Missing & Accounted For
It took some time to get used to Jack's absence. They'd been more than a month without their Captain and things were almost beginning to settle into a routine. For a brief while Gwen had entertained ideas of taking over command of Torchwood Three, but it soon became obvious that she wasn't cut out for the job. She was simply too emotional. After she had nearly gotten Tosh killed on a missing, an irate Owen had informed her that he was taking over command. As he was the longest serving member of Torchwood Three—with the exception of Tosh who didn't want he responsibility—Gwen hadn't been able to argue. Of course, it hadn't stopped her from sulking for the better part of a week.
As a group, they'd decided no to inform Torchwood Two or Whitehall about Jack's absence. It wasn't unusual for Jack to avoid conference calls and Ianto could forge his signature well enough that no one suspected that they were without their leader. The first thing they'd needed to do was repair the Hub after the destruction opening the Rift had caused. After negotiating the funding with Whitehall, they set about putting everything back together with only a few alterations.
"Any word from Jack?" Tosh asked as Ianto brought her a cup of coffee. She smiled brightly when she saw that the coffee was in the "Gorgeous Genius at Work" mug Owen had bought for her.
Ianto took a sip from his own mug then shook his head. "Nothing since the first one. He's with the Doctor, though, so I guess it's expected."
"As soon as he's able, I'm sure Jack'll be in contact," Tosh murmured, trying to reassure herself as well as Ianto.
Ianto smiled, but couldn't quite make himself believe what Tosh had said. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't quite shake the feeling that something was wrong with Jack. It had been too long since he'd heard from his lover. More than a month had passed since Jack had left and normally Jack couldn't even go a weekend without sending at least a dozen messages and a Saturday night call trying to coax him into phone sex.
Ianto knew that the main reason the others weren't worried was because of the text Jack had sent him. They knew where Jack was and that he'd gone voluntarily. The most said about their Captain's absence was Owen's bitching that Jack had left so that he wouldn't have to help but the Hub back together. But Ianto knew if Jack didn't come back, or at least make contact soon, that there would be worry and concern. Ianto himself couldn't help feeling nervous the longer Jack stayed away, even if he was with the Doctor.
It wasn't unusual for Jack's phone to ring. There were days that Ianto spent quite a bit of time fielding calls under the pretext that Jack was out of the office. However, things had been quiet in the office and the sudden noise had startled him. Glancing to make sure that none of the others had seen him, Ianto picked up the phone.
"Torchwood Three, Captain Jack Harkness' office."
i"Now really,"/i the voice on the other end chuckled. i"We both know that's not true. Captain Harkness has been missing for nearly six weeks."/i
Pushing a few buttons so that the call was audible throughout the Hub, Ianto responded. "I'm afraid that I don't know what you mean. Surely we'd be the first to be aware if Captain Harkness was missing."
i"You really don't expect me to believe that, do you, Mr. Jones?"/i the man on the other end continued. i"Your dear Captain disappeared after that nasty business with the Rift last month and you've seen nothing of him since. No one has. Not Torchwood Two, Whitehall, or even my office. Granted, I'm still new to the job, but no one here at Downing Street can remember talking to him in a very long time."/i
"As you said yourself, Prime Minister, we had a significant problem here in Cardiff with the Rift," Ianto said calmly even as his eyes darted frantically to the others. "As such, there have been intensive clean-up operations, headed by Captain Harkness."
i"I don't believe you."/i
The sinister tone of the voice made Ianto blanch. "Sir?"
i"You heard me perfectly well, Mr. Jones. I don't believe you."/i
"I'm sorry that you don't believe me, sir, but I'm telling the truth."
By then, Owen, Tosh, and Gwen were all gathered in Jack's office. None of them quite knew how to respond to the new Prime Minister. They had always been left alone by the government unless there was a threat to the nation that required them to act. Harold Saxon should have no reason to contact them.
i"If you are telling the truth,"/i Saxon continued after a few moments, i"then why am I looking at intel that shows him in the Himalayas with Torchwood number one enemy?"/i
Ianto quickly typed a few keys on Jack's computer and there was no sign of the GPS on Jack's phone anywhere in the area. Anywhere on Earth for that matter.
"Your intel must be incorrect, sir, because Captain Harkness is not in that region of the world," Ianto said calmly.
Even though he couldn't see it, Ianto could clearly envision the scowl on Saxon's face based on the sound of his voice. i"Are you calling me a liar?"/i
"Certainly not, Prime Minister. I am merely informing you that our intel on the subject is contradictory to yours. And, begging your pardon, sir, as Captain Harkness is in charge of Torchwood Three we do tend to keep very close tabs on his whereabouts," Ianto explained as calmly as he could despite Owen's snorting. Thankfully, Tosh elbowed him in the ribs before the Prime Minister became aware of it. "Captain Harkness is outside of Cardiff, yes, but we are fully aware of his location and it is not the Himalayas."
i"I'm sorry, Mr. Jones, but I don't share you conviction,"/i Saxon ground out. i"And as Harkness is possibly in the company of such a notorious individual, I feel that it is necessary for the safety of the nation that you and your little group travel to Tibet and investigate the sighting."/i
"You can send whomever you like, but it won't be anyone from Torchwood Three," Ianto responded firmly. "With all due respect, sir, we are not answerable to you. Your office is certainly welcome to voice its concerns to us, but it is Torchwood alone that will decide whether the matter deserves our attention. In this case, as we know that Captain Harkness is not in the Himalayas, we will not follow up on your intel. Good afternoon, Prime Minister."
Before Harold Saxon had the chance to say anything else, Ianto disconnected the call. He knew that it would cause difficulties between Downing Street and them later, but the whole situation made him uneasy. There was only one time that Ianto could recall the Prime Minister giving an order to Torchwood and that was the Christmas incident with the Sycorax.
"You've got a bigger pair than I gave you credit for, Jonesy," Owen whistled as he and the rest stared at Ianto in shock.
Ianto merely shrugged. "We know that Jack is with the Doctor. There's no point in going on a wild goose chase."
"But what if Jack is in trouble?" Gwen protested, glancing at the others for support. "None of us have ever met the Doctor, and what the reports say..."
"I met him once," Tosh said, interrupting her. "Back in 2006 when that space pig crashed into Big Ben. They needed someone to examine the body. The Doctor was there. He's brilliant and not a danger from what I could tell. He tried to help."
"He's the one who stopped the massacre at Canary Wharf," Ianto reminded them. "He's also a friend of Jack's."
No one asked how Ianto knew that last piece of information. The answer was obvious enough so there was no point in trying to disagree with him. And even though Owen was team leader until Jack returned, he didn't seem in a hurry to counterman Ianto's decision.
"Considering what happened when we went to the countryside, I don't much fancy wandering around a mountain when we know Jack's not there," was all the medic said on the subject.
Once the others had gone back to their workstations, Ianto sat down in Jack's chair. He took out his cell phone and sent a quick message to his lover.
iSomething strange with the new PM. Wants us in Tibet looking for the Doctor./i
He didn't expect an answer from Jack. He didn't even know if Jack would get the message, let alone be able to do anything about it. Still, at least Jack would know what was happening in Cardiff, Ianto reasoned.
There was no response from Jack and things quietly returned to normal. Just to be sure, they kept an eye on the Prime Minister, watching all press conferences and interviews and keeping track of his activities. There was no further communication between Downing Street and Torchwood. Their contacts in Torchwood Two and UNIT, however, kept them informed of the Prime Minister's reactions to their refusal. Even the mild version of it wasn't pretty and Ianto was fairly certain that if Downing Street knew the exact location of the Hub there would have been a giant crater in the middle of Roald Dahl Plass.
i"... What the country really needs is a doctor."/i
Ianto was just walking up to Gwen's desk to give her a fresh cup of coffee when he heard the tail end of the press conference. The emphasis on the last word sent a shiver down his spine and confirmed the fact that the Prime Minister was searching for the Doctor. He had no idea what the reason was, but it was incredibly unsettles, especially with Jack being with the Doctor then.
Things got even worse that afternoon when Jack, the Doctor, and a medical student from London were declared the three most wanted people in the UK.
Almost immediately after, his cell phone started to ring.
"Are you all right?" Ianto demanded. There was no need for him to check who the caller was because everyone else who had the number was in the room.
The quiet chuckle on the other end relieved Ianto more than anything else could. It was a sound that he knew very well. And was a clear indicator of Jack's well being.
i"Ianto Jones, I'm so glad to hear your voice."/i
"Jack, you're all over the news. What's going on? Where are you?"
i"I can't tell you where I am right now. It's too dangerous—"/i
"Jack—"
i"I mean it, Ianto. But there is something you and the others can do for me. Do you remember last year—"
"Well well well. If it isn't Captain Jack Harkness. Just the man I was looking for. And you're on the phone with Torchwood. Even better."
"Ianto, hang up."/i
"Jack?"
i"Hang up and put the Hub on lockdown."/i
"Jack, no way!"
i"DO IT!"/i
The call was disconnected whether Ianto wanted it to or not. Either Jack or Harold Saxon forced him out of the conversation and he was left standing in the Hub, staring at his cell phone.
"Ianto, what happened? What did Jack say?" Gwen demanded, grabbing hold of his arm to try and get his attention.
"He said to put the Hub on lockdown," he managed to gasp out, his mind still trying to process everything that had just occurred. "Harold Saxon got on the line suddenly and Jack started to panic."
"What's with that guy?" Owen grumbled under his breath. "Did Jack sleep with his wife or something?"
An elbow to the ribs from Gwen stopped Owen before he could really get going.
"We need to decide what we're going to do," Tosh spoke up. "Do we go on lockdown?"
"If we do that, we'll lose most of our power. We'll just be sitting here in the dark waiting until it's all over. We won't be able to help Jack," Ianto insisted. He tried once again to call Jack, but it went straight to voicemail.
"What other choice do we have?" was Owen's contribution.
"This."
They all stared in awe as the walls of the Hub began to shimmer. It looked almost gelatinous, like a force field in a science fiction movie.
"What is it?" Gwen asked, moving forward as though to touch it.
"Don't put too much pressure on it or you'll get stuck," Tosh warned. "It's like a time bubble. A lock. Anything that tries to move through there will get stick in time. Nothing can get in, and we can still keep the computers and everything running."
"You're a bloody genius!" Owen enthused. "How far does it extend?"
"All the way around the Hub. Right down to the lowest levels. Even the ones not on the blueprints." Tosh's cheeks were flushed with excitement. "I've been working on this for about three years now. This is the first time I've been able to use it full scale."
"So now what do we do?" Owen asked once Tosh had fallen silent.
There really wasn't much that they could do since they had no idea what was going on beyond Jack, the Doctor and the girl being declared terror suspects. Ianto had tried calling Jack a few more times, but there was no answer. Every time it went immediately to voicemail.
It wasn't until the following morning that they were able to figure out just what, exactly, Jack and the Doctor were doing. Like everyone else around the world, they were watching the TV broadcast of alien contact between the Toclafane and President Winters aboard the Valiant.
"There's something not right about this," Tosh said to no one in particular as Ianto handed out the first coffee of the day.
"Saxon gets elected and all of sudden aliens are making contact," Owen chimed in. "Maybe he's an alien."
"You think everyone odd's an alien."
"Oi! No need to get personal, Teaboy."
The bickering died down because at that moment the first of the Toclafane appeared on the screen. They weren't as impressive as Ianto had expected, smaller than he'd thought they would be. The Toclafane, however, were a lot more deadly than their simple shape hinted at.
"Holy shit!"
"Oh my god!"
"I don't believe it!"
The American president was dead, killed by a floating metal ball. Before they could even digest what had happened, there he was.
"Jack!"
i"... doesn't stay dead for long. I get to kill him again!"/i
They watched the proceedings in a kind of numb silence. Jack lying dead on the floor, the Doctor being rapidly aged, and UNIT doing nothing to stop it. When the video feed cut out they all remained exactly where they were for a few moments, none of them quite able to react. Just as they were shaking themselves out of their stupor, there was suddenly a fifth person in the Hub.
Martha Jones told them everything. From landing in Cardiff to take on fuel, the events at the end of the universe, up until what had happened that morning on the Valiant.
"He told me that this would take me somewhere safe," she finished, holding out the wrist strap that Jack was never without. "I'm guessing this is Torchwood."
"That's us," Owen confirmed, trying for cheerful, but failing miserably.
Ianto announced that he was going to make some coffee and that he'd meet the rest of them in the conference room when he finished. They needed to figure out just what they were going to do now that a psychopath with an army of flying metal assassins had taken over everything. UNIT appeared to be working with Saxon which meant that it was up to small, independent groups like Torchwood.
Alone in the Hub's small kitchen, Ianto finally allowed his shoulders to slump Jack was the prisoner of a man who knew his secret. Whether Saxon was truly insane or not, it was inevitable that he'd exploit Jack's unique ability.
"Jack mentioned you."
Ianto spun around, shoulders once again back and any look of grief gone from his face. He was surprised to see the genuine smile on Martha's face.
"He said you'd do that. Act like nothing is wrong even though inside you're in an absolute panic," she told him, walking over to stand next to him. "Jack told me that whatever happens I should trust you the most."
Even though he tried not to show it, Ianto knew that Martha could see that he was caught off guard by her words. While he and Jack were seeing each other, it had always seemed to him that Gwen was number one when it came to Torchwood business. "She makes us human," was what Jack had told him.
He, along with the rest of Torchwood, was even more shocked when Martha told them just who Harold Saxon was and how they were meant to defeat him.
"The Prime Minister of Great Britain is an alien," Owen mumbled, shaking his head in disbelief even though he'd guessed the same thing not long ago. "Suddenly glad I didn't vote."
"I voted for him," Gwen admitted quietly.
Owen shorted which earned him exasperated looks from the others.
"So how exactly are you meant to travel all over the world to tell this story the Doctor told you to?" Tosh asked, bringing the conversation back on target.
Martha placed Jack's wrist strap on the table. "He called it a vortex manipulator. We used it to travel from the year one hundred trillion back to the present. It can also be used as a teleport."
Tosh's eyes lit up, her fingers no doubt itching to get a hold of what they had always just thought of as a glorified remote control.
"I'm going with her," Ianto found himself announcing suddenly. All eyes were on him, but he didn't back down. "I'm not going to stay cooped up in here while all of this is happening. I have to do something."
"I want to go, too," Gwen immediately volunteered.
Martha shook her head. "It's better if there's only two of us. The more people there are, the harder it'll be to stay invisible since I only have two of these." On the table were suddenly a pair of keys, each attached to their own piece of string. "The Doctor called them perception filters—"
"Like on the lift," Tosh interrupted.
Martha looked relieved not to have to explain it. Gwen, though, would not be deterred from her desire to be at the center of everything.
"I would be a better choice to go than Ianto. I was a police officer. I'm better at dealing with people. Besides, he has no field training."
There was a bit of an uncomfortable pause before Martha spoke again. "I'd actually prefer to go with Ianto. Jack told me to trust him and given everything that's going on out there, I'm going to listen to Jack."
Gwen started to protest once again, insisting that Ianto was trained to deal with the things they could see happening on the CCTV monitors. Owen shut her up by reminding her that none of them really knew how to deal with flying metal balls of death.
"And I am field trained," Ianto spoke up. "After what happened at the Beacons, Jack made sure of it. Who do you think is always going Weevil hunting with him?"
Despite Gwen's best efforts, it was decided that Ianto would be the one to go with Martha. As one of only a handful of survivors of Canary Wharf, Ianto would be better ready to handle any situation that might be encountered while journeying around the world. The others would remain in Cardiff and try and figure out if the Toclafane had any weaknesses. Owen was less than impressed when Ianto told them that, since they couldn't leave the Hub, they'd be subsiding on dehydrated rations similar to the kind found in 1950's bomb shelters. The fact that there were some frozen pizzas in the kitchen did little to placate him.
"Just kill me now," Owen sighed dramatically which made Tosh giggle.
The rest of the day, Ianto was down in the archives sorting out alien tech that would be helpful, but was also small enough to fit in their packs. Each of them would carry a single backpack and while they were the large size that was generally used by backpackers, there was only so much room. The fact that the mission would take a year meant they'd have to pack smart. It also meant digging the Torchwood Special Ops uniforms out of storage. Having never worked for other branches of Torchwood, no one besides Ianto knew that they existed. Except for Jack who had tried to get Ianto into one more than once in the past.
While Martha was down in Jack's bunker resting, Ianto went over inventory with Tosh. She was the only one he trusted to keep the archives and storage areas in some semblance of order. Owen had been banished from them long ago and Gwen had only ever been down there a handful of times.
"Are you sure that you want to do this?" Tosh prodded gently as Ianto set up the archive inventory lists so that they'd be easier for Tosh to access.
Ianto merely shrugged, not looking up from what he was doing. "There really isn't much choice. We can't let Martha go on her own. You're more at home with technology. There's no point in sending Owen because that would leave whoever stays in the Hub without a medic. And if Gwen went, Martha would probably ditch her somewhere outside Germany. This is the best way."
When he looked up, Tosh was regarding him silently. She looked as though she wanted to argue further, but kept silent. Ianto was glad for that because the more he prepared, the more uneasy he felt about the whole thing.
"It's just going to be so strange seeing you in something other than a suit," Tosh said eventually.
"I do actually wear other clothes," Ianto reminded her. "I do have a life outside Torchwood."
Tosh's cheeks coloured slightly. "I know, but you're our man in the suit."
"When this is over, I'm taking you out for lunch and you'll see me in something other than a suit."
"I'm going to hold you to that," Tosh said, giving him a quick sideways hug.
If he were being honest, Ianto would admit that he had no idea what he was doing. At the same time, though, he knew that it needed to be done. Jack had sacrificed his freedom to give Martha this chance, and Ianto wasn't going to let it be in vain.
So, around 3:00am the following morning, Ianto and Martha teleported out of the Hub using Jack's vortex manipulator. Ianto cast one last look at the Plass then turned resolutely away and began leading Martha out of Cardiff.
It would be 365 days until he saw the city again.