A/N: Okay here it is. The final chapter of Man Who Sold the World. Thank you for all the reviews and not getting mad at me when I didn't update for months. Writing this story has helped me realise how hard it is to be a writer and now I have a new level of respect for people who do it all the time. I'd like to thank my friends and so this chapter is dedicated to them, KitKat (I know we're not the closest of friends right now and are now sort of fighting.) You introduced me to fanfiction two years ago I will never be able to thank you enough. To Alice, you're crazy insane and above all my best friend, this story would never have been finished if it weren't for you, you helped by being my Beta, by telling me if my latest idea was too crazy and listening when I am at my most insane. To my viola teacher, you have some idea of how much you influenced me, but I don't think you realise how much of this story is your fault, you introduced me to Ashes to Ashes and promptly told me spoilers for two whole seasons, you spent some of my lessons last year watching Ashes on your laptop and you laugh when I tell you about my fanfics. And to VV, my destiny friend, still sitting next to me in English (Two years I don't know how you survived XD), and not even commenting that I never do any work. Also a special mention goes to Webby0x you were the first person to review my story thank you. And thanks to everyone else who reviewed and to all those who've stuck with me the whole way I hope this chapter makes sense and is a suitable ending to this story.
Gene's Office
Gene Hunt was starting to be very confused. Starting was a bit of an understatement. He structured his thoughts into a strange order. 48 hours ago he had been ready to fire four officers. Since then Alex had fronted up with the stolen Quatro, Chris, Ray and Shaz by her side with her bloodied shirt that she still hadn't explained. The man she brought with her had caused Gene to feel many strange and mildly unfamiliar emotions. Sam's arrival had first caused shock and anger with a hint of relief, as Sam seemed to be at ease around people that Gene had never got a chance to meet he started to feel jealous. Why was Sam so comfortable around Alex? Why weren't they strangers? Sam had been Gene's best friend a few years ago. He would have loved to introduce him and Alex except he had thought he'd never get the chance. And then his dead friend pulled another crazy stunt and surprised Gene again. He was alive and he was way too familiar Alex for Gene's liking. Thing was Gene had always been sure the Sam loved Annie above all else. But he was different with Alex. With Annie, Sam had always been polite standing up for her and respecting her. He had pushed so she could be included in the team and Gene would never be more thankful. She had given the time a bit of balance along with Sam she'd pulled the team back from an edge they'd balanced on for so long.
Gene had always planned to be a good copper but even the best laid plans go wrong. Before Sam came along he'd been knee deep in corruption and was about to fall in. When he'd lost Sam and Annie had shattered he knew he could no longer stay in Manchester. Without Sam and Annie to stop him he'd let things get worse. It reached a head a year ago with Operation Rose two of his closest and most loyal friends had become so involved in the very corruption he'd tried to fight. Ray had been in the Masons and Gene had not done anything to get him out. Chris, poor Chris had go along with everything just to make Gene proud.
Alex had been the one to help him then. And then in the middle of all these lies Alex had grown so strange. She'd been acting strangely and that was saying something given how she normally acted. And her obsession with Martin Summers was another mystery. She'd hated him so much when the honest boy had come to him to confess what was going on. Yet when his signature turned up in incriminating places she'd refused to believe it. Defending the one she'd accused, she'd testified that he couldn't have signed that log book. Had she known what had happened to the boy? He could remember the next day watching her stride past her again rose covered desk into his office with a look on her face that people rarely saw. Fear. She had been scared. He could see her face in his mind right now as he told her that Summers's body had been found she'd staggered against the table an unreadable expression on her face.
That was another mystery when he'd walked into the office that day he'd looked at Alex's rose covered desk with some jealousy wondering whether it was the older man Boris Johnson or someone else. When he asked Viv later it turned out that Alex had had Roses of all sort delivered to the station. He wondered if that had been a tip off from someone. That operation Rose was coming. But at the time he'd seen it as further proof of her betrayal. He could still remember that day in the courtyard. He'd come around the corner hidden by the columns to see Alex facing a man he'd once seen in Luigi's. Then that man had talked to Alex and she'd turned him down he could tell from the body language of the man. How he'd stepped closer to Alex almost begging her to come with him. But she'd turned him down. But on the fateful day he'd been facing Alex with a gun in his hand.
Gene could see it now
Alex looked tired but she was going down fighting Gene could see it in the slight hardness to her gaze. "November '82" She'd said and the other man had nodded as if proud of her for knowing the month. "The King Douglas Job" She spoke like it had been a certainty.
"There you go, Good girl" This stranger had praised, a smile on his face. Alex looked almost glad that she had known about it.
"There was no mention of any bent coppers" She spat the words as if disgusted by their meaning. The way she spoke about the events that were happening around the corner were unusual. Not many would have spoken like this had already happened.
"The Met covered it up." He seemed enraged by this and Alex, god Alex didn't even look surprised, her anger too was readable. "Carnegie got away the first time" They were both speaking like this had happened before but that was impossible. He was smiling like he was definite that things were going to happen differently.
"And you saw it all." Alex looked like she almost felt sorry for that insane man. "Back then," Why was she acting like this was happening in the past. "Young PC" But that would have been nearly 30 years ago. How could this man be involved? She nodded like this was her final piece in the puzzle that she'd been working on for months.
"They paid me off" He nearly shouted at her. Gene's fingers tightened around his gun. The man took a step towards Alex. He looked insane. His grey eyes were flashing with a kind of rage that was impossible to fake. And Alex's eyes were filled with compassion. She was feeling sorry for him. She seemed to understand the situation completely. Gene wondered if she'd mind explaining it later. Then again he had a feeling like this was a private moment. Like this discussion was something that had been months in the making. He also knew that the next time he spoke to Alex was going to be strained to say the least.
"And all this was about putting things right. You wanted them to get caught" Was this stranger her informant someone involved in Operation Rose someone who was taking it apart from the inside. Alex was calm about this not freaking out or reacting to the fact her informer had been hiding such a crucial point from her. She looked almost happy to find out that he was taking down the organisation from the inside.
"When I joined the Force I believed Alex!" He was angry now Gene could tell from his vantage point and Alex just looked so sad for him. Like she understood at last something about this man. "They took that away from me!" Gene could understand that. When you joined the force it was all about glory and honour and the day you lost that was a dark day. "When I saw you couldn't be corrupted," Gene let out a sigh of relief that he didn't know he'd been holding. She wasn't involved. Yet she knew so much. Then the guilt started to set in the knowledge that she'd never betrayed him, that hell she might have even been telling him the truth from the way they talked and what had he done, threatened to kill her. He stepped out from behind the pillar, now determined to get Alex away from the gun wielding mad man. "I knew you'd uncover Rose." He seemed so proud of himself. Happy that she'd done what he needed and that everything was uncovered.
"Police drop it, I will shoot" Gene had then said seeing as the gun was now too close to Alex for his liking.
"I know" The words were sinister and Gene could see Alex frantically trying to find something to say. But the man had pointed the gun at her and Gene wasn't taking any chances he pulled the trigger.
"Who is it?" He'd asked hoping she'd trust him enough to tell the truth.
"He's a copper" were the words she used. Not a lie, just not everything she knew. He hung his head as the dying man confirmed her story. Using careful words he helped the man who had terrified Alex to find peace and to die there.
Gene was startled out of these thoughts by Chris, Ray and Shaz bursting in. All three had interesting expressions on their faces. Chris seemed proud and happy yet confused. Ray looked murderous and was muttering something that sounded suspiciously like tosser under his breath. And Shaz, her eyes glittered in rage, her cheeks flushed and her lips set in a thin line. "Guv!" Chris shouted. "Guv! You've got to come hear this!" Gene strode out of his office his curiosity getting the better of him.
"Alex sent us to get these tapes" Ray explained showing him an opened box.
"Alex?" Gene spoke without meaning to. "How did she do this? She's been arrested"
"Yeah Viv, escorted her to her cell, she dropped some hints" Chris answered.
"Look Guv you need to hear some of this stuff. Bloody hell that creep. He was in her apartment. He was watching her sleep. For god's sake. Alex should have said something" Ray growled. "But some of us weren't listening to her" His glare at Gene was incredibly powerful. Ray liked Alex, she was his friend and now he was finding out what she'd been coping with by herself. She shouldn't have had to do that. He remembered Gene accusing her and his declaration of loyalty to her She may be a pain in the arse but she's our pain in the arse. That was the only time he could remember standing against Gene. He remembered her trust in him after everything that happened. She'd come out of a coma and helped him solve a case, stopped Gene from taking over. He owed her a lot. It wasn't easy to see how she'd been treated by that creep. He was angry at himself for not realising that something was wrong. That she was scared.
"What!" Gene roared. "Play it!" He ordered Chris.
An Irish drawl came from the cassette machine, "Guilty conscience?" The voice asked. The officers could hear Alex's unsteady breathing. "You covered up a murder, Alex." He said it so calmly, no accusation but the tiniest hint of disappointment in his voice. Gene's hands clenched involuntarily. "That young bobby had his whole life ahead of him" It clicked. Gene knew exactly what murder they were talking about. Martin Summers. Everything came back to him. "As crimes go, it's a biggie." Gene could almost see that patronising smirk on the face of that monster. He was trying to place where he had heard that voice before.
"Clock's ticking" Alex responded. Ignoring everything that had just been said. Gene wanted to smile Alex wasn't letting this man get to her. She wasn't scared of the idea of being found out. She hadn't killed Summers. She had hidden the body and this man had known about it. That meant he had to be present at the murder. He had to be the one who did. Gene realised all this in about a second as Alex spoke again. "I've got until 50 mils to beat the infection that's killing me. That's you, by the way" Alex had never particularly made an attempt to sound normal. But this was different. She sounded confident not really caring that this man had killed before just speaking to him as if this was all fact.
He chuckled then spoke in a voice that hinted with a bitter regret. "You think I'm the rot? That's ironic" And then Gene placed the voice. From the courtyard. He was the same man that Alex had faced during Operation Rose. The man Gene had killed. The man who pointed a gun at her. The one who smiled at death and accepted it with two haunting words I know. Alex had known him better than he could have thought. In that moment Gene realised that Alex clearly wasn't shocked that this crazy man was in her apartment. So he had been there before. Often enough that she'd gotten used to it. What would happen over the next few days that would make Alex realise that He wasn't actually bent. That this man was setting Operation Rose up for a takedown.
"And then I'm going home." She tried to sound confident but even Chris with his lack of tact could hear I slight tremor in her voice.
"If you're strong enough" The stranger rebuffed her casually.
"I'll stop you and then I'll be strong enough" She sounded like she was unsure. Like she was looking for conformation on this.
"Well, you haven't done a good job of it so far." Gene was incredibly thankful that she had been trying to stop the murder. Even if she hadn't succeeded. He was worried though why she hadn't told him. "See?" Alex gave a small gasp and the officers tensed suspecting (and quite accurately at that) that it was her gun that he was showing her. Then the bloody bastard had the audacity to laugh at her. "I'm one step ahead of you, Alex, all the time." They glared at the tape recorder. "See I understand you." Better than I do Gene thought to himself. "Why you make these tapes. The private agonies of someone who's trying to figure out the meaning of life. "Gene tried to hide his wince remembering what he'd said when he found one of these tapes. Then in a sinister voice the Irish man spoke two chilling words "Or death"
"I am going home" Alex still hadn't lost her determined nature.
"Do you really want to go home that badly?" He sounded curious. Gene remembered again how that man had talked of Alex refusing to become corrupt in the courtyard. "I'm in the room next to you. We share nurses. I hear them talking. "Why was there more and more evidence coming forward that made it look like Bolly had never lied to him? "You've only said one word since you came to hospital" Alex was in hospital; Gene felt almost instinctive worry now. "Just the one" He leaned forward anxious to hear the word now. "Gene" The monster told her.
After a pause Alex spoke keeping her voice level "No great surprise, is it? I mean. . This world is . . . It's a maze. He's the one constant" Gene tried not to think of the words he would shout at her later that day.
The Irish man scoffed. "But you lie to him, too. I mean . . . What if you told him the truth?" Gene visibly winced. He knew how he'd reacted to that. Ray was watching him with a very unfamiliar emotion in his eyes. One that Gene had seen there plenty of times but never before had it been directed at him. Rage. Chris looked disappointed and Shaz mirrored Ray with anger. "What you've done how you buried that body. Eh? Would he be a constant then?" The Irish man threw her own words at her with a harsh tone. Then he shouted. "Alex! I am in control!"
"No" She disagreed immediately and Gene wanted to tell her not to. It would put her in danger.
"I knew there was a reason I came here. I knew it the moment I arrived. And to stop me you need to find out what it is, quickly, because as you say, the clock is ticking." Why was this man now trying to help her stop him? He could remember the pride on the old man's face as Alex worked out what was going on in the courtyard. "Good Luck" And with that he strode out of the room.
Alex breathed heavily for a minute or two before pulling the recorder out from under something. "November 11th 1982," She said clearly. "Conversation with Summers probably conversation number 1. 7:30 AM." The tape clicked off as it ran out. Gene stared at it. Summers. The other Summers. Bolly had told the truth. Oh God. She had tried to tell him and he'd threatened to kill her.
"Who was that?" Ray asked in a voice he was trying to keep level. "Who was the asshole who did that? He was following her. He got into her apartment. She was sleeping for Christsake. I want to find, I want to tear his throat out."
"You can't" A sharp voice came from the door way. Alex stood there a fierce glint in her eyes.
"Bolly!" Gene breathed as she walked into the room. Her heels clicked over the chequered tiles as she walked up to the desk opened up the cassette player and took the tape out. "Why the Hell did you say he was just a copper?" He shouted suddenly causing Chris to jump and Alex to narrow her eyes.
"Because he was in the end, he was just a lonely man who needed saving. Isn't that what we do Guv, save people?"
"He was a creepy stalker" Ray yelled. "Don't say different Alex. He was in your apartment. He watched you sleeping"
"Please that was him being good. It was reassuring to have him there. He kept me company. It was nice to be able to talk to someone about the truth without them threatening to kill you. Martin just accepted me. And I mean it was pretty funny now that I think about it with what he did. Martin sent me Roses for months and I only put it together when I found his wall covered with pictures of me and Roses. He was sending me a warning. Trying to get me to solve it. And it was so good to be able to talk to someone about Molly"
"He knew your daughter?" Gene asked leaving the statement 'before I did' unsaid.
"Well isn't this touching?" A voice no-one was particularly pleased to hear sounded from across the room. "Are you ready Alex?" Jim Keats asked. "Ready to destroy the Manc Lion once and for all? After everything he did, he deserves this Alex." Keats studied her face trying to see the effect of his words. "Killing Martin?" Shaz raised an eyebrow, Alex's eyes flashed with something like resentment. Keats could see he was getting somewhere. "Killing Sam?" Now there were outcries from Chris and Ray. Alex silenced them with a look. At the same time seeing behind them into a corridor where a group of people stood. The grey-haired man at the front raised his hand as if to signal her. "Come on Alex."
"You can't do this!" Ray shouted.
"I'm sure evidence will surface that shows what happened. And with Alex's word and mine who would believe him. If the accusation comes from within." Gene was trying to make eye contact with Alex who was watching Keats keenly. "So Alex are you with me?" He asked
Alex looked thoughtful for a moment then calmly smirked Keats looked confused. "Oh no" She said "Not me" The doors behind her banged open and in walked Sam and Molly. The later standing off to the side while Sam walked straight up to Keats and smiled.
"See" He said "We never lost control, you're face to face. With the man who should be dead" He smirked. "And this whole conversation has been recorded. Your little statement about how you could make evidence come to light will be very interesting for a tribunal don't you think?"
Sam laughed and shook Keats hand. As the latter didn't move an inch just blinked in shock. "I think you'll find that there were other fingerprints on that gun. Some belonging to Boris Johnson. A man that was mentally unstable. Who confessed in his journal writings to kill a man he believed to be his younger self" Molly pulled a scrap of paper from her pocket and placed it on the table while the officers stared at her in surprise. She looked into their eyes. "Mum didn't do. Boris did. And he's dead before anyone asks. He tried to kill Mum and in the fight he was killed by DCI Hunt."
"All this I can testify to." Alex added beaming at her daughter in pride.
"Viv!" Gene shouted smiling happily. "Arrest Jimmy Boy here and make sure to do it official like. Cause he'll be facing a tribunal come Monday." The sergeant couldn't help but smile as he arrested his senior officer.
After Keats was escorted out of the room. Everyone started talking at once. Chris and Ray were discussing how epic Alex had been. Shaz and Molly were laughing at Molly's handling of the situation. Sam, Alex and Gene stepped inside his office.
"You can't expect me to believe you're from the future?" He muttered.
"Believe what you want" Sam said. "Annie believes me. But there is something you need to know. I am not Molly's father. I have never been in a relationship that isn't friendship with Alex. I am like a father to Molly, because Pete wasn't there when he was needed. I stepped in to help a friend. I love Annie I would never do something like this that could hurt her."
Gene bowed his head. Realising that of course Sam was right. "Sorry" He muttered. "And I should say thank you" He turned to Alex who was leaning on the filing cabinet. "You saved me out there. After everything I said and did you saved me."
"Of course I did." She cried loudly as though shocked he could even think that she wouldn't "I lo-"The door to the office was thrown open by an enthusiastic Chris.
"Guv, Boss, Ma'am what do we do now?" He asked. Alex flushed red, Gene was anxious to know what Alex had been about to say.
Sam stepped up and took Chris by the shoulder, guiding him out of the office and pulling the door shut with a wink at Alex. "I don't know Chris" He said walking over to the group that stood by the door. "Fancy some lunch?"
"It's one in the morning!" Molly shouted. The group around her laughed.
A/N Done! I might write an epilogue or a sequel later. But that's it for now. Tell me what you think! Nicola