The Shadow Proclamation

Joshua woke to a knock on the front door. He scrunched his face together and squinted at the clock. It was just after 6:00 pm. He and Rose had been home for four hours. Speaking of Rose, she was rousing next to him. The knocking came again, louder and more insistent this time. Rose sat up, sleep dissipating almost immediately and ran towards the front door. He got up and followed behind her.

There, standing on their doorstep, were two Torchwood agents in full riot gear. Joshua stood in the hallway, confusion on his face while they talked in hushed tones to Rose. He watched as she went from sleepy to alert in seconds. Through their bond, he felt a wave of fear as well as determination. He saw Rose nod curtly once before they turned and walked out the door. She turned on her heel and even from where he was standing, he could tell she'd converted to soldier-mode. He loved and hated that she was like this. A part of him felt that it was his fault and he ruined all of his companions.

Before he could delve further into his self-loathing, she kissed him quickly on the mouth before retreating to their bedroom. Curious, he followed her. She was lugging a case out of the closet and dragging it towards their bed.

His eyes widened when she opened it. Inside was what could only be described as every secret agent's wet dream. His lovely Rose had a cache of armor and weapons stored in the case. If he didn't know better, he would have thought it was bigger on the inside with as much as he saw.

Two things clicked in his mind at once. Number One: why in the world did she have this much weaponry in her home? And Number Two: why was she gearing up? What had those agents told her. Tentatively, Joshua reached his hand out, touching hers lightly, stopping her. Her gaze startled him. It was fierce and determined and or so frightened. She'd slammed the walls around her mind up tightly, and he had no idea what was going on. At his look of worry, she softened a bit, if only to let him know what was going on.

"Gloa has escaped Torchwood. We have agents sweeping the city as discreetly as possible and a detail on us but no news yet. Pete seems to think that he'll come after us."

Joshua opens his mouth, then closes it. He wants to tell her that she doesn't need all this, weaponry and gadgets but really, he has no room to tell her not to. Since coming here, he's had to rely on these types of things as much as she has. While he hasn't personally used a weapon, he's not complained once when someone has had to use one to protect him or Rose.

He resigns himself, and not for the first time, that she isn't the same person who was separated from him. Most of the time she is, but she carries a weight with her now that is similar to his. She's seen way too much in her short life.

His inner musings only took seconds, but in that time she has found a second flak jacket and had shoved it towards him. He arched his eyebrow and she pursed her lips.

"We're heading to Torchwood. No safer place for us right now. I'm going to contact the Shadow Proclamation and see if they can assist us in tracking him."

"Wait, don't they usually shoot first and ask questions later?" Rose shrugged on her own flak jacket before starting to strap on a gun holster.

"Only if they send the Judoon. Since we are no longer just a Level Five planet, they tend to work with us a bit more. We already contacted them in regards to Gloa and they were sending a squad to pick him up. I'll see if I can't get that expedited."

"Wait, this isn't a Level Five planet?" Rose snickered, the confusion on Joshua's face a bit cute. She patted him on the shoulder before answering.

"They don't really have a level for us yet. We can't do deep space travel, even though we have allies who can. There's a strict agreement that they can't give us the technology, we have to discover it on our own. Sort of like Star Trek's noninterference policy, but they actually follow it. But we are aware of the life outside our own planet, which isn't typical of a Level Five planet. So the Architect is thinking of redoing the levels of planet, specifically for us. It bothers her greatly that we don't have a place."

Joshua snickered, thinking of the Architect he'd met just before he'd found Rose again. He could see her being a bit perplexed over this Earth. He looked up to Rose to find her sliding a magazine into her pistol before holstering it.

"Time to go, love. We'll call Pete on the way." Joshua nodded numbly before following her. This day had been a roller coaster for him and it wasn't even over yet. Something told him it wouldn't be for quite a while. He couldn't help but admire how Rose was able to go. He wished he had half her stamina. For the first time, he wondered how his companions ever kept up with him.

~DW~~DW~~DW~

Several hours later, Joshua was thinking that he really needed to get a different line of work. While this was what he had been doing for centuries as a full Time Lord, he was beginning to see that as a human, he was much more fragile and more prone to exhaustion than he was used to. His arm was in a sling, and she was sporting a gash across her right calf. They'd found Gloa after about sixteen hours of searching.

Rose and Jake had taken charge of a team each. There were seven teams in all, including theirs, each searching a section of the city. Rose had contacted the Shadow Proclamation before they had set out. They expedited their arrival, and would only take a few hours instead of the couple of days they had originally planned. Apparently, they were taking his threat to Earth seriously and would be brought on formal charges of endangering a designated asylum planet. Joshua was surprised to hear that phrasing, but Rose and Pete had already hinted as much to him. With much of the Earth's population gone during their Cyber War, they'd supplemented quite a bit with refugees.

Rose and Joshua were coupled with several people he'd never seen before but Rose seemed to know. One, he learned, was Ianto Jones. Joshua knew in his former world, he was Jack Harkness' partner. He wondered briefly how this Ianto would react to that news. But that was a train of thought for another time.

They were canvasing one of the many heavily wooded parks in this version of London. This was one of the changes that he had enjoyed the most. Coming to one of these parks, the bright lights of London faded a bit and he could see the stars clearly. More than once, he and Rose had found themselves in the park, staring at the stars they could no longer visit.

It was difficult to track in the dark. Not like they really had anything to track. No, they were just looking behind every tree and scanning every hole, making sure Gloa wasn't there. Joshua really didn't fancy running in to him, honestly. He didn't think it would be as easy to get the upper hand this time. If Gloa were smart, he would've made or acquired a weapon by now.

Rose was in the bed next to him, an oxygen mask on her face. He was the only one of the Team that hadn't suffered from smoke inhalation. He was the only one of the Team that hadn't been in the building when it had exploded. By the time he reached the building, the sprinkler system had turned on, dousing most of the fire.

They'd reached an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of the city. It was decided that Rose and the Team would sweep the building while Joshua called in. They were required to call in certain intervals. Rose had a gut feeling that Gloa was at this warehouse. Joshua had learned long ago to trust Rose's instincts.

He was in the middle of the call when the bomb went off. His bond to Rose was abruptly severed. Joshua immediately went numb. All emotions were swept to the side and righteous anger emerged. He slammed the phone shut, not finishing the conversation and stalked towards the building. He was single-mindedly determined, and was seeing red.

Rose was still unconscious, the concussive force of the blast knocking the entire Team out. Amazingly, no one was badly hurt. Well, no one from the Team at least. With the exception of the gash on Rose's leg, they had only suffered from smoke inhalation. Apparently, something was watching over them all.

Joshua marched through the debris to what he knew was the center of the blast. Thus far, he hadn't run across any bodies. It wasn't until he finally made it to the epicenter that he realized what had happened. There, a single, charred body lay by what Joshua assumed was the bomb. He maneuvered through the small fires and scanned with his sonic. The remains were definitely Nazurian. Whether it was Gloa or not, he wasn't sure, but it was likely. His scan also showed that the device had malfunctioned in some way, going off prematurely. There was no other explanation. Whether it was sabotage or idiocy, they may never know.

He stalked back through the building searching for Rose. He stepped gingerly through the remains of the building, being leery of any areas that might collapse. He almost made it, too. He was determined to find Rose. He'd underestimated just how far into the inferno the Team had gone. He saw the bodies of the Team before he made it into the room. He saw Rose, laying, unmoving, and all pretense of safety was lost to Joshua. He bolted towards her. Had he been paying attention, he would have seen how unsteady the walls and ceiling were. But he was so focused on Rose that he missed the ceiling collapsing until it fell on him.

He was dazed, but still determined. He dug through the debris quickly and started towards Rose one again. As soon as he touched her, he could feel her in his mind. She was alive, and Joshua almost started crying in relief. He sat on his knees, holding her hand in his. A noise across the room caught his attention. Several aliens, none of whom he knew, came marching in the room. They wore matching uniforms, but they were varying species. He was ever so thankful that they had shown when they did. He refused their offers of help with Rose, however. She sported a gash across her calf of which he was determined to fix with his sonic. He began running the sonic over the wound when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He went to shrug the hand off when the entity grabbed his shoulder, more insistent. Joshua whipped around, his hands coming up to shove whomever away. He stopped when he realized it was Jake.

"Whoa, Doc. Let's get her out of of the debris before you try to fix her up, yeah?" Joshua nodded numbly before he picked her up and followed the rest of the rescue Team from the wreckage.

Joshua roused when he heard Pete and Jackie down the hallway. Jackie, of course, wanted to see her daughter. Pete wanted to see Rose but also was checking on the rest of the Team. Joshua let Jackie fuss over him while Rose was still unconscious. Jackie fussed over all of the injured as well as those who were not. The entirety of Torchwood got to experience her mother-henning. Apparently, that was nothing new as her appearance was normal. You could always count on Jackie Tyler mothering the entire hospital ward.

As soon as Rose woke, Jackie threw her attention to her daughter. Joshua's hand never left Rose's. Instead, he traced intricate designs on the back of her hand with his thumb. Words of devotion in Gallifreyan. He let the blessed numbness consume him. Now that she was alright, he could let the exhaustion that was consuming his body to take over.

~DW~~DW~~DW~

Joshua woke in a bed he did not recognize, with his body wrapped around Rose's. He tensed, taking in his surroundings. Besides it not being a room he recognized, nothing jumped out at him as unusual. He relaxed back into the bed. So long as Rose was in the room with him, sleeping soundly, things were fine. He was a bit confused as to how he managed to get to this room. It wasn't their room in the mansion. He knew that much.

A soft tap at the door prompted him to get up. He noticed that he was still in his clothes from the night before. He opened the door a crack and was surprised to see Pete standing outside with an alien Joshua had never seen before.

"Mornin', Joshua. How are you feeling?"

"Surprisingly good. I take it you need Rose?" Pete nodded.

"Before you get her, I'd like to introduce you to Deston, the Commander of this group from the Shadow Proclamation." The person standing next to Pete tilted his head, appraising Joshua. Joshua stared back. One of the things he'd still kept from the meta-crisis was his ability to stare down an opponent. After a moment, he felt a consciousness near his own, politely knocking. His eyes widened just a tad before smiling tightly. Though his shields were better than when he had arrived, they still weren't as strong as they should be.

"While I appreciate your courtesy, I'm not comfortable conversing with telepathy with anyone other than my wife. Surely you understand." Deston smiled and held out his hand.

"Not a problem, Doctor. It's customary for a telepath from the Proclamation to make it known immediately if he is a telepath to any telepath on the planet they are visiting. Obviously there are exceptions, but this is a peaceful mission. Well, at least to the inhabitants of Earth. Now, though, if you would wake Ambassador Tyler. The information we have gathered is of importance to you both."

~DW~~DW~~DW~

Forty minutes later, Joshua and Rose found themselves in a conference room. Around the table sat several of the uniformed aliens that had helped Joshua extract Rose and the rest of the Team. To the side, a table was set with nibbles. Each place setting had a plate already set with small morsels. After Joshua and Rose sat, Pete stood at the head of the table and the meeting began.

"As you all are aware, we were recently accosted by the Nazurians. Their leader, Gloa, was held in our containment area, awaiting transport for crimes against a protected planet. Gloa managed to escape two nights ago, and it appears that he may have had inside help. After reviewing the surveillance from that night, it appears that Jackson, one of our newest, helped him escape. He gave Gloa a small incendiary to blow his cage open. It was something we'd gotten from the Shadow Proclamation and left no traces.

We swept the city, keeping mostly to the parks, forests, and abandoned structures. It was just bad luck that Rose and Joshua's Team was the one who found him. Thankfully, there were no casualties. I'd like to thank the Shadow Proclamation for their timely arrival. Things could have ended up much worse than they were." Pete sat down and Deston stood up.

"Gloa was not acting alone, and his sentiments against this planet are shared by most on his home planet. As such, we are preparing for an attack. It could be any time or it could be centuries from now. But, as a protected planet, we have a fleet resting in your solar system, standing guard. It's the least we can do. Your society has been deemed protected, as you well know, and we keep our promises." Deston sat back down. The meeting proceeded from there. Talks about trade and armament, which Rose and Pete both actively participated in.

Joshua gaped at the proceedings, a little befuddled. In all his workings with the Shadow Proclamation, he'd never seen them this protective of one planet. The were one law unto themselves and saw Justice was met, no matter the consequences. Side casualties be damned in most cases. He'd seen a shining example of that when he'd met Martha Jones. But these, they seemed to actually take into consideration the planets they visited. It was new to him. Foreign.

Rose's hand on his brought him back to himself. The meeting had broken down to a much more casual affair. Pete and Deston spoke off to the side while everyone else milled around and talked. There was an opening for their escape and he longed to take it. He glanced at Rose, imploring with his eyes. She seemed to have the same idea. They walked hand in hand to Pete and Deston and excused themselves.

"Joshua, Rose. Don't forget dinner on Sunday. Jackie would be disappointed if you were to miss it." Joshua kept his internal grousing to a minimum at the reminder. He loved Jackie to pieces. Really. But he didn't like her constant reminders in regards to children. It was looking to be a trying weekend and it was only Monday.