Vengeance - Chapter Eight
Author: Milady Dragon
2 February 5193 (Earth Standard Date)
Gliese 581g
Hubworld
Really, the Doctor was having almost too much fun being all science-y when Jack showed up and asked to 'borrow' him for a moment.
Yes, he'd had a lot of experience with that sort of thing. But there was something uniquely different and satisfying working with this eclectic group of people, and a part of him was very reluctant to follow Jack as he left the lab; after all, he really had just arrived, and had been getting quite distracted with the thrill of scientific discovery. It had allowed him to put aside what he and River had discussed in the TARDIS… although, admittedly, his wife had done an admirable job of that already.
Fitz and Simmons were a treasure. He'd met them before, back when Phillip had been overloaded by the dark magic, and had been surprised that they were the reincarnations of a duo of scientists from the immortal's old version of SHIELD. He'd found himself completely and utterly charmed by them, and had found himself wondering if they might want to take a trip in the TARDIS with him sometime. He had a feeling that Jemma might jump at the chance, but he wasn't certain about Fitz; although, the Doctor was willing to bet that, wherever Simmons went, Fitz would go as well.
Then there was the triad of Costello, Harper, and Holmes. Those three had deep ties to Torchwood, having been on Jack and Ianto's original team. To be honest, he was fascinated with Owen Harper the most, mainly because he was truly a contradiction: someone as argumentative and snarky having been reborn as a Polarian. How had the man survived that peaceful and law-abiding society long enough to leave? And then, he didn't have a lick of magic in him, but had become a magical theorist, and from what Merlin was saying he was quite good at it. In fact, Merlin had confided that it was a shame that Owen hadn't been born a wizard, because he had such an intuitive grasp of magic that he would have made quite a proficient one.
And the Doctor wasn't about to forget just how wonderful it was to work with his son once more.
They'd made a great deal of headway by the time Jack had showed up.
The Time Lord followed the immortal out of the lab and toward the lift. Back in his last regeneration, he'd seen Jack as wrong, something that shouldn't exist. That attitude had been all tied up in Time Lord indoctrination, and it had taken his son to make the Doctor see just how…well, how wrong…he had been about Jack's immortality. Certainly, humans weren't meant to be that way, but he should have taken into consideration that the universe does things that no one can understand, and it usually had a very good reason. Knowing Jack's future, the Doctor now knew that Jack's presence was important, and him gaining his immortality through the Bad Wolf had all been the part of a universal plan.
There were a lot of races out there who would have claimed that it was some sort of all-seeing deity involved. The Doctor knew better. He'd met gods, and none of them were how they were portrayed in the legends. And none of them would have instigated Jack's immortality.
No, the universe had its own way of doing things. And no god or goddess was privy to that process.
His friend – because that was what Jack was, his friend – didn't actually get into the lift. Instead, he took a detour past the bank of closed doors and into an empty lab, making certain the door was closed once the Doctor had accompanied him inside.
"What can I do for you, Jack?" he enquired, really curious as to what the immortal was up to.
"I have a favour I need to ask."
The Doctor took in Jack's appearance. He was still wearing all black, and that didn't suit him at all even though the Time Lord could understand. He, himself, had decided on wearing a black coat in order to honour the Jones clan and their loss.
The black ensemble seemed to wash out Jack's normally tanned skin, giving him a slightly sallow aspect. His hair was perfectly styled, and he was impeccably groomed, but the Doctor really wished that his former companion would go back to his greatcoat.
"Anything you need. You know that."
The Doctor meant that. Not just because he felt he owed Jack and Ianto for his former regeneration's attitude toward the two of them, but because they were friends…they were family.
"I want to ask you if you'd go with me to Trafusis. To help track down those two smugglers who sent Sabrina into that trap on Stark's World."
Nodding, the Doctor considered what Jack was asking. It would be considerably faster if they went by TARDIS; if Jack waited to meet up with Cadi and Alun on Dahlnia Prime, it would still be another three weeks before they could arrive by ship at Trafusis.
There was a sense of time passing that the Doctor didn't care for. He just had the feeling that, the longer they took to finally track down the last of HYDRA, the more of an opportunity the terrorist organisation had to do even more damage.
"Would it be you and Ianto then?"
Jack shook his head. "No. He'll want to follow up on the lead we just got on the Dragon Slayer."
As the immortal explained about the police finding that ring, and where – and who – it had led to, the Time Lord became grimmer by every word. HYDRA had actually found one of the knights who'd been responsible for killing Ianto's birth family, and that…no, that wasn't something that could just be ignored. He could certainly understand that Ianto would want to track this Sir Guy de Marigny down and send his soul onto its next destination.
There had been a time when the Doctor had believed that killing was a final resort. However, he'd come to learn that there were some crimes that death was warranted, and he'd come to appreciate the dragon need for vengeance. If anyone would have told him he'd get that notion before this regeneration, he would have laughed at them.
"We'll need to go to Dahlnia Prime first," Jack explained. "I think if we leave Cadi behind we'll both be in a world of hurt. Besides, we can use her contacts on Trafusis to find the ones we're looking for."
"Just let me know when you're ready to go."
"Tomorrow is fine. I want to make sure Ianto's going to be alright first. I think he will be, but I just got him back to eating, and I'm afraid this latest news…"
Jack looked more than worried; he was scared. The Doctor didn't blame him. He'd noticed that Ianto hadn't been eating as well, and the Time Lord was well aware that it wasn't good for a dragon to go without food. Well, it wasn't good for anyone, but a dragon needed to keep their inner flame fed, and to do that they needed much more fuel than a normal human. Not feeding that flame would only lead to illness.
He could very well see Ianto being so affected by discovering that particular part of his past coming back to haunt him that he'd backslide into abstinence once more.
He couldn't help but reach out, grasping Jack's wrist in an effort to comfort him. Under his fingers he would feel the Vortex thrumming under his friend's skin, calling to his sense of time like a siren. The human body wasn't meant to contain it, but Jack was anything but a normal human being any longer. He'd been changed by the Bad Wolf and by the Great Dragons, and was so much more than the flirty, amoral conman who'd tried to sell him and Rose a Chula ship at the height of the Blitz.
Back then, Jack had come close to breaking through the shell his Ninth persona had built around his heart after the Time War. He'd never come out and admitted that; but then that incarnation had been the one to abandon Jack on the Gamestation. Yes, he'd been in the midst of regenerating at the time, and had sensed what Rose had done, but another – very small – part of him hadn't wanted to go back, afraid of what Jack might, someday, come to mean to him.
No, saying nothing was a good idea. Besides, they'd both moved far beyond that time…Jack, with Ianto, and himself with Rose, and now with River, which was really the longest relationship he'd had outside of the woman he'd been married to back on Gallifrey, before she'd been lost to him and he'd run away with their granddaughter. And Merlin was the first child he'd had since then as well. Honestly, the Doctor was the happiest he'd been in a very long time. He'd never really had a family like the one he had now, and the immortal standing with him in a lab in Torchwood Tower was a part of that.
"I could stand here and give you all sorts of platitudes about how things were going to be alright," he murmured, "but we both know it's never really ever going to be completely fine again. But you and Ianto will get past this to a point where you can think of Sabrina and not with the pain you're both experiencing now. It's just going to take some time, and you have all sorts of family to help with that. Let us support you both."
Jack's eyes were glittering with unshed tears, but the smile on his face was teasing. "I never thought I'd live to see the day that you'd be giving me that sort of advice, Doctor." His hand turned just enough to slip his fingers around the Doctor's, holding on to the comfort that was being offered.
The Time Lord rolled his eyes. "Well, don't get used to it." He squeezed Jack's fingers, warm in his.
They stood there for a few minutes, until Jack sighed heavily. "I know you're right. Ianto and I have lost so many, but this time…I carried her, Doctor. And Ianto wanted to name her for the sister he lost. I think that's what's really at the heart of so many emotions he's feeling right now: knowing that our daughter was killed by the same man who killed his sister. As for me…well, no one should ever have to outlive a child, but at the same time I've come to realise that's going to keep on happening for me. Not that I'll ever get used to it…"
"Jack, if I ever see you getting used to something like this, that's the day you'll have lost your humanity completely, and trust me when I say…Ianto won't let that happen. He's your anchor, and he'll make certain you remain the good man you've become. Just as you're his. No matter what happens, you'll always have each other."
He'd seen it, far in the future: the Immortal and the Last Dragon, together, until they each took their last breaths. Sure, time could be rewritten – and hadn't he been a witness to that! – but of this he was certain. Jack and Ianto would have as close to their eternity as two beings such as themselves would have.
The Doctor couldn't put into words how honoured he was to be considered family to this impossible man. He might never say it, but that didn't make it any less true.
Jack finally let go, his hand dropping to his side. "I'm going to go back home and check on Ianto. Why don't you and River come to dinner tonight? Bring everyone else with you. Oh, and if you can talk Fitz and Jemma into it as well, that would be great."
"I'll do my best," the Doctor promised.
"That's all you can do."
Jack nodded, and then left the lab, the Doctor standing there for a moment, lost in his thoughts.
He was very glad that he hadn't shared his concerns with either Jack or Ianto. Concerns about Merlin, and Phillip, and even River, although he was a bit less worried about her. She'd told him that she'd always been aware of her own inner darkness, and that did make her uniquely qualified to deal with any sort of contamination that might show up from her being brought back from the dead. She was handling her own emotions quite admirably, with everything that she'd lost when Merlin had done what he'd done. Losing an entire family, even though they weren't actually dead, could have been eating her up inside. She seemed to be dealing, and he would be there for her if she suddenly found herself unable to do so.
He also wasn't as worried about Phillip as he'd started out to be. His friend appeared to be fine. The Doctor did have some questions about Phillip's sudden ability to control his magic so much better than before, and his new-found acceptance of his power, but that was something he would find time to discuss at a later date, when things were done with HYDRA.
As for Merlin…truth be told, the Doctor was by far more concerned about his son than anyone else. Merlin had done something so incredibly dark, but for the best of reasons, and it was bound to come back and bite him when he least expected it. It was the main reason he was willing to stay; yes, HYDRA needed to be dealt with, but this was his only son. The Doctor was almost positive that Merlin was going to crash and burn at some point, although to be fair that could be sometime in the distant future. Still, he was going to be there for his son when that did occur, to help in whatever way he could.
He wasn't even going to get into what he thought might be happening to the TARDIS…
Sighing, the Doctor turned and left, heading back to the lab. He had some convincing to do, to get everyone back to Ddraig Llyn.
He wasn't going to disappoint Jack if he could possibly avoid it.
