A New Dawn 11
Title: A New Dawn
Part: 11/?
Rating: 18+
Warnings: Mentions of previous torture and rape
Genre: Angst, AU
Characters: Jack Harkness, Ianto Jones, Owen, Tosh, Gwen
Summary: AU. The Torchwood team discover the truth about what happened on the Valiant and search for Jack. A dark fic.
Disclaimer: Not mine.
AN:
Previous chapter here: http://ohinyan.livejournal.com/24008.html
Chapter 11
The appointment with the Queen was scheduled for three days time. Harriet had obviously pulled out all the stops in using her influence with the Palace. The day before, Owen and Gwen set off for London to meet Harriet, for a discussion of their strategy before the meeting.
There had been a heated discussion of who would go to the meeting. Harriet was adamant that only two of them could attend. The Queen would not appreciate feeling overwhelmed in a meeting. As the head of Torchwood, Owen had to go. Ianto had argued strongly that he should be the second member of the team to go, but, since Gwen had compiled the case, and knew it better than any of the others, Owen insisted that she be the second person. In truth, Owen did not want Ianto to go, as he was worried that he would become too emotional and disrupt the meeting. It would be difficult for any of them to remain unemotional, himself included.
They met Harriet at the hotel they would all stay in overnight She had brought all the recordings and files that the team had left with her in Yorkshire. She did not look happy when they arrived.
Pinning them with a furious glare, Harriet declared "Let me just say this. I cannot believe that you allowed a man like Jack to be treated this way. You knew he was a good man, at least I hope you did! How could you not trust him? Did you even give him a chance to explain what had happened?"
Owen and Gwen cringed with guilt at that. "We were completely fooled," Owen began. "Jack had us all completely convinced that he was working for the Master. He tortured and killed rebels, and he never gave us any hint that he was being tortured, or that he was doing it for us."
"Well, he couldn't, could he?" said Harriet scathingly. "What he did for you, was unbelievable, And all I can wish is that he hadn't." Forcing her anger down for Jack's sake, she took a deep breath. "But," Harriet continued, "we can't dwell on that. We need to get our act together for tomorrow's meeting. So let's work our way through the case, and sort out how we're going to present it to Her Majesty."
Settling down round a table, they spread the documents out, and started to work through them.
b_b_b_b_b
Jack was working as usual, out of Paddy's Goose. The client he had just picked up only wanted a quickie, so they went into the bathroom of the pub. When they got there, there were three other men in the bathroom. One was the client that had tried to tie Jack up, months before. He had been thrown out by Ray's security.
Jack recognised him instantly, and tried to back out of the bathroom, apologising to his current client, who had followed him inside. To his surprise, the man grabbed him by the arms from behind, and shoved him forwards into the bathroom, shutting the door firmly behind him.
It soon became clear that all four men were together. They surrounded Jack, three of them holding him, as the man he knew from before, Rick, snarled at him. "It's been a while, but I hope you remember me. I've recently found a few friends who think, like I do, that uppity whores should get what's coming to them. I don't take kindly to a slut like you refusing to lay back and take whatever the paying customer wants, so me and my friends have come to teach you a lesson." With that he punched Jack in the face, and ordered the other men to strip him.
This entire situation was entirely too reminiscent of the Master on the Valiant. Jack started to panic in earnest. The adrenaline gave him the strength to throw them off, and, with no hostages to his compliance, he was free to fight. And fight he did.
The sound of the melee reached the customers in the main bar, where Ray was sitting. He jumped up, and, with his henchmen, ran towards the bathroom. He wrenched open the door to see Jack, bruised and bloody, facing off against two men. Two others lay in a heap on the floor. As they entered, Jack took his eye off the men for a second. It was a bad mistake. Rick drew a knife, and stabbed him in the stomach with it, before fleeing the scene with his friend. They abandoned the other two.
Jack slowly slumped to the floor, clutching his stomach.
"Get the car, we need to get him to hospital," Ray shouted. He didn't want to call an ambulance, and draw the attention of the authorities to his activities at Paddy's Goose.
"No, don't. Just take me home," said Jack weakly.
"No way! I'm not having you die on me," argued Ray.
Jack didn't have the strength to argue, though hospital was the last place he wanted to end up.
By the time the car reached the hospital, he was barely conscious, and blood was pooled around him. Parking illegally, in an ambulance bay right outside A&E, Ray helped him out of the car and, shouting for help, took him inside. Doctors rushed up to help, and took charge of Jack. As they worked frantically, Ray melted away.
The doctors rushed Jack into a cubicle, asking him his name and what happened. "It was a client," was his weak response, before losing consciousness. He died minutes later, before they could get him into theatre.
b_b_b_b_b
At the Palace, Gwen, Owen and Harriet were ushered down a long corridor to the Queen's office. Gwen gawked unashamedly at the wealth on display. Gold leaf ornaments on exquisite furniture lined the corridor, genuine Rembrandts and Constables vied for space with other Old Masters on the walls. Her feet sank into the deep pile carpet on every step. To Harriet and Owen, who had been before, it was not so overwhelming.
Their escort opened a pair of double doors at the end of the corridor, and they entered a large room, where the Queen sat behind her desk. She rose as they entered.
"Good morning Harriet, it's good to see you again."
Harriet bowed her head politely, answering "And you Ma'am."
Looking at the other visitors, the Queen acknowledged Owen politely, " Doctor Harper," and waited for an introduction to Gwen.
Harriet leaped in, "Ma'am, may I introduce Gwen Cooper from Torchwood 3. She has been compiling the case for pardoning Jack Harkness."
The Queen smiled at Gwen, who looked extremely flustered, and stammered, "A pleasure to meet you, Your Majesty."
The Queen looked amused. "Dr Harper has told me about your good work with Torchwood, Miss Cooper. You should be very proud."
Gwen blushed. "Thank you Ma'am."
"May I introduce Sir Richard Featherstone," the Queen continued. "He is my most senior legal advisor, and will sit in on this discussion." She looked over to Harriet then and asked, "Tea for everyone, do you think?"
Harriet agreed, and the Queen rang a bell. A butler appeared at the door and she ordered tea for five.
While they waited for the tea to arrive, they all sat down around the central table. The Queen started the ball rolling. "I was shocked at what you told me on the phone, Harriet. As far as I was aware, Jack Harkness had resigned as leader of Torchwood 3, to go travelling with the Doctor."
"That's not true." Gwen interjected, "He did go travelling with the Doctor for awhile, but that's not why he is no longer leader. And it definitely wasn't his own choice."
"So I understand from Harriet," confirmed the Queen. "I thought it was odd that Captain Harkness resigned without speaking to me. I have known him for over 60 years. A charming man," she added with a fond smile, "and a unique one. I was very sorry when he resigned."
Owen's jaw practically dropped. "Ye gods," he thought. "He didn't!" He shook himself. "No. No way. Not even Jack would seduce the Queen, or Princess Elizabeth, as she was back then. Would he?".
The tea arrived and, when they had all been served with a cup, the Queen became businesslike. "Right, to business. Explain why you are here, and what you want me to do."
Harriet, Gwen and Owen then gave their prepared presentation. They outlined the events of the nine months that never was, the Master's reign over the Earth, and what had gone on on the Valiant. This information was completely new to the Queen, and she was shocked and angry that it had been kept from her.
As the Queen was aware of Jack's immortality, they did not have to explain that part of the story, and she quickly grasped the true horror of Jack's situation on the Valiant. After about an hour, they reached the end of the story, and explained that Jack had been tried and imprisoned in a UNIT facility, from which he had subsequently escaped. They then handed over their recordings, for the Queen, and her legal adviser, to view later.
They were then subjected to a barrage of questions from Sir Richard, with a few thrown in by the Queen herself.
They answered to the best of their ability. Finally, as the questions wound down, Owen summarised the basic premise of their case. "So, although duress is not usually a defence against murder and treason, in Captain Harkness's case his unique circumstances meant that he could be subject to an extraordinary level of duress, that no other person would ever have to endure. We feel that, although he did commit the crimes he was accused of, the level of duress involved was such that no one would have been able to resist, and that he is morally innocent of the crimes. We therefore ask for a pardon to be granted under the royal prerogative of mercy."
The Queen picked up one of the recordings and stated, "Sir Richard and I will have to review your video evidence, and speak to the General who dealt with the Valiant when time reset. General Ingham did you say?"
"Yes Ma'am," Gwen confirmed. "He organised the cleanup, and handed over custody of the people accused of serious crimes, to UNIT."
As the meeting wrapped up, Sir Richard put one final question to them. "Do you know where Jack Harkness is now?"
"No," Gwen answered sadly. "We have been trying to find him, but have failed so far."
"That's just as well," commented Sir Richard. "If you did know, then you would be guilty of aiding and abetting a convicted murderer and traitor."
And, if they had found Jack, UNIT wouldn't have been far behind, mused Owen. On the whole, it was just as well that they hadn't found him yet.
After Harriet, Gwen and Owen had been escorted out, the Queen addressed Sir Richard.
"Richard, have General Ingham summoned here tomorrow, and Colonel Oduya for the following morning. I want to know what happened after the Master was overthrown. And, why the head of an Institute that answers only to me, can be removed from that position, and imprisoned, without my knowledge. And make sure that Oduya brings the transcript of Jack Harkness's trial. I want to read it."
b_b_b_b_b
When Jack woke, he was lying naked on a table in the morgue. Fortunately, he had woken before any of the standard procedures had been carried out, and he was alone. Sitting up and getting quietly off the table, he searched the lockers lining one wall. In one were a set of surgical scrubs, which he dressed in quickly. He then left the morgue, and set off to find a staff room, or some place that he could swap the scrubs for clothes he could wear to leave the hospital.
An hour later, dressed in ill fitting jeans and T-shirt, Jack sat on a bench in a park a short walk from the hospital. He was in a full scale panic. He wasn't concerned about having died. The wound he had received was trivial. It killed him, but was no worse than what he did himself, to cure his track marks. The problem was that people had seen him mortally wounded, and several had seen him die. That was dangerous. Plus, the hospital had lost a body, and, if that became public, then it could bring UNIT down on him.
Jack knew that what he should do was get as far from Manchester as he could, very quickly. But then he would lose his access to heroin. He had barely any money. It would be practically impossible to find another source, and strike a bargain to obtain it, in time for his next fix. His last fix was the previous day, so he could hold out another few days, but that was all.
Leaping up from the bench, he began to pace around the park, his thought whirling. He just couldn't abandon his steady supply of heroin. The very idea terrified him. Maybe he could lie low for a day or so, and see if the hospital made any announcements about a missing body. If they didn't, then it should be safe to go home. It was extremely unlikely that any of the hospital staff who had seen him die, would frequent the places where Jack lived and worked. And he could tell Ray, and the others, that the wound looked bad, but had missed any vital organs, so he was recovering.
Having made his decision, Jack headed for the opposite side of Manchester from where he lived. He found a cheap room to rent for three nights, and stole the money to pay for it from an inattentive woman at a supermarket. He scoured the local newspapers for any mention of the hospital. He also went to an internet cafe, and searched the internet for any online reports from the hospital that could relate to him. He found nothing. Jack was an expert at searching for information, and he reasoned that if he couldn't find anything, then neither could UNIT. He would have liked to spend a lot longer lying low, but the need for heroin was burning into his brain by the third day. Horrific memories were replaying in his mind, even when he was awake. He couldn't stay away any longer.
Jack returned to his flat three days after he had been stabbed. He wore a bandage around his stomach, that he had placed there himself, to hide that fact that he wasn't injured. He told Ray that it hadn't been nearly as bad as it looked, and that he'd be able to work again after several days rest. Ray was overjoyed to have one of his best earners back, and gave Jack a fistful of money, and several grammes of heroin, to tide him over.
b_b_b_b_b
One Week Later
Gwen bounced into the central part of the Hub, grinning with excitement. She was followed by Owen. "We did it! Owen just got a phone call from the Palace. Jack's been pardoned, and UNIT have been informed that he is officially released, and ordered to stop looking for him. They are going to release all Jack's assets immediately."
"Oh, thank god," whispered Ianto, dropping into a chair in relief. He put his face in his hands, and tried to prevent himself from bursting into tears. At least there was one thing in this sorry mess that had finally gone right.
Joanne smiled with happiness and hugged Gwen. "Well done."
"Now we just need to find Jack, and tell him," Gwen continued. They all looked at Tosh.
"I'm doing my best," she responded defensively. "Jack has done a great disappearing job. If he hadn't, UNIT would have found him long before now."
"Why don't we put a full page advert for him in the paper?" suggested Gwen. "Something along the lines of, Jack Harkness, you have been exonerated. Come back to Cardiff."
Ianto shook his head, "He'd just think it was a trick by UNIT, to draw him out so they could recapture him."
"We could include something in the advert that only we would know," Gwen pointed out.
This time Tosh demurred, "Ianto's right, he'd never believe it. And if we did that, Jack would just believe that we were trying to help UNIT to capture him. He doesn't have any reason to think that we wouldn't do that," she added sadly. "No, we'll just have to be patient, and hope that one of the search programs I have running eventually comes up with something."
Next chapter here: http://ohinyan.livejournal.com/24337.html