The Spirits Within

Chapter: 14/21 + epilogue

Characters: Jack, Ianto Owen, Tosh, Rhys, John Hart, the Doctor

Rating: PG

Warnings: Character death

Spoilers: Only if you’ve never seen Torchwood of Final Fantasy

Notes: See chapter 1 for notes and disclaimer.

Chapter 14

General Hart stood on a catwalk near the top of one of the tallest buildings in the city. Below him the city was dying—one fire, one explosion, one life at a time. His mind wouldn't let him turn away and walk to the military shuttle behind him on the roof. He had to see what he had caused. So he stood and watched as dozens and dozens of people pushed forward on a platform on the top of the building below him, trying to force their way into one of six escape pods that would take them to safety.

There were hundreds of the pods on similar platforms around the city, all on the tops of tall buildings, always ready to be launched. But the escape pods could only carry so many people, usually ten at most, and needed a pilot to fly them. One out of every ten citizens in the city had been trained to fly the pods, but that didn't mean that one of those pilots got on every pod.

And clearly the people already on the pods were not waiting. They were launching the pods in panic, overloaded and without pilots, hoping to reach orbit and safety one way or another.

General Hart knew the pods didn't work that way. Without someone with training, the escape pods wouldn't make it above the old barrier height. As he watched, for every escape pod that lifted clear and shot into the night sky, another two went out of control and smashed into buildings or streets.

On the roof below, screams brought his attention back to the scene in front of him. A Phantom had come up out of the floor near one pod-loading area, killing three people almost instantly.

Hundreds started screaming and pushing, climbing over each other to get out of the way as the Phantom floated through person after person, leaving them nothing but a dead husk of flesh, their life forces robbed from their bodies.

The pod closest to the Phantom slammed its door and a moment later lifted.

Or tried to lift.

General Hart watched the fruitless attempt as the pod, with far too many people on board, didn't even reach his level, but instead veered hard right, exploding and crashing into the middle of a street many stories below.

Another Phantom came up out of the top of the building, killing more people. There was no place for the people to run to.

He moved to the military shuttle standing ready and walked up the ramp to get on board.

A soldier saluted, but he ignored the salute. Instead he turned toward the room reserved for him down the short hallway. Behind him he heard the hatch of the shuttle slam shut. This bird could carry a hundred more to safety, but it held only him and the crew. That was a hundred more lives he was responsible for taking.

He closed the door to his private room as a voice came over the intercom. "Please strap into your seat, General. Five seconds to liftoff."

He automatically did as instructed, not really thinking or caring. All he could think about was how his wife and daughter had died when the San Francisco city barrier had been attacked. How many wives and daughters of other men had he killed today?

He closed his eyes, but the images of all those deaths were like ghosts drifting through his mind, taking his soul just as a Phantom would take his life. He didn't even notice when the shuttle lifted to the safe harbor of Earth orbit.

*~*

For the moment the tracks were clear of Phantoms, and Toshiko wasn't firing from the top of the armoured jeep. The only sound was the tires pounding over the rough tracks. Ianto was forcing himself to take deep breaths, trying to calm down enough to think. So far they had managed to get out of the detention centre and find weapons and transportation. But that was a long way from getting to his ship and into orbit.

"This line doesn't take us directly to the military hanger," Rhys said to Jack.

"I know," Jack said, pointing at the windows along the tunnel that were flashing past every hundred meters or so. "We're going to have to get off pretty soon."

"I don't think I like the sounds of that," the Doctor said.

"I don't, either," Owen said, smiling at the Doctor. "And I'm driving."

Suddenly, what looked to Ianto to be an escape pod smashed down through a glass overhead and onto the transit tracks a few hundred meters in front of them. The pod, for a second, looked as if it might remain intact, then it bounced, hit the transit wall, and exploded. The concussion almost lifted the front of the jeep off the ground.

"Now's as good a time as any!" Jack shouted as the orange and red fireball rolled at them through the tunnel.

"Hang on, everyone!"

Ianto ducked and closed his eyes, holding on as tightly as he could to the back of the seat in front of his.

Owen yanked the jeep hard right and up over the concrete barrier that separated the sunken tracks from the station platform. Then, without slowing, he smashed through a massive plate glass window and into a wide hallway-like area just as the fireball rolled past behind them.

Glass rained down over Ianto as they slid sideways. Owen quickly got them going straight again and then slowed.

"Clear!" Jack said. "Nice job, Owen."

"All in a day's driving, boss."

Ianto looked up.

Jack was brushing glass out of his hair. The Doctor, in the front seat, looked more shocked than anything else. Toshiko was back in her position, standing behind Ianto, rifle at the ready.

Ianto brushed the glass off of his pants and out of his hair, then looked around. The place they had crashed into had high ceilings and a smooth, covered road down the middle. The sidewalks on either side were lined with potted trees. Skylights were spaced overhead to let in daylight. It looked like they were in some sort of massive office complex built below street level. It had to be at least a kilometre long.

"We're inside the main military office centre," Toshiko shouted to Jack. "I've been here before. The hangers are ahead and up to the right, beyond the main transit station."

"Got you," Owen said, keeping the armoured vehicle headed down the centre of the road. At the moment there were no Phantoms in sight, but there were also no other live humans. Just bodies scattered along the sidewalk.

For the moment it felt quiet, as if nothing was wrong. Then ahead of them, a few hundred meters down the long interior street, a massive Phantom floated through the roof, blocking their way entirely.

"Is that a Meta?" Rhys asked.

Jack looked stunned. "Didn't know they were this far east."

"Looks like they are now," Toshiko said.

Owen slid the vehicle to a stop.

Ianto looked around. Another huge Phantom had blocked off the direction they had just come, and was moving toward them slowly, half its body outside the roofline of the building. They were trapped, of that there was no doubt. And Ianto had no idea what Jack was going to decide to do.

"Okay?" Owen asked. "Now what?"

Jack looked at the Phantom blocking their way ahead, then at the one coming up from behind. Ianto watched him study the side of the building closest to them. There were no windows or doors in it. On the other side of the street was another glass window looking out over the transit tracks. That way was blocked for sure, from the crashed escape pod.

From what he could tell, the building without windows and doors was part of the main transit station. Toshiko had said the military hangar where Myfanwy was stored was on the other side of that wall.

"We're going through," Jack said.

Owen pointed at the wall in front of him. It was blank and looked pretty solid. "I don't see no doors or windows."

"What?" the Doctor asked. "What are we doing?"

"Captain," Rhys said from beside Toshiko, "with all due respect . . ."

"Excuse me, Captain," Toshiko said, "but we're running out of time here."

Ianto glanced around. The huge Phantom was within a hundred meters of them and closing.

"The transit station," Jack said, pointing at the solid wall in front of the vehicle. "We're going through it."

Owen nodded. "It's the only way."

He jammed the vehicle into reverse and backed it almost against the window across the street from the station.

To Ianto's left the shape of the Phantom seemed to fill everything, it was so close.

"I gather this will be somewhat of a rough ride?" the Doctor asked.

"Doc," Owen said, gunning the jeep at the wall, "you really do have a talent for understatement."

"Hang on!" Jack shouted.

Ianto again ducked behind the seat, bracing himself as best he could for the crash. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Toshiko and Rhys in the open back of the jeep drop and do the same.

The impact felt as if someone had slammed him against concrete instead of the back of a seat. Then, for a moment, everything was weightless as the jeep got through the wall and went airborne over the floor a good five meters below. Owen somehow managed to land the jeep almost on its wheels, bouncing everyone so hard Ianto thought he was going to fly out.

Then the vehicle spun like a circus ride, around and around on what turned out to be a slick, tile floor. Just when Ianto thought it was all over, the jeep hit something hard and rolled once before coming to a stop on its wheels against a concrete barrier of some sort.

For a long few seconds the dust and noise settled.

Ianto forced himself to take a deep breath before looking up in Jack's worried face.

"You all right?" he asked.

He wasn't sure, but he nodded anyhow. Nothing seemed broken, but after that pounding, he wouldn't be surprised if half his body had been bruised.

Owen pulled himself out from under the steering wheel. "Doc? Doctor, are you all right?"

Ianto pulled himself up from the floor of the back seat with Jack's help, using the front seat as a brace.

The Doctor was moving, and as he watched, he sat up and looked around. "Interesting."

"Another understatement, Doc," Owen said.

"Anybody hurt?" Jack asked, looking around for Rhys and Toshiko.

Toshiko was standing behind the jeep, her rifle at ready, watching the Phantom pass them beyond the wall.

The room they had ended up in was massive and opened onto a huge hangar area. If they were lucky, Myfanwy would be very close by.

Toshiko walked around to the hangar side of the jeep and her face went white. "Captain!"

Jack jumped down and moved around to where she was standing. It took Ianto a moment longer to follow.

There, pinned under the wreckage of what was left of the front of the jeep, was Rhys. A metal bar stuck out of his lower abdomen, and his breathing was shallow. His legs were smashed under the front of the wreck. Ianto knew instantly it was going to take some quick emergency care to save him.

"Oh, God," Owen said, moving to Rhys' side. "Talk to me, Sarge."

Rhys looked up at Owen. "Ouch."

"Give me a hand, Tosh," Owen as he and Tosh and Jack moved into position around Rhys. It looked as if they were going to try to lift the jeep off him and pull him from the metal bar that was sticking through him. Ianto knew instantly that wasn't going to work, but the Doctor spoke up before he could.

"No, wait," the Doctor said, moving as fast as he could to stop Jack. "You're risking further injury. We need the proper tools to cut him out of there. Otherwise you might kill him."

"I've got the tools we would need in my ship," Ianto said.

Jack nodded and stood.

The Doctor turned and went back to the jeep. There he pulled out the emergency medical kit from the compartment under the dash.

"No drugs," Rhys said as he saw what the Doctor was doing.

"Captain?" the Doctor asked, looking at Jack as he got a shot of painkiller ready.

Jack looked at Rhys. Ianto could sense the communication going on between them, even though neither man said a word. Finally Jack turned to the Doctor. "You heard the man."

Then Jack turned to Rhys. "We'll find the ship and be back for you."

"I'll stay with him," Toshiko said.

"Me, too," Owen said.

"Nobody's staying," Rhys said. "Just give me a gun." Ianto watched as Rhys made the mistake of trying to move. He winced in pain.

Toshiko looked up at Jack.

"You got it," Jack said to Rhys. "Toshiko, give him a weapon."

Toshiko looked at Jack for a moment, clearly not liking the idea. Finally Jack said, "Just do it."

Toshiko moved around and yanked the big cannon off the back of the armoured jeep. It was small enough for Rhys to handle in his position, yet had enough firepower to stop just about anything. She sat it up in front of Rhys on a tripod and then lightly patted his shoulder.

Less than thirty seconds later they were ready to move.

"We'll be back for you, Sergeant," Jack said, looking into the eyes of his wounded man. "You hear me?"

Ianto knew, at that moment, without a doubt, that Jack and the rest would risk their lives to return for Rhys. He just hoped he would still be alive when they did make it back. From the looks of his wounds, they were going to have to make it fast.

"I hear you, Captain," Rhys said. Then he looked up at Toshiko and Owen. "Now, get out of here. Go find something to cut me out of this mess."

Ianto was impressed that Rhys managed to sound as upbeat as he did.

"Let's move, people," Jack said, nodding to Rhys.

He turned and headed off toward the open hangar area and the enclosed runway beyond.

Ianto stepped into position behind him, not daring to look back at Rhys. How Jack could do the things he had to do was beyond him. Clearly it was what made him a good leader.

And it was going to take a good leader to get them all out of this dying city.