Chapter Eight:
A/N: here you go, something bigger :)
Looking to either side of him to make sure that he hadn't been followed, Jack reached out and pressed the doorbell.
He heard the sound of footsteps pounding towards the door as the sound of the bell faded. Flexing his knees in a subconscious preparation to fight or run Jack readied himself to meet whatever was on the other side of the heavy wooden door. The door swung open and to his surprise there was no gun pointed at his face just three sets of eyes staring up at him; a girl with blond pigtails, a tanned boy, and a large black and white dog. Smiling at them Jack was about to ask to come in when he heard Charlie's voice floating through the hall.
"Mummy? Is Mummy back?"
"Charlie!" Jack called.
A squeal sounded from the little girl as she rounded the corner, "Uncle Jack!" She screamed with joy.
"How are you pipsqueak?" Jack crouched down to her height.
Charlie nodded happily, "Good. I hurt my hands." She stretched out her bandaged hands to show him, "They get better." She nodded but soon her face screwed up, "But Mummy's gone. Bad men took her! I miss her. You get Mummy!" She started to cry, her tears leaving streaks down her face.
"Hey, hey." He soothed, "I'll find your mummy. Ok, Kiddo? Uncle Jack will find her, I promise."
The little girl nodded with a sniff.
Jack felt someone pull him up by his collar. He didn't recognize the man but that didn't stop him from trying to wriggle out of the other man's grasp with a glare. "You shouldn't promise something you can't be certain of." The older man growled softly, his Scottish accent thick.
Landing on his feet Jack turned to look at John, "I will find her. It's just a matter of how long." He scowled before making his way through the house.
After the kids were set in front of a movie, introductions given, and everyone was sitting around the large oak table, Jack began to speak, "I don't know how much you all know about Mels… I mean River, but there is a lot she probably didn't tell you. If it weren't for her disappearance I wouldn't be here and I certainly wouldn't tell you what I am about to say. But I think it is important that you hear it – no matter how difficult – so that you know what we are up against. I can tell you now, it won't be easy." He shook his head lightly as he looked around the room to make sure he had their attention before he continued.
"The Silence are a criminal organization that began under Madame Kovarian in an effort to remove corrupt leaders. It soon turned to all sorts of crimes, including assassination for hire to the highest bidder. What made Kovarian so effective is that she practically had everyone under mind control. The people who joined and trained believed that what they were doing was for the safety and betterment of the world. If they figured out the truth then they were either killed or didn't care anymore and continued within the organization.
"One of the most horrible things I think Kovarian has ever done was to kidnap a young child. She knew that the people of Gallifrey were among the most advanced people on the planet. It was her plan to train one of these children. She wanted a super weapon. A child trained in her organization, brainwashed, and ready to kill. And so a child was taken from a Gallifreyan family and grew up in the clutches of the Madame.
"Her training was rigorous from a young age. Not only was she educated in the ways in which to kill and injure, she was also given one of the most comprehensive and sophisticated educations one could receive. But it had a spin, she knew of the evils of man and grew up believing that she was chosen to save humanity. She was beaten, electrocuted, and suffered unimaginable horrors all with the reasoning that this is what humanity does and that she had to know what it was like and how to push through it so that she could destroy it. Any other child would not have survived.
"The only good in her life was Kovarian's son, Adam. They grew up together, they trained together. In the end they were the perfect pair of innocence and malice. They began to do missions together, executing kills with finesse and skill that the older members could only dream of. Kovarian was so proud. Her dreams were becoming realized. Soon the two were the most feared and respected assassins in the world.
"I also worked for the Silence. Don't give those looks! Hear me out, not is what it seems." Jack smiled and raised his hands in mock defense, "I was a simple con-man just trying to get along when I heard about the Silence. I was trained to be one of their Time Agents. It was my job to prepare and guide the assassin to their kill. It was up to me to make sure that the timing was executed perfectly. It was also up to me to finish the kill if it went sour or to eliminate the assassin if he or she was compromised.
"I quickly moved through the ranks and became the Time Agent for Adam and Mels, or as you know her better – Professor River Song. Mels and I became good friends. There were, and if I'm honest, still are times, when I wish we were more, but she and Adam were an item. They were a team through and through, on the field and in the bedroom." Jack's voice lingered suggestively.
"We get it Jack." Martha interrupted.
"Right. Right. Where was I?"
"Adam and River." David said.
"Yes, ok. Adam and Mels were close. But Mels began to suspect that it wasn't all black and white like she had been lead to believe. She had been trying to push it out of her mind for years but soon it became too much. She couldn't talk to Adam about it, he would just tell the Madame and he was becoming harder. He was ready to take over, he was moving from being her lover and partner to eyeing his mother's position. But if there was only one thing that Mels was scared of, it was Madame Kovarian. So she talked to me. I did some digging and told her what I found. She was horrified to realize that she had been used, that she had been kidnapped and that she wasn't helping anyone.
"For a while she became hard and dark, believing that the only thing that she was good for was to kill. She soon surpassed Adam in skill and intelligence on missions. She wanted to go solo but Kovarian wouldn't let her. She saw Mels and Adam as being inseparable. Kovarian didn't want to compromise the perfection that she believed that she had attained in Adam and Mels.
"For a while I was afraid that there would be no way to get either of them back. I knew I had lost Adam to the shadows but I was adamant that I wouldn't lose Mels. I tried to talk to her but she shut herself off. But then there came news that Gallifrey had been destroyed. Mels was distraught. She knew that was where she was from and I think she may have even hoped to find her family and return. When the country burned she came to me. She told me that she couldn't be a part of the Silence any more.
"We began to plan. I contacted an agent and began leaking information about the Silence to her. It took a while but eventually she had enough information to plan a raid on the organization. We were in the main base when it happened. In the chaos Kovarian was killed and Mels and I escaped. I got her a new identity as River Song – it was a play on her birth name, Melody Pond…"
"Pond?!" John shouted, any thoughts shot out of his head as images of the Ponds burned across his mind. Reaching across the table, he grabbed the lapels of Jack's coat. "Who were her parents?!"
"Amelia and Rory Pond. I think they went by Williams, but I'm not sure. Let me go!" Jack pushed John's hands off his coat.
In shock John stood quietly and in a trance like state left the room. Clara leaped up and rushed after him.
"As I was saying," Jack picked up where he left off with only a quick glance at the retreating form of Clara, "I got Mels a new identity. She became a Professor and got to have the chance to live a normal life. A life she never had the opportunity to have before. That was almost five years ago now.
"I founded Torchwood and along with my team we are trying to bring the Silence down. Unfortunately, it's been harder than anticipated. Adam has been building the organization back up. He found the agent that we leaked information to and destroyed her life. And now he has Mels. He won't settle for anything except for her by his side. If she refuses I can't stand to think of what he might do, my guess is something painful, and quite possibly deadly."
"Since you know so much about all of this." David frowned, "Why don't you tell us where she is?"
"My guess, from what I've heard about the new Silence base when I've gone to The Harmony and Redemption-"
"The Harmony and Redemption?" Vastra asked.
"It's an underground bar where the criminal element likes to kick back and relax." Jack waved the explanation away with his hand and a smile. "I think she's going to be at the new headquarters on the island of Trenzalore."
)(x)(x)(x)(
John walked aimlessly through the house. Gallifrey. River was Gallifreyan. And he had destroyed her country, his country, their country. She will think he's a monster. He was a monster. He sat dejectedly on the stairs. Clara tried to say something to him but he couldn't hear her. He waved her away like she was an annoying gnat. She huffed but eventually left him alone to his thoughts.
The soft sound of singing pulled him out from within his mind. He looked up, it was the sound of a Gallifreyan children's song. The person singing was mostly humming but every so often a word would be said. The pronunciation was a bit off but he knew the words. He stood up quickly and made his way to where the song was coming from. John entered the small room, his hands were shaking and tears were flowing down his face. Sitting there in the room staring out of the window was Charlotte. She was humming to herself and every now and again she would try to sing some of the words.
"Do you know the song?" John asked quietly.
With a gasp Charlie broke off and turned around. She frowned at the sight of John's tear stained face but nodded at his question. "Mummy sings for me." She said.
"Would you like me to sing it for you?" John asked as he sat beside the little girl.
"You know it?" Her face lit up.
"I do lass."
"Please?"
John nodded and closed his eyes. Thinking of all the times he had sung it as a boy he began, "Under twin suns, where leaves are made of silver," he started soft and slow singing in the ancient language of Gallifrey.
"I will run and play, on the bright hills of Gallifrey.
I see the Citadel, standing strong and fair.
One day I'll take my place, among the Lords and Ladies there.
Until that day, when I make my way, and stand beneath the dome…..
When I'll pledge my heart to Gallifrey alone….
I'm gonna stand here…..
beneath the shining stars…."
He began to pick up the tempo, shouting out the words in song,
"Singing!
Running!
Playing!
Jumping!
Never leaving!
Never fleeing!
My wonderful…"
John drew out the words as the song drew to a close,
"fantastic…..
majestic…..
brilliant…..
Gaaaaaaaliiiiiiifreyyyyyyyyyyyyyy."
When John opened his eyes he saw everyone crowded in the doorway watching him. Tears shone in their eyes at the beautiful sounds. Though they could not understand the words being sung the melody of it made their hearts swell.
"I haven't heard that since Mels would sing it." Jack murmured.
