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Hit the Road Jack Part 2

Instinctively Marty wanted to keep his distance from the burning crater, but it wasn't an option; the Doctor was already calmly walking towards it and the two figures who were approaching the crater from the other direction. Marty could now make out enough of the figures to see that they were about the same size and build, though one man was black with a nearly shaved head and wore a black suit while the other man was white with spiky brown hair and wore a long dark blue World War II military trench-coat.

"Is anything going to crawl out of that crater?" Marty carefully watched the edge, his mind replaying images of War of the Worlds as he walked around it.

"I'd say we have a good ten minutes."

"Oh great," Marty sighed.

The two figures had noticed them and had started walking towards them. One of them, the one in the trench-coat, stopped suddenly, then smiled a huge toothy grin and ran forward.

"Doctor!" He called out and when he reached the taller man he grabbed him in an embrace. His companion ran up behind him, holding a gun in his hand.

"So this is the Doctor you're always talking about?" He asked. Both of them had American accents.

"Jack, it's good to see you," the Doctor smiled as Jack put a hand on his cheek.

"You have no idea," they stared at each other for a moment, a far-off look in Jack's eyes that made Marty feel slightly uncomfortable, until the other man cleared his throat.

"Aren't you going to introduce us?"

"Right, of course," Jack let go of the Doctor and pulled the other man forward. "Rex Matheson, this is the Doctor."

"Who's the kid?"

"Oh." Jack looked Marty over, noticing him for the first time, a sudden funny look appeared in his eyes. "Hi, Captain Jack Harkness."

He took a step forward, towering over Marty and holding a hand out.

"Jack," the Doctor warned. "This is Marty McFly – he's 17."

"It is a pleasure to meet you," Jack purred.

"Uh…" Marty tentatively took the man's strong hand. "Nice… to meet you."

Jack kept shaking his hand and Marty looked to the Doctor for help.

"Jesus Jack, do you ever stop?" Rex muttered. "Do you know what the phrase 'age of consent' means?"

Jack finally let go of the perplexed Marty's hand and turned back to Rex. "Sounds boring."

"A lot less boring than jail, that's for sure."

"So," Jack turned and faced the Doctor again. "I take it this isn't just a visit for old time's sake?"

"Hey, are you forgetting the UFO that just crash landed?" Rex pointed his gun towards the crater.

The Doctor waved his hand dismissively. "That UFO belongs to the Theodaids. They're tiny and perfectly peaceful, they'll just be needing a lift home."

"Great," Rex holstered his weapon. "Well, it's nice to meet you then."

The Doctor shook Rex's hand and his smile immediately melted off his face. He looked at Jack with narrowed eyes.

"I can explain," Jack said.

"Hey guys," Marty pointed to a squirrel-sized alien crawling out of the crater. "Shouldn't we take care of this first?"

OOO

After dropping off the Theodaids on their home world, the four men sat down around the TARDIS console to discuss matters. Rex was still looking around the large room muttering to himself something about "just when I though I'd seen it all" as Jack described the events that happened after Miracle Day.

Miracle Day had taken place four years ago in 2011, for several months no one in the world died, crashing the economy and sending the world into a panic as overpopulation dwindled resources; however Jack, another Torchwood agent and two CIA agents (one of whom was Rex) had managed to put things right. There was only one side-effect, Rex had absorbed Jack's immortality in the process.

"Man, immortals are just a dime a dozen in the 21st century, aren't they?" Marty was stunned by all this information.

"No they are not," the Doctor had a dark look on his face. One walking fixed point in time was hard enough to deal with – but two?

"What century are you from?" Jack smiled at Marty. "Wait – don't tell me. Tight acid-washed jeans? You must be a child of the 80s. I loved the 80s – and acid-washed jeans."

"Child is right," Rex muttered.

"Let's leave my jeans out of this," Marty sad uneasily.

"Oh, I intend to."

"All right," the Doctor stood up. "Time we got to the point. What can you tell me about Morton Robotics?"

"Never heard of them," Rex answered immediately, but Jack furrowed his brow, remembering something.

"I've heard that name before," he said with a grave face. "Morton Robotics, previously owned by the Three Families."

"That's not good," Rex shook his head.

"The Three Families?" The Doctor asked.

"They were responsible for Miracle Day."

"After we stopped them they must have needed to shave off a lot of excess fat, because they sold off several of their small companies," Jack explained. "Morton Robotics was one of them. We investigated them, nullified any threat they might pose – or at least, made sure they wouldn't be able to pull a stunt like the Three Families had."

"Guess you're not very good at your job," Marty muttered.

"Sorry?"

The Doctor handed Jack a folder. "They had this information on you."

"Not surprising," Rex shrugged. "The Three Families wouldn't have existed if it weren't for them getting a hold of Jackie Boy here's blood."

"But this has nothing to do with Jack – or you – being immortal," Marty protested.

"Oh?" Rex asked, peering over Jack's shoulder to read the folder.

"This is all about my service in the Time Agency. How could they get this information?"

"We were hoping you could tell us."

To Be Continued…

(I don't mean to make Jack a dirty old man, but let's be honest with ourselves: Jack would hit on Marty, however playfully. It was not my intention to have Rex in this story, of course when I wrote the outline I didn't even know he existed, and after watching Miracle Day he is certainly my favourite surviving character introduced, so I had to have him show up. I hope I managed to sum up the mind-blowingly awesome 10 episodes of Miracle Day here for everyone who didn't watch it and that it made sense. My summary does no justice.)