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

The next test

Jack's pov

I am woken by the sound of Isaiah knocking on my door. "Jack, we've got to go in half an hour," he calls in.

It takes me a moment to realise where I am and why I can't feel Ianto next to me. I haul myself out of bed and get dressed before heading out into the kitchen to grab something to eat. Well I head for where the kitchen was in my flat in Cardiff, aka a solid wall. Isaiah gives me a weird look, he's adapted to being back here much faster than me, before going into the actual kitchen and grabbing some toast. I follow him with a sigh.

When we reach the time agency we are met at the entrance by a woman wearing a suit who looks to be around mid-twenties. Her blonde hair is tied at the back of her head in a severe bun and she is wearing combat gear.

"I will be your mentor until the training process is completed. Follow me." She turns and walks into the building without waiting for a reply or even giving us a name. We hurry to catch up with her. I notice a couple of people giving us pitying looks when they see who we are following. This should be fun.

She leads us into a room with lockers down both sides and two doors at the end, presumably leading to separate changing rooms. She points to lockers 4 and 5 and tells us to get changed in the room on the left before going over to locker 6 and taking out a book. We go into the changing room to find that there is a school style changing room on the other side. There is one other person in there in the opposite corner so we change on the opposite side of the room. The last thing I want is a run in with another member of the agency.

The woman, whose name is Lydia judging by her locker, leads us out of the locker room and into a large hall where she hands us each a virtual reality headset.

"In this test the simulation will be recreated. You will face a challenge that will require you to work with the people in the simulation and trust them with your life. I am aware that in your simulation there was an error but we will work with the names that were given to the faces of people in the agency for this to work effectively. However, I will give you the real names of these people after you have completed the task. Isaiah you will do it in this room with me, Jack, go through to the next room, you will find someone in there who has been assigned to you for today." Lydia leads Isaiah into the centre of the room and I head into the next room where I find John waiting for me.

"I thought you were wanted again." I say in surprise.

"I got off," he says, "Do I know you?"

"It's me, Jack," I say, before realising that we haven't met in real life, "You were in my simulation and I'm still having trouble adjusting, sorry."

Get yourself together Jack.

I follow him to the centre of the room where he gives me the basic safety talk and connects me to the headset. He walks over to a computer by the wall and begins to run the simulation.

I'm in my bed, Ianto is lying next to me and I can hear Tosh. Owen and Rose in the next room. I check the clock by my bed and see that I'm running late for work, Torchwood. Normality. God I missed this. Ianto begins to stir next to me and reaches over to me as he wakes up. I pull him against me and breathe in his familiar scent. "Time to get up," I whisper in his ear. I drag myself out of bed and head for the shower, only just beating Owen to it.

When we all arrive at the hub Gwen is already there. This all feels so real, this time I know it's all a simulation but I can't help slipping back into this life. The life I wish was real.

"Jack there's been an energy spike in the castle, should we check it out?" Tosh calls from her desk.

"Yeah, everyone with me. I've got a bad feeling about this," I say, remembering Lydia's words.