Chapter Four: The Torchwood of Storybrooke

Emma decided it was best for Henry not to be present while she was confronting Mr. Gold – or Rumplestiltskin as he was better known to the remembering residents – sending him away with Red while she and her parents went to Gold's shop. It was a wise decision, considering how tense the interaction between the three of them and Gold had turned out when Emma went in demanding answers.

"Maybe I don't need answers." Emma said. "Maybe I just need to punch you in the face."

Gold laughed at the threat. "Really, dearie? Allow me to answer your questions with some of my own. Did your dear boy Henry survive?"

"Yeah."

"Is the curse broken?"

The second question went unanswered, but the way in which Emma's eyes rolled in annoyance was enough for Gold.

"And let's see, Miss Swan…how long have you been searching for your parents?" He gestured to James and Snow. "Looks like you're reunited. Seems like rather a punch in the face, I deserve a thank you."

"Twist my words all you want." Emma retorted. "What was the purple haze you brought to the town?"

"You know…magic." He made a certain gesture that was reminiscent to James and Snow of the dangerously mischievous wizard they knew back in the land before Storybrooke. All that was missing was the horrid complexion, unnatural eyes, and bad teeth.

"Why?" Snow asked.

"Not telling." Gold quickly answered.

Soon after Gold gave his answer, a massive tremor came over the area, shaking everyone and everything in the shop. Car alarms could be heard wailing in the distance, signifying that it was not just that one spot but the rest of Storybrooke as well. "What the hell was that?" Emma questioned, startled beyond belief.

James and Snow went to the front door and saw how day had suddenly changed into night, as if a deadly storm had come over the town. Huge gusts of wind blew through the streets, lights flickered rapidly, electrical sparks shot out of utility poles and other sources of electricity, and loud, terrifying roars could be heard throughout. At first they believed it to be the wind making the unearthly noise, but something else was out there.

"This is my gift to you." All eyes returned to Gold, who continued to stand calm and collected. "This is gonna take care of Regina."

There came a tremendous explosion that briefly lit the street corner they were on. Soon enough, a man was heard screaming in terror from out of nowhere. James and Snow looked for where the screams were coming from, only to have seen a body fall unexpectedly from above and land atop a parked car with a sickening thud, blowing out all the windows from the impact. Surprised from the sudden emergence of this victim to the chaos, James and Snow then realized that the identity of the body was Captain Jack Harkness.

"Emma! It's Jack!" James alerted her.

Caught in between her confrontation with Gold and Jack's well-being, Emma allowed her good nature to choose the latter over the former. Before leaving the shop, she warned its owner, "We're not done."

"Oh, I know. You still owe me a favor."

Emma said not another word as she walked out of the shop with her parents and went to where Harkness had landed. They questioned for a moment if he was still even alive, but the way he groaned in pain confirmed that he was.

"Jack? Can you hear me?" Emma asked.

"Ugh…did anybody get the number of that specter that attacked me?" Harkness jested in his agonizing state.

Emma and James helped Jack remove his battered body from off the heavily damaged vehicle, gradually brushing off pieces of glass from his dark trench coat. "What're you doing out here? You should be in the hospital."

"Yeah, well, I've been blown to smithereens once and even that didn't stop me."

With all Emma had been through in the last twenty-four hours, she was not certain whether Jack was being serious or merely poking fun at his own expense. Either way, she did not have time to talk about it with the chaos continuing to erupt around them. "We need to get to the station."

"What's at the station that we need?" Jack asked.

"Regina." Emma replied.

Puzzlement settled over Jack's face. "I'm sorry but…what?"

"We haven't got time to explain, Jack." James said. "The thing that attacked you is meant for Regina. And she's locked at the station with no way of escaping from it. We need to get there before it kills her."

Harkness nodded in understanding, despite the fact that he didn't. "Alright then. I guess we're now the Torchwood of Storybrooke – except none of you are English, Welsh, or gay." Emma, James, and Snow all gave Jack very disturbed looks, failing completely to understand the reference. "You know what…never mind. Let's just go catch ourselves a specter, shall we?"

Jack, Emma, James, and Snow arrived back at the station just in time to find the wraith hovering over Regina's jail cell, having ripped the door off its hinges to leave nothing between it and her. It then commenced in sucking out her soul, generating a wave of energy that transported from Regina's face to the wraith's dark, skeletal right hand. James quickly made a move, diverting the wraith's attention away from Regina by shouting "Hey!" He attempted to smack a chair against it, but the wraith was quick to hurl the weapon out of James's hands before throwing him across the room.

Harkness stepped in next with his firearm aimed at the wraith; he knew it was not going to do a lick of good against the specter, but he just needed to distract it from Regina and buy Emma and Snow enough time to make some moves of their own. Jack fired a few shots and the bullets merely bounced off the wraith with a simple wave of its hand. He suddenly felt himself being lifted off his feet by an unseen force (it was clearly the wraith handling all the work) and then tossed about the room until he was left in a weakened state on the floor, still alive but barely able to stand.

Emma and Snow were the last ones left standing as the wraith went back to sucking Regina's soul. The two women had planned on improvising moves of their own until a familiar sound rang through the area, drowning out the wraith's terrifying roars. The wraith ceased its attack on Regina and turned its head to where the noise had come from, looking just in time to see the TARDIS materialize in a corner of the room that Harkness had been lying just beside. Jack smiled at the sight of the TARDIS appearing near him; it was always a sign of hope to him, especially at that exact moment.

Fully materialized, the right door of the police box opened and the Doctor stepped out, wearing a pair of bizarre-looking steampunk goggles. The lenses glowed in a greenish hue as he stared at the wraith through them. "Oh! 'ello! Sorry to have popped in while you were…erm…sucking. But as soon as the TARDIS alerted me of the presence of a wraith, I just could not pass on the opportunity of seeing it in person! It's been quite some time since I've seen a wraith like you, and I can only see one with these." He tapped on the goggles he wore. "Spectral Spectacles! Like it? Came up with the name myself. Of course, I was going to go with completely different one, but some four blokes in a movie had it first."

The wraith growled as it hovered towards him. The Doctor then reached inside his tweed jacket and pulled out his sonic screwdriver, aiming it at the wraith and emitting a beam of light from its tip that drove the wraith berserk. The creature then retreated through a window, shattering the glass on its hasty exit. Watching it leave, the Doctor smiled before removing his goggles and turning to everyone in the room.

"What did you do to it?" Emma asked.

"Tapped into its core energy and extracted some of it." The Doctor answered. "Oh, and the goggles were just for show. I knew it was visible to everyone and not just me."

Jack laughed. "After all this time, you were right in front of me and I hadn't even noticed…at least not until Henry opened my eyes to it."

The Doctor looked to Jack, still smiling. "Captain."

"Doctor." Harkness used all the strength he had left in his body to pick himself off the floor and stand beside his old friend. "Love the new regeneration."

"Oh?" The Doctor uttered in amusement.

"Yeah. The cheekiness is gone, but the self-centeredness is still there." Jack said.

The Doctor laughed. "Ah, Jack. Haven't changed a bit."

"And I probably never will for another century."

A series of coughs could be heard from Regina's cell as she regained some composure after the wraith's attack. "If you two are done swapping immortality puns, can we please get back to our situation?"

"But…I thought we…killed it." Snow presumed.

"No, it's regenerating. It'll be back." Regina elucidated.

Harkness grinned. "That makes three of us. We could be in for a long night here."

"It doesn't stop until it devours its prey – me." Regina showed the strange mark on her hand to all of them. From what the Doctor could make of it, the mark almost appeared Chinese in origin.

"A soul sucker." Jack said. "I've dealt with a monster like this before – called itself 'Abaddon' – its very shadow could kill any regular human. I was the only person able to defeat it."

"Because of your immortality." The Doctor deduced.

"Marvelous, Captain Harkness." Regina remarked. "Perhaps we've found the answer to my dilemma: let the wraith prey on you instead."

Harkness mockingly laughed and shook his head. "As fun as that would be, Your Honor, I'd rather not take part in it again. I forgot to mention one crucial detail – the last time I took on a soul sucker, I was dead for weeks before I was able to revive again."

"So how do we kill it?" Emma questioned.

"There's no way. You can't kill something that's already dead." Regina stated before looking to Jack adding, "No offense, Captain."

"None taken." Harkness sardonically said.

Between the two ideas that were shot down, Emma came upon a terrible realization: "We have a problem then."

"No, we don't." James said. "Regina does."

His statement came as a surprise to everyone.

"No, no, NO!" The Doctor exclaimed. "We've discussed this. No one is going to suffer; no one is going to die!"

"Don't you see, Doctor? We give it Regina and then it goes away and we're safe." James pointed out.

"There's another way. A more humane way." The Doctor declared.

"I made a promise to Henry." Emma told her father. "She's not dying."

Regina was surprised from Emma's dedication. Despite all of the horrible things she had done to her, as well as what she put Henry through in the midst of it all, Emma was still willing to protect her, even for her son.

Snow smiled proudly of her daughter's conviction, yet she remained focus on a solution to their problem. "If we can't kill the wraith, then what do we do?"

The Doctor thought quickly of an answer. As soon as he had one, he was on the verge of saying it out loud, but Regina was a step ahead of him. "Send it somewhere it can't hurt anyone."

"Right. Yes…exactly what I was going to suggest." The Doctor timidly said.

Clearly, the both of them were on the same thought processes with the Time Lord half of her mind functioning. That could become a bit of a nuisance, the Doctor thought.