Neko Ninja and Magician Girl Mirani - Torchwood - Janto - The Ties That Bind
 

Jack stared at the crumpled form of the thing taht had once been Lisa, Ianto's girlfriend from Torchwood 1 and the woman that he had risked himself and his team's lives for. He looked over what was left of her body, what wasn't covered by the cybernetic equipment anyway, and silently wished he knew what it was about her that had caused Ianto to behave in such a way, to risk so much. Once you were even slightly converted there was no going back. It would eat you up, would take over you completely and there was no way of stopping it. It was like a disease. The longer it was left untreated the more it spread but in this case there was no cure so the only way to stop it was to kill the infected person.

Gwen was off to the side somewhere but he tuned her out, figuring that she was unimportant at the moment. There were too many things to deal with at the moment and he didn't have time to listen to her make excuses or demands. He needed to hear it from Ianto, needed to know exactly what the other was thinking. Had the being deceived him so thoroughly that he honestly believed that it was still his Lisa in there?

Ianto sat on his knees next to what was left of Lisa. His beautiful Lisa; gone forever. He couldn't believe that she was really gone. It just wasn't fair! Dr. Tanazaki was supposed to help her get better! Of course, he regretted that the man had died, but he couldn't focus on that. Not with the body of the woman he loved in front of him. He knew that Jack didn't think it was her. But it was. At least, until the last few hours. He didn't know what went wrong, but something did and now she was gone.

He wanted to get mad at Jack for killing her. But, the only thing he felt at the moment was pain. It felt like his heart was being torn apart and it hurt so bad. He could feel tears running down his face, but he didn't bother trying to wipe them away or try to hide them. He didn't have the energy to do so.

Jack looked at Ianto, kneeling on the ground like that. He almost seemed...broken. No. He couldn't think like that now. He had to act for the good of the team and, at the moment that meant coeaning up the mess and dealing with Ianto. What to do with the Welshman though? Killing him was out of the question. That might've been what Torchwood one would've done; he was sure they would have killed Ianto without a second thought but this was Torchwood Three and Jack was not going to live by their example.

"Owen, Tosh," he called to the tech and doctor. "Start cleanup while I deal with Ianto. Gwen..." Jack paused, trying to figure out exactly what Gwen could do. She was too new to know how to handle clean up properly and Owen and Tosh would need to either hold her hand or go over what she did to make sure she did it right....."Go and catch up on some of the paperwork for this. You haven't been doing it lately and if you don't keep up we'll need to start helping you and we've got enough to deal with." Not bothering to wait and see what her response was Jack turned back to Ianto and strode towards the Welshman, his millitary greatcoat billowing behind him as he walked. His eyes were stone as he stared down at the Welshman, determined not to show any emotion at the moment.

"Mind explaining yourself?" he said, his voice neutral, lacking any of the flirting lilt it usually held. He nodded towards his office and began to walk up the stairs, gesturing for Ianto to follow. The Welshman would or he would drag him by the back of his waistcoat.

((Oh by the way should we share playing the other characters, just use them as and when we need to to get things done? It might be easier than asigning specific characters))

"Of course, Jack." Tosh said. She exchanged a look with Owen before they got working in silence. Well, mainly silence. Owen was muttering a bit under his breath, but that was normal for him. She hoped Jack wouldn't kill Ianto for this. She figured losing the woman he loved in such a way was punishment enough.

Ianto didn't look up when Jack went over to him. He heard him speaking, but didn't want to explain himself. There was nothing he could say that would stop him from being punished. And he knew he deserved whatever Jack decided. He made himself get up when he noticed the captain heading to his office and followed him, passing Gwen, who was still just standing there.

{{Yeah. That seems like a good idea to me.}}

((I haven't done a fandom RP in a while and the last one I did, Code Geass, me and my fellow RPer just controlled when we needed. It works pretty well and at least it allows us to focus on our two main pretty boys, ne?))

"Get to work Gwen!" Jack called, reaching his office door and turning to amke sure Ianto was following him up the stairs. "You're a member of this team and that means filling out forms. You had to do it as a police woman and you have to do it now so get moving." Without saying anoterh word he turned and shut the office door, cutting himself and Ianto off from the outer chamber of the hub. He glanced at Ianto before walking over to his desk and pressing a hidden button. The gladd tinted, cutting off their view of the outer workings in the hub and cutting off the hub from seeing them. Jack sighed before shaking his head and sitting down behind his desk, gesturing for Ianto to also take a seat. He hated this part of the job but it needed to be done. He would be stern with Ianto.

"What," he began in the same neutral tone as before. "Were you thinking? You could've gotten everyone killed. You got that doctor killed and he was trying to help you. Did you think about what could have happened if that creature got lose?"

{{Sounds good to me~}}

Ianto watched from the corner of his eye as Gwen scampered to her desk. It was an amusing sight, but he didn't react to it. Not even a tiny smile. He hesitated a moment before taking a seat in front of Jack's desk. He wanted to remain standing so he could run if he had to, but he couldn't directly disobey Jack's orders. So, he sat.

"I wasn't thinking. I just wanted to save her. I didn't mean for anybody to get hurt." he told him, his eyes on the ground. He couldn't bring himself to look at the captain. Not now. Not after everything that has happened.

Jack sighed at Ianto's answer. It was a heavy sigh, staring at the young Welshman intently before replying.

"That doesn't change the fact that you were responsible for that man's death and if it-" he cut himself off, changing hsi mind "-she, had managed to escape how many more lives do you think she would've taken? This is serious Ianto. This isn't like when people sneak some tech out of the hub for a little fun and then bring it back the next day. Oh I know about that, don't think I don't. This was dangerous Ianto. What do you think she would've done when she got out? She would've been fine and the two of you could run away together? Away from Torchwood? Where exactly were you planning to go with a half converted girl? Were you even thinking at all?"

Jack knew he was being harsh but he had to be. His tone was biting, authoratative and he knew that this tone had reduced lesser men to quivering messes.

Ianto was silent as Jack was speaking. He couldn't say anything if he wanted to. Not that he knew what to say anyway. He could feel tears starting to fall down his face again, but he could make his arms move to wipe them away. He couldn't admit that was what he was hoping for. That he and Lisa could run away together and everything would be fine. Now, nothing would ever be fine again.

"I know what I did was stupid and dangerous. But I had to try to save her. I love her. Nothing else mattered if she couldn't be saved." he told him, his eyes still on the ground. "I deserve whatever punishment you give me. No.. What I deserve is to be killed.." He knew that is what he deserved. And Jack did say he would kill him if he didn't kill her. And he couldn't do it. Not to Lisa.

"Stop right there!" Jack growled, his eyes flashing in anger at Ianto's last statement. "No matter what you did death is not a punishment I will condone, not for this. You screwed up but you were trying to do something noble." He ran a hand through his hair, a scowl on his face as he glared at the Welshman. The tears were falling again and Jack fought the innate instinct to reach out and comfort, to protect the Welshman. He fought the instinct with all his might and, thankfully, won out. He did not reach accross the table to wipe the tears away no matter how much he wanted to. He couldn't. Not now, not like this.

"Once a piece of Cyberman tech is transferred to a person," he began, his voice slow and neutral once more. "They are as good as dead. Their personality dissappears. Nothing is left but risidual memories. What you were interacting with, what you thought was Lisa, wasn't her and probably wasn't from the moment you found her like that. The cyberman technology tapped into her memories and it used those memoreis to get to you. It knew what to do to make you help it and you fell for it because your emotions clouded your judgement."

Jack stood from his seat and began to pace the office, walking around the desk and turning Ianto's chair so taht he was now looking down at the Welshman. From this point Ianto looked so small, almost like a child. He briefly considdered suspending Ianto and allowing the other to grieve but dismissed the idea. That wouldn't help the situation. It might allow the Welshman to grow bitter and that was somethign jack wanted to avoid if at all possible. But what to do...

Ianto was silent still. With each word Jack spoke, it hurt more and more. A part of him knew the captain was right, but he refused to accept it. It can't be true! Could it? It just wasn't fair. This wasn't supposed to happen. Everything was supposed to work out! He never had a plan on what to do if it didn't. So now what? He didn't know.

He knew that his emotions were clouding his judgement about Lisa. Always had with her. But the way Jack said it implied that he should be emotionless. He could do that. And he was not going to sit here in silence any longer. He stood to his feet, glaring at Jack and his hands balled into fists.

"So we should all be emotionless bastards like you, is that it?" he asked. Well more like yelled, his anger taking over. He was tired of Jack and all he wanted to do was punch him in his stupid face so he could go home to his sorrow.

Ianto's words were almost a physica slap and it took all Jack had not jerk back like he was hit by an actual physical blow. His eyes anrrowed further at Ianto at the words, refusing to accept them.

"I'm not emotionless," he said simply in reply. "But I'm the one taht has to make the tough choices, the one that needs to clean up after Every One of Torchwood screwups."

He stepped back from Ianto, the emotion which had been leaking through once again placed behind cold walls. He dissappeared just as completely as if he had used a chameleon circuit. He walked stiffly back behind his desk, sat down and stared impassively at Ianto.

"Your punishment," he said calmly. "Is that you will not be allowed to leave the hub over the next few months except for missions. You'll be provided with a bed but you're staying here where I am the team can keep an eye on you. Any questions?"

Not emotionless? How could Jack think he wasn't when he hasn't done anything otherwsie. Though Ianto could feel his anger leaving him just as quickly as it came. Though it was instantly back when he heard is punishment.

"So basically I'll be your prisoner. Might as well lock me in the cells while your at it." Ianto said, once again glaring at Jack. He wasn't going to be the man's prisoner. He couldn't keep him here against his will unless he did lock him in the cells.

"If that's what you want me to do then I'll be more than happy to follow through," Jack hissed, glaring at Ianto. "But I don't think that'd go down well with teh others, do you? Could you do that to Tosh? She cares about you Ianto. You're her best friend here. Could you stand letting her see you in a cell like that?" He was playing dirty and he knew it. It was a skill he'd mastered over the last hundred years of his extended life. If you wanted to get the required results you had to play dirty at times, even if you didn't want to. He needed Ianto close, needed to keep teh Welshman under his watchful eye in case he, Ianto, decided to do something stupid.

Ianto felt his anger leaving again. No, he couldn't do that to Tosh. Wouldn't do it. He sunk back into his chair and his eyes dropped to the ground. He didn't want to be Jack's prisoner. A part of him would rather be dead than have that happen. But, he couldn't hurt his friend. Not like that. Which just made him hate Jack even more than he already did at the moment.

Jack felt a slight pang as he saw the fight leave Ianto entirely but he did not let it show, could not let it show. He had gotten the result that he wanted and that was all that mattered.

"I'll send Tosh with you to collect anything you'll need," Jack told the young Welshman. "You'll go back to your place, get your things and then come back here. We'll have an area set up for you by the time you get back. Any preferences?" If Ianto said a place he would like to sleep, somewhere where he felt comfortable in the hub, then Jack would allow him to sleep there. The other was effectively a prisoner, as he was quite fond of pointing out at the moment, but Jack would allow him some comfort. He would still be working here after all. he just would't be able to leave. Really the other had been spending so much time in the hub he practically lived here anyway so Jack doubted it would make that much of a difference to the other anyway.

Ianto was relieved when Jack said Tosh would be the one to help him get his stuff. She wouldn't criticize him like Owen or Gwen would. He didn't have much he needed anyway.

"No, sir. No preferences." he told him. Though it was a lie. Where he would feel most comfortable was in the archives. But, since he was a prisoner, he didn't deserve to be comfortable. What he deserved was to be locked in the cells for endangering everybody. Nope. He definitely didn't deserve to be in the one place in the Hub he felt most comfortable and where he spent all his time anyway.

Jack frowned at Ianto. He knew the other was lying. Ianto may have lied to them for months but now that Jack was watching out for it it was clear as day when the Welshman wasn't telling him the truth. He leaned forward and glared at Ianto.

"Tell me the truth, Ianto," he ordered, his voice deceptively calm. "This isn't going to work if you keep lying to us, lying to me. Are we clear?" Jack's liquid mercury eyes sought out Ianto's normally sparkling sapphire but the irises seemed dim, as if the soul they reflected wasn't actually there anymore. It was worrying.

Ianto briefly glanced up at Jack before his eyes dropped back down to the ground. "You want the truth. The truth is it doesn't matter where you put me. Nothing matters anymore. Not to me." he told him, his voice slightly angry. Why couldn't Jack understand that he just wanted to be left alone? It wasn't to hard to figure out.

Jack's eyes narrowed further. He'd had enough of this. It was true Ianto was in pain, he'd just seen his girlfriend (former girlfriend) die in front of him, her body anyway, and it had bene Jack that had done the deed. Ianto felt he owed him nothing at this point but Jack was not going to tollerate any of this self pitying behaviour anymore, not today anyway. He could feel a headache coming on.

"You say it doesn't matter?" Jack asked, his voice deceptively calm. "Fine then. You can share the bed I've got in my room if you're so sure you don't care where you sleep. Unless there's somewhere else you'd rather be?" He was goading the other now, for what reason he wasn't entirely sure but he knew he wanted a reaction from Ianto, something that could tell him what to do, something that would show him that Ianto wasn't completely shutting down to the world around him.

Ianto clenched his hands in anger. He barely managed to refrain from punching Jack. He didn't understand how the man couldn't just let things go. Pushing the matter was just making him angrier, so it wasn't helping.

"If that's what you think is best, sir." he said, his voice almost completely emotionless except for slight anger. He was about ready to just get up and leave. And if anybody tried to stop him, he'd lash out. He just needed space but Jack couldn't seem to understand that.

Jack all but leapt accross the table and grabbed Ianto by the front of his waistcoat, pulling him so taht they were almost nose to nose. He glared into Ianto's blank eyes. There had been anger there, hidden beneath teh surface and that was good but the emotionless mask the other was trying to put up.....

"Enough of that," he growled. "You will not do that again, hide yourself behind that mask of yours. It isn't good for you, it isn't good for the team and it isn't good for me to constantly be worrying about whether you're telling the truth or not. You've been keeping this in for months Ianto and it's about damn time you let it out." Jack was so close he could almost kiss Ianto, their lips were so close. If he had still been in the 51st century and if he hadn't lived for a hundred years in this time then he probably would have but he had learnt some restraint over the years. If this kept up though he might just kiss Ianto to push the other over the edge into releasing his emotions.

Ianto wasn't expecting for Jack to jump up suddenly. And he most certainly wasn't expected to be grabbed and pulled against the other man. Being forced that close to him just made the fury rise in him.

His arms went up and he pushed Jack away before his fist slammed into the captain's jaw with all his strength. Then he backed away a few feet, glaring at the man. "Don't you touch me. And don't you dare talk to me about hiding behind a mask when you do it all the time. Your nothing but a hypocrite and a murdering liar."

Jack reeled back from the blow as Ianto backed away from him. The words and the blow stung, both physically and mentally, but it was what he had wanted to do, to make Ianto react and now that he had Jack was sure that the other wans't closing off. If he could get the emotions all to the surface then Ianto would thank him for it later.

"I am your superior and I will talk to you in any way I see fit! You are a subordinate here, Ianto Jones and, although you act like it, you need to stop bottling this all up! Look what it's cost you! If you hadn't thought you could do this on your own, could save Lisa on your own, we wouldn't be in this situation now, would we? We could've helped you through it! I could have explained things to you, about the cybermen, so you could say your last goodbyes and let her go! But no, you couldn't trust your team enough to do that, could you? You had to do it all on your own. Brave Ianto Jones, looking after his girlfriend while the rest of us were up here working our asses offt trying to keep people safe when, right under our noses, one of our own was unknowingly getting ready to unleash a monster on this earth."

Jack was on a tirade now and he knew it. All his pent up frustration and anger at Ianto was bubbling to the front of his mind ahd there didn't seem to be a way to stop it. There were other reasons behind his actions, reasons which he would not think about at the moment. He was angry at Ianto because he was a subordinate and he had defied orders, that was all. He refused to think about the other reason he was angry with Ianto, the other reason he wanted the Welshman to stay in the hub where he could keep an eye on him 24/7. The other reason.....

"I didn't need your help! I could have handled it on my own! And I know you wouldn't have helped me. You would have instantly had her killed!" Ianto exclaimed, his glare cold on Jack.

He knew that if the team hadn't returned to the Hub when they did, he would have been able to save her. Instead, they had to stop the process before completion. That's what went wrong.

He wasn't going to admit Jack was right. Not that he thought he was. Because he was sure he, Jack, was wrong. And he was so furious at him for what happened, that if he had a gun in his hand at this moment, he would probably shoot the captain in a heartbeat.

"You know what," Jack spat. "I've had enough of this. You're not going to listen in the state you're in and I'm not going to waste my breath."

Jack walked past Ianto and to the door. He unlocked it and shouted down for Tosh to come up. When the young Japanese woman came Jack smiled at her, his expression strained, before asking her to take Ianto back to his place to get what he would need for an extended stay in the hub. Tosh gave Jack a wary look before nodding her head and flitting past him. There were times when the little Japanese woman reminded Jack of a bird. Tosh reached out and took Ianto's hand carefully, as if she was scared he might break if she touched him too harshly.

"Come on, Ianto," she murmured. "Let's get you ot of here for a bit. You could use the fresh air, right?" She would ask about the extended stay comment later. For now she sensed the tension in the air and just wanted to get her riend out of the room.