donutsweeper (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
donutsweeper) wrote2009-06-06 10:31 pm
donutsweeper) wrote2009-06-06 10:31 pm
Entry tags:
Break And Brace part 2
Title: Break And Brace
Pairing/Warning/Rating: Torchwood/Doctor Who (classic) crossover, spoilers for DW S3, rated PG
Word Count: 21483
Betas: The wonderifficly saintly![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
_medley_ and superawesomesause jadesfire2808
Summary: With the rift unusually active, the Torchwood team struggles to find a pattern in what has come through and determine who or what is behind it.
part one
Owen, Gwen and Tosh were waiting for them inside.
"Jack?" Owen called out as the cog door opened up. "I've got all my supplies out, but you didn't let me know anything specific about what you'd need."
Jack walked in first followed a few feet behind him by Ianto, who was helping James inside. Physically, the support was most likely unnecessary; coming back to life had left him tired, but in perfect health, just as it always did. Emotionally, however, the man was obviously battered and bewildered and seemed to need Ianto's assistance. But once in the Hub, James froze. Eyes wide and darting everywhere, like he was trying to look at everything, all at once. "It's all right," Ianto whispered, his tone calm and soothing. "You're among friends. And don't worry, we'll figure this out and then get you home, soon as we can."
"Ianto?" Jack called. "Would you mind going and getting our guest a change of clothing? I'd like Owen to examine him first, but it'd be nice if he had something other than scrubs to put on afterwards."
"Of course, Jack." Ianto gave James a reassuring tap on the arm before he slipped past him and headed to Jack's quarters.
"Jack," Gwen pushed forward, arms crossed and looking annoyed. "What is going on? First you report a dead body and then you say 'Oh, never mind, my mistake' and you waltz back here..." She trailed off as she looked past Jack and saw James. "What? Who?"
"Come on, Gwen, you should recognize him. He's me. Well, obviously I am me, but he's me from another time. And do not ask him when. Or what happened to you or who won the Premier League this year or the next World Cup. I mean it. Oh, and on the ride back we decided to call him James, since it would just be too confusing if there were two Jack Harknesses in the Hub."
"But-" Gwen started to ask another question when Jack interrupted her.
"In case you don't remember that's Gwen," Jack pointed to her, making introductions of the team one by one for James. "Owen, and Toshiko. And everyone, meet the newly christened James Harper."
Looking more than a little overwhelmed, James gave a nervous smile to the team.
Tosh tilted her head and smiled at Jack. "As in Captain James Harper? Very appropriate." She walked up to James and offered her hand. "Welcome to Torchwood, James."
Very, very slowly, James accepted the hand gave it an tentative shake. "Tosh," he said before clearing his throat when his voice broke. "It's good to see you again. You're looking wonderful."
"Hey, hey. No flirting with anyone who looks like me who isn't me. Or is me, but isn't me right now. Whatever, you know what I mean," Jack said laughing. He gave Owen a little push towards James. "Owen, give James here a full check up. Make sure the trip through the rift didn't leave him with any unfortunate side effects, hitchhikers or problems."
"All right, come on then, Ja-James. Let's take a look at you." Owen reached out and grabbed James by the arm, but stopped and released him when James flinched away from him. "James?" Owen asked as he threw Jack a confused look.
"Sorry." James scrubbed a hand over his face. "It's been," he started to say before breaking off into a deep sigh.
"A really long day, I'm sure. Yeah, we get a lot of those around here." Owen waited a minute, until James seemed to have collected himself, and then waved him towards autopsy. "Come on, I don't bite. Let's see what those tests can tell us."
James looked over at Jack before moving. "There are some things I should…."
"Go on," Jack said. "We'll talk after Owen's cleared you."
"Okay," James said quietly, giving a quick nod before following behind Owen.
With a quick clap of his hands, Jack got Tosh and Gwen's attention. "While they're busy, we have work to do. Gwen, put together a list of all the rift debris we have catalogued to show James, collated by where and when it came from."
"You've got a theory?" she asked as she turned to head up to the conference room.
"I do indeed," he said with a grin. "I'll explain everything later, when there's a chance to confirm it. Off you go." He waited until she'd gone before turning to Tosh. "What are the rift readings now?"
"Completely normal." She walked over to her workstation and brought up several screens.
"What kind of normal?" Seeing Tosh's confusion, Jack reworded his question, "I mean, like they were before all this craziness started?"
After a few more clicks she nodded. "There's the typical quivers, but on the whole the rift is quieter than we've recorded in a long time."
"Like James coming through caused it to go back to its typical settings?" Jack crossed his arms and leaned up against the wall, seemingly lost in thought.
"Now that you mention it, yes. You might be right."
Jack nodded, her answer obviously expected. "When exactly did the rift tremors and insanity stop? Can you tell?"
"Well, of course," she replied, a little affronted. "The data we've collected seems to indicate it happened," she stopped typing suddenly and looked over at Jack, "shortly after the most recent event, about five minutes after James came though."
Jack closed his eyes and sighed. "That's what I was afraid of."
"Sorry? I don't understand. Why?"
"I'll explain later," Jack interrupted. He rubbed his forehead for a moment before opening his eyes and stepping away. "Listen, can you do me a favor? Would you gather the CCTV footage of that car park where we found James and it's immediate area and check for any anomalies? Use a time stamp of, umm, make it a half an hour before James came through until after we left?"
"Of course," Tosh said, going back to the computer.
"Then pick a few of the sites where we found other rift debris from this current set of craziness, using the same timestamp and see if there are any similarities. Look for anything that seems out of place or wrong or unusual, or… well, just anything that you or the computer can pick up on that might help us. Okay?"
"Any hints on what I should be looking for?"
"Nope, I'll know it when you find it."
"Oh, of course," she said, with a snort of sarcasm.
Jack laughed. "How long will it take for you to pull it all together?"
"It shouldn't take more than ten minutes or so, Jack."
"Great. I'm going to go check on James and Owen. Meet us up in the conference room once you get everything together. With any luck, Gwen'll be done by then too."
Before Jack could leave Tosh called out to him, "Jack? Are you okay with all of this? With him being here and all?"
"You know me, Tosh," Jack said with a sad smile, "I'm always okay."
"You don't have to be," she said as he walked away. "You know that, don't you?"
But the only answer she got was a wave of his hand as he made his way to autopsy.
"Owen," Jack cleared his throat just outside the doorway, "knock, knock."
"Hang on a second, Jack," Owen replied, speaking over the rustle of fabric. "All right, come on in."
Jack walked in slowly, nervously. "How's he doing?" he asked Owen.
Owen gave his patient a quick look, relaxing when James nodded his assent. "All his tests came back clean. Nearly exactly like yours, as a matter of fact." He shrugged. "Not that I thought that was unexpected, of course. Near as I can tell he's a little older, although he won't tell me how much. But, he made it through the rift and resurrection without any noticeable damage."
"You'll sign off on him?"
"Can't see any reason not to," Owen said, distractedly while jotting down some notes on his clipboard.
"Well, that's something then." Jack looked over at James who was nervously fingering the blanket he was half hiding under. You holding up okay?"
"Oh yeah," James said quietly, "I'm just peachy."
"Right, well let's get you some clothes then. Ianto?" Jack called over his shoulder. "What's taking so long with the-"
"Right here, Jack," Ianto said, having walking up behind Jack unnoticed.
Jack spun around. "Don't do that!" he mock chastised.
Ianto smirked. "Sorry, sir." Arms full, he gestured with the clothing. "Ready for these then, James?"
"Yes," James said, his voice still barely above a whisper, "Thank you."
Owen frowned at James's shyness. "Go on," he teased, "No live people in my morgue now. Get some clothes on and get out of here."
Handing over the pile of clothes and Jack's spare pair of boots, Ianto looked over James with a concerned eye. "Good thing I brought you a pair of braces, you're much thinner than our Jack."
"Hey, are you suggesting I'm fat?" Jack straightened up and ran his hands down his side.
Owen laughed. "If the shoe fits. I mean," he started to backtrack after seeing the glare Jack was sending him. "Not at all. You are well within the fitness parameters for Torchwood, Jack." He jerked his thumb at James. "This one's a little too thin, actually. I'm surprised your medic, whether it's me or whoever's working here when you're from, hasn't called you on it."
James just shrugged as he slipped on the clothes he could while keeping the blanket wrapped around him, somehow managing pants, trousers and t-shirt without showing more than a few inches of bare flesh. He finally let the blanket drop to the exam table after he tugged on his shirt and needed both hands to button it up. Sensing the others' eyes on him he looked up, letting a cocked eyebrow show both his accusation and his confusion.
"Sorry, we shouldn't have been staring," Ianto spoke up as he handed over a pair of boots, "It's … it's just."
"It's all right," James said as he put the boots on and laced them up. "I understand, really I do." He pointed to Jack. "We're the same, but very different."
"And you already knew we were rude buggers," Owen added.
Smiling lightly at that James said, "That too."
"Tosh and Gwen are putting together some data for us to look at. I've a theory or two that I'd like to test out. So, if we're all done here," Jack looked at everyone, waiting for their nods of affirmation, "let's head on up to the conference room and see what they've come up with."
Owen led the way, followed by a hesitant James. Ianto held back, waiting until they were out of earshot, and then turned to Jack. "What's going on?"
"I can't be certain. Not yet." Jack sighed. "Not until I see the result of Tosh's data. I'll explain everything then, all right?"
"It's bad, isn't it?" Ianto asked, as they made their way down the hall.
"Probably. But then again, when is it not?"
Ianto laughed. "Fair point."
"All right, team," Jack said, entering the conference room, "Show me what you got! Gwen, you're up first."
"Right. James, over the past two weeks hundreds of items have come through the rift. Jack was able to catalogue most of it, a rather high percentage actually. But we were wondering if you were familiar with the rest of it." She pointed to the seat at the table next to hers and passed James the laptop she'd been working on when he sat down in it. "These are the items we haven't been able to label yet."
"And I was wondering if you could," Jack added, sitting down next to Tosh, across the table from James and Gwen.
"I don't..." James started to say, looking around the room at the various bits of rift debris that were still in piles everywhere. "Thank you," he said as Ianto passed coffee around to everyone.
"Thanks, mate." Owen snagged his coffee and plunked down at the head of the table, putting his feet up on the table and tilting his chair back.
"You don't actually have to catalogue it all now, James, just tell us if you would be able to." Jack leaned forward and caught James' eye. "Please, it's important."
They exchanged glances for a moment before James looked down to peruse the list. "The ones you were able to label, you knew them because they were from places and times you'd been?" He grunted at Jack's nod. "Same here. Although," he passed over the laptop and pointed to the item he'd highlighted, "kind of surprised you missed this one."
Jack laughed. "Oh yeah, whoops." He motioned Ianto over, waiting for him to sit down before tilting the screen to show what James had pointed out. Ianto immediately turned bright red and sputtered into his coffee.
"Do you two have something to share with the rest of the class?" Owen teased, only to yelp when Tosh swept his feet off the table.
"Be nice," she hissed at Owen before turning her attention back to James. "So Jack was right? You can identify everything?"
"I can't be sure," he said softly, "but yeah, I think so. Just about anyway."
Jack scrubbed a hand over his face. "Right. Okay, Tosh. What did you find?"
Tosh clicked on the plasma screen. "Jack had me run a sweep of the area where James was found, as well as looking again at some of the other sites where the rift dropped debris over the last two weeks. Now, while he didn't specify what he was looking for, the fact that the rift anomalies stopped shortly after James arrived does indicate that all of this recent rift activity was in some way related to his arrival."
"But how?" Owen interrupted. "And, why?"
"We don't know yet, Owen," Jack said. He wasn't exactly glaring at Owen, but it was close. "Maybe if we let her finish we'll be able to figure it out."
"Thank you, Jack." Tosh brought up a still frame of the car park where Ianto and Jack had found James. "I did discover something interesting. Compare this CCTV shot, taken a half an hour before James arrived," she brought up a second picture, "to this one, taken an hour later."
Gwen leaned forward, squinting at the screen. "I see an abandoned car park."
"Yeah, me too," Owen agreed with a slight huff. "With lots of weeds."
"Jack?" Tosh asked. "Ianto?"
Jack was still studying the pictures when Ianto jumped out of his seat saying, "Oh, I see what you mean."
Tosh beamed at Ianto. "You'd never notice it if you weren't looking specifically for it, would you?"
"No, not at all," he replied.
"This is worse than those magic eye books that were so popular back when." Gwen tilted her head and squinted some more. "I still don't see anything."
"Exactly!" Tosh exclaimed.
"What?" Owen was sounding rather annoyed. "Exactly, what?"
"Here." With a few clicks Tosh isolated the bottom portion of the first picture, cleaned it up and enlarged it. "What do you see?"
"Some weeds, and a lamppost, and the cement support beam for the neighboring building, and... oh." Jack's gaze slid from one picture to the other and back again before stopping.
James, spotting the same thing Jack had seen, put his head in his hands. "Oh no."
"Oh, indeed," Tosh agreed, and brought up the same portion of the second picture. "See it yet?" she asked Gwen and Owen.
Owen's finger went back and forth from picture to picture as he pursed his lips and tried to figure it out. "Hey, wait a second, what happened to the lamppost?"
"It's gone," Tosh said happily.
"But... how?" Gwen asked.
"Some sort of perception filter maybe?" Ianto suggested. "Like the one we use for the lift?"
"It's possible. Honestly, I have no idea. But," Tosh brought up pictures from four other rift debris dump sites and then clicked open a second picture of each site. "There's something similar missing, or added I suppose, depending how you look at it, on each and every one of these. And not just these, every single place we collected things from in the past two weeks has something there. All of them. Lampposts, support beams, kiosks, all sorts of things. The only similarity is that they blend in. You don't notice that anything is there, or is not there, whichever the case may be, unless you're actually looking for it. "
"You don't think?" James started to ask before Jack cut him off with a quick,
"No." The two men stared at each other over the table.
"Well, then," Ianto said after a few moments of silence. "The presence of this, whatever it is, suggests that the recent spike in rift activity was for a specific reason. And, since it all stopped immediately after James came through, I think it's safe to say that this," he waved his hand to take in all the rift debris in the room, "was all done just to bring you here. The only question is why."
"And how," Owen added.
"The kind of technology needed for something like that is way beyond anything we're capable of," Tosh said, clicking off the plasma. "I don't think I've ever even seen references in the archives to a machine capable of manipulating the rift with that sort of precision."
"There isn't," Ianto said with certainty.
"Doesn't mean it doesn't exist, though," Gwen pointed out. "Somewhere. After all, something used the rift to bring all this stuff here. To bring James here."
"All right," Jack spoke up. "There's no point in tying ourselves up in knots trying to figure out everything right now. The rift is calm for the moment, and it looks like it'll stay that way until we've figured out where to go from here or the next big step in this grand plan of whatever this is gets revealed. It's late. Go home. Spend some time with your loved ones, watch the telly, toss the things in your kitchen that are about to evolve sentience, do something to enjoy yourselves even if it's only having a beer and relaxing. We'll pick this up in the morning."
"If you insist!" Owen jumped to his feet immediately. "Come on, Tosh," he said, grabbing her wrist and pulling her towards the door. "I'm buying."
"But," she started to say, "What about-"
"Leave it!" Owen admonished, and the rest of what they said to each other faded out as they made their way down the hall.
"Jack?" Gwen reached over to grab her laptop.
"Go on," he told her, handing it to her. "Go home and see Rhys before you forget what he looks like."
"If you're sure," she said with a hesitant smile.
"I'm sure." He shooed her off. "Go."
"Don't have to tell me twice," she joked as she gathered up her things.
"Actually, I did. Three times in fact." Looking over she glared at him and he laughed. "Have fun."
"Thanks, Jack!" she shouted over her shoulder as she left.
"Ianto?" Jack asked, when after a while Ianto had shown no sign of picking up his things, let alone leaving.
"I'd," Ianto started to say, keeping his eyes on the table, careful not to look at Jack or James, "I'd like to stay. If you don't mind. Either of you," he added quickly.
James fiddled with a pair of goggles he'd picked up from somewhere. "Maybe me and, well, me, could talk a bit by ourselves first?" he asked, so quietly he was nearly inaudible.
"I've an idea. We'll need something to eat, after the craziness of all this rift activity we've practically been living here and our typical provisions are nearly depleted. If you wouldn't mind, Ianto, maybe you could go on a supplies run? Pick up enough to restock the pantry besides dinner? James? Would that work for you?"
Still intent on the goggles, James didn't say anything, but after a moment he nodded.
"Not a problem, Jack. How long do you think the shopping will need to take?"
"Oh, I don't know," Jack said, giving Ianto a thankful glance. "No more than an hour would be my guess."
"Right. An hour it is. Any requests on what I should bring back for dinner? Pizza? Chinese? Curry?"
"James?" Jack asked, but James seemed overwhelmed by it all and just shrugged. "Whatever is easiest for you, I think, Ianto. All right?"
Ianto nodded. "I'll surprise you then. James, you haven't developed any allergies or anything that I should know about, have you?"
James looked up, startled by the question. "No," he said quietly, "Anything would be fine."
"See you both in about an hour then." He paused in the doorway. "No dabbling while I'm gone, yeah?"
"Ianto," Jack chastised, but there was no heat behind it. "There is nothing to worry about on that front. Nothing at all. Now, shoo."
Still in the doorway, Ianto hesitated. "I'll have my mobile, just in case."
"It's okay, Ianto," James spoke up, "I'll be here when you get back."
"Oh. Right. Well, of course you will be. In an hour then," Ianto gave them both a quick nod before leaving.
Waiting until he heard the cog door close shut, signaling Ianto's departure from the Hub, Jack turned to James, "Okay. We're alone now. Time to tell me what's going on."
James twined the goggles around his fingers, seeming to focus all his attention on them. "I don't know."
"James. Jack. Come on, you know as well as I do what the disappearing reappearing lampposts and kiosks and whatnots mean." Jack might not have been yelling, but his tone was less than kind.
"That doesn't mean I know any more than you do!" James' voice cracked as he looked over at Jack before quickly ducking his head to hide his quivering lip.
"Hey, hey. I'm sorry. This has," Jack scraped his hands over his face, "This has got to be tough for you. I didn't even ask how you were doing with all this. Other than physically, which, of course, is a useless parameter for you, or me. Us. For us."
James took a stuttering breath. "It's just so," he started to say as he clenched his hands into fists. "I haven't jumped about in time in a while. I forgot what it was like."
"What what was like?" Jack asked gently.
"It's different," James cleared his throat, "looking at a photograph. The memories are still there but there's this distance- they're in the past, in the back when, and not..." he trailed off with a sigh.
"Not in the here and now," Jack said with a nod. Swallowing thickly he added, "I assume, in the time you're from, they're all gone?" He held a hand up. "Obviously you can't tell me how. Or when. It'll be bad enough to have to live through it when it does happen. I have no desire to be dreading that moment every day until then, starting from today. I'd like to think they all died of old age in their beds. Or in someone's bed. But I know Torchwood. And I know that's not the way things happen here."
James replied with a half shrug and a sad smile that didn't specify a thing, but still said far too much.
"Losing people never gets easier, does it?" Jack asked, but continued without waiting for an answer, "And I am sorry- that it happened and you have to relive it- but we have to figure this out and figure it out now. You were brought here for a specific reason and I'm sure it's not to bring endless sunshine and happiness to the world."
"We could make a killing in the sunglasses market if that were the case."
Crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair, Jack said, "Stock options are the way of the future, eh?"
"How else am I going to afford gold bathtubs?"
"What, marble's not good enough for you? Too old fashioned?"
James snickered. "Completely passé."
"Good to know, good to know," Jack joked before the two men slipped into silence for a few moments, Jack pretending to study the list of rift debris while James played with the goggles.
"So," James said, carefully avoiding looking Jack in the eye.
"So," Jack mimicked. "Disappearing lampposts," he added.
"Doesn't necessarily mean…."
Jack held up a hand to stop James. "Yes it does. We have a Time Lord with a fully capable TARDIS on his or her hands."
"If it's a TARDIS with a working chameleon circuit then we know it can't be the Doctor."
"She's still a police box in your day?"
James shrugged. "The Doctor likes her that way."
"I always wondered if maybe he just doesn't know how to fix it," Jack pointed out.
"That's… entirely possible as well," James admitted with a wry grin. "But, what about the Time War? They're all gone."
"They are supposed to be, yes. But since when do Time Lords do what they're supposed to?"
"Fair point."
"Besides, isn't the Doctor always talking about how time is non-linear? And really, really complicated? Why couldn't that be the case here? Some Time Lord from the past, from before the war, somehow got caught up in the rift and then wound up here?"
"Is that even possible?"
"Honestly, I have no idea. But this is the rift we're talking about. It excels in doing things we didn't think were possible."
Wide-eyed James looked up at Jack. "Do you know what this means? For him? He wouldn't be alone anymore."
"Wait a second," Jack held up a hand. "Let's not put the cart before the horse here. First off, we don't know this is a Time Lord. Not for certain. It could be something completely different. And even if it is a Time Lord, we have to ask ourselves- just what are they doing? Think about it. There they are, happily minding their own business, and then suddenly BAM, they're in a new time, a new place and everything's changed. Gallifrey is gone. All the Time Lords except one are gone. And instead of searching out that one remaining Time Lord they hatch some massive plan to bring two of us together?"
"What if they don't know Gallifrey is gone?" James asked when Jack stopped to take a breath.
"I don't know. Could they not know? How could they not know?"
"Maybe they do. Maybe they're okay with that. Maybe, just maybe it's-"
"No. He's dead." Jack left no room for argument.
"If we had to, we could always ask-"
"No," Jack cut him off. "No, we can't. The others wouldn't understand, not considering who he is. We deal with this ourselves. You, me, the team, we don't need to go running for help for every little thing."
James gave a weak shrug. "I suppose you're right."
"Of course I'm right. I mean we're right," he corrected himself. After scrubbing his face, Jack grabbed a pen and the closest piece of paper, a take away menu from a curry place that closed over a decade ago, flipped it over and wrote A TARDIS? "You agree?"
"Can't be certain, but, yeah, it does seem likely."
"Okay, now that we got that somewhat figured out, let's put aside the who for the moment and focus on the what. Someone has purposely targeted places and times we've been in an attempt to have another time's version of myself, ourselves? Anyway, what it boils down is that someone wanted to have another Jack Harkness slip through the rift. Now, a good question might be, did they intend to have a post-game station, fixed point in time and space version or a mortal version come through?"
"A mortal version of us wouldn't have survived a trip like that," James pointed out.
"True. Well, you didn't survive, not technically, but I know what you mean. The person we were before the Game Station would have died coming through and remained dead."
"Were they trying to kill us?"
Jack cocked an eyebrow. "Now, that is a very good question. If they'd pulled us out of our Time Agency days and we'd died as a result then we wouldn't be here running Torchwood today. Unless we're talking alternate dimensions or things like that as well."
"Which we're not. Right?"
"Right. As far as we know, at least."
"There's a lot we don't know."
"True. However." Jack grabbed the menu, adding 'Two Jack Harknesses' to his notes and underlined it twice. "That," he said tapping it with the pen, "is one thing we do know."
"Which doesn't tell us much. What possible reason could there be for needing two Jack Harknesses?" James asked, snagging a pen of his own.
"What possible reason, indeed?" Jack muttered. "What if…" he started to say, only to be drowned out by the rift alarms going off. "Rift activity. Damn it!" He jumped to his feet and headed to Tosh's workstation.
James followed, but at a slightly more sedate pace. "I thought she said the rift went back to normal after I came through."
"She did. It had," Jack said as he started typing. "It's not likely, but there is a chance that this rift activity has nothing to do with you or the recent craziness. Could just be a coincidence."
James shook his head, sitting down next to where Jack was working. "I'm not a big believer in coincidences."
Skimming over the data the computer was providing Jack sighed. "And you'd be right, the signature is similar. Maybe not exactly the same, but pretty close."
"Are you," James began hesitantly, "should we call in the rest of the team?"
After thinking about it for a moment, Jack shook his head. "No, let them have their night off. The past two weeks have been insane, they could use the break. It's a pretty small rift event, and, besides, there are two of us, we can handle it ourselves. I'm going to send the coordinates to the SUV, we'll swing by the armory to get you kitted up properly, and then we'll be good to go."
"But…" James trailed off, biting his bottom lip.
Jack stood up and turned to James. "But what?" he asked gently.
"Ianto." James gestured to the cog door that Ianto had gone through earlier. "He. He went out for food. If we go, he'll come back, and. And."
"And we won't be here." Jack smiled. "Ianto's a big boy, trust me on that, he can handle being left behind. But, if you're that worried, here. Catch." Jack threw James his phone, who fumbled it a bit before catching it. "Give him a call. That way he can back us up from here. I really don't think he'll have a problem with that."
Staring at the phone clutched tightly in his hand James grimaced. "Of course. Right. I'm being stupid, aren't I?"
"Yes," Jack said, crossing his arms, leaning back to look at James. "But," he added, "Go ahead. Give him a call if you want to; his number's programmed in. Let him know we're going on a quick run and should be back in thirty, forty minutes on the outside." Turning, he finished at the computer and walked off explaining, "I'll be right back with some firepower, regulation does state you can't go out in the field without being properly armed, after all. Got any preferences?"
"Um, no," James said, looking up quickly. "Anything's fine. I'm qualified with everything you have there."
"That's my boy," Jack joked, practically beaming. "I knew I wouldn't let those skills get rusty!"
Jack picked out a Glock and an HK before backtracking to grab his spare Webley and holster, for old time's sake. "Hey, look what I got for you!" he called out as he headed back to where he'd left James, holding the Webley out. "What happened to yours, anyway? You weren't wearing it when you came through the rift. You still have one at least, don't you?"
James, however, was on the phone, and ignored Jack completely. "Yes. No, three, actually." Looking over when Jack nudged him he started walking to the cog door, "Well, of course he did, wasn't even up for debate. Yes, I will. You too," he added after a second's pause and then closed the phone.
"Of course I did, what?" Jack asked as he offered James his choice of the guns as they headed to the SUV.
"The Webley. That you got the spare Webley out of storage for me." James gave a small smile as he took it and strapped it on.
"I'm beginning to think Ianto knows me a little too well," Jack said with a laugh.
"Not such a bad thing."
"No, I suppose it's not. Come on, I'm driving, so you're navigating. Think you can do that?"
James nodded, climbing in the SUV. "I think I can manage that," he said as he set to work bringing up the necessary details from the onboard computer.
"Good." Jack nodded as he pulled out of the garage. "Didn't know how much had changed between now and when you're from."
"More than you'd like." James shrugged. "Less than you'd think."
"Sounds about what I expected. Take this left up ahead?"
"Yeah," James said as he typed, "then it'll be straight on for a while."
After riding in silence for a few minutes Jack looked over at James. "You know, when we get there you could, if you wanted…."
"No." James shook his head quickly. "I'm not staying in the car."
Jack snorted. "How'd you know I was going to ask you that?"
"I am you, remember? I. I know I seem a little a little off my game, but I can do this." James wasn't pleading, his tone was flat and calm.
Jack held up a hand. "Hey, no arguments from me. I can't think of anyone else I'd rather have watching my back than me. I always thought I was one of the most capable people I know."
Quirking his eyebrow, James looked at Jack. "That is the most surreal statement I've heard in a long time."
"What can I say, I excel at self-promotion. Even if it's not my actual self that I'm self-promoting."
"You do realize that sentence made very little sense."
"I like confusing people. Keeps them on their toes."
James smiled. "Sounds familiar. Okay, take the second right and then we'll be there."
Jack maneuvered the SUV around the sharp turn and pulled in front of a disused warehouse that looked in danger of collapsing at any moment. Entire sections of the roof were missing, probably blown away in a storm at some point, a number of the windows were broken, and others were boarded up. "What do the scans say?"
"Umm," James said as he typed, "it looks like three small items came through."
"Any witnesses around?" There didn't appear to be anything but abandoned buildings in various states of disrepair within sight, but it was always better safe than sorry.
"Nope, nothing to worry about on that front. Not a soul around."
"Excellent!" Jack rubbed his hands together, an excited glint in his eyes. "So, what do you say? Ready for some field work? You, me, random rift garbage?"
"Can't wait," James said with dry enthusiasm.
"Ianto?" Jack called into the radio.
"Here, Jack," was the immediate reply.
"We're at the coordinates. Looks like an easy pickup. We'll send you back some scans in a few minutes."
"I will be awaiting them with bated breath."
Jack snickered. "Hey, wait a minute, how'd you know it was me and not James?"
"I know you too well."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Use your imagination, sir."
"Have you been thinking the worst of me again? You wound me, you know that Ianto?" Jack could hear Ianto's laughter over the radio. "We'll check back with you in a bit. Jack out."
James, listening to Jack's part of the exchange, had a sad smile on his face. "Ianto giving you trouble?"
"No more than usual." He looked over at James. "Are you sure you're up for this?"
James pulled out the Glock and made a show of checking it over. "Try and stop me."
"O-kay," Jack said, drawing out the word. "Then, let's go." He opened the door, grabbing the scanner before getting out.
"There's no one around, you really think we need this kind of firepower?" He motioned to the three weapons Jack had given him earlier. "You only had the Webley and a scanner when you came for me."
Jack laughed. "Valid point. All right, I've got the Glock, just in case, but you can lock the HK up. But you have to take the Webley. It's tradition. Period military makes me look good, and I'm not having you spoil that image of me while you're here."
"Aye, aye, Captain," James said as he snapped a sharp salute to Jack before taking a second to secure the HK in the weapon lockbox.
Jack looked at the empty warehouses and weed-filled lots that lined the street. "No lights coming from any of them," he said. "Just the lampposts. Don't even know if there's power inside. I'd better grab torches for us." He pulled out two, tossing one to James, and then made sure the SUV's locks and alarms were set before walking towards the building where they'd traced that the signal was coming from.
"Jack," James said warily, "Did you check the CCTV footage for any disappearing, reappearing inanimate objects?"
"I tried. I didn't see anything, but with all these warehouses it was hard to tell. Can't hurt for us to be on our toes though."
"Always," James responded, with a nod.
"No one's been here in months, if not years," Jack said, pointing to the crumbling front steps, covered in dust and dead leaves. Looking back, he could see that their footsteps leading from the SUV were obvious along the path.
"Nothing that's come in or out the front door, anyway," James corrected.
"Ah, right. There are plenty of other ways to get inside, especially if you've got a TARDIS. Is the scanner picking up anything?"
"Just the residual rift energy left over from a typical rift event," James said with a shake of his head. "It's showing a few small things came through, books maybe?"
"Nothing else?"
"Nope."
"All right, send the preliminary scans back to Ianto and then we'll head on in and retrieve the rift debris." He waited until James finished typing and nodded that he was ready before pulling out his gun and, with a carefree grin, slowly opening the door.
Jack went through first, just taking two steps in with James staying in the doorway to guard their flank. Despite the broken windows and holes in the roof letting in a little light from the lampposts on the street the warehouse was still fairly dark. Flicking on his torch, Jack panned it around trying to see into the far corners. The room was so cavernous that the beam didn't reach to the other side. It played off boxes, a pile of broken chairs, packing crates, random bits of garbage and discarded coffee cups that were strewn about.
"I don't see anything that looks like it came through the rift," he said over his shoulder to James as he walked deeper into the warehouse, his torch sweeping back and forth across the floor. "I'm going to explore a bit. You stay here and see if you can pinpoint the reading."
"The rift signature's still as strong as ever." Slowly moving the scanner around James walked in a bit before he could get a clearer reading. "Looks like it's coming from the far left corner."
Jack headed over in the direction James indicated, the beam of his torch on the ground ahead of him. "Huh." He stopped abruptly. "There are some footprints here. They start about a meter from this pile of newspapers and end randomly in the middle of-" He spun around. "Get out of here, James. It's a trap!"
James took one step towards the door when a gunshot rang out and he fell. Dead. Shot through the head.
"James!" Immediately dropping the torch to pull his Glock, Jack ran over to provide cover. But there was no one to provide cover from. The shot had come from a completely empty section of the warehouse.
"Put down the weapons, Captain," a cultured voice called out from nowhere. "I won't hesitate to shoot you as well."
"If you'd wanted to shoot me you would've done it already," Jack said, trying to get a response. The more he could get the other man to talk the better a chance Jack had of figuring out where he was hiding.
"Oh, I have no qualms about killing you, Captain. But I do abhor making messes unnecessarily."
"Then why did you kill James?" Using exaggeratedly slow movements Jack slid the Glock into his pocket, reaching for his radio and trying to turn it on without being obvious. "Lots of blood and gore with a head shot."
"I couldn't let him escape, could I? Not after all the trouble I went through to bring him here. Hand out of your pocket, Captain. There is no need for the rest of your lovely team to be made aware of your situation just yet." A bullet smashed into the ground right next to Jack's foot. "I need your hands where I can see them. Now. I'm afraid I must insist."
Jack slowly pulled his hand out, spreading it wide to show it was empty. The radio remained in his pocket, but he was fairly sure he'd managed to turn it on. With any luck, Ianto would be able to overhear something and send the cavalry soon.
"Place your other gun on the floor. And do it slowly, if you would be so kind."
"I don't suppose there's any way I can convince you to let us go?" Jack asked as he pulled the Webley out of its holster and placed it down by his feet.
A deep laughter resonated from the far side of the warehouse. "Oh, my dear Captain. You are quite the amusing one, aren't you?"
"Even when I have a gun pointed at me I aim to please." Jack spoke a little louder than usual, attempting to be overheard on the radio.
"And here it was my understanding that pleasing people was something that you were always proud to excel at; guns not withstanding, of course."
"Why are you threatening me with one then?"
"How can you be certain that I am?"
"I considered the bullets being fired at me to be a fairly strong clue."
"My, aren't you the clever one. Not clever enough, I'm afraid."
From the way the echoes bounced around the room, Jack was pretty sure he'd narrowed down where the other man was standing. He shifted, reaching down for the Webley on the floor.
"I don't think so," the voice called out as a gun fired, hitting Jack squarely in the chest and sending him sprawling a few feet from where James still lay. "I expected more from you."
Jack struggled to roll over, to get to his gun, but the pain made it impossible. He was dying, and he knew it, but he was going to fight against it as long as he could. There was the sound of footsteps approaching and he struggled to keep his eyes opened to see who was behind everything. "Who are you?"
"You haven't figured it out?" The man's laugh rang through the warehouse again. "Oh, Captain, I have to say. I am so disappointed in you."
Jack was going to try for a witty rejoinder, but, before he could come up with one, he lost the fight against the pain and passed out.
part three
Pairing/Warning/Rating: Torchwood/Doctor Who (classic) crossover, spoilers for DW S3, rated PG
Word Count: 21483
Betas: The wonderifficly saintly
_medley_ and superawesomesause jadesfire2808Summary: With the rift unusually active, the Torchwood team struggles to find a pattern in what has come through and determine who or what is behind it.
part one
Owen, Gwen and Tosh were waiting for them inside.
"Jack?" Owen called out as the cog door opened up. "I've got all my supplies out, but you didn't let me know anything specific about what you'd need."
Jack walked in first followed a few feet behind him by Ianto, who was helping James inside. Physically, the support was most likely unnecessary; coming back to life had left him tired, but in perfect health, just as it always did. Emotionally, however, the man was obviously battered and bewildered and seemed to need Ianto's assistance. But once in the Hub, James froze. Eyes wide and darting everywhere, like he was trying to look at everything, all at once. "It's all right," Ianto whispered, his tone calm and soothing. "You're among friends. And don't worry, we'll figure this out and then get you home, soon as we can."
"Ianto?" Jack called. "Would you mind going and getting our guest a change of clothing? I'd like Owen to examine him first, but it'd be nice if he had something other than scrubs to put on afterwards."
"Of course, Jack." Ianto gave James a reassuring tap on the arm before he slipped past him and headed to Jack's quarters.
"Jack," Gwen pushed forward, arms crossed and looking annoyed. "What is going on? First you report a dead body and then you say 'Oh, never mind, my mistake' and you waltz back here..." She trailed off as she looked past Jack and saw James. "What? Who?"
"Come on, Gwen, you should recognize him. He's me. Well, obviously I am me, but he's me from another time. And do not ask him when. Or what happened to you or who won the Premier League this year or the next World Cup. I mean it. Oh, and on the ride back we decided to call him James, since it would just be too confusing if there were two Jack Harknesses in the Hub."
"But-" Gwen started to ask another question when Jack interrupted her.
"In case you don't remember that's Gwen," Jack pointed to her, making introductions of the team one by one for James. "Owen, and Toshiko. And everyone, meet the newly christened James Harper."
Looking more than a little overwhelmed, James gave a nervous smile to the team.
Tosh tilted her head and smiled at Jack. "As in Captain James Harper? Very appropriate." She walked up to James and offered her hand. "Welcome to Torchwood, James."
Very, very slowly, James accepted the hand gave it an tentative shake. "Tosh," he said before clearing his throat when his voice broke. "It's good to see you again. You're looking wonderful."
"Hey, hey. No flirting with anyone who looks like me who isn't me. Or is me, but isn't me right now. Whatever, you know what I mean," Jack said laughing. He gave Owen a little push towards James. "Owen, give James here a full check up. Make sure the trip through the rift didn't leave him with any unfortunate side effects, hitchhikers or problems."
"All right, come on then, Ja-James. Let's take a look at you." Owen reached out and grabbed James by the arm, but stopped and released him when James flinched away from him. "James?" Owen asked as he threw Jack a confused look.
"Sorry." James scrubbed a hand over his face. "It's been," he started to say before breaking off into a deep sigh.
"A really long day, I'm sure. Yeah, we get a lot of those around here." Owen waited a minute, until James seemed to have collected himself, and then waved him towards autopsy. "Come on, I don't bite. Let's see what those tests can tell us."
James looked over at Jack before moving. "There are some things I should…."
"Go on," Jack said. "We'll talk after Owen's cleared you."
"Okay," James said quietly, giving a quick nod before following behind Owen.
With a quick clap of his hands, Jack got Tosh and Gwen's attention. "While they're busy, we have work to do. Gwen, put together a list of all the rift debris we have catalogued to show James, collated by where and when it came from."
"You've got a theory?" she asked as she turned to head up to the conference room.
"I do indeed," he said with a grin. "I'll explain everything later, when there's a chance to confirm it. Off you go." He waited until she'd gone before turning to Tosh. "What are the rift readings now?"
"Completely normal." She walked over to her workstation and brought up several screens.
"What kind of normal?" Seeing Tosh's confusion, Jack reworded his question, "I mean, like they were before all this craziness started?"
After a few more clicks she nodded. "There's the typical quivers, but on the whole the rift is quieter than we've recorded in a long time."
"Like James coming through caused it to go back to its typical settings?" Jack crossed his arms and leaned up against the wall, seemingly lost in thought.
"Now that you mention it, yes. You might be right."
Jack nodded, her answer obviously expected. "When exactly did the rift tremors and insanity stop? Can you tell?"
"Well, of course," she replied, a little affronted. "The data we've collected seems to indicate it happened," she stopped typing suddenly and looked over at Jack, "shortly after the most recent event, about five minutes after James came though."
Jack closed his eyes and sighed. "That's what I was afraid of."
"Sorry? I don't understand. Why?"
"I'll explain later," Jack interrupted. He rubbed his forehead for a moment before opening his eyes and stepping away. "Listen, can you do me a favor? Would you gather the CCTV footage of that car park where we found James and it's immediate area and check for any anomalies? Use a time stamp of, umm, make it a half an hour before James came through until after we left?"
"Of course," Tosh said, going back to the computer.
"Then pick a few of the sites where we found other rift debris from this current set of craziness, using the same timestamp and see if there are any similarities. Look for anything that seems out of place or wrong or unusual, or… well, just anything that you or the computer can pick up on that might help us. Okay?"
"Any hints on what I should be looking for?"
"Nope, I'll know it when you find it."
"Oh, of course," she said, with a snort of sarcasm.
Jack laughed. "How long will it take for you to pull it all together?"
"It shouldn't take more than ten minutes or so, Jack."
"Great. I'm going to go check on James and Owen. Meet us up in the conference room once you get everything together. With any luck, Gwen'll be done by then too."
Before Jack could leave Tosh called out to him, "Jack? Are you okay with all of this? With him being here and all?"
"You know me, Tosh," Jack said with a sad smile, "I'm always okay."
"You don't have to be," she said as he walked away. "You know that, don't you?"
But the only answer she got was a wave of his hand as he made his way to autopsy.
"Owen," Jack cleared his throat just outside the doorway, "knock, knock."
"Hang on a second, Jack," Owen replied, speaking over the rustle of fabric. "All right, come on in."
Jack walked in slowly, nervously. "How's he doing?" he asked Owen.
Owen gave his patient a quick look, relaxing when James nodded his assent. "All his tests came back clean. Nearly exactly like yours, as a matter of fact." He shrugged. "Not that I thought that was unexpected, of course. Near as I can tell he's a little older, although he won't tell me how much. But, he made it through the rift and resurrection without any noticeable damage."
"You'll sign off on him?"
"Can't see any reason not to," Owen said, distractedly while jotting down some notes on his clipboard.
"Well, that's something then." Jack looked over at James who was nervously fingering the blanket he was half hiding under. You holding up okay?"
"Oh yeah," James said quietly, "I'm just peachy."
"Right, well let's get you some clothes then. Ianto?" Jack called over his shoulder. "What's taking so long with the-"
"Right here, Jack," Ianto said, having walking up behind Jack unnoticed.
Jack spun around. "Don't do that!" he mock chastised.
Ianto smirked. "Sorry, sir." Arms full, he gestured with the clothing. "Ready for these then, James?"
"Yes," James said, his voice still barely above a whisper, "Thank you."
Owen frowned at James's shyness. "Go on," he teased, "No live people in my morgue now. Get some clothes on and get out of here."
Handing over the pile of clothes and Jack's spare pair of boots, Ianto looked over James with a concerned eye. "Good thing I brought you a pair of braces, you're much thinner than our Jack."
"Hey, are you suggesting I'm fat?" Jack straightened up and ran his hands down his side.
Owen laughed. "If the shoe fits. I mean," he started to backtrack after seeing the glare Jack was sending him. "Not at all. You are well within the fitness parameters for Torchwood, Jack." He jerked his thumb at James. "This one's a little too thin, actually. I'm surprised your medic, whether it's me or whoever's working here when you're from, hasn't called you on it."
James just shrugged as he slipped on the clothes he could while keeping the blanket wrapped around him, somehow managing pants, trousers and t-shirt without showing more than a few inches of bare flesh. He finally let the blanket drop to the exam table after he tugged on his shirt and needed both hands to button it up. Sensing the others' eyes on him he looked up, letting a cocked eyebrow show both his accusation and his confusion.
"Sorry, we shouldn't have been staring," Ianto spoke up as he handed over a pair of boots, "It's … it's just."
"It's all right," James said as he put the boots on and laced them up. "I understand, really I do." He pointed to Jack. "We're the same, but very different."
"And you already knew we were rude buggers," Owen added.
Smiling lightly at that James said, "That too."
"Tosh and Gwen are putting together some data for us to look at. I've a theory or two that I'd like to test out. So, if we're all done here," Jack looked at everyone, waiting for their nods of affirmation, "let's head on up to the conference room and see what they've come up with."
Owen led the way, followed by a hesitant James. Ianto held back, waiting until they were out of earshot, and then turned to Jack. "What's going on?"
"I can't be certain. Not yet." Jack sighed. "Not until I see the result of Tosh's data. I'll explain everything then, all right?"
"It's bad, isn't it?" Ianto asked, as they made their way down the hall.
"Probably. But then again, when is it not?"
Ianto laughed. "Fair point."
"All right, team," Jack said, entering the conference room, "Show me what you got! Gwen, you're up first."
"Right. James, over the past two weeks hundreds of items have come through the rift. Jack was able to catalogue most of it, a rather high percentage actually. But we were wondering if you were familiar with the rest of it." She pointed to the seat at the table next to hers and passed James the laptop she'd been working on when he sat down in it. "These are the items we haven't been able to label yet."
"And I was wondering if you could," Jack added, sitting down next to Tosh, across the table from James and Gwen.
"I don't..." James started to say, looking around the room at the various bits of rift debris that were still in piles everywhere. "Thank you," he said as Ianto passed coffee around to everyone.
"Thanks, mate." Owen snagged his coffee and plunked down at the head of the table, putting his feet up on the table and tilting his chair back.
"You don't actually have to catalogue it all now, James, just tell us if you would be able to." Jack leaned forward and caught James' eye. "Please, it's important."
They exchanged glances for a moment before James looked down to peruse the list. "The ones you were able to label, you knew them because they were from places and times you'd been?" He grunted at Jack's nod. "Same here. Although," he passed over the laptop and pointed to the item he'd highlighted, "kind of surprised you missed this one."
Jack laughed. "Oh yeah, whoops." He motioned Ianto over, waiting for him to sit down before tilting the screen to show what James had pointed out. Ianto immediately turned bright red and sputtered into his coffee.
"Do you two have something to share with the rest of the class?" Owen teased, only to yelp when Tosh swept his feet off the table.
"Be nice," she hissed at Owen before turning her attention back to James. "So Jack was right? You can identify everything?"
"I can't be sure," he said softly, "but yeah, I think so. Just about anyway."
Jack scrubbed a hand over his face. "Right. Okay, Tosh. What did you find?"
Tosh clicked on the plasma screen. "Jack had me run a sweep of the area where James was found, as well as looking again at some of the other sites where the rift dropped debris over the last two weeks. Now, while he didn't specify what he was looking for, the fact that the rift anomalies stopped shortly after James arrived does indicate that all of this recent rift activity was in some way related to his arrival."
"But how?" Owen interrupted. "And, why?"
"We don't know yet, Owen," Jack said. He wasn't exactly glaring at Owen, but it was close. "Maybe if we let her finish we'll be able to figure it out."
"Thank you, Jack." Tosh brought up a still frame of the car park where Ianto and Jack had found James. "I did discover something interesting. Compare this CCTV shot, taken a half an hour before James arrived," she brought up a second picture, "to this one, taken an hour later."
Gwen leaned forward, squinting at the screen. "I see an abandoned car park."
"Yeah, me too," Owen agreed with a slight huff. "With lots of weeds."
"Jack?" Tosh asked. "Ianto?"
Jack was still studying the pictures when Ianto jumped out of his seat saying, "Oh, I see what you mean."
Tosh beamed at Ianto. "You'd never notice it if you weren't looking specifically for it, would you?"
"No, not at all," he replied.
"This is worse than those magic eye books that were so popular back when." Gwen tilted her head and squinted some more. "I still don't see anything."
"Exactly!" Tosh exclaimed.
"What?" Owen was sounding rather annoyed. "Exactly, what?"
"Here." With a few clicks Tosh isolated the bottom portion of the first picture, cleaned it up and enlarged it. "What do you see?"
"Some weeds, and a lamppost, and the cement support beam for the neighboring building, and... oh." Jack's gaze slid from one picture to the other and back again before stopping.
James, spotting the same thing Jack had seen, put his head in his hands. "Oh no."
"Oh, indeed," Tosh agreed, and brought up the same portion of the second picture. "See it yet?" she asked Gwen and Owen.
Owen's finger went back and forth from picture to picture as he pursed his lips and tried to figure it out. "Hey, wait a second, what happened to the lamppost?"
"It's gone," Tosh said happily.
"But... how?" Gwen asked.
"Some sort of perception filter maybe?" Ianto suggested. "Like the one we use for the lift?"
"It's possible. Honestly, I have no idea. But," Tosh brought up pictures from four other rift debris dump sites and then clicked open a second picture of each site. "There's something similar missing, or added I suppose, depending how you look at it, on each and every one of these. And not just these, every single place we collected things from in the past two weeks has something there. All of them. Lampposts, support beams, kiosks, all sorts of things. The only similarity is that they blend in. You don't notice that anything is there, or is not there, whichever the case may be, unless you're actually looking for it. "
"You don't think?" James started to ask before Jack cut him off with a quick,
"No." The two men stared at each other over the table.
"Well, then," Ianto said after a few moments of silence. "The presence of this, whatever it is, suggests that the recent spike in rift activity was for a specific reason. And, since it all stopped immediately after James came through, I think it's safe to say that this," he waved his hand to take in all the rift debris in the room, "was all done just to bring you here. The only question is why."
"And how," Owen added.
"The kind of technology needed for something like that is way beyond anything we're capable of," Tosh said, clicking off the plasma. "I don't think I've ever even seen references in the archives to a machine capable of manipulating the rift with that sort of precision."
"There isn't," Ianto said with certainty.
"Doesn't mean it doesn't exist, though," Gwen pointed out. "Somewhere. After all, something used the rift to bring all this stuff here. To bring James here."
"All right," Jack spoke up. "There's no point in tying ourselves up in knots trying to figure out everything right now. The rift is calm for the moment, and it looks like it'll stay that way until we've figured out where to go from here or the next big step in this grand plan of whatever this is gets revealed. It's late. Go home. Spend some time with your loved ones, watch the telly, toss the things in your kitchen that are about to evolve sentience, do something to enjoy yourselves even if it's only having a beer and relaxing. We'll pick this up in the morning."
"If you insist!" Owen jumped to his feet immediately. "Come on, Tosh," he said, grabbing her wrist and pulling her towards the door. "I'm buying."
"But," she started to say, "What about-"
"Leave it!" Owen admonished, and the rest of what they said to each other faded out as they made their way down the hall.
"Jack?" Gwen reached over to grab her laptop.
"Go on," he told her, handing it to her. "Go home and see Rhys before you forget what he looks like."
"If you're sure," she said with a hesitant smile.
"I'm sure." He shooed her off. "Go."
"Don't have to tell me twice," she joked as she gathered up her things.
"Actually, I did. Three times in fact." Looking over she glared at him and he laughed. "Have fun."
"Thanks, Jack!" she shouted over her shoulder as she left.
"Ianto?" Jack asked, when after a while Ianto had shown no sign of picking up his things, let alone leaving.
"I'd," Ianto started to say, keeping his eyes on the table, careful not to look at Jack or James, "I'd like to stay. If you don't mind. Either of you," he added quickly.
James fiddled with a pair of goggles he'd picked up from somewhere. "Maybe me and, well, me, could talk a bit by ourselves first?" he asked, so quietly he was nearly inaudible.
"I've an idea. We'll need something to eat, after the craziness of all this rift activity we've practically been living here and our typical provisions are nearly depleted. If you wouldn't mind, Ianto, maybe you could go on a supplies run? Pick up enough to restock the pantry besides dinner? James? Would that work for you?"
Still intent on the goggles, James didn't say anything, but after a moment he nodded.
"Not a problem, Jack. How long do you think the shopping will need to take?"
"Oh, I don't know," Jack said, giving Ianto a thankful glance. "No more than an hour would be my guess."
"Right. An hour it is. Any requests on what I should bring back for dinner? Pizza? Chinese? Curry?"
"James?" Jack asked, but James seemed overwhelmed by it all and just shrugged. "Whatever is easiest for you, I think, Ianto. All right?"
Ianto nodded. "I'll surprise you then. James, you haven't developed any allergies or anything that I should know about, have you?"
James looked up, startled by the question. "No," he said quietly, "Anything would be fine."
"See you both in about an hour then." He paused in the doorway. "No dabbling while I'm gone, yeah?"
"Ianto," Jack chastised, but there was no heat behind it. "There is nothing to worry about on that front. Nothing at all. Now, shoo."
Still in the doorway, Ianto hesitated. "I'll have my mobile, just in case."
"It's okay, Ianto," James spoke up, "I'll be here when you get back."
"Oh. Right. Well, of course you will be. In an hour then," Ianto gave them both a quick nod before leaving.
Waiting until he heard the cog door close shut, signaling Ianto's departure from the Hub, Jack turned to James, "Okay. We're alone now. Time to tell me what's going on."
James twined the goggles around his fingers, seeming to focus all his attention on them. "I don't know."
"James. Jack. Come on, you know as well as I do what the disappearing reappearing lampposts and kiosks and whatnots mean." Jack might not have been yelling, but his tone was less than kind.
"That doesn't mean I know any more than you do!" James' voice cracked as he looked over at Jack before quickly ducking his head to hide his quivering lip.
"Hey, hey. I'm sorry. This has," Jack scraped his hands over his face, "This has got to be tough for you. I didn't even ask how you were doing with all this. Other than physically, which, of course, is a useless parameter for you, or me. Us. For us."
James took a stuttering breath. "It's just so," he started to say as he clenched his hands into fists. "I haven't jumped about in time in a while. I forgot what it was like."
"What what was like?" Jack asked gently.
"It's different," James cleared his throat, "looking at a photograph. The memories are still there but there's this distance- they're in the past, in the back when, and not..." he trailed off with a sigh.
"Not in the here and now," Jack said with a nod. Swallowing thickly he added, "I assume, in the time you're from, they're all gone?" He held a hand up. "Obviously you can't tell me how. Or when. It'll be bad enough to have to live through it when it does happen. I have no desire to be dreading that moment every day until then, starting from today. I'd like to think they all died of old age in their beds. Or in someone's bed. But I know Torchwood. And I know that's not the way things happen here."
James replied with a half shrug and a sad smile that didn't specify a thing, but still said far too much.
"Losing people never gets easier, does it?" Jack asked, but continued without waiting for an answer, "And I am sorry- that it happened and you have to relive it- but we have to figure this out and figure it out now. You were brought here for a specific reason and I'm sure it's not to bring endless sunshine and happiness to the world."
"We could make a killing in the sunglasses market if that were the case."
Crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair, Jack said, "Stock options are the way of the future, eh?"
"How else am I going to afford gold bathtubs?"
"What, marble's not good enough for you? Too old fashioned?"
James snickered. "Completely passé."
"Good to know, good to know," Jack joked before the two men slipped into silence for a few moments, Jack pretending to study the list of rift debris while James played with the goggles.
"So," James said, carefully avoiding looking Jack in the eye.
"So," Jack mimicked. "Disappearing lampposts," he added.
"Doesn't necessarily mean…."
Jack held up a hand to stop James. "Yes it does. We have a Time Lord with a fully capable TARDIS on his or her hands."
"If it's a TARDIS with a working chameleon circuit then we know it can't be the Doctor."
"She's still a police box in your day?"
James shrugged. "The Doctor likes her that way."
"I always wondered if maybe he just doesn't know how to fix it," Jack pointed out.
"That's… entirely possible as well," James admitted with a wry grin. "But, what about the Time War? They're all gone."
"They are supposed to be, yes. But since when do Time Lords do what they're supposed to?"
"Fair point."
"Besides, isn't the Doctor always talking about how time is non-linear? And really, really complicated? Why couldn't that be the case here? Some Time Lord from the past, from before the war, somehow got caught up in the rift and then wound up here?"
"Is that even possible?"
"Honestly, I have no idea. But this is the rift we're talking about. It excels in doing things we didn't think were possible."
Wide-eyed James looked up at Jack. "Do you know what this means? For him? He wouldn't be alone anymore."
"Wait a second," Jack held up a hand. "Let's not put the cart before the horse here. First off, we don't know this is a Time Lord. Not for certain. It could be something completely different. And even if it is a Time Lord, we have to ask ourselves- just what are they doing? Think about it. There they are, happily minding their own business, and then suddenly BAM, they're in a new time, a new place and everything's changed. Gallifrey is gone. All the Time Lords except one are gone. And instead of searching out that one remaining Time Lord they hatch some massive plan to bring two of us together?"
"What if they don't know Gallifrey is gone?" James asked when Jack stopped to take a breath.
"I don't know. Could they not know? How could they not know?"
"Maybe they do. Maybe they're okay with that. Maybe, just maybe it's-"
"No. He's dead." Jack left no room for argument.
"If we had to, we could always ask-"
"No," Jack cut him off. "No, we can't. The others wouldn't understand, not considering who he is. We deal with this ourselves. You, me, the team, we don't need to go running for help for every little thing."
James gave a weak shrug. "I suppose you're right."
"Of course I'm right. I mean we're right," he corrected himself. After scrubbing his face, Jack grabbed a pen and the closest piece of paper, a take away menu from a curry place that closed over a decade ago, flipped it over and wrote A TARDIS? "You agree?"
"Can't be certain, but, yeah, it does seem likely."
"Okay, now that we got that somewhat figured out, let's put aside the who for the moment and focus on the what. Someone has purposely targeted places and times we've been in an attempt to have another time's version of myself, ourselves? Anyway, what it boils down is that someone wanted to have another Jack Harkness slip through the rift. Now, a good question might be, did they intend to have a post-game station, fixed point in time and space version or a mortal version come through?"
"A mortal version of us wouldn't have survived a trip like that," James pointed out.
"True. Well, you didn't survive, not technically, but I know what you mean. The person we were before the Game Station would have died coming through and remained dead."
"Were they trying to kill us?"
Jack cocked an eyebrow. "Now, that is a very good question. If they'd pulled us out of our Time Agency days and we'd died as a result then we wouldn't be here running Torchwood today. Unless we're talking alternate dimensions or things like that as well."
"Which we're not. Right?"
"Right. As far as we know, at least."
"There's a lot we don't know."
"True. However." Jack grabbed the menu, adding 'Two Jack Harknesses' to his notes and underlined it twice. "That," he said tapping it with the pen, "is one thing we do know."
"Which doesn't tell us much. What possible reason could there be for needing two Jack Harknesses?" James asked, snagging a pen of his own.
"What possible reason, indeed?" Jack muttered. "What if…" he started to say, only to be drowned out by the rift alarms going off. "Rift activity. Damn it!" He jumped to his feet and headed to Tosh's workstation.
James followed, but at a slightly more sedate pace. "I thought she said the rift went back to normal after I came through."
"She did. It had," Jack said as he started typing. "It's not likely, but there is a chance that this rift activity has nothing to do with you or the recent craziness. Could just be a coincidence."
James shook his head, sitting down next to where Jack was working. "I'm not a big believer in coincidences."
Skimming over the data the computer was providing Jack sighed. "And you'd be right, the signature is similar. Maybe not exactly the same, but pretty close."
"Are you," James began hesitantly, "should we call in the rest of the team?"
After thinking about it for a moment, Jack shook his head. "No, let them have their night off. The past two weeks have been insane, they could use the break. It's a pretty small rift event, and, besides, there are two of us, we can handle it ourselves. I'm going to send the coordinates to the SUV, we'll swing by the armory to get you kitted up properly, and then we'll be good to go."
"But…" James trailed off, biting his bottom lip.
Jack stood up and turned to James. "But what?" he asked gently.
"Ianto." James gestured to the cog door that Ianto had gone through earlier. "He. He went out for food. If we go, he'll come back, and. And."
"And we won't be here." Jack smiled. "Ianto's a big boy, trust me on that, he can handle being left behind. But, if you're that worried, here. Catch." Jack threw James his phone, who fumbled it a bit before catching it. "Give him a call. That way he can back us up from here. I really don't think he'll have a problem with that."
Staring at the phone clutched tightly in his hand James grimaced. "Of course. Right. I'm being stupid, aren't I?"
"Yes," Jack said, crossing his arms, leaning back to look at James. "But," he added, "Go ahead. Give him a call if you want to; his number's programmed in. Let him know we're going on a quick run and should be back in thirty, forty minutes on the outside." Turning, he finished at the computer and walked off explaining, "I'll be right back with some firepower, regulation does state you can't go out in the field without being properly armed, after all. Got any preferences?"
"Um, no," James said, looking up quickly. "Anything's fine. I'm qualified with everything you have there."
"That's my boy," Jack joked, practically beaming. "I knew I wouldn't let those skills get rusty!"
Jack picked out a Glock and an HK before backtracking to grab his spare Webley and holster, for old time's sake. "Hey, look what I got for you!" he called out as he headed back to where he'd left James, holding the Webley out. "What happened to yours, anyway? You weren't wearing it when you came through the rift. You still have one at least, don't you?"
James, however, was on the phone, and ignored Jack completely. "Yes. No, three, actually." Looking over when Jack nudged him he started walking to the cog door, "Well, of course he did, wasn't even up for debate. Yes, I will. You too," he added after a second's pause and then closed the phone.
"Of course I did, what?" Jack asked as he offered James his choice of the guns as they headed to the SUV.
"The Webley. That you got the spare Webley out of storage for me." James gave a small smile as he took it and strapped it on.
"I'm beginning to think Ianto knows me a little too well," Jack said with a laugh.
"Not such a bad thing."
"No, I suppose it's not. Come on, I'm driving, so you're navigating. Think you can do that?"
James nodded, climbing in the SUV. "I think I can manage that," he said as he set to work bringing up the necessary details from the onboard computer.
"Good." Jack nodded as he pulled out of the garage. "Didn't know how much had changed between now and when you're from."
"More than you'd like." James shrugged. "Less than you'd think."
"Sounds about what I expected. Take this left up ahead?"
"Yeah," James said as he typed, "then it'll be straight on for a while."
After riding in silence for a few minutes Jack looked over at James. "You know, when we get there you could, if you wanted…."
"No." James shook his head quickly. "I'm not staying in the car."
Jack snorted. "How'd you know I was going to ask you that?"
"I am you, remember? I. I know I seem a little a little off my game, but I can do this." James wasn't pleading, his tone was flat and calm.
Jack held up a hand. "Hey, no arguments from me. I can't think of anyone else I'd rather have watching my back than me. I always thought I was one of the most capable people I know."
Quirking his eyebrow, James looked at Jack. "That is the most surreal statement I've heard in a long time."
"What can I say, I excel at self-promotion. Even if it's not my actual self that I'm self-promoting."
"You do realize that sentence made very little sense."
"I like confusing people. Keeps them on their toes."
James smiled. "Sounds familiar. Okay, take the second right and then we'll be there."
Jack maneuvered the SUV around the sharp turn and pulled in front of a disused warehouse that looked in danger of collapsing at any moment. Entire sections of the roof were missing, probably blown away in a storm at some point, a number of the windows were broken, and others were boarded up. "What do the scans say?"
"Umm," James said as he typed, "it looks like three small items came through."
"Any witnesses around?" There didn't appear to be anything but abandoned buildings in various states of disrepair within sight, but it was always better safe than sorry.
"Nope, nothing to worry about on that front. Not a soul around."
"Excellent!" Jack rubbed his hands together, an excited glint in his eyes. "So, what do you say? Ready for some field work? You, me, random rift garbage?"
"Can't wait," James said with dry enthusiasm.
"Ianto?" Jack called into the radio.
"Here, Jack," was the immediate reply.
"We're at the coordinates. Looks like an easy pickup. We'll send you back some scans in a few minutes."
"I will be awaiting them with bated breath."
Jack snickered. "Hey, wait a minute, how'd you know it was me and not James?"
"I know you too well."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Use your imagination, sir."
"Have you been thinking the worst of me again? You wound me, you know that Ianto?" Jack could hear Ianto's laughter over the radio. "We'll check back with you in a bit. Jack out."
James, listening to Jack's part of the exchange, had a sad smile on his face. "Ianto giving you trouble?"
"No more than usual." He looked over at James. "Are you sure you're up for this?"
James pulled out the Glock and made a show of checking it over. "Try and stop me."
"O-kay," Jack said, drawing out the word. "Then, let's go." He opened the door, grabbing the scanner before getting out.
"There's no one around, you really think we need this kind of firepower?" He motioned to the three weapons Jack had given him earlier. "You only had the Webley and a scanner when you came for me."
Jack laughed. "Valid point. All right, I've got the Glock, just in case, but you can lock the HK up. But you have to take the Webley. It's tradition. Period military makes me look good, and I'm not having you spoil that image of me while you're here."
"Aye, aye, Captain," James said as he snapped a sharp salute to Jack before taking a second to secure the HK in the weapon lockbox.
Jack looked at the empty warehouses and weed-filled lots that lined the street. "No lights coming from any of them," he said. "Just the lampposts. Don't even know if there's power inside. I'd better grab torches for us." He pulled out two, tossing one to James, and then made sure the SUV's locks and alarms were set before walking towards the building where they'd traced that the signal was coming from.
"Jack," James said warily, "Did you check the CCTV footage for any disappearing, reappearing inanimate objects?"
"I tried. I didn't see anything, but with all these warehouses it was hard to tell. Can't hurt for us to be on our toes though."
"Always," James responded, with a nod.
"No one's been here in months, if not years," Jack said, pointing to the crumbling front steps, covered in dust and dead leaves. Looking back, he could see that their footsteps leading from the SUV were obvious along the path.
"Nothing that's come in or out the front door, anyway," James corrected.
"Ah, right. There are plenty of other ways to get inside, especially if you've got a TARDIS. Is the scanner picking up anything?"
"Just the residual rift energy left over from a typical rift event," James said with a shake of his head. "It's showing a few small things came through, books maybe?"
"Nothing else?"
"Nope."
"All right, send the preliminary scans back to Ianto and then we'll head on in and retrieve the rift debris." He waited until James finished typing and nodded that he was ready before pulling out his gun and, with a carefree grin, slowly opening the door.
Jack went through first, just taking two steps in with James staying in the doorway to guard their flank. Despite the broken windows and holes in the roof letting in a little light from the lampposts on the street the warehouse was still fairly dark. Flicking on his torch, Jack panned it around trying to see into the far corners. The room was so cavernous that the beam didn't reach to the other side. It played off boxes, a pile of broken chairs, packing crates, random bits of garbage and discarded coffee cups that were strewn about.
"I don't see anything that looks like it came through the rift," he said over his shoulder to James as he walked deeper into the warehouse, his torch sweeping back and forth across the floor. "I'm going to explore a bit. You stay here and see if you can pinpoint the reading."
"The rift signature's still as strong as ever." Slowly moving the scanner around James walked in a bit before he could get a clearer reading. "Looks like it's coming from the far left corner."
Jack headed over in the direction James indicated, the beam of his torch on the ground ahead of him. "Huh." He stopped abruptly. "There are some footprints here. They start about a meter from this pile of newspapers and end randomly in the middle of-" He spun around. "Get out of here, James. It's a trap!"
James took one step towards the door when a gunshot rang out and he fell. Dead. Shot through the head.
"James!" Immediately dropping the torch to pull his Glock, Jack ran over to provide cover. But there was no one to provide cover from. The shot had come from a completely empty section of the warehouse.
"Put down the weapons, Captain," a cultured voice called out from nowhere. "I won't hesitate to shoot you as well."
"If you'd wanted to shoot me you would've done it already," Jack said, trying to get a response. The more he could get the other man to talk the better a chance Jack had of figuring out where he was hiding.
"Oh, I have no qualms about killing you, Captain. But I do abhor making messes unnecessarily."
"Then why did you kill James?" Using exaggeratedly slow movements Jack slid the Glock into his pocket, reaching for his radio and trying to turn it on without being obvious. "Lots of blood and gore with a head shot."
"I couldn't let him escape, could I? Not after all the trouble I went through to bring him here. Hand out of your pocket, Captain. There is no need for the rest of your lovely team to be made aware of your situation just yet." A bullet smashed into the ground right next to Jack's foot. "I need your hands where I can see them. Now. I'm afraid I must insist."
Jack slowly pulled his hand out, spreading it wide to show it was empty. The radio remained in his pocket, but he was fairly sure he'd managed to turn it on. With any luck, Ianto would be able to overhear something and send the cavalry soon.
"Place your other gun on the floor. And do it slowly, if you would be so kind."
"I don't suppose there's any way I can convince you to let us go?" Jack asked as he pulled the Webley out of its holster and placed it down by his feet.
A deep laughter resonated from the far side of the warehouse. "Oh, my dear Captain. You are quite the amusing one, aren't you?"
"Even when I have a gun pointed at me I aim to please." Jack spoke a little louder than usual, attempting to be overheard on the radio.
"And here it was my understanding that pleasing people was something that you were always proud to excel at; guns not withstanding, of course."
"Why are you threatening me with one then?"
"How can you be certain that I am?"
"I considered the bullets being fired at me to be a fairly strong clue."
"My, aren't you the clever one. Not clever enough, I'm afraid."
From the way the echoes bounced around the room, Jack was pretty sure he'd narrowed down where the other man was standing. He shifted, reaching down for the Webley on the floor.
"I don't think so," the voice called out as a gun fired, hitting Jack squarely in the chest and sending him sprawling a few feet from where James still lay. "I expected more from you."
Jack struggled to roll over, to get to his gun, but the pain made it impossible. He was dying, and he knew it, but he was going to fight against it as long as he could. There was the sound of footsteps approaching and he struggled to keep his eyes opened to see who was behind everything. "Who are you?"
"You haven't figured it out?" The man's laugh rang through the warehouse again. "Oh, Captain, I have to say. I am so disappointed in you."
Jack was going to try for a witty rejoinder, but, before he could come up with one, he lost the fight against the pain and passed out.
part three