Title: Empty Cages
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Ianto Jones/Tenth Doctor
Fandom: Torchwood/Doctor Who
Rating: PG
Table: 5
Prompt: 7, Cage
Disclaimer: This is entirely a product of my imagination, and I make no profit from it. I do not own Ianto Jones or the Tenth Doctor. Please do not sue.

***

Ianto made his way stealthily through the halls of the building that the people on this planet had called their "museum," trying to keep his ears open as well as his eyes. His hearing would probably serve him better at the moment than his eyes would.

He wasn't so much looking for the Doctor as hoping that he would hear the other man. It would be easier to find him by sound than sight, considering that it was night and that his own vision obviously wasn't as good in this dim light.

Where had they taken the Time Lord? When the two of them had been separated, Ianto had lost track of his lover; he knew they wouldn't kill the Doctor, or even harm him, but he was desperate to find the man he loved and get them both out of here.

Who would have thought that the people of this world had lured the Doctor here, pretending to need help, when all they'd wanted was to capture him as some sort of living "exhibit" for their museum? The last of the Time Lords, the only one of his kind.

Obviously, they didn't know about the Master. But they wouldn't want a madman as an exhibit, more than likely. They wouldn't know how to deal with him.

Ianto frowned, wondering just how they'd come to know of the Doctor and what he was, anyway. It seemed that this planet was more sophisticated and knowledgeable than Earth, at least at being able to find out about other planets in the universe and their inhabitants.

But however they'd known about the Doctor, Ianto knew that he had to find a way to get his lover out of here safely. The last thing he wanted was to have to go off alone and leave the Doctor stranded here, a prisoner with no hope of escape.

He wasn't going to do that. If he had to, he would sacrifice himself to make sure that the Doctor got away from here. It wasn't a palatable thought, but if it was the only way .... then he would take it, and do so willingly.

There. That sound from the room that loomed ahead of him, through that large arch. The sound wasn't a voice, but he could swear there was something. It sounded a bit like metal rattling; his heart quickened as he moved forward cautiously through the darkness.

As far as he could tell, there wasn't anyone around, but he wasn't going to take any chances. Ianto looked around carefully, sliding past the arches and into the large room.

His eyes had to adjust to the dimness of the room; he couldn't see much at first, and that strange sound kept going, the rattling of what now sounded like a door. Someone was pushing at a door in this room, as if they were .... trying to get past it.

His heartbeats quickened at the thought. Could the Doctor be imprisoned behind a door somewhere? Was that what the sound was, him trying to get out of a trap that he'd been thrown into? If that was the case, Ianto should be able to rescue him.

A frown crossed his face as a thought struck him. If the Doctor was in some other room and was trying to get out, why didn't he simply use the sonic screwdriver? Of would his captors have taken it from him, knowing that he would use it to escape?

That was a possibility. Or it could be that the sonic screwdriver wouldn't work to open the doors here. There were all kinds of scenarios that he could think of -- and some that he probably couldn't. All he could do was find out why the Doctor hadn't been able to escape on his own.

And, of course, get them both out of here and safely back to the Tardis. That was the main objective, and Ianto meant to achieve it.

As his eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room, he was drawn towards the sound of the rattling again. He advanced cautiously, hoping that it wasn't something that could get him into trouble -- or harm him in some way and render him useless to help the Doctor.

Ianto's eyes widened as the source of the rattling became clear to him, a gasp coming from his throat at the sight of the large barred cage that was on the far side of the room. No wonder he'd heard that strange sound; he should have expected something like this.

The Doctor was standing behind the bars of that cage, his small hands clenched around the bars, pulling at them with all his strength. From the looks of it, he'd been uselessly trying to loosen the bars without success, judging from his frustrated expression.

So this was what they'd meant when they had said that they wanted the last of the Time Lords as an "exhibit." They intended to keep his lover in a cage, so that people could come and gawk at him like he was some sort of exotic animal.

Ianto didn't think he'd ever been so angry in his life. To think of the man he loved being treated like this was utterly intolerable.

Rushing across the room, he placed his hands on the bars, over the Doctor's, stilling their movement. "Doctor, are you all right?" His voice was a frantic whisper; he wished that he could reach through the bars to touch the Doctor, make sure that he hadn't been harmed.

He looked disgruntled more than hurt, Ianto told himself, feeling relieved at the thought. The only thing that appeared to be wrong with the Doctor was his obvious anger and embarrassment at being in a cage, thought of as an exhibit rather than as an intelligent man.

"Yes, I'm fine," he said, letting out a heavy sigh. "Ianto, you have to find the sonic screwdriver. They took it from me when they forced me in here. It's in one of the drawers in that table," he said, pointing to a large mahogany table only a few feet away.

Ianto nodded, reluctant to leave the Doctor's side, but knowing that he wouldn't be able to free the Time Lord by himself. He needed the sonic screwdriver if he was going to get his lover out of here safely; he had to find it.

Moving to the table, he glanced back at the cage, then around the room, hoping that no one would rush in and cause them more problems.

But fortunately, no one seemed to be around; they apparently thought that their captive wouldn't be able to get out of his prison. They hadn't counted on Ianto coming back to find the Doctor; they probably assumed that he'd run off in fear.

But that wasn't the case, the young man thought with a scowl as he pulled open one of the drawers and began to search for the sonic screwdriver. He wasn't going to leave, no matter how he might be threatened. Not until the Doctor left with him.

No luck in that drawer. Hopefully, he'd be able to find it fairly quickly and get them out of here; the last thing he needed was to spend too long a time searching for it and have the search interrupted by some kind of guards. He didn't need a fight, not now.

Ianto opened another drawer, searching through it rapidly and growling when the object of his search wasn't there. At this rate, it would take him all night, and then he and the Doctor wouldn't be able to escape under cover of darkness.

Pulling open a third drawer, a smile crossed Ianto's features as he reached into the drawer and picked up the sonic screwdriver. He quickly moved to the cage, giving it to the Doctor.

A relieved expression crossed the Time Lord's face when his fingers closed around the screwdriver; Ianto could almost swear that he caressed it before pointing it at the bars on the cage. A door that Ianto hadn't noticed in the bars swung open without a sound.

He let out a breath that he hadn't realized he was holding; he'd been worried that the cage might not have responded to the sonic screwdriver, and that he himself would have had to find some way to get the Doctor out of there. And at the moment, he was fresh out of ideas.

"Thank goodness you found it, or I would have been in this thing all night or even longer," the Doctor murmured as he stepped forward, leaving the cage empty. "That was getting annoying. Let's get out of here, Ianto. I don't ever want to see this place again."

Ianto heartily agreed with his lover; this hadn't been a pleasant planet at all, and he couldn't wait to get back to the Tardis and get away from here. He hoped that it wouldn't be a place they'd come back to; he didn't want to see both of them end up in cages.

"I couldn't agree more," he whispered aloud, slipping one arm around the Time Lord's slender waist. "This is one place I don't want to come back to any time soon. And I'm sure that the Tardis will agree with me when we get back to her."

Moving quietly, the two men made their way back across the floor and out of the room, leaving the door of the cage that had held the Doctor standing open in mute testimony to their escape.

***