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The Age of Paradox 2.5: Miracle Day

Crouched on the hill as she looked at Jack and Gwen, Natalie allowed herself a tentative smile as she aimed the rifle at where her target would likely be once they showed up.

Granted, she and the others didn't know anything about these people, and her father had consoled her against actually doing fatal damage to anyone (in as much as she could inflict fatal injuries in a world where death was impossible), but when your plans involved abducting an innocent family, including a baby that was barely a year old, you weren't exactly on the side of the angels in her book.

Still, considering the short notice they'd had to come up with a suitable plan, she couldn't complain about the situation at hand. They had managed to get a suitable car and follow Jack and Gwen with just a few minutes' delay, Rex packing a few weapons while the Doctor and Esther were able to adapt a few key computer systems to keep running on their behalf. K9 had even been adapted to act as a kind of media router and wi-fi transmitter, giving them full access to the services they had back at the flat while Amy kept an eye on everything until they were ready to leave.

The actual drive had been relatively straightforward, with the Doctor volunteering to do most of the work while the rest of them got some sleep to ensure they were properly refreshed for whatever was about to happen. Natalie had used the opportunity to prepare some of their equipment for the upcoming 'sting' operation, while K9 'sat' in the boot of the car hooked up to the router to keep up a search for any potential new information on either the Miracle or their current situation.

After they reached Mesa, California, the other car came to a halt in an area that the map identified as basically the centre of a few hills, which at least assured them that they had reached Gwen's destination. It wasn't hard to assume that whoever Gwen had brought Jack here to 'meet' would be coming to get him from the other end of the current road, which left their own group relatively free to take up position at the other end of the small valley formed by the surrounding hills. There was obviously no way they could be sure what would be waiting for Jack and Gwen at the end of this sudden trip, but so long as the Doctor's theory that they were basically dealing with a human agent wasn't wildly off, this shouldn't be too difficult.

Finally, the sun still climbing cautiously through the sky, another SUV came onto the scene from the other side of the current valley, two burly men getting out accompanied by a slim woman with dark hair. Glancing at the figure through the scope of her rifle, Natalie cautiously observed as the woman walked up to Jack [describe the moment], before she turned her focus to one of the nearby guards and fired a single round at his feet. Once she was satisfied that the woman had realised what was going on, Natalie adjusted her aim so that her gun's laser pointer was aimed directly for the woman's heart; so long as she didn't actually fire, she wasn't breaking her word to her father.

"I have eyes on the target," she added, reaching up to activate her current earpiece. "What's the Cardiff situation?"

"Sergeant Dickson confirmed he's ready at his end; I'll send him in right now," Amy replied.

"Excellent work, Pond," Natalie's father confirmed before there was a brief moment of static and she saw Gwen take out a phone. "Gwen Cooper, your family are safe; we've got your friend Andy taking care of things at that end."

Natalie couldn't quite hear Gwen and Jack's response from her current distance, but it didn't take long to see that the woman and her bodyguards were putting their arms up and Jack and Gwen had taken their guns. Once Natalie was satisfied that her new friends had the immediate situation under control, she slung her rifle over her shoulder and walked down the hill towards Gwen and Jack, a quick glance all that she needed to confirm that her father, Amy, Rex and Esther were doing the same.

"Everyone's OK," Amy grinned reassuringly at Gwen as she held out her phone. "Your family's safe."

"Next time, just ask for help-" Rex began, only to be cut off when Amy reached over from her current embrace with a relieved Gwen to slap him on the back of the head. "Hey!"

"When your father's just been rescued from what may be the literal definition of a fate worse than death and you're then faced with the idea of such a fate befalling your entire family, see how you react to any big event beforeyou accuse Gwen of not thinking clearly," the redhead said firmly. "You're not the only 'professional' here, you ass; you're just the only field agent from a publically known government agency."

"Thank you," Gwen smiled over at Amy, before she turned back to Jack. "And you… you're going to live."

"It's a talent of mine," Jack replied.

"I meant every word I said."

"So did I," Jack replied, in a tone that told Natalie she didn't want to know what they had been talking about and they weren't going to discuss it further themselves.

"Good," Gwen said, she and Jack sharing a sudden hug before she turned to the woman. "And as for you… you'd better pray that death comes back to this planet by the time I'm finished with you."

"I'm normally not a fan of this kind of behaviour, but when dealing with an enraged mother, I'm not foolish enough to get in the way of that kind of rage," Natalie's father put in with a cool stare.

"In other words, tell us who you are before I let her loose," Jack affirmed.

"I don't see that anything's changed," the woman said, her tone surprisingly measured even as she looked anxiously between Jack and Gwen. "You're still coming with me."

"Why would I do that?" Jack countered.

"You'll want to come with me because I can take you to the one man who knows how the Miracle began."

"Who's that?" Natalie's father asked.

"Angelo," the woman said. "Angelo Colasanto."

The name meant nothing to Natalie, but a glance at Jack was enough to confirm that he recognised it.

"He's waiting for you, Jack," the woman continued, looking coolly at Jack. "He's been waiting for such a very long time."

"…He's alive?" Jack asked, his shaken expression making it clear this was a complete surprise.

"He is."

"…Give me a few moments to tell the rest of the team, and we'll follow you," Jack concluded.

"…Fair enough," the woman replied with a brief nod. "We'll… wait over there."

With that brief exchange, the woman and her bodyguards returned to her car, leaving Jack to look at the rest of the team with a tentative smile.

"First of all… thanks for coming for me," he said.

"It's what we do," Natalie's father smiled. "Ask Alistair; I once chose to investigate his disappearance over a potential temporal anomaly even when my people insisted I deal with the first, and I never regretted it."

"You made that choice?" Amy looked at him with a grin. "Nice."

"Thank you, Pond," the man in the bow tie smiled before he turned back to Jack. "So who's Angelo Colasanto?"

"I met him when I was sent to New York back in 1927," Jack explained. "I was there to track a member of the Trickster's Brigade who was… well, they were going to infect FDR with a brain parasite that would drive him insane after he got elected president."

"…1927?" Rex looked at Jack incredulously. "You're seriously-?"

"Not the thing to focus on right now, Rex," Amy looked sharply at the ex-CIA agent before turning back to Jack. "So where does… Angelo fit into this?"

"He was an Italian who stole my immigration papers to try and get into America the same day I arrived, but after I got my paperwork back, I talked with him and…" Jack shrugged. "What can I say; I decided to give him his shot."

"And knowing you, it became a bit more than that?" Natalie's father asked with a non-judgemental smile.

"He had a few… issues… about it at first, but he had a real interest in learning more about my world even before he helped me with that parasite," Jack explained, his smile wistful before he adopted a more solemn expression. "And then I got shot in the head in front of Angelo while we were getting away after killing the thing."

"And he didn't react well to that?" Natalie asked tentatively.

"The next time I saw him, he basically had a religious freak-out where he thought I was the Devil come to draw him into temptation, and I ended up stuck in the back of a butcher's shop being tortured to death so people could see me come back to life for the next few weeks."

"Oh," Gwen looked apologetically at Jack. "…Not one of your better deaths?"

"That time I spent stuck in my own grave for a few centuries sucked a bit more in principle, but I wasn't awake for as much of it; even when I had a few moments of awareness, I can't even be sure if I'm remembering what I think I saw correctly…" The formerly immortal captain shrugged. "Anyway, eventually Angelo had a change of heart and helped me get away, but…"

"You couldn't trust him after all that and left him," Natalie's father finished with a solemn nod.

"And… is he likely to know anything about the Miracle?" Esther asked tentatively. "I mean, is it worth us going with this woman just because she knows his name?"

"There were a few moments when something happened while I was in that butcher's shop that might… involve some people making a deal or two… but it was decades ago and I spent more time in pain than paying attention to what was going on," Jack explained apologetically. "I can't be sure if there's anything more to the whole mess, but if Angelo's looking for me after this long…"

"It's at least worth checking out," Natalie's father nodded in agreement before he looked around at the rest of their small team. "Well, let's get K9 sorted and find out what Angelo Colasanto has to tell us."