Back at the Hub, everyone waited for John's arrival. Apparently, 'visitors' take a separate entrance, most likely wanting to keep some of Torchwood's secrets safe. Riley half expected to take that entrance herself but was already accepted as part of the team, despite having literally just met these people.
She watched as John surrendered his weapons, surprised a man could even hold that many, which just made the unnerving feeling she had about him grow. This man was sly, most likely a con man, but, because those canisters did sound pretty dangerous, they decided to help him.
But what agitated her the most was the fact he knew who she was and they had the same vortex manipulator. While leaving the bar, she quickly covered her own manipulator with the sleeve of her jacket, not feeling comfortable with it in the wide open, especially around John. The whole situation just screamed trouble and she wanted to know why.
After witnessing John's arrival, Tosh and Owen started tracking down the canisters, working on the computer network in a way completely over Riley's head. She felt useless in that sense, not even sure how to turn the machine on or off. Gwen and Jack were off doing God knows what, with the only hint being Gwen's very annoyed look at the Captain before they disappeared down the hallway.
Which left Riley, Ianto, and John in the conference room, waiting for information about the rift activity. The room was tense, to say the least. Riley kept on glancing at John, trying to figure him out, as the mystery man looked over his fingernails, barely paying her any attention. And there was Ianto in the middle, sitting in the strained room with no idea how to make things less awkward.
He glanced between the two, wondering what was going on between them, as was everyone else, before abruptly standing up from the chair and drawing attention to himself. He cleared his throat, not looking directly at either person. "I'll go get us some drinks."
"Do you have any bourbon?" John spoke up, looking annoyingly innocent. "I figured doing some shots before going out may do all of us some good."
Ianto closed his eyes for a moment, trying to keep his composure for this man. "I'll be back with some water," he said shortly before walking out.
John watched him go out of the room, giving an amused scoff. "So much for trying. I swear, all of you have sticks up your-"
"How the hell do you know me?" Riley sharply cut him off, giving him a glare once Ianto was out of earshot. "You knew my name right away."
He stared at her for a moment, a curious look covering his face before turning into a very amused one. He really didn't expect this conversation, quite the opposite in fact, but might as well have some fun in the meantime.
Casually leaning back in his chair, he placed his hands behind his head and feet on the table, getting comfortable. "So you have no idea who I am?" he clicked his tongue, giving the girl a smile. "I do apologize for you forgetting that wonderful evening with me, that is simply devastating."
Riley only sneered at him, silently hoping he was stretching the truth and that she didn't spend the night with him. This man just oozed cockiness.
"Well, lets just say you came to me, darling," John continued. "I guess my services must have reached the entire galaxy. I'm not exactly an easy man to track down."
"Why would I want to meet you?" Riley hissed, hating how much he was reveling in her memory loss.
"You mean, besides my dashing good looks and charming personality?" Riley did her best to not roll her eyes, not wanting to give the man the satisfaction of a reaction. He turned a bit more serious, deciding to humor her. "You were looking for something, a Time Lord device that made fixed points in time. But I did warn you, it's not exactly something easy to acquire, even if you know where it is."
Riley was unsure with that answer, not fully trusting him but he peaked her interest. "Why would I need that? Why would I need to make a fixed point in time?"
He merely shrugged, Riley unfortunately able to tell if he was telling the truth or not. "How should I know? You and your friend asked for my help, I supplied it, you paid, we both went on our merry way."
"My friend?"
"River Song," he answered fondly. "Hell of a woman, shame I couldn't convince her to spend the night."
She snorted, laughing at the remote possibility that River would sleep with him while surprised she was involved in this entire mess. River seemed to play a somewhat major role in her life, that much was certain from the past day, but the why or how she was involved was still unanswered.
"Ah, so you remember her," John pointed out, seeing the realisation grow on Riley's face.
She glanced at him, not liking the smug look on his face, which just made him chuckle more.
"And now you're wondering why you two picked me," he concluded, practically reading Riley's mind. She kept a blank face, causing him to chuckle and continue taunting her. "How the hell did you know me before? What exactly am I to you? How long have we known each other?" he let out a heavy, exaggerated sigh. "Shame that you lost your memories, really is. Otherwise we could be having a lot more fun. This table is the perfect height, wouldn't you say?"
"Go to hell," Riley hissed out, immediately standing up and making her way towards the exit. She needed to get away from him, not able to handle his half-truths and overall arrogant and cocky behavior. If only she knew where the hell she was going in this place.
"Only making an observation, darling," John said innocently called out, mockingly looking hurt.
Riley didn't turn around though, not wanting to give that man a second glance, but only made it a few steps before practically running into someone.
"Hey, whoa, you okay?" Jack stopped her from running off, lightly holding her arms and looking at her with . . . worry? Riley was taken aback, wondering why Jack would be worrying over her. "What happened?"
"Nothing," she answered, perhaps a bit too quickly, not able to quiet look him in the eyes. What she really needed was to be alone right now but despite being in the middle of a whole group of strangers, it seemed that would be impossible.
"Just having a nice chat," John spoke up, able to clearly hear and see the pair. Riley glanced back, seeing him look sickeningly innocent.
Thankfully Jack wasn't falling for it. "Behave," he sneered at John, walking further into the room as he was quickly followed by Gwen, who was looking a bit uncomfortable for some reason.
"Only for you," John shot back, giving the Captain a wink. The frown deepened on Jack's face as he went towards the front computer screen, turning it on and pulling up a set of maps. He gave another glance at Riley, wishing he knew what to do for the girl.
Riley rolled her eyes, having more than enough of this man but stepped back into the room. The sooner they found these canisters the sooner he could be gone, so might as well do anything she could to speed up the process.
The rest of the team filed in, Tosh having found the general location of the deadly canisters. Riley was impressed, having no idea that there was technology that could find these items so quickly. As they set up the screen, Riley kept to the back of the room, crossing her arms as she tried to make sense of what she was seeing on the screen.
"Seven hours ago, we logged a minor surge in Rift energy across three locations," Tosh explained, pulling up a map with three locations marked.
"Seven of us, three locations, that's simple. Split up the group, with one set lucky enough to have a threesome," John said casually as the rest of the team gave internal groans.
"Excuse me," Jack spoke up, looking a bit annoyed. "I give the orders."
"Well give some, big boy," John invited, causing Jack to just stare at him for a moment, unsure what to say.
Gwen spoke up. "John's right." She glanced at John. "Sorry, do you prefer John or Captain?"
"With eyes like yours, you can call me Vera, I won't complain," he answered smoothly. Riley could visibly see an eyeroll from Ianto as Gwen tried to best ignore that awkward and uncomfortable comment.
"Tosh and Owen, take the north," Gwen continued, yet again acting in charge. "Ianto, Jack, and Riley go west. Me and Vera will take the docks."
"Excuse me," Jack voiced, leaning over the table and looking around at his team, his features becoming even more annoyed. "Not to repeat myself . . ."
But Gwen quickly interrupted, looking completely innocent. "You got a problem with this Jack?"
Jack paused, a half smile growing on his face but Riley could tell it wasn't sincere. He was being pushed aside, purposely, and it was starting to get on his nerves. He glanced over at John, as if trying to figure out what he was thinking but quickly turned back to Gwen. "Not at all."
"Now, given the canisters are radioactive, don't open them, eh?" John so helpfully suggested, as if the team didn't already know that.
"Let's go, guys," Gwen clapped her hands, dismissing the team.
Riley wasted no time getting out of the room, wanting to put as much distance between herself and John, following Ianto out. Truthfully, she was surprised Gwen included her at all, definitely not feeling as if she was part of the team in any way, shape, or form. But, as she waited on Jack to finish up whatever he was doing with John and Gwen, it gave Riley some time alone, which was much needed.
xXx
The ride to the canister's location was uneventful. Ianto was still visibly mad at Jack, Riley didn't feel much like talking to anyone, and Jack, well, he seemed to still be brooding over something.
Riley was surprised how late it was, with nearly no other cars on the road and the clock reading well past midnight. She guessed aliens didn't always keep to regular business hours, plus, with the city in danger, there was no time to waste.
The location led them to a high-rise office building, something a bit more human and normal from what Riley had seen in the past few weeks. Getting inside was easy, extremely easy, with just a simple device unlocking the doors and turning off any alarms. They took the lift to the top floor, Jack leading away as he went through a set of double doors, finding themselves in a sea of boring, normal cubicles.
"Oh, yeah. Loving that officy feel," Jack smiled, casually walking in through the door. Ianto and Riley didn't share his enthusiasm but watched him survey the room. "I always get excited in these places. To me, they're exotic. Office romances. Photocopying your butt. Well, maybe not your butt, although as we're here why don't we photo-"
"The rift was active at these coordinates approximately two hundred feet above ground," Ianto quickly cut him off, not wanting to hear how that sentence ended. "That means this floor or the roof."
"Perhaps another time," Riley said quietly to Jack, giving him a half smile as she also started searching through the office, opening random desk drawers.
She didn't notice Jack watching her, a concerned look on his face as she hunted for the canisters, this nagging feeling that something was wrong. And not just because she didn't appreciate his butt joke. Ianto also noticed it, seeing the girl shut the desk drawers a little too forcefully, her usual self somewhat . . . off.
"Is everything alright Riley?" Ianto quietly asked.
She kept on searching, going over to the next desk. "Oh yeah, just peachy," she said sarcastically. "Just hunting for a radioactive device that could destroy the world, just another walk in the park."
"I wouldn't say this is an everyday occurrence," Jack said lightheartedly, hoping to cheer her up, but it seemed to have an opposite effect.
Riley paused, glancing over at Jack with a disgusted look on her face. "So you're an expert, now?" she retorted back, causing the Captain to sigh.
"It's not always end of the world," Ianto agreed, nodding a bit before thinking it over. "Well . . . usually."
She let out an annoyed scoff, closing yet another drawer full of pens and pencils, as she stood to full height. "What the hell am I doing here Jack? Ianto?"
The boys looked at each other for a moment, Ianto looking increasingly uncomfortable as Jack's apprehension grew. Jack was about to speak but was quickly cut off by Riley.
"This whole situation," she continued throwing her arms up in exasperation. "Hunting for end of the world canisters, stopping the Titanic from crashing into Buckingham Palace, fighting off an zombie horde that was grown by nun cats! Why the hell have I been dragged around to all of these places? I have been dragged through time and space with no explanation on why, no remote hint of what happened to my memories, and no real friends or allies. Everyone is keeping secrets from me and I have to keep strolling along like everything is normal."
"All of that happened?" Ianto quietly asked, receiving a glare from Riley. Jack quickly stepped in, not wanting the situation to grow even more tense.
"Riley, listen," he said calmly, making his way over to Riley and placing a hand on her shoulder. "It's a lot to take in - believe me, I know - but you have to trust that everything will work out, that this is all for the better."
Riley let out a great sarcastic laugh. "Oh, just wait it out," she bitterly repeated, shrugging off Jack's hand and pointing a finger at the man. "I have been told to just trust these random strangers from the moment I could remember. It has been weeks Jack, with practically no explanation, no clues, and definitely no answers," she hissed out, all of the frustration and anger building up as she shoved Jack, making him take a few steps back. "I am so sick of being told to wait like a good little girl for everything to magically work out. I'm sick of it Jack!" she yelled out, barely registering Ianto's shocked face or Jack's dismal one.
She took a deep breath, taking a few steps back as she turned away from Ianto and Jack. Everything had come to the surface, way too fast and with too much force. She took another breath, trying to get some sort of composure as she pushed down any remote hint of tears that were threatening to spill out. She would not cry, definitely not here and in front of these strangers.
"Why did this happen to me?" she quietly asked, glancing back to look at Jack, pleading that he would give her something. "Who the hell are you?"
Jack gave a heavy sigh, looking at Ianto for support but he merely shrugged, having no idea what to tell Riley. But Jack knew what he had to do, and sincerely hoped he won't be making the biggest mistake of his life.
"Can you give us a minute?" Jack quietly asked Ianto, causing the younger man to adamantly nod.
"I'll check the east wing," he offered, going through the set of double doors and leaving the two of them alone. Jack waited a moment, making sure that Ianto was gone, before concentrating back on Riley.
"Here," he reached inside his coat pocket, pulling out a small flat disk and holding it out for Riley to take. She stared for a moment, unsure why she was being given this random, small object. Especially since this was definitely not answering her question.
"What is it?" she asked.
"A memory disk," he calmly explained, still holding it out for her to take. Seeing her hesitate, he continued. "You gave me this, well, your future self. She-you-said to give it to a younger version when you demanded answers. And, because you seemed fairly content with how things were going up until now, I figured this is the appropriate time."
She peered at the device curiously and cautiously, never having heard of a memory disk. "What does it do?"
"Shares memories between individuals," Jack explained. "I upload my memories onto here, give it to you, then you can absorb them. Essentially my memories become yours."
"So one of your random memories is on here?"
"Well, maybe not random," he briefly smiled. "Hopefully something more entertaining and helpful. But, truthfully I have no idea what is on here."
"But you said they're your memories . . ."
"Yes, from my future self." Jack gave a sigh, knowing how confusing all of this could get. He closed his eyes, remembering how this whole process worked. "My future self put memories on this disk, which I then gave to your future self. You then gave it to me a few months ago, knowing that I received this disk from you so that I could give it to your past self." He paused, peering at Riley and hoping she understood that.
"So it's a message, essentially from your future self while being passed along from my future self . . ."
"More or less, yes," Jack nodded, still holding out the disk for her to take. Riley took a few steps forward, timidly picking up the small object. It was plain and extremely light, definitely not something you would expect a memory to be stored on.
"Any idea what it says?"
He shook his head. "None. This event happened in my future. I shouldn't-I will not view it."
"Makes sense," Riley nodded, understanding how messy things can be if you know your future, as shown what happened with the Pandorica. She peered back down at the disk, flipping it over and finding a smaller circle engraved in it. Running a thumb over the engraving, she sighed, once again frustrated by how little she knew about technology. "So how do I-"
She was pulled away from her body, the entire universe stopping for a split second as her vision became cloudy, viewing an entirely new scene. She was no longer in the office, finding herself on a starship instead, staring out into the vast and blackness of space through a window taking up one side of the room.
"This cannot work," a voice annoyingly explained.
"It has to."
She turned, or rather, the body she was in turned, viewing the two women at the table, both of whom she recognized instantly. One was River Song, who was standing over the table, her hands covering various datapads and books as she glared across the table. She hadn't changed a bit since the Pandorica, perhaps a little older, but still with the big hair and fierce attitude.
The other woman was her - Riley. She was sitting across the table, calmly looking over the documents and books that River had discarded. It was odd recognizing herself, actually seeing what she looked like without a mirror. Besides the new clothing, she looked fairly identical, but appeared tired, obviously losing sleep over something stressful.
"Even if we could get the Stasis Dimension, we have no idea how to use it," River continued to argue, trying to get Riley to understand. "The Time Lords didn't write it down, even the Doctor knows nothing about it."
"So he says." Riley heard herself speak, not the one she was viewing but from the one she was watching the scene from. She then realized she was literally watching the scene from Jack's eyes, actually viewing the scene from his memory.
River glared at the man. "The Doctor would not hide this from me," she calmly explained to Jack in a tone that left no room for argument.
"Half the battle is getting the Stasis Dimension," Jack explained, crossing his arms and walking over to the table. "Who knows, maybe it will be obvious how to use it. Or the Doctor will recognize the device. Maybe it was called by another name."
"I heard about one to many 'maybes," River commented, giving a sigh. She concentrated back on Riley, noticing that the young woman was barely paying attention to the conversation, still reading over the texts. "Riley, we can still keep running. We have time to figure it out, we have no need to rush."
"We have all the reason to rush," Riley quietly explained, turning a page in an old book she was reading. "I'm altering everyone's timelines. Both of yours, the Doctors. The fabric of time is unraveling. I'm not going to stand idly by while that happens."
"They already nearly killed you," River pleaded out.
"I know, River," Riley snapped, shutting the book closed as she abruptly stood up, running a hand through her hair. She didn't need to be reminded of that fact, it was plainly obvious what almost happened. "I know," she quietly repeated.
Jack didn't hesitate, immediately going over to Riley and placing a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, we'll figure it out," he said encouragingly, practically the only person in the room to believe this plan even had a shot at working. "Lets face it, the three of us are pretty good at cheating death," he added giving a half smile.
Riley rolled her eyes, knowing full well how Jack cheated death, but felt a smile form on her lips. She let out a sigh, giving Jack's hand a reassuring squeeze as she looked at River. "I'm not going to put anyone else in danger."
"You're just like your father," River shook her head quietly, fully understanding why Riley had to go through with this, as much as she hated it.
"What about Plan B?" Jack offered, seeing Riley's face pale and River's grow worried.
"That's liking shooting off in the universe and hoping you hit a star," River said wistfully. "There are so many unknowns but . . . it would give you time, time to make paradoxes and fix yourself into the universe."
"But I have to lose my memories," Riley explained, her stomach twisting at just the thought as she peered at Jack and River. She couldn't forget them, desperately not wanting to look at their faces and see a stranger. "I know too much . . . if they catch up with me while I have all my memories . . ."
"We lose and they win with an unprecedented amount of power," Jack said simply, still agitated that this was happening to Riley. "Knowledge is power, and they decided to track yours down."
"So your memories have to be gone, to make yourself look less like a target," River explained, giving a frustrated sigh. They've been through the plan countless times, trying to find some way around it, with some other alternative or outcome but this was the best course of action as far as backup plans went. Problem was, it was a terrible plan in all other regards.
"Right," Riley nodded. "But that's only if everything really goes to shit so let's hope that doesn't happen." She looked over towards the window, viewing space for a moment before getting back to business. "Come on, we're to meet with Captain John Hart soon, and I have a feeling this guy is going to be annoying as hell."
"-do this."
Riley trailed off, her breathing shaky as she instantly dropped the disk, taking a few steps back and running into a desk.
"Riley?" Jack asked in concern, seeing her suddenly become distant and almost . . . frightened? He was unsure what to do, not sure if she was having a panic attack or if it had something to do with the disk? What did he give her? What did he show her?
But Riley barely registered that Jack was there, everything from that scene flooding into her mind. She reached back, gripping the side of the desk as she absorbed the information from the memory disk, everything making much more sense. It wasn't just that exact scene but some emotions as well, the realization of what was at stake that words couldn't describe.
But, more importantly, she understood. The plan, the original plan, was to grab the Statis Dimension and somehow create a fixed point in time, protecting her from this mystery enemy. But, judging by her memory loss, they had to resort to Plan B. Her memories were wiped and she was thrust into the universe to make paradoxes, both as a way to save her, prevent the enemy from winning, and most importantly, save her friends and family.
And this whole time she wanted her memories back, she wanted to know why this happened to her and what she knew. But after absorbing the memory disk, she realized how idiotic that was, how close she was to ruining everything at the Pandorica. She couldn't know, not yet at least. It would literally ruin everything if she did. She remembered the Doctor told her knowledge was power and this was a way to take away that power, from keeping her under the enemy's radar. And she almost threw that all away.
"Riley."
She jumped, forgetting that Jack was even there, and seeing him standing right in front of her, eyes full of concern as he lightly held her arms.
"Riley, what's wrong, what happened?" he asked a bit more urgently.
She just smiled a bit, giving a shaky laugh as she truly saw Jack for what felt like the first time in a long time. Instantly, she threw her arms around him, embracing him in a fierce hug that took him awhile to return. This felt so right to Riley, as if she's done it a hundred times before and just the fact that he was here, that she could physically reach out and touch him was a wonderful feeling. Riley still didn't know exactly who he was but, after experiencing that memory, knew that he was someone extremely important.
She broke off the hug, a huge grin on her face as she looked up at Jack, who was still a bit confused about what exactly happened. "Thank you," she breathed out, causing Jack to smile in return.
"You're very welcome . . . though, I'm not sure what I did."
"I know, trust me," Riley laughed, giving his face a light pat as she stepped around him, surveying the office. She had nearly forgotten they were there for a specific reason.
"So I take it that memory disk helped?" Jack slowly asked.
"More than you can imagine," Riley breathed out, the reality of what the disk showed her sinking in. She knew why she was here, but she also realized what she gave up to protect herself and others. Before, she had no idea what she left behind, if anything, but now . . . she had something unique with Jack and River prior to losing her memories. She had friends and family that loved her and . . . .
She gave it all up.
Knowing the truth was nearly as worse as being in the dark.
"Are you alright?" Jack asked, seeing her suddenly deflate.
She gave a nod, almost too quickly, before letting out a sigh. "I just need a few moments . . ." she trailed off, starting to walk around the room, focusing on finding the canister instead. What better way to forget about a problem then go off and deal with another one.
Jack nodded, seeing that the disk helped, she definitely had answers, but the results came with a price. He wanted to help but without knowing what exactly happened, he felt hopeless. "I'll be up on the roof. Let me or Ianto know if you find anything," he said quietly before slipping out through the double doors.
Riley didn't watch him leave, instead concentrating on uncovering any nooks and crannies that could possibly hold this mysterious radioactive device. Finding it and getting John out of the way would make her one step closer to protecting herself, to hopefully having a normal life once again.
She headed to the far side of the room by the window, unfortunately realizing that she would not be able to just randomly stumble upon the device, she needed some sort of system. A few minutes went by as she cleared through multiple desks, surprised at what some people kept in the drawers. Did they really think because it was tucked away no one would notice? People really cannot be that daft.
Giving a sigh, she stood up, running a hand through her hair as she looked around, wondering how they were going to find this small item and considered seeing if Jack or Ianto had any luck. She looked up, peering out of the window at the night sky, wondering just how many people were, unknowingly, counting on them. It was nearly morning now, everyone asleep and unaware of the danger they were in.
But then, she really looked at the glass, specifically the reflection, noticing someone coming at her from behind. She quickly turned around, hand already gripping her pistol but noticed it was John . . . which was odd. Plus, he kept on marching towards her, no hint of greeting on his face.
"John, what are you-" But she was cut off, the breath knocked out of her as John roughly grabbed her jacket and thrust into the window. Riley heard some cracks as her head smashed against the glass, causing the room to spin a bit. She didn't have time to recover as John immediately threw her off to the side, knocking off the computer monitors and documents on the nearby desks.
Riley slumped to the floor, trying to regain her breath as she felt a swift kick to the stomach. She groaned, the pain ricocheting through her body as she rolled on her back, seeing John's foot aimed straight to her face. She rolled out of the way, barely missing the assault as she quickly stood up, staggering against the desk and holding onto it for support. Her stomach was still on fire, not fully recovered from the blow, but adrenaline was starting to pump, screaming at her to run away or fight.
Without thinking, she took a strong step forward and swung, her fist sharply connecting with John's face. He staggered back a bit, obviously not expecting that reaction as he lightly touched his lip, finding a hint of blood.
He gave her a smile, barely phased by the assault. "So I see you're not all talk."
Riley just sneered, taking another step forward and letting her other fist fly, connecting with the other side of John's face but he recovered, kicking out and hitting Riley in her already tender stomach. The air was knocked out of her once again as she fell against a desk, her back connecting with the surface as her head bounced against the unorganized papers.
John moved quickly yet again, Riley realizing she was quite out of practice, as he bent over her, forearm harshly against her neck, seemingly crushing her windpipe and making her gasp for air. Riley pushed against the man, trying to get some type of leverage but the angle was not in her favor while John applied even more pressure.
Riley could feel her vision start to fade, her harsh breaths getting more pathetic by the second as she started to panic. She would not die here and definitely not by this man - she was going to survive this by any means necessary. Giving one last yell, she brought the heel of her hand up, roughly connecting it with his nose and giving a satisfying crunch. John staggered back, holding his face as Riley rolled off the desk, giving rough coughs as she took deep breathes and held her throat, knowing the bastard just added to the bruises from the Cyberman.
This time, Riley didn't hesitate, quickly finding a desk lamp and taking ahold of it. She turned it upside down, the plug popping out of its socket as she swung for John's head, all of her force before it. That is, until John promptly ducked, her arms flying over him as he took his own step forward and Riley felt a sharp punch to her face. She dropped the lamp, taking a few steps back while clutching her jaw as she tasted blood and the room slightly spun. Definitely not expecting that reaction, or for a punch to hurt that much. She took a few more steps back, grasping a table for support as she warily looked at John calmly walk towards her. At least he had a good amount of blood dripping down his face from her earlier punch, his nose obviously broken.
"Where's Gwen?" Riley demanded, trying to shake off the pain growing along her jaw and stomach.
"A bit tied up for a moment," he sneered, all hints of his amused cockiness completely gone, now showing the man he truly was. He let out a sigh, looking around for a moment before reaching inside his coat, pulling out a gun and fixing it straight at Riley's head. She froze, knowing this man would not hesitate to kill her on sight, and mentally kicking herself for not pulling her own weapon out earlier. "I really wanted to stretch this out as long as possible but I have a deadline to keep."
"Sorry to be an inconvenience," Riley muttered out, immediately regretting opening her mouth. This was really not the time to be sarcastic.
John chuckled, taking a few steps forward as Riley retreated farther back until her legs hit a desk, trapping her in. John continued until he was standing mere inches from her, placing the gun's barrel underneath her chin. He looked her over, seeing her breath hitch as the metal touched her and heart rate instantly increase.
"I think inconvenience is an understatement," he retorted quietly, though this time Riley remained silent. He gave another heavy sigh before pulling his hand back and hit her across the face. Riley reeled back, half falling on the desk from that massive hit as she felt her lip split open and a bruise start to form.
But before she had time to react, Riley was roughly pulled up, the gun digging into the side of her head. John was furious, eyes wide as he started breathing heavily, frustration and anger pouring off of him. "You and that damned River Song had no idea who you were dealing with!" he yelled out. "Think you could leave me high and dry and there wouldn't be any consequences?"
Riley desperately wanted to yell that she had no idea what he was talking about but kept her mouth shut, not wanting to antagonize him even more. Plus, she would rather stop having punches to the face.
"The only bloody good news I've heard is that the Statis Dimension didn't work," he continued. "Your Time Lord device failed so you had to move onto Plan B - oh yes, I know about that," he added, seeing Riley's shocked and slightly frightened face. "I've heard all about it from a very good friend of mine. And he has told me so many things about you, all if I gave him one single thing in return."
He pressed the gun further into her head, Riley flitching as she believed this would be it - that all of the work up until now would be for nothing due to one man's stupid action. But John only chuckled, enjoying seeing her squirm.
John took a step back, his gun still trained on Riley as he gestured towards the exit. "Move."
Confused, and dreading what would happen next, Riley walked over to the doors, going through them as John followed, watching her every step. "Hand over your gun," he plainly said.
Riley begrudgingly complied, not willing to bet she could fire faster than him. Slowly reaching into her own jacket, she pulled out the weapon before setting it on the floor and kicking it over.
"And your vortex manipulator," he added, holding out a hand for her to place the device.
Now, she hesitated, half wondering how he knew about her vortex manipulator when it was currently hidden under her jacket and why he would want to thing in the first place. Last time she checked, it was still not charged all the way and wasn't even a proper vortex manipulator.
"Oh yes, I know about it," he nodded, giving her a half smile as he cocked his gun, seeing her hesitate. "Think it will match my own, no?"
Riley scoffed, unstrapping her vortex manipulator and feeling rather empty without it. She took a slow step forward, placing the vortex manipulator in his hand when he suddenly grabbed her, pulling her forward. His anger was back again, this time in full vengeance. "Don't you dare steal from me again," he snarled quietly before pushing her forward.
He hit the lift call button, the doors immediately opening as he motioned her inside. She slowly went in, hands still up as his gun was continuously trained on her. "Now I'm curious to see if the stories are true, but I guess we'll find that out in oh . . . 200 feet or so," he said almost absentmindedly. Riley slightly puzzled, having no idea what he was talking about. He then turned serious. "And if you come back up here, I will shoot on sight."
Riley only stared, not sure what to say but worried about Ianto and Jack, knowing she had to warn them but she had literally no communication devices. For all she knew, they were already dead. And what about Gwen?
John pressed a button, closing the lift doors and leaving Riley to ponder all the way to the bottom. He really did want to kill her, oh how much he wanted to, but knew this way would be more satisfying. Gunshots were too quick, too simple. Something filled with mystery, slow pain, and hopelessness - now that was a revenge death.
Giving a small, satisfied smile, John began whistling a tune, throwing open the doors back into the office as he searched around on the ground. He was surprised they both forgot, clearly too busy in other matters, not that he was complaining since it made his job so much easier. Slowly walking over, he bent down, picking up the memory disk and flipping it in the air, watching it spin before it landed back in his hand. Oh the pretty price he would get for this.
He was surprised anyone would want one of Jack's memories, especially if it didn't involve himself, but John wasn't one to judge (that much). Money is what made John's world go round, especially at the price The Master was willing to pay.
A/N: oh man, quite a few revelations for this chapter! (or at least half ones) By far, this is the most nervous I've been before posting a chapter, even more so when I decided to originally post this story. In terms of the plot, the whole flashback is really the point of no return so I REALLY hope you like this chapter and the few bombshells that were dropped makes you want to continue reading on.
HUGE thank you to everyone who has read/reviewed/favorited. I love hearing your theories / what you're most curious about.
djmegamouth - Here you go! Sorry for the wait, I really wanted to give a bit more attention to this chapter. Hope you enjoyed!
Celaena007 - Very first Torchwood episode is on the list! That would definitely be an interesting one to write up, especially with Gwen's introduction and what happens with Suzie - already have some ideas brewing. Really glad you're enjoying the story! That makes me want to write more :) And hope this chapter gave you a bit more insight on Riley's past! Thanks again!
sherlockedbyben - :D Thank you so much! You have no idea how much that means to me. I really wanted to pull readers in a bit differently than other OCs stories so I'm glad it caught your attention! Really hope you continued reading and got to this point!
bored411 - VERY crazy - not full steam ahead but the train has definitely left the station ;) And more spoilers are definitely coming up, I like to sprinkle them in throughout, even the less obvious ones. Hope you enjoyed!
PrincessMagic - AAWW thank you so much! :D So glad you're enjoying and you like my writing style! Because throughout high school - let me tell you - my teachers did not haha Thanks for reading!
Until next time!