The Sword of Damocles, for Reel Torchwood and H/C Bingo

[meatball42]

Title: The Sword of Damocles
Fandoms: Torchwood/Doctor Who/The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Rating: R
Characters/pairings: Jack/Ianto, Rose/Ninth Doctor, Ianto/Lisa
Warnings (including spoilers): Very dubious consent, though no more than was in the movie. Partner abuse, mentions of torture, cannibalism. Fun stuff. Some spoilers for The Rocky Horror Picture Show, mostly concerning how Rocky came to be there.
Wordcount: 8,680 words.
Author’s Note: Written for reel_torchwood and as the 'Sensory Deprivation' square on m hc_bingo ard. I didn’t actually like the movie when I first watched it, and a big part of that was the extreme dubcon issues that no one else I know who’s seen it seem to notice at all. So I decided to write a fanfic exploring it, because IMHO, Torchwood makes most everything better. And the Doctor, of course.
Summary: It’s Jack’s turn to choose the Tardis’s destination, so of course he wants to go to the planet of Transsexual in the galaxy of Transylvania. However, instead of a 24/7 hedonist’s paradise, the Tardis crew stumbles upon something terrible. Will Rose, the Doctor and Jack escape Transsexual alive, or will Jack’s attachment to an attractive stranger doom them all?



[*]
He woke to the sound of cackling.

In the years to come he would come to recognize it as a sign of his Mistress’s exhilaration at her success, but at the time he did not know what to make of it. He had been programmed to react positively to his Mistress’s happiness, so his first moments in the world were accompanied by a flood of hormones and endorphins. Not a bad way to start a life.

The rest of it could have gone better.

“Oh, you are precious, aren’t you?” she moaned. “So big and strong… so… pale!” she gasped. “You’re going to look so beautiful with me wrapped around you, won’t you Ianto?”

He sat up. He looked around.

He was indeed pale. His Mistress’s skin was a deep brown, glowing, the skin trussed up in a highly sexual contraption that hugged her body with menacing decorative twists of shining silver. It appeared to be made entirely of metal, as were her boots, headgear and gloves.

The room was an odd shade of pink, with a high balcony. There were many other beings in the large room, watching his Mistress towering over him on his slab. They did not all appear humanoid, and those that were wore clothes similar to his Mistress.

“Don’t look at others when I’m talking to you!” she hissed, grabbing his chin and forcing him to stare into her eyes. Her nails dug into his flesh.

He looked down demurely.

“Yes, Mistress.”

“Oh, you are a treat,” she gushed, a manic grin splitting her face again. Her fingers caressed his skin now, starting with his face and trailing downwards over his subtle but strong pectorals and his abdomen, muscles again solid but nearly hidden. “I’ve made you perfect!” she shrieked suddenly.

The crowd began to cheer wildly. His Mistress spun, throwing her hands into the air to receive the praise and honor. After a few moments, she waved them off. “Enough!”

The crowd instantly fell silent.

“I have to give my creation a proper happy birthday, don’t I?” she asked. The assembled beings laughed, staring at him with hungry eyes.

He felt their gazes on his skin like lasers. He sat very still.

“Come, Ianto. I’m going to teach you to be a man!”

[*]

“I’m sick and tired of this!”

Jack tore off his leather jacket and threw it to the floor of the Tardis before throwing himself into a chair dramatically.

Rose and the Doctor shared a secret grin, which disappeared when their companion looked up.

“What’s the matter Jack?” Rose asked.

“I’m bored! We keep going to these ‘commitment’ planets, which is all well and good for you two, on your honeymoon and all, but what about me?” Jack gestured to the pair, whose hands were clasped, then himself. “When was the last time I could find a decent shag on one of these planets, they’re all ‘ohh, no sex ‘til marriage,’” he imitated an alien he’d spoken to on the most recent planet. “Whose stupid idea was that, anyway?” Jack asked, rolling his eyes in disgust.

The couple shared another smile.

“All right Jack, why don’t you choose the next planet,” the Doctor offered, heading over to the console.

Jack perked up. “Seriously?”

“Sure,” the Doctor grinned, big ears accentuating the girth of the smile. “Anywhere you want to go. What are you in the mood for?”

Jack pondered. “Well, after how uptight all these places have been, what about Transsexual in the Transylvania galaxy, say, the twenty-eighth century?” He grinned at Rose. “It’s a wild good time,” he winked, and Rose giggled.

“Watch it Captain, that’s my wife you’re oglin’,” the Doctor warned, but it had no heat. Thankfully for flirtatious Jack, the Doctor’s jealous paranoia had died down since he and Rose had tied the knot.

The Tardis shuddered, and there was the usual pitching to the side. The three passengers grabbed hold of the nearest anchored object, barely noticing the interruption anymore.

“So what’s the deal with this planet?” Rose shouted over the sounds of the ship’s movement.

“Well, the Transsexuals- that’s the natives, not the technical term- used to have a very uptight society, but there was a sexual revolution. After that, they became very free-love, with almost an overindulgance of kinks. Of course,” he continued in honeyed tones, “there’s no such thing as too much kink, in my book.”

“And we’re here!” The Doctor announced, pointedly interrupting the playfully flirtatious look being shared by his wife and friend. He led the way to the door, allowing Jack the honor of opening it.

“We should be right in the capital city, home of some of the most famous strip clubs, sex clubs, gambling houses and purveyors of the most intense pleasure drugs in the galaxy,” the Doctor explained to Rose. He smiled at Jack. “You ought to feel right at home, Captain.”

Jack’s grin could’ve lit up the city.

“Now, I don’t want you to get too corrupted, so we’ll be leaving in forty-eight hours, understand?”

Jack laughed. “Oh, Doctor. I’m going to be the one corrupting them!”

With that, he threw open the doors and stepped out-

-into the serene courtyard of a castle, gently lit by an orange, late afternoon sun.

“Not exactly the flashing lights and perfumes of the capital city Doc,” Jack said wryly.

The Doctor headed back to the console, Jack following, while Rose stayed outside to admire the green sky and blue grass.

“We’re not that far from the capital,” the Doctor muttered defensively while inspecting the screens of his ship. “Too far to walk, though. We can go the rest of the way in the Tardis.” He began to fiddle with the various knobs and levers, only to discover that none of them reacted. “What’s this?” he asked indignantly.

After a few moments of staring into space, which made Jack raise his eyebrows, the Doctor practically squawked. “What?!”

“What’s up, Doc?” Jack asked, secretly chuckling at his own wit.

The Time Lord didn’t appear to notice. “She’s… she’s napping! She says she wants the whole forty-eight hours I said we’d be gone for, and we can only wake her up if it’s an emergency!” He seemed totally flabbergasted.

Jack wasn’t impressed. “She’s a living thing, right?” he clarified. “She deserves a rest every once in a while.”

“I… I suppose so, just… she never has in the past!”

Jack shrugged. “Let’s go beg a ride,” he decided, and held out his arm for the Doctor, along with a winning smiled. The Doctor eyed the offered limb and snorted, then walked out by himself. Jack pouted for an instant, but quickly followed.

“Come on, Rose, we’re going inside!” The Doctor announced, striding toward the ornate doors of the huge gray castle. She and Jack followed, giggling good-naturedly behind the Time Lord’s back at the imperious manner he sometimes acquired.

The Doctor banged on the door knocked, and in a few minutes, it was opened to show a humanoid with graying orange hair and large eyes. “Yes?” he asked, breath rasping.

“Hello, I’m the Doctor, and this is my wife Rose and our friend Captain Jack.” He took a moment to glare a ‘no-flirt’ warning at the captain, but Jack’s brow had furrowed as he looked down at the servant’s flowing black robe and the expression he shot back clearly said ‘don’t worry!’ The Doctor continued.

“Our ship is being a little moody, and we were hoping to borrow a communication device to call for transport.”

The man nodded slowly. “I think it would be best if you came inside.” He moved back to allow them room to enter.

Rose looked at the Doctor nervously, but he gave her an encouraging nod and she walked in first, followed by the men.

They were led through a dusty and filthy hallway. The servant opened a set of doors opposite the main entrance and they were immediately swamped by bright, cheery music and slightly out-of-place crown molding. To Rose’s confused eye, it looked like an old Earth house from her own time. A flashy blinking light system showed off the wide ballroom full of aliens and humanoids, all decked in strange garments and performing an odd pattern dance. Jack immediately grinned and ran to join in, tossing his jacket into a corner. He was quickly accepted into the jumping, hip-thrusting mass of people.

“So, what exactly is this?” Rose shouted into the Doctor’s ear as they stuck to the wall of what seemed like the weirdest club Rose had seen in her life.

“A private party, I’d guess,” he shouted back. “It’s actually rather tame for this planet!”

The music came to a crescendo with all the various aliens joining in. Jack’s voice was audible at the loudly sung chorus. As it ended, all the dancers, including Jack, fell to the floor to great applause from the audience and the melee settled enough that Rose and the Doctor could see a band of spider-like beings at the end of the ballroom, on a stage that was spinning around to be hidden by the wall. In its place was a large throne, made of shining metal bars. The music faded out as it appeared, and the party-goers parted to clear a space from the doors to the throne.

To more applause, a female-looking figure entered the room. Rose gasped in horror upon taking it the woman’s metal bikini-like outfit, which looked like the basic structure of a Cyberman. “Doctor,” she whimpered.

The Doctor pulled his wife close. “Don’t worry, she’s not one of them, she just wants to look like them. It’s one of the more taboo kinks in the universe,” he said disgustedly. “I’m not surprised to find it here.”

As the woman crossed the room and sat down on the throne, the applause died away and the music resumed, with more of a beat this time. Some of the dancers left the room, but many began dancing that was more familiar to Rose from clubs in her time.

Jack bounded over to them. At some point during the dancing, he’d lost his shirt and his body and hair were dripping with sweat and something that might have been slime. “I’m starting to feel better already!” he told them.

“We have guests?” The three spun around and discovered that the cyber-woman had managed to cross the dance floor without them noticing.

Rose stopped herself from flinching as she stared at the gleaming strips of metal that clung tightly around the woman’s dark brown body.

“You admire my design, I see,” the woman said to Rose. She smiled arrogantly and spun slowly, allowing them to see the whole apparatus.

Rose tried to smile. “It’s very… edgy.”

“Cutting edge, wouldn’t you say?” she said slyly. “I do like to be ahead of the crowd. I am Lisa, Controller of this region. You are in my home. What is your business here?”

“Sight-seein’,” the Doctor answered with his usual giant grin.

Lisa looked at him more closely. “You seem… familiar. Have we met in the past?”

The Doctor pulled his psychic paper from his jacket and held it up to the Controller. “You tell me.”

Lisa’s expression was delighted. “Chancellor! What an honor to have you grace our region. You’re so far from home.”

“Like I said, sight-seeing. Jack, Rose an’ I are on our way to the capital. I don’t suppose you could give a friendly Chancellor a lift?”

“You’re not leaving so soon,” Lisa retorted. Rose shivered at the way her words sounded like a decree. “What would be said of my hospitality if a Chancellor refused to even stay the night?” She watched the Doctor expectantly with a sly smile, but before he could answer another being appeared at Lisa’s elbow.

Rose could practically hear the ‘thunk’ as Jack’s jaw hit the floor. She could barely take her eyes off the man herself! He was nearly six feet tall, dark-haired, and wore only a tight gold pair of shorts that clung to his hips like a speedo and stretched indecently around his groin. The parts of his body that were uncovered- nearly all of him- had delicious-looking muscles, but he wasn’t bulgy like some of the gym-bound blokes Rose had seen. And he had such a cute face, with slightly plump cheeks and an up-turned nose, that Rose only looked away when her husband put his arm around her shoulder possessively.

“We have several guest suites available, Mistress,” the man said subserviently to Lisa. He didn’t seem to notice Rose and Jack’s staring, or the attention from most of the colorful aliens in the vicinity.

“You see?” Lisa said to the Doctor. “Your accommodations already await you.”

“Hello,” Jack said to the mysterious man, clearly taking all of him in.

Lisa smiled. “I see you have very good taste. This is my personal servant, Ianto. Say hello to the Chancellor and his friends, Ianto.”

“It’s an honor sirs, miss,” the pale man bowed his head to the three of them. Jack licked his lips.

Lisa stroked her fingernails down Ianto’s bicep, staring at Jack. “If you and your friends choose to stay the night, you’d have time to get to know Ianto. I think he’d like that, wouldn’t you Ianto,” she asked.

Ianto answered while looking into Jack’s eyes. “Yes, Mistress.”

Jack stepped forward. “You want to dance?” His voice was suggestive enough to make Rose blush even though it wasn’t directed at her.

“Yes sir,” Ianto answered, and if Rose wasn’t mistaken, he actually batted his long, dark eyelashes. Jack grabbed him by the elbow and spun him away to the dance floor.

“I’ll tell my servants to reserve your rooms,” the Controller said with a triumphant smile. “I hope you enjoy your stay, Chancellor.” She swept away.

It looked like the Doctor was going to follow her, so Rose grabbed his arm. “This is Jack’s trip, remember? We promised, ‘cause he’s been so patient lately.”

The Doctor grumbled and glared at the multitudinous swirls of people around them, accidentally creating a few feet of empty space before them. Then he switched gears and grinned at Rose. “I guess we’ll have to explore then, won’t we!”

Rose jumped and squealed and took his elbow as they started off.

[*]

Once they started dancing, the room began to darken, with deep pulsating dance music and neon lights that flowed wildly around the room. Most club worlds knew what their visitors were looking for, and the heavy beats gave Jack a perfect excuse to dance up close and personal with the tempting hunk he’d met. Ianto responded to every silent cue, and it wasn’t until Jack was grinding against him, their sweaty torsos sliding together, that he moved back an inch.

“Would you like to retire, sir?”

“We can take this somewhere else, but there won’t be any sleeping going on,” Jack growled.

Ianto’s blue-gray eyes twinkled at Jack and he offered his hand, leading Jack to the edge of the dance floor and out a side door.

Ianto brought them deep into the castle. Jack was a bit put out by the gorgeous humanoid’s silence on the way, but it gave him more time to admire Ianto’s tight gold garment.

He frowned. Someone with Ianto’s skin tone should really be wearing red…

“Here we are, sir,” Ianto announced, opening a door in the cold stone wall of the castle.

Jack entered, and grinned. The bedroom was sumptuous, clearly designed by a hedonist for the purpose of celebrating pleasure. Shelves and hooks lined the walls with all sorts of delightfully kinky things, and the bed was huge and deep, surrounded by hanging veils.

He looked at Ianto, once again taking in the younger man’s fine physique. “You’ve got all these toys laid out,” he said sultrily, “where do you want to start?”

“Whatever you’d like, sir.”

Jack murmured his appreciation as he took the beautiful man into his arms, deciding he was going to take his time with this one. “I think I’d like to explore you,” he drawled into Ianto’s ear.

Ianto turned his head and caught Jack’s lips. Jack kept the kiss light, enjoying the simple pleasure at the beginning of what was shaping up to be one of the best nights he’d had in weeks. His hands traversed Ianto’s torso, brushing over his smooth skin and pressing his fingertips into the hard muscles beneath. He moaned when he reached the silky material of Ianto’s pants.

“I’d really like to see you naked, on the bed,” he said huskily, feeling a throb of lust go through him as Ianto obeyed wordlessly.

Jack removed his own trousers while Ianto got on the bed, and was glad he had- his cock swelled up so suddenly at the sight of Ianto’s bare body waiting for him that his tight trousers would have been pretty uncomfortable.

“Time and space, Ianto, you’re gorgeous,” he breathed, crawling onto the bed to hover above the other man on all fours.

“Thank you sir,” Ianto said demurely, eyes gleaming as he looked at Jack through long lashes.

Jack chuckled as he leaned closer. “Call me Jack.” He kissed Ianto’s perfect lips gently, enjoying the way they molded easily to the pressure. When he began to nuzzle Ianto’s neck, the other man spoke, his voice as polite and unruffled as he had been in the dance hall.

“I’m not to refer to guests so familiarly.”

“Why not?” Jack lifted his head, slightly annoyed. He really enjoyed making his partners cry out his name in ecstasy, but somehow he didn’t imagine ‘sir’ being shouted to the rafters would have quite the same appeal.

“My Mistress has forbidden it.”

Jack shifted his weight and sat on Ianto’s thighs and leaned toward the younger man, already smiling again. Now this was a good development! “Oh yeah?” he said lustfully. “And how’ll she punish you if you break her rule?” He rubbed a finger along Ianto’s jaw line, feeling his spine tingle as he remembered a golden paddle on one of the room’s tables.

“She’ll lock me in the freezer,” Ianto answered, face blank. “Or she’ll take away my sight and have me escort her around the mansion.”

Jack’s finger froze on Ianto’s face. “You mean… she’d blindfold you?”

“No, she’ll deactivate the visual center in my brain until she feels I’ve learned my lesson.”

Jack could only stare in shock at Ianto, who looked back at him with utter calm. “And she does this if you…”

“Refer to a guest in an overly familiar manner.”

Jack slumped down onto the bed to Ianto’s side. “How many guests do you see?” he asked, feeling a tightness at the back of his throat.

“Not many,” Ianto said casually. “She prefers to keep me to herself.”

Jack began to feel slightly better.

“Only one or two a week.”

Ianto watched him try to burn through the ceiling- or more specifically, the ornate zenith of the veils- with only his glare. “Have I displeased you, sir?”

Jack looked at him in surprise. “Would you get in trouble for displeasing me?” he asked ironically.

“Yes.”

Jack blinked. “I’m not displeased, Ianto.”

Ianto didn’t seem convinced. He sat up and brushed the backs of his fingers down Jack’s cheek. “I want for you to be pleased,” he said quietly, the intensity of his gaze sending shivers through Jack. He began to nuzzle Jack’s neck the same was Jack had done to him earlier, laying soft kisses up the sensitive column until Jack’s eyes slid closed in pleasure.

Jack wrenched himself out of the soft clouds that had enveloped him and landed jarringly back on the ground. He caught Ianto’s- soft, wide, oh so strong- shoulders tightly. “I’m not going to do this to you, Ianto.”

Ianto frowned slightly. “Why not?”

“Because it’s not fair. You didn’t chose to sleep with me, did you? The Controller told you to.” Jack wondered if ‘Controller’ was really her title, or if she’d picked it herself.

“She’s my Mistress,” Ianto said simply.

“That doesn’t mean she owns you,” Jack snapped.

Ianto stayed silent, only stroking the same part of Jack’s chest over and over. Jack shivered. “I’m sorry. Please keep talking to me.”

“She created me,” Ianto murmured after a minute.

“Are you a cyborg?”

“No, I am genetically engineered,” Ianto explained. “My Mistress’s design. She is very proud of me and likes to show me off.”

Jack sat up and encouraged Ianto to look him in the eye. “My parents told me the stores of the Great Ones who created the universe. When they bore the first animals, they were cattle, urks, creatures like that. And they were given to the sentient creatures for food and resources. But the Great Ones decreed that all sentient creatures would have free will, and that all who had free will had the right to wield it in their own interests. What this means, Ianto,” Jack took Ianto’s hand and squeezed it, “is that, just because she created you, that doesn’t give her the right to make you a slave.”

“I’m not a slave,” Ianto protested. “She loves me. She’s my Mistress.”

“Mistress is a title that has to be earned,” Jack argued. “If she loved you, she wouldn’t take away your sight. That’s not a safe or a fair punishment. Those aren’t things a loving domme does. Those are the actions of a cruel Mistress.”

Ianto looked afraid. He shook his head and pulled away from Jack to sit on the side of the bed.

Jack gave him a few moments in silence, then moved to sit next to him. He looked at Ianto’s face, and was both saddened and hopeful to see that the humanoid was thinking deeply. “Has she ever made you do anything you didn’t want to do?” Jack asked gently.

Ianto thought for a while. Jack could see when he had an answer, but he still hesitated. “Sometimes, I… don’t want to touch her. Or… she tells me to go with guests, and I know… I know they will hurt me.”

Jack moved closer and put an arm around Ianto. “My friends and I, we’ll take you away from here. Somewhere you can be free. Where you can choose what you do and whether you sleep with anyone.”

Ianto looked at him, and Jack had to stop himself from responding to that lovely face inches away from his own. “Why would you do that?” the younger man asked.

“Because it’s the right thing to do.”

They sat there for a while in silence, until Jack glanced at the door. “How long are you usually in here with… guests?” He managed to keep disgust from creeping into his voice, not wanting to hurt Ianto.

“An hour or two.”

“Then I guess we’ve got some time to kill.” Jack looked around and immediately saw the wide range of sex toys and other implements that were laid out around the room. “Uh… how about we put on our pants?”

Ianto gave him a confused look, but did so, and Jack sighed quietly in relief as at least some of Ianto’s oh-so-tempting and yet off-limits body was covered up.

“There’s not much to do in here,” Jack said, trying to ignore all the wonderful uses of the things outside the veils. “How about we just cuddle and talk?”

“What’s cuddle?”

Jack swallowed down a sudden jolt of pity. “I’ll show you. Come here.” He moved to the other side of the bed, where a giant mound of pillows was stacked, and reclined on them, patting the spot beside him for Ianto. Curious, Ianto lay down where he’d indicated. Jack wrapped his arms around Ianto and pulled him closer, trying to project safety and reassurance with his touch.

“What now?” Ianto asked when Jack had settled their limbs.

“This is it.”

Ianto blinked down at their bodies, pressed together among the luxurious pillows. “I don’t understand. What it this for?”

Jack swallowed again and held Ianto closer. “It’s for comfort. It’s for… connection.”

“Is this foreplay?” Ianto frowned. Jack couldn’t resist a laugh at the cute expression.

“It can be, but it doesn’t have to be. Any people who care about each other can cuddle, friends, family, lovers, even pets.”

Ianto looked at Jack’s face in surprise. “Do you care about me?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Why?”

Jack realized he hadn’t thought about it. Maybe it was Ianto’s innocence, his gentleness despite what he’d been subjected to at the hands of the Controller. Maybe it was instinct after traveling with the Doctor and Rose. Or maybe… “My brother was taken by slavers,” Jack said quietly. “They were evil creatures. They’re horrible to their slaves and they sell them to people who are even worse. I searched for him for years, but I never found him.” He finished in a whisper.

Ianto listened attentively, and then hesitantly hugged him. “I’m sorry, sir.”

“Jack,” Jack said, suddenly not wanting to hear the word ‘sir’ ever again.

“…I’m sorry, Jack.”

“Don’t be.” Jack pasted on a smile, not wanting to think about his brother any more. “Why don’t you tell me about yourself?”

Ianto nodded and answered dutifully. “My Mistress created me nearly three years ago and I have served her ever since.”

Jack berated himself silently for the mistake. “I mean, tell me about you. What do you like?”

Ianto pointed outside the veils. “My favorite implements are set aside. I could show you.”

Jack was startled by the sudden reappearance of the bedroom eyes he’d seen earlier, and shivered at the reminder of Ianto’s training.

“No!” he said loudly, and tightened his arms to keep Ianto from getting up. “I meant… what’s your favorite food?” he asked randomly.

Ianto considered. “I like coffee.”

“Yeah?” said Jack, relieved.

“Yeah.” The younger man smiled shyly. “I really like it.”

“What else?”

Ianto’s smile grew. “Movies. Black and white movies. And three-piece suits! Except…Lisa says they’re very last century.” His enthusiasm melted into an expression of shame.

“Ianto.” Jack stared straight into the other man’s eyes. “I’ll get you a three-piece suit, and you’ll look devastating, I’m sure. And all the coffee you can drink,” he swore.

Ianto’s soft gray-blue eyes looked up at him in wonder. “I like you, Jack.”

Ignoring the warmth that spread through him, Jack shook his head. “You’ve only known me for an hour.”

Ianto smiled. “You remind me of Annie. She was Lisa’s assistant before me, so she left a week after I was born, but she was the only friend I’ve ever had. You and Annie, you’re the only truly kind people I’ve ever met.”

Jack looked at Ianto’s open, honest expression and sighed. He kissed the young man’s forehead. “Ianto, you’ve got a lot to learn.”

[*]

Link to part 2, because I was 616 characters over and I refuse to cut :p

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