Weaving 10/11
Story: Weaving
Author: wmr
wendymr
Sequel to: Broken Threads (Series: Tapestry)
Characters: Tenth Doctor, Jack Harkness, Rose Tyler; Team Torchwood and other characters, including Martha Jones, in minor roles
Rated: PG13
Disclaimer: None of them are mine, and that's a good thing ;)
Spoilers: DW: S3 and VotD; TW: pretty much all of S2, though this is completely AU.
Summary: She's back, and it should be just as it was before, the three of them... but can you ever really go back?
As before, my thanks to
dark_aegis and
kae_nine for BRing, even in the middle of RL crises. This is a sequel to Broken Threads, as noted, and might not make a lot of sense without it.
Chapter 1: Transmission Complete l Chapter 2: Minefields l Chapter 3: Papering Over Cracks l Chapter 4: Secrets and Lies l Chapter 5: Mystery l Chapter 6: Plans and Schemes l Chapter 7: Home Truths l Chapter 8: Confrontations and Revelations l Chapter 9: Discovery
Chapter 10: Hard Choices
“Grey’s dead.”
He’s absolutely, positively certain of that. No doubt whatsoever.
Jack’s paler than he’s ever seen him. No surprise there, of course. If he could get his hands on that Hart person right now... Jack had accepted that his brother’s dead. He’d accepted that there’s nothing he can do to change things. And now Hart’s stirring up all those memories again, all that pain and guilt.
“Hart’s a Time Agent, Doctor. With a working Vortex manipulator. He could’ve gone back to the Boe too. Maybe he rescued Grey. And now he’s using him to blackmail me.”
He crosses the room to stand in front of Jack, and cups the other man’s shoulders in his hands. “No. We would have seen him. We would have. He’s lying.”
Jack draws in a long breath. “Yeah. Yeah, he’s got to be. All the same, Doctor, he’s got my team and-”
“I know.” Again, he gives Jack a reassuring squeeze. “And we’re going right there. Ten seconds, you said? Give me your phone.” He steps back and holds out his hand; the phone’s placed in his palm. “The TARDIS can take the Cardiff timestamp from this and get us there in plenty of time.”
He pivots, heading for the kitchen door - and then stops. He’d actually forgotten about Rose, but she’s still there, and she’s watching the two of them, her own face pale but determined.
“What’s going on?”
He hesitates. It’s really Jack’s story to tell, after all. But she misreads his hesitation.
“Look, I know you’re both pretty pissed off at me right now, an’ I deserve it, but if this bloke, Jack’s partner, is as dangerous as you’re saying then you’re gonna need me. You can kick me out of the TARDIS later. Right now, can we focus on telling me what I need to know so I can help?”
Kick her out of the TARDIS? What? She doesn’t think, surely...?
But Jack’s interrupting. “He is dangerous, yes. I worked with him for almost ten years. We were stuck together in a time loop for five years. I was partnered with him because I was about the only agent who knew how to control him-” Through sex, of course, the Doctor muses. “-and even I couldn’t always manage it.”
“Why was he still an agent, then? Why didn’t they wipe his memories and kick him out?” Rose asks, and it’s a damn good point. He should have asked that.
Jack shrugs. “He was good at his job. That’s all that mattered to them. But, Rose,” he adds, and his entire body’s tense, “I can’t let you get involved in this. Like I said, he’s dangerous, plus he’s just threatened to destroy everyone I care about. I can’t let you get involved in this. Like you said the other day, you’re mortal. I can’t risk you getting killed.”
“I’m already involved.” Rose walks over to Jack and lays her hand on his arm. “So’s your team. They’re mortal too, right? And I just heard you give them instructions. You’re letting them help.”
“They’re already involved!” Jack’s frustration is getting the better of him; he moves to Jack’s other side and takes his hand. It seems to calm him. “I don’t have a choice,” he adds quietly. “Besides, they’re trained, and I’m gonna keep them out of the way as soon as-”
“I’m trained too,” Rose points out. “You forgotten that?”
Jack looks down at her, his expression resigned. “No. I know. Seen you in action, remember?”
“Well, then. Let me help.”
“You might have to,” the Doctor comments, though he’s none too keen on the idea himself. “If you’re right and Hart did go back to the Boeshane - and he probably didn’t, but we can’t be sure - then he might recognise me. Won’t know Rose, though.”
“Right.” Jack’s hand tightens around his, and his free hand grips Rose’s. “You need to know, Rose. Grey was my brother...”
***
She listens with growing sadness to Jack’s story. Why is it that really good, decent people have such horrible things happen to them? He didn’t deserve that, or what happened last year. Nor did Martha, or Martha’s family - or the Doctor.
When Jack finishes, she looks up at him. “What do you want, Jack? Would you prefer if it your friend was lying? Or if he really does have Grey?”
Jack’s eyes are haunted. “I don’t know.” He looks away, then moves towards the door, pulling her along with him. “What I do know is we need to get going. Doctor?”
“Time machine, Jack. But, yeah. On our way.” The Doctor brushes past them and strides out of the room.
Jack pauses, takes a deep breath and then turns to her again. “See? You asked and I told you.”
She nods, a lump in her throat. “Yeah. Thanks.”
“Welcome. Oh, and just to prove I don’t have any secrets from you-” He drops her hand and moves to stand in front of her. “Jack Harkness isn’t my real name. I stole it from an American war-hero who died about six months before that day I sent the mauve alert.”
Not his real name? Her eyes are probably impossibly wide, but then that never occurred to her. Should have, though. He was a spy, of sorts, wasn’t he? Covert ops. Probably had more names than the Doctor’s had faces. And it doesn’t matter, does it? Not really. The Doctor’s never told her his real name. Doesn’t stop her trusting him, or believing in everything that he is.
She takes Jack’s hand again. “That’ll be three of us with fake names soon, won’t it? Once you get me that ID you promised.”
He leans in and kisses her lightly, and she knows she’s at least part-way to being forgiven. “Don’t make any hasty decisions, okay?”
She hugs him quickly. “Okay. Now, come on. We’ve got your team to rescue!”
***
Within minutes, they’re materialising in Cardiff, to the exact second the call from Gwen ended. The signal was coming from an old, condemned building on the outskirts of the city, so the Doctor lands the TARDIS on the opposite side of the building. He and the Doctor leave the TARDIS first, giving Rose instructions to sneak out afterwards and avoid being seen. They’ve had time to set up Rose’s new mobile and give her a Bluetooth earpod, and there’s an open line between her phone and his.
When they walk around to the front of the building, his team’s nowhere in sight, but Hart’s there, still in that ridiculous Napoleonic-era uniform. He’s holding a boy of about seventeen by the hand, and the boy looks terrified. He also looks scarily like Grey. Same colour hair. The nose is right, too. The shape of the face... yeah, an eight-year-old Grey could have grown up to look like this.
“Oh, god,” he mutters as they draw near.
“It doesn’t mean anything,” the Doctor murmurs. “Just means he found someone who looks a bit like your brother.”
“Maybe.”
“Jack!” Hart shouts, a smile as fake as the man himself on his lips. “You really are so very loyal, aren’t you? It always was your greatest weakness.”
He steels himself not to respond.
“Such a shame you weren’t more loyal to me. It really is,” Hart continues. “But never mind. I’m going to give you a chance to prove the depth of your loyalty. Or maybe I should say who deserves it most.”
“Oh, cut the dramatics. Really doesn’t suit you.” Deliberately sounding bored, Jack shakes his head. “Might wanna practice a little more. I hear there’s a great panto opening at the New Theatre next week.”
“Oh, very funny, Jack. You won’t be laughing when you see the little surprise I have for you right here.” Hart’s smile isn’t pleasant. “See this?” He holds up his wristband. “This is controlling two bombs. One is inside that building behind you. Oh, and did I forget to tell you? Your team’s inside there. Owen and Gwen and cute little Tosh and even cuter Ianto. They’re all chained to the bomb.”
He’s about to turn and run, panic clawing at him, but the Doctor’s hand at his wrist restrains him. Hart’s still speaking. “Uh-uh. Not so fast, Jack, my friend. I said two bombs. The second’s strapped to dear little brother’s chest. A minute little thing - I’m pretty proud of it. It’ll blow him into tiny pieces, but leave me completely unharmed.”
He knows what’s coming, even before the bastard says it. A test of loyalty, Hart said.
“And the real beauty of it is that you can only choose one. Forty seconds on your team’s timer. Fifteen on little brother’s. You’ve only got time to stop one bomb. Your team or your brother, Jack. Who’s it gonna be?”
His brain’s working, calculating. But Hart’s talking again, and this time his voice is cold as steel. “Oh, and just in case you’re thinking your skinny friend there can help you, if he so much as moves a muscle I hit this button.” He pokes at his wristband. “Boom! You’ll be combing this place for hours looking for enough of them to bury.”
“Jack.” There’s a voice in his ear, and it’s all he can do not to show a reaction. “Save your brother. I’ve got your team covered.”
There’s no time to doubt Rose, or her ability to defuse a bomb. He just has to trust her. Without hesitation, he reaches into the Doctor’s pocket to grab the sonic screwdriver, then runs forward, to Grey - if it is Grey - and uses the screwdriver on the bomb. The timer stops on three seconds.
“Oh, good choice, Jack,” Hart drawls. “But you didn’t look for the catch. There’s always a catch, you know.” He flips a different button on his wristband, and Grey - the young man - vanishes.
“You teleported him away!” Ashen, he stares at Hart.
“Did I? Or was he ever here at all? You didn’t wonder why he never said a word? Oh, Jack.” Hart lays a hand on his shoulder, mock sympathy all over his face. “Some things never change about you. You’re still far too trusting for your own good.”
“It wasn’t Grey.” Of course not. Hart was having him on the whole time.
“Of course it wasn’t. Ever been to Praxin in the forty-ninth century?”
Jack exhales sharply. “A prostitute. You hired a prostitute to pretend to be my brother.” The Doctor knew all along that it wasn’t Grey; one quick glance at his friend’s face tells him that. And now there’s less than ten seconds, at his estimate, before the other bomb goes off - unless Rose manages to stop it.
Hart’s smile grows wider. “Seven... six... say goodbye to Ianto, now, Jack... four... three... two... one... Boom!”
Only there’s no boom. The building remains standing. And, as all three of them watch, the team emerges, Rose beside them. He’s pleased to see that all of them, Rose included, have weapons drawn.
Slow applause fills the air. “Clever, Jack. You brought reinforcements. So who’s the pretty blonde?”
“Never you mind.” He’s tossed the sonic back to the Doctor and drawn his own gun; it’s aimed carefully at Hart’s head. “Playtime’s over. Time to go.”
“Oh, I don’t think so,” Hart drawls. “Did you really think that was all I brought you here for, Jack? How little imagination you have.”
“Any reason why I shouldn’t blow his head off right now?” Owen enquires caustically from behind Jack’s shoulder.
“I think maybe this,” Hart snaps, ripping open the front of his jacket to reveal a mass of wiring and flashing lights. “I’ve been planning this for a long time. Plenty of time to work out how to get your little bunch of amateurs away from their quaint underground hideaway so I can get at your Rift manipulator. Kill me and this device triggers... and the entire Rift splits wide open.”
***
None of them know whether to believe Hart, it’s clear. All of them, including Jack, are looking at him, waiting for a signal to tell them whether the man’s bluffing.
It’s nice to be so trusted, of course, but he has absolutely no idea. The bloke’s not a complete idiot, though, so it’s probably best to assume that he knows what he’s doing.
If Hart does have a device that’ll blow open the Rift, then the force is going to turn him into tiny pieces. On present evidence, Hart doesn’t seem to care much about that. So either he has an escape plan, or he’s really suicidal.
So. Time for his favourite attack strategy. With a discreet nod to both Jack and Rose, silent instructions to stay where they are, he steps forward.
“Captain Hart! Not your real name, of course, but it’ll do. Thought it’s time we had a little chat. Only fair to warn you, you see.”
“About what?” Hart looks him up and down. “You’re Jack’s latest toy-boy? Funny, I thought he had better taste - I liked his last bed-warmer better. Should warn you - should’ve warned the gorgeous young Ianto - Jack never does stay faithful for long.”
“You really are incredibly thick, Captain Hart, aren’t you?” He smiles faintly, shaking his head. “For a one-time Time Agent, I expected better. Even Jack was better than you are at this game, and he was a rubbish conman. You know what your problem is? Well... just one of many.” His voice hardens. “You have no idea who you’re dealing with.”
Hart’s hand moves closer to the large button at his waist, the one that screams do not press. But he’s not actually touching it - and that confirms one theory. Well, more than one, perhaps. He doesn’t want to die. So this threat to blow open the Rift is either a bluff, to get Hart what he really wants - or the real detonator’s somewhere else, and he’s planning to escape alive before he sets it off. Or just possibly both.
“Trying to scare me, skinny boy? It won’t work.”
“As I thought. No idea at all.” He ignores Hart’s bluster; it’s the best way to keep him off-guard. “Forget Torchwood. They’re good, but they’re only human. Twenty-first century human, too. Not surprising that you got the better of them, though not many would. No, I’m not talking about them.” He rubs the back of his neck, then continues. “You see, first you’ve got Jack.” He jerks his chin; Jack steps up to stand by his shoulder. “And he ought to be enough to worry you all on his own. Man who can’t stay dead? Who faced the Son of Abbadon and defeated him? You should be very, very scared. But you’re not. So let me introduce you to Rose.”
He beckons, and Rose comes to stand on his other side. “Rose Tyler, otherwise known as the Bad Wolf. She absorbed the whole of the Time Vortex. Wiped out half a million Daleks with a wave of her hand. Turned the Emperor into dust - and lived to tell the tale.” He smiles without humour. “Scared yet, Captain Hart? Just a little bit? Oh, go on. Knees trembling? Feeling like you want to run away?”
Hart’s fingers jerk, inching closer to the button. But he still doesn’t touch it.
The Doctor takes another two steps forward, close enough to Hart to touch him if he reached. And now, he knows, he’s utterly terrifying.
“Then there’s me. Haven’t introduced myself, have I? I’m the Doctor. Heard of me? No? You should have. I’m in all your worst nightmares. I’m the Destroyer of Worlds, the Bringer of Darkness, the Oncoming Storm. I’m the last of the Time Lords. And I’m going to stop you.”
Hart blanches. Good.
“Because, you see, threatening Jack’s one thing. Getting revenge on an ex-lover - well, I can understand that. Course I can. Oh, yes. But using an entire planet as a pawn for your petty revenge... that’s where it stops. Right here. Right now.”
He takes another step closer. As he intended, Hart’s watching his face. One hand’s digging into his pocket, finding the sonic screwdriver.
Right behind him, Jack and Rose are poised, ready for anything he might need from them. Owen and the rest of the team, he’s pretty sure, have scattered; he can’t see, of course, but he did hear running footsteps near the start of his speech. Hart, he hopes, will assume they’ve run away. He knows the four of them well enough to be aware that they’ll be looking for the best way to sneak up on Hart from behind.
Though, knowing Toshiko, she might well be on her way back to the Hub to check on the Rift manipulator. He hopes she hasn’t, because he doesn’t believe Hart’s bluffing about having been there. He could have sabotaged the place, or done something to the manipulator that’ll kill anyone who comes near it.
Later. Time to think about that once Hart is neutralised. Which will be any... moment... “Now,” he says, almost casually, as he zaps the button at Hart’s waist with his sonic screwdriver, disabling it. Leaning further forward, he grabs Hart’s Vortex manipulator and zaps that as well. Sparks fly as he shorts it out completely, turning it into a useless piece of jewellery; no point letting the bloke disappear on them.
Now... and Jack and Rose spring into action.
They’re close enough that it takes just two steps for Rose to have her gun pressed to Hart’s temple - and, oh, he wishes she wouldn’t use one of those things, but that’s an argument he knows he’s not going to win. Jack, forearm pressed to Hart’s throat, is using his free hand to unfasten the wiring from Hart’s body.
“I just want to know one thing,” Jack says, tone deceptively careless, as he steps back and throws the wiring and electronics back for the Doctor to catch. “Why?”
***
“Why what?” Even when he knows he’s facing certain death, Hart’s still completely insouciant. Bastard. Why he ever got involved with him, Jack has no idea. None.
“Why’d you do it? Why come after me before? Why this, now? You really hate me that much?”
Hart laughs, pulling at his hair and shaking his head. “It’s still all about you, isn’t it, Jack? That’s your problem. It’s always been about you.”
“Explain,” he snaps.
“All those years we were together,” Hart says, and now he’s starting to sound whiny. “I was never the important one. You’d walk out on me at the drop of a hat. Emergency mission. Someone needed help. Or, the worst of the lot, you heard a rumour about Grey. God, I hated that brother of yours. If I wasn’t already sure he was dead, I’d have killed him myself. You’d run off on a wild-goose chase, leaving me alone.”
“He was my brother!” he snaps.
“And I was your lover. You owed me loyalty! Damnit!” Apparently uncaring about Rose’s gun still directed steadily at his head, Hart spins, his whole body jerking in frustration. Turning back, he says, “I thought getting us stuck in that time loop would work, but all you could think of was finding a way out.”
“What’d you expect me to do?” Shaking his head, he stares at his ex-lover in disbelief.
“He’s insane, Jack.” Owen. And there he is, standing a few feet behind Hart and to his left, gun trained on Hart.
“I think he’s right,” the Doctor comments softly.
Hart ignores them. “Even after I went to the trouble of getting you mind-wiped so you’d need me, you went your own damn way. I searched for you for years after that. Lost your trail in 1941 and finally found you in this backwater - and then you chose that gang of misfits over me. So you want to know why, Jack? Simple. Everything you chose over me - that fucking brother of yours, this backward time, this city, your precious team, this planet - I was gonna take them all away from you, one by one.”
“Back up there a second.” His head’s reeling. Did Hart just say... “You had me mind-wiped?”
“Oh, you really didn’t know?” Hart looks ecstatic, and Jack has to restrain himself from leaping forward to strangle him with his bare hands.
It’s not easy. Hart took his memories. His partner. His lover. The man he - well, no, he never trusted him. Not in the slightest. Not even when Hart told him he loved him - actually, especially not then.
“It’s okay, Jack.” The Doctor’s voice is soft in his ear, and his hand’s gentle on his shoulder. Just from that touch alone, the rage that threatens to tear him apart is diminishing.
“As you see.” He holds Hart’s grinning stare, unblinking. “So why don’t you tell me about it? I can see you’re dying to.”
“Oh, it was so incredibly simple.” Hart grins again, hands on his hips. “I just arranged for you to be caught with some top-secret data-chips. Information you’d have to be Brigadier or above to see.” He pivots his hips. “You looked so bewildered when you protested your innocence. It was too cute for words.”
“You bas-” he begins, but the Doctor’s hand pressing into his shoulder stops him. It’s not worth it. Hart’s not worth it.
“You could’ve got him killed!” Rose yells, fury in her voice.
“No.” Hart’s voice turns dark. “Kill the golden boy? Never. He was always their favourite. Always top of the rankings, always the one to get the best assignments. I knew they wouldn’t kill him. Demote him or mind-wipe him, that’s all. And I was going to be there to pick up the pieces.”
He stares at the ground for a long moment, and then looks straight at Jack, hurt in his eyes. “But you never came to me. I tried to find you. I sent you messages, but you ignored them. I sent Time Agents after you to have you brought in, but you still got away. Then you vanished. You never got in touch. And when I finally found you in this prehistoric place you weren’t even pleased to see me.” Hart’s almost sobbing now. “I loved you, Jack. I loved you. Didn’t you love me at all?”
“Funny way of showing you love someone,” the Doctor comments, his voice carrying. “Destroying everything he cares about?”
“Everything that’s taken him away from me,” Hart snaps. “Everything that stops him loving me.”
“Then you better take me, too,” the Doctor says, stepping forward again, level with Jack. “And Rose. Because he loves us both. We love him, too, and we’re not gonna leave him.”
“Yeah.” Rose lowers her gun and comes to stand on his other side, sliding her hand into his. “Like he said.”
Jack doesn’t have even a second to react to what the Doctor’s just said, because, with an angry roar, Hart moves, reaching behind him in the same moment. He’s going for a weapon, no doubt about it, and Jack, in a split-second reflex, grabs Rose’s and starts to take aim just as Hart’s hand appears, complete with gun, getting ready to train it on the Doctor.
A shot rings out. It’s not Jack. It’s not Hart. It’s half a second before Jack realises that Owen fired, and another half-second before there’s a spray of red mist and Hart drops to the ground.
His ex-lover is dead, and Jack just feels numb.
***
The four members of Jack’s Torchwood team spring into action to clean up, and she knows from her own experience that within an hour or so there’ll be no trace, not even forensic evidence, to show that someone was killed here. She and the Doctor leave them to it. Their priority is Jack.
That bloke almost killed Jack’s team, people it’s obvious he loves. He almost wiped out the entire planet, or at least he threatened to. And he claimed it was all because he loved Jack. God. How’s anyone supposed to react to that?
“Come on.” The Doctor wraps his arm around Jack’s shoulders. “Back to the TARDIS.”
Jack resists. “I can’t leave. Not yet. Need to talk to...”
“We’re not leaving.” The Doctor’s voice is gentle, reassuring. “We’ve got to get to the Hub, though. I need to see what he’s done to the Rift manipulator. If he’s done anything, of course. Could’ve been bluffing, I suppose. But I can’t take the chance.”
“He won’t have been bluffing.” Jack walks with them. “Lying, yeah. He lied all the time. He’ll have done something to it, but probably not what he said.”
The Doctor just nods. She squeezes Jack’s hand. “It’s sick, yeah? Nearly killing your friends just because you care about them.”
Jack seems about to say something, but the Doctor gets there first, his voice even. “The Master did the same. Only he actually did kill people. Jack, over and over, because he knew it would hurt me. He murdered Sarah-Jane, too, right in front of me. Martha didn’t know that,” he adds as she gasps, horrified. “He never gave up trying to find Martha and murder her. That was the only time I was glad you were in the other universe.”
The Doctor turns his head and his gaze meets hers full-on, and it’s almost like a slam to her rib-cage. Relief. He’s okay with her knowing. He’s okay with her talking to Martha to find out. The fact that he’s talked openly about the Master shows her that, true, but what he said about her, and the way he’s looking at her... It’s all right. They’re fine.
They emerge from the TARDIS, the Doctor with Hart’s wires and cables thrown over his shoulder, into an underground space that looks like one of the Tube stations on the Bakerloo line. Huge and cavernous, with high ceilings and passages everywhere. Jack takes the lead, striding through the open space, along a passage and up some steps. Finally, they stop beside a huge piece of machinery, with a central pillar that looks as if it’s designed to rise and fall just as the Time Rotor does.
“He’s been here,” Jack says after what’s only a cursory glance.
“I see.” The Doctor’s putting his glasses on and dropping into a crouch, screwdriver in hand. He talks non-stop as he looks, examines, pulls at things, uses the screwdriver, lifts things, puts them down again and pulls them apart. She thinks he’s speaking English - she recognises some of the words - but almost nothing of what he says makes sense to her. It does to Jack - or else he’s just better than she is at pretending.
Then, suddenly, the Doctor freezes.
“What-? But that’s impossible!”
“What is? Doctor?” She leans closer to him.
“Every time you use that word, Doctor, I think I should remind you of its dictionary definition,” Jack drawls.
“This. I said he was useless, didn’t I? He didn’t have a clue.”
“What is it?” Jack’s bending down next to the Doctor now, looking at the mass of equipment beside the Rift manipulator.
“This device of his, the one he said would blow the Rift wide open? How did he get hold of it, anyway? It shouldn’t even exist.”
Jack shrugs. “His Vortex manipulator was still working.” There’s a very faint edge to his voice, which makes her wonder. “He could go anywhere in time and space he wanted.”
“And?” Impatient, she nudges the Doctor’s shoulder. “What is it?”
“Put it together with what he’s rigged up here, and it’s an interdimensional stabiliser. Yes, yes, you can calibrate it the other way and use it to fracture the Rift, but it was designed to do the opposite. To hold the walls between universes absolutely steady - if you’ve got a source of power strong enough. And-” He turns and looks at her, barely-restrained excitement in his eyes. “-it just happens that I do.”
“And?” She’s getting repetitive, but she needs to know if he’s saying what she suspects he might be.
“Hook it up to the TARDIS, and you can cross universes without so much as a ripple in the walls.”
Right. So that is what he means. But what’s he saying?
She’s holding her breath, almost afraid to look at him. He was so angry with her for talking to Martha, after all, even if it did seem as if he’s forgiven her. And, knowing him, he’s got a solution for the problem of her not fitting in the parallel universe.
“It means I can take you home, Rose. Back to Jackie and Pete and Martin and even Mickety-Mick-Mickey. Soon as you want. Today, if you like.”
***
tbc
Author: wmr
wendymr
Sequel to: Broken Threads (Series: Tapestry)
Characters: Tenth Doctor, Jack Harkness, Rose Tyler; Team Torchwood and other characters, including Martha Jones, in minor roles
Rated: PG13
Disclaimer: None of them are mine, and that's a good thing ;)
Spoilers: DW: S3 and VotD; TW: pretty much all of S2, though this is completely AU.
Summary: She's back, and it should be just as it was before, the three of them... but can you ever really go back?
As before, my thanks to
dark_aegis and
kae_nine for BRing, even in the middle of RL crises. This is a sequel to Broken Threads, as noted, and might not make a lot of sense without it.
Chapter 1: Transmission Complete l Chapter 2: Minefields l Chapter 3: Papering Over Cracks l Chapter 4: Secrets and Lies l Chapter 5: Mystery l Chapter 6: Plans and Schemes l Chapter 7: Home Truths l Chapter 8: Confrontations and Revelations l Chapter 9: Discovery
Chapter 10: Hard Choices
“Grey’s dead.”
He’s absolutely, positively certain of that. No doubt whatsoever.
Jack’s paler than he’s ever seen him. No surprise there, of course. If he could get his hands on that Hart person right now... Jack had accepted that his brother’s dead. He’d accepted that there’s nothing he can do to change things. And now Hart’s stirring up all those memories again, all that pain and guilt.
“Hart’s a Time Agent, Doctor. With a working Vortex manipulator. He could’ve gone back to the Boe too. Maybe he rescued Grey. And now he’s using him to blackmail me.”
He crosses the room to stand in front of Jack, and cups the other man’s shoulders in his hands. “No. We would have seen him. We would have. He’s lying.”
Jack draws in a long breath. “Yeah. Yeah, he’s got to be. All the same, Doctor, he’s got my team and-”
“I know.” Again, he gives Jack a reassuring squeeze. “And we’re going right there. Ten seconds, you said? Give me your phone.” He steps back and holds out his hand; the phone’s placed in his palm. “The TARDIS can take the Cardiff timestamp from this and get us there in plenty of time.”
He pivots, heading for the kitchen door - and then stops. He’d actually forgotten about Rose, but she’s still there, and she’s watching the two of them, her own face pale but determined.
“What’s going on?”
He hesitates. It’s really Jack’s story to tell, after all. But she misreads his hesitation.
“Look, I know you’re both pretty pissed off at me right now, an’ I deserve it, but if this bloke, Jack’s partner, is as dangerous as you’re saying then you’re gonna need me. You can kick me out of the TARDIS later. Right now, can we focus on telling me what I need to know so I can help?”
Kick her out of the TARDIS? What? She doesn’t think, surely...?
But Jack’s interrupting. “He is dangerous, yes. I worked with him for almost ten years. We were stuck together in a time loop for five years. I was partnered with him because I was about the only agent who knew how to control him-” Through sex, of course, the Doctor muses. “-and even I couldn’t always manage it.”
“Why was he still an agent, then? Why didn’t they wipe his memories and kick him out?” Rose asks, and it’s a damn good point. He should have asked that.
Jack shrugs. “He was good at his job. That’s all that mattered to them. But, Rose,” he adds, and his entire body’s tense, “I can’t let you get involved in this. Like I said, he’s dangerous, plus he’s just threatened to destroy everyone I care about. I can’t let you get involved in this. Like you said the other day, you’re mortal. I can’t risk you getting killed.”
“I’m already involved.” Rose walks over to Jack and lays her hand on his arm. “So’s your team. They’re mortal too, right? And I just heard you give them instructions. You’re letting them help.”
“They’re already involved!” Jack’s frustration is getting the better of him; he moves to Jack’s other side and takes his hand. It seems to calm him. “I don’t have a choice,” he adds quietly. “Besides, they’re trained, and I’m gonna keep them out of the way as soon as-”
“I’m trained too,” Rose points out. “You forgotten that?”
Jack looks down at her, his expression resigned. “No. I know. Seen you in action, remember?”
“Well, then. Let me help.”
“You might have to,” the Doctor comments, though he’s none too keen on the idea himself. “If you’re right and Hart did go back to the Boeshane - and he probably didn’t, but we can’t be sure - then he might recognise me. Won’t know Rose, though.”
“Right.” Jack’s hand tightens around his, and his free hand grips Rose’s. “You need to know, Rose. Grey was my brother...”
***
She listens with growing sadness to Jack’s story. Why is it that really good, decent people have such horrible things happen to them? He didn’t deserve that, or what happened last year. Nor did Martha, or Martha’s family - or the Doctor.
When Jack finishes, she looks up at him. “What do you want, Jack? Would you prefer if it your friend was lying? Or if he really does have Grey?”
Jack’s eyes are haunted. “I don’t know.” He looks away, then moves towards the door, pulling her along with him. “What I do know is we need to get going. Doctor?”
“Time machine, Jack. But, yeah. On our way.” The Doctor brushes past them and strides out of the room.
Jack pauses, takes a deep breath and then turns to her again. “See? You asked and I told you.”
She nods, a lump in her throat. “Yeah. Thanks.”
“Welcome. Oh, and just to prove I don’t have any secrets from you-” He drops her hand and moves to stand in front of her. “Jack Harkness isn’t my real name. I stole it from an American war-hero who died about six months before that day I sent the mauve alert.”
Not his real name? Her eyes are probably impossibly wide, but then that never occurred to her. Should have, though. He was a spy, of sorts, wasn’t he? Covert ops. Probably had more names than the Doctor’s had faces. And it doesn’t matter, does it? Not really. The Doctor’s never told her his real name. Doesn’t stop her trusting him, or believing in everything that he is.
She takes Jack’s hand again. “That’ll be three of us with fake names soon, won’t it? Once you get me that ID you promised.”
He leans in and kisses her lightly, and she knows she’s at least part-way to being forgiven. “Don’t make any hasty decisions, okay?”
She hugs him quickly. “Okay. Now, come on. We’ve got your team to rescue!”
***
Within minutes, they’re materialising in Cardiff, to the exact second the call from Gwen ended. The signal was coming from an old, condemned building on the outskirts of the city, so the Doctor lands the TARDIS on the opposite side of the building. He and the Doctor leave the TARDIS first, giving Rose instructions to sneak out afterwards and avoid being seen. They’ve had time to set up Rose’s new mobile and give her a Bluetooth earpod, and there’s an open line between her phone and his.
When they walk around to the front of the building, his team’s nowhere in sight, but Hart’s there, still in that ridiculous Napoleonic-era uniform. He’s holding a boy of about seventeen by the hand, and the boy looks terrified. He also looks scarily like Grey. Same colour hair. The nose is right, too. The shape of the face... yeah, an eight-year-old Grey could have grown up to look like this.
“Oh, god,” he mutters as they draw near.
“It doesn’t mean anything,” the Doctor murmurs. “Just means he found someone who looks a bit like your brother.”
“Maybe.”
“Jack!” Hart shouts, a smile as fake as the man himself on his lips. “You really are so very loyal, aren’t you? It always was your greatest weakness.”
He steels himself not to respond.
“Such a shame you weren’t more loyal to me. It really is,” Hart continues. “But never mind. I’m going to give you a chance to prove the depth of your loyalty. Or maybe I should say who deserves it most.”
“Oh, cut the dramatics. Really doesn’t suit you.” Deliberately sounding bored, Jack shakes his head. “Might wanna practice a little more. I hear there’s a great panto opening at the New Theatre next week.”
“Oh, very funny, Jack. You won’t be laughing when you see the little surprise I have for you right here.” Hart’s smile isn’t pleasant. “See this?” He holds up his wristband. “This is controlling two bombs. One is inside that building behind you. Oh, and did I forget to tell you? Your team’s inside there. Owen and Gwen and cute little Tosh and even cuter Ianto. They’re all chained to the bomb.”
He’s about to turn and run, panic clawing at him, but the Doctor’s hand at his wrist restrains him. Hart’s still speaking. “Uh-uh. Not so fast, Jack, my friend. I said two bombs. The second’s strapped to dear little brother’s chest. A minute little thing - I’m pretty proud of it. It’ll blow him into tiny pieces, but leave me completely unharmed.”
He knows what’s coming, even before the bastard says it. A test of loyalty, Hart said.
“And the real beauty of it is that you can only choose one. Forty seconds on your team’s timer. Fifteen on little brother’s. You’ve only got time to stop one bomb. Your team or your brother, Jack. Who’s it gonna be?”
His brain’s working, calculating. But Hart’s talking again, and this time his voice is cold as steel. “Oh, and just in case you’re thinking your skinny friend there can help you, if he so much as moves a muscle I hit this button.” He pokes at his wristband. “Boom! You’ll be combing this place for hours looking for enough of them to bury.”
“Jack.” There’s a voice in his ear, and it’s all he can do not to show a reaction. “Save your brother. I’ve got your team covered.”
There’s no time to doubt Rose, or her ability to defuse a bomb. He just has to trust her. Without hesitation, he reaches into the Doctor’s pocket to grab the sonic screwdriver, then runs forward, to Grey - if it is Grey - and uses the screwdriver on the bomb. The timer stops on three seconds.
“Oh, good choice, Jack,” Hart drawls. “But you didn’t look for the catch. There’s always a catch, you know.” He flips a different button on his wristband, and Grey - the young man - vanishes.
“You teleported him away!” Ashen, he stares at Hart.
“Did I? Or was he ever here at all? You didn’t wonder why he never said a word? Oh, Jack.” Hart lays a hand on his shoulder, mock sympathy all over his face. “Some things never change about you. You’re still far too trusting for your own good.”
“It wasn’t Grey.” Of course not. Hart was having him on the whole time.
“Of course it wasn’t. Ever been to Praxin in the forty-ninth century?”
Jack exhales sharply. “A prostitute. You hired a prostitute to pretend to be my brother.” The Doctor knew all along that it wasn’t Grey; one quick glance at his friend’s face tells him that. And now there’s less than ten seconds, at his estimate, before the other bomb goes off - unless Rose manages to stop it.
Hart’s smile grows wider. “Seven... six... say goodbye to Ianto, now, Jack... four... three... two... one... Boom!”
Only there’s no boom. The building remains standing. And, as all three of them watch, the team emerges, Rose beside them. He’s pleased to see that all of them, Rose included, have weapons drawn.
Slow applause fills the air. “Clever, Jack. You brought reinforcements. So who’s the pretty blonde?”
“Never you mind.” He’s tossed the sonic back to the Doctor and drawn his own gun; it’s aimed carefully at Hart’s head. “Playtime’s over. Time to go.”
“Oh, I don’t think so,” Hart drawls. “Did you really think that was all I brought you here for, Jack? How little imagination you have.”
“Any reason why I shouldn’t blow his head off right now?” Owen enquires caustically from behind Jack’s shoulder.
“I think maybe this,” Hart snaps, ripping open the front of his jacket to reveal a mass of wiring and flashing lights. “I’ve been planning this for a long time. Plenty of time to work out how to get your little bunch of amateurs away from their quaint underground hideaway so I can get at your Rift manipulator. Kill me and this device triggers... and the entire Rift splits wide open.”
***
None of them know whether to believe Hart, it’s clear. All of them, including Jack, are looking at him, waiting for a signal to tell them whether the man’s bluffing.
It’s nice to be so trusted, of course, but he has absolutely no idea. The bloke’s not a complete idiot, though, so it’s probably best to assume that he knows what he’s doing.
If Hart does have a device that’ll blow open the Rift, then the force is going to turn him into tiny pieces. On present evidence, Hart doesn’t seem to care much about that. So either he has an escape plan, or he’s really suicidal.
So. Time for his favourite attack strategy. With a discreet nod to both Jack and Rose, silent instructions to stay where they are, he steps forward.
“Captain Hart! Not your real name, of course, but it’ll do. Thought it’s time we had a little chat. Only fair to warn you, you see.”
“About what?” Hart looks him up and down. “You’re Jack’s latest toy-boy? Funny, I thought he had better taste - I liked his last bed-warmer better. Should warn you - should’ve warned the gorgeous young Ianto - Jack never does stay faithful for long.”
“You really are incredibly thick, Captain Hart, aren’t you?” He smiles faintly, shaking his head. “For a one-time Time Agent, I expected better. Even Jack was better than you are at this game, and he was a rubbish conman. You know what your problem is? Well... just one of many.” His voice hardens. “You have no idea who you’re dealing with.”
Hart’s hand moves closer to the large button at his waist, the one that screams do not press. But he’s not actually touching it - and that confirms one theory. Well, more than one, perhaps. He doesn’t want to die. So this threat to blow open the Rift is either a bluff, to get Hart what he really wants - or the real detonator’s somewhere else, and he’s planning to escape alive before he sets it off. Or just possibly both.
“Trying to scare me, skinny boy? It won’t work.”
“As I thought. No idea at all.” He ignores Hart’s bluster; it’s the best way to keep him off-guard. “Forget Torchwood. They’re good, but they’re only human. Twenty-first century human, too. Not surprising that you got the better of them, though not many would. No, I’m not talking about them.” He rubs the back of his neck, then continues. “You see, first you’ve got Jack.” He jerks his chin; Jack steps up to stand by his shoulder. “And he ought to be enough to worry you all on his own. Man who can’t stay dead? Who faced the Son of Abbadon and defeated him? You should be very, very scared. But you’re not. So let me introduce you to Rose.”
He beckons, and Rose comes to stand on his other side. “Rose Tyler, otherwise known as the Bad Wolf. She absorbed the whole of the Time Vortex. Wiped out half a million Daleks with a wave of her hand. Turned the Emperor into dust - and lived to tell the tale.” He smiles without humour. “Scared yet, Captain Hart? Just a little bit? Oh, go on. Knees trembling? Feeling like you want to run away?”
Hart’s fingers jerk, inching closer to the button. But he still doesn’t touch it.
The Doctor takes another two steps forward, close enough to Hart to touch him if he reached. And now, he knows, he’s utterly terrifying.
“Then there’s me. Haven’t introduced myself, have I? I’m the Doctor. Heard of me? No? You should have. I’m in all your worst nightmares. I’m the Destroyer of Worlds, the Bringer of Darkness, the Oncoming Storm. I’m the last of the Time Lords. And I’m going to stop you.”
Hart blanches. Good.
“Because, you see, threatening Jack’s one thing. Getting revenge on an ex-lover - well, I can understand that. Course I can. Oh, yes. But using an entire planet as a pawn for your petty revenge... that’s where it stops. Right here. Right now.”
He takes another step closer. As he intended, Hart’s watching his face. One hand’s digging into his pocket, finding the sonic screwdriver.
Right behind him, Jack and Rose are poised, ready for anything he might need from them. Owen and the rest of the team, he’s pretty sure, have scattered; he can’t see, of course, but he did hear running footsteps near the start of his speech. Hart, he hopes, will assume they’ve run away. He knows the four of them well enough to be aware that they’ll be looking for the best way to sneak up on Hart from behind.
Though, knowing Toshiko, she might well be on her way back to the Hub to check on the Rift manipulator. He hopes she hasn’t, because he doesn’t believe Hart’s bluffing about having been there. He could have sabotaged the place, or done something to the manipulator that’ll kill anyone who comes near it.
Later. Time to think about that once Hart is neutralised. Which will be any... moment... “Now,” he says, almost casually, as he zaps the button at Hart’s waist with his sonic screwdriver, disabling it. Leaning further forward, he grabs Hart’s Vortex manipulator and zaps that as well. Sparks fly as he shorts it out completely, turning it into a useless piece of jewellery; no point letting the bloke disappear on them.
Now... and Jack and Rose spring into action.
They’re close enough that it takes just two steps for Rose to have her gun pressed to Hart’s temple - and, oh, he wishes she wouldn’t use one of those things, but that’s an argument he knows he’s not going to win. Jack, forearm pressed to Hart’s throat, is using his free hand to unfasten the wiring from Hart’s body.
“I just want to know one thing,” Jack says, tone deceptively careless, as he steps back and throws the wiring and electronics back for the Doctor to catch. “Why?”
***
“Why what?” Even when he knows he’s facing certain death, Hart’s still completely insouciant. Bastard. Why he ever got involved with him, Jack has no idea. None.
“Why’d you do it? Why come after me before? Why this, now? You really hate me that much?”
Hart laughs, pulling at his hair and shaking his head. “It’s still all about you, isn’t it, Jack? That’s your problem. It’s always been about you.”
“Explain,” he snaps.
“All those years we were together,” Hart says, and now he’s starting to sound whiny. “I was never the important one. You’d walk out on me at the drop of a hat. Emergency mission. Someone needed help. Or, the worst of the lot, you heard a rumour about Grey. God, I hated that brother of yours. If I wasn’t already sure he was dead, I’d have killed him myself. You’d run off on a wild-goose chase, leaving me alone.”
“He was my brother!” he snaps.
“And I was your lover. You owed me loyalty! Damnit!” Apparently uncaring about Rose’s gun still directed steadily at his head, Hart spins, his whole body jerking in frustration. Turning back, he says, “I thought getting us stuck in that time loop would work, but all you could think of was finding a way out.”
“What’d you expect me to do?” Shaking his head, he stares at his ex-lover in disbelief.
“He’s insane, Jack.” Owen. And there he is, standing a few feet behind Hart and to his left, gun trained on Hart.
“I think he’s right,” the Doctor comments softly.
Hart ignores them. “Even after I went to the trouble of getting you mind-wiped so you’d need me, you went your own damn way. I searched for you for years after that. Lost your trail in 1941 and finally found you in this backwater - and then you chose that gang of misfits over me. So you want to know why, Jack? Simple. Everything you chose over me - that fucking brother of yours, this backward time, this city, your precious team, this planet - I was gonna take them all away from you, one by one.”
“Back up there a second.” His head’s reeling. Did Hart just say... “You had me mind-wiped?”
“Oh, you really didn’t know?” Hart looks ecstatic, and Jack has to restrain himself from leaping forward to strangle him with his bare hands.
It’s not easy. Hart took his memories. His partner. His lover. The man he - well, no, he never trusted him. Not in the slightest. Not even when Hart told him he loved him - actually, especially not then.
“It’s okay, Jack.” The Doctor’s voice is soft in his ear, and his hand’s gentle on his shoulder. Just from that touch alone, the rage that threatens to tear him apart is diminishing.
“As you see.” He holds Hart’s grinning stare, unblinking. “So why don’t you tell me about it? I can see you’re dying to.”
“Oh, it was so incredibly simple.” Hart grins again, hands on his hips. “I just arranged for you to be caught with some top-secret data-chips. Information you’d have to be Brigadier or above to see.” He pivots his hips. “You looked so bewildered when you protested your innocence. It was too cute for words.”
“You bas-” he begins, but the Doctor’s hand pressing into his shoulder stops him. It’s not worth it. Hart’s not worth it.
“You could’ve got him killed!” Rose yells, fury in her voice.
“No.” Hart’s voice turns dark. “Kill the golden boy? Never. He was always their favourite. Always top of the rankings, always the one to get the best assignments. I knew they wouldn’t kill him. Demote him or mind-wipe him, that’s all. And I was going to be there to pick up the pieces.”
He stares at the ground for a long moment, and then looks straight at Jack, hurt in his eyes. “But you never came to me. I tried to find you. I sent you messages, but you ignored them. I sent Time Agents after you to have you brought in, but you still got away. Then you vanished. You never got in touch. And when I finally found you in this prehistoric place you weren’t even pleased to see me.” Hart’s almost sobbing now. “I loved you, Jack. I loved you. Didn’t you love me at all?”
“Funny way of showing you love someone,” the Doctor comments, his voice carrying. “Destroying everything he cares about?”
“Everything that’s taken him away from me,” Hart snaps. “Everything that stops him loving me.”
“Then you better take me, too,” the Doctor says, stepping forward again, level with Jack. “And Rose. Because he loves us both. We love him, too, and we’re not gonna leave him.”
“Yeah.” Rose lowers her gun and comes to stand on his other side, sliding her hand into his. “Like he said.”
Jack doesn’t have even a second to react to what the Doctor’s just said, because, with an angry roar, Hart moves, reaching behind him in the same moment. He’s going for a weapon, no doubt about it, and Jack, in a split-second reflex, grabs Rose’s and starts to take aim just as Hart’s hand appears, complete with gun, getting ready to train it on the Doctor.
A shot rings out. It’s not Jack. It’s not Hart. It’s half a second before Jack realises that Owen fired, and another half-second before there’s a spray of red mist and Hart drops to the ground.
His ex-lover is dead, and Jack just feels numb.
***
The four members of Jack’s Torchwood team spring into action to clean up, and she knows from her own experience that within an hour or so there’ll be no trace, not even forensic evidence, to show that someone was killed here. She and the Doctor leave them to it. Their priority is Jack.
That bloke almost killed Jack’s team, people it’s obvious he loves. He almost wiped out the entire planet, or at least he threatened to. And he claimed it was all because he loved Jack. God. How’s anyone supposed to react to that?
“Come on.” The Doctor wraps his arm around Jack’s shoulders. “Back to the TARDIS.”
Jack resists. “I can’t leave. Not yet. Need to talk to...”
“We’re not leaving.” The Doctor’s voice is gentle, reassuring. “We’ve got to get to the Hub, though. I need to see what he’s done to the Rift manipulator. If he’s done anything, of course. Could’ve been bluffing, I suppose. But I can’t take the chance.”
“He won’t have been bluffing.” Jack walks with them. “Lying, yeah. He lied all the time. He’ll have done something to it, but probably not what he said.”
The Doctor just nods. She squeezes Jack’s hand. “It’s sick, yeah? Nearly killing your friends just because you care about them.”
Jack seems about to say something, but the Doctor gets there first, his voice even. “The Master did the same. Only he actually did kill people. Jack, over and over, because he knew it would hurt me. He murdered Sarah-Jane, too, right in front of me. Martha didn’t know that,” he adds as she gasps, horrified. “He never gave up trying to find Martha and murder her. That was the only time I was glad you were in the other universe.”
The Doctor turns his head and his gaze meets hers full-on, and it’s almost like a slam to her rib-cage. Relief. He’s okay with her knowing. He’s okay with her talking to Martha to find out. The fact that he’s talked openly about the Master shows her that, true, but what he said about her, and the way he’s looking at her... It’s all right. They’re fine.
They emerge from the TARDIS, the Doctor with Hart’s wires and cables thrown over his shoulder, into an underground space that looks like one of the Tube stations on the Bakerloo line. Huge and cavernous, with high ceilings and passages everywhere. Jack takes the lead, striding through the open space, along a passage and up some steps. Finally, they stop beside a huge piece of machinery, with a central pillar that looks as if it’s designed to rise and fall just as the Time Rotor does.
“He’s been here,” Jack says after what’s only a cursory glance.
“I see.” The Doctor’s putting his glasses on and dropping into a crouch, screwdriver in hand. He talks non-stop as he looks, examines, pulls at things, uses the screwdriver, lifts things, puts them down again and pulls them apart. She thinks he’s speaking English - she recognises some of the words - but almost nothing of what he says makes sense to her. It does to Jack - or else he’s just better than she is at pretending.
Then, suddenly, the Doctor freezes.
“What-? But that’s impossible!”
“What is? Doctor?” She leans closer to him.
“Every time you use that word, Doctor, I think I should remind you of its dictionary definition,” Jack drawls.
“This. I said he was useless, didn’t I? He didn’t have a clue.”
“What is it?” Jack’s bending down next to the Doctor now, looking at the mass of equipment beside the Rift manipulator.
“This device of his, the one he said would blow the Rift wide open? How did he get hold of it, anyway? It shouldn’t even exist.”
Jack shrugs. “His Vortex manipulator was still working.” There’s a very faint edge to his voice, which makes her wonder. “He could go anywhere in time and space he wanted.”
“And?” Impatient, she nudges the Doctor’s shoulder. “What is it?”
“Put it together with what he’s rigged up here, and it’s an interdimensional stabiliser. Yes, yes, you can calibrate it the other way and use it to fracture the Rift, but it was designed to do the opposite. To hold the walls between universes absolutely steady - if you’ve got a source of power strong enough. And-” He turns and looks at her, barely-restrained excitement in his eyes. “-it just happens that I do.”
“And?” She’s getting repetitive, but she needs to know if he’s saying what she suspects he might be.
“Hook it up to the TARDIS, and you can cross universes without so much as a ripple in the walls.”
Right. So that is what he means. But what’s he saying?
She’s holding her breath, almost afraid to look at him. He was so angry with her for talking to Martha, after all, even if it did seem as if he’s forgiven her. And, knowing him, he’s got a solution for the problem of her not fitting in the parallel universe.
“It means I can take you home, Rose. Back to Jackie and Pete and Martin and even Mickety-Mick-Mickey. Soon as you want. Today, if you like.”
***
tbc