TLAWR Chapter Thirty-Seven; One Chance
An AU retelling of season 4, beginning with The Last of the Time Lords from season 3. First story in the All Roads Lead Home series. Rated teen.
10/Rose, Martha, Jack Harkness, Donna Noble, the Master, River Song, Sarah Jane Smith, and many more.
(Earlier Entries) ( Chapter Twenty-Five ) ( Chapter Twenty-Six ) ( Interlude: Torchwood ) ( Chapter Twenty-Seven ) ( Chapter Twenty-Eight ) ( Chapter Twenty-Nine ) ( Chapter Thirty ) ( Chapter Thirty-One ) ( Chapter Thirty-Two ) ( Chapter Thirty-Three ) ( Chapter Thirty-Four ) ( Chapter Thirty-Five ) ( Chapter Thirty-Six )
Nothing you recognize belongs to me! Quotes taken from Children of Earth.
"What do you mean, we're not going to be there?" Donna demanded.
The Doctor ran a hand through his hair. "I need someone to take care of our copy of the footage," he replied. "To do that, you have to be somewhere safe. Plus, I need someone to look after Jack's family once we pick them up." He sighed. "I know it's not what you want to do, Donna, but it's where I need you. Ianto and Gwen will be waiting here so they can spread the word to the special ops people Frobisher put on their scent, Rose will be in the TARDIS monitoring everything, and Jack and I will deal with the 456."
"Why does it have to be you two?" She asked.
"We're the least likely to die," he said quietly. "Well, and stay dead." He paused for a moment. "Can you do this for me, Donna? Please?"
She sighed. "I guess. Give me the laptop, then, before I change my mind."
Donna knocked on the door of the large, rather imposing house as the sound of the TARDIS dematerializing faded. Rhys glanced around. "Nice place, bit posh," he commented. "How did they get pulled into this business?"
"The Doctor said they're old friends," she replied. "Him and the Brigadier. We met a while back, for him, anyway. Few days ago for us. He seemed a decent sort."
An elegantly dressed older woman opened the door. She smiled at them. "Hello, can I help you?"
Donna straightened. "I'm Donna Noble, and this is Rhys Williams and Clem MacDonald, and we're looking for Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. The Doctor sent us."
The woman held out her hand. "I'm Doris, his wife. Come in. I'll fetch him."
Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart was a tall, stocky man in his late seventies. He had a thick salt-and-pepper mustache and a no-nonsense attitude left over from his time in UNIT. He nodded a greeting. "Miss Noble, Mr. Williams, Mr. MacDonald. To what do I owe the pleasure?"
Donna held out the laptop. "The Doctor sent us, with this. I think you'll want to see it, sir."
Gwen sat on the couch. Her laptop, which was still linked to the Torchwood contact lenses that Lois was wearing, sat on the make-shift coffee table in front of her. The Doctor moseyed over from the TARDIS and plopped down next to her. She was staring at the laptop with a sort of dazed expression on her face as she worried her bottom lip with her teeth.
"You don't have to do this," he said quietly. "I can drop you off with Donna and Clem and Rhys at Alistair's."
She shook her head. "Can't let Ianto go in there alone. Besides, that's not it." She gave him a tight grin. "Been in tighter places loads of times. Part of the job, I suppose."
"What is it then?" he asked.
She was silent for a while, apparently thinking. "I always wanted to ask Jack about you in the old days. He hardly ever mentioned you, but when he did-he trusted you, trusts you, completely and totally. He has such faith in you, faith that you'd be there, that you'd stop whatever it was that needed stopping. And I wanted to know why you didn't come, why all those times in history you never showed up. You were the Doctor and you saved the world-except when you didn't." She sighed. "But I know now. After all of this-you must look at this planet, sometimes, look at us, at humanity, and turn away in shame."
It was the Doctor's turn to sigh. "Oh, Gwen, it's not like that, not like that at all." He stretched his long legs out, put his hands behind his head, and stared at the ceiling of the warehouse. "Have I been disappointed? Yes. Have there been times that I've vowed to leave this tiny, petty little planet with its petty wars and squabbles and its people's inability to see beyond their own noses behind? Yes. But then I see something or someone and it makes me stop, makes me remember that for every disappointing, horrifying bit, there are twice as many selfless, beautiful, awe-inspiring moments." He chuckled darkly. "And besides, I'm no saint. I've done things, Gwen, things that make the sins of this planet seem paltry in comparison."
Ianto poked his head out of the TARDIS. "Are we ready?"
The Doctor stood, once more a bundle of manic energy. If Gwen hadn't witnessed his dark, somber mood she would have said it never happened. Bloody hell, he was worse than Jack at hiding his emotions. "All set out here, I think. Remember, Rose will give you the cue after Lois sets everything in motion."
Ianto nodded. "Rose is done explaining, by the way. Lois wrote that she'll try."
The Doctor grinned. Unlike his previous grins which ran along the lines of exuberant with a hint of mania, this expression was predatory, a baring of the teeth more than a smile. "Fantastic."
Lois stared at the large mirror that hung over the row of sinks in the ladies. She was about to go into a room filled with possibly the most important people in the United Kingdom and tell them that she'd been working with a group of people that had quite possibly been branded as traitors. She had committed treason. Her hands were shaking, she noted absently. For a moment she had the overwhelming urge to refuse, to slip out the door and run until she collapsed, far away from the world she been sucked into.
And then she remembered the child, attached somehow to those, those things. They were going to let that happen to three hundred and twenty-five thousand children, children who had done nothing wrong, whose only fault was being born in a world with governments that valued power and reputation over human life.
She took a deep breath and straightened her back. She stared at her reflection in the mirror and nodded sharply. She would do this. She had to do this. There was no turning back. And maybe, just maybe, they would pull it off and the world would be a better place for it.
"We need a cover story," Frobisher said, "to explain why the operation is happening and to encourage participation." He stood at the head of the table and all eyes were on him. "The suggestion is that we announce that the children will be given some sort of inoculation-a jab to keep them from speaking in unison. We stress that there's no immediate danger, that everyone will be seen in due course. Then, when it goes wrong and the children disappear, we blame the aliens."
"We say the 456 double-crossed us?" one of the men asked.
"Excellent," Mr. Yeats admitted. "It is the aliens' fault. That is where the blame should lie, not with us."
Frobisher nodded. "We play the part of naïve dupes rather than willing accomplices."
"We're not willing," Green cut him off. "No one around this table is willing."
But, Lois noted silently, no one around the table was trying to stop it either.
Mr. Green continued to speak. "Thank you John." He nodded to Frobisher and then turned to the rest of Gold Command. "Comments?"
Lois raised her hand, but they ignored her. Instead they murmured about removing the police and bringing in the Army. She tried raising her hand higher, but her job was to be invisible and she found that getting anyone to notice her was far more difficult than Mrs. Spears had made it sound in the elevator. The older woman had seemed to think that Lois's very presence would draw attention to herself. She was wrong. If anything, her job made her akin to the surrounding furniture, part of the room but easily forgotten.
It was perfect for a spy. Less perfect for a revolutionary.
They were talking about reconvening. Her opportunity was almost gone. Lois took a deep breath, and spoke up. "I have something to say."
"Lois, stop it!" Mrs. Spears hissed.
Mr. Green smiled patronizingly at her. "Really? Well, it's nice you want to make a contribution. What was your name?"
"Lois," she answered. Her hands were still shaking, but she found that his condescension helped to keep her voice level. She wasn't going to let that smug bastard see that she was afraid, not after what she'd witnessed. Especially not with what she knew was coming. "Lois Habiba, sir," she continued, and stood.
"Well," he said dismissively. "Thank you for your hard work, Lois. It's much appreciated, but this really isn't the time."
She took another breath and realized that her hands had stopped shaking. Anger did wonders for the spirit, she supposed, as did adrenaline. "I'm sorry, sir. I know I'm only supposed to be here to take notes, but I am a voter."
"Listen, love," Mr. Yeats began, just as smug and superior as Mr. Green had been. "This isn't a referendum. "
Mrs. Spears stood. "Lois," she said calmly, but with an edge to her voice. "Can I have a word outside?"
"No," Lois continued, addressing Mr. Yeats and ignoring Mrs. Spears, "but it does need saying."
"Lois, seriously." Mr. Frobisher frowned at her. "Not now."
"And I'm not just speaking on my own behalf." She had started, and she'd be damned if she let them stop her now.
Mr. Yeats snorted. "Just what we need, a revolutionary."
She gave him a challenging look, but kept her voice even. "If you like, sir, then that's what I am. If believing that handing over millions of innocent children to aliens who are going to use them for God knows what makes you a revolutionary, then yes sir, I am one."
He raised an eyebrow. "You and whose army?" he mocked.
"Torchwood," she replied flatly, "and a man they call the Doctor."
The silence that fell over the room was palpable.
"What?" Mr. Green asked finally, his eyes wide and his mouth open as if he could not comprehend her words.
"Don't be ridiculous!" Frobisher snapped.
"Torchwood has been recording all these meetings," Lois continued. "Everything that's been said around this table, and there's someone who'd like a word with you all."
From her position in the TARDIS, monitoring the proceedings, Rose Tyler whooped. "She's doing it, Doctor!" she called.
He stuck his head inside the door. "Has she given the signal?"
A slow, vicious smile spread across her face. "Any moment now." She brought a hand to her ear and activated the communicator nestled against her eardrum. "It's time, Ianto. Make the call."
Donna sat bolt upright. She'd been dosing on the large, comfy couch located in the Lethbridge-Stewart's spacious living room while the Brigadier perused the footage from the Gold Command meetings. She'd been startled before when a particularly revolting moment resulted in a low burst of very colorful language, but the noise that had woken her seemed to come from within her ear, not without. Rhys looked up from the arm chair he occupied and the Brigadier turned to face her from his position at a large, dark, wooden desk.
"It's starting," she told them. "Rose just gave Ianto the go-ahead to break cover.
"Aye," Rhys replied softly. The Brigadier only nodded, and then returned his attention to the laptop. Donna noted that the Welshman's knuckles were white where he gripped the arm of the chair. Be safe, she thought, sending her wishes up as a prayer. Be safe, and come back alive.
The phone rang at Rhiannon Davies' house. "Pipe down, you lot!" she ordered the children who were currently running rampant through her house. Two of them were her own, the rest belonged to friends and neighbors, people who needed to work and couldn't just leave their children at home alone while the schools were closed.
"Hello?" she answered it.
"It's me." Ianto's voice crackled over the speakers. He was more intense than she'd heard him in a long while.
She blinked. "I thought you couldn't call here. Is it all over?"
"It's only just beginning," he replied firmly.
Her husband sidled up to her and raised his eyebrows inquiringly. "It's Ianto," she told him.
"Tell him that I want my car back in one piece!" Johnny Davies replied forcefully.
Ianto ignored him. "That column of fire at eleven, did you see it on the telly?"
She rolled her eyes. "No, I was watching the other side. Of course I saw it!" He smiled a bit, but only briefly. "The kids said 'they are coming,' but who's they?"
"Just listen for a moment." The authority in his tone, so unlike anything she'd heard him use before, gave her pause. This was not Ianto-her-brother, this was Ianto-Torchwood-operative speaking. "They're from another planet. And they want kids, millions of kids. Over the next few days don't let anyone take David and Misha from you, not for any reason. This goes for you people listening in on the wire as well. Forget the official secrets act; if you've got children or grandchildren then you need to hear this, and tell every parent you know." He paused. The people who were doubtlessly tracing the call probably had their location by now. He took a deep breath and forged on. Just in case, he needed to tell them. Just in case. "Look, I've got to go. I love you, and I love the kids. I'm even warming up to Johnny."
"We love you too," his sister replied, and then the line went dead.
Her husband stared at her. "Well, what was that about?"
She didn't reply. Instead she crossed the room to where their son David sat on the couch and hugged him to her.
Right on schedule, just after he hung up the phone a group of special ops soldiers burst into the warehouse, including the woman who had overseen Alice and Steven's kidnapping and the bombing of Torchwood three. Gwen and Ianto sat in the middle of the empty space, on the couch, staring at the laptop. They did not deign to notice the men and women who surrounded them, guns at the ready.
"I hate this!" Rhys snapped as he paced. "I hate being shut out of the way. They're just putting us here because they think we can't hack it. They're out there risking their lives and they want us to be safe.
Donna shook her head. "They need us to keep this information hidden," she told him. "What happens if they get captured? Someone's got to be the insurance." She nodded at the desk where the Brigadier continued to review the footage. "We've got them backed into a corner with that."
"We've been expecting you," Gwen told the woman dressed in black with a bit of a smile.
"On the floor!" she snapped. Gwen and Ianto did not move. "Face down, hands on your head!"
"You traced Ianto's call, did you?" the Welsh woman continued.
"On the floor!" The order had much the same affect that the others had, namely, nothing.
Gwen didn't bat an eyelash. "Now that you're here you can take us to Alice and Steven Carter.
"You'll be in the very next cell," the woman snarled. Their calm, almost flippant attitude grated on her nerves. She had them surrounded, and at gunpoint! They should be jumping to do as she said, and yet they were acting as if they had all happened to meet on an afternoon stroll. "On second thought, maybe I'll just have you shot while resisting arrest."
All of the playfulness drained from Gwen's attitude and left only a confident determination. "That would be a mistake," she told the woman flatly.
"Oh, and why is that?"
Gwen gestured at the computer screen. "Take a look at what we've been recording. Because what Lois is telling them now, is that my gorgeous husband and our brilliant friend Donna have a copy of all of them secretly agreeing to sacrifice millions of innocent children to the aliens." The woman's gun, which had been pointing directly at Gwen's forehead drifted down to face the floor. Shock and disbelief fought for control of her features. "Now," the Welsh woman continued, "they're at a secure, secret location, and he's ready to press 'send' and let the world know exactly what's been going on unless, of course, you do as we say."
Ianto stood. "Take a seat," he told her. "Maybe you'll learn something about the people you've been working for."
"How exactly are you going to make us do this?" Mr. Green asked Lois. "Torchwood's been destroyed."
"The building has been destroyed," she corrected him, "and I think she wants to talk to you about that as well, or rather, she'll talk and you'll listen." And then she glanced down at the pad of paper clutched in her hand and drew one symbol-run.
Rose strapped on the Dimension Canon and double-checked the coordinates. The Doctor held her jacket out and she took it with a grateful smile. "You don't have to do this," he said. "Jack and I are perfectly capable."
"You two need to be in the TARDIS," she reminded him. "Besides, I want to give them a piece of my mind."
He smiled at her and brushed an errant lock of hair back behind her ear. "Do your mum proud."
She stood on her tip-toes and pressed a gentle kiss to his lips. "See you in a bit."
He rubbed her nose with his own. "Not if I see you first."
She was gone in a flash of light.
Lightning without thunder filled Cabinet Office briefing room A. The men and women around the table shielded their eyes, and when the flash died a woman was standing in front of them. She was of medium height and of a somewhat curvy build. Her jaw was square and her lips full; thick, dark eyelashes surrounded warm brown eyes and dark eyebrows set off features that were too strong to be classically beautiful. Honey-blonde hair hung straight and thick down her back. It was a singularly expressive face, and it was sent in lines that were not at all friendly.
It was Rose, but not the Rose that Lois had met in the chippy. That was Rose the friend, the comforter, the girl who traveled through space and time with the man (alien) she loved. This was Rose who led Torchwood until they turned against her, Rose who walked the Earth for a year protecting Martha Jones.
"Who the hell are you?" Mr. Green snapped.
She stood in front of them nonchalantly and cocked an eyebrow. "I'm Dame Rose Tyler of the Powell Estate," she said, as if they were rather slow. Frobisher's eyes widened, she noticed, although most of the people around the table appeared nonplussed. "I'm here," she continued, "on behalf of my friend. You may know him-his name is the Doctor." Ah, that got a reaction out of them.
"What," Mr. Green sputtered, but she cut him off.
"No. I've got a question for you from the Doctor later, but right now I'm going to talk and you're going to listen." She glared at them, and anger seemed to radiate from her like heat. "You killed my friend," she said quietly. "You killed him, and you knew that he wouldn't stay dead, so while you had him out you cut him open and you put a bomb in him. Then you waited for him to come back like you knew he would, waited for him to get back to his home and meet with his team, with people who risk their lives every day to keep you safe, and then you detonated the bomb." Her words fell like stones in the silence. "You blew him up. And then you picked him up and waited for him to come back so you could encase him in concrete, alive." She paused. "Has anyone ever been blown up? Or maybe drowned?" They were silent. "It could be arranged, you know. And it would be, if the Doctor was anything but the man he is. He thinks you deserve a chance." Her lips twisted into a sardonic smile. "I'm not so sure. Not after what I've seen you do today. This," Rose said as she gestured at them, at their plan of action, "has to be one of the sickest things I've ever seen, and that's saying something, because I've been imprisoned and tortured and used as a science experiment by human beings, people who believed they were doing the right thing. I've watched people murder entire planets for the sake of greed or power, but this, this takes the cake."
Jack swore. They were floating in the Vortex awaiting Rose's return with the schematics of the base where Alice and Steven, and hopefully also Gwen and Ianto, were being held. He was monitoring the situation in Cabinet Office briefing room A and the Doctor was behind him, lounging on the sofa pretending to read something by Charles Dickens.
"You bastard," he snapped. "Why didn't you tell me?"
The Doctor glanced up. "What?"
"Why," Jack ground out, "didn't you tell me about Rose and torture?"
"Ah." The Doctor set his book down. "It wasn't my place, Jack. If Rose wanted you to know about what happened in Pete's world then she would tell you."
"So it doesn't bother you at all?" he asked the alien scathingly. "Doesn't matter that someone cut her open just to hurt her, to make her scream? Doesn't matter that several some ones probably had their hands coated in her blood? Doesn't matter that she might have begged for death?"
Suddenly he was against the wall. Jack blinked, entirely uncertain of how he'd got there, but the Doctor's hands held his wrists next to his head and the alien's face was centimeters from his own. If he could have, he would have flinched away from the expression on the alien's face. If looks could kill he'd have been dead in a second.
"Don't ever even think that again," the Doctor growled. And yes, growl was the only appropriate word to describe his voice. It was low and rough and promised death (or worse) to anyone who crossed him. "If going there didn't mean that two universes would fall into the Void I would tear down that world's Torchwood. I would take it apart stone by stone, raze it to the ground, and then salt the Earth. I would hunt down each and every one who took part in that obscenity and show them what it means to wish they were never born."
They remained as they were for a moment, until Jack nodded slightly. "I believe you," he said.
The Doctor released his wrists and stalked back to the couch. Jack returned to the chair in front of the laptop, and they silently waited for Rose's signal.
"So here's your chance," she continued. The members of Gold Command were watching her with wary interest. "And you only get one. One opportunity to do the right thing." She took a deep breath. "This is your choice: you can help him fix this situation and everyone can go home, or you can try and stop us. We'll still stop the aliens, because that's what we do, but we will stop you if we have to. And if we have to, then everyone in the world will know exactly what you were planning to do." She glared at each of them in turn, and they to a man that they could not return her stare. Something in her eyes, something golden and furious smoldered. She let the silence stretch out for a long moment, and then she spoke again. "Think about it. You have an hour." Rose crossed the room and held out her hand. Lois shook it and Rose palmed the flashdrive that had been concealed in the other woman's fingers. "Thanks," she murmured. "We won't forget this."
She strode back to her original position and punched coordinates for the TARDIS into her Canon. She paused just before she hit the final sequence, almost like it was an afterthought. "Oh, and if you harm Lois in any way, we'll know, and then the deal is off."
She was gone in a flash of light.
Gwen and Ianto sat across from Alice and Steven Carter. Ianto was staring, he knew that he was staring, and yet he found himself unable to stop. She looked so much like Jack. Even Steven did, like a tiny glimpse of what his lover looked like as a child.
Gwen was explaining their plan. "Right, so, I'm Gwen and this is Ianto, and we work with Jack."
"You're Torchwood," Alice guessed.
They nodded. "We are," he said, "and we're going to get you out of here, both of you."
Alice laughed incredulously. "How?" she exclaimed. "If you hadn't noticed, you're locked up with us, and there are at least ten men with guns out there."
Gwen grinned. "We've got friends." She leaned forward. "Tell me, Steven," she said to the boy. "How would you like to take a ride in a spaceship?"
His eyes were huge. "A real spaceship?"
She nodded and Alice gaped. "A real spaceship." A strange grinding groan came from just outside the cell and a wind whipped against the metal door. Ianto and Gwen stood. "And there's our ride!" she declared.
Alice was looking at them like they were mad. "What's going on?" she snapped. A high pitched buzzing assaulted her ears and she clapped her hands over them. The door swung open and Rose was beaming at them in front of the TARDIS.
"Come on, then!" she called. "They'll be after us in a second!" She opened the door and ducked inside. Gwen and Ianto followed her, pulling Alice and Steven along behind them.
Alice Carter froze as the door slammed shut behind her. It was a box, a blue box that said 'Police' on the front and couldn't have been more than three meters high and less than a meter wide. Inside, however, it was huge. They were in some kind of cavernous control room that was dominated by a console at the center surrounding a bluish-green pillar that stretched to the ceiling. Two men were dashing around the console, one with wild brown hair and a pinstriped suit, and the other was-
"Uncle Jack!" Steven shouted, and ran to him. Jack Harkness paused in his button-pushing and lever-throwing and swept his grandson up into a hug. He pulled the little boy close to him and rested his chin on Steven's head.
"Hello," he said quietly. "You and your mum got out okay, then?"
Steven nodded. "Is this a spaceship?" he asked, his eyes wide and excited.
Jack smiled. "It is. As a matter of fact, it's his spaceship." He pointed to the Doctor, who had just thrown the last switch and taken them into the Vortex. It was a remarkably smooth departure, although the tell-tale grinding moan rang through the room. His task accomplished, the Doctor was leaning against the console with Rose's fingers laced through his own. He smiled and waved at the newcomers.
"Hello!" he said brightly. "I'm the Doctor, and this is Rose, and this," he motioned to the ship around them, "is the TARDIS and she's very pleased to meet you both."
Steven's forehead wrinkled. "She?"
Jack nodded. "She's alive."
"Woah." His grandson was staring all around in wonder. "Uncle Jack, you have the best friends."
"Yeah," Jack said softly. "I think I do."
( Chapter Thirty-Eight )
10/Rose, Martha, Jack Harkness, Donna Noble, the Master, River Song, Sarah Jane Smith, and many more.
(Earlier Entries) ( Chapter Twenty-Five ) ( Chapter Twenty-Six ) ( Interlude: Torchwood ) ( Chapter Twenty-Seven ) ( Chapter Twenty-Eight ) ( Chapter Twenty-Nine ) ( Chapter Thirty ) ( Chapter Thirty-One ) ( Chapter Thirty-Two ) ( Chapter Thirty-Three ) ( Chapter Thirty-Four ) ( Chapter Thirty-Five ) ( Chapter Thirty-Six )
Nothing you recognize belongs to me! Quotes taken from Children of Earth.
"What do you mean, we're not going to be there?" Donna demanded.
The Doctor ran a hand through his hair. "I need someone to take care of our copy of the footage," he replied. "To do that, you have to be somewhere safe. Plus, I need someone to look after Jack's family once we pick them up." He sighed. "I know it's not what you want to do, Donna, but it's where I need you. Ianto and Gwen will be waiting here so they can spread the word to the special ops people Frobisher put on their scent, Rose will be in the TARDIS monitoring everything, and Jack and I will deal with the 456."
"Why does it have to be you two?" She asked.
"We're the least likely to die," he said quietly. "Well, and stay dead." He paused for a moment. "Can you do this for me, Donna? Please?"
She sighed. "I guess. Give me the laptop, then, before I change my mind."
Donna knocked on the door of the large, rather imposing house as the sound of the TARDIS dematerializing faded. Rhys glanced around. "Nice place, bit posh," he commented. "How did they get pulled into this business?"
"The Doctor said they're old friends," she replied. "Him and the Brigadier. We met a while back, for him, anyway. Few days ago for us. He seemed a decent sort."
An elegantly dressed older woman opened the door. She smiled at them. "Hello, can I help you?"
Donna straightened. "I'm Donna Noble, and this is Rhys Williams and Clem MacDonald, and we're looking for Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. The Doctor sent us."
The woman held out her hand. "I'm Doris, his wife. Come in. I'll fetch him."
Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart was a tall, stocky man in his late seventies. He had a thick salt-and-pepper mustache and a no-nonsense attitude left over from his time in UNIT. He nodded a greeting. "Miss Noble, Mr. Williams, Mr. MacDonald. To what do I owe the pleasure?"
Donna held out the laptop. "The Doctor sent us, with this. I think you'll want to see it, sir."
Gwen sat on the couch. Her laptop, which was still linked to the Torchwood contact lenses that Lois was wearing, sat on the make-shift coffee table in front of her. The Doctor moseyed over from the TARDIS and plopped down next to her. She was staring at the laptop with a sort of dazed expression on her face as she worried her bottom lip with her teeth.
"You don't have to do this," he said quietly. "I can drop you off with Donna and Clem and Rhys at Alistair's."
She shook her head. "Can't let Ianto go in there alone. Besides, that's not it." She gave him a tight grin. "Been in tighter places loads of times. Part of the job, I suppose."
"What is it then?" he asked.
She was silent for a while, apparently thinking. "I always wanted to ask Jack about you in the old days. He hardly ever mentioned you, but when he did-he trusted you, trusts you, completely and totally. He has such faith in you, faith that you'd be there, that you'd stop whatever it was that needed stopping. And I wanted to know why you didn't come, why all those times in history you never showed up. You were the Doctor and you saved the world-except when you didn't." She sighed. "But I know now. After all of this-you must look at this planet, sometimes, look at us, at humanity, and turn away in shame."
It was the Doctor's turn to sigh. "Oh, Gwen, it's not like that, not like that at all." He stretched his long legs out, put his hands behind his head, and stared at the ceiling of the warehouse. "Have I been disappointed? Yes. Have there been times that I've vowed to leave this tiny, petty little planet with its petty wars and squabbles and its people's inability to see beyond their own noses behind? Yes. But then I see something or someone and it makes me stop, makes me remember that for every disappointing, horrifying bit, there are twice as many selfless, beautiful, awe-inspiring moments." He chuckled darkly. "And besides, I'm no saint. I've done things, Gwen, things that make the sins of this planet seem paltry in comparison."
Ianto poked his head out of the TARDIS. "Are we ready?"
The Doctor stood, once more a bundle of manic energy. If Gwen hadn't witnessed his dark, somber mood she would have said it never happened. Bloody hell, he was worse than Jack at hiding his emotions. "All set out here, I think. Remember, Rose will give you the cue after Lois sets everything in motion."
Ianto nodded. "Rose is done explaining, by the way. Lois wrote that she'll try."
The Doctor grinned. Unlike his previous grins which ran along the lines of exuberant with a hint of mania, this expression was predatory, a baring of the teeth more than a smile. "Fantastic."
Lois stared at the large mirror that hung over the row of sinks in the ladies. She was about to go into a room filled with possibly the most important people in the United Kingdom and tell them that she'd been working with a group of people that had quite possibly been branded as traitors. She had committed treason. Her hands were shaking, she noted absently. For a moment she had the overwhelming urge to refuse, to slip out the door and run until she collapsed, far away from the world she been sucked into.
And then she remembered the child, attached somehow to those, those things. They were going to let that happen to three hundred and twenty-five thousand children, children who had done nothing wrong, whose only fault was being born in a world with governments that valued power and reputation over human life.
She took a deep breath and straightened her back. She stared at her reflection in the mirror and nodded sharply. She would do this. She had to do this. There was no turning back. And maybe, just maybe, they would pull it off and the world would be a better place for it.
"We need a cover story," Frobisher said, "to explain why the operation is happening and to encourage participation." He stood at the head of the table and all eyes were on him. "The suggestion is that we announce that the children will be given some sort of inoculation-a jab to keep them from speaking in unison. We stress that there's no immediate danger, that everyone will be seen in due course. Then, when it goes wrong and the children disappear, we blame the aliens."
"We say the 456 double-crossed us?" one of the men asked.
"Excellent," Mr. Yeats admitted. "It is the aliens' fault. That is where the blame should lie, not with us."
Frobisher nodded. "We play the part of naïve dupes rather than willing accomplices."
"We're not willing," Green cut him off. "No one around this table is willing."
But, Lois noted silently, no one around the table was trying to stop it either.
Mr. Green continued to speak. "Thank you John." He nodded to Frobisher and then turned to the rest of Gold Command. "Comments?"
Lois raised her hand, but they ignored her. Instead they murmured about removing the police and bringing in the Army. She tried raising her hand higher, but her job was to be invisible and she found that getting anyone to notice her was far more difficult than Mrs. Spears had made it sound in the elevator. The older woman had seemed to think that Lois's very presence would draw attention to herself. She was wrong. If anything, her job made her akin to the surrounding furniture, part of the room but easily forgotten.
It was perfect for a spy. Less perfect for a revolutionary.
They were talking about reconvening. Her opportunity was almost gone. Lois took a deep breath, and spoke up. "I have something to say."
"Lois, stop it!" Mrs. Spears hissed.
Mr. Green smiled patronizingly at her. "Really? Well, it's nice you want to make a contribution. What was your name?"
"Lois," she answered. Her hands were still shaking, but she found that his condescension helped to keep her voice level. She wasn't going to let that smug bastard see that she was afraid, not after what she'd witnessed. Especially not with what she knew was coming. "Lois Habiba, sir," she continued, and stood.
"Well," he said dismissively. "Thank you for your hard work, Lois. It's much appreciated, but this really isn't the time."
She took another breath and realized that her hands had stopped shaking. Anger did wonders for the spirit, she supposed, as did adrenaline. "I'm sorry, sir. I know I'm only supposed to be here to take notes, but I am a voter."
"Listen, love," Mr. Yeats began, just as smug and superior as Mr. Green had been. "This isn't a referendum. "
Mrs. Spears stood. "Lois," she said calmly, but with an edge to her voice. "Can I have a word outside?"
"No," Lois continued, addressing Mr. Yeats and ignoring Mrs. Spears, "but it does need saying."
"Lois, seriously." Mr. Frobisher frowned at her. "Not now."
"And I'm not just speaking on my own behalf." She had started, and she'd be damned if she let them stop her now.
Mr. Yeats snorted. "Just what we need, a revolutionary."
She gave him a challenging look, but kept her voice even. "If you like, sir, then that's what I am. If believing that handing over millions of innocent children to aliens who are going to use them for God knows what makes you a revolutionary, then yes sir, I am one."
He raised an eyebrow. "You and whose army?" he mocked.
"Torchwood," she replied flatly, "and a man they call the Doctor."
The silence that fell over the room was palpable.
"What?" Mr. Green asked finally, his eyes wide and his mouth open as if he could not comprehend her words.
"Don't be ridiculous!" Frobisher snapped.
"Torchwood has been recording all these meetings," Lois continued. "Everything that's been said around this table, and there's someone who'd like a word with you all."
From her position in the TARDIS, monitoring the proceedings, Rose Tyler whooped. "She's doing it, Doctor!" she called.
He stuck his head inside the door. "Has she given the signal?"
A slow, vicious smile spread across her face. "Any moment now." She brought a hand to her ear and activated the communicator nestled against her eardrum. "It's time, Ianto. Make the call."
Donna sat bolt upright. She'd been dosing on the large, comfy couch located in the Lethbridge-Stewart's spacious living room while the Brigadier perused the footage from the Gold Command meetings. She'd been startled before when a particularly revolting moment resulted in a low burst of very colorful language, but the noise that had woken her seemed to come from within her ear, not without. Rhys looked up from the arm chair he occupied and the Brigadier turned to face her from his position at a large, dark, wooden desk.
"It's starting," she told them. "Rose just gave Ianto the go-ahead to break cover.
"Aye," Rhys replied softly. The Brigadier only nodded, and then returned his attention to the laptop. Donna noted that the Welshman's knuckles were white where he gripped the arm of the chair. Be safe, she thought, sending her wishes up as a prayer. Be safe, and come back alive.
The phone rang at Rhiannon Davies' house. "Pipe down, you lot!" she ordered the children who were currently running rampant through her house. Two of them were her own, the rest belonged to friends and neighbors, people who needed to work and couldn't just leave their children at home alone while the schools were closed.
"Hello?" she answered it.
"It's me." Ianto's voice crackled over the speakers. He was more intense than she'd heard him in a long while.
She blinked. "I thought you couldn't call here. Is it all over?"
"It's only just beginning," he replied firmly.
Her husband sidled up to her and raised his eyebrows inquiringly. "It's Ianto," she told him.
"Tell him that I want my car back in one piece!" Johnny Davies replied forcefully.
Ianto ignored him. "That column of fire at eleven, did you see it on the telly?"
She rolled her eyes. "No, I was watching the other side. Of course I saw it!" He smiled a bit, but only briefly. "The kids said 'they are coming,' but who's they?"
"Just listen for a moment." The authority in his tone, so unlike anything she'd heard him use before, gave her pause. This was not Ianto-her-brother, this was Ianto-Torchwood-operative speaking. "They're from another planet. And they want kids, millions of kids. Over the next few days don't let anyone take David and Misha from you, not for any reason. This goes for you people listening in on the wire as well. Forget the official secrets act; if you've got children or grandchildren then you need to hear this, and tell every parent you know." He paused. The people who were doubtlessly tracing the call probably had their location by now. He took a deep breath and forged on. Just in case, he needed to tell them. Just in case. "Look, I've got to go. I love you, and I love the kids. I'm even warming up to Johnny."
"We love you too," his sister replied, and then the line went dead.
Her husband stared at her. "Well, what was that about?"
She didn't reply. Instead she crossed the room to where their son David sat on the couch and hugged him to her.
Right on schedule, just after he hung up the phone a group of special ops soldiers burst into the warehouse, including the woman who had overseen Alice and Steven's kidnapping and the bombing of Torchwood three. Gwen and Ianto sat in the middle of the empty space, on the couch, staring at the laptop. They did not deign to notice the men and women who surrounded them, guns at the ready.
"I hate this!" Rhys snapped as he paced. "I hate being shut out of the way. They're just putting us here because they think we can't hack it. They're out there risking their lives and they want us to be safe.
Donna shook her head. "They need us to keep this information hidden," she told him. "What happens if they get captured? Someone's got to be the insurance." She nodded at the desk where the Brigadier continued to review the footage. "We've got them backed into a corner with that."
"We've been expecting you," Gwen told the woman dressed in black with a bit of a smile.
"On the floor!" she snapped. Gwen and Ianto did not move. "Face down, hands on your head!"
"You traced Ianto's call, did you?" the Welsh woman continued.
"On the floor!" The order had much the same affect that the others had, namely, nothing.
Gwen didn't bat an eyelash. "Now that you're here you can take us to Alice and Steven Carter.
"You'll be in the very next cell," the woman snarled. Their calm, almost flippant attitude grated on her nerves. She had them surrounded, and at gunpoint! They should be jumping to do as she said, and yet they were acting as if they had all happened to meet on an afternoon stroll. "On second thought, maybe I'll just have you shot while resisting arrest."
All of the playfulness drained from Gwen's attitude and left only a confident determination. "That would be a mistake," she told the woman flatly.
"Oh, and why is that?"
Gwen gestured at the computer screen. "Take a look at what we've been recording. Because what Lois is telling them now, is that my gorgeous husband and our brilliant friend Donna have a copy of all of them secretly agreeing to sacrifice millions of innocent children to the aliens." The woman's gun, which had been pointing directly at Gwen's forehead drifted down to face the floor. Shock and disbelief fought for control of her features. "Now," the Welsh woman continued, "they're at a secure, secret location, and he's ready to press 'send' and let the world know exactly what's been going on unless, of course, you do as we say."
Ianto stood. "Take a seat," he told her. "Maybe you'll learn something about the people you've been working for."
"How exactly are you going to make us do this?" Mr. Green asked Lois. "Torchwood's been destroyed."
"The building has been destroyed," she corrected him, "and I think she wants to talk to you about that as well, or rather, she'll talk and you'll listen." And then she glanced down at the pad of paper clutched in her hand and drew one symbol-run.
Rose strapped on the Dimension Canon and double-checked the coordinates. The Doctor held her jacket out and she took it with a grateful smile. "You don't have to do this," he said. "Jack and I are perfectly capable."
"You two need to be in the TARDIS," she reminded him. "Besides, I want to give them a piece of my mind."
He smiled at her and brushed an errant lock of hair back behind her ear. "Do your mum proud."
She stood on her tip-toes and pressed a gentle kiss to his lips. "See you in a bit."
He rubbed her nose with his own. "Not if I see you first."
She was gone in a flash of light.
Lightning without thunder filled Cabinet Office briefing room A. The men and women around the table shielded their eyes, and when the flash died a woman was standing in front of them. She was of medium height and of a somewhat curvy build. Her jaw was square and her lips full; thick, dark eyelashes surrounded warm brown eyes and dark eyebrows set off features that were too strong to be classically beautiful. Honey-blonde hair hung straight and thick down her back. It was a singularly expressive face, and it was sent in lines that were not at all friendly.
It was Rose, but not the Rose that Lois had met in the chippy. That was Rose the friend, the comforter, the girl who traveled through space and time with the man (alien) she loved. This was Rose who led Torchwood until they turned against her, Rose who walked the Earth for a year protecting Martha Jones.
"Who the hell are you?" Mr. Green snapped.
She stood in front of them nonchalantly and cocked an eyebrow. "I'm Dame Rose Tyler of the Powell Estate," she said, as if they were rather slow. Frobisher's eyes widened, she noticed, although most of the people around the table appeared nonplussed. "I'm here," she continued, "on behalf of my friend. You may know him-his name is the Doctor." Ah, that got a reaction out of them.
"What," Mr. Green sputtered, but she cut him off.
"No. I've got a question for you from the Doctor later, but right now I'm going to talk and you're going to listen." She glared at them, and anger seemed to radiate from her like heat. "You killed my friend," she said quietly. "You killed him, and you knew that he wouldn't stay dead, so while you had him out you cut him open and you put a bomb in him. Then you waited for him to come back like you knew he would, waited for him to get back to his home and meet with his team, with people who risk their lives every day to keep you safe, and then you detonated the bomb." Her words fell like stones in the silence. "You blew him up. And then you picked him up and waited for him to come back so you could encase him in concrete, alive." She paused. "Has anyone ever been blown up? Or maybe drowned?" They were silent. "It could be arranged, you know. And it would be, if the Doctor was anything but the man he is. He thinks you deserve a chance." Her lips twisted into a sardonic smile. "I'm not so sure. Not after what I've seen you do today. This," Rose said as she gestured at them, at their plan of action, "has to be one of the sickest things I've ever seen, and that's saying something, because I've been imprisoned and tortured and used as a science experiment by human beings, people who believed they were doing the right thing. I've watched people murder entire planets for the sake of greed or power, but this, this takes the cake."
Jack swore. They were floating in the Vortex awaiting Rose's return with the schematics of the base where Alice and Steven, and hopefully also Gwen and Ianto, were being held. He was monitoring the situation in Cabinet Office briefing room A and the Doctor was behind him, lounging on the sofa pretending to read something by Charles Dickens.
"You bastard," he snapped. "Why didn't you tell me?"
The Doctor glanced up. "What?"
"Why," Jack ground out, "didn't you tell me about Rose and torture?"
"Ah." The Doctor set his book down. "It wasn't my place, Jack. If Rose wanted you to know about what happened in Pete's world then she would tell you."
"So it doesn't bother you at all?" he asked the alien scathingly. "Doesn't matter that someone cut her open just to hurt her, to make her scream? Doesn't matter that several some ones probably had their hands coated in her blood? Doesn't matter that she might have begged for death?"
Suddenly he was against the wall. Jack blinked, entirely uncertain of how he'd got there, but the Doctor's hands held his wrists next to his head and the alien's face was centimeters from his own. If he could have, he would have flinched away from the expression on the alien's face. If looks could kill he'd have been dead in a second.
"Don't ever even think that again," the Doctor growled. And yes, growl was the only appropriate word to describe his voice. It was low and rough and promised death (or worse) to anyone who crossed him. "If going there didn't mean that two universes would fall into the Void I would tear down that world's Torchwood. I would take it apart stone by stone, raze it to the ground, and then salt the Earth. I would hunt down each and every one who took part in that obscenity and show them what it means to wish they were never born."
They remained as they were for a moment, until Jack nodded slightly. "I believe you," he said.
The Doctor released his wrists and stalked back to the couch. Jack returned to the chair in front of the laptop, and they silently waited for Rose's signal.
"So here's your chance," she continued. The members of Gold Command were watching her with wary interest. "And you only get one. One opportunity to do the right thing." She took a deep breath. "This is your choice: you can help him fix this situation and everyone can go home, or you can try and stop us. We'll still stop the aliens, because that's what we do, but we will stop you if we have to. And if we have to, then everyone in the world will know exactly what you were planning to do." She glared at each of them in turn, and they to a man that they could not return her stare. Something in her eyes, something golden and furious smoldered. She let the silence stretch out for a long moment, and then she spoke again. "Think about it. You have an hour." Rose crossed the room and held out her hand. Lois shook it and Rose palmed the flashdrive that had been concealed in the other woman's fingers. "Thanks," she murmured. "We won't forget this."
She strode back to her original position and punched coordinates for the TARDIS into her Canon. She paused just before she hit the final sequence, almost like it was an afterthought. "Oh, and if you harm Lois in any way, we'll know, and then the deal is off."
She was gone in a flash of light.
Gwen and Ianto sat across from Alice and Steven Carter. Ianto was staring, he knew that he was staring, and yet he found himself unable to stop. She looked so much like Jack. Even Steven did, like a tiny glimpse of what his lover looked like as a child.
Gwen was explaining their plan. "Right, so, I'm Gwen and this is Ianto, and we work with Jack."
"You're Torchwood," Alice guessed.
They nodded. "We are," he said, "and we're going to get you out of here, both of you."
Alice laughed incredulously. "How?" she exclaimed. "If you hadn't noticed, you're locked up with us, and there are at least ten men with guns out there."
Gwen grinned. "We've got friends." She leaned forward. "Tell me, Steven," she said to the boy. "How would you like to take a ride in a spaceship?"
His eyes were huge. "A real spaceship?"
She nodded and Alice gaped. "A real spaceship." A strange grinding groan came from just outside the cell and a wind whipped against the metal door. Ianto and Gwen stood. "And there's our ride!" she declared.
Alice was looking at them like they were mad. "What's going on?" she snapped. A high pitched buzzing assaulted her ears and she clapped her hands over them. The door swung open and Rose was beaming at them in front of the TARDIS.
"Come on, then!" she called. "They'll be after us in a second!" She opened the door and ducked inside. Gwen and Ianto followed her, pulling Alice and Steven along behind them.
Alice Carter froze as the door slammed shut behind her. It was a box, a blue box that said 'Police' on the front and couldn't have been more than three meters high and less than a meter wide. Inside, however, it was huge. They were in some kind of cavernous control room that was dominated by a console at the center surrounding a bluish-green pillar that stretched to the ceiling. Two men were dashing around the console, one with wild brown hair and a pinstriped suit, and the other was-
"Uncle Jack!" Steven shouted, and ran to him. Jack Harkness paused in his button-pushing and lever-throwing and swept his grandson up into a hug. He pulled the little boy close to him and rested his chin on Steven's head.
"Hello," he said quietly. "You and your mum got out okay, then?"
Steven nodded. "Is this a spaceship?" he asked, his eyes wide and excited.
Jack smiled. "It is. As a matter of fact, it's his spaceship." He pointed to the Doctor, who had just thrown the last switch and taken them into the Vortex. It was a remarkably smooth departure, although the tell-tale grinding moan rang through the room. His task accomplished, the Doctor was leaning against the console with Rose's fingers laced through his own. He smiled and waved at the newcomers.
"Hello!" he said brightly. "I'm the Doctor, and this is Rose, and this," he motioned to the ship around them, "is the TARDIS and she's very pleased to meet you both."
Steven's forehead wrinkled. "She?"
Jack nodded. "She's alive."
"Woah." His grandson was staring all around in wonder. "Uncle Jack, you have the best friends."
"Yeah," Jack said softly. "I think I do."
( Chapter Thirty-Eight )