(no subject)
Title: Preface
Characters: Jack Harkness and the Meta-Crisis Doctor (pairings come eventually, but not in this tidbit)
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Not really, just a preview of a longer fic. In it, they discover many things, one of which is that the Human Doctor isn't as short-lived as they think since the Doctor did claim to be half-human at one point and still regenerated.
A/N: Written for heroics prompt
Summary: Ordinary heroes aren't so easily seen.
Disclaimer: Don't own no matter how much I would like to.
"Hello, Jack."
"Hello, Doctor."
He figured it was time for their weekly or bi-weekly visit. There aren't any bars but there was no mistaking that this is a prison buried deep within Torchwood Three, the Cardiff branch of the Torchwood Institute.
"Do you need anything?"
"A TARDIS would be nice. Failing that, I could use some new bits of technology to work with."
He knows as well as the other does that he'll never get either so long as Jack Harkness is his warden. Another might be foolish enough to give him a few ancient cellular telephones or some other bit of cast off and outdated technology to tinker with, but not Jack. No, Jack knows the danger. Toshiko had given him a falling apart datapad six months ago when Jack had been out on a mission, feeling sorry for him when she came to do the weekly check. It had taken him thirty minutes to put it back together. Two hours after that, every single door and security lock on Torchwood Three had disengaged all at once.
Ianto Jones was a much better and faster shot than the Human Doctor had estimated him to be.
"You know I can't do that, Doctor. What about some new books? That one author you used to like just had his whole collection re-issued."
"I want out, Jack. I wasn't meant to live like this."
He watches Jack lower his head, that brief spasm of pain there. Once upon a time he might have felt some sort of pity or something else for Jack's dilemma. Having those human emotions can be so troublesome at times.
They had briefly tried a holographic projector system to give him the 'illusion' of being free, but he had dismantled and rewired it within a few hours so that instead of projecting into his cell, it did all of Torchwood Three. No one had figured out still how he had managed it and how he had managed to reprogram the system to access personnel records, but he had. Instead of scenes of planetary life from around the universe shown in the finest detail since Jack had spared no expense, the system had begun to show each of them their worst horrors from their psychological profiles in the database.
It had been Jack that figured out what he had done, but not before some of the others had injured themselves or others. He never had liked false things. Jack had backhanded him harder than he would have thought possible when the time agent found him roaring with laughter in his buried cell.
"You can't be free," Jack said quietly. "You know that."
"You can't keep me down here for the rest of eternity."
"I can try. I've got nothing but eternity."
The Doctor turns away from Jack first this time. It's been awhile since that happened. Usually Harkness is the one that stalks out, hands curled so tightly into fists that his blunt nails cut skin and shed blood. Good to know that Jack still has a few surprises for him.
Characters: Jack Harkness and the Meta-Crisis Doctor (pairings come eventually, but not in this tidbit)
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Not really, just a preview of a longer fic. In it, they discover many things, one of which is that the Human Doctor isn't as short-lived as they think since the Doctor did claim to be half-human at one point and still regenerated.
A/N: Written for heroics prompt
Summary: Ordinary heroes aren't so easily seen.
Disclaimer: Don't own no matter how much I would like to.
"Hello, Jack."
"Hello, Doctor."
He figured it was time for their weekly or bi-weekly visit. There aren't any bars but there was no mistaking that this is a prison buried deep within Torchwood Three, the Cardiff branch of the Torchwood Institute.
"Do you need anything?"
"A TARDIS would be nice. Failing that, I could use some new bits of technology to work with."
He knows as well as the other does that he'll never get either so long as Jack Harkness is his warden. Another might be foolish enough to give him a few ancient cellular telephones or some other bit of cast off and outdated technology to tinker with, but not Jack. No, Jack knows the danger. Toshiko had given him a falling apart datapad six months ago when Jack had been out on a mission, feeling sorry for him when she came to do the weekly check. It had taken him thirty minutes to put it back together. Two hours after that, every single door and security lock on Torchwood Three had disengaged all at once.
Ianto Jones was a much better and faster shot than the Human Doctor had estimated him to be.
"You know I can't do that, Doctor. What about some new books? That one author you used to like just had his whole collection re-issued."
"I want out, Jack. I wasn't meant to live like this."
He watches Jack lower his head, that brief spasm of pain there. Once upon a time he might have felt some sort of pity or something else for Jack's dilemma. Having those human emotions can be so troublesome at times.
They had briefly tried a holographic projector system to give him the 'illusion' of being free, but he had dismantled and rewired it within a few hours so that instead of projecting into his cell, it did all of Torchwood Three. No one had figured out still how he had managed it and how he had managed to reprogram the system to access personnel records, but he had. Instead of scenes of planetary life from around the universe shown in the finest detail since Jack had spared no expense, the system had begun to show each of them their worst horrors from their psychological profiles in the database.
It had been Jack that figured out what he had done, but not before some of the others had injured themselves or others. He never had liked false things. Jack had backhanded him harder than he would have thought possible when the time agent found him roaring with laughter in his buried cell.
"You can't be free," Jack said quietly. "You know that."
"You can't keep me down here for the rest of eternity."
"I can try. I've got nothing but eternity."
The Doctor turns away from Jack first this time. It's been awhile since that happened. Usually Harkness is the one that stalks out, hands curled so tightly into fists that his blunt nails cut skin and shed blood. Good to know that Jack still has a few surprises for him.