Virus (short story)

Virus was a short story published in Consequences. It was written by James Moran.

Publisher's summary
to be added

Plot
Jack, Gwen, and Ianto return to the Hub immediately following the death of an alien baby in the Happy Price supermarket. Ianto suggests that killing a baby, even an alien one, is bad press for Torchwood. Jack dismisses this concern, saying that he’s arranged for the explosion of the supermarket to be blamed on a gas leak. When the team sit down to enjoy some pizza, Jack notices that they have 27 messages from Detective Kathy Swanson.

Cardiff Bay police are in a frenzy after the explosion of the supermarket. When Kathy Swanson gets a call back from Torchwood she berates them over the phone, then demands explanations for the explosion, and Torchwood’s activities on the Machen estate over the few days previous. When Jack says that the case details are confidential Kathy says she better not hear anything else about Torchwood for at least two weeks. She then tells the team they’ve made the news, before hanging up. Jack then turns on the TV to see helicopter footage of the smouldering supermarket. As they hop between channels, the Torchwood team see that the “gas explosion” has become a huge story.

The next day, Gwen comes into work and is shocked to find Ianto is not there. Jack explains that, since it’s the last Thursday of the month, Ianto is out getting supplies for the coffee machine. Suddenly an alarm begins sounding – motion sensors have detected someone in the Hub who shouldn’t be there. Gwen is shot in the neck with a small dart, and another dark then catches Jack in the arm. When the pair look towards where the person should be, all they can see is shimmering air.

A voice then announces itself. It’s a creature wearing a camouflage suit, which cannot be clearly seen or detected by the motion sensors. He is the father of the alien baby who died in the supermarket, and he’s come to the Hub to take revenge by killing Torchwood. He explains that he had been tracking his long-lost son and was about to take him home to raise him peacefully, but that Torchwood’s involvement resulted in his son’s death. The alien father then reveals that, with the darts he has shot Jack and Gwen with, he has infected them with the Kawaga Virus. In a few minutes, Jack and Gwen will be in a vegetative state, unable to move or think clearly. They stumble towards a sofa to steady themselves, and Jack says he doesn’t know what they can do to stop the infection. When the alien asks where the third member of the team is, Ianto announces himself suddenly. He’s wearing night-vision goggles to see the alien, and immediately shoots him in the head with a shotgun.

With the alien dead, Ianto rushes over to Gwen and Jack, who are rapidly succumbing to the infection. He promises them that he will find the antidote. Gwen makes Ianto swear that if he can’t cure their infection he will kill her, sparing Rhys from having to look after her for the rest of his life. Jack asks Ianto to freeze him, since he cannot killed.

Once Jack and Gwen have been consumed by their comatose states, Ianto checks the database for information on the Kawaga Virus. After not finding anything useful, he begins talking to the unconscious Jack and Gwen, brainstorming ideas. Reasoning that when the alien arrived he was only looking for his son, and not yet out for revenge, Ianto guesses that he must not have had the virus on his person when he travelled through the Rift. As such, he probably acquired the virus after discovering that his son had died. Ianto then recalls that a group in Cardiff have been selling alien tech on the black market. Realising that they might have infected other people with the virus, Ianto begins looking for people who recently developed the same symptoms as Jack and Gwen. He finds one patient, and hurries to their address.

Ianto talks to Caitlin Hirschman, asking about her husband Joe’s recent infection. When Caitlin asks why Ianto is interested, he confesses that his friends have had the same symptoms, and that he believes Joe might have been deliberately infected in the same way. Caitlin tells Ianto that Joe once had a run-in with a group on an industrial estate, who warned him against selling goods on their turf. After looking at a receipt, Ianto discovers that this group was a company named Conlan & Co. Electronics. He also discovers an alien hologram-creating device in the couple’s spare room, and puts it into his pocket. As Ianto goes to leave, Caitlin tells him to kill his friends, since they must be suffering intensely. Ianto then suggests that Joe didn’t die of natural causes, but rather that Caitlin put him out of his misery. At this Caitlin says nothing, and closes the door on Ianto.

Ianto then visits the industrial estate where Conlan & Co. are based, and finds them in Unit C14. The unit’s windows are painted over, but Ianto can see faint cracks of light coming through, suggesting that somebody is in the building. When he walks in, he’s greeted by a receptionist. Ianto tells her he’s looking for alien merchandise, but she pretends not to understand him. When Ianto demonstrates the alien hologram device the receptionist is called away by her boss, Alix, who sits down to talk with Ianto. Ianto cuts to the chase, saying he wants to buy the antidote to the virus and does not care about Alix’s illegal dealings. Alix then says he knows that Ianto is Torchwood, and has gathered that the other Torchwood members are the ones who have been infected. He says he will sell Ianto the antidote, but it will cost him five-hundred thousand pounds. Ianto says it will take him a few days to get that kind of money, and Alix reminds him that the longer he takes the less effective the antidote will be. When two armed guards enter the room, Ianto leaves.

Ianto then calls up Kathy Swanson, who is not pleased to hear from Torchwood. He asks her if she can authorise a raid of Conlan & Co, but she refuses since there is no evidence of wrongdoing. Since proving to Kathy that Torchwood were in danger would take too long, Ianto decides to take matters into his own hands. He races to the Hub and retrieves a large gun from the vaults. He then packs a rucksack with smaller guns and knives, and conceals even more weapons in his clothing. Ianto records video messages for Rhys and Martha Jones, telling them what to do with Gwen and Jack respectively if he doesn’t make it back alive, and sets them to be automatically delivered after twenty-four hours. Ianto then kisses Jack and Gwen before leaving the Hub.

Ianto storms into Conlan & Co, demanding to speak to Alix. When Alix emerges Ianto aims the giant alien gun at him. Alix then snaps his fingers, and ten large men come into the room, surrounding Alix and aiming their guns at Ianto. Ianto tells the men that he won’t back down, and if they don’t move he will kill all of them to get to the antidote. Another guard sneaks up behind Ianto. Ianto shoots over his shoulder and kills the guard, proving that he is not bluffing. Alix then orders his men to kill Ianto, and Ianto quickly surrenders. He lowers his gun, and on Alix’s instruction kicks the rucksack of alien weapons towards him. Ianto offers one last-minute trade. When Alix bends down to open the rucksack he sets off a series of flash-grenades that Ianto has booby-trapped the bag with, blinding himself and his guards. Ianto, who had covered his eyes and ears before the explosion, quickly leaps to one side, pulls out two guns, and begins clinically taking out the incapacitated men. When the smoke starts to clear only a few men remain. Ianto tells them that if they leave he will not come after them, and one man runs away. Another two struggle to reload their weapons as Alix staggers into the warehouse. Ianto knocks out the two struggling men, and when the receptionist charges at him with her own gun he takes her out too. Then, he steps over her and into the warehouse.

Inside, Ianto finds Alix crawling on his knees, still disoriented by the flash-grenades. Alix shoots wildly, catching Ianto in the arm. Ianto then shoots Alix in the leg, stopping him from moving, and begins to slam his head against the concrete floor, demanding to know where the antidote is. Alix eventually tells Ianto he can find it, along with the virus, in crate G21. Ianto goes to the crate and finds the antidote. He takes it, and also takes all the syringes of the virus so they can be safely disposed of. He then returns to Alix, and sets a Tregennan demolition bomb on the floor next to him. Ianto tells Alix that in one minute the bomb will detonate, destroying the entire building.

As Ianto drives away, with the building exploding behind him, he calls Rhys and asks him to come to the Hub. Inside the Hub, Ianto administers the antidotes, and tells Rhys that they need to coax their respective partners out of their comas. Rhys talks to Gwen about their first date, and their wedding day, and she eventually comes round. Jack takes much longer to respond, not showing any signs of life until Ianto whispers something in his ear. Suddenly Jack springs back to life. Once Jack and Gwen are back on their feet, Rhys and Gwen head out. Ianto and Jack stay behind in the Hub, and spend the evening together.

Characters

 * Captain Jack Harkness
 * Gwen Cooper
 * Ianto Jones
 * Detective Kathy Swanson
 * Nina Rogers
 * Jessica Montague
 * Alien father
 * Caitlin Hirshman
 * Salina
 * Alix
 * Sean
 * Matt
 * Rhys Williams

Continuity

 * Picks up immediately after the events of PROSE: The Wrong Hands, and the Torchwood team still have rubble from explosion on their clothes. This story also explains mystery of an alien black market in Cardiff, which Ianto mentioned in the previous story.
 * Torchwood Three have a history with Kathy Swanson, who had previously taken a strong dislike to their attitude in TV: They Keep Killing Suzie. Ianto paraphrases Kathy's words, saying “you think you own the place blah blah blah”.
 * Gwen has a photo of Owen and Tosh on her desk.
 * Ianto is in contact with Martha Jones from UNIT, after she briefly worked with Torchwood. (TV: Reset, Dead Man Walking)
 * Ianto is again shown to carry a stopwatch on his person. (TV: They Keep Killing Suzie)
 * Rhys recalls when Torchwood nearly ruined his and Gwen's wedding day. (TV: Something Borrowed)