Weird Al (aeron_lanart) wrote in highwood, @ 2008-01-15 22:20:00 |
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Title: The Mystery We Are
Author: Aeron Lanart
Rating: NC-17 in the last third, though most of it is PG-13
Genre: Torchwood crossover with Highlander. Drama.
Pairings: Jack/m in later parts
Summary: Jack learns more about immortality
Warnings: m/m smut in the last third
Spoilers: takes place after Episode 5 but before Episode 6 of Torchwood
Disclaimer: None of the Known characters belong to me.
Torchwood stuff belongs to the BBC and RTD
Highlander stuff belongs to Panzer-Davis
No copyright infringement intended, and no profit made.
Original characters belong to me, as does the story
Title from the song of the same name by All About Eve.
~*~
Although it was dark by the time she arrived at their appointed meeting place, the night was clear, so the moon shone brightly, or as brightly as it ever did somewhere as well lit as a city. She slowly entered the warehouse, sword in hand, while carefully removing her coat as she did not want to be encumbered by the extra material. The emergency lights were already switched on, and as she approached she felt the buzz of another immortal, which meant he was already here, just hiding in one of the more shadowed corners. She moved into the centre of the open space, the sound of her footsteps echoing weirdly in the emptiness and waited in full view, at ease, but ready to move in an instant. She heard him before she saw him, as he slowly moved into the light, his own sword held in a relaxed and competent grip.
“Ryan Kendrick.”
“Siannon O’Niall.”
They circled each other slowly, sizing each other up. He was about 6 feet tall, with messy dark blonde hair and blue eyes, dressed in jeans, t-shirt and boots; his sword, unlike hers, was a katana. That meant he had a greater reach than she did, but Siannon had not arrived at 1500 years of age without learning a few tricks. She wore the same ‘uniform’ of jeans, t-shirt and boots as him, though hers were darker than his and accentuated her femininity in a subtle fashion. Her long dark hair was tied back out of the way, though the odd curling tendril had escaped to soften her face.
“You have nerve, Siannon O’Niall.”
“And you have gall, Ryan Kendrick. I have never done anything to you or yours, so why this?” she gestured loosely with her free hand. He smiled coldly at her.
“Because it is what I do.” Then there was no more talk then as he moved in for the attack, to find Siannon more than ready for him.
~*~
It had been a pleasant night, and now they went their separate ways; Gwen back to Rhys, Owen and Toshiko back to their own places too. Jack and Ianto walked across Roald Dahl Plass in the harmony of good companionship.
“You don’t need to come back, Ianto.”
“I have a few loose ends to tie up, sir.” Jack made no further comment but did cast a sidelong glance at Ianto, before giving himself a shake and resolutely staring at his feet for a while. He only realised that Ianto was no longer beside him when he heard a whispered,
“Oh my God…” Jack whirled round to look at Ianto, then turned again to stare at what had caught his attention.
Lightning blazed down from the clear night sky, stream after stream of it. Jack was running for the SUV before he’d even had time to think, Ianto pelting after him.
“Looks like the Vacation is over.” By the time the SUV was moving, Owen and Toshiko had arrived, both having seen the strange lightning. There was no sign of Gwen. They’d just pulled onto the main road when the lightning stopped, as suddenly as it had begun. Ianto put his foot down and the SUV sped away.
“It appeared to be focused on the other side of the docks,” he said as he drove them in that direction. A few minutes later, he pulled the SUV over. The surrounding area seemed to be pretty much deserted.
“So where do we start?” Owen asked. Ianto and Jack both seemed to be lost in thought and did not answer immediately. Toshiko dug out her handheld, and studied it for a few seconds, tapping in a few commands.
“There are some unused warehouses in this direction; that would seem as good a place as any.” In an unspoken agreement they moved off together.
“Wonder what we’ll find?” Owen pondered.
“No idea, that’s why we’re looking,” Jack answered, he was glad to be out and *doing* again, it made him a lot more comfortable.
“It probably won’t be what you’re expecting, you know.” Ianto commented softly. Only Toshiko heard him.
“And you know what to expect?” She murmured to him. He glanced down at her, a worried frown creasing his brow.
“Maybe I do…” When no further explanation was forthcoming, Toshiko decided Ianto was just trying to be enigmatic and jogged to catch up with the others as they approached the first warehouse.
The lights had been on, but most of them seemed to have blown out, as if a violent storm had passed through the building, and glass crunched underfoot. Jack and Toshiko produced torches, and slowly began to search the area.
It was Owen who discovered the body, by simply tripping over it.
“Jack, Tosh. Over here!” Owen had already crouched beside the inert form to check a pulse, and found none. The reason became clear when the light came closer and shone in the eyes of the decapitated head lying a few feet away. “Well, I think that makes the cause of death fairly obvious.” He pulled out a pair of surgical gloves and began to examine the body, while Jack held the light steady for him. Ianto and Toshiko continued the search, Ianto now being the torchbearer so Toshiko could check her scanners.
“There seems to have been a massive influx of energy round here, centred on that body.” They both glanced in that direction.
“Could have been an outpouring of energy, rather than an influx.”
“Possibly.” A flash of light on the floor caught her eye. “There’s something over there.” They both made their way over to the item that twinkled dully in the torchlight, until it revealed itself as a sword. “What the hell is a Japanese Katana doing in a Cardiff warehouse?” she mused. Ianto cleared his throat and nodded toward the body.
“I would have thought that was obvious.”
“But Why? Never mind, there’s not an answer for that yet.” Toshiko wrapped the sword in plastic and picked it up, before heading back over to Owen and Jack. “I think we’ve found your murder weapon,” she said, displaying the sword so the two men could see it. Owen sat back on his heels.
“Let’s take this poor sod back to the hub, I need to have a closer look. Something just isn’t right here.” Toshiko was curious.
“In what way?”
“There isn’t enough blood for one thing; it’s almost as if the death wound was cauterised just as it occurred.” Owen scrambled to his feet, and began to make his way out of the warehouse. “I’m not going to find out any more here.” Wrapping the sword more tightly in its plastic cover, Toshiko followed him. Jack remained staring at the headless corpse for a few more seconds.
“Owen’s right. We aren’t getting the full story here. And I’m damned if I know what is missing.” He turned on his heel, and strode out after Owen and Toshiko, leaving Ianto alone with the body.
“Who were you?” Ianto asked the silent flesh. “And who took your quickening?” He knew there was no chance in ever finding out the answer to the second question, but if he was very lucky he might be able to find the answer to the first. He rubbed his left wrist absently as he waited for the SUV to arrive.
Back at The Hub, Ianto retreated to his office upstairs after making sure everyone had coffee. He didn’t want anyone looking over his shoulder while he tried to gain access to a database he did not have the right to, and was fairly sure that none of the others were aware of. He had to try, he needed to be armed if his old life decided to come back and haunt him. It took some time, but finally he managed it, ironically through a back door in the security system that he had helped program when he was a bright young thing, almost fresh out of school; before Torchwood – and Lisa – had changed him forever. He stared at the familiar bird-like logo on the screen in front of him, and began his search, being very careful to cover his tracks as he went.
Jack wandered down to the autopsy room, and watched Owen working for a while as he leant on the rail.
“Anything?”
“Well apart from the obvious cause of death, nothing much makes sense. We’re going to have to wait for the metal analysis to come back, but I have the feeling that the sword we found is not the one that decapitated him or caused these wounds. The katana is curved, but by the pattern of the wounds I can pretty much be certain that the sword that caused them wasn’t curved. The other odd thing is that the wounds are partially healed, as if they’d been made some time ago, not just hours ago. And before you ask, yes I’m fairly confident that they were inflicted by the same weapon.” Owen moved away from the slab and looked up at Jack. There was no trace of flippancy in his gaze for a change.
“There’s a distinct possibility we have a sword-wielding maniac wandering the streets of Cardiff. What are we going to do about it?”
“Find them. If we can. Tosh hasn’t come up with anything to identify this guy yet, so we haven’t been able to try that angle. Still, she’s working on it.” Jack sighed. “I suppose we ought to finish up here for now, there’s nothing that can’t wait ‘til later.” He started to head back to his office, only to find Ianto and Toshiko heading in the same direction. Ianto had some papers in his hand.
“I’ve been able to provisionally ID our corpse, sir. Ryan Kendrick, collector of antique weaponry. No confirmation of age, no known address. He did have an online business however.” Jack glanced at Toshiko. She shrugged.
“He’s not in any of the police databases and his fingerprints aren’t on file either. We just seem to have hit a dead end. Unless Gwen can access some of the police records that I haven’t been able to,” the tone of Toshiko’s voice indicated that she thought this very unlikely, “I can’t think where else to look.”
“That’s a damn sight more information that we had a couple of hours ago.” He clapped Ianto and Toshiko on the shoulder. “Now get out of here.”