Note: Why not celebrate my 16 years of existence by giving you all a juicy 2k chapter?
Alright! Allons-y, Chapter 4!
Chapter 4 - A Mystery Worth Solving
It had been a day since Alex awoke and he had been conscious about the situation he apparently found himself annoyingly stuck in. What that situation was, he just couldn't put a finger on it... To Jack's relief, Alex's amnesia wasn't severe and he knew the basics of simple everyday tasks, and that included making breakfast. Over night, he seemed to heal fast enough to get on his feet the next day – another fact to reinforce he was a Time Lord. The Doctor, however, had been cooped up in his TARDIS upon discovering the truth of Alex and Jack dared not to enter the blue box.
Alex looked up from his bowl of cereal and at Jack who entered the Torchwood conference room with some papers and a mug of coffee.
"I hope you didn't mind, I used your computer to research something half an hour ago," he called out to Jack. The ex-Time Agent arched a brow.
"Explains the weird internet history," he mumbled before gesturing for Alex to continue.
"On Yahoo Answers, they say pictures can jog your memory, or doing activities you used to do…" Jack looked up with hopeful eyes.
"And didya manage to regain any memories?" To his disappointment, Alex merely shook his head. Jack sat on a chair opposite Alex, rested his feet on the table and took a sip of coffee before grimacing at how strong he made the drink. Right about now, he needed Ianto's coffee.
"But I heard the most effective method is to go through a state of shock. Not necessarily an electrical shock or anything physically harming, but something that can make me get frightened or surprised like-"
All too suddenly Jack stood from his chair, whipped out his pistol from its holster and pointed it dangerously next to Alex's head. Alex shrieked and fell backwards from his chair and landed with a thud on the floor before Jack holstered the gun.
"Was that shocking enough for you?" Jack wondered.
"NO!" Alex yelled from under the table before peeping above the table and tentatively clambering back on his chair. "No memories, no."
Jack sighed and giggled. "That was quite funny."
"I haven't seen the Doctor since yesterday," the ginger man stated, rapidly changing the subject. Jack noticed his worried tone and gave a reassuring smile as he sat back down on his chair.
"He's just getting over the shock of finding another Time Lord."
"Why are you saying I'm a Time Lord, I'm human," he murmured, slightly annoyed. "Even those bipedal rhinos were calling me a Time Lord."
"How did you know about the rhinos? I thought you couldn't remember your previous events," Jack murmured. Alex shrugged. "Didn't you notice you've got two hearts? That's the undeniable sign of a Gallifreyan."
"A Galli-what?"
Jack sighed and Alex blurted a "sorry" before Jack waved it off.
"No, it's okay. Gallifreyans, or otherwise known as "Time Lords", are a race of very, very clever people from a planet called Gallifrey."
"Oh that's right, the Doctor mentioned Gallifrey last time. That means I'm alien?" Alex said the last part to calmly to be sane. Jack shifted uncomfortably.
"Well… yeah," he nervously said.
"Okay."
"…" Jack blinked at him. "And you're not freaking out?"
"I've been through worse."
"I thought you can't remember your previous events," Jack quipped again.
"I fell off a building," Alex said in a matter of fact tone, as if falling off a building was the worse thing a Time Lord could go through. Suddenly his eyes grew wide. "Jack…"
"Yeah?"
"I think… I think I remember something…"
Jack's head perked up. "Go on…"
"Well I was on a roof and these two-legged rhinos were after me. That was when I jumped off the building. They claimed to be the Shadow Proclamation the Doctor mentioned last night. But I don't know why they were after me. They said I was involved in some case, but I swear I've done nothing wrong. Actually, it was the third time they managed to track me down." Jack nodded.
"What else can you recall?"
"Everything!" Alex excitedly exclaimed. "I had bread and butter with a glass of milk for breakfast two days ago..." His mind suddenly being poured. "I saw a ginger cat a week ago by the alleyway and petted it… Oh my God, I spent £3.20 on a meal deal at Tesco's two days ago! Jack, I remember!"
"Sounds like you regained your memories in mere minutes," Jack said, impressed. "So could you explain why you came to Torchwood and collapsed in my arms begging for the Doctor?"
"I did?" The ex-Time Agent sighed. Way to spoil the good news…
"I feel like there's something missing, something I've forgotten…" Alex admitted.
It was true. He still doesn't know why the Shadow Proclamation were after him and he can't even remember about his own people or home planet, let alone what species he really is. Even their first encounter…
"Well it's making a bit of progress," Jack lied. "How didya remember all that?"
"It just suddenly came into my mind," Alex replied, shrugging. He changed the subject again. "Why did it look like the Doctor was angry with me?" Jack, yet again, sighed.
"The Doctor's also a Time Lord. He doesn't really like talking about it, but Gallifrey and the rest of the Time Lords died out in a war. For a man who only believes in fact and truth in what he sees, he would deny the existence of another Time Lord." Alex frowned.
"If all the Time Lords are gone, then how am I here?"
"That's for you to say… if only you remembered," Jack muttered.
"I don't understand. If I'm a Time Lord, wouldn't the Doctor have recognised me?" The ex-Time Agent shrugged.
"That's for him to answer…" He pointed at the TARDIS parked in the middle of the Hub. "Now finish your cereal and take a shower." Alex noticed the blue box and stared at it with interest. Jack noticed this.
"You said things could jog your memory?"
"Well, mostly pictures, but I'm assuming objects can jog your memory, too."
Jack's eyes glinted and with that, he stood up from his chair again and pulled Alex up resulting him in dropping a spoon of cereals he was about to put in his mouth and being dragged out of the room and down the stairs into the main Hub. Ignoring the constant protests from the man, Jack headed towards the TARDIS.
"Doc's not gonna like me for this, but it's worth a shot…"
They stopped in front of the ship before Alex gazed at it then back at Jack.
"What, it's just a 60's blue police box that shouldn't even be here."
Jack didn't reply and simply opened the doors to the blue box. He looked intently at the confused man and gestured at the open doors.
"You want us to get in there?" Alex laughed nervously at the blue box. "It's a bit… tight."
Jack already went inside before Alex could say anything.
"Jack?"
"C'mon in here! It's a bit tight," the American called out playfully from inside. Alex looked around, praying to God no one saw him walk into a box with this impossible man, only to be greeted by a large room with a glowing green column running straight through the middle. Jack stood in front of him grinning. "Well?"
Alex blinked and subconsciously walked towards the console, examining some controls. Jack hurried towards him and stopped him from pushing any buttons.
"You wouldn't wanna touch that," he murmured, lifting Alex's hand from a big red button. Alex frowned at Jack and chuckled.
"What are you talking about, that button looks red to stop people from pressing it. It's just the dampers. From the looks of it, the pilot of this ship enjoys a loud ride…"
Jack gaped at him. "And since when did you know that?" Alex shrugged and continued to circle around the console with curiosity. "Right… so does anything here jog any memories?" Sadly, Alex shook his head.
"Something's buzzing at the back of my head like something's desperate to get into my mind, but nothing…"
Jack sighed. "Right," he announced, clapping his hands. "Time to get outta here before Doc sees us."
…
Within the depths of the TARDIS, the Doctor began pacing around in a white room, which held the Matrix – the very room consisting of a supercomputer developed by none other than the Time lords. It was a Time Lord's storehouse of knowledge; it generated virtual worlds at the user's request and the Doctor never intended to use it. That was until now…
"Help me out for once," he whispered to his sentient ship only to be greeted with a psychic groan. "Prove to me that they were gone." He hesitated before picking up the almost crown-like contraption and placing it on his head. Within the blink of an eye he found himself in what he like to call a "stimulated environment". To be precise, he found himself standing in the corner of his bedroom in Gallifrey. Frankly he wasn't surprised to see a young version of himself sitting by his study desk tinkering with electronic parts and scattered components spread across his table. It was when his hearts began to wrench as he saw his older brother, Irving "Brax" Braxiatel; enter his room, looking a little distressed. His brother composed himself before pulling a smile.
"Hey, Theta! What'cha doing there?"
The young Doctor shook his head petulantly before grinning at his brother. "Brax, don't call me Theta anymore, I'm the Doctor now." His brother gaped at him before getting where his little brother was getting at.
"Oh, you passed the Time Lord initiation, well done!" he congratulated before patting the little boy's back. "What made you choose that name?" The Doctor shrugged.
"It sounded cool." Brax rolled his eyes.
"And there I thought you matured and would say something along the lines of "because Doctor means healer and I want to help others,"" He sighed. His little brother giggled. "So what about Koschei?" His brother seemed a little hesitant.
"He called himself the Master…"
Brax blinked, finding the name rather cheesy. "Oh…" He tried to change the subject. "Did you memorise your introductory speech like I taught you to?" The Doctor nodded.
""I swear to protect the ancient Law of Gallifrey with all my might and brain. I will to the end of my days, with justice and with honour temper my actions and my thoughts,"" he recited before turning back to the electronics on his table. Brax's brother smiled.
"Good." He ruffled his little brother's hair and chuckled at the slight recoil he made. He noticed the bits of metal all over the Doctor's table. "So what are you doing with a Xion crystal and a bunch of electronic components?" The Doctor guiltily looked up at his brother.
"Trying to build a sonic screwdriver. Don't tell mother and father," he quickly added. Brax simply laughed and smiled in reassurance.
"Cross my hearts," he replied. "Now will you promise me something in return?" The Doctor looked back at his older brother and nodded. Brax composed himself and sighed, preparing for what he was going to say. "I'll have to go somewhere for a while." At once the Doctor's eyes widened and he whined.
"No!" he protested, grabbing his brother's red robes. "Please, you only just came back from Morok two months ago, I can't lose you again!" Brax looked at his brother with sympathetic eyes.
"I'm sorry, Theta. It's really important. Ocean levels in Aridius are declining at alarming rates and I got called to monitor the planet's orbit."
"But Aridius is 5 billion light years away!" the Doctor exclaimed. "Please don't go… not after the last time..." his eyes began to water.
"Theta, it's just routine stuff to make sure none of Aridius' activities will affect any future events." His little brother relaxed a little.
"How long will you be?" he murmured.
"Ten Aridian years."
"What?!" the Doctor cried out. "That's like 3.56 Earth years!" Brax slowly nodded and gave a weary smile.
"It's too late, Theta. I accepted the mission in front of the Lord President himself." He brushed his little brother from his robes and stood up. He walked towards the hallways and turned back at his tear stricken brother. "I'll be leaving in two minutes. See you later, Doctor," he smirked.
There was a flash of white light and the Doctor found himself standing on the scarred lands of Gallifrey during the Time War, out of all times. There parked dozens of battle TARDISes along the field of red grass as shrieking Time Lord soldiers ran past him. The putrid smell of blood cloaked the atmosphere. Chilling sound's of the words "EXTERMINATE" were heard continuously as if on a loop along with the constant rumble of explosions of time bombs and the blood curdling screams of dying men; the psychic bonds between every Time Lord being severed within this very moment driving every single Time Lord insane, driving them to death. The Doctor witnessed the horrifying event from his metaphorical barrier between reality and illusion. Nearby, a gas bomb detonating leaving a cloud of poisonous cloud chasing the Time Lords and leaving corpses in its wake. Those strong or lucky to survive the gas died in less than forty seconds after. Even the mental image of it all made him absolutely sick. He couldn't take any more of it and instantly tore his mind from the Matrix, ripping the headpiece from his head and throwing it across the now white room. The Doctor stared almost teary eyed at the empty space where a dead body of a Time Lord used to be when in his stimulated environment. His mouth was open, screaming silently as sweat beaded his forehead. He began to hyperventilate, choking out and bile nearly rising in his throat when he immediately dashed across the TARDIS hallway to the bathroom.
They were gone, that's for sure. That Alex is just impossible…
…
Jack's vortex manipulator blipped and he simply dismissed it as a harmless thing since Ianto warned him of the faulty alarms. He looked out from his office to the lower level.
"What's that? I do like a beeping object."
The sudden break in silence made Jack jump a meter in the air before he turned around and noticed the Doctor walking towards him.
"Holy crap, Doctor, don't scare me like that. Again," he quickly added, recalling yesterday's encounter. Then he pressed his vortex manipulator and the beeping stopped.
"Where's Alex?" the Time Lord asked, ignoring Jack's last remark.
"Taking a shower."
"Any luck on his memories?" he wondered, fiddling with Jack's desk lamp.
"As a matter of fact, he managed to recall the events on the rooftop before he jumped. He said the Shadow Proclamation was after him for no reason – he didn't do anything wrong if that's what they were after him for. He even managed to remember everything in minutes, but nothing of Gallifrey or Time Lords. Not even his sudden turn up before jumping off the building. He's acting as if he's perfectly back to normal, but with unnoticed gaps in his mind."
The Doctor took a moment of thought before a thought crossed his mind. "Do you think he might have suffered amnesia before jumping off the building?"
"You mean he lost his memories before that? Yeah, it's as if he doesn't know a single thing about the first portion of his life…"
The Doctor nodded. "Probably explains why he remembers everything except Gallifrey. I mean how could a Time Lord forget about Gallifrey? But then again… he might not be a Time Lord." Jack rolled his eyes. The Doctor was still in denial. "Looks like he's gonna be staying with us for a while and I'm gonna have to delay my trip to Mars…" he sighed.
"You're gonna have to accept he's a Time Lord."
The Doctor sighed. "I saw the Time Lords die out, how can he even exist?"
"Ask yourself that about the Master," Jack quipped. The Doctor couldn't argue with that and finally concluded.
"Guess he's a mystery worth solving…"
Jack's vortex manipulator blipped again and this time, he looked at it anxiously.
"What's happening?" the Time Lord asked, a bit more concerned this time.
"Silent alarms, Ianto said they've gone faulty and he'll fix it when he comes back."
The Doctor didn't take that lightly.
"Jack, we have another Time Lord in a secret base who's being chased by the Shadow Proclamation! How can you think of that as a false alarm?!"
"Relax, Doc! No one's entered Torchwood. I've checked all our entrances."
Right on cue, they heard a scream somewhere in the Hub.