Sin With A Grin // Captain-Hart
It was well past midnight when Ianto finally closed the manilla folder and sat back in his seat with a tired sigh. He'd finally finished the paperwork for the most recent case involving a brain parasite and a high school teacher. He absently wrote in the numerical information for the file before tossing the pen aside and pushing himself up out of his seat. It takes him another few seconds to put the file away before he made his way up the stairs towards the main area of the Hub. It was dead silent. Not even Myfanwy made a noise. It was strange being the only one left in the Hub; the quiet something he still wasn’t used to even though it used to be his life when Lisa was hidden in the basement.
Without Owen and Tosh around, he was the one left to do most of the paperwork which meant every night for him was a late night. It wasn't that help hadn't been offered, but he knew neither Jack nor Gwen were paperwork people. So Gwen was currently home with Rhys and Jack was probably up on his favorite rooftop. It was slowly becoming his captain's favorite location as a place to center himself after repeated loss had hit him hard. And Ianto was content on giving him space for the moment or else he risked pushing Jack into running far away from him.
Paired with the pain of loss, the last few cases had also forced the team into stressful situations. They needed more staff but it wasn't something he could even mention to Jack. All that ended up happening was that Ianto stepped in and take care of what needed to be done without a word. He could fall apart later; right now he was needed. With the current small break offered to him, he switched off the main lights and headed towards the archives; intent on gaining a few hours rest before he had to be up. He had to have coffee and breakfast ready for when the others returned.
He didn't get far when the high-pitched shriek from the rift alarm halted him in his tracks and he can't quite bite back the muttered ‘fuck’ of frustration. It would figure that something else would happen make sure he wouldn’t get any sleep. It was preposterous to expect the Rift to wait for Ianto to get some sleep anyway.
With a resigned look, he moved towards Tosh’s computer and checked to see what the signature showed. The sight before him causes another curse to spill from his lips. The readings were identical to one Captain John Hart's vortex manipulator. Carding a hand through his hair with indecision, Ianto took a moment to run through his options for his next course of action. He knew what he should do. Call Jack and Gwen to alert them to their new visitor. But considering Jack's current state of mind... logic wasn't the way he wanted to go right now. He had no other choice really.
He spared a moment to grab the keys to the SUV before he sprinted to the tunnel leading towards the garage. He should alert someone, be it Gwen or even Rhys about where he was going, hell Jack would probably see the SUV disappear into the night but.... another part of him wanted to deal with this on his own. He wanted revenge for not only the loss of Tosh and Owen, but for the pain John bestowed upon Jack.
So silently, as he climbed into the vehicle and slammed the key into the ignition, he hoped Jack would forgive him for his decision. And that he would survive the encounter.
Soon the SUV was easily weaving its way past the small amount of traffic on the roads as Ianto sped towards the location where the rift opened; blue lights flashing. His memory told him it was near the Llandaff Cathedral. But why on Earth would John be there? Or was it just coincidence- a place he ended up?
He then heard the faint ringing of his cell phone but doesn't reach for it. His guess was Jack had seen the SUV leaving... and it didn't matter. If Jack returned to the Hub, the computers would show a quiet Rift with no alerts since the last parasite incident. Nothing had been left behind to give away where he was going.
Ten minutes pass before he pulled up to the gothic style Cathedral. After parking and shutting off the lights, Ianto exited the vehicle and stared up at the imposing and dark building before him. With no idea where to look, the realization that this was going to be added to the list of ‘reckless, stupid, and pointless endeavors’ slowly dawned upon him. What was he thinking, chasing down John on his own? Was this a death wish? Actually, it was probably best to avoid that mental train of thought.
Hesitation has him reaching for his phone to call Jack when a noise to his left caught his attention so he instead moves his hand to remove the gun from his holster. He couldn’t risk being heard at this point, not even to alert Jack to his current location. He needed whatever element of surprise he could get. Clicking the safety off his gun, Ianto started towards the noise as he tries to keep the flight instinct at bay. He was already here, might as well see what John wanted right? If that was really John. God, he really was stupid.
