Unease.
That was the only thing Jack felt as he stared at the insides of his eyelids. He couldn't remember where he was, or how he had gotten there, but at that moment he couldn't care less. Eyes still closed, he ran a mental systems check to see if he could ascertain the nature of the problem. He was lying on something soft, possibly a bed. He wasn't tired, or hungry, or in pain. In fact, he was rather comfortable, except for that niggling feeling of something not being right. Something was missing.
Stretching, Jack got up groggily. He reluctantly opened his eyes and found himself in what looked like a hotel room: desk in the corner; lamp on the bedside table; door to the bathroom; door leading outside with an exit map. Since he was too far away to read the text on the map, he could have been on any planet, during nearly any time period. The thing that gave it away was the carpet: it was burgundy, with bright pink and green dribbles and splashes. To Jack it looked like radioactive cat sick.
Only humans could manage to ruin a reasonably nice hotel room by putting in such tacky carpeting, Jack thought.
So, he was on a human-inhabited planet. Enough so to have a hotel for them. Good. Or, depending on what he had done the night before, bad. Species everywhere tended to be more lenient on what they saw as aliens, citing cultural difference and all that.
Time to figure out where the hell I am, thought Jack. He looked down at his clothes. He was in a white t-shirt and black pants, braces hanging down by his knees. Folded on the desk chair was his coat and blue shirt, along with his gun and vortex manipulator. Seeing the clothes, Jack remembered. Torchwood. But what was he doing off-planet if he was working for Torchwood? He got up and dressed, noting the lack of stains on his shirt and the newness of the strap of the vortex manipulator. He rubbed his head. Clearly, if his memory was coming back he hadn't been retconned. It seemed more like the results of a night of heavy drinking, maybe to drown out the memories the best he could.
Jack strapped on the vortex manipulator. It really was brand new leather. Gwen had given it to him. Gwen. She had met with him on that hill back on Earth. With Rhys. She was pregnant. Jack blinked hard, trying to clear the fog from his mind. He remembered Gwen perfectly, but still there was something missing. Something big.
He had run away. From the 456. No, that wasn't right. They had defeated the 456. Jack grabbed his head as a shooting pain ran through it. He had defeated the 456 by sacrificing his grandson. Steven. Names were coming back to him now. Alice, his daughter. She would hate him forever. But she was alive. But Steven wasn't.
Jack remembered using him and then losing her, but they weren't what was missing. Jack retraced his path. He had met with Gwen in the near past, six months after the 456 in her timeline. But it hadn't been nearly as long in his. Why didn't he go back to Earth? Jack always returned. Returned to find the Doctor. Was that who was missing? No. Jack had met the Doctor again and then once more after joining Torchwood. But the Doctor wasn't there to save the Earth that time.
Six months back in Gwen's timeline… that was September. Jack had saved the world along with Gwen, only this time everyone knew. The day before that… was a blank. All Jack remembered was rage and sorrow and pain, but now all he felt was the undercurrent of unease. The day before that, he remembered. The 456 had arrived and begun bargaining. And before that, too. He'd been captured and then rescued by someone… he couldn't remember whom. Gwen, probably. The previous day to that, the Hub had been blown up, with Jack in it. He could remember everything but that day in between. Why would he want to forget? What would he want to forget?
Pulling in his coat, Jack checked the pockets and found his earpiece. It still worked, but was quiet. He tapped a few buttons on his vortex manipulator, trying to tap into something, anything, that would give him a clue as to where and when he was. Finally, he heard voices speaking in an unfamiliar language. Jack activated the translator and set it to Earth English from the twenty-first century.
"He has woken up already. Do you think he knows?"
"I am certain he has figured something out. We should not tell him. It will undo everything we have done."
Those words put Jack on alert. Clearly someone was monitoring him, and they'd done something to him. After losing two years' worth of memory to the Time Agency, Jack vowed to never get rid of any memories unless it was absolutely necessary. But this time it seemed like his… captors? Jailors? Guards? Whoever they were, they had tampered with his mind. And unless they had a very good reason for it, they'd regret it.
The first thing he did was test the door. It opened without resistance. Good. They weren't keeping him prisoner, or at least not openly. Gun pointed to the floor, Jack approached a door at the end of the hallway. It, too, opened easily. Jack crept forward, scanning for movement and making as little sound as he could. The voices in his earpiece had stopped, which probably meant that whoever was watching him knew he was coming.
He flattened himself against a wall and slowly peeked around a corner. Seeing no one there, he continued. Finally, the hallway ended in a large archway. Jack hid in the corner of the hallway and the arch, checking again for danger. Even if he couldn't die, it was best to keep as safe as possible. Jack stilled as he heard movement.
Two humanoid forms rounded the corner. The skin not covered by their odd, loose garments was mottled blue, and they had odd-looking tentacles instead of hair. He hadn't ever seen them before, which worried him. Right as they passed by him, Jack leapt from the corner and levelled his gun at them.
"You have ten seconds to explain what you did to me and why. Or else I will shoot you."
They looked at each other in confusion, clearly not recognising the weapon Jack held for what it was. Jack fired a shot at the ceiling to clear it up for them. They cringed back, startled.
"Just start talking. I'll be able to understand what you say, and I know you can understand me."
They still stared at him blankly. Just as Jack was about to shoot, he heard a sound behind him, and then blacked out.
When Jack came to, he was back in the hotel room. This time, however, he was dressed, and another one of the strange life forms was sitting in the swivel chair, entertaining itself by spinning back and forth, tentacles whipping around like pigtails. When Jack sat up and cleared his throat, it just looked at Jack like he was the one caught spinning around like a five-year-old.
Jack raised his eyebrow. The creature made a strange face.
They stared at each other for a few minutes, until Jack made a move to get up. The creature, seemingly harmless up till that movement, snarled and drew a blaster from its robe.
"Okay, okay. You don't want me to move."
It nodded. Jack decided to go with it for the time being.
"So you understand English. That's good." Jack spoke in his "new alien life form" voice. It was soft, soothing and slightly patronising at the same time, and usually worked pretty well. Reaching up slowly, Jack found his earpiece still in and working.
"Where am I?"
The creature just gestured to their surroundings.
"Are you going to speak to me?"
It shook its head.
"Look, you can't just hold me captive, tamper with my memories, and just expect me to sit here." Jack was beginning to get impatient. He threw off the covers of the bed and stood up. The alien fired at his head, just narrowly missing as Jack dodged. It said something, finally, which was translated into his earpiece.
"Sit."
"Oh, so now you're talking."
"Be patient."
"Why should I?"
"We will incapacitate you if you do not sit still."
"What reason would you have for that?"
"Your emotions pain us. They have not subsided yet. Wait, and all will be explained."
So they were empaths. His emotions… They didn't erase those, since the aliens still felt them. He had to get out of there before they finished whatever they were trying.
Jack's gaze flicked back to the alien sitting on the chair. It was watching him intently, reading his emotions, maybe. How much could it tell?
In response, it replied in its odd, chittering language.
"It is no use trying to escape. We would stop you before then. My praxet will be here shortly."
The translator gave no English equivalent for that word. Jack asked the alien, hoping to distract it.
"What is a praxet?"
"Your machine would have no word for it. It means… friend, associate, mentor, and other things that cannot be expressed. Companion would be the closest word in your tongue."
"Very well. Who are you?"
"We are the Rax, from the planet Eraxion. It was our cruiser onto which you teleported."
"Is that all you're going to tell me?"
"Yes. My companion may tell more."
Jack sat back on the bed and waited. A few minutes later another one of the Rax walked in. It embraced the other tightly and touched its finger to the other's forehead. This one was a lighter shade of blue, and slightly taller.
"Touching," remarked Jack sarcastically. "But if we're done with the lovey-dovey stuff, can someone tell me where I am before I make a break for it?"
"His impatience is not genuine, no?" asked the new one to its friend.
"No. He certainly wants more to learn where he is, and possibly injure us." Both of the Rax laughed at that.
Jack gave in. "Who are you and what have you done to me?"
"I am Ter-na. This is Kal-ten. We are of the Rax."
"Thanks for the introduction. Why are you keeping me here?"
"To see if we are finished, or if more needs doing."
"More what?"
"You landed on our cruiser some time ago. Your emotions were wreaking havoc with the crew and the ship, so we incapacitated you and took away the source of the pain. However, it appears to have not taken. We will continue, and once you are well, we will take you where you need to go."
Jack struggled not to get up and murder them right there and then. They had taken away his memories. He swore eternal vengeance on the last people who had taken his memories. He would do the same to them, if they didn't fix it fast.
"Subduing you was remarkably challenging. We actually killed you in the process, but then you awoke later. Perhaps that was what impeded the block?"
Jack spoke through gritted teeth. "Taking my memories was a bad idea. A very bad idea. I'm Captain Jack Harkness, formerly of the Time Agency, previous companion to the Doctor, and current leader of Torchwood Three. Are any of these names familiar to you?"
They had exchanged glances at the Doctor's name. The smaller one, Kal-ten, spoke up.
"Then we have done you a service. Your memories of this person-" Ter-na cut him off.
"Idiot boy. Do not tell him. It may trigger something, and then the pain will come back again." She turned to Jack. "We have helped you, Captain. What was once a plague is now only a lingering thought."
"You have not helped me. Whatever I went through, no matter how bad it was, is part of me and I never want to forget it."
"Very well, then. We will reverse it, but we cannot take you anywhere if you are suffering so."
"Fine." Jack nearly spat the word at her. Ter-na looked up at Kal-ten, and they turned to leave in sync. As she walked through the door, Ter-na turned and said one word.
"Ianto."
Author's Note:
Thanks to my lovely beta gernumblies for checking this over and making sure I wasn't writing too much like an American! This is the first chapter in a hopefully long AU. I'm trying to establish a posting schedule, maybe one chapter a week or something so I don't go crazy trying to update constantly but don't leave anything hanging too long. Reviews are much appreciated, since this is my first long Torchwood fic. And thank you all for reading!
Disclaimer:
Jack and Alonso and other various characters aren't mine (unfortunately); they all belong to the BBC.