So, I was prodded at by KoS (you know who you are) about the disconnect between the hardass Doctor at the beginning and how he fixed the Olympians and everything by the end. Well, prodded. Or hit with a stick. Either works. XP Anyway, this is sorta more along the lines of Extremely Terrifying Doctor and How He Actually Destroyed the Olympians. Take Two. Depending upon the reception, I might just go and replace what happened in the original chapter with this. Cause it's sorta awesome. I like to think at least.
Some of the words are from the previous chapter in the beginning cause it was the easiest way to keep the continuity of that part. About 6000 of them are completely different though so...enjoy. Harry's POV is no different, so it isn't here. Neither is the scene with the Doctor in the room right after he finds Harry. So that isn't here. It is all the Doctor and Jack. Being, well, being them.
So, enjoy then!
~~~~~~~This is a Beginning~~~~~
Jack watched the Doctor as he slammed the heavy, thick and dusty book shut before he dashed through the side door, feet echoing back. He was slightly bewildered. What in the Universe could the Doctor possibly have that could do any kind of damage to an immortal race of beings that hated him and could pull the TARDIS out of the time vortex? Then again, he would put very little past the Doctor when he was angry. Things just never tended to work out well for whomever that anger was directed at.
"So, Doctor, what's the plan?"
Brown eyes seared into him as their owner rushed towards the door, one hand shoving something into a pocket. "Remind them why I'm the last Time Lord left in this Universe and get Harry back."
Jack raced after him. If there was any small mote of pity in him, none of it was for the Olympians. They had taken smiling, laughing, shining Harry. He was so going to be there when the Doctor did whatever he was going to do to them.
~~~~~~this is a line break~~~~~~~
The white city that was the only structure on Olympus gleamed in the sunlight as Jack and the Doctor drew nearer. Arches and columns speared the sky, arching gracefully over the landscape and making a pointedly imperious statement as to the identities of those who lived beneath them. And were those flying chariots? Jack shook his head. The technology was astounding…the artistry was stuck in ancient Greek. Or, well, Ancient Greek architecture was decidedly Olympian. Whatever.
The gates, large metal behemoths that barred their entrance, barely stopped the Doctor's inevitable forward movement, and the guards barely had time to collect themselves as they found the doors swinging open. The shouting that followed them was amusing, and Jack would have stopped to savor it if their mission hadn't been of dire importance. The Doctor had yet to speak as they marched onward, meeting no resistance on their way. Then again, it was just inside the gate. People rarely mingled just inside the gate.
"Doctor, it has been awhile. And you bring such lovely darkness with. The chaos exudes from your pores. It is magnificent." The voice was silky and sensual and full of ill-tidings. It made Jack shiver. Its owner was a tall, lean woman with hair twisted up in an intricate knot, snaky black tendrils creeping over her bare right shoulder. A white dress was tied to her frame with a silk, shimmering tie whose color was a mystery. Jack had to tilt his head up to look her in the eyes, a feat he found made his head swim. Those eyes…that color blue should be illegal.
"Eris, what do you want?" Eris? That name….
"Eris? Chaos, right?"
"Indeed Jack Harkness. If we had more time I would love…."
"Move, now. I am not in a forgiving mood Eris. Anything you have to say is too little too late. And unless you are currently holding my son you don't want to be standing in front of me."
Eris scoffed. "What would you do, Time Lord, against an immortal? If you want your son back it might just take more than talking to get him."
The Doctor's eyes narrowed even further. He stepped closer to the lovely, bronze-colored, white-toga wearing woman. "I am the last Time Lord in the Universe. Do you want to find out right now why that is? If not, I suggest stepping out of my way. I have things to do."
Eris's blue eyes went wide, but she nodded, stepping aside with the air of one who intended it all along, though her wary gaze wasn't meeting the Doctor's angered one. "You can't help him if you get killed in the process," she said, not looking at the Time Lord.
"That won't be happening. I recommend you leave, Eris." And he stalked away, towards the stairs that led up and up and up towards the plinth like temple on top of everything, rising above the mass of white buildings and statues.
Jack glanced back at the tall beauty. She met his gaze solidly. "I would be careful following him, Jack Harkness. He is dangerous and unpredictable. You might find yourself dead."
Jack flashed a self-depreciating grin. "I don't think that's happening any time soon." He glanced at the Doctor's retreating back. "I have a nephew to retrieve." Then he hurried to catch up.
Few words were spoken for the first couple hundred steps they took, then Jack, who was trying to keep up with the Doctor's relentless pace, finally spoke up. "What are you planning on doing Doctor? You can't just march in and demand Harry back! I mean, if these Olympians are anything like their mythic counterparts we won't even make it past the doors! Doctor! Are you listening?"
The Doctor spun on his heel and stared at Jack, three steps high and now even taller. "They have taken my son. They have broken every rule in whatever book there was ever written. So I'm going to be breaking some of mine. There are reasons I the Time Lords feared me. Zeus is about to find out why."
Then he left Jack standing, shocked, on the steps of the endless staircase, unsure of what to do or what to say or anything. His brain hadn't quite processed what had just been thrown at it. So he rushed after the Doctor. Something was going to happen, something probably epic in terms of destruction. He was going to be there to make sure the Doctor came back to his senses in time to get them away safely.
Curious faces of the Olympians around them watched them climb the stairs but no one interfered. Jack wondered about it out lout.
"The Olympians are held in strict order by Zeus. Those that fail to follow that order don't usually end up in very nice places. Zeus is what amounts to a dictator and no one will stand up to him. SO they leave strangers alone. It's safer for them that way.
"Sounds like a harsh way to live," Jack said mutely.
"The punishments here are rather creative. Prometheus really was chained to a mountain to have his liver eaten out every day, only for it to regrow again. All for, as the Olympians say, bringing the spark of life to the Universe." The Doctor's scoff was enough for Jack to understand he didn't really believe it.
"So, do you know where you're going."
The Doctor glanced back at him. "I was here before, centuries and centuries ago granted. But Olympus never changes. It's been this way since they first built the city millennia ago. And Zeus is arrogant, he chooses his throne so it is above everywhere else in the city. His palace, one might say. His closest attendants and those highest in rank are located inside it as well." The Doctor pointed at the ever closer temple like structure. "It looks like a temple but inside it is all a maze."
Jack didn't think that made him feel any better about their endeavor. The Doctor was clearly furious, despite answering his queries with an even tone. Brown eyes were hard and almost burning and he was sure that the Time Lord's hands had remained clenched since they started climbing the steps. As they grew closer and closer to the top of the steps, Jack could make out the guards and sentries outside and gulped. This wasn't going to bode well for his state of mind, he was sure.
As they drew level with the temple floor, stepping up the final step, Jack's fears for opposition were quickly realized as the sentries, who had been watching their progress, called out to the guards and they were quickly surrounded. Not that this phased the Doctor much at all.
Jack on the other hand, was not pleased by his situation. But he stood where he was. Harry was certainly in worse danger than him at the moment and the tyke wasn't immortal.
"Who crosses into the territory of Zeus the Almighty?" one sentry boomed out.
The Doctor turned to look at him directly. "I'm the Doctor. I'd ask if you'd fancy a chat but I'm not really in the mood for one. I'd also tell you to move, but I'm sure that wouldn't work either. As is…" he trailed off as several round discs were leveled in his direction. He raised an eyebrow. "As is, I am here to retrieve my son. So, unless you'd like to move, I'm afraid I'll have to take a rather direct approach."
No matter how politely the Doctor couched his words, Jack heard the underlying threat that was blazing above his head. It seemed that the guards didn't.
One moment, Jack stood, trying to formulate a plan that would, somehow, get them both out alive, hopefully with minimal deaths on his part. The next every single one of the discs was blown apart and the Doctor was no longer standing next to him. In fact, the Doctor was now outside the circle of confused and bemused guards. Jack blinked.
Had he missed something important?
While the guards tried to figure out what had just happened, Jack shoved them aside to catch up with the brown, trench coated figure striding towards a seemingly solid wall. Jack desperately wanted to know what he had done to the guards but, after glimpsing his face, decided against it.
He would ask later.
~~~~~~~~This is a Line Break~~~~~~~~~
Harry. They have Harry. They took Harry. His mind was racing, but that one thought, over and over again, kept surfacing. His son, the little boy who called him dad and played games and wanted stories and special bubbles in the bath and would read him hero stories as he tinkered with the TARDIS, had been taken.
So when those guards, pitiful pawns in the hands of a much more sinister king than they imagined, surrounded him and Jack, he warned them. Then he took action.
It had been a long time, years, eons, since he had drawn so heavily on the innate connection to time all Time Lords had. Most never fully realized what it was exactly since many had rarely left Gallifrey unless ordered, but he had known what it was since his weaving. And while Gallifrey was gone along with all her majesties and history and power, time still flowed around him.
So he yanked on it and drew it around himself and aged their devices past the point of fixing as he slipped himself out of the circle. He was sure Jack would follow. Jack caught on rather quickly.
Harry. My Harry. My son. In this life, his life as the Doctor, his children were woven from a Family Loom and called Cousin. Once he had a Brother, chosen rather than given. Once he had a granddaughter, somehow his yet not at the same time. But he could remember a time when he had been a father to children with tiny feet and squeaky voices. When he couldn't remember his name but he could remember the sound of his wife, of his children running through hallways and playing games and laughing. He had never dreamed he would get that opportunity again.
Then he had been given Harry. And the little boy was his. Bright green eyes, messy black hair and always running feet, he had a child. And Zeus had taken him.
The door in the white wall was obvious and, as he sensed Jack run up behind him, he strode towards it with purpose. The Sonic Screwdriver in hand, it took little more than a quick point and assessment before he had typed the code into a small, nearly invisible panel, before he was inside and Jack's footsteps echoed with his as they strode into the complex.
~~~~~~~~This is a Line Break~~~~~~~~
"Lord Zeus, there has been unauthorized entry into the temple. The Watchers say it is the Doctor. What is it you would have us do?"
Zeus looked at the bowed heads of the Personifications. Nemesis, Tyche, Momus, Fors and Fortuna all stood along the walls. Moira, Mania and Hypnos were, as usual absent. Hypnos was no doubt cloistered in its room spinning discs around and gazing into orbs. He wasn't sure what Moira did with her time and he had banished Mania from stepping foot into the throne room so it wasn't a shock that she wasn't there.
"Stop him and bring him to me. Confiscate any foreign technology he has on his person and take it to Hephaestus. I shall teach him the consequences of disobeying Zeus the almighty."
They bowed lower before filing out the doors. If anyone could get this infernal, maddening Doctor, it would be the Personifications.
He looked around to see Hera and Athena staring at him from across the room. Disapproval was scrawled all across Hera's face.
"Don't you think you have done enough damage Zeus?" she said, marching over to him. He eyed her. Hera wasn't the Head of the Female Order of the Olympians for nothing.
"He deliberately broke the bonds of the traitor and thief Prometheus and helped him escape. He evaded punishment for his actions and must be dealt with accordingly," he said, keeping his tone even. The moment he raised it, Hera won.
"You took his child. That is not just punishment for actions. You gave his child to Asclepius and that horrid witch Hecate. That is punishable by the Erinyes. You have surpassed what is just punishment and have now broken the laws of Olympus. The child is to be protected."
"The child is not Olympian," he snapped. "He is not under our laws. He is under no laws. A child with the touch of the Eternals is under no law. A child under the protection of a Time Lord doubly so. I may do as I will."
Hera gazed at him, fury in her eyes. "The I too shall do what I must, for the good of our laws." She turned and left, her second in command and warrior of unrestrained strength Athena following.
Zeus rested his head in his hands. This was not his day. Soon though, he would have that Doctor and his revenge. Soon Hera would see the error of her thoughts and come to his side. It was only a matter of time.
He looked over at the two shadowed figures lurking in the corner.
Well, there were always those two as well.
"Deimos, Phobos, make sure the Personifications carry out their instructions. If necessary you make capture the Time Lord yourselves.
The two slinked away with nary a word though Zeus was sure a giggle echoed around the chamber as an answer.
~~~~~~~~~This is a Line Break~~~~~~~~~
Jack was worried. They had made it into the 'temple' with barely anyone stopping them. Beyond the guards outside, which were quickly dispatched through some Time Lord speciality or other, and a door that wasn't even good enough to stop a sonic screwdriver, nothing had prevented them from getting inside. No one was waiting for them and this made the former Time Agent nervous. There were very few reasons why there would be no guards inside and none of them boded well for Jack or the Doctor.
The Doctor, however, wasn't fazed by this at all. He hadn't been joking when he said the inside was like a maze but this was absurd. There were multiple options to turn at every branch, doors and side halls and stairs and Jack wasn't sure which way was back the way they came. So he supposed this was a kind of defense on its own. But the Doctor wasn't even hesitating as he took turns and obscure doors and passages and Jack just followed, silent and waiting for trouble.
So when a small, slender figure appeared out of a side hall he hadn't noticed, Jack was on the defensive. The Doctor stopped just shy of her personal bubble. Her dreamy, moonstone eyes gazed up at him, the white toga brushing the ground and dragging along behind her. Her white hair was loose and touched the floor. She was eerily creepy.
"Lord Doctor of those who call themselves Masters of Time. I have awaited your arrival on Olympus as we await the setting of the sun. Tidings."
"Moira. I don't have time for your talk of destiny. I need to find my son."
"The Child of the Eternals and the Vortex will be within the cradle of his home soon. Time must be made and broken and forgotten before the Child will return. The She of us all will show you the way. She will understand."
Jack watched the Doctor take in the words, frowning. This Moira had obviously figured out what the Doctor was planning, so why wasn't she trying to stop him?
"Immortal, friend of the Bad Wolf, Destiny cannot be altered by those who see it, only by those who are its chosen instruments. The Lord Doctor is its favorite and most hated son. He alters Destiny by existing but also allows Destiny to take shape."
Those moonstone eyes looked at him. Jack shivered slightly. "You know who Bad Wolf is?" he asked. A dreamy smile spread across the young face.
"The Bad Wolf wrote her own Destiny and in doing so Taught Destiny how to write. The Bad Wolf is Older than Destiny and Destiny's Child, a Circular Paradox contained in the form of a human being. All who See Destiny know The Bad Wolf."
The Doctor was clearly struggling with himself, wanting to know more but desperate to find Harry. Jack watched him, sympathized with him just a bit. But he knew Harry had already won. Rose would be a memory he treasured and never forgot. Harry was his child.
Moira looked at the Time Lord. "Never fear, Lord Doctor, the Bad Wolf is not forgotten or gone. Just Misplaced. The Bad Wolf Saw all of Destiny and Knew Her Path. Take heart. The Child will be found. The Personifications approach. I shall take my leave, Lord Doctor, Immortal. Destiny has spoken, so shall it pass."
The small girl/woman disappeared down a side corridor and Jack watched her go. So many questions, not enough time right now. They needed to get to Harry.
Jack opened his mouth, trying to formulate a question, but the Doctor looked at him.
"Not now Jack. I need to get to Harry. We'll worry about everything else later. And she gave us a pretty clear warning too. Good. I'll have time." He pulled something that looked decidedly like a crystallized hand, either a small adult's or a child's, out of his pocket and began to fiddle with the sonic screwdriver settings. He pointed the blue light at the hand and it whirred. The hand glowed and Jack had to keep yet another shiver down. This was turning into a strange, weird combination of everything that could possibly be strange and weird.
"What…is that a hand?" he asked when the shift of colors began anew. The Doctor raised a rhetorical eyebrow at him, wondering perhaps if Jack was unable to see properly.
"What, you can have my hand in a jar for years yet a crystal one in my pocket is weird?" he asked. Jack sighed.
"Just…what is that?" he finally conceded and asked.
The Doctor frowned. "It's something I never thought I would ever need again, not with the Time Lords gone. But it seems as if I'm wrong."
"That…doesn't answer my question," Jack said pointedly. The Doctor shook his head. He obviously wasn't going to answer. Jack looked up and down the hallway. "So, what are we waiting for exactly again?"
"Moira said the Personifications were coming," he said, the hand flashing again, this time bright silver. "Which can only mean the other personifications. Moira is Destiny. There's Tyche, Nemesis, Momus, Fors, Fortuna, Mania and Hypnos. Though I don't think Hypnos would be among them and Mania is restricted from entering the upper levels. They're strong and dangerous in their own rights, combined as they are they are deadly. I need something to stop them until this She arrives."
Jack blinked at the onslaught of information and tried to filter what he knew of Greek mythology through that list of names. Some of them were easy, Fortuna and Hypnos. The others weren't. He was about to ask until a slender, well, actually stick like figure, rounded the corner and approached them. Behind ranged five others of various shapes and sizes. They approached quickly and Jack tried to shift in front of the Doctor. He was pushed back by a long fingered hand as pure silver light flashed through the hallway, racing towards the six Personifications.
Jack watched in astonishment as they all froze, before starting to move backwards down the hall, well, as they reversed their movements completely, stepping backwards as if in rewind. Jack looked sharply at the Doctor.
"What did you do to them?"
"Merely reversed the aspects of Time that they inhabited, setting their perception of the world as a backwards loop so their brains are registering what they did do rather than what they are going to do so that their bodies, effectively, retrace the last fifteen minutes exactly of their previous actions down to the tiniest movement in reverse. Their brains are repatterning their perception of time until the effect wears off and they regain their natural state."
"You…what? You rewound them?"
The Doctor shrugged. "In simple terms, I suppose so."
"With your crystal hand thing?"
"The Doctor slipped the now opaque hand into his pocket. "I'll have to wait to use it again. Only effective once I can impose its limits and right now it has no direction. It also needs to be recharged."
Jack shook his head. This whole rescue was becoming more and more fascinating complicated the longer they were here.
A wave of fear hit him and his spine stiffened. It tasted unnatural but his body screamed at him to run. The Doctor laid a hand on his shoulder.
"Calm down. I expected something like this. It's not your fear, let your brain taste it and it'll wash out."
~~~~~~~~This is a Line Break~~~~~~~~~~
The moment the wave of pure fear rolled through him, the Doctor knew who else Zeus had sent. Deimos, most likely with his twin Phobos. Which didn't bode well for them at all.
The book hadn't been clear exactly on what Deimos and Phobos looked like or what they could do, beyond being Fear and Terror. Not Personifications. They were Fear and Terror. Shadows slipped along the wall, indistinguishable unless one noticed a distinct body shape just a shade lighter than the shadow it was shrouded in.
He let the fear run through his mind, let the unconscious part taste the artificiality of it, sloughed it off. Jack, next to him, wasn't nearly as successful. He whispered some words of encouragement to help him shake off the effect but he knew the human body would have a harder time of it than his own physiology. His mind was fully accessible. The human mind was mostly sealed shut from their own prodding thoughts.
Still, Jack's shoulders loosened.
"Deimos, Phobos. It must be serious if Zeus is letting his play toys out of their cage."
Laughter greeted his words. "The mighty Time Lord knows not of our true nature. He who is Destroyer of Worlds does not feel terror, he gives it. So we shall make him feel terror and fear." The voices were creepy and echo like. The Doctor tried not to think of what was happening to Harry. He couldn't afford the fear that thought inspired at the moment. He needed to beat them at their own game.
"Your artificial fear and terror is useless. If the body knows it is fake it ignores it."
"Then we shall make the fear and terror real. How much do you care for your friend?"
The Doctor turned to Jack, eyes wide. He met Jack's blue eyes and saw the captain understand his plan. "Don't you hurt him! He has nothing to do with this quarrel between Zeus and myself."
"You brought him to the temple. He is now fair game. We shall give you fear Doctor. Zeus did not ask for the human, he asked only for you. There is not purpose for him anymore."
Then a black hand shot out from the shadows and sliced right through Jack's chest. The Doctor felt his hearts clench.
"JACK!" only the gurgle of Jack's air trying to reach his lungs met him as the Captains body fell to the ground. He whirled around, trying to pinpoint their locations. Jack breathed his last on the floor at his feet.
Now all he needed to do was stall for time.
"Do you feel the fear now, Doctor? The terror of losing a friend is a terrible thing."
"You didn't need to kill him! He was no threat to you or to Zeus!"
"He was useless. He was purposeless. His death gives you fear. That is all we need. Zeus will see you now."
"Zeus is an arrogant dictator who can't accept when someone else changes the rules to his games. Well, let's see how much I can change those rules then, shall I?"
The giggling echoed through the hallway just as Jack breathed back into life. The giggling cut off abruptly.
"Who are you? What is this you bring into the temple, Time Lord? What is this human who does not die?"
The Doctor smirked. "You just killed the best friend of the Bad Wolf Phobos. I am sure that name as reached your shadowed ears before."
Outraged noises. "Lies. The Bad Wolf is older than creation!"
"The Bad Wolf is Destiny's mother and Destiny's child. I'm sure there are worse ways to go but harming the personal friend of Destiny's child might not be so bad for you two," the Doctor said, watching the two shadows shake against the wall.
Then, as suddenly as they were there, they were gone.
~~~~~~~This is a Line Break~~~~~~
The floor was cold and the breaths he took pushed against the quickly healing wound to his lungs. Jack coughed and pushed himself off the floor. The Doctor lifted him up.
"Why did they run off?" he asked hoarsely. The Doctor's grin was empty and terrifying.
"Deimos and Phobos have felt the hand of Destiny, when they were created, and their inability to affect it in any way has left them uneasy. When Moira spoke of the Bad Wolf, she spoke of those who See Destiny knowing her. I took a gamble on them having seen the Bad Wolf. She's unforgettable and rather terrifying, I've been told. They fear what she could do to them."
Jack blinked. "Really. But, aren't they Fear and Terror or something? How can they be scared of anything?"
"They fear that which cannot be controlled by fear or terror. Destiny and its child, well, they aren't concerned with anything as palty as fear and terror. The lack of it is as terrifying to them as the overabundance of it is to you or me."
Jack shook his head. "Alright, alright, so where's Harry then?"
The Doctor's face looked absolutely anguished for a brief second before it hardened. Jack had been trying to ignore the fear he had been feeling for Harry, but the assault by the duo of monstrous nightmares wasn't helping him handle it any better.
"I don't know where Asclepius is keeping him. I was planning on following the energy trace he leaves but after the interference of the Personifications I can't pin it down. I wasn't even sure I had the right wavelength to begin with but I was hoping…"
Jack felt his body freeze. "Wait, what? You were tracking Harry with your sonic screwdriver? But, isn't it impossible to track humans?"
"Humans yes, but Harry leaves behind a very faint but very distinct residual Psionic energy trail when he goes somewhere. I could have put a dampener on him so he wouldn't but I figured it would be helpful if he ever got lost or something." The Doctor sighed, shoulders slumping. "Now though, I can't even get a proper read on it. The air's too clouded by all the different energy signatures."
Jack frowned. It made some sort of sense. He whirled when a hand tapped him on the shoulder. A woman, tall, slender, draped in white and with very beautiful if too perfect features stood behind him. He had to look up at her.
"You are the child's guardians?" she asked, her voice both harsh and melodic.
"He's my son, yes," the Doctor said. "Are you the "She of us all"?"
A smile. "I am Hera, Head of the Female Order of Olympians. This is my Second in Command, Athena. So yes, I would be the She of us all. Moira spoke to you then?"
The Doctor's eyes narrowed. "From my understanding, you are supposed to be Zeus's right hand. Why are you here, helping us?"
Hera sighed. "Zeus has broken the Laws of Olympus with his actions. I merely seek to right a wrong. Whatever punishment you inflict on us for our non-action I can only call justified. The Family is sacred on Olympus. Zeus has forgotten it."
The Doctor stared at her, eyes hard, until he nodded. "Alright then. Take me to my son. I assume Asclepius as him by now?"
Hera nodded. "Asclepius and Hecate and Aphrodite. Paeon is there as well, though he is mostly a slave to Asclepius's whims."
The Doctor's eyes flashed again and Jack made sure to stand behind him as Hera led them down the corridor.
"Do you know what they are doing to my son?" he asked through gritted teeth.
Hera shook her head. "I do not know. I can tell you nothing good can come out of what they do to him, though it has only been several hours by the candle so nothing drastic. Asclepius enjoyed taking his time. Hecate even more so."
This did nothing to halt the steady burn of the Doctor's temper. Jack hoped that he wouldn't do anything drastic.
Athena, the silent warrior who looked made of muscle and dressed in gleaming armor, walked behind them, staring intently at a point beyond Hera, probably looking out for danger.
The walk to the room was quiet, mostly to keep attention from being drawn to them, partly because the Doctor would most likely destroy anyone who spoke to him until he had Harry back. Jack worried for him and Harry. He hadn't fully realized how attached the Doctor had been until recently. And he would most likely be getting a very good look at to how much Harry meant as soon as Harry was back with him and the Doctor confronted Zeus.
Hera stopped beside a door, punching in a number and laying her finger on a small plate. The door hissed and slid down. "Your son is within, Doctor. Zeus's chambers are down the hall, the third door on your left. I offer what little apologies I can for the actions he took." She bowed her head and headed back the way they came, Athena following her still.
The Doctor nodded curtly at her but didn't say anything, rushing inside instead.
The four unconscious figures of the Olympians greeted Jack and the Doctor.
~~~~~~~~~This is a Line Break~~~~~~~
Harry lay against the Doctor's chest, head tucked into the curve of his neck and shoulder, the golden necklace glimmering on his chest. He slept, eyes wet with tears and track marks on his cheeks. It made Jack's heart swell in anger. It was nothing compared to the anger Jack saw when he looked at the Doctor.
The Doctor's eyes burned in fury and rage and pain and Jack scrambled out of the way as he made for the door Hera had indicated. Jack looked at Harry fearfully, scared for him and what could have possibly happened. The Doctor would explain in time, but right now all he knew was that Harry and been made into a Touch-Empath. He had encountered one before and just the merest brush against their bare skin had left him reeling with emotions that weren't his own, fear and loneliness and loss and pain. He had felt empty inside, as if something had been taken. Later he had been told the empath had taken his happiness and his joy. It was the only way they knew how to survive.
Now Harry was one. The necklace kept it at bay but to know that someone had deliberately altered another being into such a creation was horrifying.
The Doctor blew the door into Zeus's chambers open. Jack followed him in.
The throne room was huge, the ceiling beyond his eyesight, but what he focused on was the man perched on a throne at the far wall, center stage in front of the door as if a performance. It was, Jack knew. It was how rulers got attention. Grab it from the moment anyone walks in.
He also knew it wouldn't work on the Doctor.
"Time Lord, you return. And you have your child. I underestimated you. I won't do so again."
"Zeus, leader of Olympus, wielder of lightning in all its forms, Head of all the Olympians and self-proclaimed god. You took my child, you have broken your own planet's laws of non-violence to children and the sacred commandment of the family. You are guilty of crimes older than your race. Your people are guilty of the crime of non interference."
Zeus laughed. "And what is a Time Lord going to do about it? We are immortal! We cannot be killed!" He spat the word Time Lord like it was a bad word.
Jack flinched at the Doctor's dark look. "I am the last Time Lord in the Universe. I killed the rest of them. There are ways of killing the un-killable." He reached into his pocket and pulled out the crystallized hand Jack had seen him use earlier on the Personifications. The Doctor turned to him, Held Harry out with one arm, pain creasing his face. "I need both hands. Can you…can you hold him? Please?"
Jack nodded, taking Harry with careful arms and settling the child into the crook of his shoulder. Harry slept on.
The Doctor turned back to Zeus, who was looking astonished. "You killed the Time Lords? How?"
"You broke the law of the sanctity of children, the sacred family. You took my child. You harmed my child." The Doctor hefted the crystalline hand with his own. "I am not sorry for this." Then he threw the hand into the air. It flashed brilliant gold and plummeted towards the floor. The Doctor stepped back. "This is one of the last remnents of the might of the Time Lords. This hand is used to manipulate time. In its basic uses, speed up and slow down. But, if one knows how, the hand can be used for things much greater. Right now, as it falls to the floor, it is ripping a hole in the Time Vortex. It is ripping this planet into an erased timeline. You will never have existed."
Zeus watched the hand fall, as if in slow motion. "You…you wouldn't. You couldn't! Not innocents, not to everyone on this planet!"
"Watch me."
Zeus roared in fury, aiming a hand crackling with electricity at the Doctor. Jack watched as it seemed to slide around the tall, thin, furious figure. "DOCTOR! I WILL DESTROY YOU AS WELL!"
The golden light erased Zeus from view and Jack rested a hand on the Doctor's shoulder. "Um, Doctor? If we don't leave now, will me end up in that timeline too?" he asked. The Doctor's eyes widened.
"Yes, yes, come on, we don't have much time."
He took Harry from Jack without a word and raced for the door, dodging a lighting bold from Zeus as he made it through and into the hallway. Everywhere the building was shaking apart at the disruption within the time vortex. They were unaccosted as they hurried out the far door and back through the maze. At a dead run and with the Doctor's excellent memory, they made it out to the stairs faster than Jack would have thought possible.
He narrowed his eyes at the Doctor. He was sure the Time Lord had done something but right now they needed to be out of the city. The stair case was descended as fast as was possible without falling face first down it.
Eris stood at the bottom, eyes wide in horror. She looked at the Doctor, fear in her eyes. "What did you do? I can…I can feel it in the air. I can hear it!"
"The Doctor looked at her. His eyes seemed to soften just a bit. "Goodbye Eris. You might just survive it too."
"WHAT DID YOU DO?" She screamed at them as they took off out the gates and across the fields. Behind them the whole city started to glow. The temple was gone in the golden haze and as they reached the TARDIS, the city started to vanish. The Doctor snapped it open and they rushed inside. The doors closed behind them.
With one hand the Doctor sent them spinning into the vortex and collapsed into a chair. Harry was still asleep against his chest and Jack leaned against the railing, heaving for air and trying to reassure his lungs that he wasn't dead this time, so breathe dammit.
Jack looked up at the Doctor. Unsure of what to say. What did you say to someone who just erased an entire planet? Then he looked at Harry. His uncertainty turned to fear. Was Harry okay?
Before he could say anything, the Doctor disappeared into the hallways. He would have to wait.
He had sworn never to use the Hand, ever. He had just condemned and entire race to oblivion, to a Timeline that no longer existed, to a life where they would be erased because they couldn't continue to live because there was no time. Unending death.
Because of Harry. Because they had taken his child from him.
It scared him. What would he not do for Harry? He couldn't think of anything. And that scared him more than he thought was possible.
Such a tiny little being with such an enormous impact on him. He should be scared, but right now all he felt was relief that Harry was back. Back and alive and safe. He wasn't sure what had been done to him but he would find out as soon as Harry woke up. When. When Harry woke up.
~~~~~~~~~This is an Ending~~~~~~~~~
Yeah, Hardass Doctor. Scary Doctor. O.O