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a_silver_storyTitle: The Ballad of Ianto Jones
Chapter: 6 | Getting Somewhere
Characters: Jack Harkness, OFC, OMC, Gwen Cooper
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
a_silver_story
Genre Angst like yo momma's watchin'
Rating: PG-13
Warnings:
Disclaimer: If I owned anything in this, I'd be a rich rich rich bitch. However, I am not a rich rich rich bitch so you may all, therefore, assume I own nothing. Which I don't. It all belongs RTD and the BBC, in case any of you didn't know.
Summary: Can't summarise without spoiling, really. It's post-COE, so go figure.
FIRST PART | Keeping Promises
PREVIOUS | Torchwood Index/Masterlist
06 |
Jack awoke with a painful gasp. It hadn’t been a dream. Captain John Hart was still there, still holding his smoking gun. Lennie was crouched on the floor nearby, watching him intently. Jack felt soft hands gently stroke his forehead and help him sit up. Struggling a little with still aching ribs, the Captain heaved himself upright. Button was knelt beside him, throwing daggering glares in the direction of John. Jack had thrown himself in time and taken the first bullet, but that didn’t mean others wouldn’t come.
“How the hell are you here?” he growled at John. John pointed at his Vortex Manipulator.
“Guessed when you’d be back. Got here a couple of years early, worked my way up the ranks. Not that it was particularly difficult, what with It being on my side.”
“It?”
“That bloody computer.” His glare faltered, and he lowered his gun. Shoulders drooping, he crouched down and slid the weapon across the floor in the Captain’s direction. His tone changed. Almost pleading. “You don’t understand It, Jack. It knows everything. It sees everything. Even though It’s not here ... It knows.”
Jack heaved himself to his feet, and John rose off his haunches. The blue eyes were begging. “I’m not my own man, Jack.”
“I remember you saying those words before.” muttered Jack, reproachful. “What makes you think I’ll believe it?”
“I still love you.”
John moved forward and kissed him. Jack remained motionless, and did not respond to the tongue that tried to find entrance to his mouth. Instead, he surreptitiously reached for the gun tucked into the back of his belt, and glanced over to Button. Button had gone rigid, and had looked away.
Jack stepped back and produced the gun. John seemed a little alarmed, but put his hands on the back of his head without being asked.
“You.” said Jack. “Are going to tell me what. They. Did. To. The. Bodies.”
“I can’t tell you.” said John, glancing at the blank Mrs. Cooper interface. Jack saw the movement.
“Gwen. She did this?”
“Yes.”
“And you were involved?”
“I was dragged in. She was very ... persuasive ... and her son ... he was ... well, I couldn’t say no to Ianto Williams, could I?”
Jack felt like spitting on him, but he would never sink so low. He cocked the gun. “The Mrs. Cooper interface. She’s controlling everything?”
“Pretty much.”
“Is there anywhere we can go where she won’t hear?”
Button spoke up, bringing Jack’s attention back on himself. “Not in this galaxy. The Mrs. Cooper interface expands across the entire Torchwood Empire – all CCTV, all bugs, any form of camera – she can access it all.”
“There’s a blind spot.” piped up Lennie. “But ... it’s in Classified Archives. We can’t go there without clearance one ... and only the Archiver has access to that.”
“What’s the blind spot?” asked Jack, all too aware that Mrs. Cooper was listening and waiting.
“It’s basically the heart of the computer. It’s where the main circuits that hold the programming are stored. All the AI, all the backup, all the data. It’s kept in one room in Classified.”
John was smirking. “What do you think of the Archiver, Jack?”
“I ... what? It’s a disgusting thing. I have nightmares about it.”
“Me too!” said Button, eager to prove he and Jack had something in common. “Me and Jack call it the Big Beige Monster, don’t we Jack?”
John smirked even wider. “I can assure you ... it has nothing on Eye-Candy.”
Jack swung his fist and heard the crack of breaking teeth. Captain John grabbed his jaw groaning. “You deserved that.” said Jack.
“Whatever.” replied John.
“Hang on ... if 'James' here is in charge, can’t he get clearance for the Classified Archives?” Jack asked Lennie, back on subject.
Lennie repeated herself. “Only the Archiver has clearance for the Classified Archives. And we can’t persuade it to let us in because it’s a computer and won’t listen to any form of reason other than its programming.”
“Can we force our way in?”
“There’s a forcefield in the corridor. No living thing can get through.” said Button. He needed to make sure he was useful for Jack, and also make sure Jack didn’t forget he was there in the presence of his incredibly handsome ex.
“Well ...” pondered Lennie. “They could ...”
“What? Really?”
“Yes ... but ... well, after the forcefield takes out a life, it takes three seconds to recharge. That’s a three second window in which anything could pass through.”
“We’re doing it.” said Jack, turning on his heel and pulling open the door. He strode purposefully into the corridor and began his journey to the main area, which would then take them down to Archives. Lennie, John and Button followed at a trot. It occurred to Jack that Lennie hadn’t mentioned him magically coming back to life yet, but put it down to exhaustion. Lennie probably had.
They went through the access door that led to the Archives without a hindrance. Walking for about 300 yards, a rhythmic hydraulic clunk and thud of metal distracted them. Then they met the Big Beige Monster. It moved towards them down the corridor, hunkering on its mismatched legs, its arms swinging. Since Jack had last seen it, it had had a side panel replaced. The side panel was too long, and made one of its ‘shoulders’ higher than the other, making it lope precariously and almost off balance. A thought struck Jack.
“You did that to it.” he hissed.
John shrugged. “I wanted Archives crawling with hot young men – just like in your day.”
Jack didn’t rise to it.
“How. May. I. Assist. You. James?” asked the robot with its now wearing Cyberman voice box.
“I want clearance for the Classified Archives.” said John, bold as brass.
“You. Need. Clearance. One.”
“Then I give myself Clearance One.” said John. “I’m in charge. My decision is final.”
The Monster seemed to be calculating this tactic in its head. Jack felt a twinge of annoyance not using John’s overlord status before. He felt Button’s hand slide into his, and gave it a squeeze as the Monster moved its head from each member of the group to the next, before settling on Jack.
“You. May. Not. Have. Clearance. It. Is. Immoral.”
“Immoral?” asked Jack, blank.
“Immoral ... There. Are. Things. Kept. In. Classified. That. Could. Take. Down. Worlds. Or. Cause. Multiple. Genocide. Humans. Cannot. Be. Trusted. I. Must. Not. Allow. You. Access. To. Such. Power.”
“Archiver!” said Lennie, her voice filled with authority. “We just want to go to the heart of Mrs. Cooper. That’s all. Come with us and supervise, if you must.”
The Monster was calculating again. It’s eyes were vacant holes that seemed unseeing yet bored through whatever they rested on. Jack hated it.
“You. Cannot. Access. Mrs. Cooper.”
“She needs repairs.” lied Lennie.
“Then. I. Will. Carry. Them. Out.”
“She needs parts.”
“You. Have. Brought. None.”
“I need to measure what she needs, then these strong lads are going to go and fetch them.”
Again, it was calculating. Jack took his chance. He flipped open the rusted front panel of its huge torso and fired a shot into the circuitry. He’d managed to take out its legs. It fell with a massive clang and thud, crying out as if in pain. All Jack could hear was a cybernised howl of anger.
The group ran, working on instinct. Someone may have heard the cry of the Monster and come to investigate, and there was no way to tell in the Archives if Mrs. Cooper had yet acted on them. Jack found her silence non too appeasing.
They ran and ran, until Lennie led them down a tunnel the branched off. Jack could clearly see the two grounds for the forcefield on either side of the tunnel, and the slightly blue hue of the barrier. Beyond it were two wooden doors.
“Wish me luck.” he said jovially. Button gave him a kiss on the cheek. Jack ran straight into the forcefield.
At first it didn’t hurt ... but then it really did. He didn’t know whether or not he screamed, or if the pain was so great his vocal chords had frozen. He felt heat and cold all at once, and was fairly sure that smell of bacon frying was actually his own skin. He decided to add this to his list of Deaths To Not Do Again.
~*~*~*~
And then he was alive again. He was in a totally different room, suggesting he’d been carried some way. There were computer towers and stone walls, lights flashing and things were whirring and beeping.
“Jack!” he heard Button say. “Are you alright?”
Lennie was staring at him, probably realising that the incident earlier hadn’t just been her mind playing tricks on her.
“I can’t die.” said Jack simply.
“Well, you can.” John pointed out. “You just don’t stay dead for that long.”
“Shut up.” snapped Button, helping Jack to his feet.
“Right.” said Jack, trying to move on before John and Button started anything. “So ... this is the heart of Mrs. Cooper?”
“Yep.” yawned Lennie.
“The Blind Spot?”
“Yahuh.”
Button touched Jack’s arm. “Why did she let us come here?”
John snorted. “She’ll have wanted us here. I’m guessing she was hoping for the Archiver to take us out when we got here – or maybe even before. I dunno. She let us get here ... so ... yeah ...”
“Maybe she’s planning something up above.” offered Button. Silence fell, and all of them raised their eyes to the ceiling. Jack cleared his throat.
“John ... you have to tell us what the hell happened back in the twenty-first century. Why were the Torchwood brains stolen?”
“The brains were stolen because Gwen Cooper was a psychopath.” John spat. “She was obsessed with you. Completely. She was stealing brains because ... because ... well ... she was stealing them to experiment.”
“Experiment with what?” asked Button.
“Resurrection.”
Button’s mouth fell open, and Lennie gasped.
“Not just resurrection, though.” continued John Hart. “Immortality. She had it in her head she was going to figure out how to live forever ... but she failed. None of the experiments worked. The brains all fried and turned to goo, so she did the best she could with her Technical Genius of the age – her elder son, Jack Williams, who she didn’t give credit on anything, even the memorial, in case this all got dug up. She erased Ianto Jones too, because he’d been on the news so much, what with her funny little alien tech keeping him spick and span for fifty years six feet under.”
“This is too much.” breathed Jack. “Gwen ... she would never ...”
“I saw Tosh and Owen die.” said Mrs. Cooper’s voice. “And decreed I never would. I would never, ever leave you , Jack.” A full length hologram of Gwen Cooper appeared before them.
Jack stared at it, noticing how it had gone from talking about Gwen Cooper in third person to first.
“What did you do? What have you done?”
“I ask myself that so many times. And I regret every day I remain alive. But It won’t turn me off. Morals, apparently.” she added sniffily.
“Alive? I thought ... you’re artificial!” exclaimed Lennie.
“No.” Gwen shook her head. “The only way the brains could live was if they were supported by a computer. I couldn’t keep bodies alive, either. Just brains. The bodies would decompose while the brain lived on. Open cabinet B6.”
Lennie moved to the appropriate cabinet. The hydraulic locks moved back on Gwen’s command, and the door swung open. Lennie gasped and turned away, bile burning her throat. Inside a tank within the cabinet was a brain.
There was a monitor on the tank relaying information about brainwaves and thought patterns, and every inch of the grey matter was covered in tiny pin-wires. They all pulsated with a slightly yellow energy, and the brain itself pulsed with them.
Jack turned back the hologram. “You’re sick. You’re no better than a Cyberman.”
“I know. I was foolish. I was so in love with you, so blinded by you. Your leaving destroyed what little moral compass I had left."
“It’s my fault.” muttered Jack.
“No, it’s not.” Button whispered, trying to comfort him. Jack shot him a look of pure venom, not sure why he was hating Button, but hating him anyway.
“It’s my fault, Jack.” said Gwen. “I ... you have to understand ... I had so many failed experiments. All in all, only two worked. Myself ... and ... God! I thought you’d be so grateful! I thought you’d love me ... I thought ... it doesn’t matter. But you see, It controls everything. The second you got here, I wanted to tell you. But this is the Blind Spot on my surveillance systems. It can’t see. But It will know. It’s coming ... can’t you hear It?”
Jack listened. They all did. It was distant, but drawing closer.
CLUNK
screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeech
CLUNK
screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeech
CLUNK
screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeech
“What the hell is that?” whispered Button. Jack put a protective arm around him.
“It’s coming, Jack! It’s coming for me!” shouted Gwen Cooper. Jack turned to her.
“What is?”
“The other experiment ... it was ... - oh! It hates me! It hates me so much! – the experiment that survived ... it’s ... it was ... It was Ianto!!!!”
Button fell away from Jack and the Captain stepped closer to the hologram.
CLUNK
screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeech
CLUNK
screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeech
CLUNK
SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH
“Where is he? What did you do to him? Is he alive?”
“Yes ...” The image flickered. Sparks were flying around the towers. “God Jack ... I’m going to die!”
“Where’s Ianto? Tell me! Please!”
“John knew all along. He’s in the Archive –“
Gone.
With a final sputter, the hologram disappeared. An error message took its place – a pre-recorded automated message offering apologies for the delay in Mrs. Cooper’s systems.
CLUNK!
SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH
CLUNK!
SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH
Button pulled at Jack to make him move, trying to get him to run with Lennie and John who had already headed out the door.
“He’s in the Archive.” breathed Jack, deciding not to give in to his anger at John just yet. “He’s been kept alive, and his brain’s in the Archive!”
“Er ... yeah. Great. Jack, honey: we need to run.” pointed out Button.
“Oh yeah!” said Jack, beaming. He turned and legged it out the door.
They were no further than the first corridor when the Monster stopped them in their tracks. It had dragged itself, the CLUNK of its one gargantuan arm echoing around the tunnels and the screech of its body scratching into the white floor. In its spare hand, loose wires were sparking.
It had reached into a maintenance hatch and dragged out the wiring of Mrs. Cooper.
“I. Am. Sorry.” it croaked. “I. Am. Under. Orders.”
FIN
Yayy! I didn't kill Button! - of course I didn't! Sorry griza, he really can't go and live with you. Your hands are far to full with Janet and her closet of pink dresses anyway ;)
In case any of you do want to take Button home, here's a nice digi-painting I did for you all:
Next Part | Previous Part | Torchwood Index | Request a Convo/Prose Fic
Chapter: 6 | Getting Somewhere
Characters: Jack Harkness, OFC, OMC, Gwen Cooper
Author:
a_silver_storyGenre Angst like yo momma's watchin'
Rating: PG-13
Warnings:
SPOILERS FOR COE! DON'T READ!
Disclaimer: If I owned anything in this, I'd be a rich rich rich bitch. However, I am not a rich rich rich bitch so you may all, therefore, assume I own nothing. Which I don't. It all belongs RTD and the BBC, in case any of you didn't know.
Summary: Can't summarise without spoiling, really. It's post-COE, so go figure.
FIRST PART | Keeping Promises
PREVIOUS | Torchwood Index/Masterlist
06 |
Jack awoke with a painful gasp. It hadn’t been a dream. Captain John Hart was still there, still holding his smoking gun. Lennie was crouched on the floor nearby, watching him intently. Jack felt soft hands gently stroke his forehead and help him sit up. Struggling a little with still aching ribs, the Captain heaved himself upright. Button was knelt beside him, throwing daggering glares in the direction of John. Jack had thrown himself in time and taken the first bullet, but that didn’t mean others wouldn’t come.
“How the hell are you here?” he growled at John. John pointed at his Vortex Manipulator.
“Guessed when you’d be back. Got here a couple of years early, worked my way up the ranks. Not that it was particularly difficult, what with It being on my side.”
“It?”
“That bloody computer.” His glare faltered, and he lowered his gun. Shoulders drooping, he crouched down and slid the weapon across the floor in the Captain’s direction. His tone changed. Almost pleading. “You don’t understand It, Jack. It knows everything. It sees everything. Even though It’s not here ... It knows.”
Jack heaved himself to his feet, and John rose off his haunches. The blue eyes were begging. “I’m not my own man, Jack.”
“I remember you saying those words before.” muttered Jack, reproachful. “What makes you think I’ll believe it?”
“I still love you.”
John moved forward and kissed him. Jack remained motionless, and did not respond to the tongue that tried to find entrance to his mouth. Instead, he surreptitiously reached for the gun tucked into the back of his belt, and glanced over to Button. Button had gone rigid, and had looked away.
Jack stepped back and produced the gun. John seemed a little alarmed, but put his hands on the back of his head without being asked.
“You.” said Jack. “Are going to tell me what. They. Did. To. The. Bodies.”
“I can’t tell you.” said John, glancing at the blank Mrs. Cooper interface. Jack saw the movement.
“Gwen. She did this?”
“Yes.”
“And you were involved?”
“I was dragged in. She was very ... persuasive ... and her son ... he was ... well, I couldn’t say no to Ianto Williams, could I?”
Jack felt like spitting on him, but he would never sink so low. He cocked the gun. “The Mrs. Cooper interface. She’s controlling everything?”
“Pretty much.”
“Is there anywhere we can go where she won’t hear?”
Button spoke up, bringing Jack’s attention back on himself. “Not in this galaxy. The Mrs. Cooper interface expands across the entire Torchwood Empire – all CCTV, all bugs, any form of camera – she can access it all.”
“There’s a blind spot.” piped up Lennie. “But ... it’s in Classified Archives. We can’t go there without clearance one ... and only the Archiver has access to that.”
“What’s the blind spot?” asked Jack, all too aware that Mrs. Cooper was listening and waiting.
“It’s basically the heart of the computer. It’s where the main circuits that hold the programming are stored. All the AI, all the backup, all the data. It’s kept in one room in Classified.”
John was smirking. “What do you think of the Archiver, Jack?”
“I ... what? It’s a disgusting thing. I have nightmares about it.”
“Me too!” said Button, eager to prove he and Jack had something in common. “Me and Jack call it the Big Beige Monster, don’t we Jack?”
John smirked even wider. “I can assure you ... it has nothing on Eye-Candy.”
Jack swung his fist and heard the crack of breaking teeth. Captain John grabbed his jaw groaning. “You deserved that.” said Jack.
“Whatever.” replied John.
“Hang on ... if 'James' here is in charge, can’t he get clearance for the Classified Archives?” Jack asked Lennie, back on subject.
Lennie repeated herself. “Only the Archiver has clearance for the Classified Archives. And we can’t persuade it to let us in because it’s a computer and won’t listen to any form of reason other than its programming.”
“Can we force our way in?”
“There’s a forcefield in the corridor. No living thing can get through.” said Button. He needed to make sure he was useful for Jack, and also make sure Jack didn’t forget he was there in the presence of his incredibly handsome ex.
“Well ...” pondered Lennie. “They could ...”
“What? Really?”
“Yes ... but ... well, after the forcefield takes out a life, it takes three seconds to recharge. That’s a three second window in which anything could pass through.”
“We’re doing it.” said Jack, turning on his heel and pulling open the door. He strode purposefully into the corridor and began his journey to the main area, which would then take them down to Archives. Lennie, John and Button followed at a trot. It occurred to Jack that Lennie hadn’t mentioned him magically coming back to life yet, but put it down to exhaustion. Lennie probably had.
They went through the access door that led to the Archives without a hindrance. Walking for about 300 yards, a rhythmic hydraulic clunk and thud of metal distracted them. Then they met the Big Beige Monster. It moved towards them down the corridor, hunkering on its mismatched legs, its arms swinging. Since Jack had last seen it, it had had a side panel replaced. The side panel was too long, and made one of its ‘shoulders’ higher than the other, making it lope precariously and almost off balance. A thought struck Jack.
“You did that to it.” he hissed.
John shrugged. “I wanted Archives crawling with hot young men – just like in your day.”
Jack didn’t rise to it.
“How. May. I. Assist. You. James?” asked the robot with its now wearing Cyberman voice box.
“I want clearance for the Classified Archives.” said John, bold as brass.
“You. Need. Clearance. One.”
“Then I give myself Clearance One.” said John. “I’m in charge. My decision is final.”
The Monster seemed to be calculating this tactic in its head. Jack felt a twinge of annoyance not using John’s overlord status before. He felt Button’s hand slide into his, and gave it a squeeze as the Monster moved its head from each member of the group to the next, before settling on Jack.
“You. May. Not. Have. Clearance. It. Is. Immoral.”
“Immoral?” asked Jack, blank.
“Immoral ... There. Are. Things. Kept. In. Classified. That. Could. Take. Down. Worlds. Or. Cause. Multiple. Genocide. Humans. Cannot. Be. Trusted. I. Must. Not. Allow. You. Access. To. Such. Power.”
“Archiver!” said Lennie, her voice filled with authority. “We just want to go to the heart of Mrs. Cooper. That’s all. Come with us and supervise, if you must.”
The Monster was calculating again. It’s eyes were vacant holes that seemed unseeing yet bored through whatever they rested on. Jack hated it.
“You. Cannot. Access. Mrs. Cooper.”
“She needs repairs.” lied Lennie.
“Then. I. Will. Carry. Them. Out.”
“She needs parts.”
“You. Have. Brought. None.”
“I need to measure what she needs, then these strong lads are going to go and fetch them.”
Again, it was calculating. Jack took his chance. He flipped open the rusted front panel of its huge torso and fired a shot into the circuitry. He’d managed to take out its legs. It fell with a massive clang and thud, crying out as if in pain. All Jack could hear was a cybernised howl of anger.
The group ran, working on instinct. Someone may have heard the cry of the Monster and come to investigate, and there was no way to tell in the Archives if Mrs. Cooper had yet acted on them. Jack found her silence non too appeasing.
They ran and ran, until Lennie led them down a tunnel the branched off. Jack could clearly see the two grounds for the forcefield on either side of the tunnel, and the slightly blue hue of the barrier. Beyond it were two wooden doors.
“Wish me luck.” he said jovially. Button gave him a kiss on the cheek. Jack ran straight into the forcefield.
At first it didn’t hurt ... but then it really did. He didn’t know whether or not he screamed, or if the pain was so great his vocal chords had frozen. He felt heat and cold all at once, and was fairly sure that smell of bacon frying was actually his own skin. He decided to add this to his list of Deaths To Not Do Again.
And then he was alive again. He was in a totally different room, suggesting he’d been carried some way. There were computer towers and stone walls, lights flashing and things were whirring and beeping.
“Jack!” he heard Button say. “Are you alright?”
Lennie was staring at him, probably realising that the incident earlier hadn’t just been her mind playing tricks on her.
“I can’t die.” said Jack simply.
“Well, you can.” John pointed out. “You just don’t stay dead for that long.”
“Shut up.” snapped Button, helping Jack to his feet.
“Right.” said Jack, trying to move on before John and Button started anything. “So ... this is the heart of Mrs. Cooper?”
“Yep.” yawned Lennie.
“The Blind Spot?”
“Yahuh.”
Button touched Jack’s arm. “Why did she let us come here?”
John snorted. “She’ll have wanted us here. I’m guessing she was hoping for the Archiver to take us out when we got here – or maybe even before. I dunno. She let us get here ... so ... yeah ...”
“Maybe she’s planning something up above.” offered Button. Silence fell, and all of them raised their eyes to the ceiling. Jack cleared his throat.
“John ... you have to tell us what the hell happened back in the twenty-first century. Why were the Torchwood brains stolen?”
“The brains were stolen because Gwen Cooper was a psychopath.” John spat. “She was obsessed with you. Completely. She was stealing brains because ... because ... well ... she was stealing them to experiment.”
“Experiment with what?” asked Button.
“Resurrection.”
Button’s mouth fell open, and Lennie gasped.
“Not just resurrection, though.” continued John Hart. “Immortality. She had it in her head she was going to figure out how to live forever ... but she failed. None of the experiments worked. The brains all fried and turned to goo, so she did the best she could with her Technical Genius of the age – her elder son, Jack Williams, who she didn’t give credit on anything, even the memorial, in case this all got dug up. She erased Ianto Jones too, because he’d been on the news so much, what with her funny little alien tech keeping him spick and span for fifty years six feet under.”
“This is too much.” breathed Jack. “Gwen ... she would never ...”
“I saw Tosh and Owen die.” said Mrs. Cooper’s voice. “And decreed I never would. I would never, ever leave you , Jack.” A full length hologram of Gwen Cooper appeared before them.
Jack stared at it, noticing how it had gone from talking about Gwen Cooper in third person to first.
“What did you do? What have you done?”
“I ask myself that so many times. And I regret every day I remain alive. But It won’t turn me off. Morals, apparently.” she added sniffily.
“Alive? I thought ... you’re artificial!” exclaimed Lennie.
“No.” Gwen shook her head. “The only way the brains could live was if they were supported by a computer. I couldn’t keep bodies alive, either. Just brains. The bodies would decompose while the brain lived on. Open cabinet B6.”
Lennie moved to the appropriate cabinet. The hydraulic locks moved back on Gwen’s command, and the door swung open. Lennie gasped and turned away, bile burning her throat. Inside a tank within the cabinet was a brain.
There was a monitor on the tank relaying information about brainwaves and thought patterns, and every inch of the grey matter was covered in tiny pin-wires. They all pulsated with a slightly yellow energy, and the brain itself pulsed with them.
Jack turned back the hologram. “You’re sick. You’re no better than a Cyberman.”
“I know. I was foolish. I was so in love with you, so blinded by you. Your leaving destroyed what little moral compass I had left."
“It’s my fault.” muttered Jack.
“No, it’s not.” Button whispered, trying to comfort him. Jack shot him a look of pure venom, not sure why he was hating Button, but hating him anyway.
“It’s my fault, Jack.” said Gwen. “I ... you have to understand ... I had so many failed experiments. All in all, only two worked. Myself ... and ... God! I thought you’d be so grateful! I thought you’d love me ... I thought ... it doesn’t matter. But you see, It controls everything. The second you got here, I wanted to tell you. But this is the Blind Spot on my surveillance systems. It can’t see. But It will know. It’s coming ... can’t you hear It?”
Jack listened. They all did. It was distant, but drawing closer.
CLUNK
screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeech
CLUNK
screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeech
CLUNK
screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeech
“What the hell is that?” whispered Button. Jack put a protective arm around him.
“It’s coming, Jack! It’s coming for me!” shouted Gwen Cooper. Jack turned to her.
“What is?”
“The other experiment ... it was ... - oh! It hates me! It hates me so much! – the experiment that survived ... it’s ... it was ... It was Ianto!!!!”
Button fell away from Jack and the Captain stepped closer to the hologram.
CLUNK
screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeech
CLUNK
screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeech
CLUNK
SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH
“Where is he? What did you do to him? Is he alive?”
“Yes ...” The image flickered. Sparks were flying around the towers. “God Jack ... I’m going to die!”
“Where’s Ianto? Tell me! Please!”
“John knew all along. He’s in the Archive –“
Gone.
With a final sputter, the hologram disappeared. An error message took its place – a pre-recorded automated message offering apologies for the delay in Mrs. Cooper’s systems.
CLUNK!
SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH
CLUNK!
SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH
Button pulled at Jack to make him move, trying to get him to run with Lennie and John who had already headed out the door.
“He’s in the Archive.” breathed Jack, deciding not to give in to his anger at John just yet. “He’s been kept alive, and his brain’s in the Archive!”
“Er ... yeah. Great. Jack, honey: we need to run.” pointed out Button.
“Oh yeah!” said Jack, beaming. He turned and legged it out the door.
They were no further than the first corridor when the Monster stopped them in their tracks. It had dragged itself, the CLUNK of its one gargantuan arm echoing around the tunnels and the screech of its body scratching into the white floor. In its spare hand, loose wires were sparking.
It had reached into a maintenance hatch and dragged out the wiring of Mrs. Cooper.
“I. Am. Sorry.” it croaked. “I. Am. Under. Orders.”
FIN
griza, he really can't go and live with you. Your hands are far to full with Janet and her closet of pink dresses anyway ;)In case any of you do want to take Button home, here's a nice digi-painting I did for you all:
