Codes and Plans

Mary, Jack and I were sitting around the kitchen table table looking at, what I could tell was, a futuristic laptop. "So," Jack started, typing away on the keyboard. "We need to access the inside security feed of the Agency. From what I can tell, these Zygon creatures created a unique firewall. It's basically impenetrable."

"But you can penetrate it, right?" I asked, leaning in to look at the code on the screen. It seemed oddly familiar.

"Give me an hour." Jack said. "Get some rest. we'll need it."

"I'm going to take a shower." Mary said, standing up. Once she left the room, there was an uneasy silence between Jack, Gary, and me.

"So, how have you been?" Gary asked Jack.

Not even looking away from his keyboard Jack answered, "Fine, fine. And you?"

"Been okay." More silence. "Dammit Jack!" Gary said, slamming his fist down on his counter making Jack turn around and look at him. "You never visit any more. We never hang out, you know, bro time. And then you just show up out of the blue and say you need a place to say? For God's sake, Jack. While searching for her," Gary pointed at me. "You missed our MOTHER'S funeral! Your own Mother, Jack. For Christ's sake!"

I stared at Jack. "Jack?" I whispered. "Is this true? Please tell me it's not true."

"Oh it is." Gary practically yelled. "What would our Father say? Or our sister? Have you ever seen Emma since you joined the Agency? Did you know you missed her wedding? Did you know she had a child on the way and has been married for three years?"

I was frozen in my chair, watching Jack's face slowly grow white.

"No!" Gary yelled. "No you didn't. It's that stupid Agency. I told you that joining would be a bad idea and now look at you. You've missed out on the most important thing, FAMILY!"

I stood up and slowly backed out of the room, tears streaming down my face. So this was Jack's past. Because of me he missed his own Mother's funeral. If I hadn't come here, he wouldn't have missed it.

I made it out of the room and into a guest bedroom where Mary was finishing changing from her shower. "Susan?" Mary asked, seeing my tears. "What's wrong?"

I opened my mouth and promptly burst into tears. Not one of my proudest moments.

Mary came over and guided me to the bed, arms around me. We sat like that for at least five minutes before I was able to control myself and stop myself from crying. "Can I ask what happened?" Mary asked softly.

"Um," I said, my voice scratchy from crying hard and silently. I swallowed. "Gary blames me for Jack's lack of involvement with his family."

"But that's not your fault." Mary protested, moving a strand of hair out of my face.

I smiled weakly. "Yes. It is. When I was missing for four months, Jack was... so focused on finding me that he... he... missed his Mother's funeral." I finished softly.

"That's not your fault." Mary repeated. "It was his choice, not yours."

"But if I hadn't-" I started.

"Girl, that was all his choice. None of this was your fault." Mary said. "Now, why don't you take a shower, It's quiet now, I'm going to see if Jack has finished breaking that code, I'll be back in five. Do you want a hot chocolate?"

"Yes, thank you." I replied and went to the bathroom.

After a half and hour, I felt it safe to come out of the guest room after finishing my shower and hot chocolate. Jack was typing away on the laptop while Mary was watching the news. "The Government knows something's wrong." Mary stated, not taking her eyes from the t.v. "It's massing the Army."

"I don't trust the Government with something as dangerous as this." I said, coming over to the couch and leaning on the back, watching the news, not looking at Jack. "We are on our own."

"Gary left." Jack said.

"Have you cracked it yet?" I asked Jack, talking about the code and ignoring what he said about Gary.

"Almost." Jack replied.

I sighed and walked over to the kitchen table where Jack was sitting. "Hey, let me try. I know a thing or two about cracking codes." I remembered during my training with The Doctor, he taught me how to crack different types of codes without a sonic, If I was ever lost without one. I cracked one of the hardest simulations.

Jack moved out of the seat and five minutes later, I yelled, "Got it!" Mary and Jack immediately came running over.

"Good job Susan!" Mary said, hugging me.

"How?" Jack asked, a little put down because I was able to get it before he did.

I shrugged my shoulders. "Just one of my specialties." I smirked. "Now, let's see. Hacking into the video stream, live. And three, two one... bingo! Live feed." As I said feed, foursquare images of different rooms within the Agency. One had a long hallway of the Zygon's tying up their counter parts so they could maintain a copy.

The next square showed the station where people went to and from the Agency being taken over by the Government. The Square on the top right showed Zygon's distributing weapons to each other and the bottom right showed the main control room of the Agency.

"Shit." I said, staring at the screens. "Jack, tell me you know of a back door."

Jack started to smirk. "Of course. What, did you think I was there for ten years and haven't memorized every square inch of the building yet? So, here's the plan."

I was walking through the streets of the city, my coat covering the fact I had two guns holstered in my belt. My hands were beginning to sweat in their mittens, adding to my nerves. I didn't like this, not knowing what was going to happen, who might die, who would live. I hated not knowing.

I brought my arms up and crossed them from the cold, thinking up the many ways this operation could go wrong. Right now, Mary was back at Gary's place, on the laptop, giving us instructions through an small listening device stuck in my right ear.

Jack was going through the secret entrance, after a brief argument. I'm sure we will argue about that later. And I was going through the front doors, to create a diversion so Jack could do his work.

I reached the place where we got on a shuttle and went to the Agency but it was surrounded by the army and police. I grimaced as I walked up to a young man, probably in his early to middle twenty's. A rookie.

I showed him my status badge and said, "Captain Anderson, Time Agent. May I speak to someone in charge?"

The young man took my badge with shaky hands, inspecting it like it was a bomb and handed it back to me. "Yes, follow me." I followed the guy past the yellow and red caution tape (The red for alien activity), past the press who were yelling at the Army and police men and women to answer their questions to what the hell was going on.

He lead me over to what looked like a mobile office and opened the door. I nodded my thanks and went in. "Cadet Wilson, who is this woman?" Barked a man bent over, looking at a screen. Oh, so they thought it was important to bring all of the army in. Ugg.

"I can speak for myself, you know." I retorted. "Captain Anderson, Time Agent at your services." I mock bowed.

The man that yelled at the cadet stood up. "Good." He said walking over. "Maybe you can explain what the hell is going on."

A/N: Some notes on Reviews:

ElysiumPhoenix: Yeah, I didn't like Gary either.

I'm A Witch So Deal With It: Yeah!

MinecraftLover00: I don't want to give away anything plot wise...