Title: The Angel of Death (11/?)

Author: Emma

Characters: Jack Harkness, others

Rating: Starts PG. That's all I know.

Disclaimer: Oh, please. If I owned them, would I let some of those idiots write the scripts? And if I were making any money off them, would I be where they could find me?

Summary: Far in the future, Jack meets someone he never expected to see again

Author's Note: I don’t know where this came from. I really don’t.

Part One is here; Part Two is here; Part Three is here; Part Four is here; Part Five is here; Part Six is here; Part Seven is here; Part Eight is here Part Nine is here; Part Ten is here

They waited patiently while Ai-Shi finished reading the documents Tosh was sending her through the Tech net, her eyes flickering rapidly behind her closed lids as the information was input directly into her optic nerve.

“Can we do that?” Leah whispered to Jack. “With this thing behind our ear, I mean?”

“Yes, but you'll probably fall on your arse. It takes a lot of practice. Now hush.”

A few minutes later Ai-Shi's eyes snapped open. “Well, that will certainly put the cat among the pigeons. The documents will be a matter of public record in a few days. Tosh has made sure every Shareholder gets copies. I foresee one hell of an explosion.”

“This place, Retirement,” Ianto asked. “Is it that important?”

“Oh, yes.” Ai-Shi chuckled. “The majority of the Shareholders will never make anywhere near enough from their fields. Retirement is the one thing they hold on to through the lean times. A few acres of their own to pitch a tent under a real sky and die in peace. If they think Exec is selling that out from under them there will be hell to pay.”

“Can you ride it out?” Jack asked.

“Oh, we'll do much more than that. Everyone knows the McPierces have been kept out of Exec by the Espinosa - Gowan coalition. Now Marcus is missing and I am widely rumoured to be kept a prisoner in my own home. Everyone will believe the worst, especially since it is true.”

“So what's the plan?” Leah said.

“You'll go on your own pre-approved course as soon as you finish refueling.” Jack said. “They don't dare hold you up. Their partners wouldn't be pleased. But you will be transmitting through the Tech net, every minute of every day.”

“I need to sleep sometime,” she pointed out.

“That is so Welsh,” Jack said to Ai-Shi. “you show them the perfect solution and they go all practical on you.”

“Oi!” The single syllable exploded from two throats at the same time. Jack grinned impudently at Ianto and Leah.

“Jack,” Ai-Shi said reprovingly. “The data can be collected automatically. If you will allow it, my dear, the Tech net will open a permanent channel for data collection and transmission only. It will send out the information even if you're asleep.”

Leah thought about it for a moment. “It doesn't have an override function?”

“Only at your end,” Ai-Shi replied. “There's a built-in failsafe. The chip burns out if someone attempts to send any message whose electronic signature can be identified as part of a command sequence. You are in complete control of all communication functions.”

Leah nodded. “Fine, then, go ahead. What about Ianto?”

“Ianto has his own tracker,” Jack said easily. “Don't worry, Leah. Now, back to the plan. The Toshiko will be shadowing you.” Her mouth opened and then shut as he held up a hand. “No, they won't see us. Beloved, can we ask Tech net to sneak in a few lines of programming into the Security satellites? Tosh has been working on something to identify 456 ships by tracking their phase field signatures.”

She closed her eyes for a moment. “Yes. Tell Tosh to send it to Central. They will run it every third sweep. More than that and it will attract Exec attention.”

“That should be enough. 456 ships are too large to phase fast.”

A small servo zipped in to hover next to Ai-Shi. “Yes, GeGe?” she asked.

“Incoming transmission for Madame.” The piping child’s voice made Ianto and Leah smile. “From the Security Chief’s office.”

“Thank you, GeGe. I will accept transmission in five minutes.” She watched him zip off with a fond smile, and then turned to the others. “Children, I need to speak with Jack alone for a moment. Would you please wait in the hall?”

It was phrased as a question, but they knew an order when they heard one They bowed and left without saying a word.

“Jack...”

He came to kneel at her feet. “I know.”

“He loves you already.”

He shook his head. “No. He thinks he’s going to die and wants an experience.”

“And you?” She pulled his head into her lap, and he wrapped his arms around her waist. “Will you grant his wish?”

“I never could deny Ianto anything.” His laugh came out more like a sob. “Except his life. I killed him once and I'll probably kill him again.”

“No, you won't. I forbid it.” She tilted his head so she could look into his eyes. “You two will give me beautiful babies, Jack.”

Jack jerked back. “I thought you had decided not to go through with it.”

“Marcus has been working on me, but with him grown and out of the nest and not inclined to provide... I am tired, Jack. Mentally, not physically. But this would give me something interesting to do, wouldn't it? Now, go. Take the young ones away and let me deal with Lucken.”

Jack stood up, wiping his face. He took her hands in his and kissed the palms. “I will see you again one way or another, beloved.”

“Yes.”

He found Ianto and Leah examining the Buddha. “It's beautiful,” Leah told him, running her fingers lightly over the delicate creamy white stone.

“It has been passed down in Ai-Shi's family for generations. They lost everything more than once, but they hung on to it. It's about a thousand years old.”

Leah snatched back her hand as if the cold jade had suddenly burned her. Jack and Ianto laughed. “Don't worry,” Jack said. “It has survived worse.”

“How are we going to get back to the docks?” Ianto asked Jack. “I don't think whoever started this is going to give up.”

“You're quite correct, sir.”

Galthorpe's voice had them whipping around. The servo was holding the door open. Beyond them, they could see a shipping container resting on a flatbed transport driven by another servo.

“Ah... Galthorpe, I don't think we'd fit in there,” Leah said, nearly stammering. “Well, we could, but...”

“Don't worry, Miss.” The voice was at its most butlerish, and they realized that if Galthorpe had had eyes they would have been twinkling. “That's for the zócalo rabble. But we need to provide the visual bait.”

The loading door on the container opened and they ran in, making sure whoever was watching saw them clearly. As the door closed behind them, Leah burst into giggles. There was a trap door on the bottom of the container that matched exactly one on the corridor below.

“I feel like I'm in a Giakki entertainment.” She struck a pose and declaimed like a barker at a carnival. “Handsome heroes! A great Queen and her faithful servants! A rescue! Secret tunnels!”

Ianto grinned. “Evil fairies! Cannibals! Risen mittens!”

Jack kept himself upright by sheer force of will. “Time enough for jokes later, people. Let's go!”

They clambered down into the tunnel. Another servo waited for them, this one a floating sphere ringed round the midsection by small lights. Jack disliked the tunnel servos; even though he knew they were controlled by Engineer Techs from the station's Maintenance Control Center, he couldn't get rid of the impression that they were miniature Toclafane.

The servo waited until they were on the ground and then zoomed off. They ran after it. After a while Jack lost all notion of where he was. His lungs were starting to burn with the strain, and he could feel Leah wheezing a bit. He turned his head to look at Ianto. He was running easily, face set into a serene mask.

Jack couldn't stop thinking about the things Ianto had sing-songed in response to Leah. Those were things very few people knew. Before he had left Earth for the last time, he had given the Torchwood Three archives a good scrubbing. Someone could have found out about the cannibals, but the evil fairies and the resurrection glove existed only inside Tosh's memory banks. Yet this Ianto knew about them.

He reached out to Tosh. Tosh, could the Ylnagii have botched the job on Ianto?

What do you mean?

He keeps on mentioning things only our Ianto could know. He told her about Ianto's joking conversation with Leah. He's done it before.

There was a long silence, more like a hesitation. Tosh?

Ianto and I have been practising our linking. You know how it is at first, things are not quite shielded, parts of one leak into the other. There was another, briefer silence. Someone did extensive work in Ianto's mind, true, but his memories were not erased, only suppressed. I think our Ianto is in there somewhere.”