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The Age of Paradox 2.5: Miracle Day
It was funny how life with the Doctor made the more mundane things seem more troubling. Amy had experienced a range of forms of captivity in her time with the Doctor, and he'd taught her a few escapology tricks, but when they were dealing with contemporary law enforcement agencies, it was difficult to accept the fact that there was nothing they could 'legitimately' do. Most of the time the Doctor would have had no problem calling in UNIT to prove he had a legitimate reason for being here, but at the moment he seemed to be willing to let this scenario play out until they had a chance to examine whatever evidence the CIA already had.
Amy wasn't sure if the recent murder attempt had helped their case or not. The fact that someone in the CIA wanted them dead wasn't encouraging, but the fact that Rex had opposed that plan at least suggested they had a few actual allies, even if Amy still felt that Rex should have been willing to at least leave them un-handcuffed in these circumstances. Rex had commented that they could expect a security team to meet them at the airport to take Lynn into custody once they landed, but that didn't exactly help any of them at this point.
As they touched down at Washington Dulles airport, Amy wished that she'd come to America under more conventional circumstances; the Doctor had been contemplating making a visit to some of the more culturally significant cities, but he hadn't gotten around to it yet. The CIA agents led the Doctor, Jack, Amy, Natalie and Gwen off the plane while Rex escorted Lyn just behind them, emerging onto the tarmac to see a group of men in dark suits standing nearby.
"This one too," Agent Matheson said, indicating Lynn to the other agents. "She's under arrest."
"Mr Friedkin wants a full debriefing," one of the other agents said as he walked up to take 'custody' of Lynn. "He has Section chiefs from Clandestine and Intelligence on standby. We have a secure van outside waiting to take prisoners to Langley. This way."
"Thank you," Rex said, before his phone rang, the agent answering the call and listening to the response before he spoke. "I haven't had a chance; why?"
Amy couldn't hear anything on the other side, and even Rex's responses became unclear as she and the others were led away from him and further into the airport, but she heard him mutter about something being 'wonderful' in a manner that put her in mind of the Doctor's attempts to improvise when put on the spot.
Why do I have a feeling that we're about to get that twist we were looking for…?
After the assembled TARDIS/Torchwood crew were led further into the airport, Amy was just starting to consider how best to 'signal' Natalie that this might be time for a break-out when Rex ran up to them again, having apparently dropped behind as he took the call.
"Hey, you know, I just remembered there's one final piece of legislation needed to make this a full and proper rendition," the agent said, as he moved in front of the prisoners and began to remove their handcuffs."And according to recent amendments to US code section 3184 and section 3185 on transferring prisoners from airside to landside, the law clearly states that once they touchdown on American soil, they have free and easy access to one very important thing."
"And what's that?" Gwen asked.
"Bullshit," Rex said, before he turned to punch the nearest agent. As their guards looked at Rex in shock, Natalie, Gwen and Jack followed his example to take down some of the other guards, leaving Amy and the Doctor to launch a couple of quick punches at the nearest agents. Lynn lunged towards Rex, having apparently removed her own handcuffs during their walk from the airport, but even as she knocked Rex down, the other agent managed to knock Lynn off her feet, giving her neck a savage twist before she could do more than hit him.
"Got that-" Rex began as he pushed her off him and carefully got to his feet.
"And that is the last time you do something like that while we're working together!" the Doctor glared at the CIA agent.
"Hey, I just saved your lives-" Rex protested as he clutched at his once-again-bleeding chest.
"After endangering them in the first place, so if you really think that wins you any points-" Gwen began.
"And don't you dare start justifying breaking her neck on the grounds that we can't actually 'kill' anyone with the world in its current state," the Doctor practically spat at the other man, almost poking the man with his finger before he stopped himself from making contact with Rex's wound. "If we do this, we're going to operate on the assumption that this situation can be fixed, which means that we do not inflict fatal damage; is that clear?"
"You seriously think you can just go through this without-?"
"Maybe not, but that's no reason not to try," the Doctor countered. "Besides, in case you hadn't noticed, killing people doesn't accomplish anything in this world; nobody is going to even be capable of dying for the foreseeable future, so trying just causes pointless pain, which I'd think you'd sympathise with considering your condition."
"There are times when-"
"And this isn't one of those times," the Doctor cut Rex off.
"If nothing else, we're in a world where death isn't an option any more, so relying on killing people as a threat just shows you're an idiot," Amy put in, a bitter edge to her own voice as she stared at Rex. "You can deal with the way things are and try and adapt, or just get out of this airport and try and survive your own way."
"What makes you think-?"
"You wouldn't have started helping us if things hadn't become really difficult for you," Jack grinned slightly at the other man. "You want our help, you do things the Doctor's way; clear?"
"…Fine," Rex shook his head as he glared at the Doctor. "But you're making this a lot harder-"
"It's already impossible for anyone to die, so it's not exactly like you can kill anybody any more; we're just making sure you don't inflict serious pain on anyone until we can solve this," Amy countered.
"Besides, if anything worth doing was easy, it wouldn't be worthwhile," the Doctor said with a brief smile, before he shook his head with a brief sigh. "Which reminds me, I assume that our luggage hasn't been unloaded from the plane?"
"If they were just… going to kill us…" Rex began uncertainly, "they probably… left all your stuff on board…"
"Right, then I'm off to collect K9; meet you all outside?"
Without waiting for a response, the Doctor ran back down the corridor towards the plane, leaving Amy and Natalie to exchange amused smirks while Jack shrugged at Gwen and Rex in a nonchalant manner.
"He's going off to get that stupid tin dog?" the CIA agent protested.
"That dog is extremely intelligent and could be useful when we're trying to work out what's going on here," Amy countered.
"Besides, we can't exactly leave him here," Jack shrugged. "The TARDIS can be put on lockdown to ensure that nobody gets inside until the Doctor can take it back, and he can probably find it wherever your agency tries to stick it anyway, but if anyone tries to hack K9's databanks, that could get… well, complicated."
"The box is more secure than the dog?"
"We'll talk about it later," Jack said, as he indicated the stairs leading up. "Let's just get out of here."
"And what then?" Gwen countered. "US immigration's difficult at the best of times; we're basically stuck-"
"Seriously, will you idiots just cut it out?" Rex interjected, an expression on his face that suggested he was relieved to be in control of the situation again. "You're already landside and one flight of stairs away from the Goddamn baggage claim; you could just walk out of here-"
"You can stop criticising us when you recognise that you're the reason you're in this mess with us, you idiot," Gwen countered bitterly. "Do I need to remind you that since we met, you've broken up my family, separated the Doctor from his equipment, nearly gotten Jack killed, and you're still trying to act as though you're the one who's going to solve everything; why should we go anywhere with you?"
"Because I have a car," Rex countered, before reaching into his jacket and tossing Jack the sonic screwdriver and vortex manipulator. "Here, take your crap."
"Right," Jack nodded, slipping the screwdriver into his pocket and strapping the manipulator to his wrist before he led the group up the stairs onto the baggage claim area. After a few more minutes of walking, the group were mixed in with the rest of the passengers retrieving baggage claim, waving the rest back before he walked up to one of the airport security staff.
"Excuse me, sir?" Jack said politely. "Those men over there in the black suits, I think I overheard them talking about a bomb."
Nodding at Jack's comment, the security team walked up to the approaching CIA agents, leaving Jack to rejoin the others as they headed out of the airport.
"Now aren't you glad I didn't let you bring your kid?" Rex observed to Gwen. "Imagine her here in the middle of all of this. So how about thinking at some point that maybe I did something good?"
"We'll give you that when we're safe," Amy countered, as they moved briskly towards the exit. Walking out of the building, they found two cars right outside the exit, including a small blue Mini and a larger silver car, a young blonde in a blue shirt waiting in the Mini and an older woman in sunglasses and a dark coat getting out of the silver car.
"Perfect timing," Rex said, taking a small baggie of pills from the woman as she walked up to him.
"This had better be worth it," the woman said.
"Nice car," Amy grinned as she opened the rear door and glanced around its interior. "A bit tight, but I think we can make it work-"
"Hey, hey, what are you doing?" Rex said, indicating the blue Mini behind it. "This is our car; Doctor Juarez just came here to bring me drugs-"
"And there are now seven humanoids and one robot dog needing to get out of here as fast as possible; the thought is appreciated, but we need more space if we're going to make a getaway," the Doctor said as he walked out of the airport with a nonchalant grin, K9 in his arms, before he handed the dog to Natalie. "Just get everything personal out of the car and we'll be off."
"Hey, you can't just-!" the woman began, before the Doctor reached over and placed his fingers on the side of her neck.
"I truly am sorry about this, but it's easier for all concerned if we take the bigger car," he said. "Feel free to report it stolen when you wake up, and we'll leave you all the important things."
Before the woman had time to respond the Doctor had tightened his grip on her neck and she fell down, Gwen quickly moving to catch the other woman before she hit the ground.
"What the Hell was that?" Rex looked between the Doctor and the woman in confusion as Natalie arranged herself to look like she was just holding the other woman up before she moved the woman to a bench on the side of the door. "Some kind of… Vulcan nerve pinch?"
"Venusian aikido; not as good with it as I used to be, but I can pull it off so long as I have a bit of time to get it right," the Doctor smiled, before he indicated the car as Amy pulled various papers, keys, and other items out of the car and put them in the other woman's pockets. "We just lean her against the wall, give her a few minutes to rest and she'll wake up with nothing worse than a stiff neck; we can look into getting a new car once we're out of the airport."
"New car?" the blonde woman looked in confusion between the group as she got out of the Mini. "Look, I came here to-"
"And we appreciate it, but I think you have to agree you don't have the space for all of us in that one, so let's just get on with things here," the Doctor said as he got into the driving seat of the new car, Gwen and Amy climbing into the back as Jack took the front passenger seat, while Natalie emptied out the boot and climbed into the back with K9. "Are you two coming, or not?"
"You can't just- I'm not-!" the blonde began.
"If you're here, I take it you're not going to kill us, which means you're likely to be in trouble if anyone finds out what you did here, so you should probably come with us," the Doctor said, smiling encouragingly at the girl before he glanced over at Rex. "And you should probably do the same; you did just punch out your colleagues, after all."
"Hey, who put you in charge-?" Rex tried to protest.
"He's the Doctor; when Earth faces an out-of-the-ordinary threat, he's always in charge," Jack grinned over at Rex before he tossed the sonic screwdriver back to the Doctor and indicated the rear seat to Rex. "If you want to basically get killed by whoever's after us, stick around here; otherwise, come with us and let's get going."
Rolling his eyes in exasperation, Rex climbed into the back seat of the car, forced to squat uncomfortably on the edge of the seat as Esther got in the other side, leaving Amy and Gwen to squash up in the middle.
"We're going to need better escape plans in the future," Jack observed as the Doctor began to drive, only to slam on the brakes as Lynn walked towards them, head pointing backwards as she staggered around and tried to glare at them.
"Jesus," Rex stared at the woman. "All right, just drive; drive!"
"Already on it," the Doctor said, manoeuvring the car around Lyn as he headed onto the main road, Lynn falling to the ground as the other agents ran from the airport to examine her.
"What the hell was that?" the blonde protested. "Was that Lyn? What the hell is going on?"
"Welcome to life with the Doctor," Amy shrugged.
"The Doctor?"
"That's me," the Doctor waved politely at the blonde. "And you are?"
"…Esther Drummond?" the woman said uncertainly.
"Good to meet you, Esther Drummond," the Doctor nodded at her in the mirror even as he continued driving.
"I take it the TARDIS is safe?" Amy asked.
"The door has been double-locked and I've got the TVG right here; nobody's going to break into the old girlany time soon, and all they'll get is an indestructible police box even if they do," the Doctor affirmed as he patted his coat pocket. "It's not ideal, but we don't have time to move her anywhere until we know what's going on or where might be safe… and on that topic, assuming that you've been keeping an eye on things on the ground while we've been stuck in the sky, how's the world reacting to this?"
"And what are you and Rex doing on the run anyway?" Gwen glanced at the blonde. "I mean, no offence, but who are you?"
"My analyst," Rex clarified.
"And as for why I'm here," Esther said tentatively, "well… I found evidence that money had been sent to our bank accounts, and I was able to trace enough to work out that somebody on the inside was setting us up before they got rid of us to keep all information on Torchwood classified."
"No time to find someone you could trust, I take it?" Natalie asked.
"When our direct supervisor was clearly in on it?" Esther shook her head. "I managed to steal a colleague's ID and get out before they could trap me somewhere, and… well, here we are."
"Good for you, Esther," the Doctor nodded. "Always tough to improvise in a dangerous spot; we're going to need that kind of nerve… and on that topic-"
"Once again, who the Hell put you-?" Rex began.
"As I just said, he's the Doctor and Earth's in danger; by definition, he's the one in charge," Jack nodded.
"And none of us are going to take cues from you when we've got the Doctor here, so if you think you can pull your weight and take over you've got another thing coming," Amy affirmed.
"Welcome to the glamorous life of a fugitive, Agent Matheson," Natalie grinned mockingly at Rex. "Give yourself time and you'll get used to it; if you want to survive what's happening here, just follow our lead."
"So," the Doctor looked at Esther, "if you've been on the ground for the last few hours while we've been in the air, what have you got to tell us about how humanity's reacting to the loss of death so far?"
"It's been… complicated," Esther sighed. "I mean, on the one hand, we've got a Hutu village where everyone was crushed and buried alive, but then India are announcing plans to reconcile with Pakistan to make the most of their one life… there's just no way to guarantee how anyone's going to react to anything right now…"
"Well, it's not like any of us were expecting to become immortal," Gwen pointed out in exasperation. "We've already got enough of a population problem without this mess; what's going to happen when we're left with a population that's only growing without any way to mitigate the consequences of it?"
"And that's not taking into account the wider issues," the Doctor added. "I mean, from what we've heard about how this kind of immortality works, people can still get hurt in this state, and the only thing that's actually changed is that nobody can die of their injuries, correct?"
"Yeah…" Esther nodded tentatively.
"In which case, we need to get somewhere safe and work out what we're dealing with on a global scale while planning our next move," the Doctor said, a bitter edge in his voice. "Humanity makes its biggest mistakes when they're scared and desperate; we need to be ready for anything, especially when we don't know where to look to answer any of the big questions right now."
"Which are?" Rex asked.
"Who/what, how, and why…?"