"Get in the car please Sir, don't make a fuss, we know who you are." The man looked at Rose. "You too Miss, it's best you come with us."
The Doctor protested and tried to get his psychic paper from his jacket but the man grabbed his arm.
"Your tricks won't work with us. Now please get in."
The Doctor nodded to Rose and allowed her to get in the back first, then reluctantly followed. They were driven off at high speed, no-one spoke, not even the Doctor, which was unusual for him Rose thought, he could normally talk his way out of any situation easily but his face was solemn. He was thinking how lucky they were not being hit over the head or worse and being forced to open the Tardis door. They must have seen the blue box and they had got to be from Torchwood.
They were driven out of the city to the docklands Rose recognised as Canary Wharf and the car pulled up outside a tall building to allow them to pass through a barrier into an underground car park. Passing through into a darkened area, Rose clung onto the Doctor's hand tightly despite a filthy look from the big man sat at the other side of her. They were told to get out as the car stopped next to a passenger lift and all but the car driver got in. The Doctor was counting the floors without looking at the indicator, Rose was looking at him, holding his hand again. He tried to smile but it was only half-hearted.
They were ushered out when the lift stopped and through a door into a large open office at the top of the building. Rose could see all the buildings below overlooking the Thames river and they walked to a glass office. Sat behind the desk, a tall man looked up it was Jack.
He didn't show any recognition towards the couple, who had dropped each other's hands in surprise and the Doctor stepped forward and was pushed back by one of the men in black.
"So, what do we have here then?" said who they believed was Jack.
He walked around the pair who had now joined hands again and was watching them. Suddenly, he lined his hand up with a chop like action, splitting the two hands, Rose clasping hers in shock as he had caught it.
"No hand holding allowed" he snapped.
The Doctor was going to speak until the man they thought now was just a Jack look-alike put his hands on Rose's shoulders and then he just wanted to lash out at him for daring to touch her. The man was smiling, moving his hands around to her face when suddenly Rose retaliated by bring her hand up to pull his hands away.
"Oh, we have a fighter here, well done."
Rose expected a smack across the face but didn't get one. Instead, the man moved away and stepped over to the Doctor.
"Feisty that one, I can see why you like her. Now down to business. You were observed going into a blue box and disappearing inside for hours, the two of you which leads me to believe there is something more to it than it just being a box. And what exactly is a Police call box? Then there's the matter of you two turning up just as the Cybermen take over and only you and a handful of others survive a direct attack by them. Care to tell me also, Doctor, yes I know who you are, why exactly you have two hearts? We weren't aware of that fact until you were both scanned on your way in. Before we take you away for a very thorough investigation, I'll give you the chance to explain who you both are and what you are doing here."
The Doctor was observing the man all the while he was walking around himself and Rose and had chosen to give as little indication as possible as to who he was. If it had been detected he had two hearts then he was already in enough trouble. He knew what it was like to be 'investigated' only too well.
"So, I take it you're in charge around here?" the Doctor said calmly, not letting on who he thought the man was, it wouldn't be good admitting you knew who he was on another world and hoped Rose would keep her silence. "Well you seem to know who I am. May we at least sit down?" he asked, looking at Rose who took it as read that her friend knew what he was doing and sat down in the nearest chair.
The Doctor was going to make it as difficult as he could and stall for time. He needed to bring up the subject they knew Pete Tyler and hoped their friend had enough influence to get them off the hook, at least enough to help them get off this world.
"Before I tell you anything, just exactly who are you and where are we?"
"As if you don't know who we are Doctor but I'll refresh you memory before I send you to our lab to be examined because there is one thing we do know, you are not from around here. We are Torchwood, we investigate all things extra-terrestrial and their associates," he said, looking across at Rose. "Especially associates who are shall we say 'friendly' to aliens." He saw the look on Rose's face at that remark and smirked. "Your little human girlfriend here has broken an unspoken rule around here, fraternising with aliens is frowned upon and punishable. Not physical punishment, just mentally. She will be 'conditioned' to forget all about you but you, you will remember her for as long as you remain here which typically will be forever as punishment for getting her involved with you and corrupting her."
Rose had heard enough and was about to say she had not been corrupted and wasn't about to be brainwashed by this organisation but one look across from the Doctor told her not to say anything that would make it worse. Admitting anything would just give Torchwood more ammunition and more incentive to ask more questions.
"You are keeping your silence well Miss Tyler, yes we know who you are as well."
That was the Doctor's opportunity. "Well if you know she's Miss Tyler, why is she being held? Her father won't be very pleased with you for holding her here and threatening to brainwash her nor for you holding me, I'm her friend."
The Jack look-alike stopped in his tracks. "Oh come on, you can do better than that Doctor, you expect me to believe she's Peter Tyler's daughter? Don't make me laugh, everyone knows he doesn't have any children, his wife was too vain to spoil her figure having children."
"Ah, well that's where you're wrong, whoever you are because Peter Tyler and his now deceased wife did have a daughter, they gave her up birth and Rose had just been reunited with them, they found each other the other night when the Cybermen attacked. Rose found out the truth about her real parents and went to his house that night, posing as a maid to get in and she told him who she was." He was using part of the truth to justify why Pete should have said he had no relatives. "Her mother turned her down, refused to accept Rose was her baby she had abandoned twenty years ago then the Cybermen attacked. Her mother was captured and turned into one of them, the poor girl is still grieving and you've got her here, threatening her, shame on you. Peter Tyler is not going to be happy when he hears about this, just call him, go on, he'll tell you I'm telling you the truth."
At least he hoped Pete would back their story, it was sort of true, Rose had told Pete he was her dad in the other universe, he wouldn't let any harm come to her and would surely play along and not give them away. The man studied the Doctor for a while then motioned for one of the other men to go check out their story.
"You won't find any information online you know, he's hardly likely to make the fact that he abandoned Rose at birth public knowledge, would you? It wouldn't be good for his business that he had her adopted," the Doctor added, hoping to be able to speak to Pete himself. "Call him, let me speak to him and we'll clear all this up. There is a reason you detected two hearts when I entered the building, I have a heart defect so I have an artificial one as well," he said, hoping they wouldn't go into too much detail as to checking before they had spoken to Pete.
The Jack look-alike considered and went back to his desk.
"Okay, I'll call him but I speak to him first. If he says you're telling the truth, she can speak to him, if he denies it, she gets her mind wiped and you get taken apart to see if you are an alien or not." He lifted his phone and spoke into it. "Get me Peter Tyler now" he barked into the phone.
Rose was taking it all in, this man in front of her couldn't have been the Jack Harkness they knew from their own world or he could be putting on an act for Torchwood's benefit and he really was him and she was crossing her fingers that this world's Pete Tyler would back them up. She risked a glance at the Doctor who was looking at the man behind the desk. She hoped he knew how to get them out of this.
"Peter Tyler," the man behind the desk said. "I have some people here who claim they know you, one in particular claims she is your long lost daughter and has just been re-united with you. Now I know you don't make this common knowledge but her life and that of her friend literally depends on your answer. Is she your daughter?"
Rose thought if that didn't test their new relationship then nothing would. If Pete denied it, she would never see her own mother again and she would be totally alone on this world because she wouldn't even remember who Peter Tyler was or who Mickey and Jake were and she would lose her best friend and now lover after last night it had finally happened between them and she wouldn't even remember it but he would, he would remember how he had unbuttoned her pyjama top, then kissed her all over until he had sought her permission to pull down her pyjama shorts and made love to her slowly and tenderly, taking his time as they melted into each other at long last. She couldn't hear the reply on the other end of the phone.
"Think carefully Pete, before you answer," the man continued. "She says you gave her up at birth and she has just found you again after nearly twenty years. Well, is it true?"
Rose and the Doctor looked at each other, this man clearly knew who Pete was but they now knew the extent Pete's influence ran to, he was definitely not in charge, this man in front of them was. Would Pete have just enough influence to get them in to reproduce the power cell and help them get home?
The man in front of them was stone-faced, they couldn't tell what the answer was Pete was giving him, even the Doctor couldn't make out the reply and he had excellent hearing but Torchwood must be using a device to shield any sound coming from the other end of the phone. After what seemed like an age, Rose thought the man was going to hang up, that Pete had denied any knowledge of them when he got up and handed the phone to Rose.
"He says he'll only talk to you. It seems he wasn't completely convinced the other night you were the daughter he gave up as a baby. Says he'll listen to all the information you gathered when you were looking for him through the adoption service. Now make it quick, I haven't got all day."
Rose took the phone and nervously said, "Dad? We're being held by someone, me and the Doctor, you know him, we were both at your party the other night when the Cybermen attacked." She didn't want to go into too much detail since she didn't trust the man in front of her who had Jack's face but not his disposition. "What do you need for me to convince you I'm really your long lost daughter?"
The Jack look-alike switched on the speaker so everyone could hear.
Pete's voice came over. "Well, I know the adoption agency contacted me to say a request for contact was put in so, what was your name when you were adopted and why are you suddenly using your birth name?"
"Blimey, he doesn't want much does he?" she thought, trying to think fast and hoping he would agree with what she said. "It wasn't the adoption agency that contacted you and you know that, you left me with my mother's parents, they brought me up as their own. Who I knew as my dad died and who I now know as my grandmother told me a few months ago, I was trying to get up the courage to face you. The Doctor convinced me to come and find you, that I should get to know you again. My name was Prentice, Rose Marion Prentice but I was never legally adopted by them, they just raised me."
She was hoping she had told a convincing story, half of it was true.
"Rose, oh my baby, was it really you? I'm so sorry, we should have contacted you earlier but it was Jackie, your mother, she didn't want anything to do with you and it would only have upset you but I kept in touch with them, sent money for you when I got rich but they wouldn't tell me anything about you. When I saw you the other night, I should have known, you look so much like your mother when she was your age. Now let me speak to Jack and get you two out of there."
Jack's identity now confirmed, Rose handed the phone back to him and he made the mistake of not taking the phone off the speaker as Pete spoke angrily to him.
"Now you listen here Jack Harkness, you release my daughter and the Doctor immediately and ask no more questions. How dare you doubt they know me and that she's my daughter? Give them anything they want and I'll be down there later and if you harm them in any way, you're finished," Pete said.
Jack just said "Yes Sir," back down the phone and motioned the other man in the office to leave. He hung up and got up to apologise. "We had to check, you understand?" he asked.
"No harm done," the Doctor said, getting up. "Now I could use a lab and this analysing," he said, getting the power cell out of his pocket, careful not to hand it over. "And if someone could have my Police Box collected and brought here, that would be a big help. Rose, are you okay?"
He helped her up and gave her a hug. Rose nodded.
Jack studied them. "Well if Pete Tyler says you're okay I guess it is. I still think you're an alien though," he said smugly.
The Doctor took a gamble that this world's Jack Harkness wasn't exactly from around here either.
"Are you sure you want to go into that, Captain?" Jack looked at him. "I know a few things about you as well so I'd be careful who you call alien around here."