tampered | (no subject)

(no subject)

When; Late evening; Friday, June 26th
Rating; R for violence (may change)
Characters; Kyle Brooks (

justashow ); Ianto Jones (

king_coffee ); Jack Harkness (

handsomejack )
Summary; As Ianto heads down to the Underground to drown out the past, Kyle follows and gets in over his head.
Log; It had been said that Kyle Brooks was too stubborn and head-strong for his own good, and Kyle would agree with that any other time, but it really was too much now. He'd done everything he could think of short of dragging Ianto into a full-out fight on the subject (something he did not want to encite, given that Jack's squabbles with the other man were proving dangerous enough) and it still had not worked. He had drugged hot chocolate, and he had made himself present and available, and he had given 'space'. Enough space that Kyle, at the very least, was feeling a little like he'd have to cross the Grand Canyon to get back within touching distance.

Enough was enough, and Kyle has had enough.

So that night he refused to wrap himself up in cool sheets and lie awake waiting for partners who would not come home to bed. He knew where Ianto was going, and when he would go. He took his stun gun from the armory and fifteen minutes later followed the other man down into the dark and the damp.

It was always night in the Underground, and Kyle had heard of the more populated corners, the vampire bars and circuses, even the scummy bars where Jack flirted with danger. But that wasn't where Ianto was going, and Kyle didn't stick to the beaten, slightly less hazardous track either. And while some part of him recognized that prowling around in the dark, hunting a man who was hunting monsters was a bad idea, Kyle hadn't been listening to that part in a while.

Warehouse brick and stone under his palm, Kyle followed the lines of ruined and abandoned buildings to make up for his lack of flashlight. The light of his Network device wasn't really suitable for this and he'd wished he'd brought better supplies. He brought out the small PDA to frown at and adjust the settings, holding it close to his face and that's when he heard the growl.

Kyle froze. Lack of light kept him from knowing what it was, but his ears told him it was entirely too close, and the click of claws on stone and the interested whuff hunger told him that the creature didn't have Kyle's eyesight problem.

If he ran it would run after him. But if he stayed put it would be on him in a matter of seconds. Kyle made a split second decision and ran. He got five feet before something hard and heavy slammed into his back and took him down. Sharp teeth grazed the back of his neck and Kyle smelled rot and decay, old meat, dead idiots. The stun-gun was of no use in close combat and he couldn't move. Panic tightened Kyle's limbs and the pressure on his back got stronger. Maybe he would be crushed to death before the thing got in its first bite.

It wasn't a comforting thought.

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Ianto hadn't actually intended to spend so many nights Underground.

He'd thought, as the anniversary had loomed closer, that he'd been coping much better. The nightmares started later than they usually did, and he found he didn't have the old weight across his shoulders. But then a curse had struck, and while he was still mostly okay after, Jack's behaviour had left him confused and a little hurt. But still he'd been okay.

Then of course, the old nightmares had started, and he hadn't wanted to subject the other two to those.

But then he hadn't expected his falling out with Jack, either. He didn't exactly want to be told 'there there' and be patted on the head - that would earn someone a smack - but he'd wanted quiet understanding, or something like that. But he and Jack had sniped instead and already wounded Ianto didn't think he could handle a rejection if he tried to reach out to make amends with the other man. But then he also kind of wanted Jack to be the one to reach out for once, to prove that Ianto was worth the effort.

And, quite unfairly of Ianto, because of all this, Kyle had suffered from it all as well.

But then nobody had tried to stop him going Underground, and while he wasn't stupid enough, or so far into his own head to think that nobody cared for him because of it, it also hurt that nobody had tried to stop him.

But he was doing his best not to think about all that as he stepped silently across the ground, trying to work out where the prey he needed was, wearing his stun gloves and carrying his gun with a torch beneath.

He heard a snarl nearby and pivoted in it's direction, heading towards the source of the noise.

He couldn't quite believe his eyes, but there was no time to hesitate. Seeing the creature bearing down on what could only be Kyle, Ianto shot forward, holstering his gun with the movement - steel exoskeleton, bullets just bounced off - and launched forward to grab what could only be described as shoulders to pull the creature off Kyle.

"Get over there!" he yelled at Kyle as he and the creature stumbled back.

Kyle gasped as the pressure was released and he scrambled forward, but he was still locked up with fear and he couldn't push himself more than a few feet without collapsing.

Wide-eyed, he searched with trembling fingers for the stun gun.

Not caring what weapon Kyle was carrying, Ianto dragged the creature off and as far away as he could, receiving a swipe across the ribs for his trouble.

Luckily Torchwood had come across this creature before, and Ianto remembered everything. A sharp blow with his knee to the back of one of it's thighs, and the creature roared in pain and well, that exoskeleton? Made electrocution a handy tool.

Ianto's left hand came down hard on the creature and the stun gun activated, knocking it unconscious. No killing, thank you, not when immobilisation was an option.

Kyle watched Ianto subdue the creature with some degree of horrified fascination. It had been huge and fast and strong. The outcome shouldn't have looked like that, witht the monster on the ground, still and silent while Ianto glowered over it cool as ice.

Kyle swallowed several times before attempting to speak.

"I-is it..."

"Unconcious," Ianto finished for him.

The weakness to electricity was a handy thing. In a few hours, when they were long gone, it would wake up grumpy and annoyed, but no worse for wear.

But that wasn't the matter at hand. Turning, Ianto's hands went straight to his hips.

"What the hell do you think you were doing?"

Kyle's eyes went to Ianto's jacket. He licked his dry lips and tasted blood. He must have bitten his lip. He didn't remember the pain.

"You're hurt?"

Ianto folded his arms to block access.

"A minor scrape. Won't even need stitches. Now, what the hell do you think you were doing?"

"Looking for you."

Kyle's slacks were getting horribly dirty, crouched as he was, on his knees. He didn't stand though, or move towards Ianto. Afterall, there was a hulking great unconcious monster between them, and Kyle couldn't quite keep his attention off that fact.

"Practically unarmed and with no knowledge of what kind of monsters are really down here. There are several that are completely resistant to electricity. What would have happened if I wasn't nearby, hm?"

Yes, he was a little angry.

Kyle flinched and he drew into himself. Yes, it was stupid. No, he had no excuses. He would have died, pure and simple, and Kyle Brooks wasn't supposed to be the type to court death. He was supposed to be smarter than that.

"...You wouldn't come home."

"Kyle would be dead," Jack said calmly, stepping out of the shadows.

He'd come down to the Underground to check on Ianto, had heard the rucus and honestly, the last thing he'd expected to find was Kyle. Jack was not happy about that fact and it showed in his face but beyond a white, pinched bit around his lips and at his eyebrows, he was mostly just glaring.

"Alright you two, we're going back to the beach house."

Jack was already reaching for the Vortex Manipulator as he said the words.

Ianto had been about to give Kyle another piece if his mind but well, Jack stepped out of the shadows.

He should have probably noticed beforehand, right?

And he was on the verge of refusing, still annoyed with their spat, but he recognised that it was the Captain talking, not Jack, and Ianto only ever disobeyed the Captain in extreme cases.

So, without a single word, he pulled off a glove and put a hand on Jack's Vortex Manipulator.

Kyle's nerves were screaming at him to pull back from them both. It didn't look like either of them were happy with him at the moment and if Kyle's survival instinct had been stunted before he got jumped by the monster it was overactive right now.

But he wanted to go somewhere safe.

He struggled to his feet.

When Kyle was within reach, Jack gently put a hand on the shaken young man's elbow and guided his hand to where Ianto's rested against the device. In less than a blink they were gone from the darkness of the Underground, leaving the critter to it's own devices and appearing instead in their bedroom.

Inwardly, Jack exhaled a deep breath, though he was being careful not to let his own case of nerves show to either men.

"Ianto, would you help Kyle to the couch?"

As soon as they landed, Ianto pulled his hand off the vortex manipulator and folded his arms, ready to take whatever tongue lashing Jack seemed ready to give, and then go back Underground later.

But Kyle didn't look too steady at all, and doing as he was told, Ianto led Kyle over to the couch and sat him down safely.

He chose to stand himself, hands deep in his pockets.

For his part, Kyle flinched at both touches and sat quietly where he was put, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

His shoulder ached from where the creature had dropped on it but he refused to rub it. If there was any talking to be done, someone else would have to go first.

Taking a slow breath, Jack reined in on a temper that was seriously starting to fray.

"Ianto, would you please sit down," this would be the only time he'd ask with a 'please' attached.

Usually if Ianto wanted to stand, he would stay standing, but as said before, that was the Captain asking. And Ianto obeyed his captain.

So, as asked, he sat in a chair, but on the edge, so he could stand up quickly at any time.

Kyle could almost see the temper fraying and a bit of the panic from before came back. He stood on shakey legs.

"I can go get the first aid kit."

"Sit," Jack said, firmly but not unkindly and he went to where Ianto's bottle of brandy was stashed and poured Kyle a drink.

Handing it over to Kyle, Jack turned and looked at Ianto.

"I don't appreciate games, Ianto." He said softly. "I know the dates and you are obviously struggling but unless you open the door for us to help you, we can't read your mind."

Jack didn't want to out and out say the other man was being passive aggressive but the subtle message was no doubt there.

What? When had this gone from Kyle being Underground to poking at Ianto?

His hands balled into fists in his pockets.

"What? I did, I tried at the start, and then you were off with me and I don't even know why. If it's because of the coffee machine well, I'm bloody sorry but that had nothing to do with this. Do you think I'm going to risk being open if you're bloody well sniping away at me?"

He gritted his teeth. "I'm not playing games."

Brandy was never Kyle's drink of choice but he sat and sipped without complaint. And without comment.

He had no desire to be caught in the middle of this...this whatever it was.

"You were nothing of the sort," Jack snapped, retreating to the windows that opened up out onto the deck. "You just slowly closed yourself in and then took the coffee machine apart rather than coming to someone and saying 'I'm in trouble'."

Pointing Jack is pointing!

"It's called survivor's guilt, Ianto. A desire to punish yourself but more importantly looking outwards for those of us who love you to override the sense of shame you're feeling because you lived."

A breath and then a shake of his head.

"I can understand it, Ianto but I won't play into it. The only person who can look out and see that there is no shame in having survived Canary Wharf and forgive you for it, is you."

"It needed cleaning!"

It honestly had, and it was Owen pissing him off that made him leave it in pieces. Nothing to do with Canary Wharf.

"And I know what survivor's guilt is! And I do feel guilty for surviving, why shouldn't I? Even then some of the survivors were badly burned, or became amputees, but I walked out without a single scratch on me."

He made a move to get up and leave.

"If you're only going to yell at me, I don't need this. I'm going."

Kyle's lips twitched and a half-empty glass of brandy suddenly was catapulated across the room to smash against the wall. Then he turned to face Ianto.

"Well you have a scratch now. Are you happy?"

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'On Jack's Vortex Manipulator' Oh, so that's what they're calling it these days!

Well, we have to give it a safe for work name!

And Jack has a bigger wriststrap?

Much bigger!

Like your ego!

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