Episode: The Master Stitches
Chapter: Rifts... [2/5]
Summary: Torchwood wanted to find a way to fix the problem without anyone killing each other first. Amy and Rory wanted to keep a secret while keeping everyone safe. Jack wanted to get rid of the Master before he was driven insane. Koschei just wanted… He wanted… What was it again? Or the one where things gets fixed but still stay broken… and where things get better yet worse at the same time.
Rating: T
The Doctor is sitting up between Amy and Rory, wrapped up like a grumpy child, and Owen has reclaimed his chair, while Jack stands at his side and listens to the end of his report.
"—nothing new. Again. No ID, no way to tell a cause of death when half of the heart belongs to a seventy-year-old and the other half to a teenager, and don't get me started on the brain."
"I think I know," Gwen tells them, stopping at Jack's side and clutching the laptop and DVD in her hands, while Ianto puts the tray on the table. "I think I know how we can ID the victims."
"How? Their DNA is not in any database in the planet," Owen asks, frowning with a frustrated scowl.
"That's because they never existed. Or everyone forgot them," she answers with a grimace, and turns when she hears Ianto sigh.
"I have a niece and a nephew. Their father is not my brother. They don't have a mother. And I never had any siblings," he explains with an attempt at seriousness and calm, but the way he quickly looks at Jack, and how Jack grabs his shoulders tell Gwen he is far more rattled than he lets them know. "How is that possible?"
Jack squeezes his shoulders for a moment, grimacing, before steeling himself and stepping away, turning towards the Doctor.
"You called the temporal void a Neverwere, Master. What are they? Can they erase people from existence?"
"No, no, it's not just a crack, it's a crack. Not a crack in the wall, it isn't in the wall at all! It's a spatiotemporal fissure," the Doctor answers, and while Rory frowns, Amy gives them a grimace.
"Sorry, that's from when I was a kid. Raggedy Man, that crack is closed, remember? Prisoner Zero is gone, the Atraxi are gone. We're in Cardiff," she tells the Doctor, who blinks for a moment, confused, before snarling.
"We're in one of the worst places we could have landed in, and the only reason it isn't the worst is because it's 2006," he answers, lost in whatever new memory that triggered, before he catches himself and shakes his head. "At least he's… he's… Captain?" he calls weakly, looking confused, and, with a thunderous sigh, Jack crosses the space between them and, sitting on the table, puts a hand on the Doctor's covered knee. "Ah, there you are. Are we in Cardiff?"
"Yes, we're in Cardiff. Now, what's a temporal void? Can it erase people?" he repeats, and Gwen retakes her seat too, listening attentively, as do all the others.
"What's a temporal void? Are you making up words now? I thought that bad habit wasn't catching," he asks with a frown, and Amy quickly hides a grin behind a hand while Rory frowns in confusion.
"A temporal void is what happened in the alley. That's the term they used in the Time Agency. You called it—"
"Neverwere," the Doctor whispers, wide-eyed and attentive, and frowns again when Jack nods. "Neverwere don't erase people. They don't erase anything. You can't erase something that never existed."
"What does that mean?"
"Come on, Captain, it's in the name. Never. Were. The Neverwere never existed, so they can't interact with anything that exists. Thus, anything they do interact with never existed in the first place. Of course, that leaves scars in the timeline, which would be the bodies in this instance. The Footprints of the Neverwere," he explains with a shrug, and Gwen frowns.
Fortunately for her peace of mind, she sees everyone else is frowning too, either lost or confused.
"That makes no sense," Owen scowls, dropping against the back of his chair.
"How could something that never existed exist?" Tosh asks, looking from one to the other as if someone else had the answers, though the only thing she gets are shrugs or equally lost expressions.
"No, I don't get it at all. Aliens? Yes. TARDIS? Yes. This Neverwere business? No," Rory answers, rubbing his face before looking at Amy, who shakes her head.
"If whatever they interact with doesn't exist, how come you are still here?" Jack asks the Doctor, and a tense silence immediately fills the room as everyone's eyes widen in realization.
"Because you scared it away," he answers with a nod at Jack, who looks just as surprised as the rest. "You're a Fact. You can't change. You must always exist, always be. You're the only thing a Neverwere could never touch. So, as it unraveled me, I grabbed onto you and it couldn't touch me anymore. It got burnt. And it ran away to lick its wounds."
"Wait, wait!" Jack exclaims, jerking away and lifting his hands, startled, before gesturing towards the Doctor. "I thought that was you! The golden energy and the temporal displacement of the walls – I thought you were regenerating!"
"I was. All that the Neverwere stripped from me had to be returned so I could be the me who was interacting with you. But that me had been attacked by a Neverwere and wasn't regenerating, so the energy of the past me that the present me couldn't metabolize had to go somewhere, which resulted in scars in the timeline. Disturbed footprints, you could call them," he explains calmly, though his head slowly lolls onto Amy's shoulder as he blinks tiredly. "Can I have a slice of the pepperoni pizza?" he asks, and Jack quickly puts his hand back on his knee to get him to focus back on the present.
"So, the Neverwere are creatures that disrupt the flow of time by taking people out of it?" he asks, and Gwen relaxes with a sigh at that simple explanation.
Freaky, sure, but at least it's understandable. Now they just need to figure out how to find and defeat that Neverwere.
The Doctor scowls, an offended expression filled with equal parts of disappointment and contempt.
"Did you listen to anything I said? Neverwere are not creatures, they do not disrupt the flow of time—as if they could!—and they do not take anyone or anything out of the timeline! What kind of Time Agent are you? What kind of Time Agency was that, where no one learnt anything about the timeline or time? And you claim to be the successors of the Time Lords? You don't even know what a Neverwere is! No wonder you messed up so monumentally! Pathetic!" he scoffs, snarling down at Jack in disgust, completely ignoring the way Amy and Rory both ask him to stop and shake his shoulders, as well as the tension growing on Jack's shoulders and his own scowl.
"No wonder I messed up? You messed it up! Standing there, in the middle of the alley, facing this Neverwere of yours, and what happens? If I hadn't been there for you to pull that regeneration trick, we would have all died!"
"If you hadn't messed with the Rift, the Neverwere wouldn't be here in the first place!"
"We didn't! We fixed the Rift! The psychic impressions of the World War I soldiers at St. Teilo's were the ones that destabilized it!"
"How much stupider can you be? Psychic impressions? Psychic impressions can't trigger the Rift!"
"How would you know that? You weren't here!" Jack roars, getting to his feet and dragging the Doctor with him from his jacket, the blanket falling on Amy and Rory even as they reach for him with distraught cries and pleas to wait.
"I was there!" the Doctor snarls, eyes flashing as he breaks Jack's hold and steps into his face, forcing him to backpedal as he stalks towards him. "I was in the middle of the bloody Time War! I was fighting for all of you disgusting ingrates! I fought in the biggest war in all of Time, I died in bloodier ways than you could ever imagine, only to wake up and be sent out again and again and again! For Gallifrey and for the whole of time and space! And you dare tell me I don't know the impact psychic impressions of war have on a spatiotemporal fissure? Hah!" he barks with a sharp grin, laughing in terrifying amusement, the tears filling his eyes making them shine in madness and a pain and grief so all-encompassing that they're beyond understanding. "The time lock would have broken a thousand times over by now! But has it? No! And do you know why? Do you know why you insects can sleep at night, away from the screams and the destruction and the monsters? Do you know who is keeping the Time War locked so there is still a universe to live in? Take a bloody guess!" he roars, spreading his arms wide with a snarl, and this time, Jack steps back without the Doctor moving, wide-eyed and with denial all over his face. "Did you think they wouldn't have a failsafe? A Plan B? Did you think the High Council would just let Gallifrey die? Because they wouldn't. Rassilon would rather destroy the Time Vortex itself if it would save him and his chosen. He would, he really would. But he didn't count on one little detail. That his people, his pawns, those he had groomed all their life to obey his whims, when the moment came, would destroy Gallifrey instead," he whispers with a grin, and a tear falls from his wide and unseeing eyes. "He made me. He made me run. The man who won't die, the man who endures and always finds a way, the destroyer of worlds. I was the perfect warrior, Gallifrey's only hope at survival. And I destroyed it," he giggles, more tears slipping down his cheeks as he slowly brings his tremulous hands to cradle his head. "Choices, choices, choices, but I never had a choice, don't you see? It was always going to be this, always running, always Earth, always the Doctor,the Doctor, the Doctor, because the Doctor makes people better, the Doctor fixes everything, the Doctor always wins… But. But that's not true, is it? There's no winning against the Daleks. There's no winning against the Emperor. There's only fire and death and Gallifrey falls. Do you know what it's like to hold your daughter in your arms and be unable to do anything but smile so she won't die in fear? Do you know what it's like to drown in that sound, the heartsbeat of a Time Lord, so loud and never stopping, chocking the breath out of you and dragging you under until there's only screams and blood and death all around you, and everyone turns to you to save them, because that's who you are, you're the only one who can save them – and you don't," he chokes out, looking up with haunted eyes and trembling hands, no more tears falling yet only serving to make him look even more broken than if he was outright sobbing and bawling his eyes out. "I didn't. The Time War wouldn't have ended, it would have destroyed the universe. And Rassilon – Rassilon would have killed me and destroyed the universe if I saved him. If I saved Gallifrey. So, I didn't. I didn't let Rassilon win. I lost everything else instead," he sobs, falling to his knees and staring at his shaking hands, the tears still stubbornly refusing to fall. "No more Daleks. No more Gallifrey. No more Time War. No more. No more. No more…"
Amy rushes to his side, engulfing him in a hug as he curls into himself, tears shining in her eyes even as she glares at Jack. Rory joins her a second later, tentatively wrapping his arms around the two of them and whispering softly into Amy's ear when she buries her face in the Doctor's blond hair.
Jack stands there, shoulders trembling and with a lot of conflicting emotions fighting for dominance on his face, before he rounds on his heel and leaves, the door to his office slamming closed a moment later.
The Torchwood operatives exchange wide-eyed and hesitant looks, neither of them knowing what to do now. Do they go after Jack? Do they leave the Doctor and his companions alone? Do they get back to work?
Gwen looks down into her lap, at the forgotten laptop and DVD, and takes in a deep breath.
Ianto might have something with Jack, but Gwen feels like she knows him better, what with being the first of the team to learn of his immortality and future origins. So, once she's more composed, Gwen hands Ianto the laptop so he can set things up and, DVD in hand, goes to the office to fetch Jack. Or, at the very least, to see how he's doing.
The pizza will be here soon, and, regardless of their issues, they need the Doctor—the Master, as Jack knows him—to deal with the Neverwere. Only, as the last attempt at a conversation demonstrated, they need the Doctor in better health if they are to get any real answers.
Jack doesn't answer after her first knock, so Gwen makes sure to call his name the second time.
"I don't want to talk," he calls from inside, and Gwen presses her lips into a thin line.
"You don't need to. Just… Can I come in?"
"… Alright," he concedes, sounding exhausted, and Gwen makes sure to close the door softly at her back as she goes in.
Jack is hunched over his desk, fists tightly clenched on the wood, and breathing deliberately slowly.
Cautiously, Gwen approaches and rests a hand on his arm. Jack's eyes are closed tightly, face twisted into a snarl, but since he doesn't react to her presence, Gwen proceeds to rub his arm as reassuringly as possible, not saying a word.
And, as she hoped, Jack eventually breaks the silence.
"It has to be a trick. It has to be a trick, this is the Master, it can't be anything but a trick. Why else would he say all that about the Time War, about Gallifrey, if it wasn't? He's trying to look pitiful, to have us lower our guards, so he can manipulate us after. It's a trick," he hisses, meeting Gwen's eyes at last, and she tries to give him a smile that is too tight-lipped to be reassuring.
"Maybe he's just too hurt to realize what he's doing. Do you really think he would have wanted to tell us that? To show us that side of him? Because there, at the end, it was almost like he didn't see us anymore," she answers softly but firmly, because Jack is right.
What reason would anyone have to talk about this war? Why would a known enemy of Jack's voluntarily confess to having destroyed the Doctor's planet, when he knows Jack is the Doctor's friend? If this was the actual Master instead of the Doctor with the Master's face, he would have even less reason to do so. Though, with him being the Doctor… Could he be searching for condemnation? Could he be purposefully fanning Jack's anger, as a method of self-punishment?
"It still doesn't make sense! The Master is not one for penance or regrets. After everything he did—"
"What about everything you did?"
Jack's mouth snaps shut, the sound almost echoing in the tense silence that fills his office.
Sure, Gwen doesn't know the full details, but Captain John Hart and all that talk about Time Agents and conmen is more than enough to get by.
Jack is secretive. Jack's past is mostly a mystery to everyone. And, judging by his reaction, his past is not clean.
They know that much, lack of details or not.
"Jack, is it really that hard to believe the Master might have found the right kind of Doctor too?" she asks, deciding to take a bet on that, and Jack looks like she just slapped him.
For a second.
"Yes, it is! The last time the Doctor tried to help him, the Master chose death. After all the horrible things he did, after the Doctor forgave him, he still chose to die rather than serve his sentence! The Doctor was going to keep him imprisoned, he was going to protect him from any one of us who wanted him dead, and still the Master refused to regenerate when he was shot," he hisses, hands curling into tight fists, and Gwen presses her lips tightly again.
"What about this 'Master' Jack thinks he actually is? How come the Doctor has his face now?"
"He was… He was the Doctor's best friend. He died in his arms. His planet is gone, his people dead. There was this war with the Daleks, and both sides were obliterated. Only the Doctor survived, but… He blames himself for it, he says he destroyed Gallifrey, and so he doesn't want to be called the Doctor anymore."
"The Time War wouldn't have ended, it would have destroyed the universe. And Rassilon – Rassilon would have killed me and destroyed the universe if I saved him. If I saved Gallifrey. So, I didn't. I didn't let Rassilon win. I lost everything else instead."
"Maybe he didn't think he deserved that forgiveness," Gwen whispers, and Jack's breath hitches before he looks away. "Look, you don't have to like him or get along, and you definitely don't have to forgive him. But we need him. Like John Hart. Remember? You said there was the tiniest chance he had changed, that he was telling the truth about the bombs. Why can't there be the smallest chance the Master can help us despite all the horrible things he did in the past?"
Jack paces for a moment, growling under his breath, before dropping against the desk with a defeated huff, rubbing his face almost violently.
"If it's anything to do with the stability of the timeline, he will. His nature as a Time Lord will either have him run away or solve the issue. And, without the TARDIS, the only thing he can do is help us fix whatever is going on with that Neverwere," he concedes grumpily, and Gwen smiles and squeezes his arm, proud of him for getting past his grudge enough to let the Master help.
"There we go then. Now, come on. The pizzas should be here soon, and Ianto found a movie that we can watch. This way, you can sit close to the Master so he gets better without having to talk to him at all," she tells him, walking out of the office while he follows with a tired chuckle.
"Ah, food, the way to a man's heart. Which movie is it this time? Because, I swear, if you try to make me watch that Star Wars one more time…"
"It is a classic! You have to see it someday," she laughs, rolling her eyes, before handing over the DVD as they walk towards the couch. "But no, it's not Star Wars. We know you're a Star Trek person. It's another classic, though, so I don't want to hear any whining!"
"Back to the Future? Gwen, you know what I think about twenty-first century time travel theories!"
"I said no whining!"
"Yes, ma'am," he answers with a salute and a wink, grinning, and Gwen chuckles before she turns her attention to the pizza piles Ianto and Owen are bringing in from the elevator as he looks back to the DVD. "In this 1980s sci-fi classic—ugh, it's twentieth century time travel theory—"
"Jack!"
"Fine! Fine. In this totally ancient and inaccurate movie, small-town California teen Marty McFly… Why does that name sound familiar?"
"Told you, it's a classic."
"Right. Anyway, an American teen is thrown back into the '50s when an experiment by his eccentric scientist friend Doc… Brown… Oh, stars," Jack breathes, footsteps stopping, and, startled, Gwen turns around to see he's staring at the DVD in his hands like it's the most precious diamond in the world. "I found it. Hah! I found it!" he exclaims, literally bouncing in place with a huge grin that makes him look years younger, before he rushes past Gwen in his excitement, almost bowling over Owen and Ianto on his way to the couch. "Doc! Doc, I found it! Come on, we have to watch it!" he calls as he drops to his knees in front of the couch, ignoring Amy's and Rory's startled yelps, and resting a hand on the Doctor's knee so he can practically shove the DVD under his nose.
The Doctor looks a bit cross-eyed for a moment before he straightens where he's sitting, once more wrapped like a burrito in his blanket, and grins back at Jack with a chuckle.
"About time, McFly," he tells Jack – and, as if zapped, Jack jerks away from the Doctor while the alien frowns in confusion. "What was that about, Harkness?"
"Would you stop calling me that? That's not my name," Jack snaps, though he immediately realizes what he's said and stiffens in surprise. "Why did I say that? What have you done?" he accuses, glaring up at the Doctor but refraining from touching him again.
"Me? You are the one who started projecting. I thought you had better mental shields than that," the Doctor scoffs, leaning into Amy so that she doesn't glare as hotly at Jack.
"What?"
"You're so eager to see this film, to fulfill that promise—"
"What promise?"
"How am I supposed to know?"
"Wait, wait!" Gwen calls when she sees Jack snarl, ready to retort, and the way Amy clutches the Doctor closer, almost smothering him in his blanket, to stop him from snapping again. "Let's be civil this time, alright? Jack, what are you so excited about?" she asks, trying to redirect the conversation to avoid another outburst.
"Nothing! I don't know why I did that, it was like – like someone took over me," he explains, his annoyed frown tinging with worry.
"That would be you," the Doctor answers, confused yet also curious, as he shuffles out of Amy's grip. "Seriously, let me breathe. Anyway, as I was saying, there was something in you that was projecting eagerness. Some part of you really wants to watch this movie, for whatever reason."
"And how would you know that?" Owen asks, carefully putting the boxes on the table before he and Ianto join the chair circle.
"Time Lords are telepathic. I'm too injured right now to do much, but I could at least sense that," he answers with a scowl, and Gwen has to blink in surprise.
"Any other powers we don't know about?" she asks before she can stop herself, earning a deadpan look from the Doctor and grins and chuckles from everyone else. "Sorry, that was rude."
"Very."
"Raggedy Man, behave!" Amy chastises, poking him on the side of his head with a grin.
"Not like you are much better," Rory mutters from behind the hand he's using to hide his grin, though, by the way the Doctor glares at him, he's heard him as clearly as everyone else.
"Are you sure that was me?" Jack asks, ignoring the banter in favor of more relevant questions.
The Doctor frowns.
"Not really. It's hard to tell with you, and it was just a moment, after all."
"Maybe you should try again," Tosh suggests, and, as one, both Jack and the Doctor turn to stare at her with wide eyes. "Is… Would that be too much right now?"
"I'm not letting him into my head," Jack scowls, pointing an accusing finger at the Doctor, who sniffs disdainfully.
"Not that I would want to," the alien retorts right on cue, though he frowns softly almost immediately after. "I don't think I would be able to do more than just find it's point of origin, anyway. I'd rather not try anything as intimate as a mind link with a Fact while all my dimensions and time feelers are damaged."
"Intimate?"
"Mind link?"
"Dimensions?"
"Time feelers?"
"One at a time!" Amy calls, silencing the Torchwood operatives, who apologize more or less sincerely. "Raggedy Man? Are you up to answering any of that now, or maybe once you're feeling better?"
"Can we have that pizza first?" the Doctor asks, eyes on the pile of boxes on the table as he swallows hungrily. "I can smell chicken. I like chubby chickens. So much fat and meat in one little body…" he rumbles hungrily, grinning sharply, and Gwen exchanges a look with her teammates, remembering the laughter they exchanged in the car when they first heard about the 'chubby chickens'.
"Well, that turned dark fast," Owen comments before getting off his chair to check the pizzas.
"One last thing," Jack calls before they can start passing the boxes around, meeting the Doctor's eyes with a steely seriousness in his gaze. "Are you sure you can find the timestamp for that memory?"
The Hub falls silent once more as they all wait with bated breath for the answer. It's not only a simple yes or no question, but rather a matter of trust. Jack would be letting who he believes is the Master inside his head, while the Doctor has to face whatever possible side-effects interacting with whatever Jack is may trigger on his injured self.
Does Jack truly trust the Master? Is the Doctor ready to accept such trust?
"I am," the Doctor finally answers, and, taking a deep breath, Jack nods. "I'll need a closer contact than your hand on my knee, though."
Jack hesitates for a second before shifting so he's kneeling between the Doctor's knees, sitting on his heels. After a moment to unwrap himself, the Doctor slowly reaches for Jack's head, carefully touching his temples with his fingertips, and the two of them close their eyes.
Everyone holds their breath as they wait for something to happen, watching the Doctor frown softly as the seconds go by.
"I think I found it. You've had some cowboys in here. Ugh, keep those memories to yourself! I didn't mean actual cowboys!" he scowls, though there's a smirk on Jack's face now, and the rest of Torchwood snort in amusement while Amy chuckles and Rory groans. "Why are you missing—ah, no, they're not missing. Why are two years of your memories out of synch?"
"What do you mean? I'm missing two years of my life, the Time Agency took them before I left them," Jacks asks, frowning but still keeping his eyes closed, while the others exchange startled looks.
"That's what you'd think, but the movie promise comes from that blank. This means the memories must still be here, even if it looks like they aren't. I'm not sure what's wrong with them, it isn't like I can do anything more than hone in on them. It definitely feels like someone put them a second out of synch, though."
"Can you do that with memories? I thought it was only possible with physical objects," Jack asks as the Doctor breaks the contact and drops against the back of the couch, both of them opening their eyes again to exchange confused frowns and pensive looks.
"I said it feels like it. Doesn't mean that's what happened. Pay attention. And pass me my food. Oh, and whoever ordered it, can I have a slice of the pepperoni pizza? It smells amazing," the Doctor scoffs, immediately disregarding the topic, obviously considering it over, to once more stare hungrily at the pile of pizza boxes.
"Sure. Now, let's get the movie started," Gwen concedes with a chuckle, taking the DVD from Jack's hands while Owen starts handing out the boxes.
Well, they have a lead and their new friends no longer seem likely to start a bloodbath with Jack, so Gwen will count it as a win. Now, to see if they can keep the truce until they're done with that Neverwere.