Chapter 8: Two plus Three
Toshiko heard movement and looked across the Hub. She saw Owen and ... Jack in purple?! "Owen," she called, "I think we have the same problem." She watched as Jack 3, as she now officially dubbed him, climbed the stairs.
Jack 3 looked at Toshiko and the other Jack. "Captain Jack Harkness," he said in unnecessary introduction. He eyed Jack 2. "1930s I'd guess."
"1934. And there's no doubting when you're from!" Jack 2 laughed at the sight before him. "The wonderful 1960s or is it 70s? What joys I have to look forward to."
Jack 3 nodded curtly, "1969 actually. And there's no joy as far as I'm concerned. How's Angela?" he asked after a short pause.
"She's great, thanks" replied Jack 2, his smile fading in the face of the other's hostility..
Jack 3 briefly looked down at Jack's injuries. He glanced at Jack 2. "Nasty," he said. "The emergency button?" he queried.
"That's my thinking."
"So," he looked at Toshiko and Owen, "which one of you is in charge?"
"He is," said Toshiko and Jack 2 together, pointing at Jack on the floor, then laughed. Owen looked at them disgustedly.
Jack 3 was astonished. "What!?" he demanded. "Me in charge of this God-forsaken hell hole of an organisation? I don't believe it. I won't believe it." He stomped off towards Jack's office, shaking his head. "I won't do it."
In the stunned silence, Owen asked, "Tosh, you got any idea what's going on?" He felt matters were getting away from him. There were three versions of Jack, two of them walking around and one dead, and Toshiko seemed very friendly – too much so? – with one of the live ones.
"Not really. Jack 2, " she pointed to him to help Owen distinguish between them, "says that the blast triggered an emergency teleport button on Jack's, our Jack's, wrist strap which in turn brought these two here. I've scanned this one and he's real; they're actual versions of Jack from different time periods."
"As if one isn't enough," sighed Owen.
"I heard that," said Jack 2. "What's wrong with working for me?" He sounded curious.
"Other than the fact that you're a secretive son of a bitch who never tells us what's going on? That you make decisions and send us into danger without consulting us?"
"Oh, nothing new then." He grinned and Owen had to smile too; there was no denying Jack Harkness had charm whenever he was from. No, he amended, the other one, the one he had found in the Boardroom, had no charm whatsoever.
"Owen, there's something else. We believe, well Jack 2 here believes, that all four incursions were versions of Jack arriving. It would explain why there was no lockdown: the alarms merely registered that 'Jack' was arriving in an unusual manner."
"Then Gwen and Ianto are meeting yet more of them?" Owen asked tentatively.
"Yeah," confirmed Toshiko.