Vengeance - Chapter Thirty-Eight

Author: Milady Dragon

4 February 5193 (Earth Standard Date)

Trafusis

As he and Cadi made their way back to Doc B's home, Jack let himself stew in the sheer fury that Henry's revelations had caused.

No, he wasn't angry at his son-by-mating. When Henry had first begun courting Rowena, he'd come to Jack and Ianto and had recounted his story…all of it. Including the mad immortal that had called himself Adam.

Henry had been quite up-front about his dealings with Adam and how that had eventually played out. That Henry had been forced to cause catastrophic brain damage in the other immortal, putting him in a vegetative state and, unlike Jack himself, Henry and his counterpart didn't heal quickly. Adam would have been brain-dead for the rest of his existence, unless he was killed and allowed to resurrect….which Henry hadn't meant to allow.

However, he'd lost track of Adam in 2150, when the Daleks invaded the Earth for the last time. Henry had said that the long-term facility that he'd had Adam kept in had been destroyed, and when Adam hadn't reappeared to harass Henry, the other immortal had assumed that Adam had either gone to his final death in a fiery wash of Dalek energy weapon, or else he'd simply decided to leave Henry alone.

Adam had vanished despite Henry's best efforts to locate him.

No, Jack was furious at himself.

The moment he'd found out there was possibly another immortal out there, mad or no, he should have moved heaven and earth to find him. Jack should have used any and all resources he had at his fingertips to search for the man, and he hadn't done it.

However, hearing that Adam was the lookalike of their own Owen Harper, from back during the time they were on the same team together, was a new complication.

Add to that the fact that his daughter, Alyce, was missing…

"Dad!" Cadi's shout had him stopping in his tracks. The crowd in the market swirled around him, some of them cursing at him for standing in the middle of foot traffic.

Cadi was a few feet away, hands on her hips, staring at him worriedly. "You haven't heard a word I've said, have you?"

Jack sighed. "No, I'm sorry, sweetheart," he apologised. "My mind was a million miles away."

He traced the few steps back to his daughter, who was standing in-between a pair of rough-looking stalls, one of them selling rugs and the other battered items that the proprietor was hawking as antiques, and were anything but to Jack's practiced eye.

Cadi wrapped an arm around his waist. "I'm worried, too, Dad. But you know Tad, Henry, and Anwyn will take care of things…"

"I do. And we have our own job to do. It's just…" he sighed again. "This new information of Henry's…it ties everything up in a nice bow, doesn't it?"

"It does," she agreed, "but we probably shouldn't be talking about this here. Doc's house is just up the street. We can discuss this there."

She was right. Airing things out in the middle of a crowded street wasn't the way to keep operational security.

So, he nodded and, taking her hand, they made their way toward the seated Jem, once again at this post on the stoop of Banner's home. He grinned at them at their approach, but something in their expressions had that expression dying, and a concerned look appeared in his eyes. "That bad?" he asked.

"No," Cadi answered him. "It's much worse."

The man whistled, but didn't ask anything else as they headed inside the cool interior of the house.

Adrastea came out of the front room the moment she heard them enter. "Father and the Doctor are in the medi-lab," she greeted them also seeming to get the hint that things were bad, because that was all she said, and she moved with alacrity down the hallway and to the kitchen.

The door to the cellar – it had been pointed out to Jack last night during the tour they'd all received – was cracked open, and Adrastea led them down the stairs and into the large medical laboratory that took up most of the space. In fact, the cellar was far larger than Jack would have guessed, and he thought it might have been extended beneath the two houses on either side of this one.

The medi-lab itself was surprisingly state-of-the-art. The rest of the house was well-worn and lived-in, but the laboratory was clean and brilliant and gleaming. The equipment was neatly put away, and a couple of refrigeration units hummed brightly in one of the corners. Every single one of the fixtures in the ceiling worked, casting light all over the room.

There were several cots against one wall, crisp white sheets made with sharp corners, almost military really. On one of the cots was a woman and a child, both of mixed race, and Banner was in full-on doctor mode, examining the little boy carefully, saying something that made the child laugh and the mother smile. The Doctor hovered over Banner's shoulder, watching intently, but Jack knew that the Time Lord was aware of their presence from the moment they stepped into the medi-lab.

"Let me get you that medication," Banner said, standing from the crouch he'd been in, and even from across the room Jack could hear the elderly man's knees creaking. "You'll need to give it to him twice a day, masari Sana, and make certain he takes it all."

"Of course, Doc," the woman, Sana, agreed gratefully.

Banner ruffled the little boy's hair, then walked toward one of the large cabinets that flanked the refrigeration units. He opened one, and stood there for a moment, searching for something, his head tilted back so he could see out of the old-fashioned spectacles he favoured.

Then, when a satisfied grunt, he reached inside and brought out a small bottle.

Jack turned back to the mother and son. He could see at least three different racial bloodlines in them, and it made them both quite unique in their own way. He couldn't help the smile as his daughter approached the pair, and she took Banner's place, kneeling in front of them, talking lightly.

The Doctor joined Jack, watching Cadi interact with the mother and child. "She's quite good with children," the Time Lord murmured. "She'll make an excellent mother herself someday."

"If we can talk her out of her wild ways," Jack returned. Truly, he was proud of his wayward child, and not because of her criminal record. Cadi did what she thought was right, driven by the Harkness-Jones moral code she'd learned at her parents' knees; she was just more…creative…in how she went about things, and that usually meant an illegal act.

"She might be closer to ready than you think."

Before Jack could ask what the Doctor meant by that, Banner had passed along the medication and was ushering his patients out, wishing them a good day. "Let's go up to the study," he suggested, "and Jack can tell us what's got him so angry."

Well, he hadn't done anything to hide how he was feeling; but then, if anyone knew anger, it was Bruce Banner, even if Jack hadn't been broadcasting it just from his expression alone. Not that he was surprised; Ianto had always claimed that Jack carried his emotions on his sleeve, but then the dragon usually could read him like a book, which came from centuries of knowing him oh so well.

"Dad's not the only one angry," Cadi said, as they all left the medi-lab, "but I just hide it better."

"Bad news from home?" the Doctor asked urgently. Yes, he'd have had a vested interest in knowing, with him being family and all.

"Oh, so much bad news," Cadi sighed.

Banner ushered them all into the study, and then telling Adrastea to take care of her lessons for the day. The teenager looked slightly mulish but obeyed, shutting the door as she left.

This time, the Doctor took one of the chairs, because Jack had the sudden need to pace, his feet moving in the same rhythm as his thoughts. He had so many pieces of the puzzle now, and they were fitting into place…

"I'll start," Cadi volunteered, taking the other chair. She went on to explain the information that had been discovered about Petra Thorne, and how she'd been implicated in Derek Anthony's doomsday weapon project, and in the attack on the Palace.

As she spoke, Banner grew still in his chair, his hands flat against the top of the desk, barely breathing, his attention fully on what Cadi was telling him.

"This is not good," the scientist sighed. "I understand why investigators are being sent here, but…we should be glad that Torchwood is with them, because things are more liable to remain calmer than if it was just Imperial Security."

"I'll stay around as well," the Doctor said, "once we've caught up with H and G. I want to see if I can sniff my way around some of the worst things going on."

"That would be much appreciated," Banner agreed. "Your reputation, Doctor, will go quite a ways to soothe a lot of the ruffled feathers that having a crowd of Imperials on Trafusis will no doubt cause."

"Do you know if Thorne was involved in anything shady?" Cadi prompted.

"There are always rumours. But I don't have any proof of anything. Do you have any idea who they're going to be sending?"

"We know Fitz and Jemma – "

That had Banner perking up a little. "I wasn't aware they'd reincarnated. I'll look forward into seeing them again."

"And Merlin will be here, as well."

That had the Doctor grinning. "Then I'm glad I decided to hang around…well, after I get you and Jack back home, of course."

"We can also turn H and G over to ImpSec," Cadi suggested. "That is, if I don't kill them both first." Her smile was dark and filled with deadly promise.

Jack noticed that the Doctor didn't look uncomfortable with that notion, of H and G not making it into custody, and would have wondered at it if he wasn't too busy twisting and turning the pieces of the investigation into their proper slots in his mind.

"But that isn't all," the Doctor said. "That's important, but that wouldn't be what's set both you and Jack off."

Cadi slumped down into her seat. She sent a look toward Jack, and the immortal nodded, taking up the next part of their news.

"Alyce and Detective Shraeger were kidnapped."

That announcement had the Doctor shooting up out of his chair, his features quite scared. "Kidnapped? And not…?"

Jack was thankful that he didn't use the actual word, 'dead'. "Yes. They were on Earth when they were ambushed. The ones responsible didn't get Detective Walsh or Robyn; they were the ones who got the news back to Ianto. They called while we were on the comm, and got the entire story."

"But," Cadi interjected, "it gave us a major clue as well."

Jack went on to share what Walsh and Robyn had told them about the connection between the kidnapping and Jeffrey Dorian.

"Ianto, Henry, and Anwyn were going to Earth to see if they could locate Dorian," Jack ended that part of the story. "If they can find him… chances are they'll find Alyce and Shraeger."

But the Doctor was regarding him shrewdly. "That's not all, though. Is it Jack?"

The immortal shook his head. Trust the Doctor to be able to read him almost as well as Ianto could. "We…suspect that Dorian is actually a mad immortal calling himself Adam."

The goldfish look wasn't a good one on the Time Lord.

"There's another immortal out there?" he demanded. "And we didn't know about it?"

"I did," Jack admitted. "Henry talked about him, when he first started dating Rowena. Adam is like him… he resurrects the same way, only he's a lot older than Henry is. I knew about him… and didn't go looking when I should have."

He told them the same story that Henry had told him: about meeting Adam, about how their paths had crossed back in the 21st century; of how Adam had found Henry and stalked him, and how eventually Henry had discovered that Adam had been responsible for the death of his wife, and how Henry had sent him into a coma that should have lasted for eternity.

"Henry says he lost track of Adam when the Daleks invaded the Earth back in the 22nd century," Jack went on. "Henry believed at the time that he thought either Adam had somehow been completely destroyed by the Daleks, or else he'd awakened and had decided to leave Henry be. According to Henry, he did try and search, but came up with nothing."

"And now you're blaming yourself for not looking for yourself," the Time Lord said, perceptively.

Jack rolled his eyes, throwing his hands up in the air. "Of course I am! There's another immortal out there, and we might not be in this mess if I hadn't used whatever resources I had to find this Adam and at least offer to help him! But I didn't, and now he might very well be behind HYDRA's resurgence!"

"How do you come up with that?" Banner enquired.

Jack had given it a lot of thought, and this was the only thing that fit all of the clues they'd managed to accrue. "First of all," he began counting them off, "Adam was born in 44 BCE…which means he's older than Ianto, and would know all about dragons. It also means he lived through Camelot, the Crusades, the coming of the Dragon Slayers…he'd have been at least a partial witness to all of that.

"Henry says he put Adam into his coma in 2015, which means that he was around for the Avengers, and SHIELD falling, and HYDRA coming back. He would have at least seen Ianto fighting with the Avengers during the Cybermen attack on New York. Hells, he was in New York when all of this went down, and the news was full of stories about the Torchwood Dragon! He would have seen at least the aftermath of the Master's taking over the Earth, even if he might not know what it all meant, unless he somehow kept his memories..."

"If he knew about Lucy and the Master…" the Doctor murmured. He was also putting together everything that Jack had, and it looked as if he was coming up with the same answers. "He didn't know about the Darkhold, though…that was all on Lucy. But the kernel of the plan to bring the Master back…"

"He was in the coma during that mess with the Darkhold, I'm pretty sure. You'd have to ask Phillip to confirm, but…yeah, that would have been after the coma…"

"You're right," Banner said. "That was…" he considered, "I think, 2016 or 2017. He wouldn't have known about the Skrull invasion, either, or Thanos."

"Would he have been able to even get the information on the Darkhold?" Cadi wanted to know.

"It didn't get a lot of press, despite all that shit with the LMDs," Jack conceded. "But the Inhumans and the Sokovia Accords did. And Torchwood was in a lot of that press coverage, too, despite our best efforts. As was SHIELD and the Avengers."

Everything was tumbling through Jack's thoughts like a thunderstorm. It all fit.

"It all fits," he said aloud. "It explains how HYDRA knew about just who to go looking for; who to bring back into the HYDRA fold."

"Because he saw it all," the Doctor concluded.

"Up to the point of the coma, yes. After that…he wouldn't have the sort of knowledge needed to bring anyone back. And, after he awoke from the coma, it was after the Daleks had invaded, and a lot of that sort of knowledge was lost or distorted." Jack was back to pacing, running his hand through his hair as if he could physically tame his rampaging thoughts. "I don't know why he waited so long to put his plan into motion…"

"It's obvious," Cadi said excitedly. "Up until almost 90 years ago, Henry was pretty much lost to history. It wasn't until then that he came onto the galactic scene…"

"Are you saying," Banner exclaimed, "that this entire thing has been some sort of revenge on Henry Morgan?"

"Oh, Goddess," Jack breathed. He began to pace frantically once more, practically wringing his hands. "Oh, not all of it was about revenge, I'm sure, because from what Henry's said Adam is all about causing as much chaos as he possibly can. But the attack on Rowena and Henry…yes, that would explain why the Dragon Slayer was set after them, when there wasn't a need to…but Sabrina, she was led into a trap purposely set for her. We'd all been thinking it was purely because she was on HYDRA's trail, but we know for a fact now that it was also a means to an end…to get rid of Derek Anthony because he'd failed."

"But that project was also being worked on by Morgause and her people," the Doctor pointed out. "Of the two, Anthony was the closest to making something like that work."

"Except it never would have, according to Merlin and Nicole," Cadi replied. "It was a waste of time and resources."

"But they were thinking to use Lisa to make it work," the Doctor added. "Only, Morgause hadn't counted on Lisa not wanting to have a thing to do with her former life as Morgana la Fay."

"It didn't hurt that Sabrina is Henry's sister-by-mating, and a Torchwood operative," Jack mused.

"But why everything else, Dad? The attack on Euros…the attempted kidnapping of the Crown Prince…the other acts of terrorism…those don't really have anything to do with us."

"But the Euros bombings did," the Doctor pointed out. "Several members of your family were on Euros… and one of those bombs had been in the venue where Skylar and his theatre troupe were playing."

"And they went after Skylar a second time on New Wales, most likely because he's Phillip's son and probably the easiest to strike against at the time. They obviously didn't count on Alyce and Robyn, and from what the kids witnessed the Dragon Slayer wasn't expecting Robyn to change into a dragon…which shows at least some knowledge of our family, but not all, or else they would have been prepared for that contingency."

"Exactly!" The Doctor frowned. "But what about the other things? And the kidnapping?"

"A chance to cause as much mayhem as possible." The moment he said it, Jack knew he was correct. "Well, except for trying to grab Joshua. I'm pretty sure that also was meant to hurt us, as was the bombing of the Imperial Palace."

The Doctor narrowed his eyes. "You know something I don't, Jack."

That had Jack smirking despite himself. "I know a lot of things you don't, Doctor…but in this case, it's not something to do with sex."

Cadi barked a laugh at that. The Doctor simply pinched his nose. "Jack…"

"Sorry." He really wasn't, but it sounded nice to apologise. "It's the Pendragon Protocol, Doctor. That's what you're missing."

"Care to explain?"

"It was something that the former Empress, Juliana, put into effect. If anything happened to the Imperial Family, then Arthur would be named Emperor."

The Doctor scoffed. "I'm sure Arthur loved that!"

"He doesn't know. Empress Juliana – and now Danielle – have made those who know about the Protocol take a vow of silence because we all knew how Arthur would react."

"So, there really is something about this Once and Future King stuff?" Banner cut in, curious.

"Yep," Cadi answered. "But Arthur hates it. He doesn't want to rule anything, even though he'd proven to be quite good at it."

"That legend caused no end of trouble when he and Merlin took over Torchwood," Jack added. "The then-Emperor was a paranoid bastard who was positive that Arthur was going to use the Directorship of Torchwood to instigate a coup."

"Oh, I see!" The Doctor was shaking his head incredulously. "We were all wondering if Phillip being recalled to Throneworld was some sort of attempted power grab. But, can you see what would have happened if the entire Imperial family would have been killed on his watch? And, then Arthur is named Emperor?"

Jack shuddered. He could see it very well indeed.

"It would have pretty much destroyed the Institute," the Doctor continued. "As well as the Shieldsmen, come to think of it…simply because Phillip had once been Grand Master, and founder of their order. It would have looked like Phillip had struck against the family in order to put Arthur on the throne."

"Goddess," Cadi breathed. "If Phillip hadn't come out as the hero of the piece…"

"It would have been sheer chaos," Jack confirmed. "The Empire would have collapsed, dragging Torchwood down with it."

"But I have a question," Banner spoke up.

"Just one?" Cadi asked hectically.

The scientist didn't react to that obviously rhetorical response. "What would they have gained at kidnapping the Crown Prince? Yes, I understand killing the entire Imperial family…" His voice faded out. "Oh, of course…I think I just answered myself."

"What?" Cadi demanded.

"Well, back in the day, HYDRA had the use of a few different methods of brainwashing. They could very well have used any of those methods to turn the Prince to their will. It would have been like having their own puppet potentially in the Palace. Then, they could have easily dealt with the Empress and her Consort, taking out Torchwood in the process…would Arthur have become Regent?"

Jack nodded. "And Danielle has written in her will that Phillip and Clint be named Joshua's guardians until he comes of age to take the throne himself…"

"Oh, this is brilliant," the Doctor grinned. "Maniacal, yes…but absolutely brilliant. If Torchwood was completely discredited, and Arthur comes into power… it would work the exact same way either way they played it."

"This was years in planning. Decades, even." Jack was also impressed, despite himself. If this was the Adam that Henry had known, then the man was a genius. Twisted and mad, but genius.

"Jack," the Doctor's voice suddenly went grave. "If this is this rogue immortal pretending to be a history professor, and if he was responsible for kidnapping this police officer and Alyce…"

Oh, shit.

Jack felt the blood drain from his face as he realised just what his old friend was intimating.

It was a trap.

Everything that had led Ianto to Jeffrey Dorian was pulling him into a trap. The ring…who knew if it had truly been left behind by the Dragon Slayer? Or if it had been planted there, for someone to find and identify? Had it really been stolen from the British Museum, or had Adam taken it himself for the express purpose of leading any sort of investigation right to him?

Jack had to wonder if the plan had been derailed when Ianto had showed up with practically an entourage. He shuddered at the thought of his mate walking into that, because if Adam was behind the Dragon Slayer…

And this time, it would be Henry going with Ianto.

Maybe it would be too many for the Slayer to handle once again. Jack could only pray to any and all deities he knew that his mate would remain safe.

"I have to get to Ianto," he gasped.

All thought of tracking down H and G was forgotten. All that mattered was his mate, and what Ianto could be walking into.

Yes, Ianto was tough. So was Henry, and Anwyn would also be going along. Add into it Detective Walsh and Robyn…there was no way the Dragon Slayer could take them all on. But, if they used Alyce and Shraeger against the dragon…

"Go, Dad," Cadi urged. "I'll stay here and find H and G. But you need to get to Tad and help him, and find Alyce."

Jack nodded, so very grateful for his daughter. Cadi looked terrified, but fierce at the same time, as if she still had all that faith in him that she'd had as a child. She was trusting him to make things right.

She was also setting him on the path of the bastard who'd murdered Sabrina and injured Rowena and Skylar.

Cadi would handle the ones who'd betrayed her sisters and nephew, but it was Jack's responsibility to hand out the vengeance they all swore to fulfil.

"Let's go, Jack," the Doctor urged. "I'll get you back to Ddraig Llyn – "

"No," the immortal denied. "London Island. The British Museum. That's where Ianto, Anwyn, and Henry will go first to try to locate this Adam character."

"Alright." With a swirl of purple coat, the Doctor was up and out of the room.

Jack took the time to hug his daughter tightly, kissing her on the forehead. "Be careful."

"I will be, Dad. Just get that bastard, alright?"

"You know I will."

With a quick goodbye to Dr Banner, Jack followed the Doctor out of the house, sparing a nod to Jem as he stormed down the steps and out into the crowd.

The Time Lord was nowhere to be seen, but Jack knew where the TARDIS had been parked. He pushed his way through the pedestrians in the correct direction, knowing the Doctor was most likely nearly there, and he'd be impatient to leave. Not that they were really in that much of a hurry, since the TARIDS was a time machine, but Jack did feel a sense of urgency that he couldn't easily escape. His mate was walking into something, and while he would usually trust Ianto to be able to take care of himself and the small 'team' he had with him, he was aware of just how brilliant and twisted this Adam person was, and he couldn't trust that he would have learned from any of the mistakes that the Dragon Slayer had made in the past, and would have compensated for them.

That this had all been set up, and that Adam – if this was Adam, and Jack was fairly certain now that it was – would have had contingency plans.

Jack was so focussed on getting to the TARDIS and to Earth that he failed to notice the woman who slammed into him, hard.

The impact was so surprising that Jack actually spun in a complete circle, losing his balance for a moment before compensating. The woman had fallen backward onto her ass, and she was grinning up at him as if he was something she wanted to devour.

She had dark hair and eyes, and was wearing a plain coverall and low-heeled boots. There was something in her expression that had Jack's instincts screaming at him. "What the – " he gasped incredulously, as her face tried to stir something within his memory.

"You're dead," she said, sounding extremely happy about it. "Not that you'll stay that way for long, of course…"

Pain suddenly bloomed through his abdomen.

Jack glanced down. There was blood on his shirt, spreading rapidly around the protruding handle of a knife in his gut. He could actually feel the blood collecting in his stomach, and his knees gave out, his body slamming into the cracked pavement.

He'd been stabbed.

No one was paying the slightest bit of attention.

His pulse was roaring in his ears. Jack knew he really was dying. He hated dying.

And his mate wouldn't be there when he woke up.

But this woman would be, he had no doubt of that.

As darkness descended, he recognised her as a monster from so many nightmares.

He knew, in his heart, that this was the privateer known as G.

Alice Guppy.