donutsweeper (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
donutsweeper) wrote2009-06-06 10:34 pm
donutsweeper) wrote2009-06-06 10:34 pm
Entry tags:
Break And Brace Part 3
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
part two
With a gasp, Jack came back to life.
"It's all right, Jack," he heard himself, James, call out to him. "Everything is okay."
Jack opened his eyes to find he was lying on the floor of a prison cell, his face pressed against the cold concrete. Through the bars he could see James in the adjoining cell, sitting on the bench that ran against the back wall and looking no worse for wear after his most recent death. "Great, a cell, just what I'd always wanted." Jack pushed himself up on all fours with a groan and then, once his balance was back, got to his feet. "You okay?" he asked.
"Yeah, lot of experience with that."
"Dying or getting shot in the head?"
"Both."
Snorting, Jack said, "Why does that not fill me with enthusiasm for what my future holds?"
"Is what it is."
Jack looked down at his wrist and then at James'. "He didn't take our vortex manipulators?" Jack asked, opening his up.
"No need. Already tried mine." James gave a half-shrug. "Must have installed some kind of time shielding. Not easy, but doable."
"Guess he thought of everything."
"Or tried to." James laughed. "There's a clean shirt you can change into on the bench behind you. If you're interested."
"If I'm interested?" Jack mocked, tugging off the torn and stained shirt and giving it a disdainful sniff. "I don't even want to think about what was on that warehouse floor or how long it had been there." Grabbing the clean shirt, he put it on and buttoned it up. "Awfully nice of our captor to get the size right."
"Wasn't it just?"
"Speaking of our friendly megalomaniac, has he made an appearance yet?"
"No. But-" James pointed to the cameras on either end of the hallway outside their cells.
"So it's smile, we're on candid camera then, hmm? May as well give him a show." Jack waved cheerily at them before turning to James. "Well, what are you thinking?"
"Walked into a trap," James said succinctly.
"No, really? What was you first clue? When he faked that rift activity that led us to the warehouse or when he shot you dead and knew you'd recover? Sorry," Jack held up a conciliatory hand, "Sorry. Just blowing off some steam here, I know this isn't your fault. I led us right into it, didn't I?" He put his hand to his chest, tapping it. "My team, my world, my time. My fault."
"There's no way you could have known."
"I should have." Jack scrubbed a hand across his chin.
"No. It would be like trying to beat someone at their own game when you didn't even have a clue what the board was supposed to look like."
Crossing his arms, Jack shrugged. "Maybe," he conceded. "But I still feel like we're missing something. I never saw the shooter, did you?"
"No."
"And the scanner didn't show anything either, did it? Just the same reading the whole time of the small rift event and the three books, or whatever it was, that came through."
"Except they didn't."
"But the scanner thought that they did," Jack pointed out with a sigh. "It was being tricked somehow."
"How?" James leaned forward, head tilted and eyebrows raised.
"What do you know that pretends to be one thing when it's something else entirely? Something with a chameleon circuit that's capable of disguising itself as any number of things?"
"You think we were right then."
"I do indeed." Jack lounged against the wall, his arms still crossed, the picture of nonchalance. "What we have, my friend, is a TARDIS."
"A TARDIS," James echoed with a sigh.
"Yep. Which means that the person pulling the strings in this game is a Time Lord."
"And that," the refined voice from the warehouse said as he turned the corner, approaching their cages, "Would be me. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Captains Jack Harkness. Allow me to introduce myself. You may call me the Master."
Both Jack and James instantly jumped to their feet. This was not the man they had known as the Master, but rather an earlier, or perhaps somehow, later, regeneration. Still a fairly short man, perhaps five feet seven or eight, but sporting a beard- not a full one, but instead a goatee and mustache with a touch of gray gracing the corners. Dark hair, combed back, accentuated his wide brow and hook nose. Cultured.
A man who looked at them without his typical twisted glee. Without any recognition at all. It was eerie.
"The Master?" Jack looked at James, then being careful to keep his face blank, turned to their captor.
"Ah, my fame precedes me, excellent." A Cheshire cat-like grin appeared. "Torchwood may not have the expertise that UNIT claims to possess, but I must applaud your initiative. Saving the Crown from threats beyond imagination is simply a wonderful charter, isn't it? Queen Victoria was such a dear sweet woman; she certainly saw the Doctor for what he was, a menace to her time and place."
"That was a misunderstanding on her part," Jack said, standing stiffly and as close to the bars as he could.
"Now, now. I am not one to quibble, but the Torchwood Foundation Charter of 1879 named the Doctor specifically as an enemy of the Crown." James opened his mouth to protest, but the Master cut him off with a cocked eyebrow. "What sort of friendly megalomaniac would I be if I did not do the necessary research? The, what is it you call it? The internet? So many wonderful things that can be discovered with a few simple clicks."
"I'm glad you're finding my time to your liking," Jack drawled. "I don't suppose you'd be interested in telling me why you've chosen to stay in the here and now? Or what was the reasoning behind bringing another version of me here? Or why you concocted this... ruse to capture me and my future self?"
"All in good time, my dear Captains," he practically purred, "All in good time. Now, if you will excuse me, I have things I must attend to." And then, after offering another one of his grins, he turned and walked back down the hall.
Waiting until the footsteps faded away Jack turned to James. "So."
"The Master."
"Yeah, how 'bout that," Jack said coldly, repressing a shudder; his time as the Master's prisoner aboard the Valiant was far too fresh in his mind.
"Gotta say, I did not see that coming."
"Me either." Jack walked up to the bars separating him and James, gesturing for James to come over. "Well, the man certainly did his research, I have to give him that. Quoting from both the Torchwood charter and Queen Victoria's speech? A little overly dramatic, if you ask me." He dropped his voice to barely above a whisper. "It's a good thing that we never made any official record of what happened in the year that wasn't, if you know what I mean. I hate to think…." Jack trailed off with a shudder.
"It's over," James said softly. "We survived it."
"Yeah, we did." Jack smiled. "And we'll survive this too. Although, what do you say we try to make this experience a tad shorter than the last?"
James raised an eyebrow. "As in let's blow this popsicle joint?"
"You have anything better to do? Manicure appointment or something?"
Giving a shy, half smile, James shrugged. "Pedicure actually."
"Aha! I knew it!" Jack said with a laugh. "So, how are your lock picking skills? I haven't let them get rusty, have I, old man?"
"Old man?" James snorted. "What does that make you, a young whippersnapper?"
"This young whippersnapper can still pick a lock faster than you!" Jack laughed. "It was awful nice of the Master to provide us with cufflinks, wasn't it?" Jack walked over to the front of his cage, stopping in front of the door. "Now, we'll have to be quick, thanks to those cameras there." He waited for James to approach the lock on his own cage before offering a smile. "So, we'll do it together on three. One." The cufflink was off and he began picking the lock with it. "Two." The tell-tale snick of the mechanism getting tripped was barely audible, but he could feel it as it happened. "Three!" he shouted, swinging the door open, only to turn and see James' door was open as well.
"Took you long enough," James said, almost smugly.
"Oh, rub it in why don't you." The two men fell into a matching stride, not exactly a run, but faster than a brisk walk. "Besides, it wasn't a fair bet. You've had more time to practice."
They had no choice but to follow the hallway as it curved to the right, in the direction they'd seen the Master go: there were no windows or doors, no ventilation shafts, no way to escape other than to travel down the hallway itself.
They finally came to a stop when the hall abruptly stopped in front of an unlatched fire exit. "This feels wrong." James reached out tentatively to touch the door, examining for booby traps, but finding none.
"Yeah, it does," Jack agreed, "but what other choice do we have? You want to go back and hang out in the cells for a while?"
"No, but…." James trailed off with a shrug.
"Then we go forward." Jack looked to James, waiting until he nodded his assent, and then opened the door.
The room was dark, smelling vaguely of chemicals and ash. Entering cautiously, they walked as carefully as possible, heading towards a small crack of light coming from a door or window on the opposite wall.
"Ah, Captains," the Master called out as the fire door swung shut behind them with a loud bang. "Welcome."
The overhead lights turned on then, illuminating the room with a weak glow. They looked around, realizing they were in a laboratory of some sort, with a computer taking up nearly an entire wall to their left. The other walls were bare breeze block, freshly painted a soft white. In the center of the room were two metal rods coming out of the cement floor topped with bronze domes. The fire door that they'd entered the room through had closed flush to the wall, with no handle or knob and the light they had thought was an exit was actually a strategically placed strip of florescent tape on the far wall.
An observation booth was cut into the far wall, starting at about shoulder height and continuing up to the raised ceiling. The Master was standing there, arms crossed, and looking down at them with a slight smile on his face behind a thick sheet of what appeared to be bulletproof glass.
"So good of you to finally join me."
"We aim to please," Jack drawled.
"I must admit, I am a little disappointed in how long it took for you to make your way here. I expected you," he checked his watch, "more than five minutes ago."
Jack wandered over to the computer. "Our apologies if we accidentally messed up your timetable," he said as he let his fingers ghost over the keys.
"Oh, no, no, no. I was merely concerned that you'd miss the show." There a touch of manic delight to the Master's voice that Jack had grown to know, and fear, during his year as the Master's prisioner. "And we certainly couldn't have that."
"The show?" James asked nervously. "Not sure I like the sound of that."
"Now, now, I set it up for your benefit. I am positive you shall appreciate it." A not too terribly comforting grin slowly made its way across the Master's face.
"Somehow, I don't think we will." Jack couldn't hide the annoyance in his voice and he began pressing buttons on the computer to have something to do, but there was no reaction from it. The screen remained blank.
"Without the proper password, I'm afraid that will do you no good," the Master explained patiently, as if talking to a child.
"I'm sure we could figure it out," Jack said calmly, refusing to sound defensive. "We're smarter than you give us credit for, right, James?"
"Oh, absolutely," was James' solemn reply.
"Really?" The Master steepled his fingers under his chin. "Pray tell."
"Well, to start with," Jack said as he wandered away from the computer to approach the Master's glass fortress. "Your reason for bring a future version of me here is quite obvious."
Laughing at that, the Master said, "Oh, do enlighten me. After the questions you asked earlier I'm sure your feeble attempts to understand the situation will be rather entertaining."
"Blinovitch Limitation Effect," James and Jack said in unison. And then both burst out laughing at the look of shock that flittered by on the Master's face before his mask of indifference slammed back into place.
"Very clever. I must admit, Captain, perhaps you are more intelligent than I gave you credit for." He tilted his head, giving a slight nod as if he had decided something. "Care to apprise me further on the rest of my plan?"
Jack looked at James who offered a 'go on' motion with his hand so Jack took the lead. "All right, assuming for a minute here that you actually are the incredibly brilliant man that all the UNIT records and reports made you out to be-"
"Oh, that would be a safe assumption for you to make."
"Although, I have to say, I never expected you to be so modest," Jack added with a wry smile before continuing. "Now, one of the wonders about the Blinovitch Limitation Effect is that there will be an extremely powerful and dangerous energy discharge if two versions of the same person, who are from different time lines, were to come into contact with each other. I believe a fairly obvious assumption to make is that since you went through so much effort to bring a future version of me here, instead of settling for some person on the street, there is something about my unique nature that would increase its effects. Otherwise, why bother tangling with Torchwood and drawing us into your scheme in the first place?"
"You can not think of another reason as to why I might have chosen you?" The Master sneered as he brought his hands down and casually slipped them into his pockets.
Jack imitated the Master, making a point to appear relaxed and uninterested in the fact he and James were trapped, and leaned lightly against the computer, arms crossed lazily across his chest. "There is the minor fact that pulling someone through the rift isn't the simplest of maneuvers, even for someone with your special talents. There was a very good chance the subject wouldn't survive either the journey or the landing and one of the key aspects to the Blinovitch Limitation Effect actually occurring is that the two temporal versions need to be alive."
"Why, yes," the Master admitted with a touch of aplomb, "That might help."
"But, lucky for you, no matter how rough the trip, you knew any future version of me would survive it."
"Yes, lucky for me."
"So, we're left with two questions."
"Oh, don't leave me on pins and needles now. You're doing so well. Go on. What two questions?"
"I believe my past self is referring to is the why and the how," James said, speaking up from the back of the room, where he had been examining the door they'd entered through.
"After all you've told me just now, I find it difficult to believe you haven't figured out those for yourself as well."
"Oh, I have. As for the why," Jack smiled, "your TARDIS appears to be functioning to some extent. From what we could see of her in the CCTV footage her chameleon circuit was still working properly and she obviously was able to move around somewhat, but I'm going to go out on a limb and make the brash suggestion that she does have something wrong with her. And it most likely involves her time traveling capabilities."
"Brash? You, Captain? Hardly typical for you."
Jack grinned widely, his white teeth sparkling in the dim light. "I've been called worse, isn't that right?" He looked over at James, who gave an affirmative nod, before turning his attention back to the Master. "So. How am I doing so far?"
"Surprisingly competent."
"I aim to please," he said disarmingly, spreading his hands out wide. "So what happened? Were you trying to get to Earth, or away from Earth, and somehow got grabbed by the rift? I bet the TARDIS didn't like that. She likes to travel under her own power. She doesn't tend to be the biggest fan of being yanked off in unusual directions with no say in the matter."
The Master had an odd look on his face, a touch of admiration mixed with a slight sneer and bemused smile. "You are an expert on the TARDIS as well? My, my, my."
"I have hidden depths."
"Indeed."
"But, I'm sure there is quite a bit more to the story other than what I've deduced, isn't there?"
"You would be correct."
"I don't suppose you would care to enlighten us as to the rest of it?"
"Might be a little less contrary then," James drawled.
The Master shook his head with a laugh. "I must admit your contrariness is not something that overly concerns me. I'm quite positive I shall have no difficulty in obtaining your cooperation."
"Really?" Jack asked with a laugh. "You seem awfully sure of yourself on that front, but I hate to let you in on a little secret here: Neither me nor my future self," he pointed to himself and then James in turn, "have any desire to help you in any plan of yours. Whether it involves world domination or simply part of your new formula for picking the ponies, I am not interested."
The Master stood there for a moment, looking down at Jack, before saying, "You should be."
"Oooh, I'm quaking in my boots, Master. That almost sounded like a threat. Didn't that sound like that might have been a threat?"
"It did," James replied succinctly.
"It was," the Master said.
"What are you going to do to a guy who can't die? Poison me? Shoot me? Been there, done that. Electrocution, suffocation, radiation? Experienced it all. Can't think of anything you could threaten to do to me that would result in my helping you today."
The resulting laugh from the Master echoed through the room. "Oh, excuse me," he said, hand on his chest as he tried to contain his laughter. "You thought that I was actually threatening you? I'm almost disappointed that you thought so little of me."
Jack looked nervously over at James, who bit his lip and seemed to hunch in on himself at the news. "So, who," Jack said, clearing his throat carefully and making an effort to keep his voice steady, "Who were you threatening then?"
"I've heard it said that a picture is worth a thousand words. So why don't I show you?" With a flair for the dramatic, the Master's hands, which had been empty a minute before, suddenly held a thin silver remote, seemingly appearing out of thin air. "Shall we see what's behind door number one?" he asked, pressing the button.
The large screen above the computer flickered to life. A picture slowly came into focus. A staircase with a railing. High ceiling. Some desks.
"But, that's, that's the Hub," James said nervously, approaching the screen to get a better look.
"Why, yes it is. Imagine that," the Master said dryly before snorting.
"You bugged us?" Jack squawked, indignantly.
"I like to call it strategic information gathering. And don't be too hard on yourself, my dear Captain. This was by no means the first time I have implemented such a technique. There was a wonderful World Peace Conference when I had such fun toying with Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and those lovely UNIT troops of his. I always found that dealing with the Brigadier was rather entertaining. I do so hope that I will find my time with you to be similarly so."
"I'll do my best," Jack replied through a clenched jaw.
"Well, I appreciate the intent. Now," the Master raised his eyebrows, "if you would be so kind to take a little look at what I consider to be your motivation?" The Master smiled and clicked another button.
The picture on the screen changed. It showed Ianto in the boardroom clearing enough rift junk off the table to create some space for the Chinese food he'd brought back.
"So precise and studious that one is, don't you agree, Captains? Just look at how careful he is, keeping like with like; even the broken pieces are grouped together. But I suppose that is the archivist in him coming out." They watched as Ianto consulted the inventory of rift debris and added a few items to one of the boxes based on what he'd just read. He'd just opened the lid to a different box when his mobile rang.
Snapping the phone open, Ianto immediately said into it, "Jack?" without pausing to check the display. "Oh." His face fell and his eyes closed for a moment. "Owen. No, I still haven't heard back from them. I know you said that I was worrying over nothing but- What? Really? And the SUV was just left there? Well, if it was locked that probably means Jack and James never left that warehouse. Did you go in and check- no, no, of course I know you did that. Sorry, I'm just." Ianto sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "How much blood? I suppose we're lucky that 'fatal' and Jack don't go hand in hand then. Right. No, that's fine. As long as the SUV gets back here, I don't think it matters much which one of you drove it. No, that's not necessary. We've got plenty of Chinese here, even if Jack and James show back up." There was a long pause as Ianto listened to whatever Owen was saying. "Gwen's already on her way. She'll probably get here before you. All right." He nodded. "See you then."
The Master clicked a button and the feed from the camera froze. "Your team seems rather lost in your absence, Captain. Such a pity, I looked forward to being able to butt heads with Torchwood to see how it would compare with my experiences with UNIT. But I must admit, I find myself terribly disappointed in your organization so far."
"We figured you out, didn't we?"
The Master tilted his head. "I shall concede to you on that point, however that was not Torchwood per se, but in actuality, it was you who ascertained the specifics behind my capturing you, not your team."
"You really shouldn't underestimate my team, Master. Those who have done so in the past haven't fared so well." Jack put the slightest bit of a threat behind his words.
"I shall consider myself duly warned. However," the Master laughed. "I think I shall take my chances."
Jack shrugged, caught James' eye and gave him a 'Hey, I tried' look. James merely sighed in response.
The Master smiled as he watched their exchange. Then, with another dramatic flourish, he turned back on the camera feed. Ianto was still sorting and cleaning off the table.
"Now, what do you think he's going to do when he finds- Oh, dear me- that note you wrote, it does appear that he has." With another click the camera zoomed in on Ianto, his forehead crinkling as he read it.
"A TARDIS?" Ianto put the paper down for a moment and shook his head. "No, it can't be."
"Considering Torchwood's charter, and given young Mr. Jones' experiences at Canary Wharf with Torchwood One, his assumption that a TARDIS would mean the presence of the Doctor is rather understandable, is it not?"
"Ianto?" Gwen called out from somewhere off camera in the Hub.
"In the conference room," Ianto replied without looking up from the note.
"Has there been any word from Owen? It'd be nice if," Gwen trailed off as she entered and saw the look on Ianto's face. "Ianto, what's wrong?"
"If the Doctor was here, Jack's Doctor, he'd have told us, right?"
"Oh, sweetie, I'm sure he would have." Gwen saw the paper rustle in Ianto's hand, but she didn't comment on it. "Owen and Tosh on their way then?"
"Yeah, they're bringing the SUV and some samples they collected at that warehouse where we lost Jack and James."
Gwen reached out and laid a hand on Ianto's arm. "We'll find them, Ianto. And we'll bring them home."
The screen clicked off. "Such a touching little scene. Interesting though, that his first assumption was that you were keeping secrets from him, was it not?"
"Yes. Utterly fascinating," Jack said dryly. He crossed his arms, allowing his annoyance to be seen. "Can we move things along now? We both saw the show. We laughed. We cried. Now what?"
"I am surprised you have to ask." The Master gestured to the metal rods in the center of the room.
"Well, it's obvious you managed to plant a few cameras in the Hub. Congratulations on managing to breach our security. That's not an easy task, but by no means beyond a man of your skills. But I fail to see what the point behind this little demonstration was."
The Master shook his head, his disappointment evident. "You really believe that I would go through the effort of acquiring admittance to your facility and only leave cameras in my wake? Captain. You can not be that stupid or naive."
"I'm not." Jack looked over at James. "We are not," he corrected himself.
"Have you ever seen one of these before?" the Master asked, holding up a small silver cartridge. "Very effective for the quick and sudden release of a multitude of gases. Care to guess how many of these I hid inside your lovely headquarters? Or which gas I chose to fill them with?" He laughed at the look on their faces. "I thought not. Now, about you two, those rods and the Blinovitch Limitation Effect. I assume I might find you a bit more cooperative now?"
James spoke up, "What exactly do you need from us?"
"Just a little of your energy for my ship. When the rift grabbed the TARDIS out of time and space a significant amount of its power was drained while, at the same time, severing the link to the time vortex therefore preventing the TARDIS from recharging. Now, I could of course use my own energy to facilitate a jump back to a more amiable time and space, but," the Master laughed. "Why would I want to do that when I had such a convenient power source right here in Cardiff available to me?"
"And by power source," Jack said dryly, "You mean me."
"Exactly," the Master replied, stroking his beard. "One can not help but be enthralled by all that lovely vortex energy running through you."
"Right." Jack said, stepping up closer to the Master's viewing booth. "Running through me. And I was right here this whole time. Why not just kidnap me and drain my energy? Why go through all this rigamarole opening rift events to pull a future version of me here? It must have used up some of your precious power to manhandle the rift with such precision like that."
The Master waved away Jack's question. "Simple questions from simple minds," he said dismissively. "You have no sense of propriety. There is a certain manner in which things must be done."
"Seems like you were risking a lot though. What if you'd brought an earlier version of me? One that didn't have my special… gifts?"
Laughing, the Master shook his head. "You consider yourself familiar with Time Lords and yet you ask such a thing? I'm almost disappointed in you, I would have thought that you realized I have a better concept of transdimensional physics than that."
"Perhaps you do, but it didn't stop you from getting sucked through the rift now did it?"
"That will be enough!" The Master held up the remote. "It would do you well to remember that the fate of your team lies in my hands, Captain. Do not test me."
"No, I suppose altruism is not a part of your nature."
"It is not something I have ever been accused of, no. Now, if you would be so kind as to take your positions? I think the current Captain Harkness should stand," he pointed to the metal rod on the right side of the room, closer to the computer, "over there and if the future version would stand next to the other rod." He paused, giving the two Captains pointed looks as he waited for them to obey.
Jack looked over at James, who bit his lip and then shrugged. Jack replied with a wry smile and a shrug of his own. They didn't have a much of a choice here, not with the team potentially at risk.
"See, now that wasn't truly all that difficult, was it?" The Master laughed. "Now, each of you place your hand on the dome top of the rod please." Seeing how they hesitated he added, "All the domes will do is gather the energy that is released when you touch and channel it down the rod and to my TARDIS. Come on, Captains, either the easy way or the hard way, your choice." He waved the remote back and forth a few times.
"Fine." Jack walked over to his 'assigned' bronze dome and rested his hand on top. "Let's get this over with." The sooner they powered back up the TARDIS the faster the Master would go back to his own time line; good riddance.
James nodded. "Right," he said, going to the other dome and placing his hand on top of it as well.
"Ready and waiting for your next order, Master," Jack said, not even trying to hide his snide tone.
"Excellent." The Master was smiling a not terribly comforting smile. "Now to test the strength of the Blinovitch Limitation Effect between two fixed points in time and space. I need you to turn and face each other." Jack and James complied, they were standing just over an arm's length apart. "Reach out your free hands, please. But do not touch, not yet." By keeping their elbows bent they stopped just shy of touching one another.
Jack looked at James. "Somehow, I have a feeling this is going to hurt."
James nodded, biting his bottom lip, but didn't say anything.
"Just keep your eyes on me," Jack said, unsure exactly what was bothering his older self or why, "It's okay. We'll get through this. We'll get the team through this. No one is going to die today. Not permanently, anyway."
"Yes, not permanently, anyway," the Master said, laughing. "Isn't that such a wonderful talent of yours? And here I thought Time Lords had the ultimate trick when it came to cheating death with our lovely ability to regenerate. But, even we are limited in that regard, while you will just keep coming back. Again and again and again. And yet, still human." He shuddered, looking slightly disgusted.
"Well, if that wasn't the case, all your hard work here." Jack motioned to the set up of the lab and to James,"would have been for nothing, wouldn't it? You might actually be stuck here with your less than perfectly functioning TARDIS with no convenient power source to jumpstart it. And what would you do then? I know you've read the Torchwood and UNIT files so you have to be aware that there's no Gallifrey with its helpful High Council of Time Lords to render their assistance and therefore you would be left with only one option. The Doctor. And, perhaps I'm mistaken, but something tells me you really would rather not be indebted to him." Jack paused to smile sweetly at the before continuing with a slightly harsher tone. "I'd think you'd be grateful for my immortality."
The Master glared down at Jack, his eyes narrowing and mouth forming a thin line. "Do not attempt to pressure me, Captain. You will not like the result. Now, no more wasting time. Have your hands resting firmly on the domes and reach out and, when I count to three, press your palms together."
With a sigh, Jack and James assumed their positions, one hand on the dome and the other inches from touching their counterpart. "See you on the flip side," Jack said to James with a grin.
"One." The Master ignored Jack's comments. "Two. Three."
The two Captains touched, releasing a blinding light and massive electric discharge that crackled and arced through the air even as the bronze domes fed the power down the metal poles. Their palms, the contact point between them, sizzled for a moment as the electricity coursed through them, causing them to twitch uncontrollably as it fried their synapses. Then the energy exploded and the two men went flying. James was slammed into the wall behind him while Jack crashed into the computer before falling to the floor, flat on his face.
The room smelled like ozone and burnt barbeque. Jack had come back from the dead to the stench of burned flesh before, but it was never a pleasant experience. With a groan he pushed himself off the floor. A quick look let him know that the observation booth where the Master had been issuing his orders from was now dark, the window showing a spider web of light cracks. Still a little dizzy from the death, and staggering a bit, Jack made it to his feet and lurched over to where James lay, sprawled against the wall.
"James?" he called out softly, checking him over as carefully as he could without risking skin to skin contact with the other man. "Jack? Can you hear me?"
James groaned, brow furrowing. He opened his eyes and blinked blearily up at Jack a few times before lifting a hand to shakily rub over his face. After a moment he said, "I don't think I'm much of a fan of the Blinovitch Limitation Effect."
Jack laughed, relaxing a bit as he leaned back on his haunches. "You know something? Neither am I."
"He gone?" James jerked his thumb toward the observation booth.
"Don't know, I'm afraid. He might be. Gone for good or at least off checking on his TARDIS. All I can say is that there's no sign of him at least," Jack said with a shrug. "It was dark up there when I woke up."
"Think he went after the team?"
"Doubt it. All he wanted was to get out of here and back to his proper time line. I don't think he's the type for pointless revenge. At least not yet."
"I hope you're right." Using the wall for leverage, James got himself sitting up. "Did you die too?"
"Oh, yeah. Smashing into the computer. Can't say I'm sorry to see I pretty much destroyed it," Jack admitted with a laugh.
James looked over and saw the broken remnants of the computer and grinned. "Can't say I am either."
"Feeling up for some reconnoitering?"
"What do you have in mind?"
With a smile, Jack said, "What do you say, do you think you have it in you for another jailbreak?"
"Always."
"We know we followed the Master down the hall and into this room, so there has to be a way out. We just didn't have a chance to find it before." Jack pushed off the floor, getting to his feet. "I'd offer you a hand to help you up, but …" Jack shrugged. "I don't think you'd find it all that helpful, under the circumstances."
"Probably not," James admitted. He used the wall to steady himself as he stood up carefully.
"You okay?" Jack asked after seeing James sway slightly.
James answered with a quick, "I'm all right."
"Of course you are," Jack said with a knowing smile. "Jack Harkness, in all his incarnations, always is. I saw you looking at the fire door we came through earlier. Is there any chance of us getting out that way?"
"Nope." James gave the door a dismissive wave. "Steel frame, metal door, no handle and the hinges are on the other side."
"Well, so much for that exit, then. So, since the Master did manage to escape this room and get into the observation booth we need to figure out how. I didn't hear a TARDIS, did you?"
James closed his eyes, thinking for a moment. "Nope."
"Well, if he didn't use his TARDIS, the Master must have had some sort of physical way of getting out of here and up there. A secret door, or latch or something. We just need to find it for ourselves." Jack looked around, his eye settling on the remains of the computer. "Let's hope that the computer didn't hold any secrets that we desperately needed or we are going to be really out of luck here."
"Let's hope," James agreed.
"Okay, the floor is cement. Solid except for where the rods come out." Jack lay down flat, his cheek on the floor and examined it carefully, looking at it from every angle. "Completely flat, completely even. No lines, no creases, no raised portions. Ergo, no hidden way out through the floor."
"The walls then?"
Jack nodded and rubbed his hands together. "Excellent idea. Let's get this act on the road." Jack began running his fingers along the breeze blocks on the wall opposite the computer; tapping every few inches, pressing in some places and scratching in others. James did the same on the back wall near the fire door.
"What if he comes back?" James asked after a few minutes.
"Then he comes back," Jack said matter-of-factly with a shrug as he turned to look at James. "If we're still here we'll find out what he plans for us next. Most likely it'll involve another run at the Blinovitch Limitation Effect. My guess is that right now he's off testing how much power our first attempt managed to feed to the TARDIS. If it was enough it's possible, unlikely, but possible, that he's already gone and happily on his way off creating his own special brand of chaos back in the timeline somewhere."
"Doubt we'll be that lucky." James snorted.
"You never know," Jack retorted. He moved to searching the far wall, fingers flicking quickly, but carefully over the surface. "Could be this whole thing is over and all we have to do is figure a way out of here and then get back to the Hub and get you home. Piece of cake."
"Right." James made a soft noise in the back of his throat. Not quite a laugh, but not a sound of disagreement or dismissal either.
"Okay," Jack conceded, "Piece of something then."
James started examining the wall with the observation booth. "Can't believe we cracked this," he said, his fingers skimming over one of the cracks.
"I've always been told of the powerful properties of touch. I guess ours just has a little more power than others."
"If worse come to worse we could always try to break this further. Either hitting or punching it might make it shatter."
Jack rubbed his chin, giving the window a long look. "It's possible, but I'd have to say unlikely. The cracks don't seem quite deep enough and the only way I can think of to make them deeper is for us to touch again, so let's leave that as a last resort, okay?"
"Fine with me. That was not a pleasant experience."
"No, I certainly wouldn't be classifying it as that either. Had worse though," he said with a matter-of-fact tone. James shuddered just a little as he snorted an assent. "Hello? What have we here?" Jack was tugging lightly on the piece of florescent tape that they'd mistakenly thought to be an exit when they'd first entered the room. After a bit of work the strip came off, revealing a switch that was inset slightly so it sat perfectly flush to the wall. "Aha!"
James' head popped up and he walked over to get a better look at the switch. "Should we try it?"
"I don't see why not. I suppose there's a chance it might be a trap and rigged to kill us, but," Jack shrugged, "so?" He reached out-
"No!" James yelled, causing Jack to jerk his hand away. "I'll do it." Seeing the confused look on Jack's face, James clarified, "Just in case. If he somehow figured out a way to kill us for good. To destroy us." He shrugged. "It should be me. You know what they say: always kill the future version instead of the past one. If there's an option, at least."
"I have to admit I'm rooting for the nobody dying option myself," Jack said dryly, but he did move out of the way to let James approach the switch.
James shooed Jack further back and then flicked the switch. A section of the wall, from the corner to the observation booth, slid back and away, revealing a passage and a dimly lit staircase. "Well, that was anticlimactic," James said as he walked through the opening.
"Nothing wrong with anticlimactic. Anticlimactic is good. No explosions with anticlimactic." Jack followed James up the hidden staircase. It was steep, with two doors, one, off to their left off a small landing about halfway up the stairs that probably leading to the observation room, and another at the top of the stairs. "Any preference?"
James tried the handle to the first door and it swung open. They'd found the observation room. He cautiously walked up the four steps, poking his head into the room carefully in case there were any hidden traps, but it was barren and explosion-free.
"Anything?" Jack asked.
"Nope. No sign he was hurt when the glass cracked either."
"Any chance he's hiding in there somewhere?"
James ran a hand along the wall, finding a light switch and flicking it on. The room lit up instantly, showing three stark cement walls, the large windowed wall and a flat floor like the one in the lab. "Nope."
Jack sighed. "I don't suppose he happened to leave that remote there then, did he?"
"We ever that lucky?" James asked, stepping back into the hall.
"Nope. Well, we both knew that was too much to hope for," Jack said, dryly. "Then I suppose it's time to see what's behind door number two." He walked up the last steps and opened the door, being as careful and slow as possible, and peered through crack. "Damn it," he said in response to what he saw and flung the door open.
It was the warehouse. It was the damn warehouse. The same damn warehouse that the Master had used to bait the trap. Jack shook his head in disgust. "We were right here, all that time. When Owen and Tosh were searching it. And they never, we never," Jack paused and took a deep breath, rubbing the back of his neck and let out a tired sigh.
"So where's the TARDIS?" James asked softly. "Do you think he left?"
Jack closed his eyes for a moment, holding up a hand, as he tilted his head to listen carefully to something. "You were there," he said, gesturing slowly to where James had lain after being shot dead. "And I was standing… there." He shifted slightly. "And the Master was taunting me from," Jack opened his eyes and pointed to a large packing crate, "Over there."
James quirked an eyebrow at Jack and motioned for him to lead the way. "After you."
"I thought we were supposed to defer to our elders?" Jack joked quietly as he approached the crate he'd pinpointed as the TARDIS.
"Young whippersnapper," James muttered in reply.
"Better than being an old fogey." Jack looked back to see the glare James sent him. "I mean a debonair gentleman, who, while he happens to be older than me, is still in prime of his life?" Jack corrected quickly.
James harrumped half-heartedly.
"Hmmm." Jack reached out and brushed his fingers over the small brass padlock on the lip of the crate. "This is about the size for a TARDIS key, wouldn't you say? You want to have the honor, or should I?"
"Go ahead," James said, with a soft, almost wistful, tone of voice that had Jack stopping in his tracks.
"You? The Doctor?" There was a question that couldn't be asked there. Knowing too much about the future, your future, was a bad thing. Spoilers and all.
"Just. Just. Use your key," James said, motioning to the padlock.
"All right," Jack said carefully, pulling the chain from around his neck and testing the key in the lock. "Fits perfectly."
"Any TARDIS key will open any TARDIS; it's just the way they work," James said with a shrug. "I guess your average Time Lord wouldn't consider stealing someone else's TARDIS."
Jack grinned. "Lucky for us we're not Time Lords then." He turned the key and with a click the padlock unlocked and Jack opened the crate to reveal the console room of a TARDIS. The Master's TARDIS.
It was unlike the TARDIS that Jack was used to, one he didn't quite call home, but still dreamt about just the same. There was no comfortable coral or gentle curves. She was stark. White. Cold. Jack couldn't help but shudder as he walked in. Who could be comfortable surrounded by such sterility?
"I guess just like the outside, the inside can change as well," James said softly.
Jack stepped closer to the console as he spoke, eyes running over the readouts, taking stock of the condition of the TARDIS. "Looks like she's up and running again." With a jerk of his head he asked James to look at the results the TARDIS viewscreen was pulling up.
"Guess we were all the power she needed," James said, running a few of his own tests.
"All that vortex energy running through us? Nor surprising, really." Jack let his fingers trail over the console. "We can't just let him leave though. I know he has a whole history with UNIT and confrontations with the Doctor to do-"
"Not to mention that little incident with us."
"There is that," Jack said softly. "History says there are so many things he has yet to do, but. But I can't. We can't just let him go, despite the dangers of mucking about with the time stream." He looked up at James.
"No," James agreed, equally quiet. He bit his lip and looked up quickly, but failed to meet Jack's eyes. "We can't."
"Excellent." Jack rubbed his hands together. "How do you feel about a little sabotage?
James nodded. "I'm oddly okay with that."
"I'll start here, rerouting the Multi-Loop Stabilizer. Do you think you can create fluctuations in the Synchronic Feedback Checking Circuit? If we're careful, and we do it right, we can trick the console indicator light to tell the Master that the TARDIS has finished materialization when it hasn't."
"And no more Master," James said, getting to work.
"No more Master." And all those things the Master had done would be undone. Like magic.
They worked in silence, trying to be as quick and accurate as possible. James finished first and walked around to help Jack replace the panel he'd pried up. "Now what?"
Jack looked around and shrugged. "Think we have the time to create a big boom?"
"Help send him off in style?"
"Can't think of a more proper send off, can-"
"Captains," the Master interrupted as he swept into the room from somewhere deeper in the TARDIS. "You were supposed to stay incapacitated, or at least carefully locked away, for at least another seven minutes."
"I'd offer my apologies for creating havoc with your time table, but I think you'd realize I was just mocking you." Jack took a step towards the door behind him, motioning to James with a slight flick of his chin that they should try to make good their escape while they could.
"Oh, I don't think so." The Master pulled his hands out of his pockets. In his right he held Jack's Glock and in his left the remote that would activate the gas canisters he claimed to have hidden in the Hub.
James held his hands out, a sign of surrender. "No. Leave the team out of this." He took a slow step forward, going around the side of the console, bringing himself closer to the Master. "Just tell us what you want from us." He looked back at Jack, then at the exit, his eyes calm, serene. "The records have never painted you as a man who killed indiscriminately, who killed without reason. There's no need to threaten them. The two of us are here. We're cooperating. Now, it looks like our little power boost got the TARDIS back on track. So there is nothing holding you here."
"My TARDIS is back to its full strength," the Master admitted, pursing his lips as he seemed to consider what James had said.
"Then you can just take off," James said, taking another step forward, his fingers tracing along the console. "We won't try and stop you. In fact, we'll even go with you if you insist." He turned to Jack, "Isn't that right, Jack?"
"Oh, absolutely."
The Master did not appear entirely convinced, but he did put the remote back in his pocket, keeping the gun steady on James. He stepped forward and began to start up the TARDIS. "If you would be so kind as to shut the door?"
"My pleasure," Jack said, grabbing the doorhandle.
"Now, Jack!"
Jack threw himself through the door, turning onto his side as he landed. He could see James and the Master grappling for control over the gun as the TARDIS began to shake. "James!" he shouted, but he was too late, the TARDIS door slammed shut behind him and began to dematerialize.
"James." Jack was sprawled on the floor, staring at the spot where the TARDIS had been. "No."
He still hadn't moved by the time the team arrived a few minutes later.
"Jack?" Ianto called carefully, "Are you all right? Where's James?"
Owen knelt down next to Jack and began to examine him. "Looks like he's in shock," he said over his shoulder to Ianto, "maybe died a few times too."
"I'm," Jack blinked a few times and cleared his throat, "fine. I'm fine. What are you doing here?"
"One of Tosh's programs picked up an unusual power surge in this area. Real big one. She didn't think it looked rift related, well, not exactly, but since it was where you disappeared we came to check it out." Owen was trying, unsuccessfully so far, to take Jack's pulse; Jack kept shaking him off.
"It's done. It's all over." He scrubbed a hand over his face and looked over at Ianto and Owen. "The bad guy is gone, probably dead. James too."
"But," Ianto reached over and pulled Jack to his feet, "he's you. He'll come back, won't he? Like he did when we found him after he was pulled through the rift."
"I don't think so." Jack held onto the contract for a moment longer than necessary before breaking it and heading to the door. "If all went according to plan, I don't think so. Not even. Well, suffice it to say there's no way to come back from something like that." He stopped, just outside, and turned his face to the sun. "Seal the building up, Owen. No one goes in or out by order of Torchwood."
Owen pulled out his phone. "Right."
Jack sighed. "Damn it, I just realized. Both Webleys. Gone."
"We'll find you a new one, sir," Ianto assured Jack, guiding him to the SUV with a gentle hand on his back.
"It's a good gun."
"Yes, sir."
It was a while before things in the Hub went back to normal. A careful sweep revealed the Master's cameras and eight gas vials. Owen was still running tests on what they contained two weeks later, but so far they'd proven to be stubbornly unidentifiable.
Luckily, the rift had been fairly quiet. There were a few Weevil sightings and the incident with the Blandagor Ambassador that no one will ever mention again on pain of poorly prepared coffee, but overall they spent their time cleaning up, categorizing and archiving the piles of rift debris left over from the Master's mess.
Jack hid in his office whenever possible. He'd explained to the others about what had happened when he and James had been captured and they had offered vague hopes that James had survived, especially since the records about the Master's interactions with UNIT remained unchanged. But…
Jack brooded behind his desk. James had been so different. What did the future hold that could change him so much? The fact that he would become so careworn, so quiet and self-conscious; it was hard to fathom. And if. If somehow, the Master managed to survive their sabotage, that didn't mean James did. Jack had told the Doctor he didn't want to die, and that was true. For now. But in another hundred years? A thousand? Ten thousand? James never did say when he was from. Maybe going out in fiery dramatic moment, sacrificing your life for another, maybe it was something not to be scoffed at, but welcomed?
It was hard to say.
"Jack," Ianto called from the doorway, after unsuccessfully trying to get Jack's attention by clearing his throat. "This came for you." He held out a parcel.
Jack motioned Ianto to come in. "What is it?" Eyes narrowing, he took the simple, brown paper wrapped box from Ianto's hand and started examining it. In a fine, familiar hand was written 'Property of Captain Jack Harkness'
"Don't know. It was left in the tourist center. I was behind the curtain for maybe a minute, and the box was there when I got back."
"CCTV show anything?"
"Nope, I checked."
Jack gave Ianto a long look. "And you scanned it?"
"Of course." Ianto seemed almost horrified that Jack might question him about that.
"Then how do you-"
"Look, Jack, just open it. Trust me."
"Ianto."
"Please." Ianto handed Jack the brass letter opener off the desk.
Carefully, Jack began opening the box. The brown wrapping paper came off easily enough, revealing a note taped to the box. 'Ianto, make him open it or I'll tell him where you hide the extra-special coffee beans.'
"What's this about coffee beans?" The handwriting was the same as that on the outside.
"Nothing for you to worry about, sir," Ianto said quickly. "But the handwriting."
"Yeah. It's mine." His voice didn't quite shake, but he was having difficulty reining in his emotions. With a deep breath, Jack opened the box, revealing a finely carved, velvet lined storage unit for the two Webleys it contained. "He could have kept them," Jack said softly. "Mementoes."
"Looks like James not only survived, but figured out a way to return them to you. I guess, more than anyone, he knew what they mean to you. And besides, this way he'll still have them when you catch up with him. I mean, when you turn into him. When your time line meets up to where his time line. No, when. I mean..."
Jack laughed, standing up and walking over to Ianto. "I believe it was the famed author Douglas Adams who said 'Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.' If this experience has taught me anything it's taught me that. What do you say, in the mood to split a pizza?"
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
part two
With a gasp, Jack came back to life.
"It's all right, Jack," he heard himself, James, call out to him. "Everything is okay."
Jack opened his eyes to find he was lying on the floor of a prison cell, his face pressed against the cold concrete. Through the bars he could see James in the adjoining cell, sitting on the bench that ran against the back wall and looking no worse for wear after his most recent death. "Great, a cell, just what I'd always wanted." Jack pushed himself up on all fours with a groan and then, once his balance was back, got to his feet. "You okay?" he asked.
"Yeah, lot of experience with that."
"Dying or getting shot in the head?"
"Both."
Snorting, Jack said, "Why does that not fill me with enthusiasm for what my future holds?"
"Is what it is."
Jack looked down at his wrist and then at James'. "He didn't take our vortex manipulators?" Jack asked, opening his up.
"No need. Already tried mine." James gave a half-shrug. "Must have installed some kind of time shielding. Not easy, but doable."
"Guess he thought of everything."
"Or tried to." James laughed. "There's a clean shirt you can change into on the bench behind you. If you're interested."
"If I'm interested?" Jack mocked, tugging off the torn and stained shirt and giving it a disdainful sniff. "I don't even want to think about what was on that warehouse floor or how long it had been there." Grabbing the clean shirt, he put it on and buttoned it up. "Awfully nice of our captor to get the size right."
"Wasn't it just?"
"Speaking of our friendly megalomaniac, has he made an appearance yet?"
"No. But-" James pointed to the cameras on either end of the hallway outside their cells.
"So it's smile, we're on candid camera then, hmm? May as well give him a show." Jack waved cheerily at them before turning to James. "Well, what are you thinking?"
"Walked into a trap," James said succinctly.
"No, really? What was you first clue? When he faked that rift activity that led us to the warehouse or when he shot you dead and knew you'd recover? Sorry," Jack held up a conciliatory hand, "Sorry. Just blowing off some steam here, I know this isn't your fault. I led us right into it, didn't I?" He put his hand to his chest, tapping it. "My team, my world, my time. My fault."
"There's no way you could have known."
"I should have." Jack scrubbed a hand across his chin.
"No. It would be like trying to beat someone at their own game when you didn't even have a clue what the board was supposed to look like."
Crossing his arms, Jack shrugged. "Maybe," he conceded. "But I still feel like we're missing something. I never saw the shooter, did you?"
"No."
"And the scanner didn't show anything either, did it? Just the same reading the whole time of the small rift event and the three books, or whatever it was, that came through."
"Except they didn't."
"But the scanner thought that they did," Jack pointed out with a sigh. "It was being tricked somehow."
"How?" James leaned forward, head tilted and eyebrows raised.
"What do you know that pretends to be one thing when it's something else entirely? Something with a chameleon circuit that's capable of disguising itself as any number of things?"
"You think we were right then."
"I do indeed." Jack lounged against the wall, his arms still crossed, the picture of nonchalance. "What we have, my friend, is a TARDIS."
"A TARDIS," James echoed with a sigh.
"Yep. Which means that the person pulling the strings in this game is a Time Lord."
"And that," the refined voice from the warehouse said as he turned the corner, approaching their cages, "Would be me. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Captains Jack Harkness. Allow me to introduce myself. You may call me the Master."
Both Jack and James instantly jumped to their feet. This was not the man they had known as the Master, but rather an earlier, or perhaps somehow, later, regeneration. Still a fairly short man, perhaps five feet seven or eight, but sporting a beard- not a full one, but instead a goatee and mustache with a touch of gray gracing the corners. Dark hair, combed back, accentuated his wide brow and hook nose. Cultured.
A man who looked at them without his typical twisted glee. Without any recognition at all. It was eerie.
"The Master?" Jack looked at James, then being careful to keep his face blank, turned to their captor.
"Ah, my fame precedes me, excellent." A Cheshire cat-like grin appeared. "Torchwood may not have the expertise that UNIT claims to possess, but I must applaud your initiative. Saving the Crown from threats beyond imagination is simply a wonderful charter, isn't it? Queen Victoria was such a dear sweet woman; she certainly saw the Doctor for what he was, a menace to her time and place."
"That was a misunderstanding on her part," Jack said, standing stiffly and as close to the bars as he could.
"Now, now. I am not one to quibble, but the Torchwood Foundation Charter of 1879 named the Doctor specifically as an enemy of the Crown." James opened his mouth to protest, but the Master cut him off with a cocked eyebrow. "What sort of friendly megalomaniac would I be if I did not do the necessary research? The, what is it you call it? The internet? So many wonderful things that can be discovered with a few simple clicks."
"I'm glad you're finding my time to your liking," Jack drawled. "I don't suppose you'd be interested in telling me why you've chosen to stay in the here and now? Or what was the reasoning behind bringing another version of me here? Or why you concocted this... ruse to capture me and my future self?"
"All in good time, my dear Captains," he practically purred, "All in good time. Now, if you will excuse me, I have things I must attend to." And then, after offering another one of his grins, he turned and walked back down the hall.
Waiting until the footsteps faded away Jack turned to James. "So."
"The Master."
"Yeah, how 'bout that," Jack said coldly, repressing a shudder; his time as the Master's prisoner aboard the Valiant was far too fresh in his mind.
"Gotta say, I did not see that coming."
"Me either." Jack walked up to the bars separating him and James, gesturing for James to come over. "Well, the man certainly did his research, I have to give him that. Quoting from both the Torchwood charter and Queen Victoria's speech? A little overly dramatic, if you ask me." He dropped his voice to barely above a whisper. "It's a good thing that we never made any official record of what happened in the year that wasn't, if you know what I mean. I hate to think…." Jack trailed off with a shudder.
"It's over," James said softly. "We survived it."
"Yeah, we did." Jack smiled. "And we'll survive this too. Although, what do you say we try to make this experience a tad shorter than the last?"
James raised an eyebrow. "As in let's blow this popsicle joint?"
"You have anything better to do? Manicure appointment or something?"
Giving a shy, half smile, James shrugged. "Pedicure actually."
"Aha! I knew it!" Jack said with a laugh. "So, how are your lock picking skills? I haven't let them get rusty, have I, old man?"
"Old man?" James snorted. "What does that make you, a young whippersnapper?"
"This young whippersnapper can still pick a lock faster than you!" Jack laughed. "It was awful nice of the Master to provide us with cufflinks, wasn't it?" Jack walked over to the front of his cage, stopping in front of the door. "Now, we'll have to be quick, thanks to those cameras there." He waited for James to approach the lock on his own cage before offering a smile. "So, we'll do it together on three. One." The cufflink was off and he began picking the lock with it. "Two." The tell-tale snick of the mechanism getting tripped was barely audible, but he could feel it as it happened. "Three!" he shouted, swinging the door open, only to turn and see James' door was open as well.
"Took you long enough," James said, almost smugly.
"Oh, rub it in why don't you." The two men fell into a matching stride, not exactly a run, but faster than a brisk walk. "Besides, it wasn't a fair bet. You've had more time to practice."
They had no choice but to follow the hallway as it curved to the right, in the direction they'd seen the Master go: there were no windows or doors, no ventilation shafts, no way to escape other than to travel down the hallway itself.
They finally came to a stop when the hall abruptly stopped in front of an unlatched fire exit. "This feels wrong." James reached out tentatively to touch the door, examining for booby traps, but finding none.
"Yeah, it does," Jack agreed, "but what other choice do we have? You want to go back and hang out in the cells for a while?"
"No, but…." James trailed off with a shrug.
"Then we go forward." Jack looked to James, waiting until he nodded his assent, and then opened the door.
The room was dark, smelling vaguely of chemicals and ash. Entering cautiously, they walked as carefully as possible, heading towards a small crack of light coming from a door or window on the opposite wall.
"Ah, Captains," the Master called out as the fire door swung shut behind them with a loud bang. "Welcome."
The overhead lights turned on then, illuminating the room with a weak glow. They looked around, realizing they were in a laboratory of some sort, with a computer taking up nearly an entire wall to their left. The other walls were bare breeze block, freshly painted a soft white. In the center of the room were two metal rods coming out of the cement floor topped with bronze domes. The fire door that they'd entered the room through had closed flush to the wall, with no handle or knob and the light they had thought was an exit was actually a strategically placed strip of florescent tape on the far wall.
An observation booth was cut into the far wall, starting at about shoulder height and continuing up to the raised ceiling. The Master was standing there, arms crossed, and looking down at them with a slight smile on his face behind a thick sheet of what appeared to be bulletproof glass.
"So good of you to finally join me."
"We aim to please," Jack drawled.
"I must admit, I am a little disappointed in how long it took for you to make your way here. I expected you," he checked his watch, "more than five minutes ago."
Jack wandered over to the computer. "Our apologies if we accidentally messed up your timetable," he said as he let his fingers ghost over the keys.
"Oh, no, no, no. I was merely concerned that you'd miss the show." There a touch of manic delight to the Master's voice that Jack had grown to know, and fear, during his year as the Master's prisioner. "And we certainly couldn't have that."
"The show?" James asked nervously. "Not sure I like the sound of that."
"Now, now, I set it up for your benefit. I am positive you shall appreciate it." A not too terribly comforting grin slowly made its way across the Master's face.
"Somehow, I don't think we will." Jack couldn't hide the annoyance in his voice and he began pressing buttons on the computer to have something to do, but there was no reaction from it. The screen remained blank.
"Without the proper password, I'm afraid that will do you no good," the Master explained patiently, as if talking to a child.
"I'm sure we could figure it out," Jack said calmly, refusing to sound defensive. "We're smarter than you give us credit for, right, James?"
"Oh, absolutely," was James' solemn reply.
"Really?" The Master steepled his fingers under his chin. "Pray tell."
"Well, to start with," Jack said as he wandered away from the computer to approach the Master's glass fortress. "Your reason for bring a future version of me here is quite obvious."
Laughing at that, the Master said, "Oh, do enlighten me. After the questions you asked earlier I'm sure your feeble attempts to understand the situation will be rather entertaining."
"Blinovitch Limitation Effect," James and Jack said in unison. And then both burst out laughing at the look of shock that flittered by on the Master's face before his mask of indifference slammed back into place.
"Very clever. I must admit, Captain, perhaps you are more intelligent than I gave you credit for." He tilted his head, giving a slight nod as if he had decided something. "Care to apprise me further on the rest of my plan?"
Jack looked at James who offered a 'go on' motion with his hand so Jack took the lead. "All right, assuming for a minute here that you actually are the incredibly brilliant man that all the UNIT records and reports made you out to be-"
"Oh, that would be a safe assumption for you to make."
"Although, I have to say, I never expected you to be so modest," Jack added with a wry smile before continuing. "Now, one of the wonders about the Blinovitch Limitation Effect is that there will be an extremely powerful and dangerous energy discharge if two versions of the same person, who are from different time lines, were to come into contact with each other. I believe a fairly obvious assumption to make is that since you went through so much effort to bring a future version of me here, instead of settling for some person on the street, there is something about my unique nature that would increase its effects. Otherwise, why bother tangling with Torchwood and drawing us into your scheme in the first place?"
"You can not think of another reason as to why I might have chosen you?" The Master sneered as he brought his hands down and casually slipped them into his pockets.
Jack imitated the Master, making a point to appear relaxed and uninterested in the fact he and James were trapped, and leaned lightly against the computer, arms crossed lazily across his chest. "There is the minor fact that pulling someone through the rift isn't the simplest of maneuvers, even for someone with your special talents. There was a very good chance the subject wouldn't survive either the journey or the landing and one of the key aspects to the Blinovitch Limitation Effect actually occurring is that the two temporal versions need to be alive."
"Why, yes," the Master admitted with a touch of aplomb, "That might help."
"But, lucky for you, no matter how rough the trip, you knew any future version of me would survive it."
"Yes, lucky for me."
"So, we're left with two questions."
"Oh, don't leave me on pins and needles now. You're doing so well. Go on. What two questions?"
"I believe my past self is referring to is the why and the how," James said, speaking up from the back of the room, where he had been examining the door they'd entered through.
"After all you've told me just now, I find it difficult to believe you haven't figured out those for yourself as well."
"Oh, I have. As for the why," Jack smiled, "your TARDIS appears to be functioning to some extent. From what we could see of her in the CCTV footage her chameleon circuit was still working properly and she obviously was able to move around somewhat, but I'm going to go out on a limb and make the brash suggestion that she does have something wrong with her. And it most likely involves her time traveling capabilities."
"Brash? You, Captain? Hardly typical for you."
Jack grinned widely, his white teeth sparkling in the dim light. "I've been called worse, isn't that right?" He looked over at James, who gave an affirmative nod, before turning his attention back to the Master. "So. How am I doing so far?"
"Surprisingly competent."
"I aim to please," he said disarmingly, spreading his hands out wide. "So what happened? Were you trying to get to Earth, or away from Earth, and somehow got grabbed by the rift? I bet the TARDIS didn't like that. She likes to travel under her own power. She doesn't tend to be the biggest fan of being yanked off in unusual directions with no say in the matter."
The Master had an odd look on his face, a touch of admiration mixed with a slight sneer and bemused smile. "You are an expert on the TARDIS as well? My, my, my."
"I have hidden depths."
"Indeed."
"But, I'm sure there is quite a bit more to the story other than what I've deduced, isn't there?"
"You would be correct."
"I don't suppose you would care to enlighten us as to the rest of it?"
"Might be a little less contrary then," James drawled.
The Master shook his head with a laugh. "I must admit your contrariness is not something that overly concerns me. I'm quite positive I shall have no difficulty in obtaining your cooperation."
"Really?" Jack asked with a laugh. "You seem awfully sure of yourself on that front, but I hate to let you in on a little secret here: Neither me nor my future self," he pointed to himself and then James in turn, "have any desire to help you in any plan of yours. Whether it involves world domination or simply part of your new formula for picking the ponies, I am not interested."
The Master stood there for a moment, looking down at Jack, before saying, "You should be."
"Oooh, I'm quaking in my boots, Master. That almost sounded like a threat. Didn't that sound like that might have been a threat?"
"It did," James replied succinctly.
"It was," the Master said.
"What are you going to do to a guy who can't die? Poison me? Shoot me? Been there, done that. Electrocution, suffocation, radiation? Experienced it all. Can't think of anything you could threaten to do to me that would result in my helping you today."
The resulting laugh from the Master echoed through the room. "Oh, excuse me," he said, hand on his chest as he tried to contain his laughter. "You thought that I was actually threatening you? I'm almost disappointed that you thought so little of me."
Jack looked nervously over at James, who bit his lip and seemed to hunch in on himself at the news. "So, who," Jack said, clearing his throat carefully and making an effort to keep his voice steady, "Who were you threatening then?"
"I've heard it said that a picture is worth a thousand words. So why don't I show you?" With a flair for the dramatic, the Master's hands, which had been empty a minute before, suddenly held a thin silver remote, seemingly appearing out of thin air. "Shall we see what's behind door number one?" he asked, pressing the button.
The large screen above the computer flickered to life. A picture slowly came into focus. A staircase with a railing. High ceiling. Some desks.
"But, that's, that's the Hub," James said nervously, approaching the screen to get a better look.
"Why, yes it is. Imagine that," the Master said dryly before snorting.
"You bugged us?" Jack squawked, indignantly.
"I like to call it strategic information gathering. And don't be too hard on yourself, my dear Captain. This was by no means the first time I have implemented such a technique. There was a wonderful World Peace Conference when I had such fun toying with Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and those lovely UNIT troops of his. I always found that dealing with the Brigadier was rather entertaining. I do so hope that I will find my time with you to be similarly so."
"I'll do my best," Jack replied through a clenched jaw.
"Well, I appreciate the intent. Now," the Master raised his eyebrows, "if you would be so kind to take a little look at what I consider to be your motivation?" The Master smiled and clicked another button.
The picture on the screen changed. It showed Ianto in the boardroom clearing enough rift junk off the table to create some space for the Chinese food he'd brought back.
"So precise and studious that one is, don't you agree, Captains? Just look at how careful he is, keeping like with like; even the broken pieces are grouped together. But I suppose that is the archivist in him coming out." They watched as Ianto consulted the inventory of rift debris and added a few items to one of the boxes based on what he'd just read. He'd just opened the lid to a different box when his mobile rang.
Snapping the phone open, Ianto immediately said into it, "Jack?" without pausing to check the display. "Oh." His face fell and his eyes closed for a moment. "Owen. No, I still haven't heard back from them. I know you said that I was worrying over nothing but- What? Really? And the SUV was just left there? Well, if it was locked that probably means Jack and James never left that warehouse. Did you go in and check- no, no, of course I know you did that. Sorry, I'm just." Ianto sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "How much blood? I suppose we're lucky that 'fatal' and Jack don't go hand in hand then. Right. No, that's fine. As long as the SUV gets back here, I don't think it matters much which one of you drove it. No, that's not necessary. We've got plenty of Chinese here, even if Jack and James show back up." There was a long pause as Ianto listened to whatever Owen was saying. "Gwen's already on her way. She'll probably get here before you. All right." He nodded. "See you then."
The Master clicked a button and the feed from the camera froze. "Your team seems rather lost in your absence, Captain. Such a pity, I looked forward to being able to butt heads with Torchwood to see how it would compare with my experiences with UNIT. But I must admit, I find myself terribly disappointed in your organization so far."
"We figured you out, didn't we?"
The Master tilted his head. "I shall concede to you on that point, however that was not Torchwood per se, but in actuality, it was you who ascertained the specifics behind my capturing you, not your team."
"You really shouldn't underestimate my team, Master. Those who have done so in the past haven't fared so well." Jack put the slightest bit of a threat behind his words.
"I shall consider myself duly warned. However," the Master laughed. "I think I shall take my chances."
Jack shrugged, caught James' eye and gave him a 'Hey, I tried' look. James merely sighed in response.
The Master smiled as he watched their exchange. Then, with another dramatic flourish, he turned back on the camera feed. Ianto was still sorting and cleaning off the table.
"Now, what do you think he's going to do when he finds- Oh, dear me- that note you wrote, it does appear that he has." With another click the camera zoomed in on Ianto, his forehead crinkling as he read it.
"A TARDIS?" Ianto put the paper down for a moment and shook his head. "No, it can't be."
"Considering Torchwood's charter, and given young Mr. Jones' experiences at Canary Wharf with Torchwood One, his assumption that a TARDIS would mean the presence of the Doctor is rather understandable, is it not?"
"Ianto?" Gwen called out from somewhere off camera in the Hub.
"In the conference room," Ianto replied without looking up from the note.
"Has there been any word from Owen? It'd be nice if," Gwen trailed off as she entered and saw the look on Ianto's face. "Ianto, what's wrong?"
"If the Doctor was here, Jack's Doctor, he'd have told us, right?"
"Oh, sweetie, I'm sure he would have." Gwen saw the paper rustle in Ianto's hand, but she didn't comment on it. "Owen and Tosh on their way then?"
"Yeah, they're bringing the SUV and some samples they collected at that warehouse where we lost Jack and James."
Gwen reached out and laid a hand on Ianto's arm. "We'll find them, Ianto. And we'll bring them home."
The screen clicked off. "Such a touching little scene. Interesting though, that his first assumption was that you were keeping secrets from him, was it not?"
"Yes. Utterly fascinating," Jack said dryly. He crossed his arms, allowing his annoyance to be seen. "Can we move things along now? We both saw the show. We laughed. We cried. Now what?"
"I am surprised you have to ask." The Master gestured to the metal rods in the center of the room.
"Well, it's obvious you managed to plant a few cameras in the Hub. Congratulations on managing to breach our security. That's not an easy task, but by no means beyond a man of your skills. But I fail to see what the point behind this little demonstration was."
The Master shook his head, his disappointment evident. "You really believe that I would go through the effort of acquiring admittance to your facility and only leave cameras in my wake? Captain. You can not be that stupid or naive."
"I'm not." Jack looked over at James. "We are not," he corrected himself.
"Have you ever seen one of these before?" the Master asked, holding up a small silver cartridge. "Very effective for the quick and sudden release of a multitude of gases. Care to guess how many of these I hid inside your lovely headquarters? Or which gas I chose to fill them with?" He laughed at the look on their faces. "I thought not. Now, about you two, those rods and the Blinovitch Limitation Effect. I assume I might find you a bit more cooperative now?"
James spoke up, "What exactly do you need from us?"
"Just a little of your energy for my ship. When the rift grabbed the TARDIS out of time and space a significant amount of its power was drained while, at the same time, severing the link to the time vortex therefore preventing the TARDIS from recharging. Now, I could of course use my own energy to facilitate a jump back to a more amiable time and space, but," the Master laughed. "Why would I want to do that when I had such a convenient power source right here in Cardiff available to me?"
"And by power source," Jack said dryly, "You mean me."
"Exactly," the Master replied, stroking his beard. "One can not help but be enthralled by all that lovely vortex energy running through you."
"Right." Jack said, stepping up closer to the Master's viewing booth. "Running through me. And I was right here this whole time. Why not just kidnap me and drain my energy? Why go through all this rigamarole opening rift events to pull a future version of me here? It must have used up some of your precious power to manhandle the rift with such precision like that."
The Master waved away Jack's question. "Simple questions from simple minds," he said dismissively. "You have no sense of propriety. There is a certain manner in which things must be done."
"Seems like you were risking a lot though. What if you'd brought an earlier version of me? One that didn't have my special… gifts?"
Laughing, the Master shook his head. "You consider yourself familiar with Time Lords and yet you ask such a thing? I'm almost disappointed in you, I would have thought that you realized I have a better concept of transdimensional physics than that."
"Perhaps you do, but it didn't stop you from getting sucked through the rift now did it?"
"That will be enough!" The Master held up the remote. "It would do you well to remember that the fate of your team lies in my hands, Captain. Do not test me."
"No, I suppose altruism is not a part of your nature."
"It is not something I have ever been accused of, no. Now, if you would be so kind as to take your positions? I think the current Captain Harkness should stand," he pointed to the metal rod on the right side of the room, closer to the computer, "over there and if the future version would stand next to the other rod." He paused, giving the two Captains pointed looks as he waited for them to obey.
Jack looked over at James, who bit his lip and then shrugged. Jack replied with a wry smile and a shrug of his own. They didn't have a much of a choice here, not with the team potentially at risk.
"See, now that wasn't truly all that difficult, was it?" The Master laughed. "Now, each of you place your hand on the dome top of the rod please." Seeing how they hesitated he added, "All the domes will do is gather the energy that is released when you touch and channel it down the rod and to my TARDIS. Come on, Captains, either the easy way or the hard way, your choice." He waved the remote back and forth a few times.
"Fine." Jack walked over to his 'assigned' bronze dome and rested his hand on top. "Let's get this over with." The sooner they powered back up the TARDIS the faster the Master would go back to his own time line; good riddance.
James nodded. "Right," he said, going to the other dome and placing his hand on top of it as well.
"Ready and waiting for your next order, Master," Jack said, not even trying to hide his snide tone.
"Excellent." The Master was smiling a not terribly comforting smile. "Now to test the strength of the Blinovitch Limitation Effect between two fixed points in time and space. I need you to turn and face each other." Jack and James complied, they were standing just over an arm's length apart. "Reach out your free hands, please. But do not touch, not yet." By keeping their elbows bent they stopped just shy of touching one another.
Jack looked at James. "Somehow, I have a feeling this is going to hurt."
James nodded, biting his bottom lip, but didn't say anything.
"Just keep your eyes on me," Jack said, unsure exactly what was bothering his older self or why, "It's okay. We'll get through this. We'll get the team through this. No one is going to die today. Not permanently, anyway."
"Yes, not permanently, anyway," the Master said, laughing. "Isn't that such a wonderful talent of yours? And here I thought Time Lords had the ultimate trick when it came to cheating death with our lovely ability to regenerate. But, even we are limited in that regard, while you will just keep coming back. Again and again and again. And yet, still human." He shuddered, looking slightly disgusted.
"Well, if that wasn't the case, all your hard work here." Jack motioned to the set up of the lab and to James,"would have been for nothing, wouldn't it? You might actually be stuck here with your less than perfectly functioning TARDIS with no convenient power source to jumpstart it. And what would you do then? I know you've read the Torchwood and UNIT files so you have to be aware that there's no Gallifrey with its helpful High Council of Time Lords to render their assistance and therefore you would be left with only one option. The Doctor. And, perhaps I'm mistaken, but something tells me you really would rather not be indebted to him." Jack paused to smile sweetly at the before continuing with a slightly harsher tone. "I'd think you'd be grateful for my immortality."
The Master glared down at Jack, his eyes narrowing and mouth forming a thin line. "Do not attempt to pressure me, Captain. You will not like the result. Now, no more wasting time. Have your hands resting firmly on the domes and reach out and, when I count to three, press your palms together."
With a sigh, Jack and James assumed their positions, one hand on the dome and the other inches from touching their counterpart. "See you on the flip side," Jack said to James with a grin.
"One." The Master ignored Jack's comments. "Two. Three."
The two Captains touched, releasing a blinding light and massive electric discharge that crackled and arced through the air even as the bronze domes fed the power down the metal poles. Their palms, the contact point between them, sizzled for a moment as the electricity coursed through them, causing them to twitch uncontrollably as it fried their synapses. Then the energy exploded and the two men went flying. James was slammed into the wall behind him while Jack crashed into the computer before falling to the floor, flat on his face.
The room smelled like ozone and burnt barbeque. Jack had come back from the dead to the stench of burned flesh before, but it was never a pleasant experience. With a groan he pushed himself off the floor. A quick look let him know that the observation booth where the Master had been issuing his orders from was now dark, the window showing a spider web of light cracks. Still a little dizzy from the death, and staggering a bit, Jack made it to his feet and lurched over to where James lay, sprawled against the wall.
"James?" he called out softly, checking him over as carefully as he could without risking skin to skin contact with the other man. "Jack? Can you hear me?"
James groaned, brow furrowing. He opened his eyes and blinked blearily up at Jack a few times before lifting a hand to shakily rub over his face. After a moment he said, "I don't think I'm much of a fan of the Blinovitch Limitation Effect."
Jack laughed, relaxing a bit as he leaned back on his haunches. "You know something? Neither am I."
"He gone?" James jerked his thumb toward the observation booth.
"Don't know, I'm afraid. He might be. Gone for good or at least off checking on his TARDIS. All I can say is that there's no sign of him at least," Jack said with a shrug. "It was dark up there when I woke up."
"Think he went after the team?"
"Doubt it. All he wanted was to get out of here and back to his proper time line. I don't think he's the type for pointless revenge. At least not yet."
"I hope you're right." Using the wall for leverage, James got himself sitting up. "Did you die too?"
"Oh, yeah. Smashing into the computer. Can't say I'm sorry to see I pretty much destroyed it," Jack admitted with a laugh.
James looked over and saw the broken remnants of the computer and grinned. "Can't say I am either."
"Feeling up for some reconnoitering?"
"What do you have in mind?"
With a smile, Jack said, "What do you say, do you think you have it in you for another jailbreak?"
"Always."
"We know we followed the Master down the hall and into this room, so there has to be a way out. We just didn't have a chance to find it before." Jack pushed off the floor, getting to his feet. "I'd offer you a hand to help you up, but …" Jack shrugged. "I don't think you'd find it all that helpful, under the circumstances."
"Probably not," James admitted. He used the wall to steady himself as he stood up carefully.
"You okay?" Jack asked after seeing James sway slightly.
James answered with a quick, "I'm all right."
"Of course you are," Jack said with a knowing smile. "Jack Harkness, in all his incarnations, always is. I saw you looking at the fire door we came through earlier. Is there any chance of us getting out that way?"
"Nope." James gave the door a dismissive wave. "Steel frame, metal door, no handle and the hinges are on the other side."
"Well, so much for that exit, then. So, since the Master did manage to escape this room and get into the observation booth we need to figure out how. I didn't hear a TARDIS, did you?"
James closed his eyes, thinking for a moment. "Nope."
"Well, if he didn't use his TARDIS, the Master must have had some sort of physical way of getting out of here and up there. A secret door, or latch or something. We just need to find it for ourselves." Jack looked around, his eye settling on the remains of the computer. "Let's hope that the computer didn't hold any secrets that we desperately needed or we are going to be really out of luck here."
"Let's hope," James agreed.
"Okay, the floor is cement. Solid except for where the rods come out." Jack lay down flat, his cheek on the floor and examined it carefully, looking at it from every angle. "Completely flat, completely even. No lines, no creases, no raised portions. Ergo, no hidden way out through the floor."
"The walls then?"
Jack nodded and rubbed his hands together. "Excellent idea. Let's get this act on the road." Jack began running his fingers along the breeze blocks on the wall opposite the computer; tapping every few inches, pressing in some places and scratching in others. James did the same on the back wall near the fire door.
"What if he comes back?" James asked after a few minutes.
"Then he comes back," Jack said matter-of-factly with a shrug as he turned to look at James. "If we're still here we'll find out what he plans for us next. Most likely it'll involve another run at the Blinovitch Limitation Effect. My guess is that right now he's off testing how much power our first attempt managed to feed to the TARDIS. If it was enough it's possible, unlikely, but possible, that he's already gone and happily on his way off creating his own special brand of chaos back in the timeline somewhere."
"Doubt we'll be that lucky." James snorted.
"You never know," Jack retorted. He moved to searching the far wall, fingers flicking quickly, but carefully over the surface. "Could be this whole thing is over and all we have to do is figure a way out of here and then get back to the Hub and get you home. Piece of cake."
"Right." James made a soft noise in the back of his throat. Not quite a laugh, but not a sound of disagreement or dismissal either.
"Okay," Jack conceded, "Piece of something then."
James started examining the wall with the observation booth. "Can't believe we cracked this," he said, his fingers skimming over one of the cracks.
"I've always been told of the powerful properties of touch. I guess ours just has a little more power than others."
"If worse come to worse we could always try to break this further. Either hitting or punching it might make it shatter."
Jack rubbed his chin, giving the window a long look. "It's possible, but I'd have to say unlikely. The cracks don't seem quite deep enough and the only way I can think of to make them deeper is for us to touch again, so let's leave that as a last resort, okay?"
"Fine with me. That was not a pleasant experience."
"No, I certainly wouldn't be classifying it as that either. Had worse though," he said with a matter-of-fact tone. James shuddered just a little as he snorted an assent. "Hello? What have we here?" Jack was tugging lightly on the piece of florescent tape that they'd mistakenly thought to be an exit when they'd first entered the room. After a bit of work the strip came off, revealing a switch that was inset slightly so it sat perfectly flush to the wall. "Aha!"
James' head popped up and he walked over to get a better look at the switch. "Should we try it?"
"I don't see why not. I suppose there's a chance it might be a trap and rigged to kill us, but," Jack shrugged, "so?" He reached out-
"No!" James yelled, causing Jack to jerk his hand away. "I'll do it." Seeing the confused look on Jack's face, James clarified, "Just in case. If he somehow figured out a way to kill us for good. To destroy us." He shrugged. "It should be me. You know what they say: always kill the future version instead of the past one. If there's an option, at least."
"I have to admit I'm rooting for the nobody dying option myself," Jack said dryly, but he did move out of the way to let James approach the switch.
James shooed Jack further back and then flicked the switch. A section of the wall, from the corner to the observation booth, slid back and away, revealing a passage and a dimly lit staircase. "Well, that was anticlimactic," James said as he walked through the opening.
"Nothing wrong with anticlimactic. Anticlimactic is good. No explosions with anticlimactic." Jack followed James up the hidden staircase. It was steep, with two doors, one, off to their left off a small landing about halfway up the stairs that probably leading to the observation room, and another at the top of the stairs. "Any preference?"
James tried the handle to the first door and it swung open. They'd found the observation room. He cautiously walked up the four steps, poking his head into the room carefully in case there were any hidden traps, but it was barren and explosion-free.
"Anything?" Jack asked.
"Nope. No sign he was hurt when the glass cracked either."
"Any chance he's hiding in there somewhere?"
James ran a hand along the wall, finding a light switch and flicking it on. The room lit up instantly, showing three stark cement walls, the large windowed wall and a flat floor like the one in the lab. "Nope."
Jack sighed. "I don't suppose he happened to leave that remote there then, did he?"
"We ever that lucky?" James asked, stepping back into the hall.
"Nope. Well, we both knew that was too much to hope for," Jack said, dryly. "Then I suppose it's time to see what's behind door number two." He walked up the last steps and opened the door, being as careful and slow as possible, and peered through crack. "Damn it," he said in response to what he saw and flung the door open.
It was the warehouse. It was the damn warehouse. The same damn warehouse that the Master had used to bait the trap. Jack shook his head in disgust. "We were right here, all that time. When Owen and Tosh were searching it. And they never, we never," Jack paused and took a deep breath, rubbing the back of his neck and let out a tired sigh.
"So where's the TARDIS?" James asked softly. "Do you think he left?"
Jack closed his eyes for a moment, holding up a hand, as he tilted his head to listen carefully to something. "You were there," he said, gesturing slowly to where James had lain after being shot dead. "And I was standing… there." He shifted slightly. "And the Master was taunting me from," Jack opened his eyes and pointed to a large packing crate, "Over there."
James quirked an eyebrow at Jack and motioned for him to lead the way. "After you."
"I thought we were supposed to defer to our elders?" Jack joked quietly as he approached the crate he'd pinpointed as the TARDIS.
"Young whippersnapper," James muttered in reply.
"Better than being an old fogey." Jack looked back to see the glare James sent him. "I mean a debonair gentleman, who, while he happens to be older than me, is still in prime of his life?" Jack corrected quickly.
James harrumped half-heartedly.
"Hmmm." Jack reached out and brushed his fingers over the small brass padlock on the lip of the crate. "This is about the size for a TARDIS key, wouldn't you say? You want to have the honor, or should I?"
"Go ahead," James said, with a soft, almost wistful, tone of voice that had Jack stopping in his tracks.
"You? The Doctor?" There was a question that couldn't be asked there. Knowing too much about the future, your future, was a bad thing. Spoilers and all.
"Just. Just. Use your key," James said, motioning to the padlock.
"All right," Jack said carefully, pulling the chain from around his neck and testing the key in the lock. "Fits perfectly."
"Any TARDIS key will open any TARDIS; it's just the way they work," James said with a shrug. "I guess your average Time Lord wouldn't consider stealing someone else's TARDIS."
Jack grinned. "Lucky for us we're not Time Lords then." He turned the key and with a click the padlock unlocked and Jack opened the crate to reveal the console room of a TARDIS. The Master's TARDIS.
It was unlike the TARDIS that Jack was used to, one he didn't quite call home, but still dreamt about just the same. There was no comfortable coral or gentle curves. She was stark. White. Cold. Jack couldn't help but shudder as he walked in. Who could be comfortable surrounded by such sterility?
"I guess just like the outside, the inside can change as well," James said softly.
Jack stepped closer to the console as he spoke, eyes running over the readouts, taking stock of the condition of the TARDIS. "Looks like she's up and running again." With a jerk of his head he asked James to look at the results the TARDIS viewscreen was pulling up.
"Guess we were all the power she needed," James said, running a few of his own tests.
"All that vortex energy running through us? Nor surprising, really." Jack let his fingers trail over the console. "We can't just let him leave though. I know he has a whole history with UNIT and confrontations with the Doctor to do-"
"Not to mention that little incident with us."
"There is that," Jack said softly. "History says there are so many things he has yet to do, but. But I can't. We can't just let him go, despite the dangers of mucking about with the time stream." He looked up at James.
"No," James agreed, equally quiet. He bit his lip and looked up quickly, but failed to meet Jack's eyes. "We can't."
"Excellent." Jack rubbed his hands together. "How do you feel about a little sabotage?
James nodded. "I'm oddly okay with that."
"I'll start here, rerouting the Multi-Loop Stabilizer. Do you think you can create fluctuations in the Synchronic Feedback Checking Circuit? If we're careful, and we do it right, we can trick the console indicator light to tell the Master that the TARDIS has finished materialization when it hasn't."
"And no more Master," James said, getting to work.
"No more Master." And all those things the Master had done would be undone. Like magic.
They worked in silence, trying to be as quick and accurate as possible. James finished first and walked around to help Jack replace the panel he'd pried up. "Now what?"
Jack looked around and shrugged. "Think we have the time to create a big boom?"
"Help send him off in style?"
"Can't think of a more proper send off, can-"
"Captains," the Master interrupted as he swept into the room from somewhere deeper in the TARDIS. "You were supposed to stay incapacitated, or at least carefully locked away, for at least another seven minutes."
"I'd offer my apologies for creating havoc with your time table, but I think you'd realize I was just mocking you." Jack took a step towards the door behind him, motioning to James with a slight flick of his chin that they should try to make good their escape while they could.
"Oh, I don't think so." The Master pulled his hands out of his pockets. In his right he held Jack's Glock and in his left the remote that would activate the gas canisters he claimed to have hidden in the Hub.
James held his hands out, a sign of surrender. "No. Leave the team out of this." He took a slow step forward, going around the side of the console, bringing himself closer to the Master. "Just tell us what you want from us." He looked back at Jack, then at the exit, his eyes calm, serene. "The records have never painted you as a man who killed indiscriminately, who killed without reason. There's no need to threaten them. The two of us are here. We're cooperating. Now, it looks like our little power boost got the TARDIS back on track. So there is nothing holding you here."
"My TARDIS is back to its full strength," the Master admitted, pursing his lips as he seemed to consider what James had said.
"Then you can just take off," James said, taking another step forward, his fingers tracing along the console. "We won't try and stop you. In fact, we'll even go with you if you insist." He turned to Jack, "Isn't that right, Jack?"
"Oh, absolutely."
The Master did not appear entirely convinced, but he did put the remote back in his pocket, keeping the gun steady on James. He stepped forward and began to start up the TARDIS. "If you would be so kind as to shut the door?"
"My pleasure," Jack said, grabbing the doorhandle.
"Now, Jack!"
Jack threw himself through the door, turning onto his side as he landed. He could see James and the Master grappling for control over the gun as the TARDIS began to shake. "James!" he shouted, but he was too late, the TARDIS door slammed shut behind him and began to dematerialize.
"James." Jack was sprawled on the floor, staring at the spot where the TARDIS had been. "No."
He still hadn't moved by the time the team arrived a few minutes later.
"Jack?" Ianto called carefully, "Are you all right? Where's James?"
Owen knelt down next to Jack and began to examine him. "Looks like he's in shock," he said over his shoulder to Ianto, "maybe died a few times too."
"I'm," Jack blinked a few times and cleared his throat, "fine. I'm fine. What are you doing here?"
"One of Tosh's programs picked up an unusual power surge in this area. Real big one. She didn't think it looked rift related, well, not exactly, but since it was where you disappeared we came to check it out." Owen was trying, unsuccessfully so far, to take Jack's pulse; Jack kept shaking him off.
"It's done. It's all over." He scrubbed a hand over his face and looked over at Ianto and Owen. "The bad guy is gone, probably dead. James too."
"But," Ianto reached over and pulled Jack to his feet, "he's you. He'll come back, won't he? Like he did when we found him after he was pulled through the rift."
"I don't think so." Jack held onto the contract for a moment longer than necessary before breaking it and heading to the door. "If all went according to plan, I don't think so. Not even. Well, suffice it to say there's no way to come back from something like that." He stopped, just outside, and turned his face to the sun. "Seal the building up, Owen. No one goes in or out by order of Torchwood."
Owen pulled out his phone. "Right."
Jack sighed. "Damn it, I just realized. Both Webleys. Gone."
"We'll find you a new one, sir," Ianto assured Jack, guiding him to the SUV with a gentle hand on his back.
"It's a good gun."
"Yes, sir."
It was a while before things in the Hub went back to normal. A careful sweep revealed the Master's cameras and eight gas vials. Owen was still running tests on what they contained two weeks later, but so far they'd proven to be stubbornly unidentifiable.
Luckily, the rift had been fairly quiet. There were a few Weevil sightings and the incident with the Blandagor Ambassador that no one will ever mention again on pain of poorly prepared coffee, but overall they spent their time cleaning up, categorizing and archiving the piles of rift debris left over from the Master's mess.
Jack hid in his office whenever possible. He'd explained to the others about what had happened when he and James had been captured and they had offered vague hopes that James had survived, especially since the records about the Master's interactions with UNIT remained unchanged. But…
Jack brooded behind his desk. James had been so different. What did the future hold that could change him so much? The fact that he would become so careworn, so quiet and self-conscious; it was hard to fathom. And if. If somehow, the Master managed to survive their sabotage, that didn't mean James did. Jack had told the Doctor he didn't want to die, and that was true. For now. But in another hundred years? A thousand? Ten thousand? James never did say when he was from. Maybe going out in fiery dramatic moment, sacrificing your life for another, maybe it was something not to be scoffed at, but welcomed?
It was hard to say.
"Jack," Ianto called from the doorway, after unsuccessfully trying to get Jack's attention by clearing his throat. "This came for you." He held out a parcel.
Jack motioned Ianto to come in. "What is it?" Eyes narrowing, he took the simple, brown paper wrapped box from Ianto's hand and started examining it. In a fine, familiar hand was written 'Property of Captain Jack Harkness'
"Don't know. It was left in the tourist center. I was behind the curtain for maybe a minute, and the box was there when I got back."
"CCTV show anything?"
"Nope, I checked."
Jack gave Ianto a long look. "And you scanned it?"
"Of course." Ianto seemed almost horrified that Jack might question him about that.
"Then how do you-"
"Look, Jack, just open it. Trust me."
"Ianto."
"Please." Ianto handed Jack the brass letter opener off the desk.
Carefully, Jack began opening the box. The brown wrapping paper came off easily enough, revealing a note taped to the box. 'Ianto, make him open it or I'll tell him where you hide the extra-special coffee beans.'
"What's this about coffee beans?" The handwriting was the same as that on the outside.
"Nothing for you to worry about, sir," Ianto said quickly. "But the handwriting."
"Yeah. It's mine." His voice didn't quite shake, but he was having difficulty reining in his emotions. With a deep breath, Jack opened the box, revealing a finely carved, velvet lined storage unit for the two Webleys it contained. "He could have kept them," Jack said softly. "Mementoes."
"Looks like James not only survived, but figured out a way to return them to you. I guess, more than anyone, he knew what they mean to you. And besides, this way he'll still have them when you catch up with him. I mean, when you turn into him. When your time line meets up to where his time line. No, when. I mean..."
Jack laughed, standing up and walking over to Ianto. "I believe it was the famed author Douglas Adams who said 'Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.' If this experience has taught me anything it's taught me that. What do you say, in the mood to split a pizza?"