Chapter 1: And the Pot of Petunias Thought, 'Oh No, Not Again'

England

There was no question about it; Arthur Kirkland was lost. Even more embarrassingly, he was lost in his very own London, the city he had watched since it was no more than a small collection of houses and seen every single building built or destroyed from the inside and out. Of course, usually he would walk around above the ground, not wandering around in the rank depths of the sewer.

Grumbling, he splashed through the refuse. An eerie green glow lit the tunnel, emitted from a small orb floating inches above Arthur's cupped hand. Every once in a while, a rat would scamper out of the way of his wet trainers. Condensation dripped from the moldy ceiling of the tunnel and landed in his hair, which had grown spiky from when he occasionally ran his hand through it. As he continued to plod along the narrow cement pathways that ran inches above the river of sewage, he became even more turned around, until eventually his last semblance of navigation was reduced to smithereens.

Deciding he needed to come up somewhere, he began looking around for a manhole. Several minutes later, an errant shaft of light led him to his escape and onto the streets. Although he was given several strange looks, he was largely ignored as he made his way towards Downing Street, seemingly unaware of his grimy clothes and mussed hair.

After a reasonably brief meeting with his Prime Minister (who was, fortunately, somewhat used to this sort of thing) during which the various types of sludge covering his body dried and caked, he headed to his home on the outskirts of London, and took a shower. Unfortunately, he was unable to relax, and had to run in order to catch the five o'clock bus to Cardiff. After a long bus ride and a bit more walking, he came upon a dimly lit pub in which he sat at the bar, but ordered nothing.

Just as the management was about to kick him out for loitering, a man in a trench coat walked in and sat down next to him, ordering some variety of fancy drink that Arthur didn't quite manage to catch the name of.

"So."

Arthur didn't immediately respond, but continued to observe the man out of the side of his vision. After the man had his drink and had taken a few sips, Arthur slowly turned to face him and nodded.

"I got your call. What was it you needed?"

"I didn't call."

"You're here, aren't you? That's as good as calling for me. How's Francis?"

"As if you don't know. I happen to know that you have all of us under constant surveillance."

"Maybe. Anyways, why are you here?"

At this, Arthur reached into his pocket and pulled out something resembling a steel computer mouse that had been torn in half, blue wires sticking out of the ripped side. He plopped the damaged electronic onto the bar counter and turned to fully face his companion, watching as the man's complexion paled.

"Well?"

"Where did you get that?" Jack's voice was tense and his eyes were wide.

"Tell me what it is."

"That's part of a cybermat; a scout for the Cybermen." At this, Arthur paled as well.

"Lovely."

Jack

Jack had been enjoying a rare lazy day at Torchwood. However, he was starting to get bored, and boredom often meant reminiscing, which never ended well. As he watched his crew kick a football around headquarters, he smiled as he attempted to force back memories from times long gone. Slowly, he was starting to realize why the Doctor was always running around.

There were no wires to fix, no software bugs to work out, no new alien tech to analyze, and no aliens to chase. He'd tried reading (someone had thought it funny to leave a copy of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy on his cot), surfing the internet, looking for new cases (although it rarely worked to actually search for a job), and annoying the rest of his team with bad pickup lines, but nothing seemed to be able to distract him from his melancholy today.

When he was certain his situation couldn't get much worse, a small alarm began blinking on one of the monitors. He grinned, although he could only anticipate the meeting he was about to attend with dread. Arthur only called him when he was desperate.

The rest of Torchwood were unaware when he slipped out of their underground bunker; they had no knowledge of the personified nations, and Jack didn't think it wise to inform them. He walked away from his colleagues and into the dark streets, toward a dimly lit pub and a man he'd first met during world war one.

Doctor

The Doctor was bored. Very bored. So bored, in fact, that he was rifling through a large stack of yellowed newspapers that had been hidden in a cobwebby corner of the library for decades, maybe centuries. This particular stack held remnants from the early 21st century, as the newspaper was gradually becoming obsolete.

Chasing an errant spider off the next paper, he began flipping through, hoping this one contained some entertaining comics. Unfortunately, it did not. He was about to place it in the stack of newspapers he'd already been through, when he noticed a small advertisement on the back page.

| 06/15/2014 8:17GMT |

| 51°29'55.6"N 0°09'11.2"W |

| AK |

Now he was excited. It had been a while since he'd seen his friend Arthur, and for once he was actually invited! He ran to the central console and punched in the coordinates, which turned out to be a small park near the center of London. He began pulling levers and knobs. When he arrived, stumbling out from behind a statue, there was nobody recognizable in sight. He wandered around for a while, but still didn't see anything, so he sat down next to the statue, pulled a small book out of his pocket, and began to read.

A/N

This will likely update very slowly, because I'm a bit paranoid about wording and mistakes and so write very slowly (500 words take me about 8 hours on a good day) in addition to taking 3 AP classes (why the heck did I do that?). I was going to write the whole thing before posting it, but I haven't put anything on here in over a year and Whotalia is a genre that needs more love. Each chapter will contain a segment from England, the Doctor, and Jack, but Jack's will probably be a bit shorter because I'm not as familiar with him (I just watch Doctor Who and not much Torchwood). If there are any errors with characterization, please tell me.

Enjoy, review (critical feedback is much appreciated), and have a lovely day! :)