Distress Signal (11/?)
Distress Signal (11/?)
Characters: Rose/Ten, Jackie, Pete, Mickey, Jack
Disclaimer: The usual. I do not own Doctor Who. I do not make any money. Etcetera...
Spoilers: Through Doomsday
Rating: I think no worse than PG-13 by the end.
Summary: Rose starts to find out how much of a mess she's gotten herself into
Categories: Romance, angst, reunion-fic. (I'm sure there's others, but I'm not hugely familiar with the tagging system)
Author's Note: Rose learns a bit about what's happened to her.
Chapter 11
"How did you bring Jacqueline Tyler back from the dead?"
With that one statement, Rose felt all the air leave her lungs. How could she answer that question? More importantly, how could she answer that question in a way they would believe? What could she say that wouldn't also endanger her mother's life? If they had just wanted Rose, that would have been simple. But her life was never simple now was it?
Rose sat in shock for a good minute before she remembered to start breathing again. She barely even noticed that the lack of oxygen didn't bother her in the slightest because all of her attention was focused on trying to spin a story that would be both believable and keep her mum safe. She knew she needed to come up with an answer quickly. If she took too long thinking, Tanizaki would surely realize she was spinning a tale. Rose wanted to scream at her inability to come up with a plausible lie. She knew she couldn't tell Tanizaki the truth. Both he and Handel had demonstrated a total lack of common sense between the explosion and holding her prisoner in her father's own facility so she couldn't trust them with the knowledge about parallel worlds. She shook her head and decided she needed to buy herself time to think. "I must've misheard you. Can you repeat the question?" she asked innocently.
"How did you resurrect Jacqueline Tyler?" he said slowly, enunciating the words so that she couldn't claim she misheard him. After a moment's hesitation he added, a bit flippantly, "You know who Jacqueline Tyler is, don't you? The woman whose daughter you impersonated?"
Rose didn't think she could lie about that so she nodded. The best lies, of course, were sandwiched between truths, and with Torchwood employees, she knew she needed to pick her lies carefully. "Course I know who Mrs. Tyler is - nice lady," she said, quickly deciding to speak formally of her mother in an attempt to create some distance. If they believed Rose was an alien, then she needed them to believe that she wasn't related to her own mother. She just hoped that if she acted like she and her mum weren't close then Tanizaki would believe they were merely allies of circumstance rather than family. After a moment, she couldn't help but add through slightly narrowed eyes, "she's a bit scary if you cross her though," remembering how her first Doctor had reacted to the now infamous Jackie Tyler slap.
"Good," he said with a nod, ignoring Rose's comment about upsetting Torchwood's CEO's wife. "Now we're getting somewhere. So onto the real issue. How did you bring her back to life after the Cybermen invasion was over?"
Rose looked up and met Tanizaki's intense stare evenly. She needed Tanizaki to believe her next statement so she poured all the emotion she could into her voice and eyes. He had to see that she was speaking the truth. She tried not to think about the fact that from a certain point of view her words weren't wholly true. But they were true about her mother and that was the 'Jackie' they were talking about at that instant. "I'm sorry, sir - Jackie never died."
Her voice was still hoarse but the more she spoke, the stronger her voice grew. Even as it grew in strength and clarity however, it still sounded strange in her ears. She had a brief moment of panic that the regeneration had changed her, but didn't know how to confirm it without a mirror. Remembering the Doctor's comment about new teeth, she quickly ran her tongue over her own teeth. Her fillings were all gone, which made sense if her body had healed every cell, and they felt straighter, but beyond that she wasn't sure how to tell much. She certainly didn't feel any different.
She didn't have time to dwell on it, however, with Tanizaki sitting five feet away. As soon as he left, she'd investigate. She hoped she hadn't changed and her voice was just recovering, but even if she had, there was nothing to be done about it now and she needed to keep her mind focused on escape.
Tanizaki let out a long suffering sigh. "I helped you. Now I'm asking for you to give me something in return." He leaned forward, propping his arms on his legs. "So many people died when the Cybermen invaded. I just want to help them, too. Please, help me help them."
She bit her lip before shaking her head sadly. "I'm sorry. There's nothing I can do." And she meant it. She remembered standing in the factory and hearing the screams of the people who died that day.
She caught a glimpse of pain in his eyes right before he closed them and reached to pinch the bridge of his nose with one hand, effectively obscuring her view of any further reactions. He just sat like that for a few seconds, gathering his thoughts.
While he contemplated her answer, she allowed her eyes to drift around the room. Now that she wasn't flat on her back she could see everything though there wasn't much to take in. Aside from the bed, the radiation machine, and the portable table Tanizaki had brought in, there was only the chair currently occupied by Tanizaki. The lights were all inset into the ceiling and at the far side of the small room there was a single metal door with a black opaque window to its right. She'd seen those windows in the interrogation rooms in other parts of Torchwood - it meant anyone could be watching them as they spoke. That gave her some hope that someone sensible might overhear.
"I don't believe you." His voice snapped Rose's attention back to him. "You see, Jacqueline Tyler died on the first of February, 2006, when the Cybermen assimilated over fifteen-thousand people." She could hear hints of frustration in the tension underlying his otherwise soft words. Tanizaki rolled his chair closer to Rose's bed side and sat up straighter. In the florescent light, his eyes took on the hard look of determination. She poured her energy into keeping her breathing and heart -- hearts rate even under his scrutiny. She needed to be the picture of honesty.
His voice was a little calmer when he spoke again. She thought she detected a hint of pride for solving the puzzle that was Rose Tyler. "That's when things get interesting. Approximately one year after the invasion, Jacqueline Tyler mysteriously returns with her twenty year old daughter, Rose Tyler, in tow. Pete and Jacqueline Tyler spin the story that the Cybermen attack made her realize the value of family and she went off in search of the daughter she'd given up for adoption, fearing the girl had been killed by the Cybermen." He leaned back and crossed his arms, gaining confidence as he spoke. "Here's the catch - Rose Tyler never existed. 'Rose Tyler' was a creation of Torchwood under Pete Tyler's authorization." Tanizaki fixed her with a dubious look. "You honestly want me to believe that Jacqueline Tyler mysteriously returned from the dead with a non-existent daughter in tow and that mystery woman had nothing to do with her miraculous return? A woman, who turns out to be an alien who has the ability to appear human? A alien who has the ability to rebuild every cell in her body and survive explosions that would kill anyone else?"
Rose shook her head and pressed on despite the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. The evidence was stacked against her, but she had to try. "Jackie Tyler never died. I may have brought her to Pete, but I swear she's been alive all this time." She could hear the desperation causing her voice to crack, but she didn't care. The only thing that mattered was what Tanizaki leave her mum alone. She had to make him understand that Jackie was a normal, uninteresting, human. She watched his face for any sign of change in his attitude. She saw anger, desolation, confusion, and sadness each take a turn in his eyes while he the wall above her head. She kept her gaze steady and even, willing him to see that she was telling the truth. All the while, she wondered just what had happened to this man that made Jackie's sudden re-appearance so vital to him.
Tanizaki quickly turned to his clipboard in his lap where he took copious notes. Rose remained quiet so she could try to puzzle him out. It wasn't long before she'd worked it out. "You lost someone," she whispered sadly and Tanizaki's head snapped up at her words. There was a brief flash of pain in his eyes before it was gone again under the mask he'd constructed. "Who?"
"My wife," he whispered hoarsely and Rose felt pity for the lonely man in front of her despite all the horrible, unforgivable things he'd done to her. She was an alien with unbelievable healing powers. He had hoped that she could bring his lost love back - but she couldn't.
If she'd been free of her restraints, she would have put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry. I lost the man I loved when the Cybermen attacked my home," she whispered, pouring her own grief at the loss of the Doctor into her words. Granted, the Doctor wasn't dead, but the Cybermen and the Daleks had caused their separation just the same, and she needed to try to make some connections to her captors. "Pete was very lucky."
Tanizaki's gaze returned to her face and his posture became uncertain. She could see little wrinkles develop around his eyes as he scrutinized her. She kept still and let him, hoping she'd gotten through to him with her own tale. He finally opened his mouth to respond when Handel came sauntering into the room. That confirmed her suspicion that he'd been watching from the other side of the viewing window. His timing was too good, otherwise. Of course he'd interrupt now that she finally started to make some inroads with Tanizaki.
The scientist looked back down at his clipboard, his shoulders slumped in defeat. The momentary connection was lost. Rose cursed inwardly, her icy gaze boring into Handel.
Handel, for his part, steadily ignored her, focusing entirely on his partner. He came up right next to Tanizaki and put a reassuring hand on the scientist's shoulder. "Don't let that beast get to you," he said quietly and Rose narrowed her eyes. Handel didn't strike her as the kind of person to be compassionate purely for the other person's benefit. "We know it was able to make itself a human disguise, complete with DNA to match two random humans. If it can grow a disguise like that, it must be able to do something useful."
Tanizaki drew in a steading breath and Rose wanted to scream. She had started to get to him, she knew it. And now her chance was gone. "Even if I could have grown myself a body like you're suggesting, grow a clone or, a human suit, or... something. Even if I had the capability to do all that, what about who she was? If she died at the hands of the Cybermen, she's gone. Please, you're a scientist, you have to understand. That attack was a year ago! If they killed her, if she stopped breathing, you know better than anyone that her brain would have deteriorated without oxygen. There'd be nothing left of her after all this time!"
Tanizaki fixed Rose with cold, evaluating eyes and she sat up straighter, despite the restraints. She'd said something to shift his demeanor, but she didn't know what. Was it possible Tanizaki's wife was still alive after all this time? Tanizaki turned exchange a glance with Handel before returning his gaze to Rose. "What if I told you I could get you her mind, in tact?"
Rose's mouth fell open and she just sat there in shock. "How?" Rose couldn't imagine what state the woman must be in. Anyone she knew of surviving the Cybermen invasion hadn't been upgraded yet, in which case they wouldn't need her supposed help.
"Her mind is still alive, but her body is a lost cause - she needs a new one," Tanizaki explained hopefully. "So I ask you again. Can you save her like you saved Jacqueline Tyler?"
Rose closed her eyes in sympathy for Tanizaki's wife. What kind of pain must the woman be in to be alive but in need of a new body years after being attacked by the Cybermen? She gently shook her head, "No. I'm sorry Tanizaki, there's nothing I can do." She suddenly had an idea as to how to spin her story, but she needed to tread carefully.
"You want to know how Jackie Tyler's alive and where I come in?" She fixed Tanizaki with her best 'are you sure you want to hear this' stare, but he only nodded. "Alright," she said and leaned forward as best she could given the restraints holding her in place. "Jackie Tyler was abducted by an alien." Technically true - the Doctor had accidentally taken her to Torchwood and that was how she ended up in the alternate universe.
Handel let out a derisive laugh. "Pull the other one."
"You asked, I answered," Rose told him sharply before turning her attention back to Tanizaki. Handel would never give her words any weight, but she held out hope that she might reach Tanizaki. She thought carefully about how to phrase the full story. She needed to be careful, as she was about to fuse two separate truths into one story. "He's called the Doctor. Jackie was abducted by the Doctor and myself. She's been living safely on my home world until two years ago. That's when my planet was attacked by the Cybermen. During the invasion, the Doctor sent Jackie here so that she'd be safe. I didn't mean to follow, but I did and I've been stuck on Earth ever since. When it became obvious I was stranded, Pete took me in."
"You want me to believe that Jacqueline Tyler survived the Cybermen invasion because she was abducted by aliens?" Tanizaki watched her skeptically, one of his eyebrows rising to meet his hairline.
She nodded. Yes, that was exactly what she wanted these people to believe. She kept her eyes fixed on Tanizaki, knowing her story would be a stretch for anyone to accept so she did her best to remain still. Her Torchwood training taught her that people tended to fidget when they weren't telling the whole truth.
It was the best she could come up with on short notice. She didn't think she could all out lie under the circumstances, so she plowed on with her partial truth. "Ask Jake, Pete, or Mickey to verify my story. The Doctor and I crash landed here on February 1st, 2006, and helped the three of 'em stop the Cybermen invasion. I know Pete didn't mention us in the official report, but there was no reason to! We were going to leave just as fast as we arrived and never return. Plus, the acting President wanted to tell the public aliens had been responsible for the Cybermen attack to keep stability. Why muddy the waters and mention that aliens had helped when he was going to accuse aliens of causing the whole incident in the first place?" She inwardly winced, feeling like her story was as scattered as the time she'd tried to bluff the Syccorax.
"We thought that was that. Pete was supposed to clean up the rest of the Cybermen and we went home. Thought we'd seen the last of the Cybermen and this place, but we were wrong. Two years ago, my home was attacked by the Cybermen - Cybermen that escaped from here. The Doctor and I stopped them, but in the process," Rose closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm herself. Talking about the battle of Canary Wharf was still painful for her. "I was stranded here. I've been stuck ever since."
"Don't listen to that creature," Handel said evenly. "You know how cunning some of the aliens we've come across are. It knows that we can't investigate any of its claims. Think about it. If we suddenly start asking about an alien that only it knows about, they'll know it survived the explosion." His hand reached out and grabbed Tanizaki's shoulder, squeezing tightly. "It's just playing with you."
"Alright," she said, trying to bury her frustration. "How bout you check my cell phone records for the day of the Cybermen invasion, then. A year before I existed in this galaxy and my phone popped up on Cybus Network for approximately 24 hours. The kill-switch for the Cybermen was even transmitted from my number." She added sarcastically, "Think you can at least manage that?"
Tanizaki considered her words for a minute and Rose held out hope she had started to sway him. "OK, answer me this," Tanizaki finally said aloud as he crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. "Why did you and this Doctor abduct Jacqueline Tyler?"
Rose shrugged, happy that she could answer that honestly, even if she was taking events out of context to serve her purpose. "We didn't mean to, she just kind of wandered into our ship."
"Can't you see?" Handel growled at Tanzaki, "This is all a bunch of B.S., fabricated to keep you listening." Handel spun to face Rose and pointing a finger at her. "I'm not stupid..."
"You could've fooled me," Rose interrupted with a bitter laugh.
Handel angrily came right up to the side of Rose's bed and it took everything in her to keep from retreating from his sudden closeness. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means, you're acting like a moron," she huffed. Had that been rude? Best not think about that right now. "I'm under Pete Tyler's protection - your boss's protection. When he realizes you kidnapped me, keeping your job will be the least of your problems. And here you are holding me right under his nose."
"That supposed to be a threat?" Handel asked, sounding unimpressed.
"No," she said, shaking her head easily. "A threat would imply that I planned on doing something. You've taken care of this all on your own."
Handel scoffed. "No one's going to find out what happened. Rose Tyler's dead - she died in that explosion," Handel said, his face twisting into a triumphant and cold smile. He moved to the corner of the room where he leaned confidently against the wall.
"You think that they're going to buy that?" she shook her head. "No way. You survived the explosion. They aren't going to buy the idea that you walked away unscathed while my remains were incinerated. When they can't find my body, they'll come looking. All I have to do is wait."
"Then maybe I should just shoot you and dump your body back at the crash site. Save myself some trouble," Handel growled, pulling a gun from his belt and pointing it at Rose's head.
She forced herself to keep breathing. "What makes you think a bullet would kill me when an explosion couldn't?" she bluffed, not knowing the specifics of regeneration for a normal Time Lord, let alone her own.
Tanizaki slowly put his hand on the barrel of Handel's gun. "Now she's winding you up." Handel glared at Tanizaki but the scientist continued, ignoring the pointed look. "For all intents and purposes, she appeared human for the last two years." Tanizaki paused to throw a glance over his shoulder to Rose. "Does Pete even know you're an alien?"
"Pete knows I'm from another world," Rose answered carefully.
Tanizaki smiled, "You pick your words too carefully, miss." His gaze then returned to his partner. "We experiment on aliens - it's our job. I bet she didn't tell Mr. Tyler she wasn't human. And if he doesn't know she's inhuman, he won't know what she looks like now that her Rose Tyler disguise has been burned away."
Rose's heart sank at his words. So she had changed appearance when she'd regenerated... that meant that even if Pete realized she'd been captured, he'd never find her. He could have even been standing on the other side of the glass and he'd never know... he'd just walk on by. No one was coming for her.
"See?" Tanizaki said smuggly, nodding over his shoulder at Rose. "Everything is fine. Mr. Tyler won't come looking for her, and even if he did, he won't find her."
Handel continued to watch Rose skeptically for another minute. She could see the fire in his eyes. He still thought the safest solution was to kill her, but she'd convinced him it might not be feasible. "Alright. We play this your way, for now."
"Thank you," Tanizaki whispered, relief evident in his voice. Rose watched the two angrily, but they were ignoring her. "Now, let's give our visitor some time to think on her situation. I'm sure with time, she'll come around."
"You go ahead. I'll be out in a minute," Handel replied.
Tanizaki gave the grizzled soldier a skeptical look before replying. "I said we'll give her time to think. There will be time to interrogate her later."
"I just want to ask her one more question," Handel explained. When Tanizaki quirked an impatient eyebrow, Handel added, "I think she'll be more likely to answer without an audience."
"Very well," Tanizaki said reluctantly, but rose from his seat. "Just don't harm her."
"I told you, we'll handle her your way, for now."
Tanizaki was apparently satisfied with Handel's response because he quickly gathered his belongings on the rolling tray he'd entered with and exited the room through the one exit. Through the open door, Rose briefly caught a glimpse of a young man - probably an intern - sitting at a computer, diligently typing away. The door closed again before she could make out much else.
"Well, now I have you to myself for a few minutes," Handel replied quietly. "What shall we talk about now?"
Rose rolled her eyes but didn't say anything more.
"What? You can talk Tanizaki's ear off but can't spare me two words?" He snorted. "Maybe you realize your fancy stories won't work on me." When Rose shook her head, but didn't respond he grinned. "That's alright, you just listen to old Handel's version of your story.
"See, I believe you when you say that Jackie Tyler survived because she was abducted by aliens. Makes more sense than any of Tanizaki's theories. But I don't think you took her by accident." He planted one hand on either side of Rose and leaned in until their noses were millimeters away from touching. "I think you were holding her hostage. I think you and your buddies were blackmailing Pete Tyler."
Rose couldn't help but laugh at that.
"You think that's funny?" Handel asked, straightening back up. "That's alright. You can laugh all you want now. But when Tanizaki gets bored your inability to save his wife, I will get a crack at you. And when I do, you will talk to me. You'll tell me everything I want to know - like why you blackmailed the head of an institution devoted to stopping alien invasions."
"If I kidnapped Jackie to manipulate Pete, then why did I bring her back?" Rose whispered.
"I don't know yet. Maybe you needed her so that we'd accept your presence. Or perhaps she's not the real Jackie - maybe she's an alien in a human body like you," Handel said, shrugging his shoulders indifferently. "But I will enjoy extracting that information from you." Handel reached out and grabbed Rose's chin roughly. "Think about that. You can keep jerking Tanizaki's chain until he gets fed up and lets me extract information from you my way, or you play his little game. It's your choice."
With that, Handel released her face and very nearly swaggered out of the cell, leaving Rose alone with her thoughts.
Well, that could have gone better, she thought grumpily. But she was alive and for the moment unharmed. She'd just have to find a way out before she wore out her welcome.
Characters: Rose/Ten, Jackie, Pete, Mickey, Jack
Disclaimer: The usual. I do not own Doctor Who. I do not make any money. Etcetera...
Spoilers: Through Doomsday
Rating: I think no worse than PG-13 by the end.
Summary: Rose starts to find out how much of a mess she's gotten herself into
Categories: Romance, angst, reunion-fic. (I'm sure there's others, but I'm not hugely familiar with the tagging system)
Author's Note: Rose learns a bit about what's happened to her.
Chapter 11
"How did you bring Jacqueline Tyler back from the dead?"
With that one statement, Rose felt all the air leave her lungs. How could she answer that question? More importantly, how could she answer that question in a way they would believe? What could she say that wouldn't also endanger her mother's life? If they had just wanted Rose, that would have been simple. But her life was never simple now was it?
Rose sat in shock for a good minute before she remembered to start breathing again. She barely even noticed that the lack of oxygen didn't bother her in the slightest because all of her attention was focused on trying to spin a story that would be both believable and keep her mum safe. She knew she needed to come up with an answer quickly. If she took too long thinking, Tanizaki would surely realize she was spinning a tale. Rose wanted to scream at her inability to come up with a plausible lie. She knew she couldn't tell Tanizaki the truth. Both he and Handel had demonstrated a total lack of common sense between the explosion and holding her prisoner in her father's own facility so she couldn't trust them with the knowledge about parallel worlds. She shook her head and decided she needed to buy herself time to think. "I must've misheard you. Can you repeat the question?" she asked innocently.
"How did you resurrect Jacqueline Tyler?" he said slowly, enunciating the words so that she couldn't claim she misheard him. After a moment's hesitation he added, a bit flippantly, "You know who Jacqueline Tyler is, don't you? The woman whose daughter you impersonated?"
Rose didn't think she could lie about that so she nodded. The best lies, of course, were sandwiched between truths, and with Torchwood employees, she knew she needed to pick her lies carefully. "Course I know who Mrs. Tyler is - nice lady," she said, quickly deciding to speak formally of her mother in an attempt to create some distance. If they believed Rose was an alien, then she needed them to believe that she wasn't related to her own mother. She just hoped that if she acted like she and her mum weren't close then Tanizaki would believe they were merely allies of circumstance rather than family. After a moment, she couldn't help but add through slightly narrowed eyes, "she's a bit scary if you cross her though," remembering how her first Doctor had reacted to the now infamous Jackie Tyler slap.
"Good," he said with a nod, ignoring Rose's comment about upsetting Torchwood's CEO's wife. "Now we're getting somewhere. So onto the real issue. How did you bring her back to life after the Cybermen invasion was over?"
Rose looked up and met Tanizaki's intense stare evenly. She needed Tanizaki to believe her next statement so she poured all the emotion she could into her voice and eyes. He had to see that she was speaking the truth. She tried not to think about the fact that from a certain point of view her words weren't wholly true. But they were true about her mother and that was the 'Jackie' they were talking about at that instant. "I'm sorry, sir - Jackie never died."
Her voice was still hoarse but the more she spoke, the stronger her voice grew. Even as it grew in strength and clarity however, it still sounded strange in her ears. She had a brief moment of panic that the regeneration had changed her, but didn't know how to confirm it without a mirror. Remembering the Doctor's comment about new teeth, she quickly ran her tongue over her own teeth. Her fillings were all gone, which made sense if her body had healed every cell, and they felt straighter, but beyond that she wasn't sure how to tell much. She certainly didn't feel any different.
She didn't have time to dwell on it, however, with Tanizaki sitting five feet away. As soon as he left, she'd investigate. She hoped she hadn't changed and her voice was just recovering, but even if she had, there was nothing to be done about it now and she needed to keep her mind focused on escape.
Tanizaki let out a long suffering sigh. "I helped you. Now I'm asking for you to give me something in return." He leaned forward, propping his arms on his legs. "So many people died when the Cybermen invaded. I just want to help them, too. Please, help me help them."
She bit her lip before shaking her head sadly. "I'm sorry. There's nothing I can do." And she meant it. She remembered standing in the factory and hearing the screams of the people who died that day.
She caught a glimpse of pain in his eyes right before he closed them and reached to pinch the bridge of his nose with one hand, effectively obscuring her view of any further reactions. He just sat like that for a few seconds, gathering his thoughts.
While he contemplated her answer, she allowed her eyes to drift around the room. Now that she wasn't flat on her back she could see everything though there wasn't much to take in. Aside from the bed, the radiation machine, and the portable table Tanizaki had brought in, there was only the chair currently occupied by Tanizaki. The lights were all inset into the ceiling and at the far side of the small room there was a single metal door with a black opaque window to its right. She'd seen those windows in the interrogation rooms in other parts of Torchwood - it meant anyone could be watching them as they spoke. That gave her some hope that someone sensible might overhear.
"I don't believe you." His voice snapped Rose's attention back to him. "You see, Jacqueline Tyler died on the first of February, 2006, when the Cybermen assimilated over fifteen-thousand people." She could hear hints of frustration in the tension underlying his otherwise soft words. Tanizaki rolled his chair closer to Rose's bed side and sat up straighter. In the florescent light, his eyes took on the hard look of determination. She poured her energy into keeping her breathing and heart -- hearts rate even under his scrutiny. She needed to be the picture of honesty.
His voice was a little calmer when he spoke again. She thought she detected a hint of pride for solving the puzzle that was Rose Tyler. "That's when things get interesting. Approximately one year after the invasion, Jacqueline Tyler mysteriously returns with her twenty year old daughter, Rose Tyler, in tow. Pete and Jacqueline Tyler spin the story that the Cybermen attack made her realize the value of family and she went off in search of the daughter she'd given up for adoption, fearing the girl had been killed by the Cybermen." He leaned back and crossed his arms, gaining confidence as he spoke. "Here's the catch - Rose Tyler never existed. 'Rose Tyler' was a creation of Torchwood under Pete Tyler's authorization." Tanizaki fixed her with a dubious look. "You honestly want me to believe that Jacqueline Tyler mysteriously returned from the dead with a non-existent daughter in tow and that mystery woman had nothing to do with her miraculous return? A woman, who turns out to be an alien who has the ability to appear human? A alien who has the ability to rebuild every cell in her body and survive explosions that would kill anyone else?"
Rose shook her head and pressed on despite the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. The evidence was stacked against her, but she had to try. "Jackie Tyler never died. I may have brought her to Pete, but I swear she's been alive all this time." She could hear the desperation causing her voice to crack, but she didn't care. The only thing that mattered was what Tanizaki leave her mum alone. She had to make him understand that Jackie was a normal, uninteresting, human. She watched his face for any sign of change in his attitude. She saw anger, desolation, confusion, and sadness each take a turn in his eyes while he the wall above her head. She kept her gaze steady and even, willing him to see that she was telling the truth. All the while, she wondered just what had happened to this man that made Jackie's sudden re-appearance so vital to him.
Tanizaki quickly turned to his clipboard in his lap where he took copious notes. Rose remained quiet so she could try to puzzle him out. It wasn't long before she'd worked it out. "You lost someone," she whispered sadly and Tanizaki's head snapped up at her words. There was a brief flash of pain in his eyes before it was gone again under the mask he'd constructed. "Who?"
"My wife," he whispered hoarsely and Rose felt pity for the lonely man in front of her despite all the horrible, unforgivable things he'd done to her. She was an alien with unbelievable healing powers. He had hoped that she could bring his lost love back - but she couldn't.
If she'd been free of her restraints, she would have put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry. I lost the man I loved when the Cybermen attacked my home," she whispered, pouring her own grief at the loss of the Doctor into her words. Granted, the Doctor wasn't dead, but the Cybermen and the Daleks had caused their separation just the same, and she needed to try to make some connections to her captors. "Pete was very lucky."
Tanizaki's gaze returned to her face and his posture became uncertain. She could see little wrinkles develop around his eyes as he scrutinized her. She kept still and let him, hoping she'd gotten through to him with her own tale. He finally opened his mouth to respond when Handel came sauntering into the room. That confirmed her suspicion that he'd been watching from the other side of the viewing window. His timing was too good, otherwise. Of course he'd interrupt now that she finally started to make some inroads with Tanizaki.
The scientist looked back down at his clipboard, his shoulders slumped in defeat. The momentary connection was lost. Rose cursed inwardly, her icy gaze boring into Handel.
Handel, for his part, steadily ignored her, focusing entirely on his partner. He came up right next to Tanizaki and put a reassuring hand on the scientist's shoulder. "Don't let that beast get to you," he said quietly and Rose narrowed her eyes. Handel didn't strike her as the kind of person to be compassionate purely for the other person's benefit. "We know it was able to make itself a human disguise, complete with DNA to match two random humans. If it can grow a disguise like that, it must be able to do something useful."
Tanizaki drew in a steading breath and Rose wanted to scream. She had started to get to him, she knew it. And now her chance was gone. "Even if I could have grown myself a body like you're suggesting, grow a clone or, a human suit, or... something. Even if I had the capability to do all that, what about who she was? If she died at the hands of the Cybermen, she's gone. Please, you're a scientist, you have to understand. That attack was a year ago! If they killed her, if she stopped breathing, you know better than anyone that her brain would have deteriorated without oxygen. There'd be nothing left of her after all this time!"
Tanizaki fixed Rose with cold, evaluating eyes and she sat up straighter, despite the restraints. She'd said something to shift his demeanor, but she didn't know what. Was it possible Tanizaki's wife was still alive after all this time? Tanizaki turned exchange a glance with Handel before returning his gaze to Rose. "What if I told you I could get you her mind, in tact?"
Rose's mouth fell open and she just sat there in shock. "How?" Rose couldn't imagine what state the woman must be in. Anyone she knew of surviving the Cybermen invasion hadn't been upgraded yet, in which case they wouldn't need her supposed help.
"Her mind is still alive, but her body is a lost cause - she needs a new one," Tanizaki explained hopefully. "So I ask you again. Can you save her like you saved Jacqueline Tyler?"
Rose closed her eyes in sympathy for Tanizaki's wife. What kind of pain must the woman be in to be alive but in need of a new body years after being attacked by the Cybermen? She gently shook her head, "No. I'm sorry Tanizaki, there's nothing I can do." She suddenly had an idea as to how to spin her story, but she needed to tread carefully.
"You want to know how Jackie Tyler's alive and where I come in?" She fixed Tanizaki with her best 'are you sure you want to hear this' stare, but he only nodded. "Alright," she said and leaned forward as best she could given the restraints holding her in place. "Jackie Tyler was abducted by an alien." Technically true - the Doctor had accidentally taken her to Torchwood and that was how she ended up in the alternate universe.
Handel let out a derisive laugh. "Pull the other one."
"You asked, I answered," Rose told him sharply before turning her attention back to Tanizaki. Handel would never give her words any weight, but she held out hope that she might reach Tanizaki. She thought carefully about how to phrase the full story. She needed to be careful, as she was about to fuse two separate truths into one story. "He's called the Doctor. Jackie was abducted by the Doctor and myself. She's been living safely on my home world until two years ago. That's when my planet was attacked by the Cybermen. During the invasion, the Doctor sent Jackie here so that she'd be safe. I didn't mean to follow, but I did and I've been stuck on Earth ever since. When it became obvious I was stranded, Pete took me in."
"You want me to believe that Jacqueline Tyler survived the Cybermen invasion because she was abducted by aliens?" Tanizaki watched her skeptically, one of his eyebrows rising to meet his hairline.
She nodded. Yes, that was exactly what she wanted these people to believe. She kept her eyes fixed on Tanizaki, knowing her story would be a stretch for anyone to accept so she did her best to remain still. Her Torchwood training taught her that people tended to fidget when they weren't telling the whole truth.
It was the best she could come up with on short notice. She didn't think she could all out lie under the circumstances, so she plowed on with her partial truth. "Ask Jake, Pete, or Mickey to verify my story. The Doctor and I crash landed here on February 1st, 2006, and helped the three of 'em stop the Cybermen invasion. I know Pete didn't mention us in the official report, but there was no reason to! We were going to leave just as fast as we arrived and never return. Plus, the acting President wanted to tell the public aliens had been responsible for the Cybermen attack to keep stability. Why muddy the waters and mention that aliens had helped when he was going to accuse aliens of causing the whole incident in the first place?" She inwardly winced, feeling like her story was as scattered as the time she'd tried to bluff the Syccorax.
"We thought that was that. Pete was supposed to clean up the rest of the Cybermen and we went home. Thought we'd seen the last of the Cybermen and this place, but we were wrong. Two years ago, my home was attacked by the Cybermen - Cybermen that escaped from here. The Doctor and I stopped them, but in the process," Rose closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm herself. Talking about the battle of Canary Wharf was still painful for her. "I was stranded here. I've been stuck ever since."
"Don't listen to that creature," Handel said evenly. "You know how cunning some of the aliens we've come across are. It knows that we can't investigate any of its claims. Think about it. If we suddenly start asking about an alien that only it knows about, they'll know it survived the explosion." His hand reached out and grabbed Tanizaki's shoulder, squeezing tightly. "It's just playing with you."
"Alright," she said, trying to bury her frustration. "How bout you check my cell phone records for the day of the Cybermen invasion, then. A year before I existed in this galaxy and my phone popped up on Cybus Network for approximately 24 hours. The kill-switch for the Cybermen was even transmitted from my number." She added sarcastically, "Think you can at least manage that?"
Tanizaki considered her words for a minute and Rose held out hope she had started to sway him. "OK, answer me this," Tanizaki finally said aloud as he crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. "Why did you and this Doctor abduct Jacqueline Tyler?"
Rose shrugged, happy that she could answer that honestly, even if she was taking events out of context to serve her purpose. "We didn't mean to, she just kind of wandered into our ship."
"Can't you see?" Handel growled at Tanzaki, "This is all a bunch of B.S., fabricated to keep you listening." Handel spun to face Rose and pointing a finger at her. "I'm not stupid..."
"You could've fooled me," Rose interrupted with a bitter laugh.
Handel angrily came right up to the side of Rose's bed and it took everything in her to keep from retreating from his sudden closeness. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means, you're acting like a moron," she huffed. Had that been rude? Best not think about that right now. "I'm under Pete Tyler's protection - your boss's protection. When he realizes you kidnapped me, keeping your job will be the least of your problems. And here you are holding me right under his nose."
"That supposed to be a threat?" Handel asked, sounding unimpressed.
"No," she said, shaking her head easily. "A threat would imply that I planned on doing something. You've taken care of this all on your own."
Handel scoffed. "No one's going to find out what happened. Rose Tyler's dead - she died in that explosion," Handel said, his face twisting into a triumphant and cold smile. He moved to the corner of the room where he leaned confidently against the wall.
"You think that they're going to buy that?" she shook her head. "No way. You survived the explosion. They aren't going to buy the idea that you walked away unscathed while my remains were incinerated. When they can't find my body, they'll come looking. All I have to do is wait."
"Then maybe I should just shoot you and dump your body back at the crash site. Save myself some trouble," Handel growled, pulling a gun from his belt and pointing it at Rose's head.
She forced herself to keep breathing. "What makes you think a bullet would kill me when an explosion couldn't?" she bluffed, not knowing the specifics of regeneration for a normal Time Lord, let alone her own.
Tanizaki slowly put his hand on the barrel of Handel's gun. "Now she's winding you up." Handel glared at Tanizaki but the scientist continued, ignoring the pointed look. "For all intents and purposes, she appeared human for the last two years." Tanizaki paused to throw a glance over his shoulder to Rose. "Does Pete even know you're an alien?"
"Pete knows I'm from another world," Rose answered carefully.
Tanizaki smiled, "You pick your words too carefully, miss." His gaze then returned to his partner. "We experiment on aliens - it's our job. I bet she didn't tell Mr. Tyler she wasn't human. And if he doesn't know she's inhuman, he won't know what she looks like now that her Rose Tyler disguise has been burned away."
Rose's heart sank at his words. So she had changed appearance when she'd regenerated... that meant that even if Pete realized she'd been captured, he'd never find her. He could have even been standing on the other side of the glass and he'd never know... he'd just walk on by. No one was coming for her.
"See?" Tanizaki said smuggly, nodding over his shoulder at Rose. "Everything is fine. Mr. Tyler won't come looking for her, and even if he did, he won't find her."
Handel continued to watch Rose skeptically for another minute. She could see the fire in his eyes. He still thought the safest solution was to kill her, but she'd convinced him it might not be feasible. "Alright. We play this your way, for now."
"Thank you," Tanizaki whispered, relief evident in his voice. Rose watched the two angrily, but they were ignoring her. "Now, let's give our visitor some time to think on her situation. I'm sure with time, she'll come around."
"You go ahead. I'll be out in a minute," Handel replied.
Tanizaki gave the grizzled soldier a skeptical look before replying. "I said we'll give her time to think. There will be time to interrogate her later."
"I just want to ask her one more question," Handel explained. When Tanizaki quirked an impatient eyebrow, Handel added, "I think she'll be more likely to answer without an audience."
"Very well," Tanizaki said reluctantly, but rose from his seat. "Just don't harm her."
"I told you, we'll handle her your way, for now."
Tanizaki was apparently satisfied with Handel's response because he quickly gathered his belongings on the rolling tray he'd entered with and exited the room through the one exit. Through the open door, Rose briefly caught a glimpse of a young man - probably an intern - sitting at a computer, diligently typing away. The door closed again before she could make out much else.
"Well, now I have you to myself for a few minutes," Handel replied quietly. "What shall we talk about now?"
Rose rolled her eyes but didn't say anything more.
"What? You can talk Tanizaki's ear off but can't spare me two words?" He snorted. "Maybe you realize your fancy stories won't work on me." When Rose shook her head, but didn't respond he grinned. "That's alright, you just listen to old Handel's version of your story.
"See, I believe you when you say that Jackie Tyler survived because she was abducted by aliens. Makes more sense than any of Tanizaki's theories. But I don't think you took her by accident." He planted one hand on either side of Rose and leaned in until their noses were millimeters away from touching. "I think you were holding her hostage. I think you and your buddies were blackmailing Pete Tyler."
Rose couldn't help but laugh at that.
"You think that's funny?" Handel asked, straightening back up. "That's alright. You can laugh all you want now. But when Tanizaki gets bored your inability to save his wife, I will get a crack at you. And when I do, you will talk to me. You'll tell me everything I want to know - like why you blackmailed the head of an institution devoted to stopping alien invasions."
"If I kidnapped Jackie to manipulate Pete, then why did I bring her back?" Rose whispered.
"I don't know yet. Maybe you needed her so that we'd accept your presence. Or perhaps she's not the real Jackie - maybe she's an alien in a human body like you," Handel said, shrugging his shoulders indifferently. "But I will enjoy extracting that information from you." Handel reached out and grabbed Rose's chin roughly. "Think about that. You can keep jerking Tanizaki's chain until he gets fed up and lets me extract information from you my way, or you play his little game. It's your choice."
With that, Handel released her face and very nearly swaggered out of the cell, leaving Rose alone with her thoughts.
Well, that could have gone better, she thought grumpily. But she was alive and for the moment unharmed. She'd just have to find a way out before she wore out her welcome.