "What time is it?"

"A little after four-thirty. I was going to-"

The Welshman straightened with a jerk. "Four-thirty? Why didn't you wake me earlier?"

"I was going to let you sleep longer," Gwen continued, unperturbed, "but something else has happened."

He groaned. "You're kidding! What now?"

"Well, there have been some mysterious new admissions at the hospital. People are turning up comatose for no good reason, which is strange enough, but they also all seem to be wearing very similar bracelets."

Ianto caught on immediately and looked down at his bandaged wrist. "Oh, God," he breathed, before frowning as the rest of her words sank in. "They're in comas?"

"Yep, and with no sign of trauma to explain their condition either. The others have gone to take a look at them while we go through their personal details."

Drawing in a deep and calming breath, Ianto reached for the shirt he had flung aside before collapsing into bed. He still had his trousers on – he'd been far too tired to bother removing them whilst the bed called like a siren to his exhausted body – and with Gwen's help he was soon dressed in everything but his suit jacket and ready to get back to work. Even if he did look completely dishevelled and worn-out.

After retrieving something to eat and drink, the pair settled in the conference room, pouring over the information Gwen had gathered about the people admitted to the hospital earlier that day. There was nothing immediately obvious to connect them, and that meant they would have to dig deeper to find a link; if there was one.

Ianto tried to help Gwen, but after a while it became clear that she was so deeply consumed by her task that she had forgotten he was even there. Before long he decided to leave her to it, slipping away when he realised there was something else he could do to help the situation.

A few minutes later he struggled into one of the blocks of cells, using his good shoulder to push open the heavy metal door with a grunt. He had a full glass tucked into the crook of his right arm, which was threatening to slip and spill water all over his cast and when he finally managed to get through without slamming the door in his own face, he glanced up to find Captain Hart watching from his cell. He was leaning against the dirty partition, looking completely untroubled by his imprisonment.

"You should have knocked," Hart told him. "I'd have opened it for you."

Ianto said nothing. He retrieved the water from within his sling before it could slide any further and walked slowly over to stand in front of the cell.

Hart's eyes drifted to the glass, lingered briefly before returning to meet Ianto's steady gaze. "Is that meant to tempt me?"

"No, this is mine. Jack said you weren't to have anything."

Hart snorted with laughter. "Oh, come on. Don't you think I've been through worse than a little starvation?"

Ianto shrugged. "I'm sure you have, but we're not trying to torture you."

"Then why no food or water?"

"Hopefully it'll help convince you to start talking."

"I told you already, let me out of here and I'll tell you everything."

"Tell us everything and we'll let you out," Ianto countered without missing a beat.

Hart grinned wolfishly at him. "Oh, I can see why Jack likes to play with you. It must be such a joy to shut you up."

Ianto shifted uncomfortably; a movement that Hart did not fail to notice. His grin widened even further. "Oh, but you've not been playing recently, have you?" he asked, lowering his chin and looking up through his lashes at the young Welshman. "I bet you can't think of anything worse than being touched by him right now. Am I right?"

Ianto clenched his jaw. "What did she do to me?" he demanded but Hart laughed it off.

"His touch pains you, doesn't it? Even the thought of being with him makes you physically sick." Hart pressed close to the door, eyes peering through the holes in the transparent material. "I bet he can't get your heart pounding anymore, not like I've got it pounding now."

Ianto barely managed to contain the gasp that rose in his throat. How could Hart have known the effect he was having on him? He swallowed, praying it was just a lucky guess, and held himself as still as possible in case he gave away just how accurate Hart had been.

Their eyes were locked but Ianto soon forced his away, lifting the glass to his lips and drinking to cover his discomfort. "Eye-Candy," Hart said quietly, but was ignored. "Ianto," he breathed, and Ianto could do nothing but look back at him, drawn back to the deep pools of lust in his eyes. "I can see you trembling," Hart told him. "You know you shouldn't but you want me. You can't help yourself."

The low voice pulled Ianto closer to the cell, everything forgotten save for the warmth of desire coiling low within his body.

"Don't fight it," said Hart, his hands splayed across the door as if reaching out for Ianto. "I'm right here for you. For you, Ianto."

The glass of water fell from suddenly numb fingers, shattering unnoticed on the hard floor and Ianto reached out blindly with his newly empty hand to open the door to Hart's cell.

Hart was nodding in encouragement, his tongue darting out to wet his lips. "That's it, Eye-Candy. Come and get it."

The door swung open and the two men slammed into each other, lips crashing desperately together. Ianto groaned into Hart's mouth, mostly in pain as his arm was crushed between them, but also in undeniable enjoyment. Heat rushed through his body, his skin seeming to burn wherever the other man touched him.

Hart shoved Ianto back against the far wall, one knee sliding in between his legs and up towards his groin. Ianto moaned again, causing Hart to grin against his lips.

"I've changed my mind," the former Time Agent said. "I definitely don't want to shut you up."

He pressed harder against Ianto, one hand reaching down to cup the evidence of the effect he was having on the Welshman. When Ianto gasped and clutched at his arm, Hart deftly unfastened his trousers, talented fingers twisting their way through the layers of cloth until they met hot flesh.

Ianto arched into the touch, his free hand scrabbling with Hart's clothing. Somehow he managed to get in and grasp Hart's erection, pumping in time with the fingers upon his own. They rushed towards completion, the pain in Ianto's broken arm causing a twisted feedback loop of agony and ecstasy that caused him to writhe wantonly against the persistent Captain.

Hart captured his lips in another bruising kiss, increasing the rough movement of his fist until Ianto jerked and cried out into his mouth. Hart came hard a moment later, grunting before he leaned back to laugh triumphantly.

Panting, Ianto didn't say anything as Hart pulled away. He stared down at himself, at the semen splattered across his waistcoat and the plastic sling. The reality of what had just happened hit him and he hurried to straighten his clothes, tucking himself away before daring to look up again.

Hart was watching him, his own attire suspiciously neat and unmarked. "Now I'll talk," he said, a smug grin upon his face.

***

Gwen looked up as Ianto entered the room. "There you are, come and-" She fell silent as she noticed the figure standing behind him, her eyes widening in surprise. "What's he doing out here?" she asked, jumping to her feet and reaching around her back for a gun that wasn't there.

"John's decided to start co-operating," Ianto said, lifting his hand to calm her. "It didn't seem fair to keep him locked up if he's helping us."

Gwen narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Right," she said slowly. "And how exactly is he offering 'help'?"

Hart stepped past Ianto and into the room, causing Gwen to tense. "I'm going to tell you everything I know about Lurrelia," he told her, "and afterwards, Eye-Candy's promised that we can have that orgy I missed out on last time."

"Keep that up and you'll go back to your cell," warned Gwen. She was quiet for a moment, her forehead creased in thought, then she pursed her lips and nodded. "Fine, sit down and talk. But no funny business or I'll make sure you never take part in any orgies ever again."

Hart lifted one eyebrow and glanced over his shoulder at Ianto. "Feisty, isn't she?"

Ianto's expression remained perfectly blank and Hart shrugged, unruffled by the lack of a response.

He sat and swung his feet up onto the tabletop. "Any chance of some food now, Eye-Candy?" he asked, fluttering his eyelashes and then glancing meaningfully down at the end of the table.

Ianto sighed and moved to retrieve the tray Gwen had brought out earlier for their snack. There were still a few slices of bread and meat left in their packets and although Hart made a face as the tray slid over to him, he reached for them without voicing his disappointment. "Drink?" he asked, smiling innocently up at Ianto.

Ianto rolled his eyes and went to fetch more coffee. As he turned away, Gwen caught his eye, giving him a look that he interpreted as a request to fetch a weapon whilst he was out of the room. When he returned with only three mugs balanced upon a small silver tray, Gwen frowned at being unable to see a gun anywhere upon him. Ianto was more concerned that she would notice he had removed his waistcoat before returning with Hart, but she said nothing about the lack of either.

"Okay, so talk," Gwen commanded, turning her attention back to their unwanted guest. She watched Hart as though he were a ticking bomb and Ianto was glad he'd decided that having a gun in the room was not a particularly good idea at that time.

Hart took a large, satisfying bite of the sandwich he had made. "I met Lurrelia on a planet called Omysa," he said around the food in his mouth. "The body she was in at the time was far too great a temptation for me to pass up." He leered at the pair sitting across from him. "We even spent a whole two nights together before I got bored of her. That would have been the end of it, but we encountered each other again a few days later, whilst she was in a different body. I didn't have a clue about her abilities back then, of course; I thought they were two entirely separate people and who could blame me? They looked different, they sounded different, I had no way of connecting them."

He took another bite, chewing slowly as Gwen and Ianto waited impatiently for him to go on. "She then, it seems, saw the opportunity for a game. That and she couldn't get enough of me." He made a show of smoothing his hair, the smirk on his face causing both members of Torchwood to roll their eyes and demand that he get on with the story. He grinned at their reaction.

"She began to follow me, jumping from body to body and positioning them where I would run into her. She had a good eye and I probably spent most of my time on Omysa with her in one form or another."

"You slut," said Gwen. Ianto glanced across and saw a reluctant smile tugging at her lips.

Hart nodded. "Oh yes," he agreed. "And a good one too. Why don't we take a break and I can show you?"

"Just get on with it," Ianto said, shifting uncomfortably in his chair.

"After a while I noticed certain similarities between the habits of my companions and when I mentioned it to one of them, Lurrelia revealed her presence. She told me all about herself and what she could do. Then she challenged me to another round of her game and, naturally, I couldn't back down from such a contest." Hart smiled fondly at the memory. "I don't know how many times she jumped bodies or even how many times she was actually in those I caught. One time I was with a rather nice trio of brothers and I'm convinced she was moving between them constantly, just to tease me."

Hart's gaze came to rest on Ianto. "They reminded me a bit of you, Eye-Candy. Very reserved on the outside, but once you got them out of their clothing..." He trailed off, eyes flickering over what he could see of Ianto's body. The young Welshman shifted again, conscious that Gwen was glancing between them. Had she guessed what had happened, or did she just think Hart was being his own incorrigible self?

Ianto scowled at him. "These people Lurrelia was in control of, the ones you slept with, did they have any choice in the matter?"

Hart's eyebrows rose briefly at the question, before his expression shifted back into a casual smirk. "Did I take advantage, do you mean?" he drawled, apparently understanding the hidden meaning in the question. "I don't know. You'd have to ask them."

Ianto didn't respond, though the fury was clear in his eyes. He looked to his side and saw a similar dark understanding tensing Gwen's features.

Hart and Lurrelia had essentially forced all of those people to have sex with Hart, with a stranger, and then left without any explanation or care for what came of their abuse. That fact angered Ianto more than the unpleasantness of his own situation, and yet he could not stop from thinking about what had happened down in the cells.

Lurrelia was supposed to have left his mind, so she surely could not have made him give into Hart's weak seduction, and yet he knew that logically he would never allow himself to behave in such a shameful way. Did that mean that Lurrelia was still controlling him? Or that her brief presence in his mind was still affecting him?

Or did it mean that he had less control over himself, particularly around attractive and strong-willed men, than he believed?

Ianto shook his head fractionally, trying to push away the disturbing thoughts. He wasn't sure which explanation he preferred, except perhaps the most far-fetched possibility that this was all one horrible dream from which he would soon awaken.

If only things were that easy.

Gwen had begun speaking again and Ianto forced himself to concentrate on her words, determined not to allow Hart to disrupt him from doing his duty.

"You have no morals at all, do you?" she asked tightly. "You're a selfish egotistical dick on legs and you don't care who you hurt, just as long as you get off."

Hart grinned, evidently pleased with the response he had evoked. "Anyway," he said, smoothly ignoring her accusation, "we didn't stay on Omysa. I'm not sure how long we travelled but it was a while and I got very good at finding her. But then she discovered she could move through time."

Gwen blinked at that and leaned forward, intrigued in spite of her rage. "Time?" she echoed. "How could she do that?"

Hart shrugged. "Beats me. And Lurrelia didn't explain it very well. She went on about something in the mind and memories and," he waved a hand helplessly, "something. Whatever, she was able to move backwards or forwards in someone's lifetime and then jump to another person in the new period of time."

Hart paused to take a sip of his coffee and moaned in delight. "This is fantastic," he assured Ianto, licking his lips and downing the rest of the cup. "The game got a lot more interesting when she started playing around in time. Obviously it gave me more of a challenge, but she left certain clues scattered about, like an erotic treasure hunt if you will, and I was able to find the people she had moved through. I caught her a few times but that only made her go further and further until finally, she got lost."

Ianto narrowed his eyes. "How could she become lost?"

"She went too far from her own body, apparently. Her people had never experimented with any kind of time travel and I don't think she was really aware of what she was doing. She panicked and started jumping at random. I was still able to follow her but she wouldn't calm down enough to let me catch her. From what she told me, she found herself here somehow, where she came across Eye-Candy," he nodded at Ianto, "and learnt of Torchwood."

"And she thought she could use our knowledge and equipment to get home again?" guessed Gwen.

"To start with, yes, but imagine her delight to find you had a Quar-Meil stashed away in here. That made things so much easier."

Ianto glanced down at his arm. "I take it you mean this," he said. The memory of the pain from the band's activation made him shudder and he glared across the table. "Why did you come here then? She found out everything she needed to know from our minds and she was obviously quite happy to use me as a link." He lifted his hand to prove that point and felt extremely satisfied to see the faintest flicker of remorse in the other man's eyes.

"I was still following her," Hart reminded him. "Plus, as it turned out, she needed me to start up that Manipulator of yours. Apparently none of you were quite as clued into its workings as she wanted and she didn't have time to figure it out herself in case someone realised she was here."

"Jack knows all about the Rift Manipulator," Gwen said with a deep frown. "Why not use his knowledge?"

"Because I doubt Lurrelia was foolish enough to even consider going anywhere near Jack." Hart reached over the broad table and swapped Ianto's untouched coffee with his own empty mug. "Think about it. Can you imagine going into a mind that's seen what he's seen, done what he's done? She'd have gone mad within the day!"

"Sounds like she already is mad," Gwen said, a teasing tone in her voice. "She followed you around far too eagerly to be sane."

"I'm more surprised that he followed her around for so long," Ianto said, raising his eyebrows at Gwen and ignoring Hart's evil look.

"You don't think I can do anything more than one night stands, Eye-Candy?" he asked. "Need I remind you that I spent two years with your illustrious Lord and Master and didn't stray once?"

"Only because you couldn't," Ianto pointed out blithely.

"Okay, boys," Gwen said, interrupting before they could get going. "We've got more important things to worry about than Hart's amazing ability to commit to someone other than himself."

"Right," agreed Ianto, gladly jumping upon the change in subject. "The other bands."

Hart finished his stolen coffee and slouched back in his chair. "Eye-Candy mentioned those earlier," he said. "But I thought you only had one of them here."

"We did. This is it."

"So where did the others come from then?"

Ianto suppressed a sigh. "That's what you're supposed to be telling us."

Hart made a thoughtful noise. "Well, I didn't bring any with me, if that's what you're thinking."

"I know you didn't," Ianto said. "I was there when you arrived."

"Did Lurrelia mention anything about them?" Gwen asked.

"No and if she'd known about them wouldn't she have had retrieved one of them before infiltrating your little base here?"

The point was a good one and neither Gwen nor Ianto responded to it. Hart smirked to see that he had thought of something they hadn't. He linked his hands behind his head and leant back, swinging his feet back up onto the table.

"Okay," Ianto began slowly. "Where they came from isn't as important as who's using them. Or for what purpose." He frowned in thought. "I doubt very much all these people just stumbled across them and suddenly decided today to put them on."

"After figuring out how to activate them," Hart added, earning a curious look from Gwen.

Ianto understood her reticence completely. Why was Hart so happy to help them without demanding anything in return? Ianto supposed it could simply be a way for him to regain his freedom - and Jack's favour - but that didn't seem very much in character for the former Time Agent. Ianto would have been far less surprised if he'd kept silent and tried as many different ways to escape as possible, just to be difficult.

"So someone with knowledge of these 'Quar-Meil' things is going around putting them on people?" Gwen sighed. "Well it has to be Lurrelia then. If it were anybody else it would be a hell of a coincidence."

Ianto shook his head. "But Lurrelia went back to her own body, didn't she?"

"I can't see how she could have gone anywhere else," Hart replied.

"Surely she could have jumped into someone else, if she ever left Ianto at all."

Ianto pulled a face at Gwen. "Please don't suggest that. I feel much happier believing I'm alone in my head. Also I'm talking again, so she can't be in there."

"She'll have gone," Hart said. "She wanted her body back more than anything and when the bands linked together through the Rift she wouldn't have let the opportunity pass without taking it."

"So you can be sure that the link was successful?" Gwen asked.

Hart nodded towards Ianto's wrist. "I'm guessing your pretty skin is rather scorched under there," he said.

"You could say that," Ianto responded dryly.

"Then yes, I can be sure."

"Oh!" exclaimed Gwen, turning to her colleague. "Maybe he'll know how to get it off?" She looked back to find Hart grinning broadly.

"I do," he assured her, watching Ianto from beneath half-lowered eyelids.

"I meant the band," Gwen said with a sigh, fortunately failing to interpret the smug expression on Hart's face as anything other than his natural lewdness.

Hart blinked, his smile slipping a little. "Hang on, it's still attached?" he asked, dropping his feet to the floor and leaning forward.

Ianto held his hand out to Gwen, who silently peeled off the tape holding the thick gauze in place and pulled back the bandage, revealing the red flesh that lay beneath. The metal encircling his wrist looked completely out of place, cold and alien against his damaged skin.

The woman grimaced at the sight. "You need a clean dressing," she said, peering at the gauze padding which was damp and stained from the raw wound.

Ianto nodded in agreement but was more interested in whether Hart could indeed remove it or not. He glanced over the table to find an unexpected frown turning Hart's expression unusually serious.

It lasted no longer than a few seconds and then he appeared entirely unperturbed once again. "Well, that's not a good sign, is it?" he said. "It should've come off straight after."

Ianto closed his eyes and sighed. He really shouldn't have been surprised that something else had gone awry, but he was, and the constant problems were starting to give him a headache - on top of all the other aches he already possessed.

"Does that mean she's still in my head somehow?" he asked wearily. Gwen shot him a worried look, though he was pretty sure it was out of concern for her own safety rather than his. He couldn't blame her for thinking that; he had, after all, let Hart leave the cell when he shouldn't have, as well as a few other things Gwen thankfully wasn't aware of.

"Not quite."

"But she didn't go back to her body, did she?"

Hart gave him a lopsided grin. "I'd say it's more likely that she brought her body here."

"What?" exclaimed Gwen. "How?"

Hart arched an eyebrow at her. "My best guess would be something to do with that Rift of yours."

"Well, where is she then?" Gwen countered. "Wouldn't she have appeared wherever Ianto was, if she was using him as a..." she waved a hand, looking for the right word, "...a gateway."

"The Rift spits things out all over Cardiff," said Ianto pointed out quietly.

Hart shrugged and Gwen rubbed at her eyes, sighing. "Okay, I'm going to call Jack." She pointed at the Captain as she rose to her feet. "You stay right where you are and don't move a muscle. Ianto, will you keep an eye on him, please?"

If she noticed the panic that flashed briefly in Ianto's eyes as she turned to go, she didn't stop to query it, and he was left alone with Hart once again.

***

There was something distinctive about the atmosphere in a hospital. Whether it was the smell or the sounds or just the knowledge that death was close by, Owen couldn't be sure, but it was there nonetheless and if one wasn't accustomed to it, they were instantly put on edge.

He could see it in Toshiko's bearing as they moved to the next occupied bed, a faint tension that came not from the current predicament but rather from their immediate surroundings. Owen had become immune to the effect years ago and he wasn't surprised to notice that Jack shared his stoicism. The older man must have seen a lot in all his undying years, including his fair share of death and disease, but Owen mentally shied away from pursuing that thought, as he had every other time he'd considered the bizarre twist of fate that was Jack Harkness. He couldn't imagine living for so long, couldn't imagine what it might feel like to die time after time and never be sure if the next death would be the last.

The beeping of Tosh's scanner dragged Owen back into the present and he hurried to check the patient's vitals, hoping the others hadn't noticed his lapse in attention. He glanced up to find that was pretty much impossible. Tosh's eyes were firmly glued to the screen of the device in her hand and Jack stood at the foot of the bed with his back to them, looking across the room at one of the ward's other occupants. Relaxing, Owen grabbed the nearby chart and skimmed the details recorded there. They were identical to the half-dozen charts he had already examined and would likely be identical to the other eight or nine he had yet to check. No sign of physical trauma, no internal damage, no unusual substances in the blood. Owen scowled deeply and dropped the chart back into place, looking down at the motionless woman's face as though he might find the answers there.

According to the tests the bewildered doctors had already performed, there was still brain activity present amongst the victims, which was just about the only encouraging detail in the entire situation. He reached over the bed to unbind the patient's wrist and expose the metal band and burnt flesh he already knew he would find there.

Tosh made a sympathetic face, though she had already seen similar damage on the other comatose people. "It's the same," she confirmed, adjusting something on her scanner. "Identical energy patterns to the others."

Identical. Owen nodded; he was starting to hate that word. The only thing stopping him was the obvious connection to Ianto. The fact that he had the same object on his wrist and was still conscious reassured Owen that there was definitely something to find that would lead them to a solution.

Jack, who had been shadowing them, alternating between falling silent in deep thought or quizzing as many visitors and members of staff as he could, suddenly straightened, alert as Gwen's voice came over their concealed ear pieces.

"Jack, it's me."

"Go ahead, we're all here."

"I've got some good news," Gwen told them. "And, of course, a bit of bad news too."

Owen rolled his eyes at Tosh and set about wrapping up the patient's arm.

"The good news is that John's decided to start talking and has told us a fair amount about Lurrelia."

"Okay, that's something. What's the bad news?"

Gwen took a deep breath. "Ianto let him out of the cell."

"What?" the Captain growled. "Why the hell did he do that?"

"He seems to be under the impression that we can trust John."

Jack sighed. "I suppose you're keeping an eye on both of them then?" he asked tightly, unsurprised by her affirmative response. He caught Owen's eye and the doctor recognised his concern that Ianto was still under the influence of the alien being.

"There's more, Jack," Gwen went on. "What he told us isn't really of much help. He claims to know nothing of the other bands, but he believes that instead of going back to her body on her own world, Lurrelia brought it here."

"Apparently along with a stash of pretty bangles," Owen muttered, moving away from the bed to Jack's side.

"We'd already guessed as much, Gwen," Jack reminded her.

"Yes, but he came to that conclusion because the band is still attached to Ianto. He said it should have opened once the connection between him and Lurrelia was broken."

"So he thinks they could still be linked?" Tosh asked, having finished her scans and joined her companions. She looked at the bed behind them. "If that were the case..."

She trailed off with a frown and Owen unnecessarily finished her thought aloud. "Then all of these people are connected to someone else too."

Jack gave a humourless smile. "How heart-warming. What else, Gwen?"

"Well, I think I've got an idea of who those people might be linked to," she said, though she sounded hesitant to suggest it. "I've been comparing the information we have on all the victims, including what CCTV footage we could find."

"And?" Owen prompted when she fell quiet again.

"And the things I've found look more like animals than people."

The trio looked at each other, disturbed by the idea.

"Have you got a location on them?" Jack asked.

"I'm tracking them right now. Want me to send you the coordinates?"

"No, don't bother, I'm going to swing by and pick you all up. I think it best if we don't leave John or Ianto alone in the Hub." He turned to Tosh. "You and Owen stay here. We're probably going to need as much information as we can on these things so finish your scans. If you're done before us, make your own way back and get started, okay?"

Tosh nodded. "Okay. I shouldn't be much longer," she told him.

"Let me know if there are any new developments," Jack went on, glancing at Owen as well and getting another nod of understanding. "If you could get one of them to wake up and tell us everything we need to know, that would be ideal."

"I'll get right on that, Jack," Owen replied sardonically.

***

Jack glanced in the rear-view mirror and immediately caught John's eye. Looking away, he clenched his jaw and resisted the urge to grill the man further. He knew it was likely that John hadn't told them everything, but he didn't have time to fully devote himself to extracting more information.

After another few minutes he checked again and found that John was still watching him. The former Time Agent grinned, an almost feral expression that Jack recognised instantly. His mind was flooded with the memory of what usually happened when John got that look in his eyes and Jack felt himself smiling in spite of the dire situation.

Gwen decided at that moment to speak up, breaking the haze of recollection and causing Jack to realise with a jolt that he should really be watching the road.

"There's something I don't understand," she declared, frowning across the back seat at Hart. "You can move through time with your wrist strap, so why didn't Lurrelia just have you take her back?"

John turned his gaze away from the mirror at last. "She panicked, I guess. If she'd let me catch up with her I could've helped, but by the time I got here, she already had a plan in motion and I didn't see any reason to disrupt it."

Gwen hummed disapprovingly. "Because it causes us trouble, no doubt."

"What a terrible thing to say," Hart protested. "I merely wanted the chance to catch up with my old pals, nothing more."

"Right." Gwen's disbelief was obvious, although Jack could tell there was some truth in his ex-partner's claim.

Not enough truth, but some at least.

"You said you didn't always know which body Lurrelia was in," Gwen went on, apparently still eager to get all the facts straight in her mind.

"Yes?" John replied with a shrug.

"But surely you could tell by the fact they couldn't speak, right?"

He laughed. "Hardly. That's only a side-effect for your primitive physiology."

"You're joking," Gwen countered.

"Nope. Humans in this time are affected differently by her presence than those in the future."

Jack gave a snort of doubt. "And you know this because...?"

"Because when I arrived here, Lurrelia had to explain why Eye-Candy couldn't talk."

"I don't remember that," said Ianto quietly.

"Of course you don't, it was a private conversation."

Jack glanced over to see Ianto frowning out the window. Since returning to the Hub to collect the other three, Jack had continually tried to gauge Ianto's state of mind. The last few days had been hard on the young man and though he seemed to be holding himself together, Jack was worried that he wasn't quite so calm beneath the surface.

"Jack?" Tosh's voice suddenly called through their earpieces.

"Toshiko!" Jack exclaimed. "Are you two back at the Hub?"

"Not yet, two more victims arrived before we could leave. One of them was comatose and had a band on his arm, but the other was dead. She was..." Tosh drew in a shaky breath. "Jack, she was completely ripped open. Owen thinks there are organs missing too. Or at least parts of organs..."

"The animals," Gwen guessed. "They're attacking people now."

Jack shot a look back over his shoulder, seeing the panic in her eyes. "Is there any chance the two incidents are unrelated, Tosh?"

"It's unlikely. They were found in the same location and both were covered with the woman's blood."

"Wonderful," Jack said solemnly. "Okay, let us know if anything else comes up." He severed the connection. "Well, I guess we can assume that whatever these creatures are, they're certainly dangerous."

"Then you'll be wanting to take these things off me," John piped up, lifting his hands and displaying the cuffs holding his wrists together. "Oh and I'll need my weapons back too, if you'd be so kind."

Gwen laughed. "How on Earth could you believe that would work?"

"I'm an optimist!"

"You didn't even warn us about those animals, why should we trust you with a gun?"

"I told you already, I didn't know about the animals," insisted Hart. "Honestly, I've never seen them before."

"So you say," Gwen muttered.

Jack didn't bother to join in the argument going on behind him. He studied Ianto's profile again, positive that the Welshman was blaming himself for the woman's death, despite the fact that he could have done nothing to stop it, or in fact anything else that had happened so far.

Sensing Jack's attention upon him, Ianto looked around. He gave a smile that was meant to be reassuring, but Jack knew it was merely a mask that he adopted in tense situations.

Ianto turned away and then straightened slightly. "Jack, stop. We're here."

"How do you know?" Jack asked.

Ianto pointed at the road ahead, to which Jack had barely been paying attention. "The people fleeing in terror gave it away."

Jack slammed his foot down on the brake, bringing the SUV to a sudden jolting stop, although he was still a safe distance away from the pair of figures running through the beams of the vehicle's headlights. Everyone tumbled out, heading in the opposite direction to the couple only to come up short when Jack rounded on John.

"You," he said, poking a finger into the shorter man's chest. "Don't get any ideas about trying to escape."

John looked at him aghast. "I would never dream of trying to escape from you, Lover. I've got far too many things left on my 'to do' list to leave now."

Gwen sighed loudly. "Don't you ever stop?"

"Why would I want to?" Hart answered innocently.

A scream filled the air and they all turned towards the pained sound.

"Jack, can I have my gun now?" requested Ianto, lowering his voice so that the others wouldn't hear him.

Long years of practice kept the wince from showing on the Captain's face. When gathering weapons for the upcoming confrontation he had told Ianto he would carry his gun for him during the journey, to make sure he was safe and comfortable, and although the lie had caused Ianto to frown in suspicion, he had still agreed.

Unfortunately Jack had yet to decide what he was going to say after the journey.

"You know I can shoot just as well with my left hand as my right," the young man went on. "You were the one who insisted I learn." When Jack hesitated to reply, Ianto's eyes hardened. "You still aren't sure you can trust me," he said in a flat voice.

Jack held his gaze for only a brief moment before reaching to where he had tucked his lover's preferred handgun into his waistband. Handing over the weapon, he flashed Ianto a big grin before moving off after Gwen and John.

They had already reached the corner beyond which the scream had emanated and were peering around the wall whilst they waited for the other two to join them. Ahead of them there were a handful of shops and a small play area, all arranged around a square of cracked paving slabs. It was illuminated by unflattering orange lights that did not reach all corners, making it a place shunned at night by wary people and favoured by gangs of obnoxious youths.

Jack scowled to see large pools of fresh blood spreading across the ground. The source of these was evidently the three bodies, or rather the remains of three bodies, which were being pawed at by a pair of what appeared from behind to be large, naked and hairy men. One of the creatures stood off to the side, hanging back from the action and looking, inexplicably, as though he were an apparition; a ghost one could pass their hand straight through without encountering resistance.

In the midst of the carnage, a short and slender figure bent over a young woman who was twisting in an attempt to escape the hands clamped about her wrists.

"Lurrelia!" Jack shouted, taking a step out into the open. "Move away from her."

The alien glanced up, blinking big dark eyes at the new arrivals. Her gaze slid easily over Jack and straight to Hart. "John," she purred in greeting. "How lovely you look in those restraints. We should really do that more often." She licked her lips. "Perhaps with chains."

John smirked and moved forward. "Oh, that's definitely doable," he told her. "I like nothing more than a bit of bondage at the end of the day." He looked at Gwen. "Or at the start." Then at Ianto. "Or in the middle." He turned back to Lurrelia. "What about your new friends, though? Would they want to watch or join in?"

"You wouldn't want them to join in," Lurrelia said softly.

"Why ever not? They're big, strong and naked, what's not to like?"

The woman smiled demurely and didn't reply. Her gaze dropped to the teen lying at her feet; kept in place by Lurrelia's continued hold on one of her wrists. She was covered in the blood of the dead, her face pale with terror.

"Let her go," Jack commanded, lifting his Webley and aiming it at the alien. At the edge of his vision he could see Gwen and Ianto follow suit on either side of him.

As though sensing the new danger, the two creatures who had been feeding turned towards the intruders. They were grim to look at, very much like Weevils and yet different still; larger, furred and lacking the instincts of the Weevils to cover themselves with scavenged garments.

The barrels of Gwen and Ianto's weapons each tracked one of the strange animals and Jack trusted them to cover him as he slid forward slowly. Lurrelia smiled, still not looking at him, and in a move almost too swift to see, she produced a short strip of metal from within her clothing and snapped it around the girl's wrist.

The youth's body instantly arched up and a terrible scream rent through the night air.

Jack, Gwen and Ianto hurried a few steps towards her, only to come to a shocked halt when the third animal, who had yet to move, suddenly growled jubilantly. They all looked over and saw the ghost-like creature was gradually becoming solid. It was obvious to Jack what was happening, though the mechanics of it remained vague; each band was linked to one of the beasts and when they were attached to a human, they caused the creature to cross the vast distance in time and space to Earth.

"Oh, God," Gwen murmured, making the connection as well.

"That's new," John said. "I didn't know the Quar-Meil could do that."

Lurrelia stepped away from the motionless youth, uninterested in her now that the band was in place. "There are many things you don't know, Captain Hart," she informed him. "And many things you should have realised long before now."

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

"You believe things far too readily, John, especially if you're told them whilst otherwise occupied."

"So you lied about a few things." Hart shrugged. "I can't say I was entirely honest with you either."

"What are you doing here?" Jack demanded, interrupting their bickering. "Somehow I can't believe you're simply 'lost'."

"Not anymore, no," she admitted with a smile. "When I started playing around in time I admit I did lose control for a while, but as soon as I arrived here I knew it was the right world for us."

"Us?" Gwen cautiously echoed.

"My people. We need a new home and I think this world is a perfect choice."

"No deal," Jack told her bluntly. "This world is already taken."

Lurrelia's smile broadened. "That's why it's so perfect! All these people to serve us and still more than enough left over to make sure our pets never go hungry again."

Everyone's attention turned towards the bear-like creatures. "They're your pets?" Ianto asked in disbelief.

"Of course. They can't think for themselves, but they take direction very well."

"And they like to eat people," said Gwen, her expression hard with disgust.

"It's how they grow big and strong," Lurrelia explained. She eyed the animals fondly.

"Well it stops now." Jack adjusted his aim slightly. "You and your pets can go home right now. You surely didn't think we'd just roll over and let you get away with this?"

Lurrelia was seemingly unconcerned by the weapon pointed at her. "Of course not. I've seen just how tenacious the people of this world can be. But I really don't expect you to surrender to me."

"What are your intentions then?" Ianto demanded, the anger that had been growing over the past few days finally seeping through into his tone. "You can't take over the world with so few."

"Oh Ianto, you dear sweet boy, you're right of course, but I'm not nearly deluded enough to believe that I could. You see I'm only a scout, one of many who were sent out to seek a new home for our people. We were so desperate after the devastation that had been wrought upon our world and we looked far and wide for somewhere suitable but could find nowhere that would fulfil our needs. At least none which we could so easily conquer as this one." She laughed coldly. "You know I'd actually given up looking. When I met John, I was attempting to distract myself from my failure with a little psychic projection, and he did very well at helping me get over it."

Jack, Ianto and Gwen all exchanged a glance before turning to glare at John. The Time Agent shrugged innocently.

"All we have to do now is wait," Lurrelia was saying. "Now that I've discovered this world, and the means with which to reach it, I will not be alone for long." She reached out for the creature standing closest to her and idly stroked a hand along its furry arm. "I'm expecting-" She broke off as the animal on her other side began to convulse, as though suffering a seizure, pained whimpers escaping through clenched fangs. Lurrelia stared at it, as did everyone else in the square, and all saw the moment that it blinked out of existence.

Stunned silence fell as they attempted to process what had just occurred. Almost as one, as though rehearsed at some earlier time, all eyes swung towards the remaining two animals. They each gave a quiet growl, sensing the tension in the air, but neither showed signs of disappearing.

The shared confusion spurred Jack into action once again and he strode forward, crowding in on Lurrelia. Instead of standing her ground, however, she gave him a panicked look and backed hastily away. Before she had gone five steps, she was consumed by a dull yellow glow and vanished from sight. The creatures hurried after her and Jack followed them without hesitation.

Only he failed to disappear as the aliens had.

His quick steps faltered and he turned, eyes seeking for something that he had missed, for some hint of the unnatural light through which the invaders had escaped. Seeing nothing, he looked to his companions, only to find them staring back with identical expressions of bewilderment.

"What the fuck was that?" he asked uselessly. He glanced at his wrist strap only to find nothing of help in the readings there and so looked up again, eyes coming to rest on John.

The former Time Agent glared defiantly back at him. "Well, I can't bloody check, can I? You took mine away from me!"

Gwen moved over to the girl's body, checking her pulse and the fresh wound on her wrist. From her position crouched on the ground, she surveyed the macabre scene around them. "We need to get this cleared before morning," she said. "If people see something like this, they'll start to panic."

"I'll inform the police," Ianto offered, stowing his gun in his sling before retrieve the mobile from his pocket. "I'm assuming we wont be needing any of these remains taken back to the Hub."

"No," agreed Jack. "Nor the girl. I think Owen and Tosh will already have more than enough data to work with. The police can pass this off as an attack by a wild animal and hopefully that will cause people to stay indoors and out of harm's way until we sort all this."

Gwen made a dubious sound. "People never stay indoors when you tell them to."

Jack nodded absently, even as he attempted to contact Tosh again.

"Jack?" came Owen's voice instead. "Did you find her?"

"Found her and lost her again," the Captain told him.

"Shit."

"Yeah. I'm afraid we've got more casualties too. Another three killed by the unknown creatures and one more unconscious."

"With a band?"

"Yeah."

"Shit," Owen repeated. "I've got bad news too. One of the people we've got here died."

"When?"

"A few minutes ago," Owen sighed. "I'm still in the room with the poor bugger."

Jack looked around to find Gwen and Ianto already watching him, their thoughts undoubtedly echoing his. Could it be that simple? "What did he die from?" Jack asked.

"My money's on cardiac arrest. It was the latest admission, the guy whose wife had been mauled by those animals. His record shows he's got a history of heart trouble and the trauma of this band thing seems to have aggravated it. I'll perform a full autopsy of course, but I reckon it was simply the alien tech putting a strain on an already weakened system."

The Captain said nothing and when the silence dragged on Owen prompted him impatiently. "Jack? You still there?"

"One of the creatures just vanished, Owen," Gwen said. "Right when your patient died."

There was a pause on the other end of the line. "Shit," Owen muttered once again.

***

Tosh was first into the Hub, ducking through whilst the large cog door was still rolling. She'd crossed the large room before her companions had even stepped inside and was already attaching wires to her prize as the door thudded back into place. Her excitement was infectious and, with nothing else they could do at that time, Jack, Ianto and John Hart followed her over to the small lab to watch her work.

They'd left Gwen back in the square, waiting for the police to arrive, and collected Tosh on their way back to the Hub. She had emerged from the hospital clutching a sealed package to her chest, the contents of which now lay amid a nest of cables in the centre of the brightly-lit bench.

"So, it just fell off, did it?" Ianto asked warily, voicing the question Jack had just been about to ask himself.

"We didn't realise at first," Tosh explained, head bowed to peer closely at the circle of metal. "The ends separated but the band held its shape against his skin. It was only later, when he was being moved down to the morgue, that Owen noticed it had come apart." She twisted to switch on the monitors behind her. "It undoubtedly happened when he passed away, but as we didn't see the precise moment it occurred, we've got more than one theory as to why it finally opened up."

"Not just because the guy died then?" Jack asked.

"It's possible, of course, but whilst attempting to revive him, he was exposed to other factors that may have played a part as well. Particularly the defibrillator."

"You think a large amount of electricity will disrupt it?" guessed Ianto, eyeing the open band hopefully.

"Perhaps. I was considering a similar thing before, when it was only you we had to worry about, although my plan was to pass a current directly through the metal itself, rather than your body."

"Would that make a difference?"

"It might do. Having this band now will let me run a few tests I didn't want to risk performing on you just yet and then I'll have a better idea of what we're dealing with."

Jack beat Ianto to the question this time. "But you will want to perform some tests on Ianto?"

Tosh looked up from her work. "I wouldn't do anything that I knew would cause more harm," she assured him.

"It's okay," Ianto said, before the Captain could say anything else. "Someone has to be the guinea pig and it can't be any of those people in the hospital."

Jack grinned at him. "I knew you'd say that. My concern is that anything we try to do to you might be detected by Lurrelia."

"But that would surely apply to any of the bands, not just mine."

Jack blinked once and then nodded. "Good point. Although they're linked to those pets of hers, not their mistress, so it might be a less direct connection."

"She can't believe that we wouldn't attempt to remove it," Tosh said as she continued to fiddle with the wires. The screens around her came to life with information from the sensors, a mass of ever-changing numbers which made sense only to her. "She's probably been expecting us to tamper with it from the beginning."

She turned her back on them and fell silent, thoroughly focused on the readings. Jack glanced at Ianto beside him, raising his eyebrows in amusement at the woman's characteristic absorption into her work, only to find the younger man's gaze distant and a frown creasing his forehead.

Jack's shoulders slumped, troubled as he realised that he had seen that unsettled expression so frequently upon Ianto's face in recent days. Struck by the desire to clear that darkness from his lover's features, he looked away and slowly, stealthily, reached across until his fingertips grazed feather light over Ianto's knuckles.

Although his arm jerked at the touch, Ianto remained otherwise motionless, much to Jack's surprise. He glanced across again, curious at the lack of a reaction, and was pleased to see the frown had vanished from the Welshman's brow. In its place had descended a carefully stoic mask, almost entirely unreadable save the faint twitching at the corner of his mouth and the widening of his eyes.

Jack returned his gaze to the screens before it became obvious that he was staring, a knowing smile tugging at his own lips.

He brushed against Ianto's skin again, holding the contact longer this time and finding inordinate pleasure in the slight catch in his lover's breath. It was wicked, and he would likely pay for it later, but all he cared about at that moment in time was the heat that was growing in the small gap between their bodies and Ianto's stubborn refusal to respond to Jack's misbehaviour. It was all the more delicious for the fact that they weren't alone; a sport they rarely played thanks to busy schedules and Ianto's frustratingly rigid principles about fooling around during work hours.

It took all of his control not to smirk as he slid his fingers under the cuff of the young man's sleeve and encircled his wrist, just below the bandage. Ianto's pulse raced beneath the smooth skin and he trembled with the effort of keeping still whilst sweet agony rushed along his arm. Jack was sure it would be enough to make him crumble, to admit defeat and grace Jack with a look of exquisite reproach, but it did no such thing.

The tip of Ianto's tongue snuck out to wet his lips and he turned his head fractionally to the side, sliding heavy eyes across to meet Jack's own darkening gaze. Jack stared openly now, astonished as he watched Ianto's eyelids flickering slightly. A single muscle twitched in his neck, the sole indication of the pain he was feeling, and it seemed almost impossible that he could stand the lingering touch, when not long ago he could barely keep his hand upon Jack's chest for longer than a second.

Jack wondered briefly if it meant that the problem was slowly righting itself, that the pain had decreased and thus Ianto felt less distressed by his lover's grasp, but looking closer at those dark eyes, intense and unblinking, Jack knew that wasn't the case.

The Captain swallowed and snatched away his hand, covering his abrupt motion by clearing his throat and taking a step backwards. "Okay, I can tell this is going to take a while," he said, his voice perfectly normal, in spite of the unexpected discomfort he was feeling, "so I'm going to go catch up on some paperwork. You two stay here and help Tosh."

Unable to meet Ianto's confused and needful gaze, he looked past his shoulder, unintentionally catching John's eye instead. His former partner had a beautiful expression of curiosity on his face and, as he strode away, Jack couldn't help but feel relief that Hart hadn't noticed what had just passed between himself and Ianto.

He hurried to his office and collapsed into his chair, mind whirling with the implications of the brief exchange with Ianto and the aching desire churning deep within his body.

---

Ianto wasn't entirely sure what had happened with Jack, nor did his usually shrewd mind seem to want to delve too deeply into the matter either. It was currently betraying him, dancing away from the incident with alarming ease so that he was unable to approach the problem from any particular angle, impartial or not.

It was also making no effort to stop his body from doing something incredibly stupid right then.

John's hand felt like ice around his wrist, a burning cold that robbed his skin of the memory of Jack's touch. He didn't think Hart had seen what Jack had done, but could it really just be a coincidence that the ex-Time Agent had seized hold of Ianto in the very same place that Jack had? He couldn't be certain and his thoughts refused to align in order to make a clear judgement, so he was left stumbling dumbly after Hart as he was dragged through the Hub.

It was only when they reached the same room Ianto had slept in all those hours earlier that he realised he had taken the lead somewhere along the way. He stopped in the middle of the room, blinking as his mind caught up and informed him that he and John had snuck away from the lab after it became clear Tosh was far too busy with her tests to realise if they were there or not.

A hard body pressed up against him and a puff of warm air gusted over the back of his neck. Ianto shuddered, watching in a daze as a hand that wasn't his own slid across his chest in languorous circles. He wondered how Hart had managed to escape his cuffs but was quickly distracted from the mystery.

"That was a good idea," John murmured, before touching his lips to the skin above Ianto's collar. "I was just aiming for a nook somewhere, but this is much better."

Ianto was turned in John's arms and a demanding mouth crushed against his, teeth nipping at his lips. Ianto groaned as the metallic taste of blood hit his tongue and he grabbed the back of the other man's head, deepening the kiss until his lips felt raw.

He pushed against Hart's body, desperate to get closer, his right arm throbbing fantastically with the constant pressure and movement. He was already hard, his vision blurred and his breath escaping loudly through his nose whilst his mouth was otherwise occupied.

Suddenly the kiss was broken and the jacket was eased from his shoulders, but Ianto barely noticed. His arm prickled with heat; sharp and cutting and good.

There was laughter in his ears and hands in his trousers. Strong fingers cupped his backside. "You're so eager, Eye-Candy," John said gleefully. "Who would have thought that prissy act hid such hunger?"

Ianto ignored the other man, the words washing over him without settling, and he pressed forward instead to continue the kiss, to increase the sweet torment and satisfy a need he had not been aware of possessing.

Hart relented, giving Ianto what he wanted without hesitation. His fingers dipped into the cleft of the young man's ass, stroking and teasing with the promise of what was to come. Ianto squirmed in his arms, seeking more...more something...and disappointment rumbled deep in his throat when he failed to get it.

There was satisfying surprise in Hart's eyes as he tumbled back onto the narrow bed, Ianto swiftly following and grinding down against him. The Welshman twisted impatiently, torn between the heat in his arm and his groin, and frustrated that neither ache was enough.

"Oh, yeah," John laughed, pulling Ianto's hips flush with his own. "Jack's taste has definitely improved."

Ianto scowled, the mention of Jack sparking something that clenched within his chest. He growled angrily and pushed himself up, moving so fast that it took Hart a moment to realise he was alone on the bed. He rose onto his elbows and watched in astonishment as Ianto paced across the room, his left hand wrapped around his cast.

Hart opened his mouth but closed it with a snap as the room's door swung suddenly inward, revealing Jack sporting a very dark expression indeed.

"Gentlemen," he said, faux joviality in his voice. "Did I interrupt something?"

John grinned, shifting his hips to draw attention to his groin and the bulge that was visible there. Jack looked down at him with one eyebrow raised. "Owen," he said, tilting his head to direct his speech back into the hallway, "take John back to the conference room and keep him there."

The doctor stuck his head around the doorframe, expression tense, as though expecting to find something that he really didn't want to see. He relaxed when it became clear there was no inappropriately exposed flesh in sight and moved forward to drag John from the bed.

Once alone in the room, Jack closed the door behind him and fixed Ianto with a curious look. "I know we've agreed that we can do whatever we want," he began, humour creeping into his tone, "but really, John?"

Ianto glanced up and offered him a weak smile. "Sorry."

"Don't be," Jack told him firmly. "Just tell me it wasn't against your will."

Ianto blinked at him, having never even considered that notion. "He didn't force me in here," he said slowly, as though he wasn't entirely convinced of what he was saying. "But..." he drew in a deep breath, "...but I couldn't tell you why I let this happen."

Jack approached him, frowning. "You weren't in control of your actions?" He went to touch Ianto upon the arm but stopped at the last minute, fingers curling into an irritated fist in mid-air.

Ianto groaned. "Oh, please don't."

"But it is a possibility," Jack pressed. "You can't deny it."

"No, I can't." Ianto sighed and turned away. He took a few steps towards the back wall and then stopped, head dropping until his chin touched his chest. "I can't be trusted."

"What?"

"You were right to keep my gun from me before." He looked back at the Captain with wild eyes. "And you should have locked me up the minute I let John out." Jack shook his head in protest but Ianto went on quickly. "You know you should have, Jack, don't try to claim otherwise."

Jack clenched his jaw, unable to deny it.

"Although, I must admit, your trust in me is reassuring," Ianto added quietly, smiling softly to himself before his expression fell with realisation. "What if she makes me do something else? Something terrible? What if I hurt somebody?"

"I won't let that happen," the older man said, following him across the room.

Ianto looked at him dubiously and said nothing.

"I promise," Jack insisted, crowding Ianto until he was forced to take a step backwards.

"At least bind my hands," Ianto suggested in desperation. He lifted his left hand and then looked down at his cast, realising belatedly the impossible nature of his request.

Jack grinned. "I always suspected you'd be into that kind of thing," he said, voice thick with sudden lust. "You should have said earlier, Ianto, you know I'm willing to do anything you want."

"Jack..." Ianto began, only to fall silent as Jack moved forward again. He backed away until he hit the wall with a soft thump.

"Not being able to touch you is proving really...hard," Jack told him, expertly drawing out the last word.

Ianto's eyes closed briefly as his lover's breath swept over his face. He sensed Jack settling his hands against the wall on either side of his body and, although they weren't touching, he could feel the heat of the other man, scorching through the clothes John had failed to take from him.

He opened his eyes again and they sparked with mischievous light. "Are you saying you can't handle it, Sir?" Ianto asked.

"Oh, I'm perfectly capable of handling it," replied Jack thickly, gradually inching closer.

"But you'd rather have company?"

"I was thinking more of an active observer."

Ianto opened his mouth to respond but Jack unexpectedly rolled his hips forward, bringing their groins into brief contact before pulling back in one fluid motion. The young Welshman gasped as pleasure and pain warred for dominance, his fists clenching at his sides to keep from grabbing Jack and making him do that again.

"That's cheating," Ianto declared, narrowing hungry eyes at his lover.

Jack shrugged, grinning triumphantly as he repeated the move, slower this time and with more pressure. Ianto's control vanished and he grasped at Jack's belt, seeking to pull him closer still. A flare of white-hot agony consumed his entire body and Ianto realised, deep within a part of his mind not senseless with joy, that this was exactly what had been missing with John. The pain in his arm was one thing, but the effect that Jack had over him reached everywhere, searing into those dark little places Ianto usually kept tightly under control.

Sucking in deep and ravenous breaths, Ianto wished hopelessly that the moment would never end, but he was suddenly bereft of the contact as Jack pulled firmly away.

"You're easily distracted," purred Jack, making sure only air caressed the Welshman's ear.

"I was thinking of Captain Hart," Ianto immediately countered. He pouted, creating a delightful image of petulance that made Jack's smile broaden. He leaned in, so close that Ianto's lips tingled in anticipation.

"When I'm through with you, after all this is over, you'll never think of him again," Jack vowed, causing Ianto to shudder with the intensity of his promise.

Ianto arched forward, attempting to bring their bodies together once more, but Jack pulled away and shook a finger at him. "Ah-ah. We've got work to do."

He was out the door before Ianto was able to move, uncomfortable from his unreleased lust and annoyed that Jack would tease him at such a time. He knew he should be relieved that Jack had reacted so well; not only to the situation with Hart, but also to the possibility that one of his team was still compromised by the enemy, and yet, as he followed Jack into the hallway, his body thrumming with the echo of sweet pain and his mind already beginning to plot revenge on his tormenting lover, a smile touched his bruised lips that had nothing to do with relief.

***

Tosh tried to be discrete as she snuck a look at Ianto, only to discover that he probably wouldn't have noticed even if she'd openly stared at him.

He was seated beside the workbench in the middle of the room with his left arm on the smooth surface and his body completely motionless whilst she continued her tests. His blue eyes were fixed straight ahead, unfocused and distant as she worked. What he was thinking was unclear, though Tosh suspected it had a lot to do with Hart's earlier actions.

She wasn't sure how the former Time Agent had managed to drag Ianto away so quietly, but she felt guilty having not noticed they were missing until Owen and Gwen had returned from their various tasks. Owen's vulgar quips about what he saw suggested that the young Welshman had been doing something astonishingly unexpected with Hart and although Tosh refused to take Owen at his word, knowing him far too well to believe him entirely, she could tell something alarming had definitely happened.

Even in the worst of situations, Ianto managed a smile or a clever joke to lighten the mood. He always possessed a spark in his eyes that spoke of hope and determination, yet now he seemed to have withdrawn into himself, grey and tired as though the life was slowly leaking from his body. Tosh's heart ached, saddened that he was being subjected to such awful circumstances when he, out of all the team, deserved it the least.

She could safely say that none of them were saints. Their records were not pristine, far from it in fact, and each had made some rather dubious decisions in their time. And yet of them all, Ianto shone like a dazzling beacon of loyalty and trust. The incident with Lisa had been his one true mistake, but even that served to prove the strength of his heart. He had broken the rules out of love and devotion, not for greed or personal gain, and since then he had proven himself time and again as a constant source of strength the entire team could rely on.

He didn't warrant the pain he had suffered, or to be manipulated by a man like Hart, who only cared about satisfying his own physical desires and had no qualms about taking advantage of Ianto's present disorientation.

Ianto twitched suddenly, his entire body jerking as focus returned to his eyes. He looked down at his wrist and then back up at Tosh. "Are you sure?" he asked, baffling her for a moment by replying to something she had told him almost five minutes earlier.

"Yes," she said, pursing her lips unhappily. The results she had gathered from the broken band and the additional tests she had performed on Ianto had proven to be most disappointing.

"Well, at least we know what to do now."

A machine beeped somewhere behind her and Tosh turned to switch it off, grateful for the distraction. Ianto's tone was empty but his voice remained strong and she marvelled that it had taken him so little time to accept her final conclusion.

When she looked back at him, she winced at the dull cast of his eyes. "Ianto..."

"It's okay," he interrupted. "I wasn't exactly expecting an easy solution."

"But still..." Tosh persisted, aware she was resisting a course of action she had just proven to be their only option.

"Tosh, listen," Ianto sighed, taking her hand, "we think Lurrelia might still be able to influence me." She stared at him, horrified by the idea. "I've been doing things," he admitted. "Things I know I wouldn't normally do." He grimaced and looked away, shamed and uncomfortable. "So we have to do this. As soon as possible."

Tosh squeezed his fingers. "Are you all right?"

He laughed. "I don't know what I am at the moment."

"But nothing's happened that...?"

Ianto let go of her hand and she trailed off hesitantly. "I'd rather not talk about it," he murmured.

Tosh consented and fell silent, whilst he dropped his gaze to the surface of the desk, losing himself in thought again.

Throughout Toshiko's extensive tests, Ianto had found his mind drawn continually back to the situation with Jack. It troubled him, it perplexed him, to the point that he could not spare any concern, even for Tosh's disturbing findings.

Ianto had never felt so out of control before, so unsure of himself, and when Jack had exploited the curious circumstances to tease and arouse him, he had never felt so alive. It was wrong, he knew, to enjoy the pain so much, but he could not deny the response that it had brought about within him. And although he knew that it had merely come about due to Lurrelia's possession of his body, the feelings that he was experiencing still seemed to be his own.

It was overwhelming, believing that he craved the physical agony; that he ached constantly for more, like an addict. Ianto felt ashamed of his actions and embarrassed that Jack had witnessed his unusual behaviour. The fact that Jack had played along only served to humiliate him even more and a small dark part of him hated his lover's worldly acceptance of such an aberrant behaviour.

Jack undoubtedly knew that Ianto didn't want things to be that way, but he had made no effort to treat the younger man as the twisted threat he had clearly become. Instead he seemed to be enjoying Ianto's discomfort and Ianto simply didn't know how to deal with that.

Footsteps announced Owen's arrival in the lab, where he eyed the scene with interest. "Everything okay in here?" he asked, putting far too much innuendo into his voice.

Ianto ignored the insinuation, but Tosh frowned as she began to disconnect the wires from Ianto's wrist. "It didn't work," she told the doctor.

"Fuck," Owen said bluntly. "I'd rather it hadn't come to this." He gave it some thought. "Not that I can't do it, of course," he declared, giving them both a confident smirk.

Ianto levelled a wry look at him. "That makes me feel so much better."

"You don't think I can bring you back?"

"That isn't reallythe problem."

Owen made a circling motion with his hand, encouraging Ianto to go on.

"It's the fact that I have to die so you can prove you can bring me back that's more of a concern."

Owen huffed, as though Ianto had suggested something foolish and naïve. "Dying is easy; it's reviving that's the problem. Fortunately you won't be aware of that part, so there's no need to worry."

Finally free of all the wires attached to his arm, Ianto stood and stretched, his back cracking loudly after so long hunched over the workbench. "I look forward to it."

---

The air was cold against Ianto's chest as he crossed the Hub. He was wearing only a pair of sweatpants borrowed from Jack, knowing that very soon he was going to need to be far more comfortable than his usual apparel allowed. He had even removed his sling and the twinges caused by each movement of his broken arm served to ground him as he reached the medical bay.

At the bottom of the stairs he stopped and looked around, eyes sweeping over the space as though he had never seen it before, as though he hadn't spent hour after hour cleaning, arranging and supplying it.

His gaze lingered briefly on the thick hatches set into the low curving wall and then slid to the sterile metal slab in front of them. This room was intended for the dead, and even though they frequently used it to tend non-fatal wounds, the fact that it was designed for autopsies was forefront in Ianto's mind.

"I knew I should have updated my will," he said quietly.

"Don't be so dramatic," Owen grumbled as he finished setting up his equipment.

"Oh yeah," Jack announced, appearing on the walkway with Gwen at his side. Between them they were carrying a thin mattress, likely taken from one of the Hub's small 'guestrooms'. "Don't let a little thing like death concern you."

Owen glared at the Captain. "Everything is perfectly under control."

"I don't like it," Gwen said firmly, letting go of the mattress so Jack could haul it down the steps and onto the gurney. "There must be something else we can do."

"We've tried every other possible solution," Tosh told her, following Jack with an armful of sheets and blankets that she began to arrange neatly on the bed.

"But we might kill him," Gwen hissed.

Owen sighed loudly. "If we do, it'll only be for a few seconds, a minute at the most. Just until the band comes off."

"And what if it doesn't?"

"It will."

Tosh finished with the bed and hurried out of the way again, rejoining Gwen and leaving the three men together below.

"But it is a little extreme, right?" Gwen persisted. "Shocking him instead of just the band?"

"It's the connection between the band and the host that we need to disrupt," explained Tosh. "Simply sending a charge through the metal does nothing, because of its symbiotic link to Ianto's body." She received a blank look from the other woman and continued with a smile. "You remember the protrusions I showed you on the inside of the open band? Well they penetrate the skin, and the technology held within them connects the device to the living being. If we were to cut away the metal itself, it would do nothing because the vital parts are already in Ianto's body, protected from outside influence. But if we attack it through Ianto, they have nowhere to hide."

Gwen frowned. "It can't be protected just because those little spikes are digging into him. They're still connected to the band, aren't they? Surely any electricity put through the metal would pass through to them."

"It would, yes, and that would have been enough if we'd tried it within the first thirty minutes of the band's activation, but due to an amazing bit of tech, we can't do that now," Tosh admitted, her voice lowering with admiration. "As time progresses, the band is intended to become a permanent part of the host's body. Basically it is designed to be absorbed into the flesh, starting with the protrusions, where it will infiltrate every system in the body until there are no means to remove it at all. By this stage, the process is too far along for anything else to stop it."

"Wait a minute, it's metal, how can it be absorbed?"

"You saw the photos of the original band we had stored in the vault, right?" Gwen nodded and Tosh went on. "It was flexible but it never retained any other shape than a flat strip of metal; the protrusions were not visible and the ends never showed signs of being able to join to create one complete circle. But clearly it can and if it's able to do that, then why can't it melt into the body as well?"

Pulling a face, Gwen nodded reluctantly. "It's mad, but I suppose it makes sense. In a Torchwood kind of way. Still, is shocking him the only option? It seems a bit...violent."

"We need the violence," Owen declared. "We need so great a shock to the system that the band has no time to adapt or bond further with Ianto." He clattered a few things around impatiently. "I could kill him nice and gently, put him to sleep like some old unwanted dog, but there's no guarantee that would be enough."

Everyone seemed to have forgotten that Ianto was standing there, half-naked, listening to them debate over his impending death. He had already gone through the situation in great detail with Owen and he knew that whilst there was a chance the shock wouldn't kill him outright, there was also a very big chance that it would.

And even though he would only be dead for a very short time if that happened, it was still death.

It was still, quite possibly, the final act of Ianto Jones.

His mind having drifted, the young man jumped when he realised Jack was standing directly in front of him. The conversation had died out around them, everyone looking expectantly at Ianto, but he had eyes only for the Captain.

"Are you okay?" Jack asked, holding his gaze so he couldn't hide the truth by looking away.

Ianto felt bare beneath those blue eyes and he knew that Jack could see the anxiety that was coiling low in his stomach. Nevertheless, Ianto nodded and Jack smiled, acknowledging the fact they were both aware of his lie.

The older man's fingers settled gently against his arm, upon the cast, and Ianto looked down, surprised and disappointed by the contact. He couldn't feel anything through the fibreglass and it was not nearly as reassuring as Jack intended the touch to be.

Perhaps sensing the problem, Jack's hand moved upwards, ghosting over Ianto's bicep and leaving a trail of fire in its wake. Their eyes met again and Ianto saw the humour in his lover's gaze, entirely inappropriate for the situation and yet so very perfect.

Reluctantly, Ianto looked away and moved silently over to the bed, smiling at the effort his colleagues had made to make the cold metal more comfortable. He hopped up onto the thin mattress, the simple act made surprisingly awkward with only one hand, and lay down. He was very aware of everyone watching him, sympathy in their eyes at what he was about to face and anger in the set of their mouths that he was forced to face it.

Owen began to connect to a heart monitor to his chest and then fixed an IV line into the back of his hand.

"Right," the doctor began in his professional tone, "I'll put you under general first of all, then-"

"No," Ianto interrupted. "I want to be awake."

"Ianto-"

"No."

Owen sighed and then shrugged. "Fine, it's your call." He continued to get Ianto ready whilst the young man stared up at the ceiling, unable to think clearly now that it was actually happening. During his discussions with Tosh it had made so much sense, but at the time it had felt more like a problem-solving exercise; a hypothetical question that hadn't really existed.

Jack touched his arm again briefly, indicating his presence at Ianto's side. The Captain was still smiling, reassuring and worried, and Ianto was struck by the emotion in his eyes. He knew Jack cared about his team, that he worried about them being harmed, but Ianto knew also that he kept himself separate from his mortal companions, never quite giving everything away to them. It was obvious he did it to protect himself, to save himself from the pain that would come when he inevitably lost them, and Ianto couldn't blame him for that; he doubted he would cope as well as Jack if he were in the same situation.

Ianto sometimes wondered if Jack was envious of the fragile shells of his companions, but as he lay beneath that intense gaze, willingly risking his own death, he realised there was only concern there, not envy.

Jack stooped, pressing a chaste kiss to his forehead and then stepping back to allow Owen the room to work. Ianto's eyes fluttered shut at the white heat that lingered on his skin, right where Jack's lips had touched him.

"You might feel a slight tingling sensation," Owen said dryly and Ianto scowled up at him, unimpressed. He had pulled a trolley over to the bed, on top of which sat an external defibrillator, and was holding the paddles in one hand whilst he used the other to activate the machine. A whine filled the air as the paddles charged and Owen positioned them in place above the pads he had stuck to Ianto's chest. "Ready?" he asked, looking first at Ianto and then Jack. When no one said anything, he began.

Ianto's initial thought was one of dim confusion, baffled as to why Owen hadn't shouted 'Clear!' before activating the paddles, like they did in movies. The fact that there was no one close enough to be touching him didn't have time to register, as a fraction of a second after he'd had the thought, his chest was speared with a blade of fire.

Arching into the blissful heat, Ianto was aware only of bright ecstasy before darkness fell upon him.

***

Next part of The Uninvited.

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