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fandomweekly2026-04-26 03:50 pm
m_findlow) wrote in fandomweekly2026-04-26 03:50 pm
Entry tags:
[#298] OUT OF CHARACTER (TORCHWOOD)
Theme Prompt: #298 - Disappearance
Title: Out of character
Fandom: Torchwood.
Rating/Warnings: PG. Spoilers for Big Finish audioplay “Fall to Earth”.
Bonus: Yes
Word Count: 1,000 words
Summary: The most reliable member of the team is absent and it’s got Gwen worried.
Gwen yawned at her computer screen, and then checked her watch. It read a quarter past ten. A quarter past ten and no coffee yet. She swung her head around, searching out their barista aficionado, but the hub was quiet but for the clacking of computer keys and the trickle of water into the pool at the base of the tower. ‘Has anyone seen Ianto this morning?’ she asked.
‘No,’ Owen replied, ‘but if I don't get some soon, there’s going to be nothing left of this corpse to dissect.’
Gwen turned to Tosh beside her. ‘You were here earliest, Tosh. Any sign?’
‘I just assumed he was here before me. Almost always is.’
Gwen twisted the mobile phone from her tight jeans pocket, flicked through her speed dials and hit the button.
“Your call cannot be connected. Please try again later.”
‘Okay he's not answering his phone. Tosh, can you tell if he arrived at the hub this morning?’
She tapped a few keys and frowned. ‘Security pass hasn’t been activated since yesterday.’
‘Did he seem like he was coming down with anything?’
‘Not that I could tell. But it's Ianto. He'd have to be dying before he called in sick.’
‘Okay, so he's still at home then. Owen, go do a welfare check on him. Maybe he's too unwell to answer his phone. Might need a doctor.’
‘On it.’
Gwen puffed out her cheeks. She was jumping at shadows. His phone might be on silent and his alarm clock switched off. God knew they'd all done some long hours since Jack had left in search of The Committee. He was probably due a day off. Overdue in fact. Still, it wasn’t like Ianto to have a lie in, and even more unlike him not to tell anyone about it.
She tried to consider other innocent alternative explanations. Jack had been gone more than two months now, hunting down this elusive Committee, and that had taken its toll on the team. It felt like they’d only just gotten him back only to have him disappear on them again. It couldn’t be easy on Ianto having to wonder when he might come back. They hadn’t had so much as an email or a call to let them know Jack was okay, wherever he was. It drove Gwen mad, not knowing where Jack was, and how they could, or should, be helping. She was sure that Ianto must feel the same. And more.
‘You don't think…’ Gwen let the rest of her sentence trail off.
Tosh looked at her. ‘What?’
‘Jack,’ came the one word answer.
‘Ianto wouldn't run off like that,’ Tosh said, shaking her head. ‘We don't even know where he is.’
‘We don't,’ Gwen thought, but Ianto was very smart. What was to say he hadn’t figured it out?
Gwen’s phone began buzzing and she reached for an earpiece, slipping it on before answering. Tosh did the same, tapping into her incoming phone call.
‘There's no one here,’ Owen reported. ‘Car's gone too. Clean dishes drying in the rack. No signs of a struggle.’
Gwen felt confused. Maybe her theory about Jack wasn’t so crazy.
She heard Owen grunt on the other end of her headset as he cradled the phone between his shoulder and his jaw, clearly rummaging through something. There was a pregnant pause, and then ‘found his passport.’
‘So probably not Jack,’ Tosh said, answering the unspoken question. Jack was if nothing else, certainly out of the country at this point. Gwen couldn't tell if Tosh sounded relieved or disappointed.
‘It’s like he just disappeared into thin air,’ Gwen muttered. She could even put into words how out of character that was. Had The Committee decided that the best way to smoke out Jack was to start coming after his team? Gwen had been doing her own digging on them, totally off the books, but could that have been enough to make them think that she and the team were a threat? What if Ianto had also been digging?
In the background her eyes were drawn to the television mounted underneath the gantry, which had been left on since this morning's news. A BBC News headline was scrolling across the bottom as a presenter came on, reporting news that the much anticipated first test flight of Ephraim Salt's new Sky Puncher low orbit space plane had crashed into the Turkish desert not far from a key regional city. No reports yet whether anyone had survived.
Gwen chewed her lip. On another day she'd be fascinated by the news but today she had bigger problems. First Jack. Now Ianto. ‘Tosh, can you run a trace on his car?’
‘The tracker has been disabled but I should still be able to scan the city's CCTV network for its number plate and see if we can work out its movements.’
‘Do that.’
Keys clicked, paused, then clicked again as blurry images from different CCTV cameras around the city flickered in quick succession, and then came to rest on a final still image. ‘Oh, no.’
Gwen's head spun at the words, but Tosh wasn't even looking at her computer. She was staring wide-eyed at the television behind them. ‘Tosh, what is it?’
‘Ianto's car.’ Her voice was suddenly shaky. ‘I managed to track it to a private airfield.’ She swallowed hard. ‘The same airfield that was hosting the launch of the Sky Puncher.’ Tosh's face drained of all colour as overhead helicopter news cameras did their best to zoom in on a smoking pile of metal and the long black tail it had left as it had come crashing to earth, slamming into the sand and taking half a mile to drag itself to a complete stop.
Gwen dialled his phone again.
“Your call cannot be connected. Please try again later.”
Shit.
‘What do you want me to do?’ Owen asked, the voice suddenly strange in her ear.
Gwen blinked, having forgotten Owen. ‘Get back to the hub. Now.’
Title: Out of character
Fandom: Torchwood.
Rating/Warnings: PG. Spoilers for Big Finish audioplay “Fall to Earth”.
Bonus: Yes
Word Count: 1,000 words
Summary: The most reliable member of the team is absent and it’s got Gwen worried.
Gwen yawned at her computer screen, and then checked her watch. It read a quarter past ten. A quarter past ten and no coffee yet. She swung her head around, searching out their barista aficionado, but the hub was quiet but for the clacking of computer keys and the trickle of water into the pool at the base of the tower. ‘Has anyone seen Ianto this morning?’ she asked.
‘No,’ Owen replied, ‘but if I don't get some soon, there’s going to be nothing left of this corpse to dissect.’
Gwen turned to Tosh beside her. ‘You were here earliest, Tosh. Any sign?’
‘I just assumed he was here before me. Almost always is.’
Gwen twisted the mobile phone from her tight jeans pocket, flicked through her speed dials and hit the button.
“Your call cannot be connected. Please try again later.”
‘Okay he's not answering his phone. Tosh, can you tell if he arrived at the hub this morning?’
She tapped a few keys and frowned. ‘Security pass hasn’t been activated since yesterday.’
‘Did he seem like he was coming down with anything?’
‘Not that I could tell. But it's Ianto. He'd have to be dying before he called in sick.’
‘Okay, so he's still at home then. Owen, go do a welfare check on him. Maybe he's too unwell to answer his phone. Might need a doctor.’
‘On it.’
Gwen puffed out her cheeks. She was jumping at shadows. His phone might be on silent and his alarm clock switched off. God knew they'd all done some long hours since Jack had left in search of The Committee. He was probably due a day off. Overdue in fact. Still, it wasn’t like Ianto to have a lie in, and even more unlike him not to tell anyone about it.
She tried to consider other innocent alternative explanations. Jack had been gone more than two months now, hunting down this elusive Committee, and that had taken its toll on the team. It felt like they’d only just gotten him back only to have him disappear on them again. It couldn’t be easy on Ianto having to wonder when he might come back. They hadn’t had so much as an email or a call to let them know Jack was okay, wherever he was. It drove Gwen mad, not knowing where Jack was, and how they could, or should, be helping. She was sure that Ianto must feel the same. And more.
‘You don't think…’ Gwen let the rest of her sentence trail off.
Tosh looked at her. ‘What?’
‘Jack,’ came the one word answer.
‘Ianto wouldn't run off like that,’ Tosh said, shaking her head. ‘We don't even know where he is.’
‘We don't,’ Gwen thought, but Ianto was very smart. What was to say he hadn’t figured it out?
Gwen’s phone began buzzing and she reached for an earpiece, slipping it on before answering. Tosh did the same, tapping into her incoming phone call.
‘There's no one here,’ Owen reported. ‘Car's gone too. Clean dishes drying in the rack. No signs of a struggle.’
Gwen felt confused. Maybe her theory about Jack wasn’t so crazy.
She heard Owen grunt on the other end of her headset as he cradled the phone between his shoulder and his jaw, clearly rummaging through something. There was a pregnant pause, and then ‘found his passport.’
‘So probably not Jack,’ Tosh said, answering the unspoken question. Jack was if nothing else, certainly out of the country at this point. Gwen couldn't tell if Tosh sounded relieved or disappointed.
‘It’s like he just disappeared into thin air,’ Gwen muttered. She could even put into words how out of character that was. Had The Committee decided that the best way to smoke out Jack was to start coming after his team? Gwen had been doing her own digging on them, totally off the books, but could that have been enough to make them think that she and the team were a threat? What if Ianto had also been digging?
In the background her eyes were drawn to the television mounted underneath the gantry, which had been left on since this morning's news. A BBC News headline was scrolling across the bottom as a presenter came on, reporting news that the much anticipated first test flight of Ephraim Salt's new Sky Puncher low orbit space plane had crashed into the Turkish desert not far from a key regional city. No reports yet whether anyone had survived.
Gwen chewed her lip. On another day she'd be fascinated by the news but today she had bigger problems. First Jack. Now Ianto. ‘Tosh, can you run a trace on his car?’
‘The tracker has been disabled but I should still be able to scan the city's CCTV network for its number plate and see if we can work out its movements.’
‘Do that.’
Keys clicked, paused, then clicked again as blurry images from different CCTV cameras around the city flickered in quick succession, and then came to rest on a final still image. ‘Oh, no.’
Gwen's head spun at the words, but Tosh wasn't even looking at her computer. She was staring wide-eyed at the television behind them. ‘Tosh, what is it?’
‘Ianto's car.’ Her voice was suddenly shaky. ‘I managed to track it to a private airfield.’ She swallowed hard. ‘The same airfield that was hosting the launch of the Sky Puncher.’ Tosh's face drained of all colour as overhead helicopter news cameras did their best to zoom in on a smoking pile of metal and the long black tail it had left as it had come crashing to earth, slamming into the sand and taking half a mile to drag itself to a complete stop.
Gwen dialled his phone again.
“Your call cannot be connected. Please try again later.”
Shit.
‘What do you want me to do?’ Owen asked, the voice suddenly strange in her ear.
Gwen blinked, having forgotten Owen. ‘Get back to the hub. Now.’