Chapter Summary: Jack and Jenny complete their rescue.
Author Notes: Sorry this update took longer than usual! Life got a bit in the way, as it does from time to time :)
Beta: GoingToTheTardis
The rescue mission went considerably more smoothly than Jack's initial infiltration attempt had gone.
For one thing, nobody got sent across the galaxy this time.
When Jack got into the basement, this time without someone attacking him - thank you, Jenny - he immediately saw the problem in the form of a beacon.
The cylindrical metal was glowing and pulsing, emitting blue light and a hum that was almost vibration instead of sound. Jack took a deep breath, lifted it using just his index finger and thumb, then flipped a switch underneath and set it back down.
From upstairs came shuffling noises, bangs and clatters, then silence.
Jack scanned the room, eyes pausing briefly on the teleportation device resting inconspicuously in the middle of the floor, before moving up the stairs, wincing as they creaked. He heard footsteps approaching the doorway at the top, and he readied his weapon before the door opened.
"Jack." Jenny was grinning at him through the doorway, her face as bright as her hair. "She's out for a bit, and tied up, just to be safe. Really does seem just human, though, so we shouldn't have any trouble from her."
"Yeah, she's human all right." Jack put away his weapon and gestured for Jenny to follow him down the stairs, and he led her back to the device he'd disabled. "This machine only affects humans, but quite not all of us. Basically, it makes people have a serious need to gather alien tech through any means. The need to collect off-world technology gets worse over time if the machine stays on."
Jenny picked it up, her gaze taking in every aspect of it in a practiced, expert manner that immediately made Jack want her to look at him that way. "Harmless when turned off?" she asked, and Jack nodded. "Are the effects permanent?"
"No, but they're addictive."
"I think she felt it being turned off. She went pale and then started trying to get down here. It didn't take much to stop her."
What was wrong with Jack that he wished he'd been able to watch her handle the fight with the same efficiency he knew she was capable of? Maybe he could find somewhere they'd be able to fight, Jenny and himself, without doing any damage. Maybe even with enough privacy that they'd be able to get distracted afterward. Then again, as long as she was willing, they didn't strictly need privacy.
"What are you grinning for?" Jenny asked, an eyebrow arched in a way that told Jack she had her suspicions.
His grin widened. "Nope. I can't tell you until we're done here. You said it was a distraction."
Jenny rolled her eyes at him and planted a firm kiss on his lips before pulling away, setting the device back down. "Have you checked for prisoners yet?"
"Not yet. I'll check upstairs, you check down here."
Jenny nodded, and they parted ways.
~O~O~O~
The people who'd been kidnapped had been held in different areas of the house, but Jack and Jenny found everyone unaccounted for, plus one more person who'd not yet been reported missing. Torchwood was notified and arrived with several agents, taking the victims into custody.
"Wait." Jenny stopped the agent who moved to take the waking perpetrator. "Let me talk to her first."
"You've got to get everyone else situated anyway," added Jack. "We can keep an eye on this one until you need her." Jack's voice slipped into the smooth one he used to flirt with her, and Jenny fought a grin at the blush on the agent's face.
The agent left as the woman's eyes opened fully. She looked confused, her eyes darting from Jack to Jenny and back again, and then she paled.
"What did I do?" Her voice was shaky, high. "What did I do? I don't know what I did that, any of… Why would I do that?"
Jack crouched so that his face was on her level. "It's okay. You didn't really hurt anyone." His voice brought to mind the soothing tones he'd used when she was upset. "We need some information from you, though."
He was so good with people. Not that Jenny was bad with them, really, and she flirted or manipulated when the situation called for it. Watching him switch masks so easily, though, was rather disconcerting.
It did very little for her damaged trust.
"I don't know how I can help. I don't know how you could want me to help." The woman's distraught voice brought Jenny's attention back to the conversation.
"Look," she said, "you messed up, right? Everybody does it, and not everybody can blame alien technology for warping their intentions. Pretty good excuse, as far as these things go." The woman blinked at Jenny, seeming to find some of her control. "Let's start with your name, then."
"Anna."
"Okay, Anna." Jack backed up a little, giving the woman some space. "Do you remember everything? Can you tell us when this started?"
"It was a month ago, maybe? Maybe two?" She shook her head, long brown hair shaking with it. "My nephew, sister's kid, he gave me this lamp for my birthday. Everything was fine until I turned it on." She looked Jenny in the eyes. "You're not telling me that a silly lamp was the alien technology you're talking about, are you? He's nine, there's no way."
"You'd be surprised at how many people have alien tech in their homes without ever realizing it." Jack grinned. "He probably got it secondhand. We should be able to track down the source."
"He's not going to be in trouble, is he?" Anna looked between them, relaxing for a moment when Jenny shook her head. "What about me?"
The woman's shoulders slumped. She looked defeated, not protective or worried as she had when she'd asked about her relative, and Jenny looked to Jack for an answer.
~O~O~O~
"You'll be taken in for more official questioning." Jack kept his voice calm, soothing. "It might take a few days, so you might want to let your family know you'll be gone."
He saw Jenny blink, surprised, and filed that away to deal with later.
"I can do that." Anna's voice was a little more firm this time. "What's gonna happen next?"
He took a breath, trying to decide how much of the truth to give. He had a little more leeway than some of the full-time agents, but not a lot more. "They'll probably want to remove most of the memories related to the alien technology."
He didn't add that they might not give her a choice.
He didn't explain that he'd had his own memory wiped at least once and that it could really mess a person up. Especially if that person is then given literal lifetimes to deal with the repercussions of a missing memory.
He didn't look at Jenny's scowl, obvious in his peripheral vision and probably adorable if it hadn't been aimed at him.
He did, however, watch Anna, who expelled a forceful breath and nodded.
"I'd like that." Her voice really was calm, now. "If it's possible, I think I'd rather not remember what I've done."
"While you still remember," Jenny said, her voice pitched ever-so-slightly differently than it normally was, something Jack wouldn't have picked up on when they'd first met, "did we miss anyone? Is there anyone else we should try to find?"
The woman named each of the people they'd recovered, then looked down. "I suppose it could have been worse, but so many people, I took them from their homes, their lives, their families." Anna covered her face and sobbed, just as Agent Littles returned.
"Give her a minute, would you?" said Jack, his voice meant for only Littles' and Jenny's ears. "She's not gonna put up a fight."
Littles nodded. He wasn't Jack's least favorite agent, anyway. He'd taken on a lot of jobs Jack had wanted to avoid. "Have you rounded up all the tech?"
"We're on it." Jack clapped the man on the back and nodded to Jenny, who went to the basement. "No need to stick around and wait. We'll drop it off when we're finished, if you can leave one of the cars."
"Will do." The agent stood to wait awkwardly by the crying woman, and Jack joined Jenny downstairs.
~O~O~O~
Jenny had the first layer of protection dismantled from the teleportation device by the time Jack joined her.
"You really are good with this sort of thing." Jack's voice was warm, appreciative. "Not bad to look at doing it, either."
"And you're good at pretending." Jenny worked to keep her voice neutral, but she wasn't sure she succeeded.
"Woah." Jack sounded defensive, so she probably had sounded a bit more accusatory than she'd intended. Over the sound of her tools on metal and plastic, she heard him sigh, then come stand next to her. "You already know I'm good at pretending, and you know a lot more of the reasons why than most. Where's this coming from?"
"You wanted to kill her, not two hours ago, and then you ended up comforting her instead. And what was with that memory modification nonsense? If Torchwood does that, I doubt they let people decide whether they want it or not, but you very neatly made it sound like it was her choice. And she's got a family, someone who will actually notice if she's gone, and you're just gonna let them take two months of her memory?"
Jenny turned her wrench harder than she'd meant to, and a piece of plastic broke off the machine. Jack put his hands on her shoulders, firm but gentle, and turned her toward himself.
"First, I was upset before I understood the situation. She was being manipulated. Of course I don't still hold that against her, at least not fully. If I were closer to this century's human, I'd probably have been affected, too." He lowered his hands to her upper arms, his thumbs stroking the skin below her sleeve, and she looked into his blue eyes, fighting the urge to either punch him or snog him senseless.
She was bloody well annoyed. How could he be so calm?
"Second," he continued in the same maddeningly reasonable voice, "yes, Torchwood modifies memories as a matter of security. It's not something I really care for. I don't like a lot of their practices. That's part of why I take the jobs I do, though, to fix the things I'm able. I can't exactly take down all of Torchwood by myself." He grinned, but looking at him this way, looking into his eyes, she could see the cracks in his mask.
It shouldn't make her feel better that he was just as messed up inside as she was.
But it did.
"Third, I'm sorry you were left without a family, but I promise you, if something happened to you, I'd notice. I've gotten pretty attached pretty fast."
Jenny let out a breath. "Even though I've got a bit of a temper?"
"Believe me, Jenny-" There he went, using her name as a caress again. "-I've got a temper, too. I've just got a lot of practice at hiding it if I need to." He smiled again, his thumbs pressing more firmly into her skin in distracting ways. "We'll be around each other a lot, and neither of us exactly lacks passion, so there will be fights." He raised his eyebrows. "I know of some great ways to make it up to each other, though."
Jenny turned her focus inward, measuring the lingering adrenaline from an encounter that hadn't been physically challenging but had provided some definite emotional tangles, then bit her lip deliberately. "Suppose I'll be able to fix the vortex manipulator faster if you help me get some of this spare energy out first."
His warm chuckle in response was the only encouragement she needed.
Comments! I feel like I forget some when I respond privately. If you message me privately, I'll respond that way, but if you leave a comment, I'll respond at the end of the next chapter, as I do for most of my fics here :)
Yuuki no Yuki: I'm glad you're enjoying it! Next chapter deals a bit more with the paradox potential.
AliciaRoseFantasy: Thank you! I'm having a lot of fun working with these two characters.
jackjenfan: That's pretty awesome to hear, thanks! Love your user name :)
Alessandra.12: I didn't feel right leaving a cliffhanger when I knew I might be busy for a couple weeks, and I'm horrible at saving a chapter to post later if it's already ready to go ;)
JAIMOL: Thank you! I'll continue to update as often as I can. Probably 5ish chapters left.
TimeturnerJasmy: Thank you very much! I'm glad you're enjoying it!