Miracle Day- Rendition
We were now at Heathrow airport and it was now 11am. Cars with sirens blaring drive up to a waiting aeroplane. Jack, Gwen, Rhys, and I are in handcuffs.
"They can't do this. I'm a British citizen on British soil." Gwen says angrily.
"Yeah? Well, you've been too busy watching aliens. The fact is the Americans have been getting away with this sort of stuff for years." Rhys says.
"Hey, hey, hey, what is that supposed to be, a criticism? What are you gonna do, write to your MP? And you, World War Two, I'll take this." Rex says, taking Jack's and mine vortex manipulator bracer. I growled at Rex.
"That's nothing. It's harmless." Jak says.
"Then you won't mind me having it." Rex walks over to an Asian American woman. "What the hell do you think you're doing here?"
"I've been told to assist you in escorting the prisoners to Langley."
"No, no, no. This operation is mine. I thought of it. It's my idea, my execution."
"You want to piss on the plane? Make that yours too? Now we'd better get out of here while we still can. This thing's costing a fortune and we've got governments on both sides of the Atlantic asking questions."
"How's that cut on your arm?" Gwen asked.
"I'll survive. I'm mortal, not dying. Well, technically I guess I am dying, but slowly." Jack said. At this I sucked in my breath and Jack glanced at me giving me a small smile.
"This thing that's happening to the world, this miracle, it must have something to do with you."
"Great, so it's my fault?"
"Can't be a coincidence, Jack." Gwen says.
"Of course it's not a coincidence. Doesn't mean to say it's his fault." Rhys says.
"Rhys, are you defending me?" Jack asked, shocked.
"It's like we all got switched, isn't it? Nothing to do with Jack if the wires got crossed. Everything mortal becomes immortal, so everything immortal becomes mortal. See? I can be useful."
"Come on, let's go. Get 'em. Take the husband back to Wales." Rex said.
"No, Jack."
"Andy, no! What the hell? Where are you taking him?" Gwen asked as Andy had to, reluctantly, took Gwen's husband back to the cars.
"I'm arresting Torchwood. Is he Torchwood? No. He's a spouse. Now you, go. Get out of here. Go do spousal stuff." Rex said.
"Give me my daughter!" Gwen yelled, fighting against the agents holding her.
"I'm a secret member, man." Rhys said, trying.
"You know what? And the spouse can take the baby." Rex said.
"No, no, no. You bring her back and you bring her back right now. Rex, please, I'm begging you!"
"Gwen, the more you fight, the more he enjoys it." Jack said.
"She's my daughter." Gwen said, tears in her eyes.
"Get them on the plane." Rex said and we were lead up the ramp to the plane.
"Rex, please, listen. Somebody's been trying to kill us, all right? I've got to keep her safe."
"I'll look after her!" Rhys shouted.
"Rhys!" Gwen yelled.
"I promise, Gwen!"
"Andy, don't' you dare!" Jack yelled.
"Rhys! Rhys!" Gwen yelled as we are dragged on board the aeroplane by the police.
"I'll look after her, I promise!" Rhys yelled.
"Anwen, I'm coming back, all right? I am coming back! I will. I will get you for this. And I'm coming back. I am coming back, bitch! I am coming back, you bastard!"
We were now over the ocean. Jack and Gwen sat next to each other while I sat across the aisle from them. All this time Jack and I were silent, but communicating with our telepathic bond which kept me from panicking much.
Rex needs painkillers, and has sent the flight attendants on a scavenger hunt. "Sorry, all I could find was an aspirin. It was in the co-pilot's pocket. I gave it a quick spritz to take the lint off." An flight attendant told him."
"It's Danny, right?" Rex asked.
"Yeah." Danny said.
"Now listen, I'm not gay, but I'll let you feel me up if you go get me a vodka." Rex said.
"Oh. I'm not gay either." Danny told Rex.
"All right, then. Well, I'll let you feel her up if it'll get me a vodka." As soon as I heard Rex say that, my eyes narrowed.
"We're supposed to be on duty." Lyn reprimanded Rex.
"It's medicinal. Besides, what do you think is gonna happen? They're gonna kick out a window and jump thirty thousand feet? Trust me. Just sit back and relax. The next six hours are gonna be filled with boredom followed by monotony." Rex said. I saw Rex get up and go into the bathroom.
"They spent a lot of money on us. Cleared out the whole plane for the prisoners. All on the taxpayers' dollar. Not bad, eh?" Jack said to Gwen.
"Every time you turn up, it always goes wrong. We've been arrested and I've been taken away from my husband and daughter." Gwen said, pissed.
"Be fair. I had no way of knowing Rex was gonna pull that stunt." Jack said.
"Susan did. Anyway, you know the way it works, Jack. Every time anyone ever gets close to you, nobody has a normal life again. And do you know what? It really, and I mean it really pisses me off. What took you so long? I have to nearly explode before you turn up?"
"Hey! You know I went traveling with the Doctor. Did you miss me?"
"Yes. I, I started to think it'd be like some kind of fairy tale. I'd be an old woman and you'd just turn up out of the blue and visit my granddaughter. I'd be ancient and you'd be exactly the same. Where do you go on his adventures, Jack?"
"Well recently we ended up on a pirate ship."
"Hey, lovebirds." Rex said, talking to Gwen and Jack.
"Jack is my husband, not Gwen's." I growled at Rex.
"Oh. From the way Gwen and Jack were acting I thought they were together. Let me ask you a question. What the hell is this thing? All it does is go bleep." Rex said and I gripped my seat so tight that my knuckles turned white.
"So give them back to Susan and I." Jack retorted.
"Yeah, I'm sure you'd like that. What does it do, measure how mortal you are?" Rex asked sarcastically.
"Still don't believe me?"
"Please." Rex waved him away.
"The whole world can't die, but I'm the one who's being ridiculous."
"Tell me then, fly boy, what happens to us when we get to America?" Gwen asked.
"Oh, you'll be interrogated."
"You stupid, tiny, bloody little man. For starters, we don't know anything. And even if we did, why didn't you just ask?"
"Oh hey, listen. I'm sorry. Maybe I didn't explain it earlier. I don't think you actually know anything. I mean, come on, look at you two. You're not that bright. What you are is connected. And someone has made a link between that Institute of yours and the Miracle. And now they want to kill you for it. So we work out what the connection is, and then we start to solve it."
"So is anyone doing investigations on morphic fields?" Jack asked.
"On the what fields?" Rex asked.
"The Sheldrake theory. The passing of connective information through the process of morphic resonance." I said to Rex.
"I'm sure it is."
"The theory states that a bunch of monkeys on an island learn how to use a rock as a knife, then a bunch of monkeys on another island ten thousand miles away also learn how to use a rock as a knife, because they're connected through a morphic field." Jack said.
"Come on now, that's just science fiction." Rex protested.
"Except it's not a theory. It's a fact. And the amazing thing about the Miracle is not that no one's dying, it's not that the human race has become immortal. It's that it happened to everyone at the same time. Don't you see? It was instantaneous. And that's a morphic event on a scale that I have never seen before. So whatever's happening to this planet, it is massive. By the way, your sodium is low." I said.
"My what?" Rex asked.
"That bleeping." Jack said. "It's found low sodium levels in your blood."
"You need salt." Gwen added.
"Oh, boy. That's good." Rex said.
After a while Jack said to Danny who was passing us in the isle. "Hey, could we have something to drink?"
"I am not allowed to talk to you." Danny said.
Jack rolled his eyes. "Give it to us silently. Plus my PREGNANT wife is thirsty."
"I am not allowed to talk to you." Danny repeated.
"They can have water. It's okay, I can supervise it." Lyn said.
"Water? I'm American too. Can't I contribute to our global cultural hegemony with a nice frosty cola?" Jack asked.
Danny comes back with two waters and a Cola. Danny hands the two waters to Gwen and I and Jack the Cola. "Thanks." Jack said.
"When do we land?" I asked.
"I'm still not allowed to talk." Danny said.
"So, we were painting the cottage. I was going to be planting roses out front." I said to Jack.
"I thought salt air killed roses."
"Rugosa roses, Jack. They're called rugged roses, full of thorns. Salt air doesn't bother them. They put up a good front." Gwen said.
After a while I sensed something wrong with Jack. Jack? I asked through our telepathic bond. Are you okay?
Almost immediately Jack responded with, No. That Coke was poisoned.
My eyes narrowed. Jack, stay calm. Just stay calm. I thought to him as Jack started to freak out. Jack stands up, falls, and Rex catches him. I moved started to get out of my seat to go to Jack.
"Whoa, hey!" Rex said.
"Back in your seat." Lyn said, pointing a gun at me. I slid back down, glaring back at the woman.
"I'm gonna throw up." Jack said.
"It's all right. I'll take him. You know, it'd be really ironic if you were airsick, dressed up like a flying ace and all." Jack and Rex make it to the bathroom and the both go inside.
Gwen and I exchanged looks.
Jack, please-
Susan, it's okay. Jack said. Don't get yourself worked up over nothing.
Nothing?! You being poisoned and you can die isn't nothing.
"I'm sorry, we didn't have time for a handover. There's no medication." Danny said to Gwen who was arguing with Danny.
"Don't talk to the prisoners." Lyn snapped.
"You gave him a drink. What did you do to him? What was in it?" I snapped at her.
"Take it easy." Rex said, already done settling Jack down in the middle row up front.
"Are you saying I poisoned him?" Danny asked.
"He drinks, he's sick. If you did anything, you'd better bloody tell me." Gwen said.
"I didn't! She was with me. Tell them. I didn't touch the drinks, did I?" Danny asked Lyn.
"This is ridiculous. No one's poisoned anyone." Lyn said.
"Hold on. You went to supervise him. That's what you said, supervise. Who needs supervising pouring a drink? What did you supervise exactly?" I asked.
"So now you're accusing anyone?" Lyn asked me.
"It's either you or the big gay steward, so my money's on you." Gwen said.
"I'm not gay." Danny defended himself.
"Just search her, Rex. Please." I said.
"Look, you know no one can die." Rex said.
"Oh yeah? What if you're wrong, Rex? What if your big success is one Welsh woman and a dead body, huh? Just search her. That's all I'm saying. Search her. Rex, please, search her. Please."
"All right, if it'll shut you up. Let me see your bag." Rex said to Lyn as he handled Lyns bag.
"Put that down!" Lyn yelled.
"Hey! You stay right there." Rex said, taking out his gun and pointing it at her. He finds a baggie of blue capsules.
"What did I say? Poison." I said.
"Is that the first assumption you make when you find medicine in someone's handbag?" Lyn asked.
"Well, if it's medicine, I'm sure one pill won't hurt you." I told Lyn.
"That's a damn good idea. Take it." Rex said, holding the bag out to Lyn.
"Why would I take that? It's poison."
"You just said-" Rex said.
"I just said it was quite an assumption. Yes, I carry poison. I run a lot of agents. You never know when they might need it." Lyn said.
"Okay, well, if you didn't give him anything, then there's no harm in telling us what kind of poison is in this bag. Yeah. Get over here."
"Don't touch me!" Lyn said as Rex grabbed Lyns wrist and forces her in a seat.
"Sit down. Stay right there. Stay right there. Tell me what you gave him." Rex said as I stud up and rushed over to Jack to try to comfort him.
"I didn't give him anything." Lyn protested.
"Just tell us what it is, all right?" Gwen said.
"Let me see." Jack said. Rex handcuffs Lyn to her seat.
"Here, here. " Gwen said, bringing the bag of poison over to us.
"Cyanide." Jack said. "Are my lips blue?"
"No, you're just pale." Gwen told Jack.
"Not cyanosis. Okay, maybe this. Had a friend who took arsenic. Same consistency."
"You had a friend that took arsenic?" Rex asked.
"Yeah, Slovenian. Took arsenic for better skin."
"Hold up, I've read about that. That was back in the eighteen hundreds though." Rex said.
"Never mind about that. Look, the point is, how do we fix this? How do we cure arsenic poisoning?" Gwen asked.
"I don't know." Jack said.
Gwen looked at me and I paled. "The Doctor and I haven't gotten to poisons yet."
"I'm going to call Vera. She works at a hospital back in Britain." Rex got out his cellphone and put it on speaker. "Rex, not now." Vera said, her voice coming out of the speaker.
"How do you cure arsenic poisoning?" Rex asked.
"What, is this some kind of joke?" Vera asked.
"Listen, I have someone here with a headache, nausea and convulsions. We think he was given arsenic."
"Yeah, well, then take him to a hospital. I have to get back to work." Vera said.
"No, don't hang up. Just listen. We are stuck on a plane over the Atlantic. What else can we do?" Rex said.
"Tell him he's lucky. Great time to be poisoned. He can't die."
"This is the mortal man, the one I was telling you about. Seriously, I think this man can die." Rex said as I dabbed Jack's forehead with a piece of wet cloth that Danny managed to get me.
"Now you believe me." Jack said, exasperated, trying to get up.
"Shh." Jack. I said, forcing Jack back in his seat.
"You shut up." Rex said. "Vera, what the hell can we do? "
"Jesus, I don't know. I suppose you can try chelation."
"Okay, chelation. What is it?"
"You can remove toxic metals from the body by introducing competing chemicals that bind them up and make them inactive." Vera said.
"So what do we give him?"
"I suppose EDTA. But if you're on a plane, you won't have that."
"What's EDTA?" I asked.
"Who are you?"
"I'm his PREGNANT WIFE, Vera! What's EDTA?" I shouted.
"Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid." Vera said.
"Thank you!" I said. "Finally, someone who knows genius talk. Thank you Vera! Okay, I'm going to need Formaldehyde and ethylenediamine."
"You are not giving me formaldehyde!" Jack said.
"You can shut up! Okay, now we need to make formaldehyde by oxidising methanol.
"How the hell do we oxidise methanol at thirty thousand feet?" Gwen asked.
"Some laptops use fuel cells with methanol. Not standard batteries. They have to be fuel cells." I said.
"Danny, I need you to check all the laptops. See if one of them has fuel cells. Now. Quicker than that, Danny, for God's sake. Now!" Gwen yelled.
"And you'll need a catalyst. That would be-" Vera said, hearing what I was saying.
"Silver. Get me silver." I said.
"I'm on it. Damn it." Rex said.
"Oh, and you need to find ammonia." Vera said.
"Okay, cleaner. You must have cleaner in the loos or the bathroom. Come on, faster, faster, faster! Come on." I said and Gwen runs off to look for cleaner.
"Yeah, that looks like silver." Rex said taking Lyn's necklace.
"Gwen, I'm going to need you to heat these up. See the coffee maker. I have to stay with Jack." I said.
"We're gonna need to heat this up. Right." Gwen said, running off to the back of the plane were I could see her empy the coffee jug and pour in our ingredients. "Where's the dichloroethane? We need dichloroethane. Dichloroethane. It's in degreaser." I said.
"Oh, that. We don't have that stuff." Greta, one of the other flight attendants said.
"Do not say that, Greta. You must have some somewhere." I told her while still trying to calm Jack down.
"We don't use it. I don't go around degreasing."
"No?" Gwen hissed.
"The automated system takes care of it."
"The automated system? The automated system?" Gwen repeats.
"The ACRS. It works like the de-icer. There's a central pump and then there's the tubing that distributes it throughout the plane." Greta says,.
"Oh my God. Tubing?" Gwen asked.
"Orange tubing." Greta confirms.
"Where's the tubing?" I asked.
"In the floor." Greta responds.
"In the floor?" Gwen rips up a strip of carpet.
"Oh, you're damaging the floor." Greta protests weekly.
"Yeah, and I'm gonna rip this plane apart with my bare hands if I have to and you're gonna help. Now get over there and help." Gwen said. They take hold of a panel.
"One, two, three, up." Gwen and Greta say at the same time.
"It's wires. It's just bloody wires!" Gwen said.
"Alright, rip the panels up. Rip 'em all up." Rex said.
"Brilliant. Your prisoner is sick and you're destroying the plane." Lyn scolds.
"And you, shut the hell up!" I yelled at Lyn.
"Careful with those wires." Rex said as Gwen inspected under the floorboards.
"Looking a little bit worried there, Rex, like this might all be your fault. You put us on this plane. There's no orange tube." Gwen said.
"Is there something between you two?" Rex asked.
"What?" Gwen asked.
"You and World War Two."
"I'm married with a baby." Gwen retorted. "And Susan over there is his WIFE and is PREGNANT with a child!"
"Yeah, married, baby, whatever. You two argue like people who are real close."
"Yeah, well, did you have a thing with your poisoner friend over there?" Gwen asked.
"Yeah, we did." Rex said, sighing.
"Oh, you did?" Gwen said,
"But we got on each other's nerves."
"Really? Can't imagine. And there is no orange tube here."
"Wait a minute, wait a minute. It's a degreaser, right?"
"Yeah." I said.
"So you use a degreaser where there's grease. So where's grease?"
"Er, moving parts, moving parts. Danny. Danny, moving parts." Gwen said.
"Where's the access conduit to the landing gear? Come on!" Rex said and Danny rushed over.
"Here." Danny said.
"Move this." Rex said and they push a table over.
"Greta, give me a hand." Greta goes over and helps Gwen. "Ready? One, two, three." And they lift the panel underneath it.
"Don't damage it, you idiots." Rex said.
"Orange! Look, it's an orange tube!" I shouted, seeing Jack get worse.
"I see it, I see it."
"Okay, give me your knife. Give me your knife." Gwen said.
"Wait a minute, wait a minute. We've got to be careful because it's not labelled. If it's part of the oil system, we're screwed." Rex said as he hands the knife over to Gwen. "
"Yeah, whatever." Gwen cuts into the orange tube and clear liquid spurts out under pressure. "Oh, get a cup. Get a cup. Gather it. That's it. Hold that. Hold that. That's beautiful. Yay!"
Gwen runs the grease back to the little kitchen, the mixture has been heated up.
"Jack, come on, Jack look at me." I said as I noticed that Jack was getting tireder.
"Susan." Jack breathed, staring up at me and placed his hand on my stomach. "I'm sorry."
"No." I hissed. "You are not going to die. Not today."
"Final ingredient- touch of cyanide." I yelled to Gwen. Gwen poked her head out of the tiny kitchen and nodded, telling me she heard and disappeared again.
"Tell… tell Ianto... he's the godfather." Jack breathed out.
I nodded, holding Jack's hand. "I will, but you are not going to die, dammit Jack!" I said as Jack's eyes closed. "Jack?" I whispered as I heard footsteps running from the back of the plane to the front where we were.
"He'll need help with his coat." I heard Gwen say behind me. I didn't move as Rex took one of Jack's arms out of his World War Two coat.
"Yup." Rex said.
"Be careful with his coat. That's it, that's it. Quick as you can. Okay, take his sleeve up." Gwen said.
"I heard cyanide." Jack muttered.
"Shush, trust me. It's gonna be all right." I said.
"No, it won't. Don't let her do this. She'll kill you." Lyn shouted.
"Shut up." Rex roared at Lyn.
Gwen tries to find a vein.
"You're not filling me with confidence" Jack muttered.
"Be careful, that's my good tie." Danny said.
Gwen uses the tie as a tourniquet. "And you're definitely not gay?" Gwen asked.
Danny sighed. "It was one time, okay?"
"All right, Jack, don't move. Here we go."
I see Lyn out of the corner of my eye get free of her seat. I saw her bring her foot up to kick the syringe out of Gwen's hands but I stood up fast and blocked her, taking the gun from Rex's side and pointing it at Lyn. "Dont' you dare." I hissed. Lyn stood back up straight and lifted her hands in the air.
"Whoa!" Rex said.
"That was your last chance." I said as Gwen injects Jack.
"Yeah? What are you gonna do about it? If you're the best England's got to offer, then God help you." Lyn said.
I quickly did a spinning back hook kick, knocking Lyn unconscious and Gwen cought me as I fell. "That wasn't a good idea to do while pregnant.
"I'll say." Gwen said, taking the gun out of my hands and tossed the gun back to Rex who fumbled but caught it.
"Never get on a pregnant womans bad side. Especially a Time Lord." I said to Rex as he looked at the unconscious Lyn and I rushed over to Jack as he started to move again.
"Jack? Okay. Okay, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. Corrosive burns. Jack, I am so sorry. I'm so sorry but I had to give it to you. It's working though, yeah? It's working? Oh please, God, say it's working. Jack? What is it?" I said.
"Yes. Yes." Jack said.
I smiled. "It's working?"
"Yes."
"Nice work. Nice work." And handcuffs Gwen and I again.
"Hey!"
"You know, it's always better to return with three healthy prisoners. " Rex pointed to me as he pushed me down in a seat. " Sit down. Jesus."
A little later, Rex reports in and because of my Time Lord hearing, I heard him talking. "What about Lyn? Has she said anything about who put her up to this or why?" I heard Rex's colleague ask.
"Bo, we won't get anything out of her for a while. She's unconscious."
"All right, I'll take care it. A security force will meet you at the airport. We'll find out what's going on."
"Sounds good." Rex replies and hangs up.
It is five pm at Washington Dulles International Airport. The rendition flight has landed. Jack, Gwen, and I walk off, still in cuffs. Rex escorts Lyn. "This one too. She's under arrest."
"Mister Friedkin wants a full debriefing. He has Section chiefs from Clandestine and Intelligence on standby. We have a secure van outside waiting to take prisoners to Langley. This way." An agent says.
"Thank you." Rex said. Rex's phone rings. "Yeah, who's this?... I haven't had a chance. Why?...Oh yeah? Wow, that's er, that's wonderful. Yeah, it's great to be back...Yeah, well, er, that idea's extremely relevant….Yeah, that seems to be the ongoing situation….Yeah, yeah, I got you. That's confirmed….All right. Copy that."
Jack and I glanced at each other. We were now inside the airport in a secluded hallway.
"Hey, you know, I just remembered there's one final piece of legislation needed to make this a full and proper rendition. And according to recent amendments to US code section 3184 and section 3185 on transferring prisoners from airside to landside, the law clearly states that once they touchdown on American soil, they have free and easy access to one very important thing." Rex says and removes our handcuffs.
"And what's that?" Gwen asked.
"Bullshit." Rex says. All three take out the agents accompanying them. I couldn't really do anything because I was still tired from knocking out Lyn.
"See ya." Gwen said and the three of us start to run.
"Hey, hey!" Rex said and Lyn attacks Rex. He breaks her neck, which made us stop to turn and look at him. "Crazy bitch."
"Even if we can get past, how do we get out? You know what US immigration's like at the best of times." I said.
"Hey, what the hell are you waiting around here for?" Rex said.
"We're stuck, thanks to you." Gwen said.
"Oh, my God. You three are idiots. You're already landside. Take a look around. You're at the baggage claim for domestic flights. You could just walk out of here. Now come on and follow me."
"Hey, you get us arrested, okay? You break up my family, you nearly get Jack killed. Why should we go anywhere with you?" Gwen asked.
"Because I have a car. Here, take your things." Rex said, tossing Jack's and mine vortex manipulators back to us.
"Excuse me, sir?" Jack asked a security man.
The security man looked at Jack. "Yes?"
"Those two men over there in the black suits, I think I overheard them talking about a bomb." Jack said. Immediately the security men go over to them.
"Now aren't you glad I didn't let you bring your kid? Imagine her here in the middle of all of this. So how about thinking at some point that maybe I did something good?" Rex said.
Vera arrives with Jilly's painkiller samples. She is parked in front of the blue Mini. "Ah, perfect timing." Rex said.
"This had better be worth it."
Jack opens Vera's car door. "Hey, hey, what are you doing? That's not the car. This is the car. She just came to bring me drugs. Sorry, babe, got to go." Rex said.
"What do you mean? Where are you going?" Rex said.
"What sort of getaway car is this? I thought you Americans all had these big SUVs. This is rubbish." Gwen said.
It is the BMW version of the Mini, which means it is much larger than the original. "Just get in, get in."
"Doctor Juarez." Esther said to Vera.
"Oh, Esther, isn't it?" Vera asked.
"Hi." Esther says.
"Hey, I told you already, you can't stay here." A police man says.
"I know, I know. I'm sorry. We're going." Esther says.
"Rex, you've got to work on these escape plans." Jack says.
"Where are we going?" Esther asked. Jack, Gwen and I are in back while Esther and Rex are in the front.
"Just anywhere. Hey, didn't I tell you that they'd bribe me with twice as much as you?" Esther pulls out, then stops as Lyn walks towards them, head pointing backwards.
"Jesus. All right, just drive. Drive." Rex says. They drive around Lyn as the men in black run out of the airport.
"There! She stole the car. Stop!" An agent says, pointing at us.
"What the hell was that? Was that Lyn? What the hell is going on?" Esther says, panicking as she is driving away.
Gwen smiles faintly. "Welcome to Torchwood."
A/N: Feel Free to Review! :D