Fanfic - Five Pit-Stops on the Way to the 21st Century - IV - Reports
This is a Torchwood / Hellboy / DC Comics crossover, part IV of my series Five Pit-Stops on the Way to the 21st Century (previous parts are Here. Five crossovers, five eras. Captain Jack Harkness must have met some interesting people during his time in the past. Canon compliant (more or less) up to Torchwood S2, then not so much...
Rewritten slightly to make things a little clearer.
Reports
By Marcus L. Rowland
Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense
TOP SECRET CLASSIFICATION MK ULTRA
FROM: Dr. Tom Manning, Director BPRD
TO: The President
RE: Harkness, Captain J.
Mister President,
Further to our conversation yesterday, I’ve attached the report I mentioned, with its footnotes updated to reflect our current knowledge of the subject; it’s fourteen years old now, but I think it may shed some light on our current mystery:
* * * * *
BPRD Daily Summary, October 23rd
Section 7: Precognition Report - Re. Captain J. Harkness (ref Torchwood A16)
At 04.40 this morning source FK103 [1] reported the following dream:
“I’m a child, walking in an alleyway with my parents. A man steps out into the alley ahead of us, wearing a long dark coat. He draws a revolver, says something I don’t understand, pulls on my mother’s necklace. Pearls spill onto the ground. He shoots my parents, leaving me unharmed, then walks away.”
Source FK103 was not able to identify the parents or child, but was able to draw a picture of their assailant, identified (probability 87%) as Captain Jack Harkness (ref Torchwood A16). [2]
Currently Harkness is attached to Torchwood 3, Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom. He is believed to be in Britain at present. Please ask the US Embassy to check his location; if possible verify it by a visual sighting.
Addendum 1: 24th October - Embassy verifies that Harkness is currently in Cardiff.
Addendum 2: 26th October - Description of dream matches the deaths of Dr. Thomas and Martha Wayne (Gotham City) on October 25th. Both were prominent philanthropists; the motive has been reported as robbery. They were survived by their son Bruce, aged eight, who was present at their deaths.
Addendum 3: 26th October - Harkness is again verified as being in Cardiff.
Recommendations: Continue to monitor events in Gotham City, and especially any sightings of Harkness or events related to the Wayne family.
[1] Precog, accuracy 93% 1-3 days, 82% 3-5 days, 55% 5-10 days
[2] Harkness is considered a Person of Interest; he is apparently immortal, and Torchwood’s activities [3] frequently overlap (and sometimes oppose) those of the BPRD. There is also reason to believe that he has precognitive abilities, in various statements about the future e.g. “The twenty-first century is when it all changes.” His claimed rank of Captain is not matched by accessible military records. He is bisexual, and has at various times made advances to several of our agents, Abe Sapien, Liz Sherman, and Hellboy himself.
[3] Described as “Above the government, beyond the law,” but in fact answering to the king or queen, Torchwood functions in a manner analogous to the BPRD; its main aims are the accumulation and use of alien technology to further British interests, and opposition to an alien entity, code-word “The Doctor” [4]
[4] See BPRD standing instructions 4, 7, 9, 14-23, 27, 30-36, etc.
* * * * *
Since there was no proof that Harkness had left the United Kingdom the matter was left there. However, we’ve since learned from other sources that Harkness was formerly a known associate of ‘The Doctor’; this implies that he may have had access to time travel technology, and may have been in the UK and USA simultaneously, by doubling back on his own time line. Needless to say this cannot be confirmed.
None of this really explains why Harkness and an unknown associate were sighted using a compressed air cannon to fire anaesthetised bats at Wayne Manor on Tuesday night. Our source in the Cardiff police claims that Harkness is currently in the city, and was seen there less than an hour before the Gotham City sighting; it must therefore be assumed that the Gotham City version is from the past or future.
Our best guess, in the absence of other evidence, is that the deaths of Thomas and Martha Wayne were the opening phase of an ongoing attempt to manipulate Bruce Wayne, and that the recent incident is another step in this plan. There is reason to believe that we are living in the aftermath of a major temporal disruption[5] and it is possible that Harkness was, is, or will be attempting to restore the previous (if the word has any meaning in this context) status quo, or improve on the prior reality in some way. Unfortunately there is no evidence as to the ultimate goal; for this reason we will be watching Wayne's future actions very closely.
I can pursue the matter further should you desire, but since the only damage was a broken window, and any investigation of these events might lead to further temporal disruption, I must advise caution.
T. Manning
[5] See UNIT file 3267-TW, "The Time War"
End.
Authors note: This chapter cheats a little - The version of Captain Jack in Wales is the one getting to the 21st century the hard way, the visitor to Gotham is Jack during his career as a time agent, his actions took place in the years Jack can’t remember.
Comments please before I post to archives.
Rewritten slightly to make things a little clearer.
Reports
By Marcus L. Rowland
Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense
TOP SECRET CLASSIFICATION MK ULTRA
FROM: Dr. Tom Manning, Director BPRD
TO: The President
RE: Harkness, Captain J.
Mister President,
Further to our conversation yesterday, I’ve attached the report I mentioned, with its footnotes updated to reflect our current knowledge of the subject; it’s fourteen years old now, but I think it may shed some light on our current mystery:
* * * * *
BPRD Daily Summary, October 23rd
Section 7: Precognition Report - Re. Captain J. Harkness (ref Torchwood A16)
At 04.40 this morning source FK103 [1] reported the following dream:
“I’m a child, walking in an alleyway with my parents. A man steps out into the alley ahead of us, wearing a long dark coat. He draws a revolver, says something I don’t understand, pulls on my mother’s necklace. Pearls spill onto the ground. He shoots my parents, leaving me unharmed, then walks away.”
Source FK103 was not able to identify the parents or child, but was able to draw a picture of their assailant, identified (probability 87%) as Captain Jack Harkness (ref Torchwood A16). [2]
Currently Harkness is attached to Torchwood 3, Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom. He is believed to be in Britain at present. Please ask the US Embassy to check his location; if possible verify it by a visual sighting.
Addendum 1: 24th October - Embassy verifies that Harkness is currently in Cardiff.
Addendum 2: 26th October - Description of dream matches the deaths of Dr. Thomas and Martha Wayne (Gotham City) on October 25th. Both were prominent philanthropists; the motive has been reported as robbery. They were survived by their son Bruce, aged eight, who was present at their deaths.
Addendum 3: 26th October - Harkness is again verified as being in Cardiff.
Recommendations: Continue to monitor events in Gotham City, and especially any sightings of Harkness or events related to the Wayne family.
[1] Precog, accuracy 93% 1-3 days, 82% 3-5 days, 55% 5-10 days
[2] Harkness is considered a Person of Interest; he is apparently immortal, and Torchwood’s activities [3] frequently overlap (and sometimes oppose) those of the BPRD. There is also reason to believe that he has precognitive abilities, in various statements about the future e.g. “The twenty-first century is when it all changes.” His claimed rank of Captain is not matched by accessible military records. He is bisexual, and has at various times made advances to several of our agents, Abe Sapien, Liz Sherman, and Hellboy himself.
[3] Described as “Above the government, beyond the law,” but in fact answering to the king or queen, Torchwood functions in a manner analogous to the BPRD; its main aims are the accumulation and use of alien technology to further British interests, and opposition to an alien entity, code-word “The Doctor” [4]
[4] See BPRD standing instructions 4, 7, 9, 14-23, 27, 30-36, etc.
* * * * *
Since there was no proof that Harkness had left the United Kingdom the matter was left there. However, we’ve since learned from other sources that Harkness was formerly a known associate of ‘The Doctor’; this implies that he may have had access to time travel technology, and may have been in the UK and USA simultaneously, by doubling back on his own time line. Needless to say this cannot be confirmed.
None of this really explains why Harkness and an unknown associate were sighted using a compressed air cannon to fire anaesthetised bats at Wayne Manor on Tuesday night. Our source in the Cardiff police claims that Harkness is currently in the city, and was seen there less than an hour before the Gotham City sighting; it must therefore be assumed that the Gotham City version is from the past or future.
Our best guess, in the absence of other evidence, is that the deaths of Thomas and Martha Wayne were the opening phase of an ongoing attempt to manipulate Bruce Wayne, and that the recent incident is another step in this plan. There is reason to believe that we are living in the aftermath of a major temporal disruption[5] and it is possible that Harkness was, is, or will be attempting to restore the previous (if the word has any meaning in this context) status quo, or improve on the prior reality in some way. Unfortunately there is no evidence as to the ultimate goal; for this reason we will be watching Wayne's future actions very closely.
I can pursue the matter further should you desire, but since the only damage was a broken window, and any investigation of these events might lead to further temporal disruption, I must advise caution.
T. Manning
[5] See UNIT file 3267-TW, "The Time War"
End.
Authors note: This chapter cheats a little - The version of Captain Jack in Wales is the one getting to the 21st century the hard way, the visitor to Gotham is Jack during his career as a time agent, his actions took place in the years Jack can’t remember.
Comments please before I post to archives.