The Doctor simply tossed Jack the clothing, unaware as to what was going on. His head still spun with memories he couldn't vanquish as the clothes fell forgotten to the floor. Jack held back a sob of fury as he relieved the Doctor of his charge. Once he saw the man, nothing else mattered. "Ianto! Ianto, are you okay? Are you hurt? Oh my God, I'm so sorry..." He held the man lovingly, doing his best to stay emotionless. The attempts failed miserably.
Ianto leaned weakly into Jack, doing his best to stay standing. "Jack... the team... they're... they're-" He pressed his face into Jack's shoulder, face suddenly hot with tears he had pent up for months.
"They're dead... Oh God. All dead."
It took a moment for Jack to process what Ianto had just said. The message hit home soon enough. Jack's face drained, but he fixed a poker face on over it. Eyes hard and mouth set, he tenderly scooped up the sobbing man before him. The man he loved. "Doctor... I have to go back." he demanded, voice hard and full of malice. "That son of a bitch has some things to pay for." Harkness shoved away the faces of the crew, his beautiful crew and focused on one thing: The Master. He strode away, face locked on the pallid Ianto in his arms, before the Doctor could protest.
"Jack, don't you dare," the Doctor called. The Master was the only other Time Lord in existance. His charge, even if the monster wouldn't admit it. Indecision slammed into him as he realized the man had just lost the only ones he loved to the Master... What should he do? Let Jack exact his revenge? Rescue his foe from his friend?
Mrs. Jones looked at Jack's retreating figure, and then back at the Doctor "... What now? I want that son of a bitch dead more than anything, Doctor. But... But are we going to go after Jack?"
The motion of the Jones behind him made up his mind. He had to get them out, but there was nothing he could do for Jack or the Master now... They were on their own. Without a word, the Lonely God turned and continued on his way, ushering Martha's family before him.
Tish nodded quickly as she bit her lip. This had to be hard for the Doctor. But, in her opinion, he had made the right choice. Jack needed that revenge. She pointed up the stairs "Only one more flight of stairs, and then we'll be on the top deck. From there, it's to the left."
Ianto instinctively allowed himself to be carried. Normally he would protest, but he was too tired, too weak. Besides, all he could think about was that day. Tears in his eyes, he decided he had to tell Jack what had happened. "We barricaded... We barricaded ourselves in the hub... because we knew he'd-" Ianto shivered at the image, "we knew he'd be after us... We managed for 2 months... to fend the tolfacane off... but one day... Oh God... Jack, one day... he showed up... with hundreds... maybe thousands... No escape... He had all the exits blocked... and then... and then... he just let them attack..." The young man began sobbing again, "The blood... oh God... so much blood... everyone... everything... even the pteradactyl... dead. I... I was the only one left... He took me... alive... said I was insurance... in case you... in case you escaped..." Ianto shuddered and lay his head against Jack's bare shoulder, eyes closed and chest heaving with sobs.
Jack stopped and nestled his head against Ianto's. He stroked at his lover's tears and closed his eyes. "Shhh... It'll be fine. We'll get the bastard. Don't worry, shhhh..." He cooed to the alarmingly light man and cried softly despite himself. All dead... He'd been there, always living on through everything... Everyone... Always carrying on alone.
Jack Harkness, the impossible fact, the fixed point in time and space, lone protector of Ianto Jones and failed guardian of TORCHWOOD, stood and continued on.
The ragged group dashed through the halls, ordered by Tish and the Doctor, one for navigation and the other for safety. As the area continued on in desertion, the Time Lord feared the worst. Why hadn't they been caught up to yet? Surely the Master hadn't stayed trapped this long. Something had to be lying in wait ahead. The man stumbled a moment as a fresh stab of pained memories assaulted his mind. He had to do something to keep Martha's family safe. Fighting the images, he sprinted ahead and lay a hand on the jogging Tish's shoulder, pain barely concealed in his eyes. "If anything happens, yell," he instructed softly before dashing off further down the hall, white trainers slapping the tile and echoing down the corridor.
Soon he reached the stairs to be climbed and ascended quickly, each step heavier than the last as the mental wounds bogged him down. The Doctor sprinted up and up, one hand on his side to hold back the pain in his broken ribs and the other on his temple. "Go AWAY!" he hissed at the memories. He was simply unable to function with the faces, the blood, the fire, chaos everywhere. In his haste, he ran into a wall and stumbled backwards. With a dark glare at it he turned and raced up the next flight...
And straight into some guards.
Meanwhile the Master struggled against his chains, growling and snarling like a feral animal. Not a single guard had passed by! Had no one heard him? No. Those traitors must have flown the coop as soon as they found out he was incapacitated. 'That's what you get for forcing people into labor,' he thought. 'Never could get good slave labor these days.' But... he vowed himself... they would pay... and they would die.
Ianto looked up at Jack, and gently brushed the older man's tears away, trying his best to stop crying himself. He had never seen Jack so weak, so vulnerable. And it scared him. He shuddered at what his boss might do if he did confront the Master. He had to try and calm him down. "No... Jack... No revenge. If we did that... we'd be just as bad as him. Let's... let's go... I want to get out of here..."
Jack was unresponsive, dead set on revenge. Ianto's pleas broke his heart, but the Master would pay. He would take those thirteen lives. He would take them all. The Time Lord could take anything from Jack, but those he loved were never to be touched.
Ianto noticed the darkness in Jack's eyes. He knew Jack better than anyone... and he knew how violent Harkness could be. He just didn't want the man to do something he would regret later on. "Jack" he whispered, as tenderly as possible, "Jack... please." And with that he pulled himself upwards and placed a gentle kiss on his lover's lips. "Let's go home."
Jack stopped at the kiss and bowed his head, looking down at Ianto. He hated to bring it up again since Ianto had calmed somewhat, but he had no choice. "What home?" he asked softly as the man in his arms dropped back into his grasp.
Ianto's eyes widened in realization. He had almost been able to push it out of his mind in order to stay strong for Jack but... Oh God... The memories... They all came flooding back once again, and the tears began to fall once more. So much for trying to be strong. He looked up at Jack with determined yet tear-streaked eyes "You're... you're right... I want to see him suffer.."
Jack nodded once and kissed Ianto's forehead before continuing on down the corridor, the Master's frantic yells barely audible in the distance.
The guards stood in the Doctor's path, neither fighting, nor moving to let him through. One stepped forwards to address him. "Halt, Doctor!" The leader was tall and dressed in kevlar, sandy blonde hair and a deep bass voice which echoed down the enclosed stairwell ominously. The Doctor simply put on his best grin and raised his hands in surrender.
Mrs. Jones and Tish frantic exchanged looks at the sound of the guards from further up the stairs they had begun to ascend. Should they keep quiet and keep out of the guard's view? Should they try to fight? They were completly unarmed and in no state to put up any sort of a decent fight. So, crouching low, the Jones family waited.
Rose's screaming face was shoved to the side as the Doctor turned on the charm over the chants of "It's your fault" echoing in his mind. "Oi! Is that any way to treat a guest? Much less one who's trying to get you out of here, eh?" He looked at the guards as if it were a no-brainer that they should let him through and made as if he were going to barge on anyways.
The men didn't move, instead they looked at each other in amusement at the Doctor's actions. The guard who had spoken earlier cleared his throat to get the Doctor's attention. "We summoned a large jet, sir, once we realized the Master was incapacitated. It will be here in 5 minutes, and it should have enough room for everyone. We are currently assembling the other prisoners on the roof for travel. That's why you nor the Master have not encountered any guards for a while, we have all been working to escape. We are not here by choice sir, merely slaves and prisoners, threatened to do the Master's bidding on pain of hate the Master as much as anyone." His voice was softer than before as his eyes betrayed the tint of fear that he must have been holding back for months.
The Doctor beamed at the escort. "Oh, brilliant! You are just brilliant, you are! Oh, I love it!" He grinned luminously and moved forwards some more. "I'll just be going then," he said confidently, but without warning the Time Lord cringed and doubled over, grasping his ribs and head. Pained gasps rasped through his lips as the memories snuck back and danced in his vision. Why? Why was this happening?
The guard bent down to be on the same level with the doubled over Doctor. "Injured, sir? Here." And with that, the well muscled man hoisted the Doctor up on his shoulders and motioned for his men to begin the last part of the ascent.
The Doctor grunted as he was hoisted up, "Ngh, wait! There are others!" He whistled loudly, hoping the Jones would hear him as the guards continued up. He didn't trust this situation, but was happy that humans were helping after all this time. The lonely traveller who was never helped up... For once it was wrong.
The Jones family looked up. "Do you think it's safe?" Tish whispered to her dad, "It could be a trap."
Mr. Jones shrugged. "I think we should just trust him... the Doctor I mean. Seems to know what he's doing." And with that, the Joneses ascended the stairs into the view of the guards and the Doctor.
Soon, Harkness and Ianto were at the door to the cell of the raving Master. His screams for guards weren't that of one used to being in captivity, more one of a spoiled child who wasn't happy with his situation. No anguish, only anger. Fury bubbled deep in Jack's chest as he turned smoldering eyes to the man in his arms. "In or out?" he asked quietly, aware of Jones's discomfort.
Ianto hugged Jack tightly, arms still looped around his neck for support. "I said I want to see him suffer. And I still do."
Jack walked into the room slowly, eyes filled with hatred, terrifying and bright. Tenderly setting Ianto against the wall, he strode over to the Master.
The Master raised his head and smirked at the man before him, amused with his anger. "Well, you're not exactly a guard."
Jack reared back and punched him as hard as possible across his smirking face. "You made a fatal mistake," he hissed. "You can do whatever the fuck you want with me... But you do not harm my team. You don't touch my family." He punched again and again, a methodic machine, each hissing breath two more swings. Hooks to the ribs, jabs to the face, over and over. Each hit was harder than the last as Harkness exacted his vengeance on the monster, but it would never be enough.
The Master laughed darkly, grimacing through the pain. It hurt like hell, but for the time being, he didn't care. "OOOOoooh, big bad Harkness, trying to...AH... show off for his itty bitty... little, ah... princess!" As the blood began to stream from his nose (which was more than likely broken after the last punch), the Master knew he it was time to summon his best weapon. His guards had abandoned him... but his children never would. He smirked at Ianto, trying his best not to give Jack the satisfaction of seeing just how much pain he was in. "Tea boy... ahhh... your going to like this... part." He seethed through bared teeth and drew in a deep breath: "OH, TOCLAFANE!"
Ianto's eyes went wide at the words, as he instinctively pressed his body to the wall as closely as possible. Wracking sobs assaulted him again as he began to shudder in sheer terror. "No... Oh, God... NO!"
Ianto's panic was the only thing that drew Jack out of his mad fury. He heard only the worn man's protests, nothing of the Master. Abandoning his task, he ran to the man curled in the corner. "What is it, what's wrong? Ianto? Ianto, look at me, I'm here." He tenderly held his lover's face between his hands and forced Ianto's gaze towards his own. "Ianto, what's wrong?"
Harkness's charge shivered violently and looked at the floor, trying, and failing to stay strong "Jack... Jack he's... no... he's sending the Tolfacane."
The Master smirked through the blood and pain, teeth bared in a serpentine grin. Humans could be so weak. He laughed madly as he heard the buzzing of his children in the background, fast approaching. "Oooooohhh, Ianto! It's time for round two. You'll go the same way as all your little friends. And I'll make Jack clean up the blood!"
The Doctor's pride was injured as he was carried, but escape was necessary. Still, he had a reputation to upkeep. "Oi! I can move on my own!" he exclaimed irately, not helped with the shaking of his head as the chorus continued.
That was when the Jones family clattered up the stairs behind them. With a touch of effort, the Doctor turned his one uncovered eye to face them from in front of the guard. A grin spread across his features through the mental assault. "Jones! 'Ello!" he called back before cringing as the smile fell from his face again.
The guard looked up at him skeptically. "But not not easily, sir, we'll get there quicker this way." Another guard, female with dark brown hair and eyes, pointed at the Jones family "Are these your friends?" she asked with a hint of a Russian accent.
The Doctor rolled his eyes at their stubbornness. "Blimey, and I thought I was the stubborn one, yes, they're with me, now get on with it!" The stress of the memories was too much. He noticed the smallest of details about them but missed the big things. His mind swirled about chaotically under the track of the chorus, 'It's your fault, it's your fault.'
However he remembered one thing as they ran up the steps that was actually useful and needed remembering. Blimey, he could be thick sometimes.
His eyes shot open and he struggled against the guard. "No, nonono we have to go back! Take me back! Jack!"
The Master grinned as he sensed his children growing closer. "Can you hear them? They are coming... Yes, they are coming. And then... THE MASTER WILL RISE AGAIN!" He threw his head back and began cackling.
Jack's mind shot ahead at the mention of Toclafane. He remembered the screaming as they descended from the sky, people dying below them, the President being slaughtered. He had to think, and instantly a plan formulated over the Master's mad laughter. "Ianto, you're going to be fine, trust me," he said firmly, wrapping his bare arms about the man to comfort him. As the buzzing rolled closer, Jack maneuvered sobbing Ianto into the fetal position as far into the corner as he could. God, he was so small. As soon as he was as far from the center of the room as possible, curled to the smallest he could, Jack put his head against his lover's and wrapped himself around the man. He couldn't stay dead, so, logically, he could act as an immortal shield... he hoped. "Ianto, pray to your deity..." he whispered loudly over the clicking horde spreading around the exterior of the Valiant. There was one thing that needed to be said... he may never have the chance to let Ianto hear it alive again. "I love you."
Ianto glanced up at Jack and smiled slightly through the tears. He had never heard Jack say those three little words, but oh they felt so good. Despite their impending deaths, he felt a warm sensation in the pit of his stomach. Happiness. "Jack... I love you too"
Harkness smiled in the shadow under him at the crying Ianto and let a tear fall. This was possibly the last time he would see this man alive, and a smile was how he wanted to remember him. He had enough regrets, to not tell him now would only add to the infinite list. With a final kiss he braced for the Toclafane that would be there any minute.
