The Adventures Of Captain Jack

Chapter five: Empty.

AN: I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to update this! I got distracted by "Gold," and then writing this chapter became really hard. It was supposed to be a lighter one but that didn't work - I have the next part semi-mapped out, and I promise it gets lighter, fluffier, and shippier!

AN2: I'm sorry if this chapter is as horribly boring as I'm worried that it is; I was so desperate to actually update the fic, so maybe it's not quite up to scratch. Plus it's four in the morning now so re-checking it is a little hard as I'm half asleep. But nevermind, hope you enjoy :grin:

"Rose!" Her name tore into the air, Jack's voice hoarse with shouting, as the Guv approached the unconscious girl with a sneer settled on his features. But despite his desperate struggling, Jack could only look on helplessly as the bulky guard nudged Rose with his boot, testing her awareness. She didn't respond.

He felt something light brush his left wrist and looked up to see dust floating down from the wall. He let out an enthused yell; the ring holding the chain was coming loose from the wall. He pulled at it with renewed vigour, nothing in his mind besides the need to stop the guard getting his hands on Rose.

Meanwhile, the Guv was kneeling beside her, clumsy fingers pulling at her t-shirt. In one sudden movement, he ripped the garment open at the top, exposing her chest and the top of her bra, laughing stupidly.

"Don't move." The quiet voice cut through all activity in the room. Everybody froze.

Jeyanna stood by the table; having somehow managed to overcome the other guard without anybody noticing, she was holding the discarded knife at his throat, and he was clutching his arm, blood seeping through his fingers.

Jack stared at her for a moment, before giving a great heave and pulling the chain free from the wall. He wasted no time, swinging it with all his strength at the Guv, who had stood up hastily when Jey had spoken. The man staggered backwards, cursing as the ring at the end of the chain connected with his jaw. After the few moments it took for him to recover, he advanced on Jack, who was still fixed to the wall by one chain.

"I said don't move." Jey pressed the blade harder into the guard's neck, but the look in her eyes made it clear that she was far out of her depth.

"You won't actually do it," the Guv sneered. "Look at you, you're shaking. Useless, you are. Boss'd be ashamed."

Jack frowned at that but had little time to dwell on it. He saw no way out of this and fighting one handed with an armed guard about twice his size did not bode well for his state of health. His chest was still aching from its earlier introduction to the Guv's knife.

At that moment though, the sound of approaching footsteps filtered into the room, and Jack thought for one heady moment that they belonged to the Doctor. Relief rushed through him, and he looked over to where Rose lay to see her beginning to stir.

But the man who entered the room was not the Doctor. He was tall and slim, dressed in an expensive looking suit, and carrying an expensive looking gun. The Guv's face fell into disappointment as he turned to face the man who was obviously his superior.

"Oh Jesus Christ, you two; you were supposed to guard him, not deform him! Who's the girl?"

"Dunno," he grunted. "Friend of his."

"If the Boss hears about this…"

"He wont care!"

"Don't talk back you useless moron. Get the chains off him," he nodded towards Jack and then turned to face Jeyanna. "Let him go, Jey," he told her quietly.

She did so, pushing him away with as much force as possible.

"What are you doing here?" Jack couldn't help but notice how different his tone was when he addressed her.

"Dunno." She glanced at Jack nervously.

"Sweet–"

"Don't touch me, Jimmy." She stepped away from him, closing the knife and slipping it into her pocket. "Not any more. I'm done."

"Fine." His voice now came out cold and hard. "Johnson, take these three downstairs. Quickly."

"Yes chief." He pushed Jack, who was standing rubbing at his wrists sulkily, towards Rose. "Get her moving."

The other guard lifted his gun and kept it trained on Jey.

"Rosie you have to get up now, okay?" Jack knelt by her side, shaking her gently. She groaned faintly but made no move. "Rose c'mon, I know it's hard, and you hurt all over, but you have to get up and come with us." He touched his fingers to her chest, where four scratches from the Guv's nails stood out angrily on her skin. She opened her eyes suddenly, blinked a few times, and tried to sit up.

Jack's arms stopped her from hitting the floor a second time.

"Look, carry her if she can't walk. I don't have all day." Jimmy walked over to the door impatiently.

Jack glanced over at Jey, who refused to meet his eyes, before scooping the semi-conscious Rose into his arms and standing shakily. She was heavy in his aching arms, but as one of the guards gave him a shove towards the door, pressing a gun into his back, he gritted his teeth and held on.

xXxXx

Every corridor, every hallway looked the same; endless walls of stone and ancient looking paintings of smug aliens, rickety furniture and dim candles. Endless empty rooms. The Doctor thought he'd go mad if he didn't find them soon. He wasn't out of breath – it took a lot for him to get into that state – but his hearts were pounding all the same and he couldn't get rid of the feeling that he was running out of time. On top of his fears, he was torn between being angry with Rose for wandering off, and being furious with Jack for getting them into this situation in the first place. It seemed like so long ago, though it could only have been an hour at most, that he'd been standing outside this house with Rose, trying not to be entranced by the way her rain soaked clothes clung to her body, trying to fight the urge to grab her and kiss her and take her back to the TARDIS, and to hell with Jack. In fact, he was rather proud of himself for exercising the self-control to limit himself to a chaste kiss on the forehead. But when he finally did get her back to the TARDIS…

He wasn't keeping track of time, but after what felt like hours of running and searching, music began to filter through to him, breaking into his thoughts. It was heavy and unrelenting, and although it increased the sense of panic that was growing in him, he was inexplicably drawn towards it.

An empty room, and another, and another, and the music was getting louder but he couldn't find its source. The corridors were getting barer as he ran, and he took this as a good sign, as stone replaced carpet and the occasional wooden chair took the place of the antique furniture and austere paintings from further down the house. More likely to be prisoners up here, he reasoned.

And sure enough, the next door he wrenched open let him into a stark and cold chamber where the air was buzzing with the energy of a room that was only recently uninhabited. There was an empty cage hanging ominously from the ceiling, and chains lying discarded on the floor nearby. Taking a few steps further into the room, the Doctor could see blood on the stone floor as well. He swore and marched out again, muttering something under his breath about "bloody humans."

xXxXx

Jey was flung into the room after him and she fell to the floor, but he couldn't go to help her because Rose was still in his arms and she wouldn't wake up. He shook her some more but she showed no sign of waking up any time soon.

They were in a room – a cell – that was just as bare and cold as their previous location, but this was new and metallic, and Jack couldn't help but think back to the silver and very sharp looking instruments on the table upstairs. While this room was empty, he couldn't decide if this fact was to their advantage or not.

He lay Rose down on the floor gently and sat beside her, taking her hand in his. He looked up when Jey spoke from where she was sitting on the other side of the room.

"Sorry about all that…"

"Why?" He frowned. "It wasn't your fault."

"Yeah, it was." She sighed and looked away, filling the room with a heavy silence for a few long moments. "We wouldn't have been taken down here if it wasn't for me," she said after a while. "What I did really pissed Jimmy off."

"Boyfriend?" he asked, eyebrow raised. She nodded and then frowned and shook her head.

"Not anymore. And – " she stopped, obviously thinking better of what she'd been about to say.

"And what?" He was stroking Rose's hair absently.

"Is she okay?"

"I don't know. She woke up before but I just don't know. The Doctor'll be here soon."

"Yeah, she was with him before, upstairs. But if you're down here then you're not for sale anymore, so I don't fancy your chances of seeing him again."

"So… what is 'down here'?"

"Not sure exactly." She stared at the floor, not meeting Jack's eyes. "I've never been trusted with that sort of information."

Jack leant back against the cold wall with a sigh. "Well that doesn't bode well for us just now." He looked down at Rose and saw she was still out cold, but that her breathing was even and she looked as though she was simply asleep.

"So," he flashed Jey his most charming smile. "Looks like we're gonna be here for a while. Tell me about yourself."

Thanks for reading.