Into the Black: Chapter Eleven
Title: Into the Black
Author: Jen (yourfavorite__)
Rating: PG-13. Mild swearing in this chapter. Also, Jack gets punched in the face.
Characters: 9th Doctor, Jack, Rose, the crew of Serenity (Mal, Zoe, Jayne, Kaylee, Simon Tam, River Tam, Inara)
Summary: A crossover between Joss Whedon's Firefly& Serenity universe and Doctor Who.
Spoilers: Entire season of Firefly, Serenity the movie, Doctor Who Season 1 just past The Doctor Dances
Disclaimer: Not mine, I make no money.
Thanks to my lovely beta nnwest for betaing at warp speed, and to
lilithsativa and
honorh and the ever wonderful
aelie_baby for their continued support of this series, even though I completely suck at life.
Chapter One Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
"Don't you have something else to say, Captain?"
All eyes were on River as she glared down Jack, who, for his part, was unmoving with eyes cast towards his tea.
"Better yet, let me tell a story." She rested her chin on her hands, elbows on the table. "Once there was a young girl. She was happy and lived with her brother and her parents, who probably loved her less than they loved their good name, but that doesn't really matter. She was very bright. When she was fourteen, a man came to talk to her class about a school. A special school, where the 'verse's best and brightest could go and learn. 'Expanding your potential,' he called it. This silver-tongued charmer took the girl and four of her classmates to tour the facilities. She was impressed by the school and by the man and sat the entrance exam, which he proctored. She was the only one of the four to be accepted."
Rose looked anxiously at Jack, willing him to look up and meet her eyes. He steadfastly refused. From her position at the Doctor's side, she couldn't reach across the table and take his hand, but she badly wanted to.
"The girl went to the school. The first few months were all learning and testing, learning and testing. Slowly the students' numbers got whittled down until there were only fifteen- the girl, and her fourteen classmates. Ten girls, five boys. And this man was there every step of the way, watching our progress, guiding our steps."
"Then the tests turned into surgery. The girl and her friends started learning things they didn't want to, while they slept with needles embedded in their skulls. Nine girls and three boys died on the operating table, screaming for their parents. He was still there. The girl hated every moment of it, hated the rooms and the building and the people there who hurt her. She hated him for telling her about that place and bringin' her there. She retreated into herself. Then one day--" She stopped. The silence in the chilly dining room was thick and hung over the table like a blanket, stifling speech and breath. All eyes were focused on River's mouth.
"Want me to finish?" Heads turned to look at Jack, who was looking at River, who was looking back at him with a fearful intensity. He stood up and walked to the teapot, and refilled his cup as he spoke.
"One day, with all eyes on her, the girl ripped the probe out of her brain and killed two technicians with it before they managed to sedate her. A week later, she was stolen and put in cryo by a group of armed men and given back to her brother, who loved her so much he paid the astronomic sum of two million Alliance credits and gave up his livelihood to get her out." He paused, taking a sip of tea.
"So I take it the man in question was you, " Simon stated flatly. Jack turned around and leaned against the counter.
"Yep." In a flash Simon was out of his seat punching Jack in the face, screaming profanities.
The previously-still room erupted with activity, with Rose attempting to stop Simon from punching Jack and the Doctor trying to stop Rose from punching Simon. River stayed seated. Finally Simon calmed down.
"You bastard. You worthless, pathetic bastard," he said through clenched teeth. Mal and Zoe were holding him down in the chair as he panted for breath. Rose was attempting to tend to Jack, who was bleeding from his nose and split lip.
"I deserved that, probably,"Jack said.
"So you put River in that school? You watched while they tortured her and didn't do anything?" Simon was practically spitting with rage.
Jack levelled his gaze at Simon. "Oh, I did more than that. You think River was the only one I recruited for the Academy? She was one of many that I found. Hundreds, maybe. I knew what they were doing but I just kept on looking. Over half of those kids are dead now and I have to live with that, Doctor. I wish to God I hadn't remembered any of this."
Rose nearly drew her hand away at Jack's confession, so candidly delivered through bloody teeth. Jack? An accessory to torture? I can't believe it. It can't be true.
"Jack, that can't be true. I mean-" She faltered at his look. This was a Jack she had never seen. A small voice inside whispered malevolently that maybe this is the real Jack. He jerked out from under her hand and stood up, a little wobbly on his feet.
"Just because you don't want it to be true doesn't mean that it isn't. I worked for the Academy for two years, Rose. Those are the memories that I lost. Those are the memories that they took from me after I helped those men sneak River out."
"What?" Simon shouted.
"You think that they just happened to find you? That your ham-handed attempts to find your sister, well-intentioned they might have been, could have brought you to their attention? You were one of hundreds, Simon. Hundreds of bereft families looking for their children and siblings."
"So why River? Why help her and not any of those others, you sick fuck?"
"Because I'm special," River piped up.
"Yeah, she's special all right. She's the closest they got to succeeding, did you know that? She's the only one who made it through all the tests and the surgery and the pain to the point where they could maybe start to use her."
"And you just let them, you heartless -- I am going to kill you with my bare hands-"
Then the yelling started in earnest.
********************************
From his position at the head of the table, Mal had done little more than gape and marvel at the turn events had taken. He had never seen Simon that angry before, not even when he punched out Mal for endangering River's life on that raid. This Simon was an ugly thing, his handsome brow knitted into a solid knot and his hands trembling at his side as he screamed and tried to get at Jack. Everyone was shouting- Simon swearing in mixed English and Chinese, Jack screaming back at him to just listen, just listen to me will you and Kaylee under both of them trying to get them to calm down. Jayne, for his part, had his feet up on the table and appeared to be enjoying himself immensely.
"Bizui!" Mal shouted. Miraculously, they all stopped yelling and turned to him.
"Now, it appears to me that there is still some explaining to do on this score. However, we do have a job to do. So River, you go set a course for Osiris. Doctor, you go patch up Captain Jack there." River flounced out, seemingly unperturbed by the commotion.
"If by 'fix up' you mean 'kill,' then yes, I can manage that," Simon ground out.
"Way to claim the moral high ground there, Doc," Jayne said.
"For once, Jayne is right. Sort of. Maybe a little. Anyway, I didn't mean you, I mean the Doctor."
"I don't understand how you're not throwing him out of the airlock right now after what he's done, Mal. What happened to protecting your crew and all that rot?"
Mal raised his hands in defense, as though Simon would punch him next. "Simon, I swear to you, if it transpires that this man actually is a low-down, dirty, rotten, huaxi nu de erzi I swear to you I will turn him into a polka-dot pattern before I throw him out into the black. But for now, we will listen to his explanation." He paused. "After he stops bleeding on my towels."
*********************************
Jack sat despondently in the infirmary as the Doctor used Simon's medical equipment to patch up his face.
"Why can't we just use the dermal regenerator?" Rose asked, surveying the damage. Jack's handsome visage was turning purple and red in places, giving him a truly thuggish look.
"Because it's anachronistic technology. It's bad enough bits of the TARDIS are lying around for anyone of this time period to appropriate. Can't add an extremely helpful and before-its-time medical instrument to the mix."
"Jack, are you OK?"
He shrugged, and sniffed. Rose realized that he was crying, silently, the tears leaking out of the corners of his eyes and running down the sides of his face. She stretched an arm around him but he shrugged it off, shaking his head.
"No, Rose. I'm not OK." He winced as the Doctor hit a particularly tender spot.
"There, all done."
"Great. Good as new. I'm going to go change my shirt." Jack hopped off the chair and headed out. The Doctor sighed and leaned against the now-vacant medical chair, massaging the bridge of his nose. Rose moved to stand by him. Unconsciously he moved to take her hand,and she squeezed his hand in hers, reassuring him through touch that she was still there and still with him, all the way.
He looked down at her and smiled ruefully. "What do you say to a holiday, once you get the TARDIS fixed up? Somewhere nice and calm. Maybe a revolution or two for kicks, mmm?" Rose said, smiling up at him. A shadow crossed his face and he stopped smiling.
"If I get the TARDIS fixed up. If." He released her hand and began putting away Simon's tools.
"You'll get it fixed; I'm sure you will. You've got Kaylee the Wonder Mechanic helping you; I'm sure it'll get fixed."
"Don't tell me you're still upset about that. Look, I've told you-"
"I am not still upset about it! I know you need help with the TARDIS and that she's helping you, and that's good enough!" Rose almost felt like stomping her foot, like she used to when she was ten and her mother wouldn't let her go down to the shops with her friends. His face gave a little, and he gathered her into his arms.
Rose was momentarily surprised. Other than the Doctor sleeping in her bed at night, she hadn't been physically close to him since the accident with the TARDIS. His arms around her were so familiar, however, that she soon relaxed into his embrace and held him tight.
"A holiday does sound good," he said into her hair.
She laughed and pulled back. "Someplace with beaches."
"Revolutions optional." He smiled.
"Come on. Let's go check on the Happy Family."
************************************************
The Happy Family were back gathered around the table, Jack sporting a different shirt and keeping well away from Simon. Simon, for his part, was massaging his hand where he'd split his knuckles on Jack's jaw and glaring.
"The gang's all here, so get to explaining."
Jack took a deep breath and launched into his story, staring at his hands the entire time.
"I worked for the Time Agency. They regulate use of time travel and monitor anachronistic technology, ensuring that history's timelines aren't disrupted. The Agency was investigating the use of anachronistic surgical equipment at the Academy during this time period, but it became clear that they needed someone on the ground. I was their best field agent, so they put me in as a recruiter in an attempt to get me closer to the head officers of the school.
"I got close, all right. Recruiting was up so high that they let me in on more and more of the 'training' process. I watched every step of the way. It became clear that, in addition to one or two extremely advanced surgical instruments and scanning techniques, they were utilizing implant technology- the aude sapere, which oughtn't to be around for a hundred thousand years- to try and enhance the brain capacity and synapse response of the students they were experimenting on.
"Trying and failing, however. They kept trying and kept trying and every single time it didn't take. The subject- the student, the person, I should say, almost never made it, and when they did, they usually went crazy afterwards."
"Crazy?" Mal interjected. He was seated with his arms crossed, one eyebrow cocked.
"Batshit insane is more like it. Paranoid psychosis doesn't even begin to describe the level of mental agitation these kids were put through. Eventually I think they were just killed outright, although I never got to see that part."
"What a pity for you," Simon snapped.
"River changed all that, though. Right from the beginning she was special. She learned faster. She learned better. So they went to work on her with a vengeance. And right away they started getting results." Jack sighed and ran his hand over his face, as though he could wipe away the memories again with such a simple movement.
"Around this time, I started having success in tracking the anachronistic instruments. They all were patented by this Blue Sun Corporation, but none were in use in the wider sector of society. Things like the historical anomalies which you've noticed, Doctor, things like that. They all led back to the Blue Sun. I was in contact with the underground movement that was investigating them during this time period- they said that they had evidence linking Blue Sun to the very highest levels of government."
"So, what happened then?" Kaylee asked.
At that moment, the proximity alert began to blare through the ship.
Mal laughed. "Always something, ain't it?"
**************************************************************
Biizui: shut up
huaxi nuer de er zi: son of a whore
Author: Jen (yourfavorite__)
Rating: PG-13. Mild swearing in this chapter. Also, Jack gets punched in the face.
Characters: 9th Doctor, Jack, Rose, the crew of Serenity (Mal, Zoe, Jayne, Kaylee, Simon Tam, River Tam, Inara)
Summary: A crossover between Joss Whedon's Firefly& Serenity universe and Doctor Who.
Spoilers: Entire season of Firefly, Serenity the movie, Doctor Who Season 1 just past The Doctor Dances
Disclaimer: Not mine, I make no money.
Thanks to my lovely beta nnwest for betaing at warp speed, and to
lilithsativa and
honorh and the ever wonderful
aelie_baby for their continued support of this series, even though I completely suck at life.
Chapter One Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
"Don't you have something else to say, Captain?"
All eyes were on River as she glared down Jack, who, for his part, was unmoving with eyes cast towards his tea.
"Better yet, let me tell a story." She rested her chin on her hands, elbows on the table. "Once there was a young girl. She was happy and lived with her brother and her parents, who probably loved her less than they loved their good name, but that doesn't really matter. She was very bright. When she was fourteen, a man came to talk to her class about a school. A special school, where the 'verse's best and brightest could go and learn. 'Expanding your potential,' he called it. This silver-tongued charmer took the girl and four of her classmates to tour the facilities. She was impressed by the school and by the man and sat the entrance exam, which he proctored. She was the only one of the four to be accepted."
Rose looked anxiously at Jack, willing him to look up and meet her eyes. He steadfastly refused. From her position at the Doctor's side, she couldn't reach across the table and take his hand, but she badly wanted to.
"The girl went to the school. The first few months were all learning and testing, learning and testing. Slowly the students' numbers got whittled down until there were only fifteen- the girl, and her fourteen classmates. Ten girls, five boys. And this man was there every step of the way, watching our progress, guiding our steps."
"Then the tests turned into surgery. The girl and her friends started learning things they didn't want to, while they slept with needles embedded in their skulls. Nine girls and three boys died on the operating table, screaming for their parents. He was still there. The girl hated every moment of it, hated the rooms and the building and the people there who hurt her. She hated him for telling her about that place and bringin' her there. She retreated into herself. Then one day--" She stopped. The silence in the chilly dining room was thick and hung over the table like a blanket, stifling speech and breath. All eyes were focused on River's mouth.
"Want me to finish?" Heads turned to look at Jack, who was looking at River, who was looking back at him with a fearful intensity. He stood up and walked to the teapot, and refilled his cup as he spoke.
"One day, with all eyes on her, the girl ripped the probe out of her brain and killed two technicians with it before they managed to sedate her. A week later, she was stolen and put in cryo by a group of armed men and given back to her brother, who loved her so much he paid the astronomic sum of two million Alliance credits and gave up his livelihood to get her out." He paused, taking a sip of tea.
"So I take it the man in question was you, " Simon stated flatly. Jack turned around and leaned against the counter.
"Yep." In a flash Simon was out of his seat punching Jack in the face, screaming profanities.
The previously-still room erupted with activity, with Rose attempting to stop Simon from punching Jack and the Doctor trying to stop Rose from punching Simon. River stayed seated. Finally Simon calmed down.
"You bastard. You worthless, pathetic bastard," he said through clenched teeth. Mal and Zoe were holding him down in the chair as he panted for breath. Rose was attempting to tend to Jack, who was bleeding from his nose and split lip.
"I deserved that, probably,"Jack said.
"So you put River in that school? You watched while they tortured her and didn't do anything?" Simon was practically spitting with rage.
Jack levelled his gaze at Simon. "Oh, I did more than that. You think River was the only one I recruited for the Academy? She was one of many that I found. Hundreds, maybe. I knew what they were doing but I just kept on looking. Over half of those kids are dead now and I have to live with that, Doctor. I wish to God I hadn't remembered any of this."
Rose nearly drew her hand away at Jack's confession, so candidly delivered through bloody teeth. Jack? An accessory to torture? I can't believe it. It can't be true.
"Jack, that can't be true. I mean-" She faltered at his look. This was a Jack she had never seen. A small voice inside whispered malevolently that maybe this is the real Jack. He jerked out from under her hand and stood up, a little wobbly on his feet.
"Just because you don't want it to be true doesn't mean that it isn't. I worked for the Academy for two years, Rose. Those are the memories that I lost. Those are the memories that they took from me after I helped those men sneak River out."
"What?" Simon shouted.
"You think that they just happened to find you? That your ham-handed attempts to find your sister, well-intentioned they might have been, could have brought you to their attention? You were one of hundreds, Simon. Hundreds of bereft families looking for their children and siblings."
"So why River? Why help her and not any of those others, you sick fuck?"
"Because I'm special," River piped up.
"Yeah, she's special all right. She's the closest they got to succeeding, did you know that? She's the only one who made it through all the tests and the surgery and the pain to the point where they could maybe start to use her."
"And you just let them, you heartless -- I am going to kill you with my bare hands-"
Then the yelling started in earnest.
********************************
From his position at the head of the table, Mal had done little more than gape and marvel at the turn events had taken. He had never seen Simon that angry before, not even when he punched out Mal for endangering River's life on that raid. This Simon was an ugly thing, his handsome brow knitted into a solid knot and his hands trembling at his side as he screamed and tried to get at Jack. Everyone was shouting- Simon swearing in mixed English and Chinese, Jack screaming back at him to just listen, just listen to me will you and Kaylee under both of them trying to get them to calm down. Jayne, for his part, had his feet up on the table and appeared to be enjoying himself immensely.
"Bizui!" Mal shouted. Miraculously, they all stopped yelling and turned to him.
"Now, it appears to me that there is still some explaining to do on this score. However, we do have a job to do. So River, you go set a course for Osiris. Doctor, you go patch up Captain Jack there." River flounced out, seemingly unperturbed by the commotion.
"If by 'fix up' you mean 'kill,' then yes, I can manage that," Simon ground out.
"Way to claim the moral high ground there, Doc," Jayne said.
"For once, Jayne is right. Sort of. Maybe a little. Anyway, I didn't mean you, I mean the Doctor."
"I don't understand how you're not throwing him out of the airlock right now after what he's done, Mal. What happened to protecting your crew and all that rot?"
Mal raised his hands in defense, as though Simon would punch him next. "Simon, I swear to you, if it transpires that this man actually is a low-down, dirty, rotten, huaxi nu de erzi I swear to you I will turn him into a polka-dot pattern before I throw him out into the black. But for now, we will listen to his explanation." He paused. "After he stops bleeding on my towels."
*********************************
Jack sat despondently in the infirmary as the Doctor used Simon's medical equipment to patch up his face.
"Why can't we just use the dermal regenerator?" Rose asked, surveying the damage. Jack's handsome visage was turning purple and red in places, giving him a truly thuggish look.
"Because it's anachronistic technology. It's bad enough bits of the TARDIS are lying around for anyone of this time period to appropriate. Can't add an extremely helpful and before-its-time medical instrument to the mix."
"Jack, are you OK?"
He shrugged, and sniffed. Rose realized that he was crying, silently, the tears leaking out of the corners of his eyes and running down the sides of his face. She stretched an arm around him but he shrugged it off, shaking his head.
"No, Rose. I'm not OK." He winced as the Doctor hit a particularly tender spot.
"There, all done."
"Great. Good as new. I'm going to go change my shirt." Jack hopped off the chair and headed out. The Doctor sighed and leaned against the now-vacant medical chair, massaging the bridge of his nose. Rose moved to stand by him. Unconsciously he moved to take her hand,and she squeezed his hand in hers, reassuring him through touch that she was still there and still with him, all the way.
He looked down at her and smiled ruefully. "What do you say to a holiday, once you get the TARDIS fixed up? Somewhere nice and calm. Maybe a revolution or two for kicks, mmm?" Rose said, smiling up at him. A shadow crossed his face and he stopped smiling.
"If I get the TARDIS fixed up. If." He released her hand and began putting away Simon's tools.
"You'll get it fixed; I'm sure you will. You've got Kaylee the Wonder Mechanic helping you; I'm sure it'll get fixed."
"Don't tell me you're still upset about that. Look, I've told you-"
"I am not still upset about it! I know you need help with the TARDIS and that she's helping you, and that's good enough!" Rose almost felt like stomping her foot, like she used to when she was ten and her mother wouldn't let her go down to the shops with her friends. His face gave a little, and he gathered her into his arms.
Rose was momentarily surprised. Other than the Doctor sleeping in her bed at night, she hadn't been physically close to him since the accident with the TARDIS. His arms around her were so familiar, however, that she soon relaxed into his embrace and held him tight.
"A holiday does sound good," he said into her hair.
She laughed and pulled back. "Someplace with beaches."
"Revolutions optional." He smiled.
"Come on. Let's go check on the Happy Family."
************************************************
The Happy Family were back gathered around the table, Jack sporting a different shirt and keeping well away from Simon. Simon, for his part, was massaging his hand where he'd split his knuckles on Jack's jaw and glaring.
"The gang's all here, so get to explaining."
Jack took a deep breath and launched into his story, staring at his hands the entire time.
"I worked for the Time Agency. They regulate use of time travel and monitor anachronistic technology, ensuring that history's timelines aren't disrupted. The Agency was investigating the use of anachronistic surgical equipment at the Academy during this time period, but it became clear that they needed someone on the ground. I was their best field agent, so they put me in as a recruiter in an attempt to get me closer to the head officers of the school.
"I got close, all right. Recruiting was up so high that they let me in on more and more of the 'training' process. I watched every step of the way. It became clear that, in addition to one or two extremely advanced surgical instruments and scanning techniques, they were utilizing implant technology- the aude sapere, which oughtn't to be around for a hundred thousand years- to try and enhance the brain capacity and synapse response of the students they were experimenting on.
"Trying and failing, however. They kept trying and kept trying and every single time it didn't take. The subject- the student, the person, I should say, almost never made it, and when they did, they usually went crazy afterwards."
"Crazy?" Mal interjected. He was seated with his arms crossed, one eyebrow cocked.
"Batshit insane is more like it. Paranoid psychosis doesn't even begin to describe the level of mental agitation these kids were put through. Eventually I think they were just killed outright, although I never got to see that part."
"What a pity for you," Simon snapped.
"River changed all that, though. Right from the beginning she was special. She learned faster. She learned better. So they went to work on her with a vengeance. And right away they started getting results." Jack sighed and ran his hand over his face, as though he could wipe away the memories again with such a simple movement.
"Around this time, I started having success in tracking the anachronistic instruments. They all were patented by this Blue Sun Corporation, but none were in use in the wider sector of society. Things like the historical anomalies which you've noticed, Doctor, things like that. They all led back to the Blue Sun. I was in contact with the underground movement that was investigating them during this time period- they said that they had evidence linking Blue Sun to the very highest levels of government."
"So, what happened then?" Kaylee asked.
At that moment, the proximity alert began to blare through the ship.
Mal laughed. "Always something, ain't it?"
**************************************************************
Biizui: shut up
huaxi nuer de er zi: son of a whore