When Jack and Ianto were finally allowed down into the crater that had once been Torchwood Three’s base, they found the main Hub in a sorry state. The workstations were flattened, shattered computer monitors and other equipment were scattered across the cracked and buckled concrete floor, mingling with broken glass, twisted, rusted metal, and huge chunks of debris that had once been the ceiling, and the Plas above. To say it was disheartening would have been a massive understatement.

Litter had blown in from above, rain had fallen, leaving pools of murky water everywhere, or maybe that was the result of broken pipes in the kitchenette and the bathroom in Jack’s bunker, or the damaged Rift pool; it was impossible to be sure. It was a scene of utter devastation, and as the two men looked around themselves, the full weight of what needed to be done settled heavily on their shoulders.

Cleaning up the mess and rebuilding seemed an impossible task, even with Her Majesty’s promise of a team or two from her Corps of Royal Engineers to do all the major structural work, and a generous budget for the refit. This had been Jack’s home, and often Ianto’s too; since they’d settled into their relationship, he’d spent more nights in Jack’s bunker than he had at his own flat. Now the place was an almost unrecognisable wasteland.

Reaching for Jack’s hand, Ianto squeezed it. “I’m sorry.”

Jack looked at him blankly. “What are you apologising for? None of this is your fault. If anyone’s to blame, it’s me. I shouldn’t have come back here after I woke up in the hospital basement. I should have realised I might have been compromised…”

“Oh no you don’t,” Ianto said, voice firm. “I’m not letting you blame yourself for this. The ones at fault are the idiots who planted a bomb inside you, and the even greater idiots who ordered them to do it!”

“But…”

“No!” Ianto glared at his lover. “You do NOT get to shoulder the blame. You came back here because you didn’t have much choice, there was something happening that we needed to get to the bottom of, and this was where all our resources were, the bulk of them anyway. They were obviously counting on you returning here, and anyway, you didn’t know about the bomb. We’re just lucky we found out about it with enough time for me to secure the lower levels, and for Gwen and I to get out. They meant to kill us all in one explosion, but they failed, and because of that, we were able to do what needed to be done.”

“We were.” Jack dredged up a watery smile. “We saved the children.”

“We did good, no thanks to the morons who thought the best course of action was to give the 456 what they wanted. It would never have ended if we’d done that. They would have returned over and over, demanding more children each time. We put an end to it.” Ianto sighed heavily. “And this is our reward.” He used the toe of his boot to shove aside a chunk of rubble. For once he was dressed in tattered jeans and a faded sweatshirt instead of his usual suit and tie, an army surplus parka over everything, against the cold and damp of a Cardiff autumn.

“It could be worse.” Jack managed a wonky smile, making a brave effort to look on the slightly less gloomy side. “At least we’re not still on the run, and we don’t have to sort this mess out all by ourselves. We’ll have all the help we need.”

“Yes, NOW we’ll have help, suppose we should be grateful. Still no apology from the government though, no offer of restitution for the damage they caused to our equipment and our base, no acknowledgement that they were wrong. Not even a thank you. Not that I was expecting it or anything, but it might have been nice. Thanks for saving the world. Sorry we tried to kill you, nothing personal, no hard feelings…” Ianto trailed off with a grimace. “Probably just as well, because I’m not inclined to forgive them for the hell they put us through, especially after what they did to you, with the concrete and everything.”

Jack shuddered. “I’m trying not to dwell on that.”

“Right. Sorry, didn’t mean to remind you.”

“You didn’t. Just because I’m not dwelling on it, doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten. Kind of hard to.”

“Yeah. Still…” Sighing again, Ianto scanned the area. “Doesn’t look like anything much survived on this level.”

“Did you really expect it to?”

“Expect? No, but I still hoped. You take a look around up here; I’d better see if the lower levels are accessible. God knows what it’ll look like down there. I just hope nothing’s cracked enough to let the sea in.”

“The Hub was built to withstand bomb strikes.”

“From above, yes, but this one was inside the defences.” Ianto was moving towards the door leading down to the archives, playing the torch he’d brought with him across the tumbled debris, when the beam caught on something that glinted and he paused, crouching down, moving bits of rubble and rubbish aside, then rising, turning back to Jack, something clutched in his hand. “Look what I found!”

It was Jack’s vortex manipulator; part of the strap was missing, along with the cover, but the device itself appeared undamaged.

Jack took it solemnly, turning it over and over in his hands. “Never thought I’d see this again.”

“Must be almost as indestructible as its owner.” Ianto smiled. “If that could survive being at ground zero… Gives me hope that we might be able to salvage some other stuff.”

Suddenly the situation didn’t seem quite so hopeless as it had when they’d first entered the ruins of their base. Grinning at each other, they headed off in opposite directions to see what else they might find.


The End