Day and night
It was all an indefinite blur as Captain Jack Harkness rematerialized inside the UNIT laboratory in 1973.
As his surroundings became more clear and definite, Jack heaved a well-earned sigh of relief: trust the Doctor to allow him time travel for one special mission –and just this one, bear in mind – only to make him joining forces with UNIT of all the organizations.
He didn't really dislike – much - what UNIT had been around that time, truth to be told, but most of that depended on the Brigadier presence and his well-meaning character. If the Brigadier had still been in charge back when the 456 had destroyed his life, certainly UNIT would have helped them and now he wouldn't be travelling the universe aimlessly, trying to forget a love that might have been but had died too soon for him to just give up.
Jack shook his head clear from the bad thoughts it was beginning to be filled of and looked around himself, hoping to find a known face. Unfortunately, the laboratory he had rematerialized in seemed empty to say the least. Looking out of the windows, though, he could easily understand why: it was pitch dark.
The Captain sighed and leaned against a table full of pieces of machinery that said nothing to him and just waited for whoever came first: would it be an over worried soldier, a charming Brigadier or a shocked Doctor? It was hard not noticing the blue police box standing proud in a corner of the room, so he could allow himself to hope meeting yet another regeneration of his favourite Time Lord.
The Doctor hadn't actually told him that Jack would meet one of her past regenerations going back in time but, considering the detailed description of the situation she had given him, the Doctor was bound to pop out from somewhere at one point or another.
In the end, the first door to open really was the one of the TARDIS.
"May I know who you are and what you're doing here in my laboratory, young gentlemen?" The Doctor asked curtly, as he came out from his vehicle.
Jack took in appreciatively his elegant way of dressing and his dandyish mannerism, even though he couldn't help also noticing the heat that was apparently reddening his cheeks and the way his hair was slightly ruffled. He had seen worse on the Doctor's previous –future- regenerations, but on the one now standing in front of him those sign of distress seemed really odd.
"Captain Jack Harkness" Jack offered, showing off the best and most charming of his smiles. "I was- I mean, I will be one of your companions. I've been sent here by the Doctor of my time-stream to offer my help and my services to something that will be happening here in this time. Or at least, so I was told"
The Doctor rose an enquiring eyebrow at Jack, wondering about the meaning of the other man's words. It didn't sound like him at all, unless his future regeneration was trying to achieve a completely different objective they had not revealed even to the young Captain. He had to wonder if and how that objective would include the strange young man standing in front of him right that moment… He certainly wasn't a normal man, and he wasn't talking about his natural charm.
"You're a walking paradox, my dear child" The Doctor pointed out without preamble. "And you said that I willingly sent you gallivanting around time and space?"
"Hey, you are already stranding me on daily basis" The Captain countered defensively, pointing to his Vortex Manipulator that, for whoever knew enough of off-Earth technology, was clearly stuck to one way and return. "This was an exception that I think you granted me only because I was a Time Agent back in the 51st century"
"You come from the 51st century?" The Doctor asked, even more sceptic than before. "Dressed like that?"
The Doctor moved graciously one hand up and then down to indicate Jack's attire - currently consisting in his usual blue shirt, braces, light brown trousers and blue greatcoat – while the other went to his mouth to hide a mocking grin. Jack just rolled his eyes at his antics and smirked smartly at the Doctor.
"I was born in the 51st century, you basically exiled me in the 21st" Jack explained, voluntarily counting out the time before his first reunion with the Doctor, since that hadn't really been the Time Lord's fault. Then, he just pointed at himself. "With this condition, courtesy of one of my journeys with you"
The Doctor was left without a proper answer to offer to the Captain, too shocked by the knowledge to have been the cause of such an abnormal condition to one of his companions to actually find the will to contradict him. He tormented his lower lip, hoping to logically come to some kind of reply, but he really couldn't find a single sentence that could be deemed proper for the situation or the man himself.
"I'm sorry, child" The Doctor said in the end, not really knowing how to address someone he had condemned to his own bitterest punishment, worst of all after turning him into his worst fear in the universe: a fixed point in time.
"It's not something you should feel sorry about, especially not you as you are now" Jack countered lightly, offering him a charming smile. "What hurts the most is just… being alone"
Instead of feeling better, the Doctor felt even guiltier and, worse of all, even more compelled to run away from the Captain as far as he could. Without him actually noticing, his own legs slowly walked him backwards, towards the door.
Unfortunately, before he could open it to bolt outside and escape the paradox, the door was opened from the other side, letting walk inside the laboratory a resolute Brigadier, flanked by the always-loyal Captain Yates and Sergeant Benton.
"What's happening here?" The Brigadier asked, before seeing and recognizing the newcomer on the spot.
"Captain Harkness from Torchwood" He greeted gently. "Long time no see"
"Even more time than you think, Brigadier" Jack answered, taking the hand the Brigadier was offering him and shaking it lightly, his captivating smile never faltering. "I come from the future, 21st century. I managed to have my own Torchwood, eventually, you know? And also to make it fall"
"What happened?" The Brigadier asked at the same time as the Doctor, sulking at being deprived of his chance to escape and annoyed for not knowing something about the Earth, countered "What's Torchwood?"
"Torchwood is a research institute that focus on retrieving alien tech to use against the aliens that will be attacking Earth in the future" Sergeant Benton answered dutifully to the Doctor.
"Aliens like you, in particular" Captain Yates supplied with plain mirth. "Besides, they answer only to the Queen. They have nothing to do with the military or the Government"
"Outside the Government and beyond the Police" Captain Harkness proudly supplied. "My Cardiff branch focused mainly on dealing with a Rift in Time and Space located in Wales, still Captain Yates is right: originally it was you in particular they were after"
"What do you mean me in particular? What have I done to you?" The Doctor protested indignantly.
"You will just make a mess of things, don't worry, nothing different from the usual" Jack answered honestly, attempting to reassure the Doctor. "None of your concern at the moment. Moreover, I eventually managed to cross you out of the list, so… Just know that you will be fine, sooner or later"
"Uhm… Thanks" The Doctor evaluated grudgingly, still unsettled by the news.
"Hey, despite everything I'm still here for you, Doc, and the same goes for all you other companions from my time" Jack offered, patting the Doctor lightly on his shoulder. "As we'll always be. So just trust yourself"
The Doctor didn't really know what to think about Jack's sincere words, but luckily the Brigadier was there to change the topic of the uncomfortable discussion.
"You didn't tell me why your Torchwood failed, Captain Harkness. You always told me you had big plans to enforce, if you were to succeed in having your own"
Jack's smile faltered and the Doctor could finally see the unsure, hurt man under all that attractive façade.
"It won't really change the future, but… It's not really something I'd like to reminisce"
"If it's something involving me, by any chance, I'd like to know" The Doctor asked gently, hoping not to sound too privy. Somehow, he was certain that there laid the real reason why his last regeneration had sent Jack back to him. He will have time to wonder why him specifically and not another one, but unless he discovered what the problem was – aside the obvious – they would never see the end of this.
"I lost my lover because of the Government" Jack explained plainly to the Doctor. "No one stood by us: not UNIT, not you… Losing him took away everything I had, everything I hoped for… I've got nothing left and no strength or hope to even think about what to do with my immortality"
The Doctor and the others stared worriedly at one another, not really knowing what to say to the crestfallen Captain.
"Still, I'm here to help" Jack told them on a lighter tone. "The Doctor from my current time said the Axons were going to come back and that you would need help. So, here I am"
Right that moment, the door to the TARDIS opened once again. Who exited the blue police box, however, this time was no one other than the Master, clad in only a white bathrobe.
"The Doctor sent you back… for the Axons?" He asked disbelieving, staring at the Captain with a calculating expression on his face.
"It's a most unpleasant time to come out, my dear chap" The Doctor pointed out crossly, earning only a smart smirk from his fellow renegade Time Lord.
"I wasn't aware that I would need to come out once again, my dear Doctor. I remember doing that already several hundreds years ago at the same time and in the same place as you did, to be precise" The Master taunted him. "Specifically, when our teacher found us half-naked in the farthest area of the library, where we were having sex instead of taking his boring empirical non-Euclidean mathematics test"
"No one really needed to know the details" The Doctor countered, any second more humiliated by the Master's words.
"Why, now?" The Master chided merrily. "The speech he made us do in front everyone was hilarious: everyone already knew or simply didn't care. I don't' really expect this one to turn out any different, and I really think you need my help here"
"That's why you're trying to disgrace me in front of my friends?" The doctor argued indignantly.
"No, of course. That's just how I'm demonstrating with facts that you do indeed trust me, my dear, in order to obtain the greatest achievement of not having UNIT shoot me on the spot"
The Doctor rolled his eyes at the Master, and then eyed one after the other the other occupants of the room.
"I do wonder why I'm not even surprised, indeed" Was the Brigadier's caustic comment. "All things considered, I don't think I even want to set off the alarms"
"Thank you, Brigadier" The Doctor offered, extremely mortified. He felt even worse and even more indebted when also Sergeant Benton and Captain Yates just nodded in favour to the Brigadier's proposed amnesty.
The only one left in the dark was Jack, who just kept staring from the Doctor to the Master without grasping what was happening.
"Wait, who is the man?" He asked eventually, eyeing the newcomer suspiciously yet attentively. "Another Time Lord, Doc?"
"I am the Master" The Master introduced himself, with a charming smile that could rival Jack's.
The rest of what he thought to offer as a presentation, however, was cut off short, as Jack, hearing the name, took several quick steps behind himself to put as much distance as he could between himself and the Master.
"Not you again!" Jack yelled in panic.
"What has he done to you?" The Brigadier asked surprised, reaching for Jack to calm him down.
"He enslaved the Doctor and the Earth, he hunted down another companion like a beast and spent a whole year torturing me!" Jack protested weakly. "He destroyed my whole team, killed my lover in front of me… Luckily we managed to rewind everything that time, but I still remember everything and it was a terrible déjà vu when I lost my Torchwood all over again"
The Master stared bemused at Jack's descriptions of his misdeeds, not really convinced that he had eventually succeeded doing something so terrible. The Doctor himself felt weird hearing the story, and instinctively walked back to his lover to take a hold of him, in order to somehow reassure himself that the Master was still there and was not going around the word making messes too big to be solved by him.
"Incredible knowing that I succeeded at something so terrible, at least" The Master stated plainly, ultimately opting for sarcasm and amoral truth. "Still, I'm not the final reason for your deepest scar and I can't really blame myself for experimenting with something scientifically interesting as you are"
"Master!" The Doctor hissed in his ear, shocked by the other Time Lord's words.
"Don't worry, Doctor, I think I know what the real purpose of this charade is." The Master assured nonchalantly, barely offering a serious and worried glance at the Doctor before redirecting himself inside the TARDIS. "You and your pretty soldiers think about a way to stop the Axons with Highlander over there, I'll manage the real deal"
The Master's quick glance had petrified the Doctor on the spot more than reassuring him: he could easily guess that he didn't actually mean his words and that Jack's story had worried him too, but about what he was planning to do… that was a completely different matter.
As he saw his lover entering his TARDIS, the Doctor attempted to clear his voice under the betrayed stare of Captain Harkness and the barely amused ones of the Brigadier and the other two soldiers.
"I'll make a search for the Axons through the TARDIS scanners" He mumbled eventually. "Knowing if they really managed to escape the time loop and where they are now could help us deciding what to do… I-I shouldn't be long"
That said, the Doctor quickly disappeared inside his TARDIS, leaving all the other bystanders thinking about how much all that had just been a quick and strategic retreat after the Master.
"The Doctor and the Master" Jack acknowledged in the end, staring disheartened at the TARDIS door.
"It's not really big news for us, truth be told" Captain Yates admitted. "There have been more than a few giveaways"
Sargent Benton nodded gravely, supporting his Captain's point of view. Also the Brigadier could do nothing more than take a deep breath and cross his arms over his chest, his lips still pursed in a knowing grin.
"Yates is right, Captain Harkness." He declared, not without a little bit of complaint. "You were his companion, though. It seems strange that you never noticed a thing"
"When I travelled with the Doctor, the Master has never been around, as a matter of fact" Jack admitted, shaking his head as he tried to stop wondering how the collected man he had just seen and the mad head that had killed him daily for a year could even be the same person. "Then there was The Year that Never Was, and then…"
He stopped himself before saying 'nothing', since his mind focused on some details he had not really noticed before from his last meeting with his Doctor.
"She was with another woman when I met her last, though"
"She?" The Brigadier asked surprised.
"Yeah, The Doctor's last regeneration turned him into a cute blonde" Jack explained quickly, before resuming his speech. "The woman she was with called herself Missy… They looked quite close, even though she had just regenerated and that Missy wasn't one of her companions"
"Missy" Sergeant Benton repeated suspiciously.
"I bet my money on Mistress" Captain Yates stated proudly, crossing his arms on his chest.
"Meaning: she was the Master" The Brigadier concluded, at a loss of words all things considered and put together. "It's really something the Master would do"
"Exactly" Jack confirmed with a roll of his eyes. "I was an idiot not thinking about it before"
"You just met the Master that one time and in the worst way possible" The Brigadier offered, patting a reassuring hand on Jack's shoulder. "For us, he is basically one of the group. We know him quite well"
"Because the Doctor is stranded here" Jack noted, now really lost in his thoughts. "You know, it all makes much more sense now"
"Everything despite you being here from the future" The Brigadier noted. "We're not having many connections with Torchwood at the moment in order to protect the Doctor, but everything could happen and you could even meet yourself. Somehow, I think is quite a risk to take and the Doctor is certainly not one to follow through"
"I can only hope the Doctor knew what she was doing" Jack admitted, every bit as worried as the Brigadier was. "If she knew he could count on the Master, I do really wonder why she allowed me to come here"
"Master, look-"
"C'mon, Doctor, just keep silent" The Master interrupted him sharply, his voice strained by his crouched position under the TARDIS console.
"What the hell are you doing there?" The Doctor asked confused.
The Master finished up what he was doing and then re-emerged from the alcove with two red cables in his hands.
"You should just worry about the Axons, my dear" The Master scolded him. "I already told you I would think of the rest"
"Yes, but what is the rest?" The Doctor asked irately. His anger, though, didn't last much, as his eyes met with the serious ones of his lover. They were the same eyes he had seen before, while they were talking with Jack.
"A bad regeneration can happen to the best of us" The Doctor told the Master when his lover didn't show any intention to speak, his voice soft and laced with worry.
"Who tells you it was just that one regeneration or that one time?" The Master argued heatedly. "Who knows how mad this thing will make me? How far you will allow me to go before stopping me… How long until you will just hate me"
"I could hardly hate you" The Doctor admitted. "No matter what you do"
"Even now, sometimes I don't really know why we end up on opposites sides" The Master confessed pensively. "You're too stubborn. Dominating an inferior race is the easy way out, if you really care about them"
"Well, that's just plain disagreement" The Doctor chuckled, the argument finally lighting up a bit. "Even if you had complete control over you actions you would still think like that and we will still fight over it. However, you know that I love you, and most likely I'll keep loving you in the future"
"I do know that Doctor" The Master admitted, heaving a sigh as he leaned over the TARDIS console, tired from pretending he was alright with the whole ordeal. "Maybe this is why we sent him back to us"
"We?" The Doctor asked uncertainly, shortening the distance between the two of them.
"You don't' really think that this plan is yours, do you?" The Master countered, as with a couple of taps on a button and a roll of a knob he activated the external camera, so that they could see the part of the humans' conversation that interested him.
"She was with another woman when I met her last, though"
"She?" The Brigadier asked surprised.
"Yeah, The Doctor's last regeneration turned him into a cute blonde" Jack explained quickly, before resuming his speech. "The woman she was with called herself Missy… They looked quite close, even though she had just regenerated and that Missy wasn't one of her companions"
"Missy" Sergeant Benton repeated suspiciously.
"I bet my money on Mistress" Captain Yates stated proudly, crossing his arms on his chest.
"Meaning: she was the Master" The Brigadier concluded, at a loss of words all things considered and put together. "It's really something the Master would do"
"See?" The Master concluded, as he deactivated the camera once again. "I told you that the plan was mine"
"But Jack is my former companion and I sent him here" The Doctor argued petulantly.
"Of course, my dear Doctor" The Master countered, turning to face his friend and shortening the distance between them. "Because it has never happened me helping you out with one of your problems"
"And what would be my problem with him, my dear, since you know everything?" The Doctor wondered, serious yet teasing.
The Master didn't rise to the bait and just let his hand tracing the low of the Doctor's jaw.
"You want to run away from him, don't you?" He told him plainly, feeling the Doctor jump lightly under his soft touch. "I'm sure it will be hard on you knowing that you can't find a way to help him since he scares you too much"
"Master-" The Doctor whispered lightly, letting the Master's touch ground him.
"Yeah, I know, you can't know it now… However, you are stranded on one time on Earth as much as he is. Among all her regenerations, you are the one who can understand Captain Harkness the best"
The Doctor sighed deeply and let his forehead resting against the Master's. "How do you know what's the solution, though? You're right, he scares me too much to think properly about a way to help him… Nevertheless, what would I do, if I could think properly? What can you do?"
"My dear Doctor" The Master answered him fondly, embracing the Doctor's neck with his arms and bringing him down towards him for a deep long kiss. "The answer is quite easy, since I'm the one who can better understand his dead lover"
TBC
