vail-kagami: Hands of the Clock, Part 1/2 (Jack/Ten) [NC-17]
Title: Hands of the Clock (1/2)
Author:
vail_kagami
Beta: nightrider101, who is just that awesome!
Challenge: Power
Rating: NC-17 (in the second part)
Spoilers: Minor spoiler for the end of the third series of DW. One of the themes of this fic also appears in The Fires of Pompeii, but it was written before the episode aired and contains no actual spoilers.
Warnings: Violence, non-con
Summary: It's the year 3507 and Jack is getting too old to remain the person he once was. But he's still too human to let historic disaster happen when he has the power to prevent it. The Doctor isn't.
Note: Split due to length. A link to the second part can be found at the end of this one.
The clock was ticking. It usually did, but this time there was a finality in every second that went by. Jack Harkness glanced at it occasionally and stayed calm. For other people the knowledge that once the hands of the clock reached a certain position the entire city would turn to dust might have been a reason for nervousness, even panic. For Jack it was normal.
Of course other people hadn’t lived for more than a thousand years and still hadn’t reached the time they were born in. They hadn’t died and come back to life more often than they could remember and they didn’t save the world on a weekly basis. So Jack stayed calm and unaffected by the chaos around him. Four of the five members of his team were running through the hub, checking the readings of the sensors, exchanging information and collecting their equipment. They didn’t panic either, worked fast and professional, but they weren’t quite as relaxed as their leader, who watched the situation develop before him while his mind sorted through the possibilities, looking for the best solution.
Above them the city of Cardiff was struggling with the first storm of Autumn 3507, unaware of the impending doom as it so often was. Humanity had long since started to reach for the stars and still they never noticed when the stars came for a visit. Some things apparently never changed.
Sixteen kilometres away a warship of the Luura-Kol was hidden, preparing an invasion of Earth with the intention of enslaving mankind and robbing the planet of its natural resources. Jack didn’t consider them a threat to Earth though, because he knew very well how to stop them, and had no doubt that he would succeed. He’d just prefer to find a way to stop them without blowing up the entire city.
So far he was doing a good job. They had approximately another three hours to get rid of the ship and its crew, and Jack had developed two more or less guaranteed working plans. One of them included three of his team getting into that ship, to destroy it from the inside before it could open the gate that would allow the rest of its fleet to materialize inside the solar system. The other way would be finding the frequency of their transmitters and disturb the signals, change them and send them back to the warship in a way that would kill its systems. While they could operate from a safe distance the problem with this plan was, that it took time and Jack had no guarantee it would work. Getting inside the ship, on the other hand, would be easy using his vortex manipulator.
Since the Doctor had fiddled with it the device only jumped through space, not time, and only over a limited distance. Even as technology developed Jack had never managed to reverse what his old friend had done but that was okay. He only needed to make a short trip, didn’t plan to go back to last week.
Although he might have been tempted to tell the Jack of last week to cancel Sascha’s vacation. His technical expertise would be appreciated right now.
Well, they’d manage without him. Paul was already trying to filter out the signal and Jack was vaguely optimistic. Once they got the signal they would have to find out how to use it though, while time was running out. Jack found himself favouring the first way more and more. It was easier and quicker and guaranteed to work.
“There’s an interference in the same area the Luura-Kol ship has landed,” Paul suddenly said. He’d joined Torchwood six years ago and was, apart from Jack, the longest serving member of the current team. It had been some time since Jack had worked with anyone for so long. Not many stayed more than two or three years before they left and got ret-coned or died. Death-by-Torchwood was still the most natural cause of death for Jack’s friends.
“A spike of rift-activity?” the immortal wanted to know, making his way over to the screen. Keeping the worry out of his voice - an unfortunate event with the rift could destroy the ship in the less controlled, more messy and widespread way they were aiming to avoid for the sake of Cardiff.
Paul shook his head.
“Apparently time and space are twisting but that’s all it has in common with the rift. This looks more… artificial to me.”
Jack was at his side in an instant.
“That’s okay,” he said with the mixture of relief and worry (and the tiniest hint of annoyance) he always felt at such times. “I recognize the pattern. It’s nothing to worry about.”
So the Doctor was here, working to stop the invasion. It wasn’t exactly a surprise since that was what the Doctor did. Sometimes, though, Jack wished he would put a little more trust into him and let Torchwood deal with these things. Of course the Doctor had no way of knowing they were already working on it, and once he stumbled into trouble he was unlikely to leave and let anyone else deal with it - and no matter how much experience Jack had gained with age, the Doctor had more. Still there was always that quiet, paranoid worry that one day the Doctor would get himself killed trying to save Earth while Jack and his team were doing the same - that he would die in vain.
That he would die at all. Jack knew the Time Lord was facing dangers all the time but knowing that he did it right now, in reaching distance, while Jack was watching made it impossible for him not to act.
In a second Jack made up his mind.
“Paul, Agneta, you get your stuff and come to me,” he ordered. “Agny, are those explosives ready?”
“Of course,” the young woman nodded, hurrying off to gather the requested volatile items.
Everyone here was young, save him. Members of Torchwood didn’t get old.
They gathered around him moments later and Agneta handed Paul and Jack a small explosive device, keeping the last one. She shared a glance with Paul and grimaced before reaching for Jack’s wrist device. Neither of them liked travelling through the vortex and they avoided it whenever possible.
“Are you sure we can’t wait another five minutes?” Paul asked. “I almost had that signal.”
“And how much longer before you found a way to modify it?” Jack shook his head. “We can’t risk the city in favour of a plan that might not work. There’s no time for experiments.”
He jumped before any of them could say another word.
-
They materialized in an empty room. Jack drew his weapon the moment he knew where his hands were, while his friends were still groaning and swaying. There was no one around. He’d been counting on it when he chose to appear in the cleaning facilities. On a warship preparing an invasion they didn’t usually have anyone to spare to do the laundry.
“The explosives need to be placed in three different places of the vessel,” he reminded Paul and Agny once they had recovered enough to listen. “I’ve marked the locations on the plan. We meet in this spot to get out. Be careful.” They nodded and Jack watched them go with a vague feeling of regret before heading into the other direction. The length of the ship made it necessary to split up to get all the explosives placed and activated in time. The engines were protected by a force field, but it wasn’t their intention to destroy them as they would blow up the better part of Wales. Jack, Paul and Agneta would destroy the ship and everyone inside but leave the engines intact. Torchwood would find another use for them later. In fact Jack already had something in mind.
What was meant to bring Earth’s downfall would be used to protect it.
While he hurried through the corridors Jack did a scan with his wrist device. Nodded to himself when it told him exactly what he’d expected.
He reached his location and placed the explosive without seeing any living being. He’d apparently chosen the places well. Maybe they’d even make it out of there safely, he thought with detached interest.
“I’m done,” he whispered into his earpiece. “Paul?”
“Almost there,” came the quiet answer.
“Don’t activate it yet,” Jack ordered. “Wait for my signal. Agneta, where are you?”
Silence.
“Agny?” Jack heard Paul’s voice over the line.
“Yes, I’m here,” the woman whispered - very quietly. “There are soldiers in my path. I have to wait for them to leave.”
“Careful,” Jack told her and ended the connection to keep from distracting her. She was clever and knew how not to be found. Unless bad luck decided to make an appearance nothing should go wrong.
After checking his scanner again Jack quickly hurried through the ship, keeping away from the main corridors. The black metal crating seemed to swallow the sound of his footsteps and only once did he cross paths with two armed creatures. He managed to get out of sight before they noticed him.
Remaining undiscovered became increasingly hard the closer he got to the command centre. Jack stopped beside the hatch of a service shaft, waiting for the area in front of him to clear so he could cross when the hatch opened and the Doctor peeked out, pinstriped and ruffled like Jack remembered him. He didn’t even have time to look surprised before the immortal captain grabbed his arm, dragged him out of the shaft and deeper into the narrow corridor.
“We have to hurry,” Jack whispered urgently. The Doctor simply stopped and pulled his arm out of Jack’s grip.
“I was,” he declared. “But in the opposite direction. What are you doing?”
“Stopping them from invading Earth. Did you think we’d overlook a great big warship landing in Cardiff?”
“How exactly do you plan to stop them?” There was suspicion in the Doctor’s voice - he’d never approved of Torchwood’s means. It affirmed Jack’s assumption that he had a less violent way in mind. Less violent and more dangerous. No one ever listened to him, hadn’t he learned by now? In the end it would come down to violence anyway. By skipping the talking Jack was removing the most risky part.
“I’m not ‘planning’, I’m already doing it,” Jack explained impatiently, reaching for the Time Lord again. “There are two of my team on board, setting things up. Once it’s done they’ll come to me and I’ll get us out with my vortex manipulator. You’re not needed here, so come with us.” Of course he could have sent him back to the TARDIS which undoubtly was nearby somewhere but Jack wanted him nearby, wanted to know where he was when the ship blew up.
“What are you doing?” the Doctor asked again, even as he ran after Jack. “It’s not necessary to destroy the ship!”
“I know.” Jack opened the connection to his team mates. “Activate them now!” he ordered.
“Done,” he heard Paul say. “I’m on my way back.”
“Hurry up,” Jack told him. “Agneta, what about you?”
At first she once again didn’t answer but then he heard her voice, loud and desperate:
“Jack, they’ve…!”
There was a brief scream, then silence.
Jack stopped dead in his tracks.
“Agny?” he asked. “Agny, say something! Did you activate it?”
There was no response. Jack hadn’t expected one, cursed anyway.
The Doctor hadn’t been able to hear Agneta’s last words, couldn’t hear Paul’s concerned voice, but Jack’s reaction told him enough.
“Come on!” he said, pushing his friend forward. “Where is she?”
“This way!” Jack started running again, leading the Doctor through the corridors. When he passed the place where his explosive was stuck to the wall he stopped for a second, noticing the Doctor’s stare while he keyed in the code to activate it. Paul’s device was ready, Agny had been discovered. They couldn’t afford to lose any time now.
While he sprinted through the ship Jack’s mind was racing. They had found Agneta but had they also discovered the explosive? If so the plan was lost. Jack could only hope.
The immortal had placed his one in the mid section of the ship while the two others had gone to the opposite ends. There were about a hundred metres to run for Jack and the Doctor, over stairs, through halls and corridors and now there was no time to be careful. It was pure luck that they didn’t meet any Luurans before they reached Agneta’s location where two armed soldiers were standing over her motionless form. One of them was talking into his comm. Jack shot both of them before they had a chance to react to their presence. He still preferred his classical weapon over modern ones and so the bang drowned out the Doctor’s cry of protest.
Agneta, bless her, had placed the explosive in a spot that was hard to make out at first glance. Jack needed a second to find it himself. The Doctor rushed to the fallen woman, feeling for a pulse while Jack was already keying in the code. He checked his wrist device: neither of the explosives had been discovered yet but it was only a matter of time. Once all of them were activated they that would be soon be found due to the signal they transmitted - Jack had to send the signal that triggered the explosion before they could be disabled.
“She’s dead,” the Doctor said somewhere behind him. “I’m sorry, Jack.”
The human didn’t have any attention to spare. A low beeping sound and a blinking light were informing him that right now someone unauthorized was fiddling with the device he himself had left.
He sent the signal the moment he took hold of the Doctor’s hand.
“We have to get out!” he shouted, pressing the Time Lord’s cool fingers against the vortex manipulator. Only seconds now. His grip was strong enough to bruise - he couldn’t risk his friend slipping away.
“Wait!” the Doctor cried out. “What about…”
The rest of his words were lost to the vortex.
-
The thunder of the explosion reached their ears moments after they materialized in the cold air. A second of disorientation, then Jack wrapped his arm around the Doctor’s narrow waist and pulled him away from the edge of the roof. When the shockwave hit he shielded the Time Lord with his own body but the force threw him to the ground and he brought the Doctor down with him, crashing hard into the much slighter man.
He remained on top of him until the storm has passed and it was only the autumn wind that tore at their hair, their clothes. When they got back to their feet they saw the fire, much closer than Jack had expected. They could hear screaming from the streets below.
The Luurans had landed their ship in the park where a thousand years ago the centre of the city had been. There was a lot of clear space and all the buildings here were new, their windows unbreakable. Also had the storm deserted the streets - still it would be naïve to assume no one had been hurt.
Somewhere in that mass of flames and burning rubble was the TARDIS, undamaged but unreachable for now. Somewhere in there were the torn bodies of five hundred Luurans, and the corpses of Agneta and Paul.
He’d have to tell the rest of his team, Jack thought distantly.
The Doctor walked over to the edge and stared at the flames for a long time. Jack sensed his tension. It had to be more that bothered him than just the fact that he was stuck here until they could get to his ship.
Eventually he turned and looked at Jack, his eyes dark, his expression unreadable. Between them time stretched on while the human waited for the Time Lord to speak.
Then the Doctor said “You didn’t tell your friend where to meet you,” and Jack could tell he was judging him.
“There wasn’t enough time,” he pointed out. “He wouldn’t have made it anyway.”
“You didn’t give him a chance.”
“He wouldn’t have made it,” Jack repeated, frowning in annoyance. “It was too far. He wouldn’t have managed half that distance.”
“Half that distance was where you went first, wasn’t it?” The Doctor didn’t move, and his face still gave away nothing. Still his disapproval was obvious. “That explosive device you activated on the way wasn’t exactly on the way,” the Time Lord continued. “Do you think I didn’t notice that? Your friend was in danger and you went somewhere else first.”
“She was already dead,” Jack said, feeling the need to justify his actions.
“But did you know that?”
“I was very certain, yes. And there was more at stake than her life as you might have noticed. Besides…” He stopped, but the Doctor knew.
“Besides she wouldn’t have made it out anyway?” he finished the sentence. “Is that what you were going to say? Because if your friend didn’t manage half that distance he wouldn’t have reached you anyway. Neither of them would have. You knew from the beginning.”
“We had to stop them,” Jack explained, despising how the Doctor made him feel like a little boy getting all defensive. He knew what he was doing. “And they’ve been working for me for years.” Six years. Good old Paul. It was a record that would stand for a while. “They knew the risk.”
“But did they know you were sending them to their deaths?”
“There was no other way!”
“Of course there was! I was working on it! You could have listened to me. You could have blocked the ship’s systems. They didn’t have to die! No one had to die!”
“Oh, of course! You would have done so much better, wouldn’t you?” Jack spat back, his anger finally winning over. “But this is my city, and I don’t need you to protect it. My city, my planet! My species! You can save the cosmos all you like but here I’m the one in control, and I decide what to do.”
The Doctor didn’t blink through his speech but his face hardened and Jack realised he was overdoing it. Stupid child. Calmer he stated:
“It was the best way. Simple and easy. Everything else might not have worked.”
“’The best way’?” the Doctor echoed, a look of disbelief on his face. “It was simple so you didn’t even try anything else? You sacrificed your friends because it was easy?”
“Well, there wasn’t much time for experiments. Especially after you showed up. Do you expect me to sit back and wait while you’re looking for the one who will finally kill you?” The Doctor paled a little at his words but weather it was with shock or with anger Jack couldn’t tell. Giving in to the need to be cruel he added: “Had you left things to us they might still be alive.”
“Don’t you dare make this my fault!” the Doctor hissed. The anger focused on Jack made him shiver, and not with discomfort.
“You’re right, it’s got nothing to do with you,” he agreed lightly. “In other words it’s none of your business. My team, my decisions.”
“Your responsibility,” the Doctor added, folding his arms. Jack raised an eyebrow.
“You’re travelling alone?” he asked suddenly.
“If I wasn’t you’d probably have blown up my companions with that ship there.” The Doctor gestured to the flames, reflected by the dark clouds. “Like your friends. Like everyone else on board.”
“They were planning to enslave mankind. Don’t ask me to feel sorry for them.” Before the Doctor could answer he lifted his hand and activated his earpiece. With few words he ordered Des and Elric to organize for the firemen working at the burning spaceship to be ret-conned afterwards. The demise of Paul and Agneta he didn’t mention, made sure nothing was reflected in his voice.
When he was done the Doctor was still watching him.
“Why do you still erase people’s memories?” he wanted to know. “Everyone knows about aliens by now.”
Jack shrugged, not really able to tell. “Tradition,” he guessed.
The Doctor was quiet for a long moment, turning away, his gaze lingering on the city below.
“I remember that once getting years stolen from your memory nearly destroyed your life,” he said eventually. “And now you’re doing it to others even when it isn’t necessary.”
“Doing it to others has never been a matter of concern for me,” Jack stated with another shrug and the Doctor glanced at him, briefly, out of the corner of his eye.
“Yes,” he said. “I noticed.”
Another moment of silence when Jack didn’t have anything to reply. The Doctor’s obviously low opinion of him stung more than it should have. He struggled with the anger it raised, the need to make the Time Lord see that he’d done nothing wrong. Ages ago he had chosen his responsibilities on Earth over life aboard the TARDIS, and had put the Doctor behind him. Stopped caring for him so damn much - until the moment he showed up again and once more became the centre of Jack’s world. He detested the fact that he could only detach himself from the Time Lord emotionally while he wasn’t there.
The Doctor said nothing when he finally turned away from the fire and walked over to the door that led into the building.
“Where are you going?” Jack called after him.
“That fire will burn for another day at least. I’ll look for something to pass the time.”
Jack caught up with him when he pointed his sonic screwdriver at the lock of the door.
“You can stay with me. There’s a lot to do, and since you need to get involved everywhere you can as well help us.” He was aware that he didn’t quite hit the right tone for asking for help and wasn’t surprised when the Doctor tensed.
“Especially since you’re short on manpower at the moment,” he said bitterly. “Forgive me, but your business is something I’d rather not get involved in right now.”
“Oh, I forgot! You don’t want to have anything to do with me because you’re pissed.”
“No.” The Doctor’s voice was perfectly calm and he didn’t look at Jack and his hand on the handle of the door didn’t turn. “Because you’re scaring me.”
“I’m scaring you?” Jack stared, astonished. Fascinated. He wanted the Doctor to turn and meet his eyes but when he did, Jack nearly looked away.
“I used to know you, and now I don’t,” the Time Lord explained. “You’ve changed, Jack. You have lived so long that you fail to care about those who are gone after a short time. The members of your team come and go. You throw their lives away because in a few years they would be dead anyway. Not much loss, right?”
Jack opened his mouth to protest but the words wouldn’t come. The Doctor’s calm, cold gaze was worse than anger would have been.
“The Jack I knew would have done anything to save a friend. You would have risked their lives only as a last resort. There was plenty of time left. You should have let me try. Should have attempted to disturb their systems from afar. Even if it hadn’t worked there would have been enough time left for the solution you chose. But you went for the simple way right away, because mortals are expendable.” It took effort for Jack to hold his gaze, even though the Doctor was wrong about him - he did care. He had to care for this entire planet, couldn’t risk Earth for the safety of his friends.
“When did you start to forget the individual in favour of the masses, Jack?”
“I didn’t.” The words lacked power. “Do you want me to sacrifice the city for them?”
“No, because you didn’t have to! But you don’t even see that, do you? You just see the path of least resistance and never stop to think about the consequences. They trusted you!”
It wasn’t fair. Jack could have told the Doctor a lot about trust, and disappointment. For a second he felt defeated.
Then the steel in his friend’s eyes was softened by a trace of sadness.
“You’re getting too old,” he said quietly. “That’s my fault, I know. Humans aren’t meant to be this old. So you’re forgetting what it means to be human. Lost touch with the world.”
Now he’d turned around he was standing with his back to the door and Jack stepped closer, trapping him. Reached out a hand to touch him; fingers on a cold cheek.
“So you’re granting me absolution?” he asked. “Take all the blame for my sins?” It should have been a sneer but his voice ended somewhere between insult and fascination. His hand caressed the Doctor’s face with something that might have seemed like tenderness but wasn’t and he wanted him.
Still wanted him, but maybe the worship had lessened with each passing century for in the past he never truly thought about taking.
“Not at all.” The Doctor’s hand covered Jack’s, his grip firm. He moved it away from his face. “Your immortality might be my fault but what you do with it is your decision.” The sadness was still in his eyes, and the regret as he moved away, leaving the human to face the door. “What are you becoming, Jack?”
He left when Jack didn’t have an answer.
Part 2
Author:
vail_kagami
Beta: nightrider101, who is just that awesome!
Challenge: Power
Rating: NC-17 (in the second part)
Spoilers: Minor spoiler for the end of the third series of DW. One of the themes of this fic also appears in The Fires of Pompeii, but it was written before the episode aired and contains no actual spoilers.
Warnings: Violence, non-con
Summary: It's the year 3507 and Jack is getting too old to remain the person he once was. But he's still too human to let historic disaster happen when he has the power to prevent it. The Doctor isn't.
Note: Split due to length. A link to the second part can be found at the end of this one.
The clock was ticking. It usually did, but this time there was a finality in every second that went by. Jack Harkness glanced at it occasionally and stayed calm. For other people the knowledge that once the hands of the clock reached a certain position the entire city would turn to dust might have been a reason for nervousness, even panic. For Jack it was normal.
Of course other people hadn’t lived for more than a thousand years and still hadn’t reached the time they were born in. They hadn’t died and come back to life more often than they could remember and they didn’t save the world on a weekly basis. So Jack stayed calm and unaffected by the chaos around him. Four of the five members of his team were running through the hub, checking the readings of the sensors, exchanging information and collecting their equipment. They didn’t panic either, worked fast and professional, but they weren’t quite as relaxed as their leader, who watched the situation develop before him while his mind sorted through the possibilities, looking for the best solution.
Above them the city of Cardiff was struggling with the first storm of Autumn 3507, unaware of the impending doom as it so often was. Humanity had long since started to reach for the stars and still they never noticed when the stars came for a visit. Some things apparently never changed.
Sixteen kilometres away a warship of the Luura-Kol was hidden, preparing an invasion of Earth with the intention of enslaving mankind and robbing the planet of its natural resources. Jack didn’t consider them a threat to Earth though, because he knew very well how to stop them, and had no doubt that he would succeed. He’d just prefer to find a way to stop them without blowing up the entire city.
So far he was doing a good job. They had approximately another three hours to get rid of the ship and its crew, and Jack had developed two more or less guaranteed working plans. One of them included three of his team getting into that ship, to destroy it from the inside before it could open the gate that would allow the rest of its fleet to materialize inside the solar system. The other way would be finding the frequency of their transmitters and disturb the signals, change them and send them back to the warship in a way that would kill its systems. While they could operate from a safe distance the problem with this plan was, that it took time and Jack had no guarantee it would work. Getting inside the ship, on the other hand, would be easy using his vortex manipulator.
Since the Doctor had fiddled with it the device only jumped through space, not time, and only over a limited distance. Even as technology developed Jack had never managed to reverse what his old friend had done but that was okay. He only needed to make a short trip, didn’t plan to go back to last week.
Although he might have been tempted to tell the Jack of last week to cancel Sascha’s vacation. His technical expertise would be appreciated right now.
Well, they’d manage without him. Paul was already trying to filter out the signal and Jack was vaguely optimistic. Once they got the signal they would have to find out how to use it though, while time was running out. Jack found himself favouring the first way more and more. It was easier and quicker and guaranteed to work.
“There’s an interference in the same area the Luura-Kol ship has landed,” Paul suddenly said. He’d joined Torchwood six years ago and was, apart from Jack, the longest serving member of the current team. It had been some time since Jack had worked with anyone for so long. Not many stayed more than two or three years before they left and got ret-coned or died. Death-by-Torchwood was still the most natural cause of death for Jack’s friends.
“A spike of rift-activity?” the immortal wanted to know, making his way over to the screen. Keeping the worry out of his voice - an unfortunate event with the rift could destroy the ship in the less controlled, more messy and widespread way they were aiming to avoid for the sake of Cardiff.
Paul shook his head.
“Apparently time and space are twisting but that’s all it has in common with the rift. This looks more… artificial to me.”
Jack was at his side in an instant.
“That’s okay,” he said with the mixture of relief and worry (and the tiniest hint of annoyance) he always felt at such times. “I recognize the pattern. It’s nothing to worry about.”
So the Doctor was here, working to stop the invasion. It wasn’t exactly a surprise since that was what the Doctor did. Sometimes, though, Jack wished he would put a little more trust into him and let Torchwood deal with these things. Of course the Doctor had no way of knowing they were already working on it, and once he stumbled into trouble he was unlikely to leave and let anyone else deal with it - and no matter how much experience Jack had gained with age, the Doctor had more. Still there was always that quiet, paranoid worry that one day the Doctor would get himself killed trying to save Earth while Jack and his team were doing the same - that he would die in vain.
That he would die at all. Jack knew the Time Lord was facing dangers all the time but knowing that he did it right now, in reaching distance, while Jack was watching made it impossible for him not to act.
In a second Jack made up his mind.
“Paul, Agneta, you get your stuff and come to me,” he ordered. “Agny, are those explosives ready?”
“Of course,” the young woman nodded, hurrying off to gather the requested volatile items.
Everyone here was young, save him. Members of Torchwood didn’t get old.
They gathered around him moments later and Agneta handed Paul and Jack a small explosive device, keeping the last one. She shared a glance with Paul and grimaced before reaching for Jack’s wrist device. Neither of them liked travelling through the vortex and they avoided it whenever possible.
“Are you sure we can’t wait another five minutes?” Paul asked. “I almost had that signal.”
“And how much longer before you found a way to modify it?” Jack shook his head. “We can’t risk the city in favour of a plan that might not work. There’s no time for experiments.”
He jumped before any of them could say another word.
-
They materialized in an empty room. Jack drew his weapon the moment he knew where his hands were, while his friends were still groaning and swaying. There was no one around. He’d been counting on it when he chose to appear in the cleaning facilities. On a warship preparing an invasion they didn’t usually have anyone to spare to do the laundry.
“The explosives need to be placed in three different places of the vessel,” he reminded Paul and Agny once they had recovered enough to listen. “I’ve marked the locations on the plan. We meet in this spot to get out. Be careful.” They nodded and Jack watched them go with a vague feeling of regret before heading into the other direction. The length of the ship made it necessary to split up to get all the explosives placed and activated in time. The engines were protected by a force field, but it wasn’t their intention to destroy them as they would blow up the better part of Wales. Jack, Paul and Agneta would destroy the ship and everyone inside but leave the engines intact. Torchwood would find another use for them later. In fact Jack already had something in mind.
What was meant to bring Earth’s downfall would be used to protect it.
While he hurried through the corridors Jack did a scan with his wrist device. Nodded to himself when it told him exactly what he’d expected.
He reached his location and placed the explosive without seeing any living being. He’d apparently chosen the places well. Maybe they’d even make it out of there safely, he thought with detached interest.
“I’m done,” he whispered into his earpiece. “Paul?”
“Almost there,” came the quiet answer.
“Don’t activate it yet,” Jack ordered. “Wait for my signal. Agneta, where are you?”
Silence.
“Agny?” Jack heard Paul’s voice over the line.
“Yes, I’m here,” the woman whispered - very quietly. “There are soldiers in my path. I have to wait for them to leave.”
“Careful,” Jack told her and ended the connection to keep from distracting her. She was clever and knew how not to be found. Unless bad luck decided to make an appearance nothing should go wrong.
After checking his scanner again Jack quickly hurried through the ship, keeping away from the main corridors. The black metal crating seemed to swallow the sound of his footsteps and only once did he cross paths with two armed creatures. He managed to get out of sight before they noticed him.
Remaining undiscovered became increasingly hard the closer he got to the command centre. Jack stopped beside the hatch of a service shaft, waiting for the area in front of him to clear so he could cross when the hatch opened and the Doctor peeked out, pinstriped and ruffled like Jack remembered him. He didn’t even have time to look surprised before the immortal captain grabbed his arm, dragged him out of the shaft and deeper into the narrow corridor.
“We have to hurry,” Jack whispered urgently. The Doctor simply stopped and pulled his arm out of Jack’s grip.
“I was,” he declared. “But in the opposite direction. What are you doing?”
“Stopping them from invading Earth. Did you think we’d overlook a great big warship landing in Cardiff?”
“How exactly do you plan to stop them?” There was suspicion in the Doctor’s voice - he’d never approved of Torchwood’s means. It affirmed Jack’s assumption that he had a less violent way in mind. Less violent and more dangerous. No one ever listened to him, hadn’t he learned by now? In the end it would come down to violence anyway. By skipping the talking Jack was removing the most risky part.
“I’m not ‘planning’, I’m already doing it,” Jack explained impatiently, reaching for the Time Lord again. “There are two of my team on board, setting things up. Once it’s done they’ll come to me and I’ll get us out with my vortex manipulator. You’re not needed here, so come with us.” Of course he could have sent him back to the TARDIS which undoubtly was nearby somewhere but Jack wanted him nearby, wanted to know where he was when the ship blew up.
“What are you doing?” the Doctor asked again, even as he ran after Jack. “It’s not necessary to destroy the ship!”
“I know.” Jack opened the connection to his team mates. “Activate them now!” he ordered.
“Done,” he heard Paul say. “I’m on my way back.”
“Hurry up,” Jack told him. “Agneta, what about you?”
At first she once again didn’t answer but then he heard her voice, loud and desperate:
“Jack, they’ve…!”
There was a brief scream, then silence.
Jack stopped dead in his tracks.
“Agny?” he asked. “Agny, say something! Did you activate it?”
There was no response. Jack hadn’t expected one, cursed anyway.
The Doctor hadn’t been able to hear Agneta’s last words, couldn’t hear Paul’s concerned voice, but Jack’s reaction told him enough.
“Come on!” he said, pushing his friend forward. “Where is she?”
“This way!” Jack started running again, leading the Doctor through the corridors. When he passed the place where his explosive was stuck to the wall he stopped for a second, noticing the Doctor’s stare while he keyed in the code to activate it. Paul’s device was ready, Agny had been discovered. They couldn’t afford to lose any time now.
While he sprinted through the ship Jack’s mind was racing. They had found Agneta but had they also discovered the explosive? If so the plan was lost. Jack could only hope.
The immortal had placed his one in the mid section of the ship while the two others had gone to the opposite ends. There were about a hundred metres to run for Jack and the Doctor, over stairs, through halls and corridors and now there was no time to be careful. It was pure luck that they didn’t meet any Luurans before they reached Agneta’s location where two armed soldiers were standing over her motionless form. One of them was talking into his comm. Jack shot both of them before they had a chance to react to their presence. He still preferred his classical weapon over modern ones and so the bang drowned out the Doctor’s cry of protest.
Agneta, bless her, had placed the explosive in a spot that was hard to make out at first glance. Jack needed a second to find it himself. The Doctor rushed to the fallen woman, feeling for a pulse while Jack was already keying in the code. He checked his wrist device: neither of the explosives had been discovered yet but it was only a matter of time. Once all of them were activated they that would be soon be found due to the signal they transmitted - Jack had to send the signal that triggered the explosion before they could be disabled.
“She’s dead,” the Doctor said somewhere behind him. “I’m sorry, Jack.”
The human didn’t have any attention to spare. A low beeping sound and a blinking light were informing him that right now someone unauthorized was fiddling with the device he himself had left.
He sent the signal the moment he took hold of the Doctor’s hand.
“We have to get out!” he shouted, pressing the Time Lord’s cool fingers against the vortex manipulator. Only seconds now. His grip was strong enough to bruise - he couldn’t risk his friend slipping away.
“Wait!” the Doctor cried out. “What about…”
The rest of his words were lost to the vortex.
-
The thunder of the explosion reached their ears moments after they materialized in the cold air. A second of disorientation, then Jack wrapped his arm around the Doctor’s narrow waist and pulled him away from the edge of the roof. When the shockwave hit he shielded the Time Lord with his own body but the force threw him to the ground and he brought the Doctor down with him, crashing hard into the much slighter man.
He remained on top of him until the storm has passed and it was only the autumn wind that tore at their hair, their clothes. When they got back to their feet they saw the fire, much closer than Jack had expected. They could hear screaming from the streets below.
The Luurans had landed their ship in the park where a thousand years ago the centre of the city had been. There was a lot of clear space and all the buildings here were new, their windows unbreakable. Also had the storm deserted the streets - still it would be naïve to assume no one had been hurt.
Somewhere in that mass of flames and burning rubble was the TARDIS, undamaged but unreachable for now. Somewhere in there were the torn bodies of five hundred Luurans, and the corpses of Agneta and Paul.
He’d have to tell the rest of his team, Jack thought distantly.
The Doctor walked over to the edge and stared at the flames for a long time. Jack sensed his tension. It had to be more that bothered him than just the fact that he was stuck here until they could get to his ship.
Eventually he turned and looked at Jack, his eyes dark, his expression unreadable. Between them time stretched on while the human waited for the Time Lord to speak.
Then the Doctor said “You didn’t tell your friend where to meet you,” and Jack could tell he was judging him.
“There wasn’t enough time,” he pointed out. “He wouldn’t have made it anyway.”
“You didn’t give him a chance.”
“He wouldn’t have made it,” Jack repeated, frowning in annoyance. “It was too far. He wouldn’t have managed half that distance.”
“Half that distance was where you went first, wasn’t it?” The Doctor didn’t move, and his face still gave away nothing. Still his disapproval was obvious. “That explosive device you activated on the way wasn’t exactly on the way,” the Time Lord continued. “Do you think I didn’t notice that? Your friend was in danger and you went somewhere else first.”
“She was already dead,” Jack said, feeling the need to justify his actions.
“But did you know that?”
“I was very certain, yes. And there was more at stake than her life as you might have noticed. Besides…” He stopped, but the Doctor knew.
“Besides she wouldn’t have made it out anyway?” he finished the sentence. “Is that what you were going to say? Because if your friend didn’t manage half that distance he wouldn’t have reached you anyway. Neither of them would have. You knew from the beginning.”
“We had to stop them,” Jack explained, despising how the Doctor made him feel like a little boy getting all defensive. He knew what he was doing. “And they’ve been working for me for years.” Six years. Good old Paul. It was a record that would stand for a while. “They knew the risk.”
“But did they know you were sending them to their deaths?”
“There was no other way!”
“Of course there was! I was working on it! You could have listened to me. You could have blocked the ship’s systems. They didn’t have to die! No one had to die!”
“Oh, of course! You would have done so much better, wouldn’t you?” Jack spat back, his anger finally winning over. “But this is my city, and I don’t need you to protect it. My city, my planet! My species! You can save the cosmos all you like but here I’m the one in control, and I decide what to do.”
The Doctor didn’t blink through his speech but his face hardened and Jack realised he was overdoing it. Stupid child. Calmer he stated:
“It was the best way. Simple and easy. Everything else might not have worked.”
“’The best way’?” the Doctor echoed, a look of disbelief on his face. “It was simple so you didn’t even try anything else? You sacrificed your friends because it was easy?”
“Well, there wasn’t much time for experiments. Especially after you showed up. Do you expect me to sit back and wait while you’re looking for the one who will finally kill you?” The Doctor paled a little at his words but weather it was with shock or with anger Jack couldn’t tell. Giving in to the need to be cruel he added: “Had you left things to us they might still be alive.”
“Don’t you dare make this my fault!” the Doctor hissed. The anger focused on Jack made him shiver, and not with discomfort.
“You’re right, it’s got nothing to do with you,” he agreed lightly. “In other words it’s none of your business. My team, my decisions.”
“Your responsibility,” the Doctor added, folding his arms. Jack raised an eyebrow.
“You’re travelling alone?” he asked suddenly.
“If I wasn’t you’d probably have blown up my companions with that ship there.” The Doctor gestured to the flames, reflected by the dark clouds. “Like your friends. Like everyone else on board.”
“They were planning to enslave mankind. Don’t ask me to feel sorry for them.” Before the Doctor could answer he lifted his hand and activated his earpiece. With few words he ordered Des and Elric to organize for the firemen working at the burning spaceship to be ret-conned afterwards. The demise of Paul and Agneta he didn’t mention, made sure nothing was reflected in his voice.
When he was done the Doctor was still watching him.
“Why do you still erase people’s memories?” he wanted to know. “Everyone knows about aliens by now.”
Jack shrugged, not really able to tell. “Tradition,” he guessed.
The Doctor was quiet for a long moment, turning away, his gaze lingering on the city below.
“I remember that once getting years stolen from your memory nearly destroyed your life,” he said eventually. “And now you’re doing it to others even when it isn’t necessary.”
“Doing it to others has never been a matter of concern for me,” Jack stated with another shrug and the Doctor glanced at him, briefly, out of the corner of his eye.
“Yes,” he said. “I noticed.”
Another moment of silence when Jack didn’t have anything to reply. The Doctor’s obviously low opinion of him stung more than it should have. He struggled with the anger it raised, the need to make the Time Lord see that he’d done nothing wrong. Ages ago he had chosen his responsibilities on Earth over life aboard the TARDIS, and had put the Doctor behind him. Stopped caring for him so damn much - until the moment he showed up again and once more became the centre of Jack’s world. He detested the fact that he could only detach himself from the Time Lord emotionally while he wasn’t there.
The Doctor said nothing when he finally turned away from the fire and walked over to the door that led into the building.
“Where are you going?” Jack called after him.
“That fire will burn for another day at least. I’ll look for something to pass the time.”
Jack caught up with him when he pointed his sonic screwdriver at the lock of the door.
“You can stay with me. There’s a lot to do, and since you need to get involved everywhere you can as well help us.” He was aware that he didn’t quite hit the right tone for asking for help and wasn’t surprised when the Doctor tensed.
“Especially since you’re short on manpower at the moment,” he said bitterly. “Forgive me, but your business is something I’d rather not get involved in right now.”
“Oh, I forgot! You don’t want to have anything to do with me because you’re pissed.”
“No.” The Doctor’s voice was perfectly calm and he didn’t look at Jack and his hand on the handle of the door didn’t turn. “Because you’re scaring me.”
“I’m scaring you?” Jack stared, astonished. Fascinated. He wanted the Doctor to turn and meet his eyes but when he did, Jack nearly looked away.
“I used to know you, and now I don’t,” the Time Lord explained. “You’ve changed, Jack. You have lived so long that you fail to care about those who are gone after a short time. The members of your team come and go. You throw their lives away because in a few years they would be dead anyway. Not much loss, right?”
Jack opened his mouth to protest but the words wouldn’t come. The Doctor’s calm, cold gaze was worse than anger would have been.
“The Jack I knew would have done anything to save a friend. You would have risked their lives only as a last resort. There was plenty of time left. You should have let me try. Should have attempted to disturb their systems from afar. Even if it hadn’t worked there would have been enough time left for the solution you chose. But you went for the simple way right away, because mortals are expendable.” It took effort for Jack to hold his gaze, even though the Doctor was wrong about him - he did care. He had to care for this entire planet, couldn’t risk Earth for the safety of his friends.
“When did you start to forget the individual in favour of the masses, Jack?”
“I didn’t.” The words lacked power. “Do you want me to sacrifice the city for them?”
“No, because you didn’t have to! But you don’t even see that, do you? You just see the path of least resistance and never stop to think about the consequences. They trusted you!”
It wasn’t fair. Jack could have told the Doctor a lot about trust, and disappointment. For a second he felt defeated.
Then the steel in his friend’s eyes was softened by a trace of sadness.
“You’re getting too old,” he said quietly. “That’s my fault, I know. Humans aren’t meant to be this old. So you’re forgetting what it means to be human. Lost touch with the world.”
Now he’d turned around he was standing with his back to the door and Jack stepped closer, trapping him. Reached out a hand to touch him; fingers on a cold cheek.
“So you’re granting me absolution?” he asked. “Take all the blame for my sins?” It should have been a sneer but his voice ended somewhere between insult and fascination. His hand caressed the Doctor’s face with something that might have seemed like tenderness but wasn’t and he wanted him.
Still wanted him, but maybe the worship had lessened with each passing century for in the past he never truly thought about taking.
“Not at all.” The Doctor’s hand covered Jack’s, his grip firm. He moved it away from his face. “Your immortality might be my fault but what you do with it is your decision.” The sadness was still in his eyes, and the regret as he moved away, leaving the human to face the door. “What are you becoming, Jack?”
He left when Jack didn’t have an answer.
Part 2