A/N- Thank yous to Jammies2000, hall442, and Xlittle-pyroX for the reviews. And thanks to everyone for your patience. I'm in the middle of a difficult move and haven't had much time for writing. Hope you continue to enjoy (and if so, please review—all comments welcome).

I LIKE IMPOSSIBLE

CHAPTER 5: High Stakes

It took Rose Tyler less than two seconds after sitting up to realize that sitting up was a bad idea. Her head ached like someone had hit her with a brick and her eyes smarted in the half-light. She didn't know what had knocked her out, but she quickly surmised that it hadn't been gentle on her system. However, she didn't pass out again, and, after a moment, she felt her head begin to clear. Ok, she thought in her peppiest of thinking tones (one that in her mind mimicked her beloved Doctor): let's just assess our situation, shall we?

The room in which she found herself was dimly lit. She was garbed in a make-shift hospital gown and was lying on what seemed to be a medical table. The room was white with an air of sterility and filled with little other than blipping monitors of some sort. She looked at her left arm, unsurprised to see an IV had been inserted in it: that would explain her disorientation, not to mention the pounding in her head.

There was no one in the room with her. "Hello?" she queried hesitantly, testing her voice. "Hello?"

She intuitively felt rather than saw movement over her left shoulder, and carefully turned her head. There, she saw an enormous observation window, and behind it sat two Cologians watching her closely.

She stood up carefully, not wanting to swoon, even though her anger was growing like a storm, and glared at her captors. "What in the bloody hell is going on?"

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It had been a long week. Too long. Rose was missing, and despite a fully mobilized effort from Torchwood, they had no leads. She'd been abducted somewhere between the front door and her car, and they didn't even have any footage on tape—a glitch in the system that just couldn't have been accidental.

Mickey had been working all week almost without sleep trying to uncover something, anything that might get them started, but so far to no avail. And, as he took a seat at the corner pub and ordered a drink, he couldn't help thinking that this is when they needed the Doctor. Now, when Rose was missing Mickey was certain that the Doctor would know what to do.

Slowly and carefully, Mickey reviewed the few details that they did have again as he sipped his drink. He was both startled and annoyed when a tall, dark-haired man wearing a long coat appeared at his side out of nowhere and pounded his fist on the bar counter. An irritated, "What?" was all that tumbled out of Mickey' mouth before he realized who it was that was interrupting his reflections… There with a scowl that could intimidate armies of men and aliens alike, stood Captain Jack Harkness, and he did not look happy.

"You're Ricky Smith?" Harkness asked in an impatient voice.

"It's Mickey, but yeah," Mickey looked dumb-founded. "My gosh! You're him. Rose said but… You're really him. You're…"

Jack cut him off, "Can we skip the bumbling formalities? I'm here to let you in on some intelligence that I just received regarding your friend Rose Tyler."

At that Mickey jumped to his feet, his voice rising. "Rose. You've got information about Rose? What is it? Where is she?"

Jack looked around the bar. It was crowded with a down-trodden post-work sort of crowd most of whom were sitting with their eyes glued to the polo match showing on the big screen though a few of them seemed to be taking notice of Mickey's conspicuous behavior. He gestured that Mickey should follow him, and he led him out behind the pub into a narrow ally.

Once outside, Mickey asked again, "What've you heard about Rose?"

Jack Harkness studied Mickey in the faint backlight of the city, trying to reconcile what he knew with what he saw. The man standing before him was not what he'd been expecting. Young, boyish even, and apparently idiotic for all Jack could tell based on his speech and behavior in the bar, but the files that the computer had on this Ricky or Mickey or whoever he was said otherwise. According to his computer, he was one of Torchwood's most notorious field agents: courageous, daring, and clever. Heck, the guy was even mentioned in one of Jack's old textbooks from the Academy.

In addition to the discomfort that Jack felt to find Mickey less than he expected, he was doubly discomforted and perplexed by his own actions. Why had he dropped what was turning into quite a lucrative endeavor in the Ontari System and hurriedly sought out the young man standing before him with such intensity when he'd intercepted the transmission about Rose? Why in the hell was he allowing himself to get involved with these people? Emotionally involved? He never allowed himself to get emotionally involved. And, they were strangers, lunatics who believed in parallel worlds of all things. So, why should he care?

But, he knew the answer: Rose Tyler. Rose Tyler had looked at him, really looked at him like she knew him, and named him a hero. Her simple words, her unbelievable story, and her implicit faith—they had snared him somehow. And now she was in danger.

"She's been adducted by aliens."

"Obviously," Mickey replied abruptly, surprising the jaded Captain. "But which aliens?"

"That I don't know. What I can tell you is that there are currently several bounties on your friend's head: the price of being good at what she does, I guess. The highest one that I know of is to the tune of 300,000 Galactic Credits, an amount comparable to half a million pounds here on earth, and is being offered by the Sycorax ."

Mickey nodded grimly, "Not the nicest bunch."

Jack continued, "But, apparently the bounty hunters that took her are hoping to acquire more than that, and that's the good news because that means that there's still some time. They've advertised her captivity, and they plan to auction her off tomorrow evening near the slave pits off the Delta platform in the Radadish System."

"Not bloody likely." Mickey's voice was venomous. He looked at Jack, "So, what's the plan?"

"The plan?"

"Yeah, how're we gonna rescue Rose?"

"That Ricky or Mickey Smith is totally up to you and the Torchwood Institute. I was just passing on the information." And with that Jack turned and started walking up the ally. "But, for what it's worth," he called over his shoulder, "Good luck."

"Wait, you just can't walk away! " Mickey yelled. "Rose's been kidnapped! Her life is on the line! You've got to do something!"

"Do something! Do something! I've already done something. For no explicable reason, I've come quite far out of my way, at no small loss to myself mind, to tell you. So, go rally your Torchwood buddies and go save the girl, kid. "

Mickey didn't hesitate. He chased after Jack and threw himself between the conman and the ally's exit. "No way, man, no way. You didn't come all this way just to back off and leave the idiots to rescue Rose."

"Oh didn't I?" Jack questioned sardonically.

Mickey sized him up and smirked, "No. For two reasons. One, it's just not your style. And, two, Torchwood doesn't have a spaceship capable of making that trip in time."