[OOC] Jack Harkness: the missing months
Warning: contains paradoxes. Also, spoilers for Doctor Who: Parting of the Ways and Torchwood.
Jack was stuck in a time loop, reliving one Tuesday over and over again, ala Groundhog Day, which no one remembers but him. He then disappeared completely.
The Time Agency, intent on getting him back under their control, pulled him into the loop. And the longer he was in the loop, the more stuttery it became, and large portions of the day just *poof* disappeared.
However, Captain Jack Harkness - who travelled with the Doctor, who died saving the earth, who loathes the Time Agency and all it's works - now works for Torchwood (a covert UK Government Agency that deals with oddities, aliens and such-like). He discovers what the Time Agency is trying to do to young Jack, and what they'd already done. Beyond infuriated, he takes steps to stop it.
The actions taken by the Time Agency didn't affect Captain Jack - he wasn't changed, despite the changes made to the life of his younger self - because his resurrection by the power of the TARDIS, channelled through Rose, granted him protection, an immunity if you will, from that sort of meddling. He absorbed a small portion of the TARDIS's power, and it'll take a lot more than this sort of mucking about by the Agency to affect him.
The Captain, using the resources of Torchwood, eventually succeeded in plucking young Jack free of the time loop, dumping him back into real time, and severing any hold the Agency still had on him. He also, through means best not considered too closely, discouraged any further intervention of that kind. There may possibly have been a deal of some kind.
When Jack woke up on Wednesday the Captain nabbed him, teleported him right out of the dorms when he stepped out of his door.
Captain Jack, with due regard for the Blinovitch effect [two versions of one person from different time periods can't touch, else they go splodey and one is absorbed into the other] and the beneficial effects of the liberal application of alcohol, explained what had happened. All about the Time Agency and what they would do to him in the future, about what they'd been trying to achieve with the looping.
He explained that in Jack's future as a Time Agent he is going to make a difference to so many people. He is going to be one of the best, and if he doesn't become an Agent, all those people he helped, all the disasters he averted, all the lives he's saved, will never happen. With who knows what paradoxical knock-on effects for the rest of the universe.
Jack listened, and listened, and he didn't want to believe it, but what choice did he have? He knew this was him, a future him, and he knew that he would never lie to himself. And he knew that, as long he could remember everything the Agency had done, he wouldn't join. He gradually came to understand that he has to join, he doesn't have a choice, not without creating a time paradox with repercussions unimaginable. Not to mention at his heart Jack is a hero, even if he doesn't know it yet, and the idea of everything good he was going to do going undone simply isn't acceptable.
After much discussion, young Jack agreed that the only course of action was to wipe it all from his memory, all his interactions with the Time Agency, with the Doctor, basically most of his time at Fandom High, including the reason he was sent there. He knew it would mean losing everything else as well, and it was neither an easy decision, nor one he made lightly, but the dangers of a self-imploding time paradox are too great, considering the future that is to come. The future Jack-that-is may be immune from it, but the future Jack that-is-yet-to-be still has to live out that life, or so many things will never come to pass. Capt. Jack may be immune, but the universe can still be changed.
Young Jack made a video recording for himself, explaining everything he could about his time at Fandom High. Nothing about the Time Agency, or the Doctor, nothing that would render the exercise pointless, but as much as he could. Remembering how scared he'd been the last time he'd lost his memories, he is very careful to tell himself that certain people can be trusted, no matter what.
He also tells himself that this was his choice.
They decide he'll return to Fandom High, though, because it's a place he'll be (relatively) safe, a place he can learn; after all, he has to go to school somewhere, and he wants to go back. Attendance at Fandom High isn't going to alter the future in ways significant, because no matter what happens, Jack is going to the Agency academy (though with no memory of having been there previously, a situation which the Agency is particularly equipped to deal with) and Fandom High will be excellent preparation for his future career.
Once they'd decided everything that had to be decided, and couldn't put the moment off any longer, with the greatest of care and no small awareness of the irony of the situation, Capt. Jack wiped young Jack's memory.
His last actions were to tell a Jack groggy from the mind wipe that he was proud of him, and then send him to sleep and teleport him back to his dorm at Fandom High.
It wouldn't be completely unlikely that, knowing the future that awaits young Jack, Capt. Jack will be keeping an unobtrusive eye on him, just to make sure that he stays safe from outside interference.
Jack was stuck in a time loop, reliving one Tuesday over and over again, ala Groundhog Day, which no one remembers but him. He then disappeared completely.
The Time Agency, intent on getting him back under their control, pulled him into the loop. And the longer he was in the loop, the more stuttery it became, and large portions of the day just *poof* disappeared.
However, Captain Jack Harkness - who travelled with the Doctor, who died saving the earth, who loathes the Time Agency and all it's works - now works for Torchwood (a covert UK Government Agency that deals with oddities, aliens and such-like). He discovers what the Time Agency is trying to do to young Jack, and what they'd already done. Beyond infuriated, he takes steps to stop it.
The actions taken by the Time Agency didn't affect Captain Jack - he wasn't changed, despite the changes made to the life of his younger self - because his resurrection by the power of the TARDIS, channelled through Rose, granted him protection, an immunity if you will, from that sort of meddling. He absorbed a small portion of the TARDIS's power, and it'll take a lot more than this sort of mucking about by the Agency to affect him.
The Captain, using the resources of Torchwood, eventually succeeded in plucking young Jack free of the time loop, dumping him back into real time, and severing any hold the Agency still had on him. He also, through means best not considered too closely, discouraged any further intervention of that kind. There may possibly have been a deal of some kind.
When Jack woke up on Wednesday the Captain nabbed him, teleported him right out of the dorms when he stepped out of his door.
Captain Jack, with due regard for the Blinovitch effect [two versions of one person from different time periods can't touch, else they go splodey and one is absorbed into the other] and the beneficial effects of the liberal application of alcohol, explained what had happened. All about the Time Agency and what they would do to him in the future, about what they'd been trying to achieve with the looping.
He explained that in Jack's future as a Time Agent he is going to make a difference to so many people. He is going to be one of the best, and if he doesn't become an Agent, all those people he helped, all the disasters he averted, all the lives he's saved, will never happen. With who knows what paradoxical knock-on effects for the rest of the universe.
Jack listened, and listened, and he didn't want to believe it, but what choice did he have? He knew this was him, a future him, and he knew that he would never lie to himself. And he knew that, as long he could remember everything the Agency had done, he wouldn't join. He gradually came to understand that he has to join, he doesn't have a choice, not without creating a time paradox with repercussions unimaginable. Not to mention at his heart Jack is a hero, even if he doesn't know it yet, and the idea of everything good he was going to do going undone simply isn't acceptable.
After much discussion, young Jack agreed that the only course of action was to wipe it all from his memory, all his interactions with the Time Agency, with the Doctor, basically most of his time at Fandom High, including the reason he was sent there. He knew it would mean losing everything else as well, and it was neither an easy decision, nor one he made lightly, but the dangers of a self-imploding time paradox are too great, considering the future that is to come. The future Jack-that-is may be immune from it, but the future Jack that-is-yet-to-be still has to live out that life, or so many things will never come to pass. Capt. Jack may be immune, but the universe can still be changed.
Young Jack made a video recording for himself, explaining everything he could about his time at Fandom High. Nothing about the Time Agency, or the Doctor, nothing that would render the exercise pointless, but as much as he could. Remembering how scared he'd been the last time he'd lost his memories, he is very careful to tell himself that certain people can be trusted, no matter what.
He also tells himself that this was his choice.
They decide he'll return to Fandom High, though, because it's a place he'll be (relatively) safe, a place he can learn; after all, he has to go to school somewhere, and he wants to go back. Attendance at Fandom High isn't going to alter the future in ways significant, because no matter what happens, Jack is going to the Agency academy (though with no memory of having been there previously, a situation which the Agency is particularly equipped to deal with) and Fandom High will be excellent preparation for his future career.
Once they'd decided everything that had to be decided, and couldn't put the moment off any longer, with the greatest of care and no small awareness of the irony of the situation, Capt. Jack wiped young Jack's memory.
His last actions were to tell a Jack groggy from the mind wipe that he was proud of him, and then send him to sleep and teleport him back to his dorm at Fandom High.
It wouldn't be completely unlikely that, knowing the future that awaits young Jack, Capt. Jack will be keeping an unobtrusive eye on him, just to make sure that he stays safe from outside interference.