Back To Square One (Torchwood au)(Immortals sequel)

Losing hope

Jack's pov

I'm going mad. I keep seeing...things and the headaches are getting worse. Isaiah seems to think that it's just after-affects from the simulation but I'm not convinced because surely he would be having trouble too. It's not helping that we keep getting put through different scenarios in the sim', I don't know how many more times I can see the people I care about and then have to wake up knowing that they never existed, they were just created by a harsh and faulty training system. Can't the time agency get anything right? Maybe this was why my memory was wiped, except that never really happened. I need to get out of this place, it's killing me. I'll take a vortex manipulator, find the Doctor, start over.

I look at the alarm clock next to my bed and am instantly filled with dread, it's Tuesday. I've got to go back to the sim'.

Isaiah has already left so I head down to the training room alone to find that only Lydia is there. "Where's Isaiah?"

"He had to go to a meeting," she replies.

Since when do we have to go to meetings?

I move to the centre of the room and put on my headset. I open my arms in me and Ianto's flat. He is still asleep and both of my arms are wrapped round him. I remember holding him tightly and vowing that I would never let go last time I was pulled out of the sim'. I lay with him for a bit longer before my phone starts ringing loudly, waking him. I look at the screen and see that it's Owen. I pick up the phone and he simply says there's been another one before hanging up. I sigh and drag myself out of the bed. Me and Ianto quickly get ready and sprint down to the hub where Owen and Tosh are waiting with the SUV.

"Gwen isn't picking up, we're gonna have to go in without her." Owen says.

"Ok we should be fine. How many this time?"

"Just the one," Tosh replies, "There's something different about its behaviour this time though. It hasn't actually stolen anything, it's just being annoying and scaring people into doing stuff for it."

"Ok we could have possible hostages so we need to do this carefully and get it into the cells as fast as possible; I want to know what's going on with these things and this one seems intelligent. Don't kill it." I say.

We pull up outside a hotel in the centre of Cardiff. Apparently, it forced the staff to give it a room on the top floor. And it has a gun. Great.

We head into the lift and I press the button for the top floor. As we step out if the lift the first thing that I see is a huge floor to ceiling window opposite the lift. The entire Cardiff skyline is visible and I can even see Torchwood tower in the distance. Alec met us at the hotel and I hear him draw in a sharp breath behind me. I look around and see that he is pressed flat against the wall next to the lift and the blood has drained from his already-pale face. Tosh also notices and puts a reassuring hand on his arm. Luckily Owen has already started down the corridor, he's already given Alec enough hell since he started.

I join Owen at the door of the room and get into position to force the lock. Ianto, Owen, Tosh and Alec are all ready to back me up although Alec is still a little bit shaky from the height. I signal a countdown from three and shoot the lock before bursting through the door. We spread out inside the doorway and Ianto and Tosh check the bathroom and adjoining room. They both find nothing. I continue to look through the main room before seeing the door to the wardrobe move. Ianto sees me move towards it and instinctively backs me up. That's one of the great things about working with him, he knows exactly what I'm thinking. Was one of the good things about working with him. I had almost forgotten that none of this is real.

I throw open the wardrobe door and Ianto quickly moves forward with the stun gun as the blowfish, at least that's what we call them, attempts to get past us. We must of taken it by surprise as the gun is still on the bedside table so it has no chance to defend itself before Ianto knocks it out. I quickly get a bag over its head and throw it over my shoulder. God these things are heavy.

I open my eyes to find myself back in the training room. Lydia is standing in front of me .

"Well done. You completed the challenge much faster than you have before but I'm afraid that you have still got to complete several more sessions before you can put this behind you." She says. She's being friendlier towards me than Isaiah. There is definitely something wrong. God knows what.

***

When I get back to the flat Isaiah is sitting in the living room watching TV. It's some old 21st century adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes books. Isaiah developed quite a taste for 21st century television during the time that he spent with Torchwood but it just brings back a pang of sadness for me. I remember watching this with Ianto and laughing about the overcomplicated storylines.

Isaiah doesn't seem to notice me entering the room and doesn't speak when I sit down next to him on the sofa. He keeps staring at the TV until I speak and ask him where he was earlier.

"Meeting."

"Since when do you go to meetings?"

"Since today."

I sit back and frown. Why is he being so distant? I watch him as he watches the TV but he doesn't seem to notice, he's completely absorbed in the storyline. Maybe that was it. He could be feeling pretty awful about being back here too and maybe this is just how he copes now. I feel like I don't even know him anymore.

A:N/ I don't like this chapter much and it's more of a filler than anything else but hey at least I actually managed to write something despite having writer's block.

As usual please vote if you liked it and thanks for reading!

-Annie