Fic: The Case of Jacqueline Harkness
Title: The Case of Jacqueline Harkness
Series: Torchwood
Characters: Jacqueline Harkness, Iana Jones, Yvonne Hartmann, OCs
Rating: R
Beta: Going Commando
Spoilers: Jacqueline has the same gift Jack does
Dislcaimer: I do not own Torchwood or the characters therein, the original characters belong to the BBC and RTD. The characters of Captain Jacqueline Harkness and Iana Jones belongs to the AU Torchwood of knitchick1979. Any original characters or places are my own.
Summary: Jacqueline has a meeting at Torchwood One and it doesn't urn out the way she hoped.
Author's Notes: The characters are used with permission of knitchick1979. Iknow it is gender swapped, but some characters like her bitchiness Yvonne Hartmann stayed the same.
The Case of Jacqueline Harkness
“Case number zero-zero-zero-JH-seven. Continuing study of the subject, Captain Jacqueline Harkness, Torchwood Three,” Lyle Nevins spoke into the microphone, typing it into the computer as well. Yvonne Hartmann always wanted her employees to be as thorough as possible - all for the empire. Lyle made a couple of keystrokes and the view on the computer screen changed to show what was being recorded. It was the same view as what they all saw through the two-way mirror.
Yvonne pressed a button, and over the external speakers they could hear Jacqueline’s laboured breathing as the air in the cell was kept at a minimum. It was amazing the woman had not passed out yet, most humans would have for the amount of oxygen that was actually allowed in the sealed room.
“Hello there Jacqueline,” Yvonne said in an almost giddy tone into the microphone. “So good to see you again, alive and barely breathing.” Her voice seemed to drip with venom.
Inside the room, Jacqueline flung herself at the mirror, pounding on it with her bare fists. “”Yvonne! You can’t do this!” Jacqueline bent in half, trying to breathe. Her voice was raspy as she pressed herself against the glass. “Why don’t you come in here and we’ll settle this ourselves.”
“Settle what, Jacqui darling? Don’t you want to do your part for The Empire?”
“The Empire is dead, and I have done my part a hundred times over,” Jacqueline said. She slumped to the ground, the speakers resonating as she tried to slow her breathing. Jacqueline’s skirt puddled around her hips, showing off her panties. Jacqueline undid the collar on her blue top as her nostrils flared, trying to breathe.
“How unbecoming of you darling,” Yvonne purred.
Jacqueline turned her body and kicked at the steel door to her cell. She fell back on her hands, her eyes growing wide. Yvonne turned the speakers off and moved the microphone away.
“Deplete the oxygen in the room. Let’s see how long she lasts.”
Iana Jones watched in utter shock as Lyle typed in the commands and the oxygen input dropped to zero. She found herself drawn towards the window as Jacqueline fought to breathe in silence. Her eyes finally closed and she slumped to the ground, a heap of humanity at Yvonne’s beck and call.
“Ma’am! You can’t do this. She’s only human,” Iana said, turning to Yvonne.
“You would think she was human,” Yvonne said. The Director of Torchwood One turned abruptly towards Iana. “The only reason you are allowed down here is because you are Special Archives. You have your orders and you will follow them. Is that understood?”
Iana lowered her head, running her fingers along the pleats in her skirt. “Yes, Ma’am,” she replied.
“Good. I expect your first report on my desk at 8:00 a.m.” Yvonne started to leave. “You may raise the oxygen level to twenty percent,” she said as almost an after thought. Yvonne slammed the steel door behind her.
“Bloody hell,” Lyle said as he raised the oxygen levels. “I don’t even know why we keep the good Captain around anyways. We should just kill it and autopsy the body and be done with it.” He sat back in his chair, hands behind his head, watching the screen.
Iana tried to ignore him and turned back to the window, watching as Jacqueline first moved her fingers and then raised her head slowly. Iana looked down at her grandfather’s old watch. She had hated Lyle before, but his attitude towards someone who should not be a threat sickened her.
“Isn’t it time for a fag break?” she said to him.
He leaned forward and peered at the clock on the computer screen. “Bloody hell, yeah it is,” he stated, grabbing a pack from the desk drawer. “You okay if I leave you alone with that thing?”
“Can she walk through steel walls?”
“Don’t rightly know. I don’t think so,” he said, grabbing his coat.
“I’ll be fine,” Iana replied.
Iana watched as Lyle bolted out of the room and she took over his chair. She watched the monitor as Jacqueline pulled herself up and leaned her head against the wall. They had poisoned her. She had come up to London for a meeting with Yvonne and they had poisoned Jacqueline’s coffee. While she was out, two guards dumped her body into the cell, after having a grope or two themselves.
She zoomed in the camera, looking at Jacqueline’s face, The other woman’s blue eyes seemed to pull her in. Everyone in Torchwood knew Jacqueline was older than she looked, but her eyes spoke volumes as to how much she had seen. Iana leaned forward on her elbows. It amazed her. The one thing she did not see in Jacqueline’s eyes was defeat.
* * * * *
Iana sipped at her now cold coffee and grimaced. She hated the swill they served down here, but because of security protocols she couldn’t bring her own cup in even. She slumped down in the utilitarian plastic chair and looked at her clipboard. The team who had been watching over Jacqueline earlier in the day was able to knock three more tests off of Yvonne’s ‘to-do-to-Harkness’ list.
“Yeah, I’ll be back in a bit,” Lyle said as he grabbed his coat. “Gonna have a smoke and take a crap,” he said, exiting the door before she could even respond.
Lyle Nevins was an idiot and the crassest asshole Iana had ever met. The only thing that kept her from asking for a replacement technician on her shifts was because he had been easy to manipulate. Iana hoped one day she got to see him burn in hell.
She moved over to the chair by the bank of computers, pulling up the camera on Jacqueline’s cell. Her clothes were dirty and bloody. Jacqueline sat on the ground - it was either that or toilet in the corner, Yvonne did not believe in any furnishings for the special cells. Her knees were tucked into her chest, as she held a bloody left hand to her chest.
Iana turned away for a second to consult her clipboard. Looking back at the screen, she saw something glistening by Jacqueline’s eye. Iana turned on the speakers and watched as Jacqueline buried her head in her chest, her dark hair falling forward, hiding her face. It was then that Iana heard it.
She raised the volume and her heart clenched as she heard the soft sobs. Jacqueline Harkness was crying. As far as Iana knew, she was the only person at Torchwood One to ever see it happen. She turned off the speakers as she prepped the next test. Someone had to.
Iana nearly jumped out of her seat as the phone next to her rang. She took a steadying breath and picked up the receiver. “Iana Jones,” she answered.
“Iana, it’s Bridget at the switchboard. I have a Dr. Owena Harper calling from Cardiff, inquiring about Captain Jacqueline Harkness. Sorry to bother you love, but at this time of night it shows you’re the only one on the archives team who is assigned to that case and available.”
“I am,” she replied. “Give the doctor the usual response - say we saw Captain Harkness, but after the meeting the other day we don’t know where she left to. We assumed she was returning to Cardiff. If they need any help locating her, we’ll be more than willing to help.”
“I already said that twice, but this is the third time she has called tonight alone.”
“Tell it to her anyway and have Mark pull up all the contact info for Dr. Harper from Three’s computers. I’ll take care of her tomorrow when I start my next shift.”
“All right love, be good. And I’ll see you and Lisa at my flat on Friday, yeah?”
“Wouldn’t miss your and Tom’s party for the world,” Iana said and hung up the phone.
She looked back at the screen and sighed. Pressing the enter key, she started the sensory test and looked away as Jacqueline tried to cover her ears from the noise.
* * * * *
Iana couldn’t believe her plan had worked so far. She had enough of what they were doing to Jacqueline with no real rhyme or reason. The tests Yvonne wanted run didn’t teach them anything, except put Jacqueline into extreme pain. Maybe Lyle had been right - killing Jacqueline outright would have been the more humane thing, if death would actually make a difference.
Jacqueline was passed out from the last test they had done, so Iana bypassed the circuitry and snuck into the cell. She placed her top, her trousers and Jacqueline’s clean coat next to Jacqueline’s prone form. They would have to do to replace the barely there clothes that hardly hung on Jacqueline’s frame. Having planned this ahead, Iana still had a t-shirt on and a pair of boy shorts so she wasn’t exactly naked. One thing she had noticed was Jacqueline was close enough to her size that Iana could spare the clothes that seemed too big for her.
She hurried back to the observation room, leaving the door to Jacqueline’s cell wide open. She kept glancing at her watch the longer it took Jacqueline to wake up. Suddenly she stirred with two minutes to go before Lyle would have been back from his extended break. Iana shivered in the cold room, but giving up her own clothes had been the only way, it wasn’t as if security would let her bring anything else down here.
Jacqueline looked up, surprised to see the clothes. Iana watching as Jacqueline sat up, noticing the open door. Struggling to her feet, Jacqueline peeled off her own bloody clothes and dropped them to the floor, sliding on Iana’s trousers over her boots. Iana watched the time tick away as Jacqueline finished getting dressed and slid her hand into her coat pocket. Jacqueline pulled out her wrist strap and a map Iana had drawn of the old lower level access to the sewers. It was Jacqueline’s best chance of getting out of Torchwood without being caught again. The sewers would eventually hook up with the tram tunnels Torchwood had used back in the day to get around between London and Cardiff. Yvonne didn’t even know those tunnels were still accessible. Iana hoped Jacqueline knew her way around them or she would be hopelessly lost.
Lyle should have been back a minute ago. None of them, save for Lyle or Yvonne had actually spoken to Jacqueline since she was supposed to be good at vocal recognition. It had been a security measure for the team working on the case. Iana hit the button for the microphone.
“Run. For God’s sake, just run,” Iana said.
Jacqueline looked up and then took off, running out the door, her coat flapping around her, the plans scrunched in her fist. Iana flipped off the switch to the device that had been jamming the camera feed, and sprinted to the door that separated the observation room from the hall that led to the special cells. Hearing the emergency exit at the end of the hall slam shut and the alarms go off, she flung her door open and fell to her knees in the hallway. A security detail came barrelling in, guns drawn and pointed them at Iana.
“What the fuck happened?” Lyle said, pushing past security.
“She got away,” Iana stated, breathless. “I don’t know what happened. She was supposed to be unconscious and I went in to prep her body for the next test when she overpowered me. She stole my clothes and took off.”
Half of the security detail took off out the far door after Jacqueline as the others shrank back as Yvonne stormed in. Iana looked up into Yvonne’s stormy face.
“You know no one was allowed to go into that room with Harkness alone,” Yvonne stated, her voice edgy.
“I’m sorry. I was trying to keep up with the extra tests you demanded.”
“Finish up your report tonight and see me in my office at 6:00 a.m. We will discuss disciplinary action then,” Yvonne stated, walking away, her heels clicking as if in displeasure.
Lyle helped Iana up, and she knew he was watching her ass as they headed back into the observation room. Iana grabbed the long coat she had worn that day and put it on, pocketing the jamming device. She really hoped getting Jacqueline Harkness away from Torchwood One was worth it.
Series: Torchwood
Characters: Jacqueline Harkness, Iana Jones, Yvonne Hartmann, OCs
Rating: R
Beta: Going Commando
Spoilers: Jacqueline has the same gift Jack does
Dislcaimer: I do not own Torchwood or the characters therein, the original characters belong to the BBC and RTD. The characters of Captain Jacqueline Harkness and Iana Jones belongs to the AU Torchwood of knitchick1979. Any original characters or places are my own.
Summary: Jacqueline has a meeting at Torchwood One and it doesn't urn out the way she hoped.
Author's Notes: The characters are used with permission of knitchick1979. Iknow it is gender swapped, but some characters like her bitchiness Yvonne Hartmann stayed the same.
The Case of Jacqueline Harkness
“Case number zero-zero-zero-JH-seven. Continuing study of the subject, Captain Jacqueline Harkness, Torchwood Three,” Lyle Nevins spoke into the microphone, typing it into the computer as well. Yvonne Hartmann always wanted her employees to be as thorough as possible - all for the empire. Lyle made a couple of keystrokes and the view on the computer screen changed to show what was being recorded. It was the same view as what they all saw through the two-way mirror.
Yvonne pressed a button, and over the external speakers they could hear Jacqueline’s laboured breathing as the air in the cell was kept at a minimum. It was amazing the woman had not passed out yet, most humans would have for the amount of oxygen that was actually allowed in the sealed room.
“Hello there Jacqueline,” Yvonne said in an almost giddy tone into the microphone. “So good to see you again, alive and barely breathing.” Her voice seemed to drip with venom.
Inside the room, Jacqueline flung herself at the mirror, pounding on it with her bare fists. “”Yvonne! You can’t do this!” Jacqueline bent in half, trying to breathe. Her voice was raspy as she pressed herself against the glass. “Why don’t you come in here and we’ll settle this ourselves.”
“Settle what, Jacqui darling? Don’t you want to do your part for The Empire?”
“The Empire is dead, and I have done my part a hundred times over,” Jacqueline said. She slumped to the ground, the speakers resonating as she tried to slow her breathing. Jacqueline’s skirt puddled around her hips, showing off her panties. Jacqueline undid the collar on her blue top as her nostrils flared, trying to breathe.
“How unbecoming of you darling,” Yvonne purred.
Jacqueline turned her body and kicked at the steel door to her cell. She fell back on her hands, her eyes growing wide. Yvonne turned the speakers off and moved the microphone away.
“Deplete the oxygen in the room. Let’s see how long she lasts.”
Iana Jones watched in utter shock as Lyle typed in the commands and the oxygen input dropped to zero. She found herself drawn towards the window as Jacqueline fought to breathe in silence. Her eyes finally closed and she slumped to the ground, a heap of humanity at Yvonne’s beck and call.
“Ma’am! You can’t do this. She’s only human,” Iana said, turning to Yvonne.
“You would think she was human,” Yvonne said. The Director of Torchwood One turned abruptly towards Iana. “The only reason you are allowed down here is because you are Special Archives. You have your orders and you will follow them. Is that understood?”
Iana lowered her head, running her fingers along the pleats in her skirt. “Yes, Ma’am,” she replied.
“Good. I expect your first report on my desk at 8:00 a.m.” Yvonne started to leave. “You may raise the oxygen level to twenty percent,” she said as almost an after thought. Yvonne slammed the steel door behind her.
“Bloody hell,” Lyle said as he raised the oxygen levels. “I don’t even know why we keep the good Captain around anyways. We should just kill it and autopsy the body and be done with it.” He sat back in his chair, hands behind his head, watching the screen.
Iana tried to ignore him and turned back to the window, watching as Jacqueline first moved her fingers and then raised her head slowly. Iana looked down at her grandfather’s old watch. She had hated Lyle before, but his attitude towards someone who should not be a threat sickened her.
“Isn’t it time for a fag break?” she said to him.
He leaned forward and peered at the clock on the computer screen. “Bloody hell, yeah it is,” he stated, grabbing a pack from the desk drawer. “You okay if I leave you alone with that thing?”
“Can she walk through steel walls?”
“Don’t rightly know. I don’t think so,” he said, grabbing his coat.
“I’ll be fine,” Iana replied.
Iana watched as Lyle bolted out of the room and she took over his chair. She watched the monitor as Jacqueline pulled herself up and leaned her head against the wall. They had poisoned her. She had come up to London for a meeting with Yvonne and they had poisoned Jacqueline’s coffee. While she was out, two guards dumped her body into the cell, after having a grope or two themselves.
She zoomed in the camera, looking at Jacqueline’s face, The other woman’s blue eyes seemed to pull her in. Everyone in Torchwood knew Jacqueline was older than she looked, but her eyes spoke volumes as to how much she had seen. Iana leaned forward on her elbows. It amazed her. The one thing she did not see in Jacqueline’s eyes was defeat.
* * * * *
Iana sipped at her now cold coffee and grimaced. She hated the swill they served down here, but because of security protocols she couldn’t bring her own cup in even. She slumped down in the utilitarian plastic chair and looked at her clipboard. The team who had been watching over Jacqueline earlier in the day was able to knock three more tests off of Yvonne’s ‘to-do-to-Harkness’ list.
“Yeah, I’ll be back in a bit,” Lyle said as he grabbed his coat. “Gonna have a smoke and take a crap,” he said, exiting the door before she could even respond.
Lyle Nevins was an idiot and the crassest asshole Iana had ever met. The only thing that kept her from asking for a replacement technician on her shifts was because he had been easy to manipulate. Iana hoped one day she got to see him burn in hell.
She moved over to the chair by the bank of computers, pulling up the camera on Jacqueline’s cell. Her clothes were dirty and bloody. Jacqueline sat on the ground - it was either that or toilet in the corner, Yvonne did not believe in any furnishings for the special cells. Her knees were tucked into her chest, as she held a bloody left hand to her chest.
Iana turned away for a second to consult her clipboard. Looking back at the screen, she saw something glistening by Jacqueline’s eye. Iana turned on the speakers and watched as Jacqueline buried her head in her chest, her dark hair falling forward, hiding her face. It was then that Iana heard it.
She raised the volume and her heart clenched as she heard the soft sobs. Jacqueline Harkness was crying. As far as Iana knew, she was the only person at Torchwood One to ever see it happen. She turned off the speakers as she prepped the next test. Someone had to.
Iana nearly jumped out of her seat as the phone next to her rang. She took a steadying breath and picked up the receiver. “Iana Jones,” she answered.
“Iana, it’s Bridget at the switchboard. I have a Dr. Owena Harper calling from Cardiff, inquiring about Captain Jacqueline Harkness. Sorry to bother you love, but at this time of night it shows you’re the only one on the archives team who is assigned to that case and available.”
“I am,” she replied. “Give the doctor the usual response - say we saw Captain Harkness, but after the meeting the other day we don’t know where she left to. We assumed she was returning to Cardiff. If they need any help locating her, we’ll be more than willing to help.”
“I already said that twice, but this is the third time she has called tonight alone.”
“Tell it to her anyway and have Mark pull up all the contact info for Dr. Harper from Three’s computers. I’ll take care of her tomorrow when I start my next shift.”
“All right love, be good. And I’ll see you and Lisa at my flat on Friday, yeah?”
“Wouldn’t miss your and Tom’s party for the world,” Iana said and hung up the phone.
She looked back at the screen and sighed. Pressing the enter key, she started the sensory test and looked away as Jacqueline tried to cover her ears from the noise.
* * * * *
Iana couldn’t believe her plan had worked so far. She had enough of what they were doing to Jacqueline with no real rhyme or reason. The tests Yvonne wanted run didn’t teach them anything, except put Jacqueline into extreme pain. Maybe Lyle had been right - killing Jacqueline outright would have been the more humane thing, if death would actually make a difference.
Jacqueline was passed out from the last test they had done, so Iana bypassed the circuitry and snuck into the cell. She placed her top, her trousers and Jacqueline’s clean coat next to Jacqueline’s prone form. They would have to do to replace the barely there clothes that hardly hung on Jacqueline’s frame. Having planned this ahead, Iana still had a t-shirt on and a pair of boy shorts so she wasn’t exactly naked. One thing she had noticed was Jacqueline was close enough to her size that Iana could spare the clothes that seemed too big for her.
She hurried back to the observation room, leaving the door to Jacqueline’s cell wide open. She kept glancing at her watch the longer it took Jacqueline to wake up. Suddenly she stirred with two minutes to go before Lyle would have been back from his extended break. Iana shivered in the cold room, but giving up her own clothes had been the only way, it wasn’t as if security would let her bring anything else down here.
Jacqueline looked up, surprised to see the clothes. Iana watching as Jacqueline sat up, noticing the open door. Struggling to her feet, Jacqueline peeled off her own bloody clothes and dropped them to the floor, sliding on Iana’s trousers over her boots. Iana watched the time tick away as Jacqueline finished getting dressed and slid her hand into her coat pocket. Jacqueline pulled out her wrist strap and a map Iana had drawn of the old lower level access to the sewers. It was Jacqueline’s best chance of getting out of Torchwood without being caught again. The sewers would eventually hook up with the tram tunnels Torchwood had used back in the day to get around between London and Cardiff. Yvonne didn’t even know those tunnels were still accessible. Iana hoped Jacqueline knew her way around them or she would be hopelessly lost.
Lyle should have been back a minute ago. None of them, save for Lyle or Yvonne had actually spoken to Jacqueline since she was supposed to be good at vocal recognition. It had been a security measure for the team working on the case. Iana hit the button for the microphone.
“Run. For God’s sake, just run,” Iana said.
Jacqueline looked up and then took off, running out the door, her coat flapping around her, the plans scrunched in her fist. Iana flipped off the switch to the device that had been jamming the camera feed, and sprinted to the door that separated the observation room from the hall that led to the special cells. Hearing the emergency exit at the end of the hall slam shut and the alarms go off, she flung her door open and fell to her knees in the hallway. A security detail came barrelling in, guns drawn and pointed them at Iana.
“What the fuck happened?” Lyle said, pushing past security.
“She got away,” Iana stated, breathless. “I don’t know what happened. She was supposed to be unconscious and I went in to prep her body for the next test when she overpowered me. She stole my clothes and took off.”
Half of the security detail took off out the far door after Jacqueline as the others shrank back as Yvonne stormed in. Iana looked up into Yvonne’s stormy face.
“You know no one was allowed to go into that room with Harkness alone,” Yvonne stated, her voice edgy.
“I’m sorry. I was trying to keep up with the extra tests you demanded.”
“Finish up your report tonight and see me in my office at 6:00 a.m. We will discuss disciplinary action then,” Yvonne stated, walking away, her heels clicking as if in displeasure.
Lyle helped Iana up, and she knew he was watching her ass as they headed back into the observation room. Iana grabbed the long coat she had worn that day and put it on, pocketing the jamming device. She really hoped getting Jacqueline Harkness away from Torchwood One was worth it.