"So what's the problem now, Fish?" Jack asked. "I thought you had it."
Nearly everyone was gathered around Fish's worktable staring at the kettlebell, trying to understand the random technical jargon that Fish had just spouted.
"From what you were telling me, Jack, these nanopaths are going to be all over their entire bodies, even in free circulation," Martha said, waving her hand.
"Yeah, so?"
"So, you told me that this thing is used for pranks," Fish said, pointing at the kettlebell. "I tested it. It has a small range and a small area of effect."
Martha picked it up by the handle. She pointed it at Jack, holding the device about a quarter meter away from his chin. "It won't cover the whole body. We can only use it on someone in stages. Fish?"
Fish walked over to Jack and spread his hands out. One hand was at Jack's head while the other was down by his chest. "It'll only give us about this much coverage."
"So we hit them more than once," Jack said with a shrug. He took the device from Martha. With his greater height, he walked over to Fish and held it above his head. "Or we do this."
"The beam would only go down about this far," Fish said, his hand at his navel. "Either way, we can't get enough coverage to do the whole body in one shot."
"Then do like Jack said, hit them more than once," Gwen said, feeling like she was stating the obvious.
"The human heart beats at least once a second," Martha said, walking over to Fish. "We zap this part, the heart continues to beat and the circulating blood pumps more nanopaths into the area we've just zapped. They'll still be infected. If we leave even one behind, it'll replicate itself and we end up back where we started."
"Can you not stop the heart as would be done for open-heart surgery and then restart it?" Henry asked. His arm was crossed over his chest and his other elbow was resting on his hand, his index finger hooked over his mouth. Everyone turned and stared at him as they had when he'd explain the EMP. Henry unhooked his finger and held up his hand in frustration. With exasperation, he said, "Honestly, just because I was born in the sixteenth century doesn't mean I think the world is flat. So, will you all stop being so surprised that I know something of modern science?"
"We can do that but it's very risky," Martha replied. "Especially for two of the victims. Jake Oliver was born with a congenital heart defect. He's on a lot of medication to keep his heart rate steady and normal. Doctor Suresh Kowda also has a pacemaker. The EMP will fry that device."
"Is there another device in the archive? Something that isn't, for lack of a better word, a toy?" Donovan asked. "Or could Fish throw something together now that he knows what one's supposed to look like?"
"We don't have time," Martha said, shaking her head. "In the next day or so, they'll all be on artificial respiration."
"What about boosting the range of this one?" Gwen asked.
"Eventually, I might be able to duplicate this or even modify it," Fish said, shaking his head, "but it's like Martha said. We don't have time for me to duplicate it. Modifying it is even trickier and more risky to the whole situation. If I fuck the thing up trying to modify it, we are S.O.L. and J.W.F."
"I don't understand," Henry said, confused.
"S.O.L. and J.W.F… shit out of luck and jolly well fucked," Donovan supplied with a slight smile. He turned to Henry and said, "You know what an EMP is and the basics of open heart surgery but you've never heard of George Carlin?"
Before Henry could open his mouth to defend his pop culture deficit, Jack caught Donovan's attention. "Ethan?"
"Hmm?" he replied.
"What would you do?" Jack asked. He was standing almost identically to Henry but instead of his finger being hooked over his mouth, his fingertips were gathered at his lips.
"Me? I'm not in charge here, Jack," Donovan said, taken aback.
"No. You're not in charge here. Sink or swim, Director Donovan."
He swallowed convulsively. All eyes were on him. Everything he'd seen and done here was coming together, coalescing into a solid mass, like a planet forming around a star with its own gravity and orbital motion. Donovan decided it all cam down to four little words… What Would Torchwood Do… He drew himself up.
He cleared his throat and said, with conviction, "Doctor Jones is right. We don't have time to dick around trying to replicate this thing. Doctor Fischer's right too. We only got one device. He worked hard to get it up and running and we're going to keep it that way. We do like the Duke suggested - stop the heart and restart it. It's risky to Oliver and Kowda but if we do nothing, they'll all die. Two is better than seven."
Jack held his hands out in front of him and clapped, several times, very slowly. No one joined him. He waved his hand at everyone. "This is your team, Director. Give out your orders."
Is he fucking serious? Donovan thought to himself but everyone turned to stare at him. "Martha, what's the easiest way to stop Miranda's heart so you can restart it again?"
"Why restart it? She'll just revive won't she?" Gwen asked.
Donovan shook his head. The tough call was sometimes the right one and he knew what he was about to say would not be popular. "We should test the entire process on her before we use it on a civilian."
Everyone except for Henry and Jack gave Donovan a look of daggers.
"Martha?" Donovan repeated.
"Electric shock. A big enough jolt from a standard defibrillation device will stop her heart and can, hopefully, restart it again," Martha said, coldly.
"Set that up in the isolation cell, please," Donovan said, ignoring the tone.
"I am not doing this without Miranda's permission. She needs to know the risks-" Martha began but Donovan interrupted her.
"Objection noted. You can obtain Miranda's permission, Martha. In the highly unlikely event she refuses, we'll find another way," Donovan said, skeptical. He couldn't imagine Miranda refusing. "If she agrees, I'll see you and Henry down in Miranda's cell in twenty minutes."
Martha shifted.
"I get the whole 'do no harm' thing, Martha. I wanted a doctor handling this but if you want to teach Jack-"
"No, I'll do it but only if Miranda agrees," Martha said.
Donovan nodded and turned to Henry. "Jack tells me you people are faster than us."
Henry cast Jack a look of death and then nodded at Donovan.
"I don't need to know how or the specifics but I need the downtime on these people to be short as it can be. Who's faster? You or her?" Donovan asked, jerking his head towards the east stairs.
"Mao-Lin by a considerable amount," Henry supplied.
After casting Henry an apologetic look, Donovan turned to Fish, "Joe? I need you to teach Henry how to use that device and if this works, I'll actually want Miranda at the hospital. I want the two of you to do as many dry runs of this as you can. I want you to have this down cold."
No one moved and Jack said, "Gwen, head down to University Hospital and see about closing up the isolation unit they've got the staff in. I don't want an audience if this doesn't work. In fact, it would be better if we could separate them from each other as well. Ianto? Let Henry and Fish use you of the dry runs. You heard him people, let's get to work."
The team dispersed and Jack clapped Donovan on the shoulder. "Follow me."
Donovan walked behind Jack towards his office, shutting the door behind them.
"Have a seat," Jack said as he opened his personal safe. He took out a flash drive and plugged it into his laptop. He clicked a few times, hit a couple of keys and then lifted his head to look at Donovan. "How did you get put in charge of MiB, Ethan? Call from the President? He say something about God and country and duty?"
"Pretty much," Donovan said, shrugging.
"This is how I became Torchwood's captain," Jack said, turning the laptop towards Donovan. He hit play.
Donovan leaned in and watched the security footage.
"-you're here. Always did have great timing. This place, it's yours. Torchwood Three. My gift to you, Jack, for a century of service as field operative. Give this place a purpose. Before it's too late. Please," the unknown man said. He was holding a gun in his lap and something else in his cupped hand. Donovan saw bodies all around. He watched Jack move from body to body, his eyes darting around trying to simultaneously take stock of the situation and control it. Donovan never thought Jack could look so lost…
"Alex, listen. It's going to be okay…" Jack pleaded.
… or sound so desperate.
"No. It's not. It's really not. I looked inside." Donovan had never heard someone speak with so much despair and hopelessness.
At that moment, Donovan saw Alex close his fist around whatever was in his hand. "It showed me what's coming. They were mercy killings. It was the kindest thing I could do. So none of us see the storm. I'm sorry I can't do the same for you."
Jesus fucking Christ, what the fuck did he see?! Donovan wondered. The volume on the old fashioned television raised and Donovan could hear fireworks and the sound of a countdown. He looked at the background of the image. The millennium… he thought, noticing the decorations.
"Twenty first century, Jack. Everything's going to change. And we're not ready," Alex said.
There was so much terror and fear in his voice but that wasn't what raised the hair on the back of Donovan's neck. It was the completely and utter hopelessness. He watched, horrified as Alex raised the gun to his head and fired.
"ALEX!" Jack screamed.
Donovan shut his eyes against the spray of brain and blood that splashed itself onto the Hub floor and up across Jack's face. Jack hit the pause button and looked at Donovan.
"I would have preferred a phone call," he said, softly. Jack stood up and dug something else out of his personal safe. It was a bottle and two shot glasses. The bottle was intricately carved and looked to be practically empty. It was barely enough for one drink, let alone two. The liquid was completely clear.
"Alex told me to give this place a purpose. He said we weren't ready but he didn't just mean Torchwood. He meant the world." Jack set the glasses down between the two of them and uncorked the bottle. "You see what we're up against here and since I took over twelve years ago, I've felt like I'm barely keeping my head above water. I keep fighting that uphill battle because I know we need to. We need to arm the human race against the future because Alex was right. The twenty first century is when everything changes."
He poured the liquid into each glass, evenly dividing the tiny amount. He jerked his hand, emptying the last few drops. Jack lifted the bottle, staring at it from below into the bottom and frowned. It really was completely empty now. He put the bottle down and gave Donovan a small smile. "Now, you're here. The Director of America's Men in Black is training with my team. Today? I finally feel like I've made some headway. And you earned yourself a drink."
Jack grasped the shot glass and put it down in front of Donovan. Donovan picked up the crystal shot glass and held it aloft. "Slainte."
"Here's mud in your eye," Jack said. After saluting Donovan with the glass, he downed the liquor.
Donovan coughed. What he'd drank was barely a sip but it was burning his throat. "What the fuck was that?"
"Hypervodka… the last of my stash," Jack said, nodding at the bottle. "That fell through the rift in aught six, nineteen not twenty. I break it out on special occasions. It was a pretty good label actually."
"If I ask you how you know all this shit, would you even fucking tell me, Jack?" Donovan asked, honestly.
Jack laughed, turning the shot glass around in his hand. He nervously fidgeted with his other hand, pushing the empty bottle further to the side. "You wouldn't believe me."
"You've got a fucking pterodactyl flying around out there and I watched you come back to life," Donovan said, rolling his eyes. "Try me."
"I'm from the fifty first century. I… got stranded here," Jack said, leaning back in his chair.
"Jesus fucking Christ! That's… that's… that's three thousand years from now!" Donovan looked around. How did Jack stand it? "Christ, we must seem like fucking cavemen to you!"
Jack laughed at that. "Why would you say that? You're just people. You're quaint, I'll give you that, but you're still people."
It explained so much. It was the final piece to the puzzle of Torchwood. Donovan couldn't believe it. What this man must know? What he must have seen? He thought for just a second, he saw a glint of it in Jack's eyes - the vastness of time and space and the enormity the human heart and soul was capable of. This man was so much bigger on the inside. Jack Harkness was inspirational and Donovan felt himself get swept up in that inspiration. In that moment, Ethan Donovan gave Jack his unwavering loyalty. He knew that should Jack ever ask, he would follow this man to his death.
"If you could go home, would you?" he asked.
Jack stopped laughing and he said, seriously, "I left home a long time ago. I belong here." A nostalgic look came over Jack's face. "And I wouldn't change that for the world."
"I don't suppose you'd be willing to tell me who wins the World Series for the next ten years would you?" Donovan joked.
Jack threw Donovan his best ten thousand watt smile. "Not a chance."
The two men laughed together heartily.