Chapter 7

Day 46-50

Jack stretched out on the soft bed, and savoured the feeling of being clean and pain free. The Master had shot him, to heal all his injuries, but then treated him well. He had allowed Jack to use his suite freely. Food and drink were to hand, and clean clothes, black jeans and a black silk shirt, were laid out. Jack had spent an hour in the massive bath, then used the Master's luxury towels, and finally flopped into the king sized bed (alone). He was exhausted after the trauma of the previous weeks, and wanted nothing more than to sleep for days. The Master let him do so, wanting him back to full vitality.

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Apart from the delivery of their food and water, the Torchwood team were left alone for several days after the events on the outer deck. They were extremely bored by this point, though, as Tosh pointed out, being bored was a blessing on the Valiant. Having seen what was happening to some of the other prisoners, anything else would most likely be a nightmare.

When the guards did come to escort them to the flight deck, it was thankfully not the notoriously sadistic Stevens and Modine. Even so, it was with considerable trepidation that they followed. When they arrived on the flight deck, it seemed to be deserted. They stood there for several minutes, wondering why they had been taken there. The guards had stationed themselves around the room, and looked set to stay for a while.

To their surprise, an old man emerged from a tatty tent near the flight deck stairs. They recognised him, as the man in the wheelchair, that they had seen when the Master nearly threw Tosh off the Valiant. He was obviously a prisoner. He gazed at the four grimy, jeans clad, people standing on the flight deck, clearly wondering who they were.

Seeing as the guards were showing no signs of interfering with them, or the old man, Gwen walked up to him. "Hello, I'm Gwen Cooper, who are you?"

"Ah, of course," the old man replied, and, nodding towards the others, said, "and you must be Toshiko Sato, Owen Harper and Ianto Jones."

Surprised, Gwen replied, "yes, that's right, how did you know?"

"You're Jack's friends."

"You know Jack!" Ianto quickly interrupted, "Have you seen him? Do you know where he is? Is he ok?"

The Doctor looked at Ianto, sympathetically. It was obvious that the young man cared a lot about Jack. "I do know him, and I think he is aboard the Valiant. He certainly was when the Master first took over. But he hasn't let me see Jack, so I don't know if he is alright," the Doctor finished sadly. "I am very worried about him."

"Who are you?" demanded Gwen. "And how do you know Jack?"

"I'm the Doctor," he explained, "Jack might have talked about me."

Ianto was taken aback, "You're the one Jack ran off with when he left us!" He grimaced and then added under his breath, "I thought you'd be younger, and ... fitter."

At that moment, music blared from the loudspeakers. The guards straightened to attention. They knew that this heralded the Master's approach.

The Torchwood team gasped in disbelief as the Master came onto the flight deck, with Jack flanking him. Jack, who was not restrained or under any threat, who appeared to be freely operating. He was even armed. A Toclafane bobbed along behind them.

The Master smiled happily at them. "I thought you'd like to meet my new assistant. I believe you already know each other. Jack here has agreed to work for me."

"No fucking way," breathed Owen.

"That's not true," shouted Ianto. "Jack would never work for you."

As it looked as if the Torchwood team were about to get up close and personal with the Master and Jack, the Master signaled to the guards who restrained them easily.

"Now, now, kiddies," the Master smirked, "if you don't believe me, ask your erstwhile boss yourselves."

As one, the team looked at Jack. It was Gwen who spoke, "tell us it's not true, Jack."

Jack looked guilty. "It is true Gwen," he admitted.

"But why?"

"It's in my best interests to do so," was Jack's succinct reply.

"I don't believe it," announced Tosh, though, judging by the looks the others were throwing Jack, she was in a minority. Even the Doctor looked as if he believed what Jack had said. Ianto was the only one who looked unconvinced.

"I think they need a bit more convincing, don't you?" the Master asked Jack, who nodded.

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The guards dragged a female prisoner onto the deck. Two Toclafane accompanied them. She was thrown to her knees in front of the Master. She had obviously been cruelly beaten. Her long, dark, hair only partially hid the bruises on her face.

"This," declaimed the Master, "is the leader of the Paris group of troublemakers, that I have had my Toclafane hunt down. The rest of her sorry group are dead. And now she is going to join them."

He motioned to Jack, who stepped forward and unholstered his gun.

The Torchwood team, still restrained by their guards, were shocked and Tosh shouted out, "Jack, what are you doing?"

Jack just ignored her, and, walking calmly towards the woman, raised his gun and shot her in the head. She died instantaneously, her body slumping bonelessly to the floor.

As she fell, Owen yelled out "You bastard," which he could have been applying to the Master, or Jack, or both. Gwen and Tosh were stunned into silence and Ianto just looked ill.

"Take them back to the cells," the Master ordered. Jack, and the guards who originally brought them up from the cells, escorted them back down. There was a stony silence from the team all the way.

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Once the team were back in their cells, Jack dismissed the guards. Other than the ever present Toclafane, who patrolled the cell block, Jack was alone with his team.

"What happened to loyalty?" snapped Owen.

"What right have you to preach about loyalty to me?" retorted Jack, staring at Owen. "You murdered me, not knowing it wouldn't be permanent." He turned to Ianto, "you played me, and hid a cyberman in my home, as well as supporting Owen in betraying me. Gwen, you led them in opening the rift, which led to me having to sacrifice myself yet again. Even you supported them, Tosh. I don't think any of you can honestly believe that you deserve my loyalty."

They all looked guilty at this. "But what about the Doctor?" argued Ianto. "You left us, to run off after him. Without a word. You must have some loyalty to him."

"I might have," Jack answered bitterly. "If he hadn't tried to get away from me, before I could get to him and the TARDIS. If he hadn't told me he abandoned me deliberately, on a space station with only corpses for company, If he hadn't called me WRONG."

Jack stopped to compose himself for a moment, then continued. "He doesn't deserve my loyalty either."

"That still doesn't excuse you siding with the Master," argued Gwen, "you are betraying all of humanity, not just the Doctor and us."

"I am tired of being responsible for the world," Jack yelled. For once I'm going to do what's best for me. Can you imagine what the Master could do to me, if I refused to work for him?"

"You're just a coward," sneered Owen scathingly.

"That's easy for you to say, you can only die once, Owen. I don't have that luxury."

With that, Jack turned and left the cell block, leaving the team to cope with their shock and sense of betrayal as best they could.