Title: Insurrection

Author: Lady Rheena

Rating: T (some violence and non-kiddie friendly stuff)

Disclaimer: Not mine. Evidently. No money. Don't sue. Please.

Notes: I am primarily a TNS Who fan and won't try to convince anyone otherwise. Any muff-ups I therefore make with TOS continuity can just be considered part of the AU definition. The Antecedent Series was written midway through TNS season two, and begins just after the events of Tooth and Claw.

Insurrection

Part 4

'Oh Rose, come quick, she's awake!'

Freyja's gaze swam slowly into focus to reveal Jackie Tyler sitting over her, concern written all over her heavily made-up face.

'Where-' she began.

'Shush, lovey, you've had a helluva time of it. Here-' a straw was put to her lips and she sucked, lukewarm liquid travelling down her throat to her grateful stomach '-bit of soup, and when you feel better I'll make you a sandwich and a nice cup of tea.'

'Ah, our battered heroine is awake.' That was a man's voice, but she didn't know it. 'How's she doing, Jackie?'

'She's still a mess, poor thing…'

'Watch out, Mum, let me talk to her. Jack, can you tell the others?' Rose. That was Rose.

'On my way,' the man said. Rose's concerned face inserted itself into Freyja's line of vision.

'Hey. How're you feeling?'

'Almost…human...'

'She all right?' asked another man's voice from the door. With a little difficulty Freyja placed it; Mickey Smith.

'I still think we should've taken her to hospital-' came Jackie's distant protest '-it's not like she's not human-'

Freyja gingerly reached up to touch her face, which was clean, and then realised her left shoulder was back in place. The fact heartened her considerably.

'How long have I been out?' she asked.

'Three days,' Rose told her. 'Jack had a…something. A regenerator thing. Sorted out most of it. We thought you were going to die.'

'Jack?'

'Yeah, Captain Jack-' she stopped and indicated the other man as he came back in. Freyja frowned slightly. Wavy black hair, blue eyes, naturally classic good looks-

'Jack Harkness,' she remembered, and managed a wan sort of smile. 'Well, what company I'm in.'

'And don't you forget it, gorgeous,' he said with a wink.

'Hardly.' She snorted. 'I must look a fright.'

'Not really. Dermal skin-sealant took care of most of it. And your friend Will thought to bring a bottle of nanogenes along with him, they took care of the internal wreckage.' A shrug. 'You should be up and about in no time.'

'Are the others still here?'

'On their way.'

'Mum threw them out,' Rose explained, a trifle sheepishly.

'I'm so sorry to impose-' Freyja began.

'Forget it. Cal said you called him, told him to get the others and come here. Why?'

'I…found out something.'

'About the Doctor?' Rose's hazel eyes pleaded for accord. 'You kept muttering in your sleep. Something about the Doctor, and Asha. What was it?'

'I need to get up-'

'As your acting field physician I wouldn't recommend that just yet,' Jack said dryly.

'Tough.' Freyja levered herself upright and then glanced down in surprise. 'Whose pyjamas are these?'

'They're my spare ones,' Rose said, a trifle embarrassed.

'Who changed me?' Freyja added, shooting a glance at Jack's not-quite-a-leer.

'I did,' Jackie said firmly. 'And I didn't let him look, neither. You were in enough of a state-'

'Spoil sport,' Jack said with a grin. Freyja sighed. As the holographic Rose had once told her, there was something about Harkness. He hovered just on the edge of giving offence but somehow never quite managed to pull it off.

'Well I do need to get up,' she said. 'This is very important.'

'Right.' Jackie turned businesslike. 'Then I'll put the kettle on.'

The others arrived just as the tea was made so it was rather crowded in the Tyler living room as Freyja, hands clasped around a steaming cup, carefully related her encounter with Asha. After the initial horror and barrage of insulting condemnation she held up a hand.

'There's something far more important than Asha's betrayal.'

'Like what?' Rose demanded, anger flushing her face crimson. 'What could possibly be more important than that?'

'The Doctor.' Freyja looked right at her. 'He's alive.'

'What?'

'I knew it!' Will punched the air.

'It was all faked,' Freyja went on, keeping her attention on Rose. 'Asha popped Boz enough to keep him quiet, first. Then they tranked the Doctor, pulled off the coat, bloodied it up a bit- I daresay he donated the blood in case we thought to check, which we didn't- and peppered it with laser holes. Boz was too near dead to put together anything coherent and with Asha's prize performance they pulled it off. Foxed the lot of us.'

'But if the Doctor's alive, where the hell is he?' Jack asked. 'You said they wanted to use him for some kind of research?'

'Into his regeneration ability, yes.' Freyja shook her head. 'Asha said they boxed him- a kind of induced coma-' she added at Rose's quizzical look '-although I don't want to think about what else they're doing to him while he's like that.' Suddenly the memory of the conversation between Asha and her unknown contact resurfaced- he stopped screaming a week ago- and made her shudder. 'My god, we've got to get him out of there.'

'They're hurting him?' Rose demanded. 'With these…tests?'

'The boxing alone is…unthinkable.' Freyja couldn't go on.

'But if he's in a coma surely he doesn't know what's going on,' Mickey volunteered.

'Naw, doesn't work like that,' Jack said. 'It's supposed to be only used in extreme circumstances. Critical illness, usually, where the victim is in too much pain to be allowed to continued to remain in any state of consciousness.' He grimaced. 'It effectively causes total sensory deprivation. Merciful, if it's used properly. But in a fully-functional person who's still in possession of all their faculties at the time…'

'Imagine being unable to hear, see, smell, taste or touch anything,' Nat said to Rose. 'Like being inside darkness. No sensation of any kind. No external stimulus, nothing.'

'And then imagine being fully conscious and aware of that state,' Cal said with fury underlying his bland tone. 'It'd drive you mad.'

'Damn right it would. And he's been like this what…two months?' Jack looked at Freyja for confirmation. 'My god. He may be alive but it'll be a miracle if he's sane.'

'Doesn't matter,' Rose said resolutely. 'We've got to rescue him.'

'How?' Will exclaimed. 'I mean, there are dozens of lab complexes in the Institute and-'

'Induced stasis field takes a lot of power,' Freyja said, having already given this due consideration. 'We get in, hack the power grids-'

'What?'

'Rose can do that,' Cal said quickly. 'Holographic Rose, I mean.'

'Then we just find the lab section with the highest power input and bingo.' Jack nodded. 'Sounds like a plan.'

'Right.' Rose put her cup down. 'So let's go.'

'What?' Jackie said. 'You're going to go and attack an entire place full of armed guards? The six of you?'

'Seven,' Mickey said hotly. Everyone looked at him in surprise. 'What? Okay, not like the Doctor's my favourite guy in the world but-'

'No, someone should stay here with Jackie,' Nat said. 'If we run into trouble I wouldn't put it past the Board to take hostages to use as leverage.'

'Hostages?' Rose echoed in dismay.

'No fear!' Mickey said dismissively. 'I'd make a crappy hostage-'

'Not you, dunderhead, Jackie,' Freyja said, nodding approval to Nat for the thought. 'Rose, if they told you to choose between your Mum and the Doctor-'

'I couldn't.' Rose hung her head. 'Sorry, Mum.'

Jackie snorted but stopped to boggle at Will when he pulled out his sidearm and passed it to Mickey.

'Ever shot anything before?'

'Er…not really. Some tin cans with my mate Stan's air rifle once…'

'Same principle. Laser shot. No recoil, no reload, so don't overcompensate. Follow the target, squeeze the trigger, don't pull it.'

'Fire just enough to slow 'em down and then run,' Cal added. 'They won't expect you to fight back. Not with a lasgun, anyways.'

'What about Rose?' Mickey asked indignantly.

'I'm going with them,' Rose said stolidly.

'Whoa-' Jack held up his hands '-Rose, there will be shooting. We're talking an armed assault here, not one of those little sneakabout wars you and the Doc are good at. I'm not saying you can't handle yourself,' he added quickly when she bristled, 'But taking aim at a person and shooting…I'd rather not see you do it. And I don't think the Doctor would be happy about it either.'

'Yeah, well I don't imagine the Doctor's happy about being in that stasis box having his insides burned out or god knows what,' Rose shot back with admirable speed. 'So that's not really the point, is it? I'm coming with you. That's final.'

'No!' Jackie barked, immediately up in arms. 'You are not going to go into a gunfight, Rose! I absolutely forbid you-'

'Mum-'

'And don't you start telling me about all the times he's saved the world or whatever. This is completely different-'

'We don't have time for this!'

The room fell silent as Freyja stood up.

'The Doctor is trapped somewhere, being tortured and rapidly losing what little grip on sanity he has left, and you're all bickering like old wives! We have to help him! So let's get moving before it's too late and all we have left to rescue is a vegetable!' She planted her hands on her hips and glared at them all. 'You can sit here and squabble all week if you like, but I'm going back to the Institute to find him right fardling now.'

There was a pause.

'Wearing Mister Men pyjamas?' Cal hazarded.

Freyja drew herself up.

'Jackie…my uniform. Please.'