Chapter 3: Taken

When Rose regained consciousness, the first thing she became aware of was a splitting pain in her head. The second thing was a hushed voice. "…take Blondie to Interrogation Room One, before she wakes up, you bloody idiot."

"She's good an' out, Regina," a man whined.

Rose instinctively kept her eyes shut and her breathing deep and even. She wasn't exactly sure who had taken her and Jack, or why they wanted them, but she knew that alerting her captors to her awareness wouldn't be the smartest thing. After all, she'd been kidnapped before; the Doctor had always saved her in the past, and she had no doubt he would come for her this time as well.

"Regina, you gonna tell us grunts why we had to bring them two in, anyway? Harkness is as good as gone; he's never gonna join back. I kinda feel bad for Blondie here, we really didn't need to hit her that hard."

Yes, she remembered that. She'd been hit in the face with a gun, a couple times, she thought. That would explain the headache. And was that blood on her lips?

"Commander said that Harkness would be more willing to cooperate if we had Blondie; I was going to have her shot. Anyway, this is classified; I shouldn't be telling you this, but on your own head be it. We're worried about the Bad Wolf scenario. Harkness has been traveling with a Time Lord, a telepathic species; it is highly likely that the memory blocks have been removed. That's one reason."

"Been tracking his manipulator, eh Regina? So what's reason two?"

"Yes, I have, Kerry. Harkness's memories are a problem, yes… but the Agency's got bigger problems. Involving him, of course, indirectly."

"Well, go on, Regina. I'm curious."

"The words 'Bad Wolf' keep popping up, in every time, across the universe. It seems to originate from some point in the year 200,100, on a satellite owned by the Bad Wolf Corporation. Hell, we've even got a scenario named such, and for no bloody reason! It just is! And the only thing we know about this Bad Wolf is that it's involving Jack Harkness. The words have been graffitied on buildings in several locations he's been to recently; a Raxicoricofallapitorian by the name of Blon Fel-Fotch named a project 'Blaidd Dwrg'. That's Welsh for 'Bad Wolf'. So what the bloody hell is the Bad Wolf? And what's Harkness got to do with it?"

Rose felt her heart skip a beat, and a shiver ran down her spine. Bad Wolf. It was everywhere. It had been following her and the Doctor around since she had started traveling with him, but she hadn't really thought much of it.

"So I need you to find out from Blondie here, as subtly as possible, why Harkness is with the Time Lord and if he's regained his memories. Take her away, and don't tell the Commander I told you about Bad Wolf."

"Ma'am."

OoOoO

Jack groaned. "Stun guns," he muttered thickly. It came out sounding more like, "Sthun gunth," but that was to be expected.

"Agent Harkness!" a far-too-cheery voice greeted him. He knew that voice. Had slept with the woman to whom that voice belonged a few times, too. She had been excellent as a bedmate, but not so much as a mission partner.

"Regina," he mumbled. "The bloody hell you doing here?" Jack forced his eyes open and looked around. He was handcuffed to a wall in a room with no furniture other than a table pressed against a wall. "This is an interrogation room," he managed. Regina smiled coolly and stepped close to him.

"Agent Jack Harkness, I have some questions for you."

"You mean the Commander does. You going to steal my memories again? Turn me back into your dashing Captain?"

Regina ignored him. "What do you know of the Bad Wolf?"

OoOoO

It took all of the willpower Rose possessed not to scream in agony when the man dragged her across the ground. She hadn't realized she was that badly injured. The Doctor will be furious, she thought to herself. He's always going on about how jeopardy-friendly I am. She took a deep breath, and forced her muscles to relax. She stayed relaxed and calm when the man roughly handcuffed her to the wall. Although her mind recoiled, she didn't flinch when she felt him run his hands up and down her body. Another man entered the room, and she could hear them talking.

"Regina's gone to Interrogation Room Two, that's where Harkness is." Rose filed away that bit of information for later, when the Doctor came.

"What do we know about Blondie?"

"Well, if we knew her name we'd be better off, but intel suggests that she was with Harkness in several of his adventures." This was a new voice, one that came from the door. "Get to work, boys, she's not going to be out much longer."

"Yes, ma'am," the two men coursed in unison.

OoOoO

"You've made enemies with a very dangerous man," Jack stated firmly.

"He may be a Time Lord, Harkness, but he's just one man. The Agency is huge," Regina replied patiently. Jack snorted.

"He's the Doctor, the Oncoming Storm, the Destroyer of Worlds, the Prince of Darkness. Do you really want to find out how one man earned all those titles?"

Regina shifted nervously.

"It's too late, anyway," Jack said viciously, smirking when Regina paled. "You might've gotten away with taking just me. But you didn't just take me, did you?"

"We—we took the blonde, too. The Commander said to bring her in," Regina whispered.

"As I said. You might've gotten away with grabbing me, but you took the blonde, too. And there's where you made your big mistake. You kidnapped the Doctor's Rose. And now you're going to feel the fury of a Time Lord."

Jack's laughter followed the Time Agent out of the room and down the hallway. He continued to laugh long after Regina had gone.

Really, these fools had no idea what they were up against.

OoOoO

"Yes, ma'am," the two men said simultaneously.

At that moment, Rose's phone rang. There was only one person who would be calling her; Jackie didn't call, preferring to wait for Rose to call her—the Doctor had encouraged this, saying that traveling in the Time Vortex could be difficult and it would be easier for the TARDIS to send calls to the correct timeline if they were made from inside her—and Shareen, Keisha, and Rose's other friends thought she was traveling and didn't have cell service. If not for the fact that Jack was almost certainly in a similar situation to her, Rose knew it could've been him, but considering the circumstances, she knew it was the Doctor. Don't start talking, she begged silently. Don't let them know you're listening.

"What the bloody hell is this thing?" One of the men said. It wasn't Kerry, the man who had brought her in here, but the other one, who had come in after she was tied up.

"Got no idea, Jorn. Put it over there; ya can ask Blondie when she comes to." Rose barely held in a snort. Despite her best efforts, her muscles tensed and her face twitched.

"Oi, Kerry, she's wakin' up," the man called Jorn said. Bollocks, Rose thought. There went her charade. Although, she felt certain the Doctor was worried and he'd need to hear her voice. She sighed.

"Great. Bet ya twenty quid she's Harkness's latest girl, eh?" Kerry proposed. Rose fought to keep her lips from stretching into a smile. If only they knew.

"Yer on," Jorn agreed. "Wakey wakey, Blondie!" he cried cheerfully. Rose groaned theatrically, cracking her eyes open. Then groaned not so theatrically as the light sent a bolt of agony through her head.

"Where 'm I?" Rose got out. She knew well enough where she was, but it wasn't time to show them that. "M' head…"

"Yer in the headquarters of the Time Agency, Blondie. We're gonna ask ya some questions, and yer gonna answer 'em, nice and easy. Let's start with an easy one. What's yer name?"

That was Jorn. "Rose," she ground out, clenching her teeth. "Where's Jack?" She figured that a clueless blonde would be asking where her friend was. Jorn stalked towards her. "You, you, I don't know, stunned him or something—" she broke off as Jorn smacked her face. Rose bit her lip, hard, tasting blood, but a whimper escaped.

"Ya don't get to ask the questions, Blondie, that's our job. Next question: why're ya here?" Kerry asked, moving threateningly towards her.

"Jack just wanted to visit home, that's all," Rose said piteously. "He's done nothin' wrong, and neither've I."

"Who is the Time Lord? The man ya were with. What does he call himself? Why was Harkness with 'im?" Kerry demanded. As subtly as possible, Rose remembered the woman, Regina, saying, and she started to laugh. She couldn't help it. The charade wouldn't last much longer, anyway. Rose bestowed her signature tongue-in-teeth grin on her two captors.

"He didn't unlock Jack's memories, since that's what you're worried about." The two men glanced at each other, then gaped at her. She laughed harder at the identical looks of utter shock on their faces. "'M not stupid, ya know, just 'cause I'm blonde and a woman. The Time Lord I was with? That's the Doctor, the Oncoming Storm, an' I'm his best friend." Rose paused a moment to let that bit of information sink in. "Ya know that little black thing you threw on the table? That's a communicator, and he's heard everything ya said. Doctor?" Let me be right, please let me be right, Rose pleaded with the universe.

"Fantastic!" She heard from the phone, and her face broke out into a grin. "Rose?"

"Yeah, Doctor?" she called out, her smile widening.

"I'm coming to get you." The call cut off. Rose narrowed her eyes at Jorn and Kerry.

"I'd run if I were you," she said, smirking. A dark-haired woman sprinted into the room.

"Jorn, Kerry, get the bloody hell out of here now." Rose recognized her voice as belonging to Regina, the woman in charge of the two men. She began to laugh as the three Time Agents bolted. A wheezing, groaning noise filled Interrogation Room One.

Rose Tyler closed her eyes as the most beautiful sound in the universe echoed around her. The Doctor was here. The Doctor was here, and she was safe.