The TARDIS landed outside the hub with a loud creaking and swirling of the engines. The Doctor quickly grabbed his coat and ran into the bright afternoon sun of Cardiff bay. Stepping onto the entrance platform, he shrugged on his coat whilst he began to descend.
His hair was still wet from the shower he had so rudely been called out of, and wow, had he needed that shower! Being covered in slime is never a comfortable situation, especially when the slime concerned is that of a Jabbawagga bug, and has the distinct odour of rotting fish. The Doctor scanned over the hub as he descended, and noted that it didn't seem much of an emergency. Ianto and Gwen had fallen asleep on the sofas! Hardly mass panic if you asked the Doctor, he had expected raised voices, button pressing and lots, and lots of coffee, tea at the very least. But no, the hub was eerily quiet; the doctor tiptoed across the floor, not wanting to disturb the sleepy heads on the sofa.
'Doctor?' Came the distinct American tone from across the hub, 'I'm in the office.'
He thought it strange Jack had not been there to greet him as he usually was. Come think of it, there were a number of things that, although very subtle, didn't add up. Usually, there was always a member of the team working the computers - now they stood completely shut down in the corner. Torchwood never shut their computer system down; it was too dangerous, the rift had to be monitored at all times. Next, was the fact that both Ianto and Gwen were asleep, if it was this quiet, why didn't they return home? More to the point, why were they asleep at three in the afternoon? The details only registered with The Doctor because of Jack's voice, it sounded… constrained? Just as he had said his name, yes just a hint of constraint. Why ask if it was him, who else was he expecting to waltz in without knocking?
The Doctor never was one to ignore his thoughts; they were always present in whatever he did or wherever he went. But in this case he merely bundled to them to the back of his mind and proceeded to walk towards Jacks office.
Ah. Maybe he should listen to his thoughts and senses more often.
'I'm sorry' Jack said, as the Doctor entered the room to be face with four handguns immediately trained on him. They had been hiding in the corners of the room to avoid being seen. The Doctor raised his hands and slowly began to back out of the room. He turned around quickly, in the hope of being able to run back towards the exit, but was greeted by another eight soldiers, each with their own gun trained on him.
'Well, I do seem to be in a bit of a pickle here, don't I?' The Doctor said whilst slowly backing back into the office. 'Nice to see you Jack, well, you were certainly right in saying that there was an emergency. One great big emergency staring at me right now.' The Doctor now noticed the cuffs that Jack was wearing as he moved his hands above the desk and sunk his head into them. He glanced at Jack; he looked exhausted, he clearly wasn't happy…
'Doctor Darling, so nice of you to join us!' A woman, dressed in a plain office suit and heels had slowly sauntered into the room. She looked like the cat that had got the cream. Her small pointed teeth curved into a smile.
'Yes, well, I cant say I was expecting you but, well the more the merrier they always say!' He gave her one of his most charming smiles, and stepped forward to shake her hand. At this, two of the guards pounced. They grabbed the doctors lean frame and slammed him into Jack's desk pinning him with his arms behind his back, even causing Jack to move back with a start. Within seconds he was handcuffed.
'What the hell was that about? He was just trying to shake your hand! He wasn't being aggressive in at all!' Jack made an attempt to get up but was roughly pinned to the desk too alongside the doctor.
The Doctor was taken by surprise by this sudden outburst. He had hit the desk hard, causing his nose to bleed and a cut to his lip, and he heavily; suspected that tomorrow, he would have a black eye to match…
'Tut tut, Doctor, don't you be getting yourself into trouble now. We would prefer to have your full co-operation,' She paused to gesture widely with her arms, 'consider us your friends.' The woman in the suit seemed at ease and in full control of the situation, but she was offering a welcome The Doctor definitely did not want to take.
'Well, if I'm honest, slamming me into a desk, for an attempted handshake, doesn't strike me as particularly friendly. Or has it simply gone out of fashion these days to greet someone with a nice handshake and a smile?' The Doctors voice was muffled as he was being pinned down on the desk.
'Hmm, bit of a cheeky one aren't you?' She smiled, and leaned closer over the Doctor, so she made sure he could hear her voice clearly: 'But, I'm sure we can fix that.'
With that, the Doctor was wrenched into a standing position, with the two guards firmly gripping his arms. Blood rushed to his head from the fast movement and dizziness caused him to sag a little, but was held firm by the guards. The woman began to speak again, still with a honeyed smile on her lips.
'Now for the legal dribble I'm afraid, "You are now under arrest by the powers of Torchwood. You have breached the verbal contract between yourself and Queen Victoria whom banished you from this planet. You are to be held in the custody of Torchwood in London. You will shortly be searched and then transported to our central base." We've already taken the TARDIS and it has been confiscated accordingly. Any questions darling?' She finished before gesturing to some guards at the door who moved off, indicating that this meeting was about to end.
'Nope, no problemo!' The Time Lord cringed, what was with him and the strange vocabulary today? 'Only, when you've finally finished trying to get into the TARDIS, and might I just add for the record now - don't bother - would you be so kind as to keep her somewhere safe? Last time this happened, her doorstep looked as though it had gone through a mangle! Well, it nearly did once, but that's a different story….' The Doctor trailed off into silence.
'What makes you think we can't access the TARDIS?' She smirked. Leaving no time for the Doctor to answer she nodded to the guards who pulled the Doctor out of the room, shortly followed by a resisting Jack who was not going quietly. She wanted the Doctor to have plenty of time to think about that little question…
She waited until the room had cleared before lifting the small necklace she wore around her neck, up to the light. A key to the TARDIS, and it was all hers'. Britain was to be put back on the map.
