New fic: Superhuman 1/2
Story: Superhuman
Characters: Tenth Doctor, Rose, Jack, Jackie, Mickey
Rated: PG13
Summary: “Knowing Jackie, she’s just complaining cause it’s been a month or so since we visited.” Sequel to Man and Superman.
For
the_wanlorn, who asked for a follow-up to Man and Superman. BRed by the immensely talented
dark_aegis - you rock!
Superhuman
For the_wanlorn, who asked for “4 months, 2 days, and 4 hours after Man and Superman!”
Chapter 1: Family Ties
They’re standing around the console, laughing and shoving at each other in play as they argue about where to go next, when her phone beeps. A text. From her mum, the display tells her.
Come home now please!
“That’s weird.” She holds her phone out so the two of them can see the message. “Wonder why she didn’t phone?”
The Doctor detaches the phone from her fingers and seats it in a slot on the console she’d swear wasn’t there a few weeks ago. A few bleeps follow, and data scrolls across the monitor so fast she can’t possibly follow it. Not that she could read it, anyway - that monitor only displays in Gallifreyan.
“Knowing Jackie,” the Doctor says, a smile flitting across his lips, “she’s just complaining cause it’s been a month or so since we visited.”
Probably. She can’t help smiling at his choice of words, though. Six months ago, he’d have described it as taking her home. Or only talked about her visiting. Never we.
Now, though, he treats her mum as part of what he’s started to describe as his family. Meaning her and Jack, of course. He doesn’t really have any words for what they are to him; companions doesn’t work for him any more, it seems, and he’s uncomfortable with lovers or partners. On one trip, a few weeks after they escaped from Krop-Tor, they spent the day with a wise woman on a planet the Doctor’s visited a few times before. She asked who the two of them were; the Doctor simply replied, My family.
And her mum’s part of that now, judging by how he behaves with her.
Her mum, demanding that they come back. Why? She’s not done that before. Oh, there’ve been phone calls where she complains that it feels like she hasn’t seen them in ages - always them now, not just her - but never this. Is there some sort of problem? Something wrong?
Half a dozen options run through her head. It can’t be anything to do with the flat - stuff not working, or problems with the council. She’d have called Mickey for help with that. Maybe she’s sick. Or someone else is sick. Or worse.
No. No point in getting worried about stuff that might never happen. No point borrowing trouble, as her gran would say. They’re going back - the Doctor’ll have them back in the Powell Estates in just a few minutes. She can wait until then to find out what’s wrong.
“Hold on tight! We’re on our way!” the Doctor announces now, one hand slamming down the dematerialisation switch.
Jack instantly holds out his hand to her, bringing her in to his side and anchoring her against him with that hand while he moves controls with the other. Not that she minds getting bumped around - it’s just part of life travelling in the TARDIS - but she knows it’s just part of Jack’s nature that he wants to play the gentleman around her sometimes. Not that he doesn’t believe she can look after herself - she’s more than proved that by now - but he just likes to do it.
It works both ways, though. She gets to look after him, too. And the Doctor - all three of them get to take care of each other, now that the Doctor’s more willing to admit it when he needs them. Jack needed them - both of them - just last month, when the Doctor finally managed to break into Time Agency records and they found out the truth about Jack’s missing years.
There’s no such thing as secure encryption with the Doctor around. He got past the Agency’s firewalls, codes and other barriers, and managed to download files that never should have been accessed - including some data that, he said, had been deleted and wiped, but never completely flushed from the servers.
And so now they know. Two years of Jack’s life stolen just to protect an Agency bigwig whose mistake caused a mission to go spectacularly wrong. Jack was the only one who knew whose fault it was, and he suffered for it.
The TARDIS lurches as she flies through the Vortex; the Doctor’s laugh echoes around the console room and Jack’s arm tightens around her.
Jack. Not Jack at all, of course, as he told them on the Sanctuary Base, and as they know now. His real name - birth name - is Conal Meradeth, but that’s been removed from his brain as effectively as all mention of him has been deleted from Time Agency records.
Even though he’s seen his name in writing now, and read the file detailing what happened to him, none of it is at all familiar. Conal... he repeated the name aloud several times as he read the information, but each time his reaction was the same. Blank. It meant nothing to him.
As for the events of those two years, the dry account in the file meant nothing either. He remembers resigning, but it’s clear that in fact he was never going to be given an option to do anything else. Memories removed, he was surplus to requirements.
He’s still Jack to them and always will be, though. She and the Doctor woke up to find him gone the night after they found out the truth, and discovered him wandering the TARDIS hallways, unable to sleep. Trying to decide what was right, he said: should he revert to the name he was born with now? Who was he anyway? He had no right to the name he’d stolen, and yet his birth-name didn’t seem like it belonged to him.
“Who are you?” the Doctor asked, voice soft, expression gentle. “No hesitations, no debates about right or wrong, no thinking of who anyone else thinks you are. Who do you feel like you are?”
Jack’s answer was immediate. “Jack Harkness.” He blew out a breath. “I know I’ve only had the name a couple of years, but... it feels like who I am, to me.”
“Then it’s who you are,” the Doctor concluded, his smile immediate, as if it really was as simple as that. And, yeah, it is. Why not? It’s the name the two of them have always known Jack by. Jack Harkness is the man he’s become since leaving the Time Agency, the failed conman become Time Lord’s companion and family.
“Yeah.” As Jack looked from one to the other of them that night in the hallway, she went to him and pressed herself against his chest. “You’re Jack. That’s all that matters.”
“I stole a good man’s identity,” he objected, even as his arms closed around hers.
“And I think he’d be proud of what you’ve done with it,” the Doctor said, laying his hand on Jack’s shoulder. “You said he died in the war. Saving his country from enemy attack. And that’s just what you did back on Satellite Five, only for the universe. And you did it again on the Sycorax spaceship - and you were prepared to do it back on Krop-Tor. It’s a good name, Jack. You deserve it.”
“Besides,” the Doctor added as the three of them headed back to their bedroom, “did you really expect us to start calling you Conal? I mean, come on! Oh, there’s nothing wrong with Conal, I suppose, but the effort of remembering! I mean, you get used to someone going by one name, and then they expect you to remember something completely different?”
That made her grin at him. “Not like you ever change anything about yourself, is it, Doctor?”
“Oh, that’s completely different!” he protested. “Okay, so I change my face. So what? It’s not as if I’m expecting you to remember a completely different name, is it? Come on, I couldn’t make it any easier for you. The Doctor. Anyone can remember that, right? But you humans, with your complicated names... I don’t know.”
“Yeah, and Rose and Jack have just one syllable each,” Jack pointed out. “Even simpler.”
“Yeah.” The Doctor swung round to face him then, arm extended, finger pointing. “And it’s you. So remember that.”
Jack’s been fine with it all ever since: he knows why his memories were stolen and, although he’s pretty damn pissed off with the bloke who did it, he’s glad to know the truth. As he reminded them both afterwards, for a long time he thought he could well have done something to deserve it; she couldn’t help but be reminded of not long after they met and he teleported her and the earlier Doctor into his ship.
Your friend there doesn’t trust me. And for all I know he’s right not to.
“Ahh!” She’s rudely jerked out of her distraction by the realisation that she’s falling. A split second later, she’s on her bum on the floor, Jack half on top of her. “Doctor! Did you ever actually pass your TARDIS driving test?”
“I did tell you to hold on!” he protests, self-righteously indignant, as the materialisation sequence begins.
***
Back in the Powell Estates, and off to see Jackie Tyler. There was a time, of course, when he’d have found some excuse - any excuse at all, really - to send Rose on her own. Circuits to tweak. Neutron flow’s polarity to reverse. Got to wash his hair. Do his nails. Anything.
Now, though... well, Jackie’s not so bad. Almost likeable, even. Well, sort of. Or he’s getting domestic. Probably the latter. The last time they were here, he even fixed her video player. It was skipping, she said, and he offered to look at it. Found the problem, too, and even gave it a few upgrades while he was at it. Did a brilliant job with it - and he still doesn’t understand why Jack thought it was necessary to go to Curry’s afterwards and buy Jackie a new one.
Come home, Jackie said. Why, though? Microwave not working now? Or... No, the most likely reason is that there’s something seriously wrong. Someone’s sick. Or hurt. Or maybe dead. And Rose hasn’t thought of that, otherwise she’d have said so. Talked about it. Worried about it. Denial, maybe? Or just used to her mum panicking over nothing over the years?
He reaches out for Rose’s hand, threading his fingers through hers. She squeezes back, and he knows she is worried.
They’ve almost reached the entrance to the stairs when Jack stops abruptly. “Hey, Jackie doesn’t usually leave her door open, does she?”
Rose’s head shoots up. “Only if she’s gone next door to check on Mrs Collins. Even then, not if she’s going to be longer than a couple of seconds. Can’t turn your back for a moment around this place.”
“Thought so.” Jack breaks into a run. He and Rose aren’t far behind.
Halfway along the landing, Jack stops abruptly, stares at something on the ground, then runs on, faster than before. Alerted, he sees the splashes of red on the concrete almost immediately. The sonic screwdriver’s in his hand as he drops to his haunches. It’s human blood.
“Doctor?” Rose’s voice is shaking. “What is it? What’s happened to her?”
He straightens. “Nothing, as far as we know. We haven’t even got to the flat yet.”
Jack reappears in front of them. “I’ve just been inside. The place is a mess, and there’s no sign of Jackie anywhere.”
***
He’s looking straight at Rose, and sees the colour instantly drain from her face. The Doctor’s arm is immediately around her, even as his gaze is on Jack’s. “You’re sure? You’ve checked everywhere?”
He taps his wristcom. “No life signs.”
“Oh, god.” That’s Rose again, and she’s trying to bolt to the flat. Damnit. The Doctor’s holding onto her, and he gets a swift, scathing look from his lover. Yeah, okay, he knows he should’ve chosen his words more carefully. He did look as well, after all. And his wristcom would have picked up any dead bodies, anyway.
“She’s not there,” he clarifies. “Checked all the rooms.”
Rose and the Doctor insist on checking too, and it’s the Doctor who finds the clue. The scrap of what he calls organic matter, and to Jack is leathery, alien skin that tells him someone not from this planet was in the flat, and possibly explains what’s happened to Jackie.
Then Rose finds something else, only a few feet from where the Doctor found the piece of skin. “Oh, god,” she exclaims softly, and picks up an object. A kitchen knife, stained with a dark, almost black substance.
“Blood,” the Doctor says after only a glance. “Not human, though.” He turns over the piece of skin, revealing stains of the same colour on the reverse. “Good for Jackie.”
Rose obviously hasn’t made the same connection. He goes to her and takes her hand. It’s cold, and she’s visibly struggling to hold herself together. “Your mom used that knife on whatever was here. Hurt it, too.”
She nods. “But it didn’t do her any good. The knife’s here, and Mum’s gone.”
“We’ll find her,” he says immediately. “You know we will.”
“How?” Her voice rises. “Why couldn’t we’ve got here sooner? We’ve got a time machine! Why couldn’t - ”
“Rose.” The Doctor takes her by the shoulders. “Hold it together. I need you calm.”
She gulps, swallows, then nods.
Voices outside attract his attention, and he goes to look; the Doctor and Rose follow. Neighbours are now in the landing, staring at the open door and all talking at once.
“Did anybody see anything?” he demands, shouting to be heard above the voices.
“Who are you?” a large, fifty-something woman with iron-grey hair and who meets the description battleaxe better than anyone he’s ever encountered demands.
“It’s Rose! Rose, love!” someone else calls out before he can answer.
“These are my friends,” Rose says, putting her hand on his arm; she’s holding the Doctor’s hand at the same time. “What happened to my mum?”
Half a dozen people all start talking at once. “Quiet!” Jack roars. “Okay. You.” He points to one woman, the type who looks like she spends her days peering out through the curtains. “Tell me what happened.”
Bit by bit, the story emerges. About half an hour ago, there was a commotion down in the courtyard - a strange engine sound, a high-pitched grinding and whirring. That was followed by tramping feet, and the tramping feet belonged to creatures no-one had ever seen before. Two of them, terrifying things, seven or eight feet tall if these witnesses are to be believed. And carrying things that could have been weapons, though someone else thinks they were communication devices.
What there’s no doubt about is that the creatures made straight for Jackie’s flat. And came out again ten minutes later dragging her and Mickey.
“Mickey?” the Doctor exclaims.
“Mickey was here?” Rose swallows. “So they’re both in trouble.”
“We’ll get them back.” He squeezes her shoulder. She nods.
“Come on.” The Doctor’s already walking down the landing. He pauses to pull the flat door shut behind them - no point letting anything else get damaged or stolen - then follows the Doctor, catching Rose’s hand as he does.
Rose pulls him back. Looking around at the neighbours, she says, her voice hard and cold, “And none of you even called the police? My mum an’ Mickey are kidnapped by aliens an’ you just stood by and watched?”
There’s just silence. He tugs at her hand and leads her back to the TARDIS, following the Doctor.
***
She’s shaking by the time they reach the TARDIS. They’re barely inside the door when the Doctor turns and pulls her into his arms, and Jack’s there a moment later. “We’ll get them back,” the Doctor says, hugging her tightly, then lets go. “Right. Things to do. Jack, you’ve got Rose’s biodata. Use that to find Jackie and take the TARDIS there.”
Jack nods, already heading to the console. “What’s the plan, Doctor?”
The Doctor’s halfway to the door to the interior. “Going to see if I can identify the species.” He waves the scrap of skin, then strides through the door, his coat flapping at his heels.
Okay, so they both have things to do. Great. She’s left twiddling her thumbs… and worrying.
There was blood on the ground. Human blood, the Doctor said. So, either her mum’s or Mickey’s. One or both of them is hurt. Maybe worse. And they’ve been kidnapped for some reason.
Why? Why them? Why not anyone else out of all the flats on the estate? Or anywhere else in London? Oh, it’s not that she wants anyone else to be harmed, but why her mum? What’s so special about her and Mickey?
“I can almost hear your brain churning from all the way over here,” Jack points out. “And I don’t have the Doctor’s telepathic abilities.”
“Yeah, well, what do you expect? That’s my mum out there! And Mickey!”
“I know.” He beckons her with his head. “Come on, get over here. Look,” he adds as she approaches, “you know we’ll find them, right? And you’d prefer we did everything we can to get to them as fast as possible, even if it looks like we’re ignoring you?”
“You think I care about that?” She slumps onto the chair. “It’s just... you two have stuff to do. What can I do? My mum’s in danger, an’ it feels like I’m useless.”
To his credit, Jack doesn’t instantly protest otherwise. Instead, he squeezes her hand briefly. “You’ll have things to do once we find her. It’s just right now the only things that need doing you can’t help with.” He gestures at the console. “Won’t be long. Between them, the TARDIS and my wristcom’ve traced Jackie. I just want to wait and see if the Doctor’s got anything before we - ”
Right on cue, the Doctor runs back in. “They’re Krillitanes!”
***
Krillitanes? Those things from that school? “But they’re all dead!” Unless there were more of them?
“What’re they doing here?” Rose demands. “What do they want with my mum?”
The Doctor’s at the console, and between them they’ve got the TARDIS moving. “Only one reason it could be. I mean, why go for your mum when there’re millions of people in London? It’s connected to me. To us.”
“Revenge,” Rose says softly. The Doctor nods.
The TARDIS dematerialises. After they survey the exterior on the viewscreen, he checks his back and inside pockets for weapons, then feels with his right foot for the mini-blaster strapped to his left ankle. All present and correct.
One blaster in his hand, he pushes ahead of the Doctor and Rose as they make for the doors. He knows what they’re going to find. The interior of a warehouse or something of the kind, two Krillitanes, and Jackie and Mickey tied up and suspended a few feet off the ground, ready to become bat-fodder. They’re looking scared, as is to be expected, but with no obvious signs of injury.
“Ah. Doctor. And your two accomplices,” one Krillitane says smugly as they emerge. “We thought this might bring you out of hiding.”
“Oh, I haven’t been hiding.” The Doctor eases his way past Jack, as always heedless of his own safety. “Travelling. Exploring. Making the acquaintance of creatures far more evil, far more dangerous than you. Oh, and defeating them, too.” He shrugs. “What, you were trying to attract my attention?”
“Doctor!” Mickey shouts. “They’ve got some kind of weapon - ”
One of the Krillitanes slaps him across the mouth with a clawed hand. The Doctor tenses and, behind him, so does Rose. And Jackie’s looking even more terrified.
The Doctor’s talking again. “So, you wanted me, did you? Nice to be in demand. I have to say, though, kidnapping my friends really isn’t guaranteed to get me in a good mood. If you wanted to see me, you could’ve just invited me to tea. Never thought of that? Nice cup of tea? Maybe with some Hob-Nobs on the side? Ooh, or Jaffa Cakes. I like Jaffa Cakes. Or those little fairy cakes with the edible ball-bearings on top.”
“You talk too much, Time Lord!” the Krillitane who spoke before objects. “You killed our brethren. You and your friends will suffer the consequences!”
“Oh, that’s very melodramatic.” The Doctor shakes his head. “Really, there’s no need for that. Consequences? Honestly, do you even understand the concept of consequences? Cause I’ve seen consequences. Consequences in the form of Reapers. Dead planets. Dust and ashes where there used to be worlds. Your leader understood that. What was his name again? Brother Lassa? Yeah, he knew that. Course, that’s physics, too. Newton’s Law. Do you know that one?”
The Doctor rambles on and on, the two Krillitanes getting increasingly irritated. And it’s not until a movement catches Jack’s peripheral vision, so focused he’s been on keeping his blaster trained on the aliens, that he realises what’s going on.
Rose has sneaked over to her mum, a knife in her hand, and she’s busy reaching up to cut the ropes tying Jackie’s hands behind her back. As he watches, she gives Jackie the knife. With hands obviously stiff from being tied, Jackie reaches up, fumbles a bit but manages to cut the rope tying her to the rafters.
She tumbles to the floor, and the knife clatters as it falls from her hand.
The Krillitanes swing around. One of them’s got a bahtel in its hand. One shot from that and Jackie’s toast.
“Drop it!” he yells, his own blaster trained on the Krillitane. But it fires.
And Rose cries out, stumbles and then crumples to the ground.
***
tbc
Characters: Tenth Doctor, Rose, Jack, Jackie, Mickey
Rated: PG13
Summary: “Knowing Jackie, she’s just complaining cause it’s been a month or so since we visited.” Sequel to Man and Superman.
For
the_wanlorn, who asked for a follow-up to Man and Superman. BRed by the immensely talented
dark_aegis - you rock!
Superhuman
For the_wanlorn, who asked for “4 months, 2 days, and 4 hours after Man and Superman!”
Chapter 1: Family Ties
They’re standing around the console, laughing and shoving at each other in play as they argue about where to go next, when her phone beeps. A text. From her mum, the display tells her.
Come home now please!
“That’s weird.” She holds her phone out so the two of them can see the message. “Wonder why she didn’t phone?”
The Doctor detaches the phone from her fingers and seats it in a slot on the console she’d swear wasn’t there a few weeks ago. A few bleeps follow, and data scrolls across the monitor so fast she can’t possibly follow it. Not that she could read it, anyway - that monitor only displays in Gallifreyan.
“Knowing Jackie,” the Doctor says, a smile flitting across his lips, “she’s just complaining cause it’s been a month or so since we visited.”
Probably. She can’t help smiling at his choice of words, though. Six months ago, he’d have described it as taking her home. Or only talked about her visiting. Never we.
Now, though, he treats her mum as part of what he’s started to describe as his family. Meaning her and Jack, of course. He doesn’t really have any words for what they are to him; companions doesn’t work for him any more, it seems, and he’s uncomfortable with lovers or partners. On one trip, a few weeks after they escaped from Krop-Tor, they spent the day with a wise woman on a planet the Doctor’s visited a few times before. She asked who the two of them were; the Doctor simply replied, My family.
And her mum’s part of that now, judging by how he behaves with her.
Her mum, demanding that they come back. Why? She’s not done that before. Oh, there’ve been phone calls where she complains that it feels like she hasn’t seen them in ages - always them now, not just her - but never this. Is there some sort of problem? Something wrong?
Half a dozen options run through her head. It can’t be anything to do with the flat - stuff not working, or problems with the council. She’d have called Mickey for help with that. Maybe she’s sick. Or someone else is sick. Or worse.
No. No point in getting worried about stuff that might never happen. No point borrowing trouble, as her gran would say. They’re going back - the Doctor’ll have them back in the Powell Estates in just a few minutes. She can wait until then to find out what’s wrong.
“Hold on tight! We’re on our way!” the Doctor announces now, one hand slamming down the dematerialisation switch.
Jack instantly holds out his hand to her, bringing her in to his side and anchoring her against him with that hand while he moves controls with the other. Not that she minds getting bumped around - it’s just part of life travelling in the TARDIS - but she knows it’s just part of Jack’s nature that he wants to play the gentleman around her sometimes. Not that he doesn’t believe she can look after herself - she’s more than proved that by now - but he just likes to do it.
It works both ways, though. She gets to look after him, too. And the Doctor - all three of them get to take care of each other, now that the Doctor’s more willing to admit it when he needs them. Jack needed them - both of them - just last month, when the Doctor finally managed to break into Time Agency records and they found out the truth about Jack’s missing years.
There’s no such thing as secure encryption with the Doctor around. He got past the Agency’s firewalls, codes and other barriers, and managed to download files that never should have been accessed - including some data that, he said, had been deleted and wiped, but never completely flushed from the servers.
And so now they know. Two years of Jack’s life stolen just to protect an Agency bigwig whose mistake caused a mission to go spectacularly wrong. Jack was the only one who knew whose fault it was, and he suffered for it.
The TARDIS lurches as she flies through the Vortex; the Doctor’s laugh echoes around the console room and Jack’s arm tightens around her.
Jack. Not Jack at all, of course, as he told them on the Sanctuary Base, and as they know now. His real name - birth name - is Conal Meradeth, but that’s been removed from his brain as effectively as all mention of him has been deleted from Time Agency records.
Even though he’s seen his name in writing now, and read the file detailing what happened to him, none of it is at all familiar. Conal... he repeated the name aloud several times as he read the information, but each time his reaction was the same. Blank. It meant nothing to him.
As for the events of those two years, the dry account in the file meant nothing either. He remembers resigning, but it’s clear that in fact he was never going to be given an option to do anything else. Memories removed, he was surplus to requirements.
He’s still Jack to them and always will be, though. She and the Doctor woke up to find him gone the night after they found out the truth, and discovered him wandering the TARDIS hallways, unable to sleep. Trying to decide what was right, he said: should he revert to the name he was born with now? Who was he anyway? He had no right to the name he’d stolen, and yet his birth-name didn’t seem like it belonged to him.
“Who are you?” the Doctor asked, voice soft, expression gentle. “No hesitations, no debates about right or wrong, no thinking of who anyone else thinks you are. Who do you feel like you are?”
Jack’s answer was immediate. “Jack Harkness.” He blew out a breath. “I know I’ve only had the name a couple of years, but... it feels like who I am, to me.”
“Then it’s who you are,” the Doctor concluded, his smile immediate, as if it really was as simple as that. And, yeah, it is. Why not? It’s the name the two of them have always known Jack by. Jack Harkness is the man he’s become since leaving the Time Agency, the failed conman become Time Lord’s companion and family.
“Yeah.” As Jack looked from one to the other of them that night in the hallway, she went to him and pressed herself against his chest. “You’re Jack. That’s all that matters.”
“I stole a good man’s identity,” he objected, even as his arms closed around hers.
“And I think he’d be proud of what you’ve done with it,” the Doctor said, laying his hand on Jack’s shoulder. “You said he died in the war. Saving his country from enemy attack. And that’s just what you did back on Satellite Five, only for the universe. And you did it again on the Sycorax spaceship - and you were prepared to do it back on Krop-Tor. It’s a good name, Jack. You deserve it.”
“Besides,” the Doctor added as the three of them headed back to their bedroom, “did you really expect us to start calling you Conal? I mean, come on! Oh, there’s nothing wrong with Conal, I suppose, but the effort of remembering! I mean, you get used to someone going by one name, and then they expect you to remember something completely different?”
That made her grin at him. “Not like you ever change anything about yourself, is it, Doctor?”
“Oh, that’s completely different!” he protested. “Okay, so I change my face. So what? It’s not as if I’m expecting you to remember a completely different name, is it? Come on, I couldn’t make it any easier for you. The Doctor. Anyone can remember that, right? But you humans, with your complicated names... I don’t know.”
“Yeah, and Rose and Jack have just one syllable each,” Jack pointed out. “Even simpler.”
“Yeah.” The Doctor swung round to face him then, arm extended, finger pointing. “And it’s you. So remember that.”
Jack’s been fine with it all ever since: he knows why his memories were stolen and, although he’s pretty damn pissed off with the bloke who did it, he’s glad to know the truth. As he reminded them both afterwards, for a long time he thought he could well have done something to deserve it; she couldn’t help but be reminded of not long after they met and he teleported her and the earlier Doctor into his ship.
Your friend there doesn’t trust me. And for all I know he’s right not to.
“Ahh!” She’s rudely jerked out of her distraction by the realisation that she’s falling. A split second later, she’s on her bum on the floor, Jack half on top of her. “Doctor! Did you ever actually pass your TARDIS driving test?”
“I did tell you to hold on!” he protests, self-righteously indignant, as the materialisation sequence begins.
***
Back in the Powell Estates, and off to see Jackie Tyler. There was a time, of course, when he’d have found some excuse - any excuse at all, really - to send Rose on her own. Circuits to tweak. Neutron flow’s polarity to reverse. Got to wash his hair. Do his nails. Anything.
Now, though... well, Jackie’s not so bad. Almost likeable, even. Well, sort of. Or he’s getting domestic. Probably the latter. The last time they were here, he even fixed her video player. It was skipping, she said, and he offered to look at it. Found the problem, too, and even gave it a few upgrades while he was at it. Did a brilliant job with it - and he still doesn’t understand why Jack thought it was necessary to go to Curry’s afterwards and buy Jackie a new one.
Come home, Jackie said. Why, though? Microwave not working now? Or... No, the most likely reason is that there’s something seriously wrong. Someone’s sick. Or hurt. Or maybe dead. And Rose hasn’t thought of that, otherwise she’d have said so. Talked about it. Worried about it. Denial, maybe? Or just used to her mum panicking over nothing over the years?
He reaches out for Rose’s hand, threading his fingers through hers. She squeezes back, and he knows she is worried.
They’ve almost reached the entrance to the stairs when Jack stops abruptly. “Hey, Jackie doesn’t usually leave her door open, does she?”
Rose’s head shoots up. “Only if she’s gone next door to check on Mrs Collins. Even then, not if she’s going to be longer than a couple of seconds. Can’t turn your back for a moment around this place.”
“Thought so.” Jack breaks into a run. He and Rose aren’t far behind.
Halfway along the landing, Jack stops abruptly, stares at something on the ground, then runs on, faster than before. Alerted, he sees the splashes of red on the concrete almost immediately. The sonic screwdriver’s in his hand as he drops to his haunches. It’s human blood.
“Doctor?” Rose’s voice is shaking. “What is it? What’s happened to her?”
He straightens. “Nothing, as far as we know. We haven’t even got to the flat yet.”
Jack reappears in front of them. “I’ve just been inside. The place is a mess, and there’s no sign of Jackie anywhere.”
***
He’s looking straight at Rose, and sees the colour instantly drain from her face. The Doctor’s arm is immediately around her, even as his gaze is on Jack’s. “You’re sure? You’ve checked everywhere?”
He taps his wristcom. “No life signs.”
“Oh, god.” That’s Rose again, and she’s trying to bolt to the flat. Damnit. The Doctor’s holding onto her, and he gets a swift, scathing look from his lover. Yeah, okay, he knows he should’ve chosen his words more carefully. He did look as well, after all. And his wristcom would have picked up any dead bodies, anyway.
“She’s not there,” he clarifies. “Checked all the rooms.”
Rose and the Doctor insist on checking too, and it’s the Doctor who finds the clue. The scrap of what he calls organic matter, and to Jack is leathery, alien skin that tells him someone not from this planet was in the flat, and possibly explains what’s happened to Jackie.
Then Rose finds something else, only a few feet from where the Doctor found the piece of skin. “Oh, god,” she exclaims softly, and picks up an object. A kitchen knife, stained with a dark, almost black substance.
“Blood,” the Doctor says after only a glance. “Not human, though.” He turns over the piece of skin, revealing stains of the same colour on the reverse. “Good for Jackie.”
Rose obviously hasn’t made the same connection. He goes to her and takes her hand. It’s cold, and she’s visibly struggling to hold herself together. “Your mom used that knife on whatever was here. Hurt it, too.”
She nods. “But it didn’t do her any good. The knife’s here, and Mum’s gone.”
“We’ll find her,” he says immediately. “You know we will.”
“How?” Her voice rises. “Why couldn’t we’ve got here sooner? We’ve got a time machine! Why couldn’t - ”
“Rose.” The Doctor takes her by the shoulders. “Hold it together. I need you calm.”
She gulps, swallows, then nods.
Voices outside attract his attention, and he goes to look; the Doctor and Rose follow. Neighbours are now in the landing, staring at the open door and all talking at once.
“Did anybody see anything?” he demands, shouting to be heard above the voices.
“Who are you?” a large, fifty-something woman with iron-grey hair and who meets the description battleaxe better than anyone he’s ever encountered demands.
“It’s Rose! Rose, love!” someone else calls out before he can answer.
“These are my friends,” Rose says, putting her hand on his arm; she’s holding the Doctor’s hand at the same time. “What happened to my mum?”
Half a dozen people all start talking at once. “Quiet!” Jack roars. “Okay. You.” He points to one woman, the type who looks like she spends her days peering out through the curtains. “Tell me what happened.”
Bit by bit, the story emerges. About half an hour ago, there was a commotion down in the courtyard - a strange engine sound, a high-pitched grinding and whirring. That was followed by tramping feet, and the tramping feet belonged to creatures no-one had ever seen before. Two of them, terrifying things, seven or eight feet tall if these witnesses are to be believed. And carrying things that could have been weapons, though someone else thinks they were communication devices.
What there’s no doubt about is that the creatures made straight for Jackie’s flat. And came out again ten minutes later dragging her and Mickey.
“Mickey?” the Doctor exclaims.
“Mickey was here?” Rose swallows. “So they’re both in trouble.”
“We’ll get them back.” He squeezes her shoulder. She nods.
“Come on.” The Doctor’s already walking down the landing. He pauses to pull the flat door shut behind them - no point letting anything else get damaged or stolen - then follows the Doctor, catching Rose’s hand as he does.
Rose pulls him back. Looking around at the neighbours, she says, her voice hard and cold, “And none of you even called the police? My mum an’ Mickey are kidnapped by aliens an’ you just stood by and watched?”
There’s just silence. He tugs at her hand and leads her back to the TARDIS, following the Doctor.
***
She’s shaking by the time they reach the TARDIS. They’re barely inside the door when the Doctor turns and pulls her into his arms, and Jack’s there a moment later. “We’ll get them back,” the Doctor says, hugging her tightly, then lets go. “Right. Things to do. Jack, you’ve got Rose’s biodata. Use that to find Jackie and take the TARDIS there.”
Jack nods, already heading to the console. “What’s the plan, Doctor?”
The Doctor’s halfway to the door to the interior. “Going to see if I can identify the species.” He waves the scrap of skin, then strides through the door, his coat flapping at his heels.
Okay, so they both have things to do. Great. She’s left twiddling her thumbs… and worrying.
There was blood on the ground. Human blood, the Doctor said. So, either her mum’s or Mickey’s. One or both of them is hurt. Maybe worse. And they’ve been kidnapped for some reason.
Why? Why them? Why not anyone else out of all the flats on the estate? Or anywhere else in London? Oh, it’s not that she wants anyone else to be harmed, but why her mum? What’s so special about her and Mickey?
“I can almost hear your brain churning from all the way over here,” Jack points out. “And I don’t have the Doctor’s telepathic abilities.”
“Yeah, well, what do you expect? That’s my mum out there! And Mickey!”
“I know.” He beckons her with his head. “Come on, get over here. Look,” he adds as she approaches, “you know we’ll find them, right? And you’d prefer we did everything we can to get to them as fast as possible, even if it looks like we’re ignoring you?”
“You think I care about that?” She slumps onto the chair. “It’s just... you two have stuff to do. What can I do? My mum’s in danger, an’ it feels like I’m useless.”
To his credit, Jack doesn’t instantly protest otherwise. Instead, he squeezes her hand briefly. “You’ll have things to do once we find her. It’s just right now the only things that need doing you can’t help with.” He gestures at the console. “Won’t be long. Between them, the TARDIS and my wristcom’ve traced Jackie. I just want to wait and see if the Doctor’s got anything before we - ”
Right on cue, the Doctor runs back in. “They’re Krillitanes!”
***
Krillitanes? Those things from that school? “But they’re all dead!” Unless there were more of them?
“What’re they doing here?” Rose demands. “What do they want with my mum?”
The Doctor’s at the console, and between them they’ve got the TARDIS moving. “Only one reason it could be. I mean, why go for your mum when there’re millions of people in London? It’s connected to me. To us.”
“Revenge,” Rose says softly. The Doctor nods.
The TARDIS dematerialises. After they survey the exterior on the viewscreen, he checks his back and inside pockets for weapons, then feels with his right foot for the mini-blaster strapped to his left ankle. All present and correct.
One blaster in his hand, he pushes ahead of the Doctor and Rose as they make for the doors. He knows what they’re going to find. The interior of a warehouse or something of the kind, two Krillitanes, and Jackie and Mickey tied up and suspended a few feet off the ground, ready to become bat-fodder. They’re looking scared, as is to be expected, but with no obvious signs of injury.
“Ah. Doctor. And your two accomplices,” one Krillitane says smugly as they emerge. “We thought this might bring you out of hiding.”
“Oh, I haven’t been hiding.” The Doctor eases his way past Jack, as always heedless of his own safety. “Travelling. Exploring. Making the acquaintance of creatures far more evil, far more dangerous than you. Oh, and defeating them, too.” He shrugs. “What, you were trying to attract my attention?”
“Doctor!” Mickey shouts. “They’ve got some kind of weapon - ”
One of the Krillitanes slaps him across the mouth with a clawed hand. The Doctor tenses and, behind him, so does Rose. And Jackie’s looking even more terrified.
The Doctor’s talking again. “So, you wanted me, did you? Nice to be in demand. I have to say, though, kidnapping my friends really isn’t guaranteed to get me in a good mood. If you wanted to see me, you could’ve just invited me to tea. Never thought of that? Nice cup of tea? Maybe with some Hob-Nobs on the side? Ooh, or Jaffa Cakes. I like Jaffa Cakes. Or those little fairy cakes with the edible ball-bearings on top.”
“You talk too much, Time Lord!” the Krillitane who spoke before objects. “You killed our brethren. You and your friends will suffer the consequences!”
“Oh, that’s very melodramatic.” The Doctor shakes his head. “Really, there’s no need for that. Consequences? Honestly, do you even understand the concept of consequences? Cause I’ve seen consequences. Consequences in the form of Reapers. Dead planets. Dust and ashes where there used to be worlds. Your leader understood that. What was his name again? Brother Lassa? Yeah, he knew that. Course, that’s physics, too. Newton’s Law. Do you know that one?”
The Doctor rambles on and on, the two Krillitanes getting increasingly irritated. And it’s not until a movement catches Jack’s peripheral vision, so focused he’s been on keeping his blaster trained on the aliens, that he realises what’s going on.
Rose has sneaked over to her mum, a knife in her hand, and she’s busy reaching up to cut the ropes tying Jackie’s hands behind her back. As he watches, she gives Jackie the knife. With hands obviously stiff from being tied, Jackie reaches up, fumbles a bit but manages to cut the rope tying her to the rafters.
She tumbles to the floor, and the knife clatters as it falls from her hand.
The Krillitanes swing around. One of them’s got a bahtel in its hand. One shot from that and Jackie’s toast.
“Drop it!” he yells, his own blaster trained on the Krillitane. But it fires.
And Rose cries out, stumbles and then crumples to the ground.
***
tbc