Doctor Who/The Avengers (2012): A TARDIS In New York City (2/3)
Title: A TARDIS In New York City
Summary All Jack, Rose, and the Doctor wanted was a nice trip to New York. Of course, they jus had land smack-dab in the middle of an alien invasion, didn't they?. And what’s with all the people in funny costumes? (Doctor/Rose, Jack).
Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who or the Avengers.
Chapter 2: Never Flirt With Your Heroes
Jack wouldn’t lie: he always enjoyed this bit, the saving the world thing, being the hero. It was a massive change from when before he met the Doctor and Rose. Before them, in a situation like this, he would have cut his losses and run.
Now, though, he ducked through the hoard of Chitauri warriors towards the edge of the perimeter the police had set up, guiding a group of about half a dozen civilians to safety. They cleared the perimeter and the injured were taken immediately to the paramedics. Jack felt a bit bad for them: they looked incredibly frazzled and it was clear that all of New York had no idea what to make of the invasion.
At least London, at this point, had some prior experience with this sort of thing
Jack, ready to head back out into the fray, could see a woman pleading with an officer and as he got closer, he was able to hear what she was saying.
“My son! My son is back there! I need to find him!”
The police officer was trying to calm her down. He spoke through a heavy Brooklyn accent, “I’m sorry, Miss. There’s nothing I can do.”
“Where did you last see him,” Jack demanded, stepping up to the two of them. Jack flashed the officer his I.D., grateful that the Doctor hadn’t nicked his psychic paper when he confiscated most of his blasters. “Captain Jack Harkness.”
The cop left, happy to leave the hysterical woman to somebody else and Jack tried not to be too annoyed. That man must’ve had a lot to deal with today already.
Jack placed his hands on the woman’s shoulders to calm her down a bit and repeated, “Your son. Where did you last see him? What does he look like?”
“His name is Tim,” the woman blubbered, trying to take deep breaths. “He’s five and has blonde hair and blue eyes! We were grocery shopping when he wandered off- probably to look for candy- and this happened-”
Jack calmed her down again and managed to get a brief description and set of directions to the shop where she had last seen her son
“I promise I’ll do the best I can to find him,” Jack assured her
Then, because he was Jack, he planted a quick kiss to her lips. She wasn’t wearing a wedding ring (not that he really cared), and Jack had learned a long time ago that a kiss was as effective as a slap when trying to get somebody to stop hyperventilating.
He ran off before she knew what hit her.
Running was something else that Jack really loved. He had done a lot of it before the Doctor and Rose, but back then he was usually running away from something: the Time Agency, authorities, trouble, responsibility. Now, he still found himself running from authority, but he chased trouble like it was his lifeline and responsibility didn’t scare him so much anymore-
-Like this whole mission, saving a boy from aliens-
Aliens that had currently managed to surrounded him. Huh. He needed to stop getting so distracted.
Jack loaded up his blaster, but he was clearly outnumbered. He decided to try a different tactic and gave them his most disarming smile.
“Hello, boys,” he began, then paused and scanned the aliens. Right. “And girls. Or hermaphrodites. I’m not picky. Whad’ya say we put down our blasters and have a bit of fun, instead? How’s that sound?”
The aliens didn’t say anything. One of them cocked its head, looking contemplative, and Jack congratulated himself on his slight victory.
Before he could try to convince the others that his plan was much better than theirs, a red, white, and blue blur stormed into the fray and everything went a bit pear shaped. Jack reacted instinctively, shooting at any Chitauri within range. Between them both, the group was dead within minutes, and Jack was left standing next to a pile of aliens with-
Captain America.
Jack couldn’t have stopped his ecstatic grin if he wanted to. Which he didn’t. He most certainly didn’t.
“Thanks for that,” Jack said, cheerfully, sounding like he was anywhere but a Chitauri invasion. Captain America -what was his real name? Something Rogers- gave him a slightly worried look, as though he had good reason to believe that Jack was insane.
Hey, maybe he was.
“This is no place for civilians,” he said harshly. Any elation Jack felt was quickly replaced with chagrin.
“Does this-” Jack waved around his blaster- “look like a civilian weapon to you?”
Rogers had the good grace to look slightly apologetic as he acknowledged that the weapon was far too technologically advanced to be
something issued to a standard civilian.
Jack continued. “My name is Captain Jack Harkness and trust me, please, when I say I’m on your side.” He paused for a minute, eyeing the superhero’s tight suit. “And I could be in your bed, later on, if you’d like.”
Rogers didn’t seem all that impressed. He actually looked a bit embarrassed and maybe a bit confused. “I’m going to have to ask you to evacuate the area, sir. We’ve set up a perimeter and it needs to be enforced.”
Jack was definitely annoyed now. He supposed never meet (or in his case, flirt with) your heros.
“Right: shut up and listen. We’re in the middle of a Chitauri invasion and perimeter or not, there are still civilians stuck in these buildings. As we speak, a little boy is stuck in a shop and I’m not goin’ anywhere until I get him back to his mother safely, just like I promised.”
Rogers looked reluctant, but he could hardly argue against saving the life of a little boy. He sighed, resigned, then nodded resolutely. “What’d you say your name was?”
“Captain Jack Harkness, at your service!” Jack leered. “Whatever that service may be. I’m very adaptable.”
The other Captain ignored him again. “And the little boy? Where is he?”
Jack grinned again, annoyance gone, and lead the way, all the while trying to his inner, child-like glee at the situation. I’m fighting crime with Captain America! I wonder if he’ll sign my Captain America lunchbox...
Jack paused in front of what looked like a small grocery shop. At least, that’s what Jack assumed it had been before it was completely destroyed. The framework of the building was still intact, but the windows were shattered, the interior destroyed, and the roof (or the floor of the apartment above it) had collapsed in on itself.
ack and Rogers exchanged glances, knowing that it was unlikely that anything could survive that wreck, then carefully ventured inside.
“Hello?” Jack called, trying to make his voice sound as non-threatening as possible. “Anybody home?”
There was no noise, just silence, punctuated by occasional noise outside
Rogers shook his head, clearly thinking the mission useless. “This is pointless, Captain Harkness. There’s nobody here.”
Jack tutted. “First off, Jack please. I like to be on a first name basis with the people I’m saving the world with.” Jack pressed a button on his vortex manipulator and a blue beam of light shot out from it, slowly scanning the rubble for any signs of life.
“Second, I wouldn’t count that little boy out just yet,” he muttered.
“What is that?” Rogers demanded. Jack didn’t take his eyes off of the small screen on his wrist.
“It’s a Vortex Manipulator-” Jack paused, then amended his statement. “At least it was. It’s broken, now.”
“Doesn’t look broken.”
“Broken as in ‘doesn’t do what it’s supposed to.’ But I’ve got a friend who’s good with tech- and I’m not so bad with my hands, myself- and so we modified it a bit. It’s a pretty useful piece of equipment.”
“It certainly is,” Rogers said, looking at Jack curiously. Jack gave a grin of triumph when a blip of life was detected in a corner. Jack ran for it and Rogers followed, not really sure what else to do at this point
“Start digging under the rubble,” Jack ordered, once he saw that there wasn’t anybody- least of all little boys- in sight. Rogers huffed, clearly annoyed at having to take orders from a man who only said he was a Captain, but his soldier’s training kicked in and he did as told. They were quiet as they worked, ignoring the chaos outside, focusing only on the matter at hand.
It was Rogers who found him. “Harkness,” he said curtly, pulling plywood off the body off the unconscious boy’s body. Jack rushed over.
“Jack,” he corrected, kneeling down to check Tim’s pulse.
“Don’t push it,” Rogers warned
Jack bit down his comment and instead picked up the little boy carefully, after checking that he had no broken bones. He was a bit banged up and his shoulder was definitely dislocated, but he was otherwise unharmed.
“His shoulder’s dislocated,” Jack said, “That, plus minor blood loss and dehydration, not to mention pure fear, probably caused him to pass out. We need to get him to paramedics, and soon.”
“I can get him there faster than you can,” Rogers said immediately.
“You also have a bigger target on your back,” Jack retorted. The two men stared each down before Captain America broke the silence.
“Together then?”
“Captain,” Jack said, “I’ve been waiting for you to say that all day!”
Rogers had apparently resigned himself to the fact that Jack was going to spend most of his time flirting, because he didn’t even bother arguing. Instead, he said, “I’ll cover you.”
Jack couldn’t help himself, “So you like it on top, then?”
“Harkness,” Rogers warned. “Let’s go.”
The Captain prepared his shield. Holding the boy tightly against his chest, doing his best not to jostle his injuries too much, Jack followed the Captain out the door and into battle.
Jack couldn’t deny that it was quite annoying to let Rogers have all the fun. He could hardly use his blaster while carrying a little boy, so he had to rely on Rogers to take care of any Chitauri who came their way.
Jack ducked as the Captain lost track of where he was flinging one of the Chitauri and it almost took his head. He glared,” Watch it! I’ve got a kid here!”
“Sorry!” Rogers shot back, knocking another Chitauri over the head as they continued to head for the edge of the perimeter.
There were more Chitauri coming, now, that they had been noticed. Jack had no choice but to pull out his blaster, shifting Tim so he could him with only one hand.
Jack easily hit the Chitauri coming up behind Rogers. Rogers raised an eyebrow. “Nice shot.”
“Yea, well, I’m not just a pretty face.”
Rogers turned to retort, but instead his face twisted in alarm and he exclaimed, “Watch out!”
Jack turned rapidly, blaster up, but before he could fully register that an alien was launching itself off of its hovercraft towards him, a bright green shape came flying to meet him, the two of them landing several feet away, skidding on the concrete, leaving a large hole where they landed.
The Hulk! Jack smiled like a fanboy. This day can’t get any better!
His suspicions were reaffirmed a few minutes later when Tim’s mom was finally reunited with her son. She rewarded him with another kiss.
Best. Day. Ever.
(Chapter 3 here)
Summary All Jack, Rose, and the Doctor wanted was a nice trip to New York. Of course, they jus had land smack-dab in the middle of an alien invasion, didn't they?. And what’s with all the people in funny costumes? (Doctor/Rose, Jack).
Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who or the Avengers.
Chapter 2: Never Flirt With Your Heroes
Jack wouldn’t lie: he always enjoyed this bit, the saving the world thing, being the hero. It was a massive change from when before he met the Doctor and Rose. Before them, in a situation like this, he would have cut his losses and run.
Now, though, he ducked through the hoard of Chitauri warriors towards the edge of the perimeter the police had set up, guiding a group of about half a dozen civilians to safety. They cleared the perimeter and the injured were taken immediately to the paramedics. Jack felt a bit bad for them: they looked incredibly frazzled and it was clear that all of New York had no idea what to make of the invasion.
At least London, at this point, had some prior experience with this sort of thing
Jack, ready to head back out into the fray, could see a woman pleading with an officer and as he got closer, he was able to hear what she was saying.
“My son! My son is back there! I need to find him!”
The police officer was trying to calm her down. He spoke through a heavy Brooklyn accent, “I’m sorry, Miss. There’s nothing I can do.”
“Where did you last see him,” Jack demanded, stepping up to the two of them. Jack flashed the officer his I.D., grateful that the Doctor hadn’t nicked his psychic paper when he confiscated most of his blasters. “Captain Jack Harkness.”
The cop left, happy to leave the hysterical woman to somebody else and Jack tried not to be too annoyed. That man must’ve had a lot to deal with today already.
Jack placed his hands on the woman’s shoulders to calm her down a bit and repeated, “Your son. Where did you last see him? What does he look like?”
“His name is Tim,” the woman blubbered, trying to take deep breaths. “He’s five and has blonde hair and blue eyes! We were grocery shopping when he wandered off- probably to look for candy- and this happened-”
Jack calmed her down again and managed to get a brief description and set of directions to the shop where she had last seen her son
“I promise I’ll do the best I can to find him,” Jack assured her
Then, because he was Jack, he planted a quick kiss to her lips. She wasn’t wearing a wedding ring (not that he really cared), and Jack had learned a long time ago that a kiss was as effective as a slap when trying to get somebody to stop hyperventilating.
He ran off before she knew what hit her.
Running was something else that Jack really loved. He had done a lot of it before the Doctor and Rose, but back then he was usually running away from something: the Time Agency, authorities, trouble, responsibility. Now, he still found himself running from authority, but he chased trouble like it was his lifeline and responsibility didn’t scare him so much anymore-
-Like this whole mission, saving a boy from aliens-
Aliens that had currently managed to surrounded him. Huh. He needed to stop getting so distracted.
Jack loaded up his blaster, but he was clearly outnumbered. He decided to try a different tactic and gave them his most disarming smile.
“Hello, boys,” he began, then paused and scanned the aliens. Right. “And girls. Or hermaphrodites. I’m not picky. Whad’ya say we put down our blasters and have a bit of fun, instead? How’s that sound?”
The aliens didn’t say anything. One of them cocked its head, looking contemplative, and Jack congratulated himself on his slight victory.
Before he could try to convince the others that his plan was much better than theirs, a red, white, and blue blur stormed into the fray and everything went a bit pear shaped. Jack reacted instinctively, shooting at any Chitauri within range. Between them both, the group was dead within minutes, and Jack was left standing next to a pile of aliens with-
Captain America.
Jack couldn’t have stopped his ecstatic grin if he wanted to. Which he didn’t. He most certainly didn’t.
“Thanks for that,” Jack said, cheerfully, sounding like he was anywhere but a Chitauri invasion. Captain America -what was his real name? Something Rogers- gave him a slightly worried look, as though he had good reason to believe that Jack was insane.
Hey, maybe he was.
“This is no place for civilians,” he said harshly. Any elation Jack felt was quickly replaced with chagrin.
“Does this-” Jack waved around his blaster- “look like a civilian weapon to you?”
Rogers had the good grace to look slightly apologetic as he acknowledged that the weapon was far too technologically advanced to be
something issued to a standard civilian.
Jack continued. “My name is Captain Jack Harkness and trust me, please, when I say I’m on your side.” He paused for a minute, eyeing the superhero’s tight suit. “And I could be in your bed, later on, if you’d like.”
Rogers didn’t seem all that impressed. He actually looked a bit embarrassed and maybe a bit confused. “I’m going to have to ask you to evacuate the area, sir. We’ve set up a perimeter and it needs to be enforced.”
Jack was definitely annoyed now. He supposed never meet (or in his case, flirt with) your heros.
“Right: shut up and listen. We’re in the middle of a Chitauri invasion and perimeter or not, there are still civilians stuck in these buildings. As we speak, a little boy is stuck in a shop and I’m not goin’ anywhere until I get him back to his mother safely, just like I promised.”
Rogers looked reluctant, but he could hardly argue against saving the life of a little boy. He sighed, resigned, then nodded resolutely. “What’d you say your name was?”
“Captain Jack Harkness, at your service!” Jack leered. “Whatever that service may be. I’m very adaptable.”
The other Captain ignored him again. “And the little boy? Where is he?”
Jack grinned again, annoyance gone, and lead the way, all the while trying to his inner, child-like glee at the situation. I’m fighting crime with Captain America! I wonder if he’ll sign my Captain America lunchbox...
Jack paused in front of what looked like a small grocery shop. At least, that’s what Jack assumed it had been before it was completely destroyed. The framework of the building was still intact, but the windows were shattered, the interior destroyed, and the roof (or the floor of the apartment above it) had collapsed in on itself.
ack and Rogers exchanged glances, knowing that it was unlikely that anything could survive that wreck, then carefully ventured inside.
“Hello?” Jack called, trying to make his voice sound as non-threatening as possible. “Anybody home?”
There was no noise, just silence, punctuated by occasional noise outside
Rogers shook his head, clearly thinking the mission useless. “This is pointless, Captain Harkness. There’s nobody here.”
Jack tutted. “First off, Jack please. I like to be on a first name basis with the people I’m saving the world with.” Jack pressed a button on his vortex manipulator and a blue beam of light shot out from it, slowly scanning the rubble for any signs of life.
“Second, I wouldn’t count that little boy out just yet,” he muttered.
“What is that?” Rogers demanded. Jack didn’t take his eyes off of the small screen on his wrist.
“It’s a Vortex Manipulator-” Jack paused, then amended his statement. “At least it was. It’s broken, now.”
“Doesn’t look broken.”
“Broken as in ‘doesn’t do what it’s supposed to.’ But I’ve got a friend who’s good with tech- and I’m not so bad with my hands, myself- and so we modified it a bit. It’s a pretty useful piece of equipment.”
“It certainly is,” Rogers said, looking at Jack curiously. Jack gave a grin of triumph when a blip of life was detected in a corner. Jack ran for it and Rogers followed, not really sure what else to do at this point
“Start digging under the rubble,” Jack ordered, once he saw that there wasn’t anybody- least of all little boys- in sight. Rogers huffed, clearly annoyed at having to take orders from a man who only said he was a Captain, but his soldier’s training kicked in and he did as told. They were quiet as they worked, ignoring the chaos outside, focusing only on the matter at hand.
It was Rogers who found him. “Harkness,” he said curtly, pulling plywood off the body off the unconscious boy’s body. Jack rushed over.
“Jack,” he corrected, kneeling down to check Tim’s pulse.
“Don’t push it,” Rogers warned
Jack bit down his comment and instead picked up the little boy carefully, after checking that he had no broken bones. He was a bit banged up and his shoulder was definitely dislocated, but he was otherwise unharmed.
“His shoulder’s dislocated,” Jack said, “That, plus minor blood loss and dehydration, not to mention pure fear, probably caused him to pass out. We need to get him to paramedics, and soon.”
“I can get him there faster than you can,” Rogers said immediately.
“You also have a bigger target on your back,” Jack retorted. The two men stared each down before Captain America broke the silence.
“Together then?”
“Captain,” Jack said, “I’ve been waiting for you to say that all day!”
Rogers had apparently resigned himself to the fact that Jack was going to spend most of his time flirting, because he didn’t even bother arguing. Instead, he said, “I’ll cover you.”
Jack couldn’t help himself, “So you like it on top, then?”
“Harkness,” Rogers warned. “Let’s go.”
The Captain prepared his shield. Holding the boy tightly against his chest, doing his best not to jostle his injuries too much, Jack followed the Captain out the door and into battle.
Jack couldn’t deny that it was quite annoying to let Rogers have all the fun. He could hardly use his blaster while carrying a little boy, so he had to rely on Rogers to take care of any Chitauri who came their way.
Jack ducked as the Captain lost track of where he was flinging one of the Chitauri and it almost took his head. He glared,” Watch it! I’ve got a kid here!”
“Sorry!” Rogers shot back, knocking another Chitauri over the head as they continued to head for the edge of the perimeter.
There were more Chitauri coming, now, that they had been noticed. Jack had no choice but to pull out his blaster, shifting Tim so he could him with only one hand.
Jack easily hit the Chitauri coming up behind Rogers. Rogers raised an eyebrow. “Nice shot.”
“Yea, well, I’m not just a pretty face.”
Rogers turned to retort, but instead his face twisted in alarm and he exclaimed, “Watch out!”
Jack turned rapidly, blaster up, but before he could fully register that an alien was launching itself off of its hovercraft towards him, a bright green shape came flying to meet him, the two of them landing several feet away, skidding on the concrete, leaving a large hole where they landed.
The Hulk! Jack smiled like a fanboy. This day can’t get any better!
His suspicions were reaffirmed a few minutes later when Tim’s mom was finally reunited with her son. She rewarded him with another kiss.
Best. Day. Ever.
(Chapter 3 here)