Man and Superman 16/19?
Story: Man and Superman
Author: wmr
Rated: Mostly PG13
Characters: Ninth Doctor, Tenth Doctor, Rose Tyler, Jack Harkness, others
Spoilers: AU from Parting of the Ways, general Torchwood spoiler (but not Torchwood compliant)
Summary: A lifetime of happiness! No man alive could bear it: it would be hell on earth - George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) Man and Superman Act I
With grateful thanks to
ponygirl72 and
dark_aegis for BRing and for putting up with this monster of a fic - you rock, ladies!
Chapter 1: Staying Alive l Chapter 2: Sick Bed l Chapter 3: Christmas Spirit l Chapter 4: Downtime l Chapter 5: Not A Bad Life l Chapter 6: Of Wolves and Bandits l Chapter 7: They Keep Killing Jack l Chapter 8: Secrets l Chapter 9: Torchwood l Chapter 10: Revisiting History l Chapter 11: Lost Companions l Chapter 12: Liar, Liar l Chapter 13: Answers l Chapter 14: My Immortals l Chapter 15: Stranded
Chapter 16: The Number of the Beast
“Jack!”
He’s been pulled out onto the surface of the planet. Has to’ve been. Hell, Jack!
No time to waste. “Rope!” he yells, and one second later it’s slapped into his hand. Tying it around his waist, keeping a few feet spare to wind around his middle, he raps out orders. “Rose, tie the other end to something secure. Scooti, call Jefferson and Danny. Toby needs to be secured until I can come and examine him. And tell Captain Zach to lock down the base.”
Rope tied, he’s turning to head for the window, but Rose touches his hand, making him pause. “Be careful,” she says softly.
He nods. “I’ll bring him back to you.” As he’s speaking, he’s already moving - and calculating. If his guess is right, it’s been about thirty seconds since Jack got sucked out. If he didn’t try to hold his breath, he could still be alive - though that doesn’t matter, really, because he’ll just resurrect if he dies. And, as long as he’s not exposed to the hostile atmosphere of space, being in a vacuum, unable to breathe, for too long his body won’t decompress. Though he does seem to have impressive healing abilities as well.
No, the big worry is the black hole, and the gravitational pull it’s exerting. If the planet doesn’t have any gravity of its own, Jack could already be halfway to the monstrosity in the sky. Once he reaches the event horizon, well, that doesn't bear considering. Compressed for all eternity. Even Jack wouldn't be able to survive that. Horrible. Truly horrific. And this is what he’ll have brought Jack to, if he can’t rescue him.
His breath’s sucked away as he steps outside onto the rough ground - respiratory bypass is such a useful thing. He can feel the capillaries in his eyes and skin bursting under the onslaught of cold and hard radiation; feel his hearts straining as his body struggles to operate for a few vital moments in an environment for which it was never designed. The first couple of steps confirm that there’s some gravity. Not much - just enough to keep his feet on the ground if he concentrates. Some little counteraction against the pull of the black hole.
There’s something - over there. A dark shadow against a rock.
Stumbling over the uneven surface, and very glad of the rope that’ll at least stop him from floating too far if he does lose his footing, he gets to the shape he’s seen.
It’s Jack. Unconscious, eyes wide and staring, body wedged against and half-under the rock. It’s holding him in place, preventing him from being dragged off into space. Saving his life.
Muttering thanks to beings that he’s very certain don’t even exist, he frees the loose end of the rope and works it under Jack’s body, struggling to get it between Jack and the rock without knocking him free. Finally, he manages it, and lashes the rope securely around Jack’s waist. Now, as long as he can get the two of them back to the base...
It’s a struggle to get Jack to his feet. The other man’s unconscious, if not already dead - and isn’t he glad he didn’t persuade Jack to let him take the huon energy out of him? - and no help at all. He could try slinging Jack over his shoulder, but that risks having him pulled away by the black hole’s gravity, dragging both of them and risking their combined weight snapping the rope. So, instead, he loops his arm around Jack’s waist, pulls Jack’s stiff arm around his own shoulders and, slowly, with difficulty, begins to pick his way back across the hostile terrain, dragging the dead weight of the human with him.
Then the rope tightens. Suddenly, it’s a taut line between him and the base. Brilliant! They’re pulling!
“Hold on, Jack,” he says under his breath, even knowing his words are making no sound. It’s space, after all. He’s mostly saying it for his own comfort anyway. “Have you inside in a jiff.” Holding onto the rope with his free hand, he half-walks, half lets himself be pulled, still dragging Jack along with him. One step becomes two becomes five becomes ten.
And then he’s there, at the broken window.
There are figures inside. What? Idiots! There’s no air, and there’s the effect of the vacuum. They’ll get pulled out! But, as he steps forward, he realises. They’re wearing space-suits and oxygen tanks, and they’re chained to the corridor walls.
It’s Mr Jefferson and Danny, he sees as they step forward, Jefferson taking Jack from him, Danny grabbing his hand and pulling him closer to Door 40. It’s all a blur as the four of them stumble, crawl, push and get pulled through the door into the secure corridor, but then they’ve made it. The door closes behind them and the computer announces that it’s sealed. He slumps to the floor, his back to the wall, and he gulps in air - safe, computer-controlled oxygen.
A soft hand touches his face. “Doctor! Are you okay? I was so scared...”
He grips Rose’s hand in his. “I’m all right. Promise.” But there’s Jack, and what effect being outside for more than two minutes will have had on him.
Her fingers tighten around his, ignoring what has to be the biting cold of his frozen skin, and as he gazes at her he notices tear-tracks on her cheeks. Yet he knows she’s been busy while he was outside - she’s undoubtedly the one responsible for the presence of the cavalry.
“You got Jack - you were brilliant.”
“I’m sorry.” That’s Ida, her voice coming from close by. “Your friend’s dead.”
***
She drops the Doctor’s hand, scrambling over to Jack’s side. The Doctor’s right behind her.
“And, anyway, what were you thinking?” Ida continues. “Going outside like that without even an oxygen tank, endangering everyone’s lives by getting us all here while you went on a suicide mission instead of letting us seal the base properly, and all for a man who was already dead before you set one foot outside!”
“He’s my friend.” There’s a dangerous note in the Doctor’s voice. “I don’t abandon my friends. And, besides, he’s not dead.”
“I’ve got a degree in medicine as well as physics, Doctor,” Ida says stiffly. “Not that I need that to tell me that if someone’s not breathing and has no pulse they’re dead.”
“Give him two minutes,” the Doctor promises, and she hears him smiling. And, even as her fingers close around Jack’s hand, her index finger settles over his pulse-point and she feels a faint beat start. Seconds later, he’s blinking, his eyes are opening and he’s smiling faintly through what’s clearly pain.
“Hey, there,” he says, and winks at her. The rest of the massive weight, the chunk that was left after she realised the Doctor’s safe, lifts from her heart.
“What -? How -?”
“Little party trick.” The Doctor waves a hand dismissively. “We’d explain but, really, there are more important things to do, aren’t there?”
Ida ignores that brush-off. “And what about you, Doctor? You were out there for more than two minutes. No oxygen. How come you didn’t asphyxiate?”
“Not human.” He’s rising smoothly to his feet, and as he does he pats his chest. “And I have a respiratory bypass system. Comes in handy sometimes.”
She blinks. “And Jack’s not human, too?”
“Nah, he’s as human as you are. Well, he used to be. Now...” He sighs. “Well, anyway, this time it was a good thing.”
“You’re not making any sense, Doctor.”
Rose chokes back laughter at that. How many times has she said exactly the same thing to the Doctor? How many times has she thought it?
“God, I’m cold.” Jack’s standing now, though he’s a little unsteady. The Doctor turns back to him, studies him for a moment, then presses the back of his hand to Jack’s forehead.
“Right. Can’t stand around here all day! Rose, take Jack to the canteen and give him something warm to drink. Mr Jefferson, where’s Toby?”
“Confined to quarters, sir,” Jefferson, now out of his space-suit, says.
“Scooti said he was outside. No space-suit, no oxygen, nothing to stop him being pulled into the black hole,” Ida says, and Rose notices for the first time that Scooti’s not there.
The Doctor nods. “He was. Did she tell you anything else?”
Ida frowns, then shakes her head. “I sent her to rest.”
“That lettering that he can’t translate? And I can’t either?” Ida nods. “It was all over his face and his hands.”
All of them stare at him, but the Doctor doesn’t seem to notice. “Mr Jefferson,” he says, tone authoritative. “Make sure the base is secure and that everyone gets back to the canteen. Ida, take me to Toby’s quarters.”
Ida nods, but doesn’t move immediately. Her gaze falls on Jack, then Rose, then the Doctor. “You saved Scooti’s life. The three of you. Thank you.”
“It was nothing.” The Doctor shrugs modestly. “Well, actually, it was Jack, really. We just helped. Anyway...” He sobers abruptly. “There’re things going on here that I don’t understand. And I don’t like it when I don’t understand things. So... time to see Toby and find out what’s going on.”
“Doctor!” Remembering suddenly, she delays him long enough to fill him in on the Ood in the canteen and what happened with her phone. He nods, frowning.
“Something similar happened in the Ood rest area, too. He is awake.” He shakes his head. “Who? And why would anyone want to worship him, anyway, whoever he is?” Again, he shakes his head. “Time to find out. Later, then.” And he’s gone at a brisk stride, followed by Ida.
“Right.” She takes Jack’s hand; his fingers curl around hers. “You need a cuppa. Come on, then.”
“Oh, not your cure-all tea, please!” he moans. “At least let me have coffee.”
Danny shrugs. “Haven’t a clue what either of those are, mate. You’ll just have to make do with the Ood special. At least it’s warm.”
Jack pulls a face.
***
Toby’s pacing in his quarters, face back to normal and distinctly pale, his Adam’s apple working overtime as he faces the two of them. Whatever was up with him earlier, it’s certainly not happening now. Unless he’s a very good actor.
So, what is he? Alien? Possessed? A zombie? All three?
He motions to Ida to stand back. Toby may appear normal and harmless, but he certainly wasn’t either of those earlier when he almost got Scooti killed.
“What’s going on? Why am I locked in?” Toby protests, looking from one to the other of them, uncertain and wary.
Another scared boy... maybe. “Do you remember what happened?” he asks, ensuring that he blocks access to the door.
“When?” But Toby’s not meeting his gaze. He’s looking down to the floor. He knows more than he’s saying, and he’s fearful.
“You went outside,” Ida says. “Without a space-suit.”
Toby shakes his head. “Can’t have. I’d be dead if I had.”
“But you did,” he tells the young man. “And Scooti very nearly got killed as a result.”
Toby’s head-shaking becomes frantic. He’s trembling now.
The Doctor steps closer. “Whatever’s happening to you, I can help. Let me take a look at you.”
“No.” He backs away.
“You’re afraid, aren’t you? He is awake.” Wild guess, of course - but, really, more like an educated guess. Whenever several strange things happen at once, it’s very rarely a coincidence. In fact, he tends to believe that there’s no such thing as coincidence. He takes a couple of deliberate steps closer to Toby. “He is awake. And you will worship him.”
“No! Make it stop!” Toby protests, and he’s almost crying.
“Doctor!” Ida’s not happy, and she’s trying to get between him and Toby. “He’s terrified. Can’t you see?”
He doesn’t take his eyes off Toby. “Ida. Trust me, please. I know what I’m doing.” Well, sort of, anyway. “I won’t hurt him. But I’m trying to stop anyone else from getting hurt, too.”
Ida hesitates, and he seizes his opportunity. “Toby.” He takes the final two steps to take him up to the younger man. “Let me help you.” With a gentle push, he makes Toby sit on the bed, and he crouches in front of him. “This won’t hurt,” he says, reassuring, then slides his fingers along either side of Toby’s face, coming to rest at the temples.
Instantly, he’s assailed by a rush of hostility. Ideas, images, emotions come at him in an attack-battery, forcefully trying to push him out. At the same time, Ida’s saying something behind him, but he ignores her, concentrating all his energy, all his attention on Toby.
There’s something inside Toby’s brain, and it’s taken over. Whatever it is, it’s intelligent life - highly intelligent. And highly hostile. And it’s recognised him as a threat.
You will not destroy Me, as you have destroyed everything else in your past. Killer of your own kind you may be, but I am stronger.
The power behind the voice in his head, as much as the words, makes him reel back. With strenuous effort, he keeps his fingers against Toby’s temples and his mind inside the man’s head. So you say. Bit of an assumption, isn’t it? You haven’t encountered me before, have you? Though you seem to know who I am. Be nice to know who you are, in that case. Seems only fair, really.
There’s a sensation of something that could be a laugh. I exist in the darkness. I am what all species fear. Even your own, Destroyer of Worlds. I am from before Time.
The Doctor shakes his head. No. Impossible. Before Time? That’s impossible, and you know it. What do you mean, before Time?
The voice gets stronger. Before light and time and space and matter. Before the cataclysm. Before this universe was created. I am the Beast in the Pit, and all fear me.
Abruptly, he releases Toby, breathing heavily. Toby collapses, falling backwards onto the bed, unconscious.
“Doctor? What were you doing?” Ida demands.
“Finding things out.” He’s breathing heavily. “Unfortunately, so was it. Couldn’t risk it any longer. I know too much - far, far too much to let it see all I know.” And the longer he was inside Toby’s head, talking to the thing, the stronger it was getting.
Ida shakes her head. “You’re not making sense again. And what’s happened to Toby?”
He holds up his hand, preventing Ida from reaching him. “Let him sleep.”
Sleep... it’s a lie, really. Toby’s not asleep - or, if he is, it’s the kind of sleep he’s never going to wake from again. Not as himself. The boy’s brain’s been taken over, by some sort of creature that even he can’t identify. What he can tell, though, is that the creature can’t be expelled. Not without destroying what’s left of Toby’s mind and leaving only an empty shell behind.
Toby Zed, archaeologist for the expedition, is already dead.
“There’s nothing I can do,” he murmurs, shaking his head. “I’m sorry.”
“What? He’s all right, isn’t he? What did you do to him?” Ida pushes past him, bending over Toby, fingers to his throat.
“Ida.” He catches her shoulders, drawing her back gently but firmly. “It’s too late to help him. It was already too late... ooh, probably long before Scooti found him outside.”
“What’s happened to him?” Her voice is low now; her expression says she believes him.
He leads her out of Toby’s room, then seals the lock with his screwdriver. Though, given what Toby seems to have become, even that probably won’t keep him inside. “He’s not Toby any more. He’s... something else. Something dangerous - something that shouldn’t be here. And I don’t know what that is.”
But he’s going to find out.
***
He’s on his second drink of the strange, but okay-tasting, blue-coloured substance provided by the Ood when the Doctor and Ida join the group in the canteen. And it doesn’t escape his notice that the Doctor’s first glance is to him - a searching, questioning, you okay? look.
He’s fine. Thanks to the Doctor. All the time he’s been keeping up a desultory conversation with Rose, Danny and Scooti, who joined them a few minutes ago, he’s been thinking about that. So much for the conclusion he jumped to when the Doctor first found out that he was immortal. A guy who thinks you should be dead doesn’t risk his life to go out into the gravity-field of a black hole to save you.
He knows only too well what would’ve happened to him if the Doctor hadn’t managed to find him and get him back inside. Dying over and over through lack of oxygen, then a final death floating in the event horizon, body compressed. Crushed.
The Doctor could so easily have shared that fate, too. No-one’s ever taken that much of a risk for him before.
He gets to his feet and meets the Doctor halfway across the room, pulling him into a hug. “Thank you.”
The embrace is returned, and he hears the grin in the Doctor’s voice as he replies, for only him to hear, “Did warn you about controlling that hero complex, Jack, my lad.”
“What’s going on? Where’s Toby?” Scooti, of course, still shaken up by the fact that Toby almost killed her.
“Explanations, yes!” The Doctor, freeing himself, looks around, the centre of attention. “Who are we missing? Zach? Mr Jefferson? It’d be better if everyone was here.”
“Already called them,” Ida says, tapping her communication device. “They’re on their way.”
The explanation, when it comes, is bizarre and frightening. Not because of the strange creature that’s possessed Toby, but because the Doctor, for once, genuinely doesn’t seem to have a clue what’s going on. He just knows that it’s dangerous.
“You all need to remember,” the Doctor concludes, “that the man in that room is not Toby Zed any more. He looks like Toby, but the Toby you all knew is dead. And that thing inside him is dangerous. It’s already killed Toby, and it nearly killed Scooti. It’s doing something to the Ood, too. Whatever happens, do not let Toby out of that room. If he gets out, you need to be prepared to take whatever action is necessary for the safety of everyone here.”
That sounds like the Doctor’s encouraging them to kill Toby - or the thing that’s inside Toby’s body. And that’s not at all like him. If he’s saying that, this is bad.
“But what is it? What does it want?” Rose asks; she’s looking worried too.
“What is it? I have no idea. It said before Time. And that’s impossible. If it’d said beyond Time, then maybe... maybe I might’ve believed it. Before Time... can’t be. Though even I haven’t seen everything...” The Doctor shrugs. “What does it want? Now, that’s a much more interesting question, and if I knew the answer to that...” He trails off, rubbing his chin. But his eyes are alight, and his brain’s obviously working furiously.
“It wants to kill us, yeah?” Danny says.
“But why? What for? What’s it got to gain from killing us?” The Doctor’s shaking his head. “I think you’ve got something it wants. Maybe...”
“It said it was in the pit, right? What if it wants a way out?” Rose suggests.
The Doctor’s face lights up. “Could be. Though it’s already got a way out, through Toby... although... Yes! Only its mind. What if it’s got a physical body, and that’s what’s trapped in the pit?”
“Makes sense,” Jack says. Zach and Ida are nodding.
Great. The crew’s digging down through the surface of the planet, where the odd readings are coming from, and this beast says it’s in the pit. He just bets he knows where this pit is.
“So what do we do?” Zach asks, sounding weary.
“Other than keeping Toby secure?” The Doctor shakes his head. “Nothing. Well, if anything else strange happens, like someone else trying to make you do something suicidal - ” He gives Scooti a wide-eyes look. “Don’t. Come and tell me.”
Zach nods. “And me. That’s an order, everyone.”
There’s immediate murmurs of agreement, before silence falls on the room. It’s a mood Jack recognises; every one of the crew is wondering yet again if they’ll ever see home again. If this base is going to become their grave.
Ida distracts everyone suddenly by opening the roof, to reveal a red cloud being drawn inexorably towards the black hole. “You'll want to see this. Moment in history,” she says. “That red cloud... that used to be the Scarlet System. Home to the Peluchi... a mighty civilisation spanning a billion years... disappearing. Forever. Their planets and suns consumed.” The cloud slowly vanishes. “Ladies and gentlemen... we have witnessed its passing.”
She’s about to close the roof again, but the Doctor stops her. “Leave it open, yeah? Just for a bit.” He smiles slightly. “Promise I won’t go mad.”
Ida’s returning smile is tired. “How would you know?” But the roof stays open, and one by one the crew disappears, back to their tasks, leaving the three of them alone.
And nobody speaks. It’s the first time the three of them have been on their own since that emotional embrace after discovering the TARDIS is gone. The Doctor’s too good at hiding his feelings; he won’t slip like that again. As for him and Rose - well, what can they say? What can you say to someone who’s lost all he has? And, in doing so, trapped the three of them in a place they may never escape from, and even if they do Rose will never get home again. They all know that; what’s the point in saying so?
“Reckon you can stop it, Doctor?” Rose says at last. “This Beast?”
“Certainly gonna try,” he says, and shrugs. “Well, gotta keep busy, you know.”
“Yeah,” she says softly, looking down at the table.
“I’ve broken my promise to Jackie,” the Doctor says quietly. “I said I’d always bring you home. I’m so sorry, Rose.”
She shrugs this time. “Everyone leaves home some time, Doctor. Yeah, it’d be nice if I could’ve explained... but she always knew something like this could happen.” She’s trying to sound upbeat, but not entirely succeeding. Jack covers her hand with his, and she gives him a grateful smile.
“Least you’ve got each other, the two of you,” the Doctor continues, his tone a little lighter. “Ida told me they’ve got an escape-rocket here, for if they need to abandon the base. Be a tight squeeze, but they can fit you in. I dunno, you could... well, start again somewhere. Build a life? This isn’t too far ahead of your time, Jack. You’d easily get a job with a shipping company, or maybe a scientific expedition. Just do one thing for me? Let me take the Vortex traces from you before you go.”
What?
Rose gets in before him. “An’ what about you, Doctor?” Her tone’s angry, upset. “Sounds like you’re sayin’ you won’t come with us. That’s crazy!”
He’s avoiding their gaze, looking all around, at the table, the wall, the black hole above them. “The TARDIS is here somewhere. Down there, below us. I can still feel her.” He looks at the floor then, indicating with his hand too. “I can’t leave her.”
“Doctor, if there was any way of getting to her...” he says, his heart wrenching as he sees the pain in the Doctor’s eyes.
“Doesn’t matter.” The Doctor’s tugging at his hair, still looking anywhere than at the two of them. “I can’t leave her,” he repeats.
Rose leans across and grasps the Doctor’s free hand. “We’re staying too, then. We’re not gonna leave you.”
Now, he meets her gaze. “Rose, you can’t! This place isn’t safe. It’s getting more unstable all the time.” As he speaks, the base - and the planet beneath them - is rocked by another fierce tremor. “Whatever’s stopping us from getting sucked in isn’t going to hold for ever. You and Jack have to leave as soon as you can.”
“Then you’re coming with us,” Jack says, his tone showing he’s not going to stand for any argument. “No way you’re staying behind on your own just to die, Doctor. We’re not letting you do that.”
“Not letting me?”
“Not a chance. You know, like you wouldn’t leave me to die out there earlier?”
“What’s important,” the Doctor says, slowly, clearly with exaggerated patience, “is that you two are safe. I might not be able to get you back home, Rose, but I can do the next-best thing - keep you safe. I promised your mum that, too. Did you know that?” He doesn’t wait for an answer. “I can’t keep you safe. Not any more. Go with Jack. Stay with him. Then you’ll be safe.”
“Told you, we’re not leaving you.” Rose’s expression is just as implacable.
The Doctor blows out a breath. “I promise I’m not planning on dying. All right?” He sighs, and suddenly it’s as if all the fight’s gone out of him. “It’s been fun while it lasted, hasn’t it?” he says, looking at both of them at last, an almost pathetically eager expression on his face. “But it’s over. You two will be fine. You don’t need me.”
“No?” Jack retorts instantly. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe we don’t if we have each other. Doesn’t mean we don’t want you, though. And I’ll tell you something else. You need us. Maybe you don’t think you do, but there’s no way we’re letting you be alone. Maybe later. Maybe when you’ve figured something out, worked out what you can do without the TARDIS, but now? No way. You’re stuck with us.”
Suddenly, the Doctor smiles. “Dunno why I ever thought it’d be any other way.” He reaches across the table with his free hand, curling it around Jack’s the way his other hand is already wrapped around Rose’s. “Thank you. Thank you both.”
***
Something wakes her. She sits up in the large bed, trying to work out what it was, and then realises she’s alone. Jack’s gone.
All the base’s occupants went to bed, on Zach’s orders, a couple of hours after the Toby incident. It was a long day, he said, and everyone needed to rest. Ida showed the three of them to this room; the captain’s chamber, she said. Zach never moved in after the former captain was killed. Instead of the bunks that other crew members’ rooms have, this has a double bed.
It didn’t surprise either of them when the Doctor announced he wasn’t staying, once Ida left. “Told Jefferson I’d take the first watch. He needs to rest, and I don’t.”
The Doctor’s one thing. She hardly expects anything different from him. But Jack, too? A girl could start to feel abandoned and unloved, Rose decides. She slides out of bed, pulled on her top and jeans, finds her shoes and leaves the room. Left or right? With a shrug, she goes left.
The computer announces her path as she moved through the base, opening and closing doors as she goes. After a minute or so, the route is familiar and she realises where she’s headed: towards where Storage Six used to be.
And there they are. Both of them, illuminated by the dim lighting in the hallway, leaning against the wall on either side of the corridor, just by the door that once led to the TARDIS. They’re talking in low voices, and neither of them’s seen her.
She’s just about to announce her presence when something Jack says - and it’s the tone of his voice more than what he says: quiet, defeated, ashamed, even - turns her rigid.
"My name's not really Jack Harkness."
***
tbc