REVELATIONS
TWENTYSIX
The Doctor was lying on the floor, wrapped in his blanket.
His mind was mostly empty.
Although he'd not communicated with Ven k'atesh for quite some time – since the revelation about the "others", they'd kindly left the chair in his cell. He chose not to sit on it.
It seemed far easier to simply lie there and drift in and out of consciousness.
And to wait for death.
He didn't know how it would arrive. Whether it would come perhaps mercifully at the 'hands' of Ven k'atesh, or from some entirely different and far more vicious source.
Ven k'atesh… The monitor had gone dark and he missed his inquisitor and their 'lessons'. He might even be willing to attempt one more visit… but simply contemplating another such encounter made him feel sick.
He'd thought perhaps he could summon death on his own, without 'assistance'. That proved more easily imagined than achieved. Willing his hearts to stop beating, his blood to cease coursing through his veins, his lungs to empty, his brain's neurons to stop firing, was not easy.
Not easy but certainly preferable to some of the more brutal alternative scenarios that occasionally fluttered through his mind. He tried to avoid thinking about those. They were not at all attractive.
Yes, he thought. It would be better if he could do it himself. He had always believed he had the ability. He'd try again later, after resting.
That was it… there was really nothing else… nothing other than the loud, annoying sounds coming from outside his cell that were disrupting his blessed torpor.
A deafening crash at the door caused him to slightly open one of his eyes. Through veiled lashes he saw a curious black figure standing in the doorway, peering down at him.
"Doctor?" it said.
He closed his eye. 'Go away,' he thought to himself and pulled up his blanket.
"Doctor? Is that you?" A disembodied voice asked and he felt his shoulder gently prodded.
"No," he said. It seemed a reasonable response.
The voice wouldn't stop. Urgently it asked, "Can you stand? Can you walk?"
"LEAVE ME ALONE!" he screamed. It was all he wanted. "LEAVE ME ALONE!"
A solid, warm hand was on his face. "Stillness, quietness, trust," the voice instructed softly.
He opened his eyes. "Harry?"
"No, it's Jack."
"Jack?"
"I'm here to rescue you."
The video monitor buzzed on. "Doctor," the computer generated voice said. "If you go, the others will destroy us."
"Fuck you," growled Jack as he shot out the screen.
The Doctor sobbed.
Jack whispered.
"Hush. I've come to take you home."
The Time Lord closed his eyes as strong arms lifted him. The universe went black.
"Good thing I'm ambidextrous," murmured Jack. He cradled The Doctor in his right arm, leaving his left hand more-or-less free.
He strode out the blown-out door, looking both ways. A wise decision as scuttling towards him from one direction was a very unhappy looking Shrake. The Captain casually unclipped a grenade and tossed it. The Shrake, momentarily confused, stared at it dumbly as the small cylinder blinked down the count of three.
"Gotta go!" said Jack as he spun round and quickly moved down the corridor. His helmet's A.I. muffled the sound of the explosion.
Upon leaving the TARDIS Jack Harkness had destroyed much of the facility. 'Shock and awe' he'd thought humorlessly to himself. As he backtracked over the rubble, he ran into more serious resistance. He was shot several times; his body armor protected him. He had been maintaining a steady stream of offensive weapons fire and general carnage; his helmet's HUD displayed detailed information on enemy positions well before he could actually see them.
As Jack approached the TARDIS he saw the doors swing open and Rose stepped out holding a very large gun. "Hurry, Jack,' she yelled as she pointed it and started laying down cover fire. "We need to leave."
'What the hell,' he said to himself as he quickly unclipped and dropped his rifle, threw The Doctor's blanket-wrapped body over his left shoulder and started to run.
He made it to the TARDIS just in time to get shot in the back. The impact propelled him through the doors and Rose hurriedly slammed them shut. "GO!" she screamed at Wil.
"Going!" Wil yelled back.