m_findlow

Title: Wrongful arrest
Fandom: Torchwood
Prompt: Arrest at hc_bingo
Wordcount: 24,947 words
Rating: M
Warnings: N/A
Summary: UNIT are on the warpath, and they've got Jack in their sights.

Ianto received an icy reception as he entered the Torchwood cells with a tray of food. He'd left Jack to cool his heels in the cells for a few hours, but now it was getting very late. He hadn't even though about food all day, but he'd been sat up with Myfanwy in her aerie, feeding her and wracking his brain over their current problems, when he found his own hand absently dipping into her bucket of roughly chopped apple and banana, munching on it while he thought. She didn't seem to mind sharing.

Jack considered him for a moment, before picking up the mug of coffee and taking a sip. The look was one of wavering trust. Ianto figured that this version of Jack had probably been locked up on more than one occasion and was naturally distrustful of any food presented. That said he also seemed to know that if Ianto had wanted him harmed, he'd had plenty of opportunities to do so already, so any offer of food was probably safe.

His eyebrows raised slightly as the taste of the coffee hit his taste buds, and Ianto couldn't help but smile in spite of himself that no matter what incarnation, his coffee would never cease to impress.

'You always treat your detainees so well, or only the ones that look like your boyfriend?'

The statement knocked the wind slightly out of him, reminding him yet again that this Jack was very different from his own.

'How did you?'

'Please, it's written all over your pathetic face. Besides, who wouldn't want a piece of this? Though I used to have better taste.'

Well, Some things never change, Ianto thought bemused.

'Torchwood aren't in the habit of torturing prisoners, in case you hadn't already figure that out.'

'Lucky me,' he replied flatly. 'Though I hate to think what your success rate is like in that case.'

'I thought you might like some company.'

'What would give you that impression?'

Ianto refused to be taken in by his stubbornness.

'Well, since it's just you down here, and me upstairs in the hub, what have you got to lose? Unless of course you'd rather sit down here all on your own for who knows how long. You're not much good at not being the centre of attention, and Janet's not going to give you much heed, no matter how hard you try.'

Hopefully not too long, Ianto thought to himself. Pretty as you are, I'd rather have my Jack back.

Jack raised his eyes to meet Ianto's gaze and Ianto could sense some of the defensive walls beginning to lower, just slightly.

'Fine,' Jack conceded, picking up a sandwich and biting into it ruthlessly.

'Hungry?' Ianto observed, taking a small bite out of his own sandwich.

'Just a bit. Haven't eaten since the last morning before I hyper jumped. Too busy avoiding being picked up by a cyber patrol.'

'What happened?' Ianto asked, lowering himself to the floor so that he was now looking up at Jack sat on the shelf that acted as a seat and bed. 'I'm guessing from your reaction earlier, Jack being immortal in this universe is news to you.'

'Some people get all the luck.'

Ianto watched as he devoured the first half of the sandwich, and then started on the second. Just when he thought he wasn't going to get a response, Jack began talking.

'I was commissioned to procure a device. Good money by all regards and low risk for me. Perfect combination. It also helped that the guys I was doing the buying for had plans to use it to take out an ex Time Agency director who was muscling in on their turf. A win-win for me since he was the one responsible for wiping two years of my memories. Would have loved to see his little empire fall. Guess now I never will.'

'How did you know where to find it?'

'The device? They're not exactly rare, just hard to obtain. I bought some good intel that said I could find one on this planet in this time. Well, when I say this planet, I mean Earth, but in my universe. The rest was easy. I just didn't figure my vortex manipulator would conk out and leave me stuck there, and that everything would go to pieces quite so quickly.

I never made it to UNIT. Daleks had already taken over, but I got wind of Torchwood and headed there. For safety as much as anything. Figured if I couldn't find what I needed, Torchwood might have something that could fix it. Things weren't much better there.

Turns out Torchwood were none too happy with UNIT. Reports were that UNIT had been experimenting with something called a Genesis Ark. That's what brought the daleks through. That's why they were the first to fall. At the same time Torchwood were experimenting with something called a ghost machine. It let through the cybermen.

Daleks and cybermen decided this planet wasn't big enough for the both of them. Daleks started invading Torchwood trying to destroy the cybermen. Torchwood had managed to isolate a few floors where they were holding out a resistance. For the most part, I think they were less worried about the humans until one army managed to wipe out the other. Cybermen had already converted most of the Torchwood personnel, using them to bulk out their forces.

I managed to infiltrate before the main battle took off in a big way. That's when I discovered the team trying to connect with alternate universes using the void hopper technology, that round yellow thing you found on me, searching for a way to stop both of them. I though all my Christmases had come at once. At least if I couldnt fix my vortex manipulator, I could get the hell outta dodge.'

Ianto struggled to marry his concept of Jack with the man stood in front of him. Here was a man prepared to put his own needs ahead of those of an entire planet.

'So,' Jack continued, 'I waited until I could get one of them alone. He needed something from a lab on another floor that was already teeming with daleks. I volunteered to go with him as backup. As soon as we were far enough away, I disabled him and took the void hopper. Then I just jumped and landed here. No daleks. No cybermen. Suddenly I'm back in the game.'

'You left him there? Knowing the place was full of daleks?'

'Survival of the fittest. Oh, and just so you know, so far I haven't confessed to any wrongdoing on this planet.'

'Duly noted,' Ianto replied through clenched teeth.

'Nice thing about alternate universes. The closer they are together, the more you can rely on things being the same. Now, assuming I might put together a plan as to what to do next, which, for the record, I didn't carry out, just in case you thought you were going to get lucky and get a confession. I actually have no idea who your mystery thief is. So anyway, the plan. Step one. Go back and get the device from UNIT. Step two. Make for Torchwood and fix my vortex manipulator. Step three. Go get my money and start spending it. Vegas Galaxy would be my first choice, but there are plenty of other places where currency will get you pretty much anything you want.'

'Isn't your buyer stuck back in the other universe?'

'Sure, but I still have, had,' he corrected, 'the void hopper. And with my vortex manipulator fixed, I don't have to be stuck on Earth while it all goes to hell. One push of the button and it's hypervodkas til sunrise in Telisia.'

'Seems like you had it all figured out. Assuming you decided to go ahead with your plan, that is.' Let him perpetuate the lie, eventually he'll slip up.

'Even if I didn't, I still needed to fix my vortex manipulator. Unfortunate that I had to come all the way out here to find Torchwood. I was expecting it to be in London, but I guess this is an alternate universe. Bound to be a few differences '

'It was,' replied Ianto. 'Torchwood London was destroyed by the daleks and the cybermen three years ago.'

'You don't say?'

'I was there when it happened,' he replied in a low voice.

Jack locked eyes with the young man and could tell there was no lie hidden beneath it.

'Can I ask you something?'

Jack's eyes narrowed at him.

'That depends.'

'Those memories you lost. Did you ever get them back?'

Jack paused. The question caught him off guard. 'Yup.' He looked away as he said it.

Suddenly Ianto wanted to know, more than he'd ever wanted to know anything about Jack. His Jack didn't know what had happened. They'd spent hours speculating on various scenarios. Perhaps that he'd chosen to have them wiped, other scenarios where they'd been taken by force, but always the fear was that it was because of something bad that had happened. Something that someone didn't want remembered. Still, Ianto could tell it plagued Jack not knowing one way or the other.

'Tell me what happened?' Ianto asked hopefully.

Jack considered for a moment. It was a diversion from their current conversation, which was all about who could outplay who in a game of lies. He knew he was being toyed with until he gave away something. It wouldn't ever happen. Jack knew he was too good to get caught out. He knew every trick in the book. He'd been an interrogator and a torturer longer than this boy had been alive.

But this was unexpected. He had no reason to want to talk about it. Not with anyone ever. He'd only ever spoken of it with one other person, and they'd been stuck together in a time loop for five years. They'd become intimately close in that time. This man had known him for less than a day, and their rapport was hardly friendly, or if it was, it was totally one sided. Yet he found himself wanting to share this very private moment in his life. He couldn't put a finger on why. Could it be perhaps because another version of him had  become equally intimate with this man?

'We were sent to a planet in the Vorahs Cluster to ease the civil unrest breaking out between the two major continents. Each was developing high end warp technology, capable of obliterating entire planets. Seemed they'd decided if they couldn't have the planet, the others couldn't have it either.

The Time Agency decided the weapons were too deadly to fall into the hands of any one planet or race. We were supposed to be going in to start a disarmament on both sides. Twelve months of fruitless negotiations and plenty of skirmishes by forces on both sides, trying to break into they others research facilities to steal technology or corrupt their systems. Time agents sat on both sides trying to prevent the break ins, and killing a lot of people in the process. It seemed neither race was going to back down, and the risks of one side getting too close to completing the technology and using it became too great. Then they came.'

'Who came?'

'The creatures that attacked my home world when I was a kid. Creatures that kidnapped my little brother. I heard their screeches of war. We had weaponry capable of fighting them but the Time Agency, they pulled us out. We were told to let them come and to kill them or take them. They decided that the best disarmament strategy would be to let them wipe out the entire planet and everyone on it. That way no one would survive to replicate the technology they'd created. Only then I found out that the Agency had sent them the coordinates for the planet. Told them they could have it. Our disarmament programme was nothing more than a ruse to comply with Shadow Proclamation laws. They manufactured the annihilation of an entire world. And we stood by and let it happen.'

Ianto was shocked. He'd thought that the Time Agency was supposed to protect people, at least, that's what Jack had told him. That many of the agents had profited on the side thanks to their ability to travel through time and space, seemed irrelevant. Jack had left because of what happened, without knowing the real reason why.

'What happened to you?'

'I found out that the ships they'd sent doubled as prisoner carriers. If I could get on board one, I could find Gray. Either he was already on one of those ships, or they'd take me to where they were keeping them. When they sent us back to the Agency, I stole a ship. I was getting out. I was on my way back to the planet, coming back for him, when the Time Agency caught up with me.

According to them we were pulled out for our own safety, and it would look bad if the Agency was connected in any way to what happened. The official line was that it was mere coincidence that they'd turned up just when things were going south. I knew otherwise, so the only way they could ensure that no one discovered the truth was to make sure no one talked.

'They took your memories to prevent you telling anyone what happened?'

'No!' Jack slammed the bench with his hand. It caused Ianto to jump in alarm.

'They took the only chance I ever had of finding Gray. Do you know how many years I spent searching for him? He was the whole reason I joined the Time Agency. And they knew how to contact those creatures. Finally, finally I find him and they took that away from me.' Jack looked away and stared at the farthest corner of the cell, clearly upset and angry.

'But you got those memories back eventually. Didn't you go back?'

'It was too late. They'd moved on. The planet was completely desolate. Any chance I had of finding Gray was gone.'

'I'm sorry for what they did to you.' Sorry just didn't seem adequate to him. If even half of it was accurate for his version of Jack, it explained a lot.

Jack stared wistfully for a moment before the stony facade fell back into place on his face.

'I think I'll get some rest now, seeing’s as I'm not going anywhere.'

Ianto felt slightly disappointed and hurt at the obvious dismissal. It seemed like he was finally getting somewhere, and then just like that, he was shut out again. He guessed that after everything he'd been through, he was justified not to trust anyone.

Jack stretched out along the long stone plinth and closed his eyes, ending any discussion.

Ianto inwardly sighed and pulled himself up off the floor.

Jack made no movement as he heard Ianto's footsteps fading down the corridor, and didn't turn his head back until there was silence. Resigned to a night stuck in the vaults, he tucked one arm behind his head and settled himself. He'd slept rough in worse places.

He'd only had his eyes closed for a moment when the sound of footsteps returned and a swishing sound indicated the door being opened and quickly shut again. He opened an eye and found a thick blanket folded on the floor near the door. The young man was quietly watching him.

'It gets quite cold down here,' he said, by way of explanation.

Jack bent down to pick up the blanket and only gave Ianto a momentary glance.

'Thanks,' he replied, tucking it around his body and curling up on his side, still facing the wall.

Ianto waited for a minute, still staring at the figure huddled in the cell. Somewhere his Jack was also huddled in a cold dark cell, but probably not receiving anywhere near the same hospitality. He wished he could be there, but would have to settle for this poor imitation. For now there was nothing else he could be doing, and he didn't really feel like being alone.

He sat back down to the floor, back resting up against the buttress, side on to the reinforced perspex cell door, and continued to watch over the imposter Jack.

Jack seemed to sense that the man was still there and wasn't in a hurry to leave. Jack didn't care, he was going to ignore him just the same.

Chapter eight...