The Hub door sirened closed behind them, a puddle of water forming underneath both Hally and Jack. She was soaking and freezing.
Gwen noticed them first, looking up from her desk with a bright smile. "Oh, you're back!" The human got to her feet with the intention of giving Hally a hug, pausing when she noticed how the state of her clothes.
Hally shot her back a smile, waving instead. "Why is it so wet?!"
"Welcome back to Wales." Ianto's accent floated over to her as he jogged down the stairs, he helped Jack out of his drenched coat while Hally was left to wrestle hers off of herself.
Jack turned to look her up and down, cocking his head to one side. "Alright, go dry off. Debrief after."
Hally hummed in agreement, heading off in the direction of the showers as Jack called after her, "Try not to disappear!"
Depositing her wet clothes on the floor, Hally stepped into the scolding hot shower. The warmth fizzed pleasantly over the surface of her skin, dissolving the chill from the rain. It felt necessary to wash Messaline off her. Not that she'd ended up covered in mud like Martha, but from dealing with the Sontarans to everything with the Hath and Jenny, she needed the feeling of the water splashing against her skin.
Clean slate.
New day.
After a few quick minutes, Hally didn't trust Jack wouldn't come and find her if she took too long, Hally found some spare sweats to change into and she made her way to his office. He'd changed too by the time she arrived, towel-drying the rain out of his hair as he sat behind his desk.
She took a seat opposite, a pupil waiting for the inevitable reprimand from their headteacher.
"So, where'd you go?" He ran the towel across his hair before draping it over the radiator next to his chair.
Hally cleared her throat, she really had nothing to explain, her absence had been totally beyond her control. "Well, I don't know if you noticed, I saved the world from the Sontarans…" She flicked her hand out at the wrist, emphasizing her point that the world was still in existence.
He cocked an eyebrow, teasing twinkling behind his eyes. "Yes, nice job."
"Thanks. Definitely all me." Her mouth curved into a wry smile and she shot him a wink.
He chuckled low in his chest, eyes flashing with the desire for her to continue.
"Then, we're in the TARDIS and she just takes off, Martha too." Her eyes rounded in sincerity. "Took us to some planet called Messaline. It's a long story."
Jack leant back into his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. He wasn't distrustful, instead curious. "We have time."
Hally exhaled a soft huff, Jack had no idea just how long the story was. "Barren planet, humans and Hath sort of at war. Anyway, they used these progenation machines."
Jack's face lit up with understanding and a laugh rumbled out from his chest. "Ohoo… no…"
Hally winced. "Yes."
"All of you?" He cocked a bemused eyebrow, while she could see the amusement simmering underneath, his eyes held a glint of concern.
Hally shook her head. "No… just The Doctor." The way her jaw clenched and her voice wavered told Jack all he needed to know.
The smirk that graced his face was knowing and amused. "Daughter?"
She groaned at his perceptiveness. "Yes. It was enlightening." Her eyes flashed irritably. "But anyway, long story short, we ended their war and terraformed the planet." She rushed over all the details, finishing the story.
But of course, Jack wasn't going to let her get away with that. "And his progenated daughter?"
Hally took in a breath, her gaze wavering away from the piercing blue in front of her. "She died…"
"Ah…" His face softened and a frown creased his forehead. "Are you ok?"
Hally hummed, considering his question. There was a gentle sadness still sitting inside her chest. "It was sad, but perhaps… For the best." Her eyes met his once more and he nodded in understanding.
"Well, I'm glad to have you back." He flashed her a bright smile as he rose to his feet. She stood, letting him lead her back to her desk. "Did the two of you talk?" He asked, he made the question sound so simple, almost underhand.
She plonked herself in her seat, rolling her eyes dramatically as she swivelled away from him. "Oh my god, you humans are insufferable."
"Does that mean no?" He leant over her, his hand on the back of her chair forcing her to turn back to look at him.
She let out a loud sigh. "It means yes! Can we drop it? We talked. I'm not going to punch him in the face again, happy?"
The side of Jack's mouth twitched into a smirk. "Sure." Then her words fully landed on him. "Wait… you punched him in the face?"
She swatted his hand off the back of her chair and turned to face her desk, stifling a laugh. "So, what did I miss?"
Ianto strode through the central area, files in hand as he called across to her. "You missed Gwen's wedding."
Hally's mouth dropped open and she turned to the brunette at the desk on her right. "Oh, shit! I did. How was it?"
Gwen chuckled and shook her head. "Oh, it was a mess."
Hally's eyes lit up with excitement. "Oh, please tell." The corner of her mouth curved with amused intrigue.
Her apartment looked exactly as she's left it.
Well, it hadn't been that long so it was as expected.
And on the bright side, less than half of the plants were dead. So, that was a positive.
She showered again.
She wasn't too sure why, but she felt like she needed to.
This time she took her time, combing through conditioner with her fingers, scrubbing at her skin with various products. She turned to face the jet of water, letting it run across the top of her head and across her face.
It might have been that she would have liked having a sister, eventually.
The water washed away the tear that escaped immediately. It wouldn't have even been distinguishable against the waterfall of droplets running over her skin.
She left her sadness behind her, letting it swirl around the drain along with the shampoo and the water. Hally flicked the jet off and rubbed her hands across her face, grabbing a towel and drying herself off. She wrapped herself in the ridiculously fluffy dressing gown hanging on the back of the bathroom door and padded into the kitchen as she rung out her hair with the towel.
The shriek that her body emitted before her brain could catch up was a far cry from dignified. "Fucking hell!" She cried at the hulk of a man, sat patiently on her sofa. "How did you get…? No, never mind. Of course, you have a key." She grumbled, exhaling a childish huff. "You didn't have to break in. You could have just text."
"I did." Armitage muttered back gruffly.
Hally bit her lip. "Oh… yeah, I haven't actually checked that phone…" She picked it up from the kitchen counter and checked her messages.
Ah.
Fifteen unanswered texts.
Oh, he'd even used an angry face emoji.
"Fifteen texts, huh? You're getting clingy." She shot at him as she lowered herself down in the space next to him. "Sorry. I wasn't planning on going off planet."
A grumble vibrated in his chest. "Yes, some warning would have been nice."
"Oh, did you miss me?" The smile she shot at him was designed to perfectly push his buttons.
He didn't take her bait, simply narrowing his eyes in response.
"Ok, whatever. Fifteen texts tells me you did." She adjusted herself to face him on the sofa. "Anyway, what's happened? Update me."
Despite her unplanned absence, Armitage got straight into it, acting as if she'd not been away at all. "They've extracted the elements and the samples you sent across contained what they needed. In terms of materials, everything is ready. You just need to set a date and they will organise the rest."
Butterflies shivered inside her stomach. It was happening. It was close. They were doing this. The man in front of her was so stoic in sharp contrast to the nerves jittering around inside her body.
If everything was ready, they could go as soon as possible.
"How many days' notice would they need?"
Armitage considered for a moment. "Probably just under a month."
"Alright… give them a month then." She nodded as a slight frown pulled at her features. It almost felt too quick, which she knew was ridiculous. She'd been wishing for this moment since placing herself on Earth. But now, the inevitable was approaching. She was going to bring The Master back and she was going to leave the team. She was going to betray Jack and leave him with no answers. Hally couldn't deny the guilt that washed over her, but it didn't need to define her. She could not sway because of it.
A month, she could wait just one more month.
"That'll be the 28th of June, Saturday." Armitage's voice interrupted her thoughts and she refocused her gaze on him, nodding.
"Fine. Let's do it."
INBOX: 412 (Unread)
Great.
Once Armitage had removed himself from her apartment, Hally had spent the rest of her evening making her way through two bottles of wine and the 412 emails she'd missed from UNIT. The majority didn't need anything from her, she'd just been cc'd in for context. The rest were the usual funding approvals which she collated and sent across her notes in one long email for Mace.
They'd also sent across an update on the Archangel reformat. The final testing phases had been completed, they were working on her remote access which looked like it would be ready in the next few days.
Everything was going to plan.
Smooth sailing so far.
She sent Mace a short text, 'Back. Have emailed list of approvals.' Before retiring to bed after a long few days.
Back on top of her Earth life.
Just one more month.
She'd been back two weeks.
It barely felt like she'd been away at all. Nothing much had actually changed.
Torchwood was Torchwood.
Owen was still 'dead'.
Hally was letting Ianto make her tea now though, just so long as he allowed her to have three sugars. They agreed to disagree on whether that was still tea.
Gwen was married.
Jack was, Jack.
She would miss Jack.
She'd taken to grabbing lunch with him almost every day, perhaps it was the knowledge that she'd be gone soon, or the guilt that she was going to up and abandon him. He was a good friend and in response, she was going to be the worst friend. They'd chat about nothing really. Idle chit-chat. But it was nice.
She sat cross-legged on the park bench, the park that looked out over the bay, sandwich in hand. Jack watched her eat, his elbow bent over the back of the backrest. Always the picture of handsome ease. "So, did The Doctor say when he might be back?"
Hally shook her head. "Nope. But he'll be around." She took another bite, dragging her eyes away from the water to look at him, mischief twinkling behind her eyes. "So, are you and Ianto together, together yet?"
Jack snorted, raising a teasing eyebrow her way. "Are you asking me for a label?"
Hally laughed, wiping a crumb from the side of her mouth. "Oh, god no… you could never." She played along before her mouth pressed into a curious pout. "But… if there was a label…?"
He rolled his eyes but his mouth remained upturned with a smile. "It was read 'exclusively unserious'."
Hally coughed and in a low murmur added, "But also in love."
He pouted and shifted his position, fixing her with a hard glare that held no real warning. She stared back at him, daring him to lie and with a huff he conceded. "Maybe in the small print."
Hally hummed, a victorious smile spreading over her face. "I knew it."
"Well, keep it to yourself. Can't have you going around ruining my reputation."
"Oh, of course. We can't have everyone knowing that the great bachelor hero, Captain Jack Harkness, is in fact… just a softie." She squealed as he swiped the remainder of her lunch from her. "Jack!" He flashed her an evil smirk, stuffing it into his mouth before she could snatch it back. She levelled a severe scowl at him, before both of their faces broke into wide, stupid grins.
Her mouth opened, the words just on the tip of her tongue.
'I'm going to miss you, Jack.'
She stopped herself. She couldn't say it out loud because then he'd ask why? She couldn't warn him in any way of the betrayal that was coming. But it was the truth. She would miss him. She'd miss having him as a friend. Hally wasn't stupid. She knew that bringing Koschei back would be the end of this. The team. Lunches in the park. Trust.
All of it would be gone.
"Thank you, Jack."
The laughter fell out of his eyes and his eyebrows arched with the silent question
She smiled at him. "For everything. All of this. You didn't have to… Thank you."
He cocked his head, surveying her. "Of course." His gaze flicked down to the space between them before returning to her. "You're a friend. I'll always be here for a friend."
"I know. I just don't think I ever properly thanked you. You're a good man Jack."
"Well…" He winked. "I try my best."
Hally let out a short breath, placing her hand over his. "No, but really. You didn't have to take me in. I wouldn't have blamed you if you hadn't. This is your life, your team and I definitely could have derailed everything." She offered a semi-apologetic smile. "I've never spent so much time on Earth… and sometimes I think I forget that this planet is part of me too." Her head turned back towards the water. This planet. It was part of her too. Her mother's planet. "All of this, I've never related to it before but being here with you…" She turned back to look at him. "You've shown me the best parts of being human."
He turned his hand and laced their fingers together, giving her a steady squeeze. "You'll always have a home here. No matter what."
Her back slammed against the matted floor.
"12 minutes. You're improving."
Her chest heaved and she gave a weak cough as she rolled onto her side, her muscles screaming angrily at her. It didn't feel like she was improving. It felt like she'd volunteered to be a punching bag.
Armitage held out a hand and Hally took it, letting him pull her to her feet with irritating ease. She supposed 12 minutes was indeed an improvement on the 3 minutes she'd started at. "Thanks… I think."
"Again." He ordered.
Her groan was cut short when he immediately swung at her, not even giving her a moment to find her breath. She dodged, just about, slipping under his arm. She was getting faster, less 'predictable' he'd said. Three days ago she'd even managed to provide him with a black eye. It measured nothing against the patchwork quilt of bruises that littered her arms and legs, but she admired it for days nonetheless.
With another dodge she took the opportunity and hit into his side, at the back of his ribs. A sharp grunt puffed from him, then he shifted. Using her own momentum against her, he hit out at her. "You favour your right side." As if to punctuate his point, he took advantage of her momentary loss of balance and kicked her legs out from underneath her. The world tilted sideward and Hally braced for the expected impact of the floor, but it never came. Armitage had used the fall to catch her, holding her in place he levered her left arm behind her, between them both. Hally went to twist out of his grip, but before she could he'd anchored her arm upwards. Pain shot from her shoulder through her arm, tiny knives ripping through the muscle. She let out a surprised yelp of agony. He didn't budge, holding her in suspended discomfort. "Your injury is obvious. You need to hide it better. Otherwise, it will be used against you."
The pain was overwhelming, she couldn't struggle an inch without her shoulder erupting with burning needles. But he wasn't relenting. "Ow! Ow! Ok! Ok! I get it!" He loosened his grip and she slipped her arm out of his hand, cradling it against her chest. Her shoulder throbbed angrily.
She turned to glare at him, he barely reacted to her accusation, his eyes narrowing. "You've been neglecting your injury."
Hally huffed like a petulant child and rolled her eyes at his tone. He sounded almost like Owen. "It's still healing." She bit back, scrunching up her face.
"No, it's healed. The pain is due to scar tissue and weakened muscles." He shot back quickly, the reprimand was heavy in his voice. "You have to work it to get it back to normal."
Her response was an irritated glare.
No.
She'd just wait for Koschei to take the damn Biodampener off and it'd heal itself.
But she wasn't about to argue that with the irritated muscle in front of her.
"Fine."
He hummed, not believing her in the slightest. "Enough." He exhaled the command with tired resignation. She couldn't help the soft sigh of relief as she headed to the edge of the room, nursing the water. She bent down and pulled her phone from her bag, the screen lighting up with missed notifications.
Oh shit.
10 missed calls. 3 voicemails.
Jack.
Gwen.
Shit, what had happened?
"Oh… I need to go..." Hally muttered, throwing her bag over her shoulder as she brought her phone to her to listen to Jack's voicemail.
"Where are you? We've picked up multiple non-human life forms, I'm texting you the address. Get here now."
That had been 30 minutes ago…
She'd missed Gwen's call only two minutes ago.
"Hally where are you? We need you here. It's… Rhys grab his other arm. Just get here!"
She winced. Something was wrong. Gwen's voice had been rushed, strained. She pulled up the location Jack had sent her. Almost the middle of nowhere, outside the city centre.
Urgh.
She looked up at Armitage, bracing herself for the distaste she was inevitably about to receive upon her request.
"I need a lift."
His scowl was unforgiving.
"Yes, yes, I know you're not a taxi, but just move!"
Hally had learnt that communicating with Armitage required the kind of tone that offered no wiggle room. When she asked for something with uncertainty, she had already lost. Instead, acting like a demanding arsehole seemed to work best to achieve her desired outcome.
In short, act like The Master and Armitage would eventually end up doing what she wanted.
So, Armitage drove her to the location, silently stewing.
They drove further out of the city, concrete melting into green. They were in the middle of nowhere. Her silent companion drove them down a dirt track to the front of an abandoned building. A red brick shell. No windows. Nothing for miles around. There was a silver car parked outside. She couldn't see the SUV. Hally jumped out of Armitage's car and ran towards the building. The closer she got the more destruction she could see.
Oh, fuck.
"Gwen?!" Hally's voice cried out.
"Over here!" She followed the sound of her voice, through the rubble. The roof had collapsed. Had there been an explosion? Shit. Hally climbed through what had previously been a doorway to find Gwen and Rhys hovering above a fallen pillar. As she made her way over to them, she noticed a body underneath the concrete. Toshiko. She was alive but trapped, the pillar pushing down on her. The three of them tried to lift it, but it wasn't moving.
"It's too heavy." Rhys, Gwen's husband, shook his head, looking helplessly from Tosh to his wife.
"You're making it worse. It's pushing down even more now." Toshiko's voice wavered in fear. "I think I've broken my arm." Hally knelt beside her, taking her hand gently in her own. "If this pillar shifts down even more, it will crush me."
Rhys straightened up, shaking his head. "It's no good, Gwen. We're going to need more strength."
Hally ran a hand through her hair, they needed more of them. "Where's Jack?" She looked to Gwen, but her gaze had fallen past Hally, to something behind her.
"Who the hell are you?!" Gwen wasted no time in raising her gun, anger and accusation fizzing underneath her words.
Hally turned on the spot, her eyebrows arching at what she saw.
Armitage.
He'd followed her.
He was standing right in front of her.
She turned back to Gwen, holding up a hand in front of her gun. "It's ok… he's umm… well he's with me."
"With you?"
Hally nodded, again looking between the two. Armitage stared back, unapologetically at her. "Yes. Explain later." She looked to Gwen's husband. "That enough strength for you Rhys?"
Rhys's eyes trailed Armitage up and down. "Yeah, I'd say that'll do. Can you take the other end mate?"
Armitage nodded and hummed gruffly as he stepped over the debris onto the other side of the pillar. Gwen touched Hally's arm. "I'm going to go get Jack, he went to find Ianto and Owen." Eyes wide, Hally nodded, and Gwen left them as the two men lifted the pillar from Toshiko's body. She bent down, helping her crawl out of the small gap they'd managed to create. Hally helped Tosh to her feet, shooting a thankful nod towards Armitage.
"You're alright." Hally took Toshiko's weight, helping her walk from the room.
"I think my arm's broken." Tosh whimpered. They hobbled out of the building, Rhys and Armitage following behind them. On their way out, Ianto crossed in front of their path, followed closely by Jack.
"Is everybody ok?" Jack's gaze scanned quickly over Rhys, Toshiko and finally Hally. "Where the hell were you?!" Then, before she could answer, his eyes grazed over her head to land on Armitage behind her. His face flashed with recognition, confusion and finally anger. "What is he doing here?" Immediately accusation glared at her. His piercing blue shooting straight towards her. Ianto intercepted Toshiko, helping take her weight from Hally.
"He gave me a lift." Hally tossed a quick smile at Jack, heading out of the destroyed building. The rest followed as quickly as they could. Jack marched after her, unsatisfied by her deflection.
"Yes, but what is the man The Master hired to be your personal shadow doing anywhere near you?"
Hally shot over her shoulder, scoffing. "I think you just answered your own question." She flashed him a sarcastic smile.
Armitage grunted in agreement.
Toshiko coughed, struggling to keep up with their pace. "Jack, he helped."
Hally motioned to Tosh. "Yeah, see. Helped. You're welcome."
Jack growled in response. Hostility practically rolled off him.
The team limped from the building, Owen and Gwen meeting up with them outside. Both alright.
Everyone was alright.
"You okay?" Jack checked in.
Owen nodded, moving himself closer to Tosh. "Yeah. You all right? Tosh, what happened?"
Tosh groaned. "Broken arm, bruised ribs. About an inch away from being crushed by a girder."
"You were lucky." Owen placed himself at her side, helping her traverse the rubble.
"We all were." Ianto commented flippantly.
Gwen turned to their leader. "Jack, who's done this?"
It was then that Owen noticed Armitage, shooting them all a questioning look. "Who's the scary dude?"
"Uber driver." Hally quipped back quickly.
"And where's the SUV?" Ianto fretted. He pulled the tracking device from his pocket, searching for their lost vehicle. There was a short beep from Jack's Vortex Manipulator and he paused. He flicked up the message and the image of Captain John Hart blinked into existence in front of them.
"Oh, no." Ianto voiced the immediate thoughts of the team.
"Jack, what does he want?" Gwen looked to Jack, but their boss was fixated on the image in front of them. The pre-recorded message from John jumping to life.
"Ooo, deja vu. Or did I say that already? Hey, team. Of course, there might be a few less of you by now. Don't know if you liked my little gift. Of course, you can't die. And with all that life, all that time, you can't spare any for me." The image of John pouted, before his face lit up with a thought. "Oh. Say hi to the family…" John pressed a button on his own bracer and another image flickered into life. Projecting a new hologram in front of them. It was a man, slightly shorter than John, his hands bound together in handcuffs.
"No way. It can't be." Jack's reaction drew their attention, his face morphed into one of horror. But behind that, she could see something else, shock, fear, guilt.
John hummed. "Been a while since you've seen your brother, eh, Jack?"
"Gray?" Hally could hear the pain in Jack's voice, the disbelief.
Brother?
He'd never mentioned a brother.
She supposed he'd never mentioned his family at all.
John clicked his tongue against his teeth, shifting his posture. "Okay, here's what's going to happen. Everything you love, everything you treasure will die. I'm going to tear your world apart, Captain Jack Harkness, piece by piece. Starting now. Maybe now you'll want to spend some time with me."
The hologram recording ended and the image of Gray and John disappeared in a flicker. Hally looked to Jack, his face had fallen into a hardened mask, but she could see the fear underneath.
"Bastard John's taken our SUV." Owen growled. Ianto immediately pulled up the tracking on his handheld device.
"Looks like he's driven it back to Torchwood."
"I'm getting readings of rift activity all over the city. Major rift flares at St Helen's Hospital, the Police Headquarters and the Central IT Server Station." Tosh added to their mounting problems.
Gwen turned away from the team, her phone vibrating. "Hey, Andy?"
Jack turned and stalked towards the two vehicles they had left, Gwen's car and Armitage's.
"Okay, I'm on my way, all right?" Gwen hung up her phone, turning to Jack. "This is him, isn't it? This Captain John, or whatever he likes to call himself."
Jack took in a deep breath, formulating a plan. "Rhys, drop Owen at the hospital. Tosh, Ianto, cover the Central Server building. Gwen, the police station, and you…" He turned towards Armitage, his mouth curving into a sneer. "…can take me to Torchwood." His eyes flicked towards Hally and he nodded towards the vehicle, motioning for her to get in with them.
Armitage didn't disagree, which Hally took as affirmation.
Tosh shook her head. "Jack, these are traps."
Hally hummed in agreement, the multiple emergencies were obviously meant to separate them all.
Jack turned to his team, his face stoic. "So be careful. You know what he's capable of."
"What about you?" Gwen asked as the others bundled themselves into Rhys's car.
Jack ground his jaw. "I'm going to go reason with him."
"He just tried to kill us…" Owen reasoned, scoffing at Jack's plan.
Jack took in a deep breath. "I was the only one who could ever control him. That's why the Time Agency partnered us."
Rhys opened his mouth, his face pulling together in a frown. "Did you just say Time Agency? Don't tell me that's based in Cardiff too."
Gwen cocked an unimpressed eyebrow at her husband as she and the others squished themselves into Rhys's car.
Jack pulled himself into the front seat of Armitage's car, Hally taking the back. Armitage slid into the driver's seat, not saying a word as he pulled them away from the building, heading back towards the centre.
The ride back to the Hub was tense. She could feel the distrust radiating from Jack.
Neither man in the front spoke to one another.
"Jack…" Hally's voice drew Jack's attention back into the car. "It'll be ok. We'll stop him."