Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who, Torchwood, or the Avengers.
Tenth day of the 17 days of Christmas!
Read on, oh faithful ones...
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Chapter Nine
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The Doctor knows something's wrong before he even steps out of the TARDIS door. First, there was something stopping his old girl from landing in the right time, and whatever it was (or still is), it's strong. Second, he did a preliminary scan of the planet, and it doesn't look like there's much life left on the planet. Considering these are monsters that procreate simply so that they can drive fear into the hearts of others, and then capture and torture other species for fun, the Doctor's a bit wary as to what's happened to such a blood-thirsty lot. They aren't even a species who've had an inter-species war since every single one of the monsters are focused on terrorising other species first. They've barely made their way across the galaxy, why stop and kill each other now? If that's even what they've done.
He turns away from his screens and sees Jack and Loki ready and armed to the teeth (he has to tell Jack to put his guns away three times before he reluctantly does so). The Doctor's purposely parked on the other side of the colony and even made his old girl invisible just so they won't be seen. The monsters - what's left of them, anyway - won't even know they're there if they're quiet about it. (She made her usual noise even though he tried to stop it, but hopefully it will just be considered as an odd-sounding wind.) They can go in, find whoever they've got captive, rescue them, and leave without the remaining monsters ever knowing about it. (Loki doesn't seem to like this plan but Jack gives a nod so they both agree with the Doctor, even if it's reluctantly, and follow him out onto the barren world.)
The Doctor's surprisingly quiet and not so fall-over-his-own-feet as he usually is. His mouth is dry, but it's not due to the high temperature of the planet; his sonic screwdriver isn't telling him much more than the TARDIS screens already did. The planet's being deserted, but he doesn't know why. The walk to the colony isn't as far as he expected (the planet's not as large as he's used to), and they arrive in time to see one of the monsters' ships leaving the atmosphere. His jaw hardens when he sees that they've left people behind, chained to the buildings like animals. He sonics their chains until they all fall off, but very few seem to realise that they're free, that they can finally stand. He feels sick to his stomach when he sees the state that these people are in, and runs back to the TARDIS to get food and water for them all.
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As the Doctor runs back Jack runs forward, making his way through the captives, trying to find his brother anywhere among the masses. There are so many people, so many lives that he never knew were stolen, and there are so many that are already dying from the wounds they've received, shivering at Death's cold touch despite the planet's intense heat.
Jack's heart is beating wildly in his chest and he doesn't know if his heart can actually explode from this feeling, but it certainly feels like it, and he can't breathe, and he can't see Gray anywhere, and oh god, now he can feel Death's cold touch too. He swallows his scream even as he turns to face Death, only to find that it's Loki behind him instead. Jack all but collapses into his chest, forcing himself to breathe; long and shuddering deep breaths that make his lungs burn. He's not dying, he's not dying, and even though he can't see Gray anywhere at the moment, Jack's alive and he's not dying.
He lets himself be tugged in the direction of the Doctor and helps him save as many as he can. By the time they've reached some poor souls, they've already succumbed and willingly taken Death's hand, their bodies no longer shivering in the harsh sunlight. There's a space between the people, large enough for another body to have fit, and Jack wonders if that's where Gray was placed, wonders if Gray's taken Death's hand as well, or if something even worse has happened to his younger brother. The Doctor promises to find out, and Jack wants to believe him more than anything.
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Loki's sickened by what he sees on this day. At least when he threatened to enslave and kill an entire race, he stuck around until the bitter end. (His own set of morals are extremely high when compared against others, but much more flexible when he's looking at his own life and the decisions he's made; it's much easier to forgive himself that way.) They find dozens of humans, as well as a few aliens, all tortured within an inch of their lives, but not one of the monsters that had done this had stayed behind. It's truly unacceptable, and Loki's itching to grab his sceptre and go back in time just to make them all pay for what they've done (or haven't done, probably both), but Jack needs him to be there. It's nice to be needed for once, and Loki stays out in the heat all day.
He's exhausted later that night - helping people is surprisingly hard, especially when they've been conditioned to view anyone other than themselves as an enemy, that every other being is intent on hurting and torturing them mercilessly. He even changed back to his pale skin so as not to frighten them further, but Loki's certain that he's never had so many people scream at the mere sight of him in one day before. (At least, not when he didn't deserve to be screamed at.) He curls an arm around Jack, making sure the door is locked to stop any half-crazed lunatics from wandering in (the people held captive on the planet might also get in), and does a small spell so Jack will sleep without dreams or nightmares plaguing him.
The events and adrenaline of the day are still coursing through him, even in the early hours of the next morning, and Loki finally gives up on the idea of trying to sleep. He carefully untangles himself from Jack's grip and leaves the room, locking the door again behind him. Loki heads down to the console room - passing the hospital-like room filled with all of the captives, some sort of machine or futuristic magic at work to restore the humans and aliens to the various health levels acceptable for each race - and is surprised to find the console room empty. The Doctor's not even in here, which is a surprise to Loki, since he doubts the man ever sleeps. He sees one of the screens flashing and pads over, his bare feet quiet against the metal grill beneath him. The screen informs him that the TARDIS can safely travel back exactly five years and land without too much trouble. All Loki has to do is pull a lever and press a button.
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Sexy actually makes herself count in human seconds to see how long it takes before Loki does what she's telling him to do. He hesitates for exactly 3.14159 seconds, and then his hand curls around the lever, pulls it sharply, and presses down on the button. She's been waiting hours for this and leaves immediately. The Doctor forgot to take her invisibility cloaking off, but that suits her fine. She doesn't want to be seen any more in this time than she does in the time she's just left.
It doesn't take long for her to get her bearings, and she lands with a soft thud exactly five years in the past, on the very spot she occupied exactly five years into the future. It's quite a feat, and if something went wrong, then there would be two Loki's walking around her console floor. But there's only one of him, so everything's fine.
That is, everything will be fine until he opens the door. Oh, yes, did she forget to mention that she knows exactly what force it was that was stopping her from landing earlier? She does, and it's currently standing in her console room with bare feet, red eyes, and blue skin.
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End of the ninth chapter
Thank you for reading, I hope you liked it.